Another month, another great selection of contemporary art exhibition to check out. And October has spoiled us, with major arts and cultural events kicking off with some of the finest artists from our lands and beyond. Melbourne Festival 2017 is open for another year with an eclectic range of events, while Australia's best portrait painters see their work on display at Geelong Gallery for the 2017 Archibald Prize. If you prefer your portraits by photograph, the National Photographic Portrait Prize is also on this month at the Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery. With so many great events — featuring many local and international creative geniuses — there's art, design, music, film and more to see.
As far as food preservation methods go, smoking might just be the tastiest. It's one of the oldest ways of keeping food edible for long amounts of time, but nowadays, its popularity probably has more to do with how tasty the results are. "You can't really recreate it, that extra flavour you get from the wood and the charcoal," says Jose Lagos, head chef at The Erko in Sydney, "you can't get that any other way." In case you haven't noticed, smoking has become something of a trend for all kinds of food — and even drink. Take for example the Wild Turkey Kentucky Firebird cocktail smoking things up at The Beaufort and Ike's every Thursday this month until June 15. Obviously, smoking stuff now applies to more than just meats. So, how can you bring this trend home and start smoking things in your own kitchen? We caught up with Jose, as well as Jaimee Edwards from Sydney's Cornersmith and Eli Challenger of Challenger Smallgoods (who both teach Cornersmith workshops on home smoking if you find yourself in Sydney) to chat about the best ways to start smoking your own food and drink at home. From meats to vegetables, drinks to dairy to desserts, everything's up for grabs when it comes to home smoking, provided you get it right. "Fuel, temperature and time," Eli says. "Manage those three variables and you're good." MEATS There is a slew of methods to smoking at home, but arguably the easiest — also the method taught by Cornersmith in their workshops — is wok smoking. Rather than splashing out on a full-on smoker, look to your wok to get things smoking. It's as simple as lining the bottom of a wok with tin foil, heating up your fuel (wood or charcoal) in the foil until it smokes, and sticking your meat on a rack above. Cover the whole deal with more foil, and you've got a smoker you can stick right on your stovetop. Consistency and the right product are key to smoking meat at home. Also, fat content is essential to getting the whole spectrum of flavours into smoked meats, as some of the compounds in the smoke will only be absorbed by fat. "In any smoke that comes off the wood," Eli says, "you're going to have some compounds in the smoke that are fat-soluble and some that are water-soluble." According to Eli, picking a cut with a bit of fat and a bit of lean is essential to getting the right result. "That's why you'll often find when people do barbecue for example, they use fattier cuts like brisket and shoulder, because they have a good mix of fat and lean, so you get a really complex depth of smoked flavour in there." VEGGIES While smoking revolves primarily around meats, bear in mind that you can smoke pretty much anything if you're brave enough. Smoking is not a process reserved just for brisket and pork, explains Jaimee Edwards, workshop coordinator and fermenter at Cornersmith. "It's used in so many different cuisines, and non-animal products really take up the smoke flavour really well." Smokey veg is absolutely delicious, but getting vegetables in prime smokey form can be a little trickier since they don't have much fat content and the fat-soluble smoke flavours can't squeeze their way into the flavour profile. With that being the case, it's essential to add a little fat to your raw ingredients. Oils are a great source of fat for smoking vegetables. Something like a good sesame oil is ideal, which allows the smoke to form a flavour profile, all while adding its own nutty taste to the end product. You should also note that veg smokes excellently on a stovetop wok smoker, given the versatility and ease of the homemade apparatus. "You can do everything," Jaimee says, "from tofu to nuts, to pieces of meat, seafood and vegetables." COCKTAILS Although for food, that smokey taste is a happy by-product of a technique originally developed to preserve food, when it comes to smoking a beverage, the whole process simply boils down to getting those smokey flavours into a drink — there ain't nothing functional about it. There are many ways to make this happen, whether it's by using a smoking gun to inject hot smoke into an old fashioned, using smoked water to make ice for the drink, or by simply burning a cinnamon stick inside a glass. Whatever your method, the result is delicious, especially with whisky and bourbon. That's why the Wild Turkey Kentucky Firebird cocktail works so well. The cocktail combines the sweetness of bourbon, with the bitterness of Cinzano Rosso and a citrus kick from Grand Marnier, taking it all to another level with American oak chips smoked to order for each cocktail. "You can't go wrong with that," Eli says about smoking drinks. "I mean, you're just adding more depth and complexity to it." CHEESE Welcome to the advanced class. Smoking things requires well, smoke, thus requiring heat, so something that melts when heat is applied makes the process a bit more complex. While smoked cheeses are incredible, they require a more complicated cold smoking method, where the smoke is kept between 20 and 30 degrees. Maintaining this kind of temperature at home can be a bit tricky, but if you can pull it off, the rewards are plentiful. Since cheese is already packed with its own individual flavours, you don't have to go to town with the smoker to get great results. "You don't want [the cheese] to be too flavoursome," Jaimee says. "Unlike meat, where the flavours are all really robust, with cheeses and butters, it's a bit more delicate." Rather than smoking for hours on end like you might do for a cut of brisket, use a lighter touch to smoke your dairy. Once you get it right, it's totally worth it. "Man, when you get a smoked brie, or a smoked butter, or a smoked olive oil…" Eli says, "it's awesome." DESSERTS Speaking of smoking dairy, when it comes to smoked desserts, Jaimee explains how most are generally dairy based, which is the part that needs gentle smoking. Desserts tend to have the same qualities as cheese — see high melt factor — so you can't directly apply them to heat and expect great results. As such, getting smoke into your desserts also requires a cold smoke. If that doesn't tickle your fancy, however, there are other ways to get that smokey goodness into your sweet treats. Jose simplifies the process by suggesting smoking the smaller elements of a dessert, which can then be added to the bigger dish. For example, nuts have a high-fat content so they smoke well and can be managed on your home wok smoker. Take some macadamias, smoke 'em good, then bake them into a brownie — you get all the rich, sweetness of the brownie delightfully paired with pockets of smokey flavour. There are plenty of ways to get excellent smokey goodness into your desserts, and finding out those combinations is the best part of the game. Overall, smoking is all about trial and error. "Keep playing and keep experimenting," explains Eli. "That's the fun of barbecue." If you need some extra inspiration to kick your home smoking into gear, head to The Beaufort and Ike's on Thursdays until June 15 to sip a Wild Turkey Kentucky Firebird smoked cocktail, and contemplate all you can start smoking at home.
Somehow, entirely inexplicably, we're already thinking about Christmas. This year, skip the typical department stores and instead pick out unique gifts for your family and friends at The Big Design Market. Coming to Melbourne for the ninth time this December, the three-day independent designer extravaganza features over 250 stallholders selling furniture, fashion, homewares, textiles, and much more. With such a wide range of products, you're sure to find something for even the pickiest people on your list. You can also expect a smorgasbord of food options from local favourites like 400 Gradi, Miss Chu, Koko Black, All Day Donuts and Billy Van Creamy, and St Ali will be doing coffee all day (with a discount given to those that bring their keep cup). Plus, cocktails from Sydney gin distillery Archie Rose and tinnies from Moo Brew, will ensure you're sorted for Friday night (or Saturday arvo) drinks. The Big Design Market always commissions an impressive installation, and this year Min Pin artist Penny Ferguson will fill the Exhibition Building with a giant mobile of her cute and colourful illustrations. Each year the market also puts together a showbag of goodies from some of the stallholders, including Abby Seymour, Able & Game, Orbitkey and Hello Miss May. A limited number will be available to purchase each day for $30 ($150 value). Entry is $5 this year — but a percentage of that will be donated to Landcare to help support the organisation's restoration projects. So prepare your bank account, and get ready to have your Christmas shopping done earlier than you ever have before. The market will be open from 10am–9pm on Friday, 10am–7pm on Saturday and 10am–5pm on Sunday.
Gelato Messina, nostalgia and limited-edition desserts: that's the sweet-treat holy trinity. The cult-favourite ice creamery not only loves making one-off specials in general — it adores whipping up delights based on the dishes you loved as a kid. The latest: a honey joy version of its bake-at-home sticky scroll. Scrolls — or snails, as Messina calls them — are no strangers to the brand's range. Neither are honey joy treats, after it made a honey joy cookie pie in 2022. But combining the two is indeed a new development. Yes, it'll take you all the way back to your tuckshop days, and ensure that you can skip your next cereal breakfast. So, what exactly is a honey joy sticky snail? It's a scroll-like dish that's made to feed several people — four-to-six is Messina's recommendation — as filled with vanilla crème pâtissière. On top, you'll find honey joy clusters and honey caramel. And to go with it, because Messina is all about frosty desserts, is cereal milk gelato. Yes, this is another of the chain's Frankenstein's monster-style indulgences — and the entire pack includes the snail and a one-litre tub of gelato. If you're keen to get yourself a piece, they're available to preorder online on Tuesday, September 19. And, because Messina's specials always prove popular, the brand staggers its on-sale times. Accordingly, folks in Queensland and the ACT are able to purchase at 9am, Victorians at 9.15am, and New South Wales customers are split across three times (between 9.30–10am) depending on the store. You'll then need to head to your local Messina store to collect your order between Friday, September 22–Sunday, September 24. You can preorder Gelato Messina's honey joy sticky snail pack from Tuesday, September 19, to pick up from all stores in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland between Friday, September 22–Sunday, September 24.
Is this low-budget, low-key production Joss Whedon's post-Avengers campaign for cred as a Legit Indie Filmmaker? Much Ado About Nothing is Shakespeare's 1598 version of a rom-com, hauled mercilessly into 2013 with cocktails, cupcakes and a sensibility that's both verbose and slapstick. Our two lovers, Beatrice (Amy Acker) and Benedick (Alexis Denisof), are cluelessly star-crossed, blinded by their own pride and ego. Whether you find what plays out a tedious, self-financed pet project or an endearing contemporary translation will depend on your familiarity with the almost untouched original text and your appreciation/tolerance of Whedon universe in-jokes (like the Dollhouse set prop). The project was shot in 12 days at the end of Avengers production with a cast of usual Whedon suspects. It's a somewhat grinding change of gears from the Marvel machine, but in an age of relentless threequels, 3D fantasies and franchisable remakes, it's admirable to see a big-shot director get back to basics. Whedon does everything from writing the slightly cheesy score to staging the entire production in his LA mansion. It's shot in black and white, which seems to be an easy shorthand for self-declared serious independent directors lately, but Whedon makes it work. Just. Across all his various projects, this director's trademark is self-assuredness, and every frame of Much Ado About Nothing bounces with energy. It's as slick as you'd expect, if not a little forgettable, and definitely not daring. Then again, it's not meant to be: it's for Whedon's maniacal audience and for himself. The Elizabethan speech rarely totally flows, the modern setting jars and not all the actors convince. But the director's fondness for the typical Shakespearean preoccupations of hidden identity, destined love and thwarted revenge can't help but seep through. A frothy labour of love. https://youtube.com/watch?v=NZB5EBdKaMw
Looking for a unique spot to dance your way into 2023? We've found it. Once again, Sea Life Melbourne Aquarium invites you to party with the fish as you send out the old year in style at its Dancing in the Deep NYE party. You'll score a cocktail on arrival to enjoy while you explore Sea Life's current exhibitions — getting up close and personal to jellyfish, giant rays, sharks, seahorses and a colourful array of tropical fish — with more drinks available to purchase from the bar throughout the night. The dance floor is set to make quite a splash, too, as you move to sounds by DJ Eliza while sea creatures float all around you. Chefs will be whipping up a range of bites to enjoy along the way, from sliders to hot doughnut balls. And then, as the big moment draws closer, you'll be whisked up to the balcony for a front-row seat to watch the city's fireworks display explode over the city skyline. Tickets are $95, which gets you entry, your first cocktail and food.
