There had been a lot of hype surrounding the quiet arrival of Minamishima in Melbourne. After 15 years at the CBD's Kenzan, sushi master Koichi Minamishima decided to go out on his own, and his namesake restaurant is making waves in the world of sushi. At Minamishima, standards are high and perfection is desired. You'll find soft, golden light and ambient, unobtrusive music. There are 40 seats, with 12 placed along the sushi bar — which is recommended for watching the craft of nigiri unfold — and the rest around dining tables towards the back wall. Here, the menu is omakase, that translates as 'I'll leave it to you', allowing the chef to surprise and delight you. There are two options at Minamishima — and which one you'll be blessed with depends on where you sit. Both cost the same and for a little extra you can have matched sake or wine. The chefs wield their knives with aplomb, deftly slicing soft swathes of flesh from choice parts of the fish. The omakase changes daily, but flounder fin, tuna belly, geoduck saltwater clam, delicate strips of garfish and king dory could be amongst the offering. All are either sourced locally or flown in especially from Tokyo's Tsukiji Fish Market. The immaculate waitstaff explain each course, and advise which little parcel should not be dipped in soy sauce and which will be enhanced by doing so. The flavours range from salty to smoky, from subtle to more complex flavoured fish. Minamishima is not a cheap night out in Richmond, but it is sushi as you rarely experience it outside Japan. It might not be life changing, but it's certainly a step out of everyday life and a chance to savour and celebrate the definition of artisan craftsmanship.
Each of Australia's capital cities has a different shtick. Melbourne's just happens to be a 24-hour culture — or, at least, the closest Australia has to it. It's got all-night public transport on weekends, late-night opening hours for the National Gallery of Victoria's new Triennial and the city's White Night festival will return for its annual all-nighter in 2018. If you haven't been down to White Night before, here's how it works. From 7pm, much of Melbourne's CBD is closed to cars. From then on, the streets give way to pedestrians, who are free to wander between temporary installations, live music and on-street projections — as well as in and out of galleries and cultural institutions — up until the sun comes up at 7am the next day. It's the Australian version of Nuit Blanche, which was founded in France in the 80s. Next year's festival — which will shut down the city for 12 hours on the evening of Saturday, February 17 — features work from a tonne of both local and international artists. Expect to see neon pups, two Burning Man installations and one laneway covered in snow. There are far too many works to list, but here are a few highlights you'll want to look out for. A giant shimming silver net that will hover above Federation Square for White Night (and two weeks afterwards). Drag queens singing from balconies above Collins Street. A laneway filled with virtual neon 'dogs' and another filled with falling 'snow'. A tree that lets you write temporary messages on it with the light from your phone Two installations straight from Burning Man: a fire-breathing serpent outside Melbourne Museum and a giant mechanical insect that doubles at a DJ booth. Mini gigs performed from multiple balconies above Swanston Street. A 360-degree dome in Alexandra Gardens that will feature mesmerising projections. Stories from Australian detention centres projected onto the NGV's façade. White Night will also head out to Victoria's regional centres. It will return to Ballarat on March 17 for a second year, and will take to the streets of Bendigo and Geelong for the first time later in 2018.
