But for more than a decade the Lower Hunter's ethnic restaurants have been boring. In fact, they've become so far removed from the original that few could fairly be described as ethnic.

Take, as I do in my column in The Herald today, the Thai restaurants of the Hunter. Most serve food that is fresh and lightly cooked but it is, still, food that will appeal to people who don't like Thai food and is very likely to disappoint people who do like Thai food. In fact, our Thai food is not even close to the Thai food of Sydney, which is often excellent. Take our Italian food - it's the same old, the tedious same old. Chinese - apart from a handful of exceptions they serve stew.

And is any food so devoid of its ethnicity as the new fast-food Indian? How can they make something look so spicy yet taste so spiceless?

There must be room in our eat streets for a few real ethnic cafes or restaurants, eateries that cater for people who like, say, Thai food and that make no apologies to those who don't. Surely there is a place for an Italian menu that bears little resemblance to that of every other so-called Italian.

Sometimes I think that the ethnics who take the F3 to Newcastle and Lake Macquarie are fleeing their ethnicity, but I do believe that there is enough demand among the old stock of the Hunter to keep a few genuinely ethnic eateries humming.

They used to hum. Remember The Etna at Hamilton? The Romance Cafe at Broadmeadow? Danilo's in Beaumont St before it became a fine diner? Trieste in Beaumont St? Guiseppes? Gelato Dolimiti's? The Moonlight Palace?

And have I given your favourite a bum rap?