If you're citybound and missing out on New Year's Eve festivals like Falls and Beyond The Valley this year, don't fret. Let Them Eat Cake is your inner city solution to satisfy those festival urges. Held for one day only at Werribee Park, LTEC is not only great for the music, but also plays host to installation art, openair exhibitions and some killer foodie offerings. But back to the music, this year's lineup includes the likes of Hudson Mohawke, Todd Terje, Cashmere Cat, Carl Craig and many others. Have your cake and eat it too guys, you've earned it this year.
Since 2016, the cinema-loving world has had a Studio Ghibli-shaped hole in its heart. That's when the acclaimed Japanese animation house released its most recent film, the gorgeous French co-production The Red Turtle. Its last solo production actually came two years earlier, courtesy of 2014's When Marnie Was There. Still, much has happened in Studio Ghibli's world over the past decade. Hayao Miyazaki announced his retirement, then changed his mind. In 2018, fellow co-founder and acclaimed director Isao Takahata sadly passed away. And, over the past few years, the company has been busying itself with its very own theme park. The latter is due to open in 2022 and become quite the tourist attraction — but that doesn't mean that fans aren't keen for more Ghibli movies. Thankfully, the studio revealed earlier this year that it's working on just that, with two new films on its slate for 2020. One of those movies will be helmed by My Neighbour Totoro, Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle icon Miyazaki, with How Do You Live? actually first announced a few years back. As for the second film, information have been scarce to date; however the company has just provided more than a few details. Called Aya and the Witch — and also known as Earwig and the Witch in English — the movie will mark the first Studio Ghibli completely made using computer-generated animation. Director-wise, it's helmed by Hayao Miyazaki's son Goro Miyazaki, who previously directed Tales from Earthsea and From Up On Poppy Hill. It's also based on a novel written by British author Diana Wynne Jones, who penned the book that Howl's Moving Castle was adapted from, too. And, it'll head straight to Japanese television, with the film airing on local broadcaster NHK TV sometime during Japan's winter. Just when audiences elsewhere will get to see Aya and the Witch is yet to be revealed; however it was announced this week that it would've screened at the 2020 Cannes Film Festival if the event had gone ahead this year. In lieu of holding a physical fest, the prestigious event announced a lineup of 56 movies it would've shown, giving them the 'Cannes 2020 Official Selection' label — and Ghibli's latest is one of them. In terms of story, Aya and the Witch focuses on a girl at an orphanage. She enjoys living there, but her world changes when she's chosen to live with a couple — including, as the title makes plain, a witch. Fingers crossed that Aya and the Witch will head to screens Down Under sooner rather than later. In the interim, you can get your Ghibli fix by checking out the company's online tours of its museum on the outskirts of Tokyo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ccgm1Pp5Whw Via Studio Ghibli. Top image: Howl's Moving Castle.
Planning your next adventure? Leave behind the bustling streets of Melbourne for regional Victoria's incredible wealth of picturesque hiking trails. After a long day spent trekking the dusty trails, you'll need somewhere to kick off your hiking shoes and get some much-needed R&R. Fortunately, there's no shortage of amazing eco-friendly cabins and off-the-grid spots to immerse you deep within Victoria's forests and valleys. Hit the road and take on that challenging hilltop climb — here are four luxurious cabins that will ensure you rest in comfort. From pristine beaches and bountiful wine regions to alpine hideaways and bustling country towns, Australia has a wealth of places to explore at any time of year. We've partnered with Tourism Australia to help you plan your road trips, weekend detours and summer getaways so that when you're ready to hit the road you can Holiday Here This Year. While regional holidays within Victoria will be allowed from May 31, some of the places mentioned below may still be closed due to COVID-19 restrictions. Please check websites before making any plans. [caption id="attachment_717086" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Visit Victoria[/caption] THE BUCKLAND Mount Buffalo National Park offers some of Australia's most scenic trails, and the Buckland Studio Retreat puts you right in the middle of all the action. Overlooking the alpine forest and granite cliffs, the cabins feature the full gamut of modern amenities, including double rain showers and free-standing baths that offer private hillside views. Breakfast is served as you look out across the stunning 40 acres of rugged bushland that these cabins stand on. You'll also have access to nearby hiking trails, including the Bungalow Spur Walk and a walk that reaches Mount Buffalo's summit. After you've built up an appetite from your hike, Bright's eateries are just a ten-minute drive away, like Tomahawks — a cosy bar and restaurant set in the middle of town. CLIFFTOP AT HEPBURN Designed by architect Robin Larsen, the Clifftop at Hepburn boasts seven remarkable cabins that will take your rural retreat to the next level. Floor-to-ceiling windows reveal views across the rolling bushland toward neighbouring cliff faces. With unconventional amenities like Lord of the Rings pinball machines and eclectic Japanese massage chairs, each cabin presents a bespoke design that blends perfectly into the hillside landscape. Nearby Daylesford and Hepburn Springs present some spectacular day-long hikes, or you can refresh yourself straight from the source at Hepburn Mineral Springs Reserve. SANTOSA COTTAGE Located just outside Melbourne's busy outer suburban streets and in the green township of Sassafras, Santosa Cottage is a charming private retreat. Surrounded by lush fernery, this two-storey cottage includes a roaring wood fire for those chilly nights and a set of French doors that open out onto a deck where you can sit among the trees. Plus, Sassafras Village is comfortably within walking distance and home to quaint cafes for your coffee and cake fix. Spend your days roaming the Dandenong Ranges National Park and its scenic hiking trails that are suitable for any level of fitness. [caption id="attachment_717084" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Visit Victoria[/caption] DULC HOLIDAY CABINS From rock climbing to horse riding and abseiling, Halls Gap has no shortage of activities for nature lovers to enjoy. Its most luxurious cabin stay is Down Under Log Cabins, aka DULC, which provides a great base to explore the wider Grampians region. Combining a rustic vibe with contemporary features, this series of single and two-storey cabins slots comfortably into the landscape with wooden floors, log walls and an abundance of natural light. Sustainably built, each cabin features a gas log fire, sleek spa baths and espresso machines for your morning caffeine boost before you hit the trails. While visiting this particularly popular part of the Northern Grampians, you'll have the opportunity to admire wonderful views across the range from Boroka Lookout. Or hop over to MacKenzie Falls and spy one of the largest waterfalls in Victoria. Whether you're planning to travel for a couple of nights or a couple of weeks, Holiday Here This Year and you'll be supporting Australian businesses while you explore the best of our country's diverse landscapes and attractions. Top image: Santosa Cottage.
It's time to break out those picnic rugs 'cause The Peninsula Picnic is back for its annual celebration of food, wine and good times. Taking over the Mornington Racecourse on Saturday, March 30, this year's lineup promises to be as impressive as ever, showcasing the region's finest epicurean delights, alongside a rather nifty musical offering. Showing off their goods on the day — and ensuring bellies and wine glasses stay happily full — will be a hand-picked selection of local producers. Expect offerings from renowned wineries like T'Gallent, Quealy and Prancing Horse, and dining hot-spots like Jackalope Hotel's Rare Hare, Max's Restaurant, Green Olive and Montalto. There'll also be brews from Wild Yak and cocktails from Pimm's, plus a series of wine masterclasses and market stalls. Topping it all off, The Peninsula Picnic has landed a cracking lineup of live tunes, headlined by Sydney band The Rubens. The five-piece rockers — who've just dropped their third album Lo La Ru — will be joined by loved Aussie singer Sarah Blasko, alt-indie artist Tia Gostelow, emerging local act Fraser A Gordon and Latin music performers San Lazaro.
Another week, another Gelato Messina special. That's been the dessert chain's contribution to making lockdown a little more bearable over the past year and a half, and it isn't changing that tactic now. So, if you're under stay-at-home conditions in Sydney and Melbourne, you now have another indulgent sweet treat to look forward to. And for folks in southeast Queensland, you've got an excuse to treat yo'self to a decadent dessert anyway. On the menu this time: the return of the brand's Basque cheesecake gelato, but without the sticky Cinnabon-style scrolls it came paired with when it made its debut back in August. You'll be able to buy a one-litre tub of the stuff, which comes filled with exactly what it says on the label — that'd be Basque cheesecake gelato — and is topped with a slice of toasted Basque cheesecake. The special can only be ordered online on Monday, September 27. It will set you back $35 — and, because Messina's specials always prove popular, the brand is staggering the on-sale times. Accordingly, folks in Queensland and the ACT are able to purchase at 9am, Victorians at 9.30am, and New South Wales customers split across three times depending on the store (with pies from Circular Quay, Surry Hills, Bondi, Randwick and Miranda on sale at 10am; Brighton Le Sands, Tramsheds, Parramatta and Darlinghurst at 10.30am; and Darling Square, Newtown, Rosebery and Penrith at 11am). The catch? You'll have to peel yourself off the couch and head to your local Messina store to pick up your order. They'll be available for collection between Friday, October 1–Sunday, October 3. Sydneysiders, remember to abide by lockdown restrictions when it comes to picking up your bavarian — which means sticking to your Local Government Area, or within five-kilometres from home. Melburnians, under new eased lockdown rules that come into effect in mid-September, you're permitted to travel within a ten-kilometre radius to pick up food. You can preorder a Messina Basque cheesecake gelato tub from Monday, September 27, to pick up from Friday, October 1–Sunday, October 3.