One of Australia's most redeeming qualities is its ability to give good afternoon sun. There's something about its familiar glow that almost demands casual drinks – whether it's cracking open a cold beer after a day out, heading to the pub after a long day of work, or deciding on a whim that your backyard is perfect for having friends over. We love summer afternoons, and we've partnered with Heineken 3 so you can get the most out of them. We've spoken to a few of our favourite chefs, musicians and artists to get their insights on creating the perfect balmy afternoon. Having colourful paper backyard decorations may not be essential, but it's sure to take your casual backyard gathering to the next level. We asked the incredible paper engineer Benja Harney to help us out with some tutorials for easy backyard decorations. The first is a burger piñata, the second is a lantern covered in colourful streamers, the third is a string of sandwich bag bunting. Harney has done some incredible work in the past, so these simple projects are maybe a bit of an insult to his skills. He's worked on window installations for Hermès, he's made paper versions of Adidas shoes, and makes paper vegetables, grass and furniture for clients on the regular. His studio space is Surry Hills is filled to the brim with coloured paper and intricate paper sculptures. Not only is he good at his job, he's also really good at teaching. Follow the instructions below and make your backyard a little more fancy (and fun) the next time you have people over for a Heineken 3. BURGER PINATA When was the last time you whacked a piñata? It's fun, and even more fun when your piñata is shaped like a novelty version of your favourite food. This one is a little more tricky, so Benja has kindly drawn up some templates of the shapes you'll need to cut out to make your burger ingredients out of coloured cardboard. Print off the PDF in A3 and trace. Easy. You'll need: Thin cardboard (in the colours of your burger ingredients, and A3 size), thin corrugated cardboard, tape, scissors, glue, lollies, string. Method: Cut out your coloured cardboard into the shape of lettuce, tomato, burger bun and any other ingredients you want to pop in your burger. Use four strips of corrugated cardboard (about 15cm wide) and tape to make a square frame. Place a large piece of corrugated cardboard over the top, so it resembles a shallow open box. Glue your pieces of coloured cardboard to the box — it should now look like a burger. Flip the box over and fill it with lollies. Then, cover the box with a piece of thinner cardboard and tape it together. If you want to make it a little easier on your guests, you could glue this piece down instead of taping it, so it comes apart easier when you start to smash. Pop a piece of string onto the top and hang. SANDWICH BAG BUNTING This brown paper bag bunting is the easiest backyard decoration you'll ever make. Who knew that some scissors and string could turn the humble sandwich bag into a classy decoration for your backyard? You'll need: PVA glue, scissors, string, brown paper sandwich bags. Method: Grab yourself some brown paper sandwich bags from your local supermarket (they'll set you back a maximum of $2 — cheapest project you'll ever do). Cut each bag into a triangle shape like the one above, making sure that the 'seam' of the bag isn't at the triangle's point. Place a long piece of string inside the fold and glue it there. Repeat, repeat and repeat until your bunting has reached the length you want it to be. A LANTERN OF STREAMERS This is a simple way to spice up those cheap paper lanterns most people have in their backyards. It's colourful, looks like a jellyfish and blows in the wind. Make multiples and hang them in a row for maximum effect. You'll need: A cheap lantern from a discount store, string to hang it up, glue, scissors, three colours of streamers. Method: Cut the three colours of your streamers into pieces, all different lengths. Glue the top of each piece of streamer around the lantern in layers, starting from the bottom and repeating until the whole lantern is covered. Enjoy your summer afternoons with the new low-carb Heineken 3 — we're helping you make the most of them. Images: Kimberley Low.
The minds behind Terror Twilight, Convoy, Tinker and Hi-Fi — Ben Argentino, Bec Moore and Kieran Spiteri — know how to cafe. They've figured out the magic algorithm to make a successful breakfast and lunch spot, and are now taking it one step further with Ophelia. Here, right on the Westgarth end of Northcote's High Street, the team runs Ophelia as a somewhat classic cafe in the morning before switching things up as the day goes on — becoming more of a long lunch destination and, on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, a cosy neighbourhood wine bar. [caption id="attachment_976026" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Dave Green[/caption] On the seasonally evolving, all-day menu, you'll find Euro-leaning dishes like the savoury buckwheat galette layered with roast pumpkin, buffalo milk ricotta, rocket pepita pesto, aleppo pepper and nigella seeds; a caramelised onion jam, ash brie, tarragon, and radish omelette; and a sticky date porridge with poached pears, butterscotch dates and macadamia granola. You can also take your pick of grab-and-go options like breakfast sandwiches and freshly baked goods — including a selection from Coburg's Back Alley Bakes — from the bountiful cabinet. After 10am, the menu expands with hefty sandwiches and freshly made salads. The team describes the menu as not quite a classic breakfast nor your usual lunch, but instead filling the space between these mealtimes. Whatever you're in the mood for, you can pair your meal with coffee, house sodas, cocktails, mocktails or wine. [caption id="attachment_976016" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Dave Green[/caption] Much like its siblings, Ophelia also has a strong focus on vinyl. Music is chosen from the floor-to-ceiling record wall, and is played from open to close. The venue will lean even further into those wine bar vibes from Tuesday, June 17, when it opens after dark on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Swing by on a Tuesday night for weekly rotating $20 pasta specials, or snacks and sips soundtracked by vinyl-spinning DJs on Friday and Saturday evenings. Top images: Dave Green.
