Brisbane News  October 13 - 19  2004 

TABLE TALK  kylie lang

Graham Manvell is a true paddock-to-plate man. Not only does he run one of Brisbane's newest nosheries, SSS BBQ Barns in Queen St (on the site that was once Alba and Williams), but he also tends livestock and makes his own wine and ginger beer. Graham's silver-service background in hospitality hasn't stopped him getting down to the grass roots. He opened the first of his SSS BBQ Barns in Tamworth in 1993, and now has franchises in Coffs Harbour, Cessnock and Lake Munmorah in New South Wales. As well as his own meat (he and wife Marlene have a large domestic herd of buffalo, a Scottish Highlander stud, and last year won Best Dexter Cow and Calf award at the Royal Easter Show in Sydney), you can also try the highly regarded 1824 brand of beef at his large restaurant. Graham's Lazy Poet wine, made from grapes he helps handpick in his three vineyards near Tamworth, is also on the menu, as is his Ironbark ginger tawny ale....