From its humble origins in suburban shopping centres of the mid-2000s, Melbourne's bubble tea scene has become an easily recognisable part of life across the city. The Taiwanese drink, consisting of tea, milk and tapioca balls known affectionately as 'pearls', is now sold on virtually every corner of the Hoddle Grid. This is partly because the drink itself is constantly evolving; new ingredients, flavours and concepts appear on menus all the time, and many go on to become mainstays in their own right—take the 2018 boom in 'cheese tea', for instance. At the same time, vendors are increasingly experimenting with presentation and aesthetics to keep themselves above the ever-growing competition. With CBD foot traffic down up to 90 percent in 2020, many bubble tea shops were forced to do both in a bid to attract the limited customers and increase revenue. The shops in this round-up have not succeeded in doing this, but have pushed the boundaries and found new ways to make the familiar drink. Now, as the city gradually comes back to life, they find themselves at the forefront of a new wave in Melbourne's bubble tea scene. [caption id="attachment_797458" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Parker Blain[/caption] NUTTEA Few bubble tea shops cater to vegans. Dairy-free alternatives are usually hard to come by, and people who prefer other options are often forced into the fruit-based section of the menu. Enter Nuttea: a Taiwanese store with a newly opened flagship in Melbourne Central. Nuttea prides itself on championing plant-based bubble tea so that everyone can enjoy a full selection of creamy and fruity options. In fact, its entire menu is vegan. "We're making healthier bubble tea that tastes good, makes you feel good and is better for the environment as well", owner Jason Tan told Concrete Playground. The store uses a blend of walnut, macadamia and cashew in its nut mylk, and it's served with tea and smoothies as well as coffee. It also makes a hazelnut-based cream, which is used as a garnish on some of its teas, including the ruby black tea. The ruby black tea is a premium strain produced in Taiwan's Sun Moon Lake, and Nuttea's cream is a smooth and decadent addition to the drink. For a more adventurous pairing, try the earl grey, served with chocolate nut cream instead — and for something more refreshing, go for the new-season grape tea, made from fresh grapes in-house. All these drinks also come with a sticker outlining how to approach the drink — first by tasting some of the cream, then drinking from the rim before finally mixing it all together. Find Nuttea at ELLA Melbourne Central, Corner Elizabeth and Latrobe streets from 11am–7pm Wednesday–Thursday and Sunday, and 11am–8pm Friday and Saturday. NARÖCHA In 2020, a newfound reliance on home delivery services saw all sorts of creative solutions emerge when it comes to bubble tea — many versions of the beverage, particularly those with more elaborate toppings, don't tend to travel too well. Naröcha has worked around this by offering DIY tea kits and one-litre take-home bottles, both of which have proven godsends for customers and the store alike. Its most popular drinks are now available in this ready-made, bottled form — among them a butterfly lemonade tea, which is caffeine-free and purple in colour. For more indecisive customers, it also sells bundles of four-to-ten taster bottles in 350-millilitre or 500-millilitre sizes. In terms of DIY products, Naröcha sells everything from tea powders and whisks to a fully stocked DIY boba package. It makes its in-house takeaway drinks feel more transparent — you know exactly what they contain and how they're made. The more popular drinks to buy in store include the hojicha makiato and classic bubble milk tea, but more left-of-field options include a strawberry cheesecake drink and a Milo mocha, as well as a seasonal watermelon and mango tea with mango popping pearls and a brown sugar range with hojicha, genmaicha and matcha varieties. Find Naröcha at 59 Therry Street, Melbourne from 11am–8pm Monday–Friday and 10am–10.30pm Saturday and 10am–9pm Sunday. INSTEA If take-home bottles are the next big selling point for bubble tea, then why not get even more creative with the packaging? Instea has taken the concept of reusable bottles one step further, selling its six signature drinks in glass bottles resembling Chanel perfume. Among these are your classic matcha and brown sugar options, two versions of butterfly flower tea and an aptly named Cocoa Chanel beverage consisting of cocoa and milk. While these have been selling out over the company's first months of trade so far, they're regularly restocked alongside new herbal varieties. If they are sold out, matcha, brown sugar and cocoa options are also available in regular packaging, along with seasonal drinks, a suite of fresh brew teas and yoghurt- and fruit-based drinks. Staff favourites include the lemon green tea and Summer Supreme fruit tea. Find Instea at 210 Swanston Street, Melbourne VIC from 11am–10pm Sunday–Wednesday and 11am–11pm Thursday-Saturday. MACHI MACHI This Taiwanese store also packages its most popular drinks in take-home bottles. It garnishes them with a layer of panna cotta as well, but this unique topping option isn't quite the brand's true claim to fame. The brand actually garnered international recognition after being featured in a Jay Chou music video which now has over 60 million views on You Tube. The store's name and logo honour Machi, his wife Hannah Quinlivan's pet dog. Notwithstanding its unusual origin story, Machi Machi's range of drinks speaks for itself. Besides bottled teas served with panna cotta, the store is packing many fresh fruit and cream cheese options. Also available is a premium Sun Moon Lake black tea, and its original black milk tea with crème brûlée. Find Machi Machi at 264 Swanston Street from 11pm–10pm daily; at 612 Station Street, Box Hill from 11am–11pm daily; and 85 Kingsway, Glen Waverley from 11am–10pm Sunday–Thursday and 11am–11pm Friday–Saturday. Top image: Nuttea by Parker Blain
Films for grown-ups. They're regretfully rare (and I bemoaned this rarity just last week), but we have one in Performance. What could be construed merely as a music film is in fact a tightly wound, deliberate and sensitive depiction of creative, platonic and romantic relationships on the edge of destruction. Affairs, betrayals, sacrifice — together this list appears as standard soap opera material. But in the assured hands of former documentary-maker Yaron Zilberman, they are so much more. Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Christopher Walken and Mark Ivanir give astonishing performances as members of an esteemed Manhattan string quartet. As a creative family, the quartet's future is thrown into doubt when Walken's character develops Parkinson's — a particularly devastating diagnosis for a musician whose profession hinges on the dexterity of his hands. Here is a film that presents the complexities of regret, the price of compromise and the undoable consequences of the decisions you only realise in retrospect were, in fact, decisions. All these themes find their mirror in the intimacy and sacrifice of the quartet's musical collaboration and the intensity of their tenuous creative bonds. Performance is finely tuned and deeply moving. Its precise, dynamic dialogue gives the impression of being written by a master playwright. Its score rates a special mention — composer Angelo Badalamenti also wrote Twin Peaks''unforgettable theme. Its characters are fully fledged vessels of hurt, resentment and miscommunication, but they're not monsters — they're just actually human. And for a real, grown-up, mainstream film, that's not just unusual, that's something to treasure. https://youtube.com/watch?v=yaFTheo2v-E
Forget only celebrating Christmas for one day, or even just 12. Don't limit yourself to a mere 25 days of getting festive, either. At Lune for the entire month of December — including on Christmas Day at some stores — the specials menu is enjoying a merry makeover. Whether you're after croissants, cruffins or a savoury pastry, there's something to suit the occasion right through until Tuesday, December 31, 2024. Each month, Lune Croissanterie whips up a fresh batch of limited-time offerings, giving you something tasty to look forward to when you flip over your calendar. If you've tucked into hot cross cruffins, lasagne pastries and Tim Tam pains au chocolat this year, you'll have tasted the results. Now, with festive season upon us, the Kate Reid co-founded bakery brand is dishing up appropriate treats. Start with stuffed turkey pastries, then move onto gingerbread croissants. First, the sweet stuff. Lune's gingerbread special is a twice-baked croissant made with pecan frangipane, baked gingerbread and molasses caramel, then topped with frangipane, gingerbread, white icing and gold dusted chocolate pearls. From 2023's specials, the choc peppermint twice-baked pain au chocolat is back for 2024, featuring chocolate frangipane and a peppermint patty, then dark chocolate crumb, melted chocolate and crushed candy cane on top. It wouldn't be Christmas without eggnog and pudding, with Lune whipping up its own versions. You can eat your eggnog, rather than simply drink it, courtesy of Lune's latest cruffin. It's stuffed with rum syrup and eggnog custard, then dusted with icing sugar, and also finished with sweetened meringue cream, nutmeg and a spiced chocolate quill. The bakery's Christmas pudding comes filled with brandy caramel and muscovado brandy soaked fruit cake, and is then brushed with a caramel glaze, before being topped with brandy crème pâtissière, candied orange peel and grated nutmeg. For a savoury option, enter The Stuffed Turkey. This pastry is filled with a turkey and croissant pastry stuffing, with sage powder, cranberry sauce, crispy chicken skin and fried sage leaves added on top. Back on sweet dishes, Lune is giving Brisbane a bonus special. Befitting the River City's sultry weather, the chain's ice cream sandwich will be on offer — only at the South Brisbane store, and only between Monday, December 2–Tuesday, December 31. It takes a pain au chocolat, slices it open, then pops in two scoops of croissant infused ice-cream that's been folded with caramelised croissant pieces. After starting off as an off-menu staff snack, it's now being shared with customers. Lune currently operates in Melbourne and Brisbane, so you'll find its December specials available at its Melbourne CBD, Fitzroy and Armadale stores in the former, plus South Brisbane and Burnett Lane in the latter — but the range varies per venue. Online pre-orders are also available at some shops, for some products. Over the Christmas break, stores will be operating as normal until Christmas Eve, then just Fitzroy and South Brisbane will open from 8–11am on Christmas itself. All venues will be up and running from 8am–3pm from Boxing Day until New Year's Day, then standard operating hours return from Thursday, January 2, 2025. Lune's December specials menu runs from Sunday, December 1–Tuesday, December 31, 2024, with different specials on offer at Armadale, Fitzroy and the CBD in Melbourne, and South Brisbane and Burnett Lane in Brisbane. From some stores, you can also order them online. Images: Peter Dillon.
Got your New Year's Eve plans sorted? How about New Year's Day, then? Every year, on the first day of January, party-goers with stamina flock to Coburg Velodrome for Freedom Time, a one-day multi-stage festival filled with acts from both home and away. The organisers have teamed up with Wax'o Paradiso and Skylab Radio to curate a variety of genres, from progressive funk and '80s-influenced pop to ambient and future soul. Among the artists travelling from abroad to usher in 2019 are DJ Donna Leake (UK), who's done quite a bit of time at London's renowned sushi-meets-electronica venue Brilliant Corners; Dam-FUNK (US), whose devotion to progressive funk has been total since the 1990s; and DJ duo Alex Rita and Errol (UK), whose mixing visits jazz, soul and broken beat. From here in Australia, look out for future soul band Hiatus Kaiyote, who've scored two Grammy nominations; Sydney-based ambient duo Angophora; and, also hailing from Sydney, 80s pop god Donny Benet. Image: Duncographic.
Melburnians will have two outdoor electronica festivals to choose from come January 1, 2019. This year, joining Werribee Park's Let Them Eat Cake is Sidney Myer Music Bowl's The First — a multi-stage music festival dedicated to live electronic, hip hop, house and techno that'll take over the Kings Domain this New Year's Day. Run by Montreal-based festival host Piknic Électronik and Australia's electronic music guru Hardware Group, the festival is a hangover party you don't need to travel out of town for. Among the festival's stages is one dedicated to Piknic Électronic and it'll kick off the brand's fifth season of weekly-mini festivals in Melbourne (the dates of which have not yet been released). The headliners for the inaugural NYD festival include heavy-hitting rap queen M.I.A, Australian dance royalty The Presets and New York hip-hop artist Action Bronson, along with Banoffee, Bloody Mary, Bob Moses, KiNK, Krystal Klear, Max Cooper, Nastia and SG Lewis. The full lineup of local and international acts hasn't been announced just yet, so stay tuned for more. While you're there, visual art, food trucks and booze-a-plenty will be on the docket, too.
Earlier in 2020, when social distancing and public gathering rules were in place across the country, KFC did everyone a solid by offering up free home delivery for the first time ever Down Under. Life is slowly returning to normal now, but the fried chicken chain is bringing back the deal anyway — so you can round up your housemates again and tuck into those 11 secret herbs and spices. The reason this time: State of Origin. KFC's free delivery will be available across the next three Wednesdays to coincide with this year's postponed games — so on November 4, November 11 and November 18. The great news is that you don't have to care about the matches, or watch them, to get that chicken brought to your door without paying extra. The free delivery is simply available all day on each of those three days, from open till close at your local store. The limited-time offer is available nationwide, too — and there is no minimum spend required. To get your hands on some finger lickin' good chook with no added cost, you'll just need to head to Menulog's website or use the Menulog app. And while your food is on its way, you can meditate with KFChill, a wellness website that lets you unwind to the sound of chicken frying, gravy simmering or bacon sizzling away in a pan. Yes, it'll make you hungry. KFC is offering free delivery across Australia on all orders via Menulog, with the special available on Wednesday, November 4, Wednesday, November 11 and Wednesday, November 18. To order, head to the Menulog website and or use the Menulog app.
After launching its eco-friendly picnic boats in cities all over Europe, Danish company GoBoat made the leap to Australia, giving punters a fun way to cruise the Yarra. If you're keen for a day on the river, you can grab a GoBoat from Banana Alley near Flinders Street Station. GoBoat has secured a ten-year berthing arrangement with Parks Victoria, which means that it won't be shifting anytime soon, either. Aimed at making the whole boating caper more accessible for everyday folk, the outfit's Scandinavian-designed vessels are slow-moving, a breeze to operate and don't require a boating licence, making for fuss-free sailing sessions. In a win for the planet, they also run on silent, pollution-free, electric engines, and are crafted from a mix of reclaimed timber and recycled PET bottles. Each of the contemporary GoBoats clocks in at 18-feet long, boasting a central picnic table with room for eight people (and all the necessary snacks and booze). And despite what you might be thinking, they're even affordable enough to fit your post-holiday budget — simply BYO food and drinks, find enough eager sailors to jump aboard and a GoBoat session will cost you less than $15 per person, per hour. That's $109 hourly in total, or $189 for two hours, $269 for three hours, $349 for four hours, $429 for five hours and $509 for six hours. Yes, you can really make a whole day of it. You can book a few months in advance or make the most of a surprise afternoon off with a last minute picnic, with timeslots available in 15-minute increments from 11am. The boats are required to be returned by sunset, with the specific time obviously changing with the seasons. Oh, and did we mention they're pet-friendly? Surely you've got a very good boy who deserves a river jaunt. Images: Lean Timms.