Melbourne is littered with public outdoor pools and great beaches, but sometimes you want the luxe private pool experience. This usually comes with booking a room at one of Melbourne's best hotels or signing up for an exorbitantly priced private members' club, but most of us don't want to go that far for a little dip. To solve this problem, W Melbourne has started up its Sun Chasers Sunday Sessions, which run from 12–3pm every Sunday until February 2. During these afternoons, you can book a poolside session for $95 per person at the sky-high indoor pool WET and get a stack of goodies. You'll have access to the pool and steam room, plus you'll get a cocktail on arrival (margarita or paloma) and two hours of unlimited wine. Snacks are also available throughout the day — more or less an essential when bottomless booze is on the cards — and DJs will be playing non-stop tunes. If you're after an alternative bottomless brunch experience in Melbourne, this has got to be one of the most fun. We just hope they'll have plenty of lifeguards onsite for when things get a little silly.
From esteemed chef Nobu Matsuhisa, Nobu at Crown in Melbourne brings his esteemed fusion of traditional Japanese food with South American flavours to the city. The Nobu brand is famous all around the world, with restaurants on nearly every continent, and the Melbourne iteration stands out as one of its finest. The interior is sleek and luxurious, with deep red tones, burnished woods and traditional Japanese touches tastefully scattered throughout. The large waterfront windows give exquisite river views, which complement the creative and aesthetically pleasing dishes you'll be presented with. And if you want to escape more, head down to the basement dining room and omakase bar. Nobu is open for lunch and dinner, with slightly different menus for each seating. It also has an a la carte menu or an omakase menu, depending on how you want to eat. The a la carte menu begins with cold offerings such as salmon tartare with caviar, oysters with Nobu sauce, lobster salad with spicy lemon dressing and classic Peruvian seafood ceviche. Meanwhile, hot classics include scallops with spicy garlic pepper, creamy spicy crab, baby tiger prawns and a Peruvian-style Black Opal 500gm wagyu rib-eye. Continuing the Latin American theme, there are tacos, too, with options including spicy tuna, vegetable miso and wagyu beef. Elsewhere, you'll find snacks such as edamame and chicken wings, as well as plenty of tempura, nigiri and sashimi to excite your appetite. The omakase experience at Nobu Melbourne, where you leave it up to the chef to decide your multi-course menu, has two options: the signature seven-course or the Melbourne seven-course, which is unique to this restaurant. The signature includes salmon tartare with caviar, southern rock lobster with spinach salad and black cod miso, among other dishes. The Melbourne option features spanner crab and salmon ikura, beef tenderloin shiitake truffle crust and a chef's sushi selection. When it comes to drinks, Nobu has a huge wine list, which a helpful sommelier will guide you through, as well as plenty of different sakes to compliment your meal.
One of Melbourne's original grocers has made a major comeback, with King and Godfree reborn as a three-level Italian food mecca. The Carlton grocery shop dates way back to 1884, and has been under the Valmorbida family ownership since 1955 — Carlo Valmorbida is said to have introduced parmesan cheese, olive oil and pasta to the Carlton community. Now, the Valmorbida grandchildren are in charge, and they've revealed a fully refurbished fit-out that pays homage to the original heritage digs, but with modern twists. Designed by Melbourne architects Herbert & Mason, the fit-out combines elements of old-world Italy with a modern Melbourne espresso bar. Expect bespoke everything, from the custom-built lighting and furniture down to the handmade deli plates, by local ceramicist Ingrid Tuft. The original K&G crest has also been rebuilt by an old-fashioned terrazzo maker and inlaid at the entrance. The Roman-style delicatessen aims to be your 'one-stop shop' for everything Italian, and houses an espresso bar, deli and traditional grocer. In the espresso bar, expect house-roasted coffee by head barista Lucas Carrington (ex-All Press, London), along with Italian espresso and fair trade Guatemalan single origin. For breakfast, there are also fresh juices and smoothies, plus Italian baked goods and breakfast plates — these include the fried egg, pancetta and basil panino and scrambled eggs with cured salmon, chives and toast. During the day, there's a succinct list of pastas and cicchetti (Italian-style tapas) to choose from, as well as rotisserie meats, roasted veggies, ready-made Italian sandwiches and daily specials. The cicchetti will also be available for classic aperitivo hour from 4–7pm — think arancini, sweet and sour sardines and spinach pie, all served alongside spritzes, cocktails and Italian beers. In the deli, there are freshly baked breads, a massive assortment of local and imported cheeses, artisan salumi and DOP accredited prosciutto to look forward to. Italian smallgoods, fresh flowers and meals for takeaway round out the offering. Deciding what to buy will be the hard part, but luckily there will be plenty of tastings and demonstrations on offer, too. Images: Kate Shanasy and Josh Robenstone.
Melbourne has fallen a little in love with omakase, a Japanese philosophy derived from the phrase 'leave it to the chef'. From omakase served in subterranean spaces to untraditional, flame-filled menus — omakase is certainly having a moment in Melbourne. Carving out its own unique offering is Aoi Tsuki, a pint-sized, 12-seat omakase bar nestled on a busy section of Punt Road. Traditional Japanese, this is not. But, for head chefs Tei Gim and Jun Pak, this is the best way to enjoy food — a regularly rotating 20-course menu, underpinned by a deep respect for seasonality. It's an intimate, sumptuous experience that celebrates the creative and the contemporary — without pretension. When Concrete Playground visited, the culinary lineup ran to the likes of a well-balanced Miyagi oyster, chawanmushi refreshed with spanner crab, and a standout abalone dish paired with a thick, rich abalone sauce and vinegar-spiked rice. The highlight of this smart exploration of contemporary Japanese comes in the form of a nigiri series: ika (squid) dusted with lime zest, two-day dry-aged snapper from New Zealand and bluefin tuna marinated in soy, laid upon expertly-crafted sushi rice. Tuna belly is elevated with caviar, thinly-sliced wagyu is paired with shavings of foie gras, and a swordfish nigiri stars fermented yuzu chilli. Also of particular note: a clever execution of seared paradise prawns, along with grilled Hokkaido scallops married with miso cream. Aoi Tsuki's experiential dining adventure clocks in at $235 per person, with a paired sake flight or a tidy drinks menu available to add on. Images: Griffin Simm, Tran Nguyen, supplied.