UPDATE, December 4, 2020: Sound of Metal opened in select Melbourne cinemas on Thursday, December 3, and also streams on Amazon Prime Video from Friday, December 4. When Sound of Metal begins just as its title intimates, it does so with the banging and clashing of drummer Ruben Stone (Riz Ahmed, Venom) as his arms flail above his chosen instrument. He's playing a gig with his girlfriend and bandmate Lou (Olivia Cooke, Ready Player One), and he's caught up in the rattling and clattering as her guttural voice and thrashing guitar offers the pitch-perfect accompaniment. But for viewers listening along, it doesn't quite echo the way it should. For the bleached-blonde, tattooed, shirtless and sweaty Ruben, that's the case, too. Sound of Metal's expert and exacting sound design mimics his experience, as his hearing fades rapidly and traumatically over the course of a few short days — a scenario that no one wants, let alone a musician with more that a few magazine covers to his band's name, who motors between shows in the cosy Airstream he lives in with his other half and is about to embark upon a new tour. 'Heavy metal drummer loses his hearing' is the six-word way to sum up Sound of Metal, but that's not all the film is about. Ruben's ability to listen to the world around him begins to dip out quickly and early — a scene where he's driving is methodically crafted to convey to the audience just how out of the blue and jarring it is — leaving him struggling to cope. It's how he grapples with the abrupt change, and with being forced to sit with his own company without a constant onslaught of aural interruptions distracting him from his thoughts, that the movie is most interested in, however. Ruben feels a sense of loss and also feels lost. As the awards-worthy soundscape makes plain, he feels both cast adrift and assaulted. With apologies to cinema's blockbusters (which usually monopolise the sound categories come Oscars time), no other feature this year mixes its acoustics together in as stunning and stirring a fashion, and also bakes every single noise heard into its script, and its protagonist's journey, as well. Reluctantly, Ruben takes up residence at a rural community for addicts who are deaf; he's four years clean himself, but the turn of events has Lou worried. While he's in the care of the soulful Joe (Paul Raci, Baskets), an ex-soldier and ex-alcoholic with kindness seeping from his pores, Ruben must move in alone — farewelling the love of his life and their shiny caravan. Again, he's unmoored, even as he's welcomed in by other residents and the children at the school where he's taught sign language. Although Joe stresses that deafness isn't something that needs to be fixed, Ruben is obsessed with rustling up the cash for a surgically inserted cochlear implant. The movie's most telling sequence, though, comes when Joe notices that Ruben literally can't sit still or stand his own company, and tasks him with spending his days in a quiet room unburdening his angst onto a piece of paper. On the first go, he's so distraught and so desperate to escape his brain that he smashes a doughnut as if he was beating a snare in an intense solo. 'Intense' is the word for Sound of Metal, and for its decision to express Ruben's distress as immersively as possible. It's also a term that doesn't completely do the movie justice. Making his feature directing debut, and co-writing another screenplay with filmmaker Derek Cianfrance as he did with 2012's The Place Beyond the Pines, Darius Marder turns his picture into a masterful exploration and skilled evocation of the kind of anxiety that's drummed deep into a person's darkest recesses. Viewers don't just hear what Ruben hears, but also feel what he feels as he rages and rallies against a twist of fate that he so vehemently doesn't want yet has to live with. While the film specifically depicts hearing loss, it's so detailed and empathetic in conveying Ruben's shock, denial, anger and hard-fought process of adjustment that it also proves an astute rendering of illness and impairment in general. That's Ahmed's recent niche; in two consecutive roles in just the past year, the always-excellent actor has played musicians who are blindsided by their health and the impact of a sudden affliction on their future. This year's Berlinale-premiering Mogul Mowgli, where he steps into the shoes of a British Pakistani rapper with an autoimmune condition, doesn't just pair perfectly with Sound of Metal. Together, the two movies demonstrate how committed Ahmed is to telling such tales in a piercing, probing, visceral and lived-in way. Here, he learned to play the drums and American Sign Language. What resonates as persistently as the muffled buzz that replaces Ruben's ability to discern ordinary sounds, though, is how affectingly and attentively his on-edge but also vulnerable portrayal is attuned to the everyday grief that comes with his character's situation. Losing a part of yourself, whether it's an actual sense or the sense that you'll always be healthy, is dispiritingly tough. Accepting and making the most of that scenario is just as difficult. Being deaf shouldn't be considered a state that needs to be cured, as Joe rightly espouses, so Ahmed's powerfully physicalised performance shows the fight and fortitude it takes to get to that place mentally and emotionally. From the exceptional work of supervising sound editor Nicolas Becker (Suspiria, American Honey, Gravity) to the urgent, in-the-moment cinematography favoured by Daniël Bouquet (Elektro Mathematrix), every choice made under the talented Marder's guidance has the same outcome as well. Indeed, when Sound of Metal ends — not with a bang, nor a whimper, but with a quiet yet potent moment — it has taken its audience deep into Ruben's journey, made those on- and off-screen confront both specific and existential anxiety, and rousingly, movingly and sensitively challenged traditional depictions of and attitudes towards disability in the process. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFOrGkAvjAE
If you fancy channeling a blissed-out European summer, without spending a cent on airfares, you're in luck. From its primo spot overlooking the Yarra, mod-Italian haunt Fatto Bar and Cantina is embracing those sunny season feels with a brand new series of bottomless rosé lunches, happening every Sunday throughout October. Fatto's riverside terrace will play host to these chic Italian feasts, running across two sessions each week (12-2pm and 2.30-4.30pm) for groups of four or more, and starring a new sharing menu by Head Chef James Kummrow. You'll get your Sunday kicks enjoying DJ tunes along with a parade of spring-appropriate dishes, such as citrus-cured king salmon tartare with basil cream and Yarra Valley caviar, an indulgent spanner crab spaghettini and Cone Bay barramundi teamed with asparagus and smoked yoghurt. Clocking in at $75 per person, each Sunday lunch features a shared feast of entrees, a pasta and a main, and two sides, plus unlimited rosé. Choose from Fairbank, made by Sutton Grange's Melanie Chester (Young Gun of Wine 2018 People's Choice Winner) or opt for an overseas jaunt, with the Coup de Genie from Saint Tropez in Provence, France. Images: Simon Shiff
The Auburn Hotel's beer garden has been a favourite among the stacked Hawthorn pub scene for years. And, this winter, it's being transformed once again into an igloo garden and it's here to stay for a while — keeping things cosy right through 'til September. To make the snug arrangement even better, the Auburn Hotel has teamed up with Wild Turkey American Honey Whiskey to create a selection of belly-warming drinks and sweet treats to enjoy once inside, including three specialty cocktails — the old-fashioned with honey, bitters, and honeycomb ($18), a hot toddy with lemon and honey ($16) and a pineapple and mint julep ($18). There are two igloo packages available. Groups of eight or less can book the small igloo package for $49 per person. Expect a tasting board piled high with cured meats, cheeses, hummus, pickled vegetables and chutney to start, followed by a decadent chocolate and honey fondue. The dessert will be accompanied by strawberries, marshmallows, biscuits, popcorn and honeycomb for all your dipping needs, plus your choice of an American Honey cocktail, espresso martini, wine or Hawthorn pint. If your crew is a little bigger, opt for the large igloo package ($79 per person). It caters for up to 28 people and features a three-course meal with canapes on arrival. You'll be served a large grazing board to start, followed by braised lamb and roast chicken with a selection of roast vegetables — or eggplant stuffed with couscous and vegetable risotto for vegetarians. You'll also get to finish things off with the chocolate fondue as well. There are also American Honey-glazed doughnuts ($12) and peanut butter parfait ($12) on offer, too. Setting the wintery mood, the beer garden will be landscaped with wild plants and lanterns at each igloo entrance. Meanwhile, the igloos — decked out with lights, plush cushions and blankets — will be transparent, allowing for plenty of stargazing opportunities, minus the winter chill. The Winter Igloo Garden will be open from Thursday, May 2 to Sunday, September 1. To secure your spot in the igloo, head over here.
No longer will ravenous souls roam the mean streets of Melbourne on a wild-eyed search for their favourite food truck. Now open on High Street, Thornbury, Welcome to Thornbury is Melbourne’s first permanent food truck trailer park, featuring some of the tastiest names in mobile food vending that the city has to offer. Dreamed up by the legends at Mr Burger, Welcome to Thornbury is located at 520 High Street, just a hop, skip and a jump from Croxton Train Station and the 86 tram line. Once a used car yard, the newly-renovated, 4000-square metre venue features both indoor and outdoor seating, and will host as many as six different food vendors and 700 hungry patrons a night. The Welcome to Thornbury calendar, which you can find on their Facebook page, promises 43 trucks in August alone, including Mr Burger, Ramen on Wheels, Caliko BBQ, Gorilla Grill, Senor Churo, White Guys Cook Thai and Sliders on Tyres. They’ve also got their own in-built 200-seater bar, where you can grab cocktails, wine and beer by the bottle or on tap. Welcome to Thornbury is open between 5pm – 9pm Monday – Thursday, 12pm – 10pm Friday – Saturday, and 12pm – 9pm Sunday. For more information check them out on Facebook.