If you've ever wandered out of a movie at 10pm, left a restaurant after dinner or got out of work around midnight and thought, damn, I could really do with some artisan blue cave-aged cheese right now — you're not alone. In fact, Daniel Verheyen is right there with you. After finishing up many a night with a standard cheese board at The Smith, Verheyen decided to roll his love for cheese, wine and hospitality into a late-night licensed fromagerie: Milk the Cow. Of course, you're probably familiar with Milk the Cow. You've probably been there. Tasted the cheese. Gone back. But if St Kilda was a bit too far from home — Fitzroy Street is a fair whack from Fitzroy, to be fair — you'll be happy to know that the Cow has traveled north, making a second home in Carlton. Aesthetically, the Carlton venue looks much the same as her southside sister: the colour palette is still pastoral, the light fittings are made from milking clusters and the cheese is on display in the store-long cabinet. As well as the main bar, 40 people can be sat upstairs, as well as a handful on the street outside. On a summer night, it's bliss. Right in the heart of Lygon Street's Italian precinct, this isn't a location that's exactly starved for cheese and wine. But you don't go to Milk the Cow for fresh mozzarella and just-made ricotta — you go for the selection of over 150 cheeses you'll seldom get anywhere else. There is cheese that's been imported from France, Ireland and Norway as well as the Yarra Valley; cheese that's been washed in chai, paprika and cognac; aged in caves and sat ripening out the back until just the right time to eat. There's all sorts of soft, hard and in-between cheese — all curated on a rotating basis by head cheesemonger Laura Lown. There's so much that you simply shouldn't make a decision on your own. Luckily, all the staff are well informed in the art of cheese (as well as the impressive task of remembering what they're all called) and can help you find your perfect match. But if you're look for a taste of everything — and at a fromagerie, who isn't? — look no further than one of the cheese flights. Matched with wine, beer, cider, whiskey, sake or sparkling, each flight will give you four wedges of cheese and four tastes of the matching drop. And, starting at just $16 (for 30ml / 15g), it's possibly the most affordable cheese tasting you can do short of a block of cheddar and a cleanskin. Even better, the wine, beer and cider flights change weekly. It seems that Daniel Verheyen wasn't the only one looking to satisfy late night cheese cravings. Much like his St Kilda venue, the early success of Milk the Cow Carlton hinges on the fact that the Lygon strip was desperate for a place to pop in for a drink post-Nova that was casual, tasteful and cool — and wasn't Brunetti. That, and people just really dig cheese.
The ploughman's lunch: it's a meal packed with old-world connotations of country living and hard labour, loved by many, even those who have never touched a plough in their lives. A standard definition is a small meal of bread, cheese and pickle, generally eaten in the middle of the day, usually served in a pub. From its time as a farmer's mainstay to the pub classic it is today, the dish has gone through many changes. When we tried the ploughman's at the White Rabbit Brewery in Geelong, we wondered, where does the dish actually come from? What is it that makes it such a legend? Here's a little bit of history, from ye olden days to the here and now. [caption id="attachment_584446" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Flickr.[/caption] YE OLDEN DAYS Back in the day, the world ran almost exclusively on agriculture. Aussies were farming as early as 1788, and agriculture remains a large part of Australian trade today. This is likely why the dish remains so prominent and evokes such overwhelming cultural nostalgia – even in those who have never stepped foot on a farm. For the farmers of old, the meal made perfect sense; clearly, the ploughmen of centuries ago didn't return home for a long lunch and siesta before finishing the day's work. Nor did they spend lunchtime hours hanging at the pub over a few pints — tough days, we know. Historians surmise that it is more likely farmers took with them some cheese, bread and pickles for luncheon, which didn't need to be refrigerated and could last out in the heat of the day. The notion of a 'pub lunch' is a much more modern and luxurious one than could have been afforded centuries ago. FROM RAGS TO RICHES While the meal itself was certainly a mainstay of farmers, its name, and indoctrination into society, came way, way later. The meal actually gained popularity after a nation-wide marketing push that happening between 1958 to 1977. At this time, post-war rationing was a thing of the past and businesses were not happy with