After blockbuster exhibitions in 2017 and 2019, The National: New Australian Art — an epic contemporary Australian art exhibition held across three major Sydney galleries — is back. Due to open on Friday, March 26, the program will feature works from 39 emerging, mid-career and established artists at the Art Gallery of NSW, the MCA and Carriageworks. At the helm for this edition of the biennial set of exhibitions are Matt Cox and Erin Vink (AGNSW), Abigail Moncrieff (Carriageworks) and Rachel Kent (MCA). Each gallery will exhibit a unique and distinct collection of new Australian art from artists such as Abdullah MI Syed and Lauren Berkowitz, plus artistic collective such as A Constructed World and the Karrabing Film Collective. The exhibitions will run simultaneously across the three galleries, all kicking off on the same date but finishing at various times until Sunday, September 5. Find out more at The National's website — and find out which artists are being exhibited at which galleries via the MCA, AGNSW and Carriageworks. [caption id="attachment_804284" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Bilirubin Bezoarn, 2019, installation view, photographer: Christo Crocker[/caption] Top image: Zan Wimberley
Maybe you loved her on Saturday Night Live. Perhaps you adore Parks and Recreation like it's a member of your family. Or, you could've watched and rewatched Baby Mama and Sisters over and over again — or binged your way through Making It, her competitive crafting show. However you became an Amy Poehler fan, 2021 is shaping up to be a great year. The talented comedian and actor is co-hosting the Golden Globes again with Tina Fey, Parks and Recreation has just hit Netflix and, come early March, Poehler's latest movie will also make its way to the streaming platform. That flick is called Moxie, and it both co-stars Poehler and marks her second stint as a feature filmmaker. It also heads back to high school — because popping up in Mean Girls, which Tina Fey wrote the screenplay for, clearly wasn't enough of a blast from the past. Poehler obviously isn't packing her school bag. Instead, she plays the mother to a teenager, Vivian (Hadley Robinson, I'm Thinking of Ending Things). The 16-year-old has always been quiet and studious, and tried to to avoid attracting any unwanted attention from her classmates. But, after finally realising that she's had enough of the toxic behaviour that runs rampant at her school, she takes a few cues from her mum's past, starts an underground zine and starts fighting for change. From the just-dropped first trailer, Moxie slides easily into the high-school genre; however, it also gives it a riot grrrl spin. Plus, as well as Poehler and Robinson, the film's cast includes Alycia Pascual-Peña (Saved By the Bell), Lauren Tsai (Legion), Patrick Schwarzenegger (Daniel Isn't Real), Josephine Langford (After We Collided), Clark Gregg (Agents of SHIELD), Ike Barinholtz (The Hunt) and Marcia Gay Harden (The Morning Show) — and it's based on the he novel by Jennifer Mathieu. Check out the trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sf34qI1hjKU Moxie will be available to stream via Netflix from Wednesday, March 3. Top image: Colleen Hayes/Netflix © 2020
It's time to get the word "Jellicle" stuck in your head once more: to mark 40 years since it first hit the stage in Australia, Cats is prowling through theatres again in 2025. Back in July 1985, Aussie audiences initially experienced Andrew Lloyd Webber's acclaimed production, which turned a tale inspired by poems from T.S. Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats into an award-winning theatre hit. In Melbourne, your next chance to see Cats starts from Sunday, December 21. Four decades ago, the show pranced through Theatre Royal Sydney to begin with — and after a stop there, the new season is scampering across the boards at Hamer Hall in the Victorian capital, too, to help you make some new Cats memories. If you're new to Cats, it spends its time with the Jellicle cat tribe on the night of the Jellicle Ball. That's the evening each year when their leader Old Deuteronomy picks who'll be reborn into a new Jellicle life by making the Jellicle choice. And yes, "Jellicle" is uttered frequently. Of late, audiences might be more familiar with Cats as a movie. In 2019, the musical made the leap from stage to screen with a star-studded cast including Idris Elba (Hijack), Taylor Swift (Amsterdam), Judi Dench (Belfast), Ian McKellen, (The Critic) James Corden, (Mammals) Jennifer Hudson (Respect), Jason Derulo (Lethal Weapon), Ray Winstone (Damsel) and Rebel Wilson (The Almond and the Seahorse) playing singing, scurrying street mousers. If you ever wanted to see Swift pouring cat nip on a crowd of cats from a suspended gold moon, or were keen to soothe your disappointment over the fact that Elba hasn't yet been James Bond by spotting him with whiskers, fur and a tail, this was your chance. For its efforts, the Tom Hooper (The Danish Girl)-directed film picked up six Golden Raspberry Awards, including Worst Picture. But while the movie clearly didn't hit the mark, you can see why this feline-fancying musical has been such a huge theatre hit thanks to its Aussie stage comeback. Images: Alessandro Pinna.
If you haven't yet had a chance to check out Gelato Messina's Creative Department, then this July is the perfect time to do so. The gelato fiends are adding truffles to all their dishes for a series of special, seasonal dinners. In conjunction with Parkesbourne Produce, Messina is crafting a special eight-course gelato-meets-gourmet mushrooms degustation running for just ten days, held in a private room behind the Messina Windsor store. So what kind of truffle-gelato goodness have the masterminds come up with this time around? Expect brioche and foie gras gelato with black truffle sauce; pistachio and black truffle gelato with matcha and white chocolate fudge; and grilled kumquat sorbet with koji cream, wattleseed and black truffle. You'll also be trying an equally creative range of non-alcoholic drinks, including the likes of a lemon myrtle and macadamia bubble tea and the pineapple, white soy and shiitake sparkling. Tickets are $160 per person and, based off how quick these things sell out around the country, you'll want to grab your tickets ASAP.
It's been a decade since Open House began opening up some of Melbourne's most delightful buildings to the public. In honour of their tenth anniversary, this year's Open House Weekend sports a huge program, featuring over 200 buildings across wider Melbourne. It's all going down on the weekend of July 29 and 30 with a series of talks in the weeks leading up to the open weekend itself. Some highlights of the program include a screening of Citizen Jane: Battle for the City at ACMI (a doco about a Jane Jacobs, a pioneering but untrained American city planner who championed sustainable activism, and whose work is seminal today in planning blueprints), a panel talk on 'high density happiness' discussing pedestrianising our cities, and a screening of Modern Melbourne, a series of interviews with and archival material from some of Australia's most prominent designers and architects. Also on the program is the Living Cities Forum, featuring award-winning architects and urban planners from around the world, and a free walking tour exploring the CBD's currently under construction metro tunnel. Not to mention the buildings. It might be a good idea to start planning your weekend now because it'll take some military precision to get around to all your favourites. You can plan you itinerary on the Open House website but here are our not-to-miss selections. Hassell Studio — a converted 1880s loft for the architectural firm. Old High Court of Australia — an art deco interior and Beaux-Arts exterior makes the old court very pretty indeed. RMIT Design Hub — designed by famous architect Sean Godsell, the unique façade of this alone makes it worth a visit. SIGNAL — the last surviving signal box of Flinders Street Station is now a creative arts studio for young people. State Library of Victoria — get up in the library's nooks and crannies before its big renovation starts. Substation 'J' — although it's been converted into a residential apartment, large elements of the substation remain. They're offering guided tours, but be warned: there's limited mobility access (meaning no prams, children under 14 or wheelchairs, unfortunately). Council House 2 — a world famous building, known for its sustainable functionality. The tour includes views from the rooftop. Cox Architecture Studio — it's the workspace of a premiere architectural firm, so you know it's going to be good. And while there's too many to list, don't forget to check out a few residential buildings as the weekend is probably the only time you'll be able to play house in someone else's beautiful, architecturally ambitious home. Image: Earl Carter.
The end of the world is happening in Hollywood. This North American summer has already seen Tom Cruise meet Oblivion, Seth Rogen and co scream This Is the End and all of us embrace our wildest apocalyptic fears in our terrible movie heavens. Now with Elysium, the director of District 9, Neill Blomkamp, turns his sights from apartheid South Africa to the interplanetary concern of undocumented immigrants. In the 22nd century, Earth is overpopulated, polluted and diseased. The Third World is now the world, and the rich have fled and founded a new off-planet habitat, Elysium, a floating disc of palm trees and daiquiris where the idyll sun-bake in oblivion and 'medbays' cure all sickness in seconds. The ruined Earth is just in sight over the horizon, where Matt Damon toils away making the terrifying robot policemen that oppress him and the other proles. A cruelly unnecessary industrial accident exposes him to lethal radiation, and now he's the classic John Connor-style everyman hero with nothing to lose. He needs a medbay, and the only solution is to wage an all-out war on Elysium, opening it up to all Earthly "illegals". His war armour transforms him into a man-robot fighting machine — if Aldous Huxley rather than Marvel designed Ironman. Let's face it, Matt Damon is a boss. Not only is he the most bankable actor in Hollywood, he has not given one dud performance, ever. Think about it. The day he does will be the day I weep and quit movie reviewing with a heavy heart and wistful glance in Brad Pitt's direction. Jodie Foster is our steel eyed, fluorescent-toothed and impeccably tailored Bad Ass Neo-Con, Delacourt. Foster is in full-tilt Nicholas Cage mode here, dispensing with naturalism to give a presentation-style performance as a heartless Hawk whose sole job is to keep those pesky illegals at bay and the squeaky clean wealth of Elysium safe. Her henchman Kruger (Sharlto Copley) is a no less than a demented sadist, screeching outrageously abusive one-liners in a full-blooded South African accent. While his boss is the ostensibly civilised policymaker pushing the sleek buttons of war from afar, Kruger is the brutal, gloves-off and knives-out psycho, and together they form both sides of the conservative coin. This gleeful bastard must surely be one of the best baddies in recent movie history, and a hysterical one at that. He injects the film with a blood-red jab of dark humour, and that sense of humour is something that is sorely lacking from the surging majority of Hollywood blockbusters. His one-liners are wonderfully gruesome, real Old Testament stuff. Best of all, it's this Hannibal-style character that allows Blomkamp to really reach beyond the formulaic sameness that characterises most films of this hi-tech genre and deliver some proper twists in the final act. If you've wondered why recent big-shot Hollywood flicks like the $200 million-plus World War Z have been oddly bloodless, in a way that doesn't gel with their ADHD violence, it's because rocketing production budgets ensure that these films need to be rated PG to attract the largest possible spectrum of paying cinema-goers, and that has to mean high school-aged boys and their parents. Elysium has no such qualms — with an MA15+ stamp, it has gross blood to spare and it's all the more satisfying as a result. If there ever was going to be a contemporary director to hijack Hollywood, it's Blomkamp. He delivers blockbusters based in empathy and political smarts that actually aspire to be more than insulting filmic pollution. The state of Elysium suffers from a serious "political sickness, a moral tumour that must be removed". It's an especially crucial message in the weeks leading up to this country's joke of an election and the more open-ended atmosphere of unhooked xenophobic psychosis. Increasingly, being Australian is like having a totally obnoxious and embarrassing mother who's vocally and publicly racist. And homophobic. And sexist. And completely without social skills. The towering blockbusters of the literary realm have often been piercingly thoughtful and critical (here I'm thinking of Brave New World and The Road. It's more than time for movie blockbusters to be the same, to linger in an afterburn of ideas. Elysium is the blockbuster for me. And these mad times. https://youtube.com/watch?v=oIBtePb-dGY
If you're sticking around the city for Easter and are keen to hunt down some treats, you'll find a treasure-trove of goodies awaiting you at QT Melbourne. It's teamed up with local artisan chocolate brand CACAO to deliver a hotel-wide takeover your sweet tooth's gonna love. The chocolate-based festivities are happening from Friday, April 7–Sunday, April 9, kicking off each morning with fresh choc-chip hot cross buns served at Pascale Bar & Grill. You can get your fix during breakfast, from 6.30am–12pm each day. Meanwhile, up on the 11th floor, the Rooftop at QT is shaking up limited-edition Boozy Bunny Espresso Martinis right through the weekend. This exclusive Easter concoction features a rich blend of coffee, Diplomatico rum, Chambord and CACAO dark chocolate, coming in at $25 a pop. What's more, visitors and guests will be able to live out their Willy Wonka dreams, when the hotel hosts a huge golden ticket hunt throughout the building on Sunday, April 9. Prizes up for grabs include loaded CACAO chocolate hampers and QT gift cards.
Melbourne's legendary hospitality scene is once again proving it can really hustle for a cause, as a lineup of standout local bars and famed chefs come together to do what they do best — but, this time, they'll be raising money for bushfire relief. Hosted by hospitality group Made In The Shade at its acclaimed cocktail bar The Everleigh, the Bar Bushfire Shake-Up will deliver the ultimate bartender showdown on Monday, January 13. Alongside the group's other bars Heartbreaker and Bar Margaux, 13 well-known venues including Eau de Vie, Capitano, Black Pearl, Byrdi and Above Board will jump behind the Fitzroy bar, going head-to-head, two at a time as they each shake up a signature cocktail for $15 a pop. Backing up the boozy treats, you'll find the Connie's Pizza food truck stationed out front, dishing up hefty slices for $10 each. Renowned chefs including Attica's Ben Shewry, Pete Gunn (Ides) and Andrew McConnell (Cutler & Co, Cumulus Inc) will each design their own signature pizza for the occasion. The night's also set to feature a live auction, offering up an assortment of covetable experiences with funds going to support Aussie bushfire victims. You could nab yourself a five-course feed for two at Byrdi (valued at $250), or even a secret staff party at Fancy Free, valued at $3000. Entry to The Everleigh on the night is $20, with all proceeds from cover charge and drinks going to the Red Cross Disaster Relief and Recovery. Just remember the bar will be taking card payments only. Image: Gareth Sobey.
As little children we are fed the dream of happily ever after, beginning with the arrival of a white knight in shining armour or the electrifying meeting of eyes across a crowded room, followed closely by a textbook whirlwind romance, destined to end with a white wedding and an ensuing eternity of conjugal bliss. Freidrich Durrenmatt’s adaptation of Strinderg’s Dance of Death, translated by Tom Holloway and performed by the Malthouse Theatre, presents a one part hilarious, one part harrowing parallel reality of what happens when the aforementioned fairy tale does not. Think less Cinderella story, more Survivor meets the revenge of OJ Simpson and you’re halfway to the kind of domestic hades re-imagined by director Matthew Lutton. Alice (Belinda McClory) and Edgar (Jacek Koman) have been together for 25 unhappy years and judging from their terse, spiteful interactions, hated each other for about the same. Literally stranded on an island with nothing but their mutual disgust to keep them company, their relationship is typified by the constant re-hashing of past mistakes, the exchange of venomous and cutting abuse and even plain roll up your sleeves fisty-cuffs. The kind of circular communication that looks destined to go the way of the never-ending story is disrupted by the arrival of Kurt (David Paterson), Alice’s cousin and ex-flame, creating an absurdist love triangle that sees the couple’s marriage reach new lows. Exchanges between Alice and Edgar are commendably inventive and crude — “I wouldn’t touch you with his dick”, quips Alice in a moment of particular vitriol — the kind of unbelievable domestics you secretly enjoy eavesdropping on in public places. While this makes Dance of Death perhaps primarily an albeit very dark comedy, it’s impossible not to feel saddened by the heartbreakingly relatable pitfalls of the couple’s marriage, as played put superbly by McClory as the tragic thwarted actress and Koman as the self proclaimed world famous military author, each on their own parallel paths to emotional and physical decline. Multiple dramatic devices are employed in Dance of Death that act to emphasise the dynamics of the performance. Separated from the audience by actual walls of glass, the performers appear increasingly isolated within their marital unit as they stare out in desperation from within a stage that resembles a fish bowl. Further heightening the sense of spectacle, the piece is structured like a boxing match, with the end of each round signalled by the ringing of a piercing bell and a flash of colour as the seemingly tireless fighters retreat to their separate corners to take stock. While these elements can feel somewhat overstated at times, they provide a welcome respite from the kind of fighting that is exhausting even to watch as an outsider. Likened to a “funny stab in the neck or hilarious kick in the crotch” by the cast themselves, Dance of Death will leave you somewhere between amused and horrified, sure of only one thing — you get less punishment for manslaughter than marriage. Image via Malthouse Theatre
This week, Melbourne Design Week presents Design on Film, a unique program of documentaries exploring the world of design and architecture. Curated by veteran programmer Richard Sowada with screenings at ACMI in Federation Square as well as The Lido in Hawthorn and The Classic in Belgrave, this festival within a festival will showcase 13 flicks — including one screening in Australia for the very first time — about everything from sustainability in design to a historic mission to build a city from scratch. Among the highlights on the Design on Film program are Watermark, an experimental essay film about humanity's relationship with water; In Between the Mountains and the Oceans, which tells the story of the once in a generation rebuilding of Japan's holiest Shinto shrine; and Homo Sapiens, a 'sci-fi documentary' that imagines a world without humans in which our built environments are slowly reclaimed by nature. Image: Architecture of Infinity.
If you're a fan of all things garlic, you'll find yourself in excellent company with a visit out to Meeniyan, next Saturday, February 16. That's when the famed annual Meeniyan Garlic Festival sees over 8000 punters descend on the Gippsland town for a jam-packed day of garlic-infused fun. This year's food program is as big as ever, with a sprawling lineup of chef appearances, markets, talks and events to tempt just about every palate. Catch garlic-driven cooking demonstrations from the likes of Tamsin Carvan (Tamsin's Table), Hogget's Kitchen's Trevor Perkins and Gippsland Food Ambassador Alejandro Saravia (Pastuso), and browse garlic-infused products from milkshakes to beer at the dedicated garlic marketplace. The town's Main Street eateries will be getting into the spirit, too, with a slew of special festival offerings — including garlic ice cream at The Meeniyan Store. What's more, you can load up on all sorts of knowledge with a series of talks and presentations led by the team at The Garlic Institute. They'll cover everything from garlic's many health benefits through to how to get started as a commercial grower.
When Normal People became the streaming sensation of the pandemic's early days, it made stars out of leads Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar-Jones, and swiftly sparked another Sally Rooney adaptation from much of the same behind-the-scenes team. It wouldn't have been the hit it was if it hadn't proven an exercise in peering deeply, thoughtfully, lovingly and carefully, though, with that sensation stemming as much from its look as its emotion-swelling story. It should come as no surprise, then, that cinematographer Kate McCullough works the same magic on The Quiet Girl, a Gaelic-language coming-of-age film that sees the world as only a lonely, innocent, often-ignored child can. This devastatingly moving and beautiful movie also spies the pain and hardship that shapes its titular figure's world — and yes, it does so softly and with restraint, just like its titular figure, but that doesn't make the feelings it swirls up any less immense. McCullough is just one of The Quiet Girl's key names; filmmaker Colm Bairéad, a feature first-timer who directs and adapts Claire Keegan's novella Foster, is another. His movie wouldn't be the deeply affecting affair it is without its vivid and painterly imagery — but it also wouldn't be the same without the helmer and scribe's delicate touch, which the 1981-set tale he's telling not only needs but demands. His focus: that soft-spoken nine-year-old, Cáit (newcomer Catherine Clinch), who has spent her life so far as no one's priority. With her mother (Kate Nic Chonaonaigh, Shadow Dancer) pregnant again, her father (Michael Patric, Smother) happiest drinking, gambling and womanising, and her siblings boisterously bouncing around their rural Irish home, she's accustomed to blending in and even hiding out. Then, for the summer, she's sent to her mum's older cousin Eibhlín (Carrie Crowley, Extra Ordinary) and her dairy farmer husband Seán (Andrew Bennett, Dating Amber). Now the only child among doting guardians, she's no less hushed, but she's also loved and cared for as she's never been before. Clinch is another of The Quiet Girl's crucial figures, courtesy of a downright exceptional and star-making performance. If you were to discover that she was a quiet girl off-screen, too, you'd instantly believe it — that's how profoundly naturalistic she is. Finding a young talent to convey so much internalised, engrained sorrow, then to slowly blossom when fondness comes her way, isn't just a case of finding a well-behaved child who welcomes the camera's presence. Clinch makes Cáit's isolation and sadness feel palpable, and largely does so without words: again, this is The Quiet Girl in name and nature alike. She makes the comfort and acceptance that her character enjoys with the instantly tender Eibhlín feel just as real, and kicks into another still-composed but also visibly appreciative gear as a bond forms with the tight-lipped Seán. Pivotally, Clinch plays Cáit like she's the only lonely girl in Ireland, but also like she's every lonely and mostly silent girl that's ever called that or any country home. That astonishing performance, and the empathetic and absorbed gaze that beams it into the film's frames, tap into the lingering truth at the heart of this soulful picture: that overlooked and disregarded girls such as Cáit rarely receive this kind of notice on- or off-screen. The warm way that the movie surveys her life, and is truly willing to see it, is never anything less than an act of redress — and, even with dialogue sparse, The Quiet Girl screams that fact loudly. It gives the same treatment to loss, which is an unshakeable force in Eibhlín and Seán's home despite remaining unspoken. "There are no secrets in this house," Eibhlín tells Cáit, but that doesn't mean that the type of pain that defies speech doesn't haunt the place, as it does the lives lived in it. Grief, too, is usually pushed aside, but The Quiet Girl sees how it persists, dwells and gnaws even when — especially when — no one is talking about it. The Quiet Girl, and Bairéad and McCullough with it, sees everything with attentive eyes: chaos at home, bullying at school, and uncertainty mixed with relief when Cáit cottons onto why she's taking such a long drive with her dad, for starters. It watches as the girl's summer getaway teems with promise and wonder — on the farm, in its woods, in the gleaming rainwater well, simply watching Eibhlín in the house or shadowing Seán outside — and as her relationship with her surrogate parents has the same fantastical allure. It spots the tentative curiosity that Cáit has about the train wallpaper in her new bedroom, as well as the boy's clothes she's given to wear. And, it can't avoid the gleeful gossiping-slash-interrogating by neighbour Úna (Joan Sheehy, End of Sentence), when she gets her chance to spill Eibhlín and Seán's past, and also grill their new charge about their present. Viewers peer on intently as well; using the Academy ratio, the almost-square frame that was once the cinematic standard, has that effect. That stylistic choice can say more than words when a character feels boxed in or trapped — see Happening and The Tragedy of Macbeth — which The Quiet Girl uses to its advantage in its earliest scenes. The tighter canvas also hones focus, which is this film's entire purpose anyway. Thanks to the straightforward but nonetheless riveting narrative, and the emotional journeys that it charts, Bairéad didn't need to restrict the movie's visuals so blatantly. The Quiet Girl would've captured its audience's undying attention anyway. But a closer look begets a closer look, both at otherwise-shunned children and at the minutiae they only start to spy themselves when their lives get cosier and kinder, yet also bigger and more assured. When it premiered at the 2022 Berlin International Film Festival, The Quiet Girl made history as the first Gaelic-language film to compete at the prestigious event, and also won an award in the process. When it reached Irish cinemas midyear, along with those elsewhere in the UK, it broke box office records for Gaelic-language movies, too. Small things, big impact: that's this wonderfully heartrending, deeply resonant, exquisitely fleshed out feature over and over, within its poetic images and beyond.
Forget about dinner and a show, this Next Wave work from transmedia performance collective Counterpilot is both rolled up into one. Hosted at the Darebin Arts Centre, Crunch Time is a performative dinner party that embraces the spirit of democracy. Dinners sit around a projector-mapped table and vote on which ingredients they'd like included in their meal. From there, public leaders will be thrown into the kitchen, where they'll show off their culinary chops while being viewed via live-feed video. Sounds like a hell of a dinning experience... although we can't speak to the quality of the food. Photo credit: Dave D'Arcy
If there's one thing that Breath just had to perfect, it's something that everyone can relate to: the experience of truly appreciating the ocean's wonders for the first time. No matter when it strikes, the feeling hits with the power of a wave — whether it inspires you to jump into the sea, bake by the shore or just stare at the water in awe. Adapting Tim Winton's award-winning Australian novel for the screen, Breath conveys this moment in a simple but potent fashion, through the twinkle in two teenagers' eyes and an excited exclamation. "I'll surf that one day. You dare me? I dare you to dare me!" 14-year-old Loonie (Ben Spence) tells his 13-year-old best mate Pikelet (Samson Coulter). They've just hitched a ride from their inland home town to the coast nearby and, from the look on their faces, they've found their calling. In narration provided by Winton himself, Breath also describes the sea's allure in more poetic terms. "Never had I seen something so beautiful, so pointless and elegant, as if dancing on water was the best thing a man could do," says the author as the voice of an adult Pikelet. But the movie doesn't just saddle its characters with relaying this perspective. Thanks to the expert assistance of water cinematographer Rick Rifici (Storm Surfers 3D, Drift), Breath boasts jaw-dropping surf footage that captures the full majesty of the ocean. Grey might come in 50 shades (or so we're told), but there are just as many hues of blue in Simon Baker's first film as a director, most of them found in Western Australia's stunning waters. After locking their sights on the enticing waves in all of their crashing, thrashing glory, Pikelet and Loonie are keen to pursue their newfound passion. It's the 1970s and, while the duo are largely left to do what they please by their parents (played by Richard Roxburgh and Rachael Blake as Mr and Mrs Pike, and Jacek Koman as Mr Loon), surfing represents the kind of freedom and danger these eager teens equate with finally growing up. When they're not rustling up the cash to buy boards, they're convincing reluctant, reclusive ex-professional surfer Sando (Baker) to show them the ropes. Soon, however, Pikelet's attention is split — between catching bigger and bigger breaks with Loonie and his new idol, and spending time with Sando's injured aerial skier wife Eva (Elizabeth Debicki). Throwing its youthful protagonists into complex waters both figuratively and literally, Breath makes the most of its obvious metaphor. The movie's textured, detailed ocean imagery speaks to the sea's threats as much as its thrills, and really couldn't better encapsulate Pikelet's seething inner turmoil. In each meticulous, expressive shot, the character's restless energy, his desire to transcend his otherwise ordinary life, and his need to prove himself, all come to the fore. And while the parallels between the water's ebbs and flows and the film's exploration of one of Winton's favourite topics — blossoming masculinity — aren't particularly subtle, pairing them together is still effective on a visual, emotional and thematic level. If Breath's images swell with feeling, then so too does its cast, with Baker coaxing fine-tuned performances out of his small ensemble. While The Mentalist star himself is quiet and contemplative in his return to Australia's film industry after nearly two decades, and Debicki finds the line between no-nonsense and vulnerable, Coulter and Spence bring the film to life with the same force as the curling sea seen so often throughout the movie. The young talents are actually surfers who learned to act, rather than vice versa, and their portrayals always remain genuine and naturalistic. Whether Pikelet and Loonie are splashing around, testing the boundaries of their friendship, or grappling with what it means to become a man, the teenage newcomers ensure this soulful, lyrical picture never merely wallows in familiar coming-of-age waters. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hY8KFlOm7qo
Little Jin is the latest cafe to emerge in Melbourne's diverse coffee scene. Nestled within the Jin Bar of Dorsett Melbourne, this new coffee shop is created with a window-style design, making it perfect for those constantly on the go. Open from 7am–12pm, Monday to Friday, Little Jin proudly offers freshly delivered pastries from Richmond's Penny for Pound. In celebration of its official opening, the cafe is treating customers to free coffee starting from Monday, April 8–Friday, April 12. As an ongoing thank you to customers, indulge in Little Jin's happy hour with 50 per cent off your coffee from 11am–12pm on weekdays. For the eco-conscious, you also get 50 cents off your order if you present a KeepCup to the barista (please note, this does not apply during happy hour).
Young Magic's silken, psychedelic sounds originated in New York as the sonic brainchild of Indonesian vocalist Melati Malay and Australian producer Isaac Emmanuel. They recorded their two albums, 2012's Melt and this year's Breathing Statues, while traipsing through Morocco, France, the Czech Republic and Iceland, and have performed at Austin Psych Fest, The Brooklyn Museum, and Berghain — the Berlin club capital of cool techno decadence. All of that, of course, meaning they're making good progress on their self-proclaimed status as "aspiring planet wanderers." Now, Malay and Emmanuel are bringing their sometimes lush and dreamy, sometimes explosive beats to our little corner of the planet. Take a listen to 'Fall In' or 'Holographic' to get in the heavenly, space-age mood, and pick out your most mysterious and ethereal-looking outfit. This'll be a night full of floaty dancing and wanderlust.
Flickering across a cinema screen, even the greatest of movies only inherently activate two senses: sight and hearing. Audiences can feel the seats they nestle into in their favourite picture palaces, and savour both the scent and flavour of popcorn while they watch, but no one can touch, taste or smell films themselves as they're playing — even if adding scratch-and-sniff aromas to the experience has become a cult-favourite gimmick. British director Peter Strickland knows all of the above. And, he hasn't ever released a feature in Smell-o-Vision, Smell-O-Rama or Odorama. But his work still conjures up sensations that viewers know they can't genuinely be having, such as running your fingers over an alluring dress with In Fabric, detecting the flutter of insect wings against your skin via The Duke of Burgundy and, courtesy of his latest movie Flux Gourmet, relishing the fragrances and tastes whipped up by a culinary collective that turns cooking and eating into performance art. If you've seen his features before, Flux Gourmet instantly sounds like something that only Strickland could make — and from its first frame till its last, it proves that with every moment. While spinning this innately sensory tale, which he both helmed and penned, it does indeed literally sound like something that only Strickland could've come up with, in fact. As the acoustics-focused Berberian Sound Studio demonstrated, the filmmaker's audioscapes are always a thing of wonder, too. His movies may manage to magically engage senses that cinema's sound-and-vision combination intrinsically shouldn't, but they also make the utmost use of every echo. The same applies to each image; unsurprisingly due to his strong and distinctive sense of style and mood, everything about Flux Gourmet looks and feels like pure Strickland. His films can't actually be injected into anyone's veins, but the director's devotees will instantly want this delirious farce pumping through their system. The setting: The Sonic Catering Institute, a conservatory specialising in blending sound and cuisine, as its name makes plain. The "institute devoted to culinary and alimentary performance" is overseen by the couture-coveting Jan Stevens (Gwendoline Christie, Game of Thrones), and regularly welcomes in different groups to undertake residencies. Those visiting artists collaborate, percolate and come up with eye-catching blends of food, bodies and creativity. Hosting OTT dinners, role-playing a trip to the supermarket, getting scatalogical and turning a live colonoscopy into a show: they're just some of the menu items that Jan's latest guests cook up. In Elle di Elle (Strickland regular Fatma Mohamed), Lamina Propria (Ariane Labed, The Souvenir: Part II) and Billy Rubin's (Asa Butterfield, Sex Education) case, however, that unique kind of kitchen virtuosity only springs when they're not broiling in messy bickering. Chaos bubbles through and troubles the trio's troupe, who stir up mayhem among themselves as heartily as any chef stirs their dishes. But Elle, Lamina and Billy aren't the Institute's only current visitors. Watching and chronicling is journalist Stones (Makis Papadimitriou, Beckett), who is also suffering from gastrointestinal struggles that he worries might be something more. As his subjects keep riffing on the human digestive system, or trying to, he can't control his own. Endeavouring to withhold his flatulence 24/7 is his constant struggle. Somehow, keeping a straight face as everything gets absurd around him is a far easier task, but Flux Gourmet's viewers shouldn't want to share that achievement with him; this purposefully strange, silly and surreal film is far too deliciously hilarious. Let Stones' struggle sink in again: to fart or not to fart, that is his question. Yes, one of Flux Gourmet's key plot points revolves around letting it rip. Yes, Strickland masterfully finds empathy in that toilet humour, understanding that we all break wind as a normal bodily function, and pairs it with a savvy takedown of art-world and showbusiness pretension. As a satire, his film dips its spoons into smug attitudes, exclusionary conventions, and all the pompousness and ceremony that's stereotypically ascribed to every art form's upper echelons, then delights in gobbling down biting parody after biting parody. Thanks to Stones and his questions, Flux Gourmet is a spin on This Is Spinal Tap, too, complete with The Sonic Catering Institute's version of rockstar behaviour. Elle, Lamina and Billy play instruments, after all, even if they're often egg whisks, blenders and saucepans. They have post-show orgies. Tempers boil, even before Billy ends up in bed with Jan, their residency version of a manager — and an argument about a flanger threatens to tear everything apart. That heated disagreement, and the key scene that sees Jan and Elle face off about the amusingly named audio-effects equipment — and say the word "flanger" again and again — screams everything about Flux Gourmet. It's ridiculous and riotous, never stops simmering, and proves entertaining as a piece of farce and a statement on the domain and personalities that Strickland is skewering. Crucially, it also owes as much to its leads as it does to its director. Strickland has Billy and Jan's relationship, Elle and Lamina's tension, and vengeful attacks by a rival sonic catering group called The Mangrove Snacks (who applied for the same stint but missed out) among the plot's courses, but his film not only gleams brightest but bounces around at its liveliest when neither the magnetic Mohamed nor Christie at her uproariously domineering best hold back. Every recipe hinges upon its ingredients and Flux Gourmet is no exception. Its cast is committed, all playing characters attempting to control something, everything or both, and each peppering in their own seasoning — including the affable Papadimitriou as the seemingly sanest of the lot. Cinematographer Tim Sidell (I Hate Suzie) lenses the raucousness with verve and pop, and also like he's peering at a dream that's as intimate and visceral as a medical procedure, and yet as out-there as our brain's nocturnal imaginings come. Strickland's own hyper-stylised flair naturally flavours the whole meal, and saying that Flux Gourmet stands out even among his inimitable work is saying something. Wild, warm, witty, weird, wonderfully its own curious concoction: that's this delectable affair, which only falters in its slightly overindulgent pacing. That said, when a cinematic feast is this nourishing in so many ways — and to so many senses — who doesn't want it to go on?
Yabun — which means "music to a beat" in the Gadigal language — is an annual festival featuring a wide range of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander talent. Held each year on January 26 in Camperdown, Sydney, on Gadigal Land, the festival consists of Corroboree, performances from First Nations musicians, a marketplace, discussions and speeches. After two COVID-impacted years, the festival is returning to its regular programming in Victoria Park. The musical lineup features a mix of up-and-coming and longstanding songwriters and performers. Heading up the musicians are Tia Gostelow, Aodhan, Denni and DRMNGNOW, who will be joined by Robert K Champion, Kyarna Rose and Matty Walker. In addition to the live music, there'll be traditional cultural performances, panel discussions and heaps of activities for adults and kids alike. There will also be a bunch of art, design and activist stalls for you to peruse. If you can't make it down, you can also watch via a live stream on the festival's website or tune into the yearly broadcast of the festival on Koori Radio 93.7fm. It all kicks off at 10am and will run until 10pm.
When a festival announces its program, numbers go flying, detailing how many shows, artists, sessions, days, premieres and the like are on offer. RISING 2024 hasn't gotten to that stage yet. So far, it has only revealed two parts of its lineup for this year. Thanks to the second, however, there's plenty of figures to note already — including the fact that 19 cast members from six countries will play 50 characters when Counting and Cracking arrives in Melbourne, and that the stage hit charts four generations over five decades. Theatre fans in Victoria's capital can be forgiven for thinking "finally!" about Counting and Cracking's just-confirmed premiere Melbourne season, which will take place from Friday, May 31–Sunday, June 23 at Union Theatre, University of Melbourne. RISING is clearly expecting a big response to the Sri Lankan-Australian saga, with the production arriving before the broader fest kicks off on Saturday, June 1 and running after it finishes for 2024 on Sunday, June 16. First staged in 2019 in Sydney, the play from S Shakthidharan has proven a hit overseas, too, before its RISING berth. After debuting at Sydney Festival, it's also wowed audiences at the Edinburgh International Festival and the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, and collected a heap of accolades such as the Victorian Premier's Prize for Literature, the NSW Premier's Nick Enright Prize for Playwriting, and Helpmann Awards for Best Production and Best Direction. A return to Sydney and a stint in New York are in its future as well. As co-produced by Belvoir St Theatre and Kurinji, with the former's Artistic Director Eamon Flack directing, Shakthidharan's stage favourite spans three acts, with the first starting at Sydney's Georges River. That's where ashes are being scattered by Radha and her son Siddartha, but their ties with Sri Lanka's complicated history aren't severed yet thanks to a call from Colombo. "The stories we choose to believe in underline all our actions, thoughts and feelings. In Counting and Cracking, I hope to provide audiences with a new story to believe in: about Australia, about Sri Lanka. It's a story in which migrants are not asked to discard parts of themselves to fit in, but instead are asked to present their full selves, to expand our idea of what this country can be," explains Shakthidhidharan. "It's a story of how the politics of division can win the battle, but never the war, around how power is gained in this world. It's a story in which love may not triumph over adversity, but through sheer persistence and resilience can eventually overcome it. And finally it's a story about reconciliation: between parents and children, between your new home and your old home, between society and its institutions." Counting and Cracking joins Communitas on the 2024 RISING program so far, with the two events demonstrating the fest's embrace of variety. 'Love Tonight' talents SHOUSE are behind the previously announced music party that'll fill Melbourne's St Paul's Cathedral. Ed Service and Jack Madin are set to oversees hundreds of people making tunes as part of a choir, which will use not just voices but dancing and making sound vibrations. Afterwards, a single will be released. The remainder of the RISING 2024 lineup is set to be unveiled in March — and based on past years, its pair of highlights so far are just the beginning. RISING 2024 runs from Saturday, June 1–Sunday, June 16 across Melbourne, with Counting and Cracking's season running from Friday, May 31–Sunday, June 23 at Union Theatre, University of Melbourne (and tickets on sale from Friday, March 1). Head to the festival's website for further information — and check back here in March for the full RISING 2024 program. Images: Brett Boardman.
Melbourne's newly minted hawker-style market is just about to rotate its eateries-in-residence. From May 2, Gelato Messina will make its CBD debut alongside bun aficionados Wonderbao for three months. This savoury-sweet combo will replace the Koi and Monkey's Corner pop-up from the first round of tenancies. This partnership is not the duo's first, having also teamed up in Sydney back in 2016. For HWKR, patrons can expect a special collab dessert called duck a l'orange — a decadent duck fat and caramel-filled bao doughnut, served with orange gelato. Plus, Messina will do away with the simple scoop model for this pop-up and serve a plated menu of five of its gelato cake creations in single-serve miniature form. This includes the magic mushroom, cocoa nib and coconut and cherry cakes, along with the macaron gelato sandwiches and hazelnut and coffee tarts. On the Wonderbao side of things, the eatery's famed steamed buns will of course be front-and-centre in a menu exclusive to HWKR. It focuses on three DIY bao kits, including crackling pork belly, crispy roast duck with XO sauce and spicy green chicken curry. Cured salmon with pickled goji berries and seared beef salads are also up for grabs, alongside craft brews. The collab kitchen will join street-food stall Chanteen by Diana Chan (Masterchef) and Rice Paper Scissors' Asian fusion pop-up, Khao — whose original tenancies have been extended — alongside permanent tenant Manymore Cafe and Bar, which is run by local not-for-profit group the MAI Foundation.
Every new year brings much to look forward to; however, if you like a laugh in Melbourne, the city's annual comedy festival should always be marked in your diary. Hundreds of folks that are handy with a joke take to the Victorian capital's stages for a month filled with giggles. Well-known international acts head Down Under, local favourites join in and up-and-comers score a shot at getting audiences chuckling. In 2025, Melbourne International Comedy Festival will return from Wednesday, March 26–Sunday, April 20 — and from the names announced already, there's plenty to tickle funny bones. The lineup revealed so far includes Mark Watson, Sara Pascoe, Danny Bhoy, Rhys Darby, Nazeem Hussain and Zoë Coombs Marr, as well as Ruby Wax, Michael Hing, Melanie Bracewell, Claire Hooper, Joel Creasy, Andrew Hansen, Lizzy Hoo, Wil Anderson, Jenny Tian, John Safran, Jimeoin, Reuben Kaye, Ray O'Leary and Sh!t-faced Shakespeare doing A Midsummer Night's Dream. From there, the talents keep coming, with Amy Gledhill on the bill fresh from winning the Edinburgh Comedy Awards 2024 Best Show prize, Jin Hao Li also on the roster after being nominated for Best Newcomer at the same accolades and 2023 Edinburgh Festival Fringe Award-winner Ahir Shah making the trip as well. Chloe Petts, Rahul Subramanian, Chris Parker, Guy Montgomery, Guy Williams, Urzila Carlson, Pierre Novellie, Rosie Jones, Anirban Dasgupta, Urooj Ashfaq, Charlene Kaye, Sarah Keyworth, Arj Barker, Carl Donnelly, Ed Gamble Elf Lyons, Iliza Shlesinger, Kai Humphries, Kemah Bob, Schalk Bezuidenhout, Sofie Hagen: from the international lineup, the list clearly goes on. The Aussie contingent spans Alex Ward, Amy Hetherington, Becky Lucas, Bron Lewis, He Huang, Luke Heggie, Michelle Brasier, Tommy Little and a whole heap more, too — and MICF isn't done unveiling its program yet. The fest's gala is returning, taking place at the Palais Theatre to open the year's guffaws, while the Opening Night Comedy Allstars Supershow, The Annual Great Debate, the Asian Allstars Gala and Upfront's focus on female and non-binary artists are all making welcome comebacks. To discover your next favourite comedians, the lineup also features RAW Comedy, Deadly Funny and the Class Clowns National Grand Finals, so you'll be able to say you saw tomorrow's stars when they were starting out. As proves the case every year, this is an event for comedy-loving Melburnians to get excited about, then plan their entire schedules around. So, if you're fond of a giggle, you won't be able to say you've got nothing to do across late-March to mid-April. The 2025 Melbourne International Comedy Festival runs from Wednesday, March 26–Sunday, April 20. Head to the festival's website for further details and tickets. Images: Nick Robertson / Ian Laidlaw / Nicole Reed.
One of the most worthwhile things you can do when looking to start your own business is sit down with another small business owner and share your ideas, as well as take note on what they've done right (and wrong), what small wins they encountered that eventually led to bigger things. When it comes to opening a cafe specifically, successful venues like Three Williams in Redfern can be a great source of inspiration — especially considering that this particular brunch spot was once started by a first-time cafe owner, too. As running your own business can typically involve a lot of hard work and crazy hours, we've teamed up with MYOB to bring you some helpful hints from those in the know. Here are four ideas to get you started (whether you're looking to open a cafe, a shop or other small business), courtesy of Three Williams co-owner Toby Iaccarino. [caption id="attachment_683542" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Three Williams co-owner Toby Iaccarino.[/caption] DON'T BE AFRAID TO GET YOUR HANDS DIRTY Put yourself out there and get your hands dirty in a business that inspires you, says Toby. "Learn the ropes from cleaning drains to fine-tuning your customer service skills to honing the art of people management," he says. While there's much to be gleaned from research and study, nothing beats rolling up your sleeves and jumping in there yourself — whether it's through an internship or a few hours per week in a related side hustle. "I cannot stress how paramount raw experience is to your success in such a hands-on industry." LEARN THE RULES OF THE GAME Most new venues will require a spruce up, so make sure to run your plans through council first. "Council regulations raised a multitude of unexpected and untimely hurdles along the way that I wasn't necessarily financially prepared to accommodate," says Toby. "Regulations differ, sometimes significantly, from council to council. So do your research. Calculated planning and foresight can save you a wealth of not only time and money, but major headaches down the line. Familiarise yourself on what you can do, can't do and must do in order to operate in the capacity you are envisioning." MAKE SURE YOUR FINANCES ARE IN ORDER Having great staff — in this case, an excellent chef, barista and floor team — is obviously vital to a business's success, however, the importance of financial understanding cannot be stressed enough, says Toby. "The ability to get your head around GST, BAS, super and all the other cash flow and cash management requirements will be the difference between failure and success." While a few cents difference between shopping bags or sugar sachets may seem like small beans, keeping your eye on market prices can end up being paramount to profitability, and it's these small wins that help lead to bigger things. "Constantly tweaking roster costings, analysing suppliers and their pricing and keeping up to date with the cheapest energy companies makes all the difference." INVEST IN NEW TECHNOLOGY AND SMART BUSINESS SYSTEMS New business systems and smart platforms that allow you to monitor, track and manage your operations can help you run your business more efficiently, as well as free up your time for the jobs that really matter. For Toby, managing finance and compliance obligations had become overwhelming, so he decided to invest in cloud-based accounting software. "MYOB has been, and continues to be, such a practical way to manage our invoicing, payroll, reporting and finances. It makes everything from preparing BAS to managing financial year rollovers and keeping track of inventory a breeze." Planning to open your own business? Consider MYOB to help sort out all your accounting needs.
For Sydney-based lamington-lovers, there's one true king of the local dessert game, and that's Min Chai and Eddie Stewart's Tokyo Lamington. After starting life overseas, introducing places like Singapore and Tokyo to some innovative riffs on the humble lamington, the brand settled in Newtown and has been impressing Sydneysiders with its creative desserts ever since. And now, for the first time ever, it's coming to Melbourne. From Friday, June 17–Sunday, June 19, Tokyo Lamington will join mates at North Melbourne's Le Bajo Milkbar for a pop-up dedicated to their glorious mash-up of Aussie dessert and classic Japanese flavours. Inspired by both venues' greatest hits list, the limited-edition collaboration menu will feature three wild and wonderful lamington creations: cream-filled melon pan, yuzu meringue, and earl grey and mango. The trio is available as a $26 set pack, for takeaway only. And, since there are no pre-orders, you'll want to get in quick to score yours before they're all sold out.
The number of phrases you can add the word 'game' to without causing any serious commotion is almost boundless. For brevity's sake, we haven't listed them here. But Underground Railroad — i.e. the 19th century movement which smuggled slaves out of America — is one dazzling exception. This message appears not to have reached American theatremakers Jennifer Kidwell and Scott R. Sheppard, whose masochistically unflinching take on race relations in the United States is headed to the Malthouse Theatre. In Underground Railroad Game, the audience play high school students in a history lesson about the American slave trade. But this isn't one you can sit up the back and snooze through. Kidwell and Sheppard catalogue the ongoing history of racial intolerance in America, then hit it point blank with an R-rated satire bat. They may not be able to change history, but they're going to get an uncomfortable amount of it on you before you're allowed to leave. Underground Railroad Game is the type of theatre that leaves scorch marks on the walls. See it before they turn the Malthouse into a smoking (albeit enlightened) ruin. Image: Ben Arons.
These days, the west has got some serious swagger. The Doggies showed us when they took out last year's premiership flag, and now a group of proud locals is driving the message home, with their West is Best street party for the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival. Join American-style BBQ joint Up In Smoke in celebrating some of the finest eats and drinks from this side of town, across an all-inclusive afternoon of local beers, wines, and food in the beer garden. On the bill, rising brew stars Hop Nation and West City, wineries like Witchmount and Mt Macedon, and foodie faves 8Bit and Andrew's Choice.
The Finders Keepers Markets have become a staple in Melbourne for those who are into design, creativity and supporting local artists. Treat yourself to a stroll around the market – it has over 200 stalls featuring fashion, ceramics, jewellery and food – while drinking wine or sipping specialty coffee. Returning home to Carlton's Royal Exhibition Building for three days for the second time this year, you'll be able to nab some marvellous treats that are difficult to find anywhere else. The designer-centric, come-one-come-all mini-festival has managed to bridge the gap between local market and exclusive exhibition, creating a space for independent designers to engage with the wider community. This time around, keep an eye out for Nzuri and their organic body butter, body balms and cleansers, Kingston Jewellery for colourful accessories, Vege Threads for ethical clothes (there's a new yoga range), and Coral & Herb or Mr Fancy Plants for beautiful handcrafted homewares. As usual, there will be live music, a cafe, a bar and thousands of other people celebrating independent art and design. Food-wise, you've got three different brands of specialty coffee to try (including Seven Seeds), as well as delicious pastries from Ned's Pies and schnitzels from Von Crumb (we recommend). Finders Keepers will run over three days, from Friday, October 14 to Sunday, October 16. It will be open from 6 - 10pm on the Friday, 10am - 6pm on the Saturday, and 10am - 5pm on the Sunday. For more information and a full list of designers, visit their website.