the swift decline in the amount of cheese being eaten. To whip up nostalgia for this time-honoured dish, a marketing company made a bold claim that English cheese and beer have for centuries formed a perfect combination enjoyed as the 'Ploughman's Lunch'. This is the first historical reference to the dish, which was essentially invented as a marketing ploy to sell cheese — and not just one type of cheese, but all cheeses, thus making the dish popular across all regions and allowing for the creation of endless regional versions. Of course, the combination of bread and cheese was a timeless one and an obvious accompaniment. At that time, many rural pubs wouldn't have had a proper kitchen, so the Ploughman's Lunch was embraced as it could include simple ingredients that would be stored in the cellar and assembled easily by staff. THESE TIMES, THEY ARE A-CHANGIN' Once the dish was named, it was swiftly taken from the fields into the pubs. The emphasis on fresh produce, which in the past was a necessity, is a big part of why it fits so well into today's organic culture where we expect nothing less. Since the derivation of the dish is a farce, the components of a 'traditional' ploughman's lunch are also widely open to interpretation. An entire book was written on the subject – The Definitive Ploughman's — which found that one region of England uses thirteen ingredients in their ploughman's, adding sweetcorn, olives and beetroot components to your average cheese and bread. The variations don't stop there – Jamie Oliver's version contains spinach and fennel artisan bread and a scotch egg, while Barfoot Contessa's Ina Garten prefers an English-American fusion of thickly sliced Virginia ham and English cheddar. The restaurant within Geelong's White Rabbit Brewery allows patrons to pair any number of craft cheeses and meats, like wagyu bresaola paired with a Barossa triple cream. Each platter is served with a baguette from local bread makers Born & Bread and Yarra Valley's Cunliffe & Waters chutneys and spreads, along with pickled veg galore. This is truly the crème de la crème of ploughman's. Also agreed upon is that a good ploughman's lunch is a true testament to the overall quality of a pub. The dish continues to take many forms, and at its fanciest, better resembles a charcuterie. But even in its simplest form, there really is nothing better than a plate of crusty bread, homemade chutney, pickled vegetables and of course, a wedge of artisan cheese. Don't forget to wash it all down with a nice cold pint — it makes the dish taste just right. Find White Rabbit Brewery at 221 Swanston Street, South Geelong. Open Sunday to Thursday 11am – 5pm, Friday to Saturday 11am – 9pm.
The Christchurch food scene is better than it has ever been. It's vibrant, quirky, sophisticated and in touch with the land. From fresh produce picked up at the local farmers' markets to the many restaurants, cafes and food trucks, there are opportunities for good eating experiences all over Christchurch. It's a place to come and enjoy food made with the best produce from the land and ocean, with respect for local farmers and producers. Christchurch's wealth of produce has made it the home of food foraging groups and ConversatioNZ, a movement initiated by chefs, restauranteurs, producers and writers in the food industry aiming to highlight the quality and vast array of spectacular food and edible resources available in New Zealand. It was hard to choose, but here are five of our favourite places to eat at in Christchurch. SUPREME SUPREME Saying something twice emphasises its meaning. This is certainly the case at Supreme Supreme, a cafe, coffee school and wholesale coffee venue within a stone's throw of Christchurch's city centre. Coffee Supreme has been producing particularly fine specialty coffee since the 1990's, first in Wellington, then moving on to Christchurch and Melbourne. Supreme Supreme is equipped with a full kitchen and bakery, offering tasty breakfast and lunch fare made from scratch using locally-sourced ingredients. The eatery arm of their venture continues their attention to detail and good taste. In past lives, the venue was a Land Rover dealership and the Hop Yick Asian Food Warehouse — the vibe now is of a futuristic and minimal diner. ROOTS RESTAURANT Whatever you do, don't forget to visit the port town of Lyttelton on a trip to Christchurch — the award-winning Roots Restaurant is only twenty minutes away, and it's not to be missed. The 2015 Restaurant of the Year is an eating adventure savoured by those who enjoy food gathered and made with commitment and love. The menu at Giulio and Christy Sturla's intimate 30-seater eatery encompasses what's fresh from the kitchen garden, nearby local growers and farmers. The five-, eight- and 12-course degustation menus showcase ingredients that reflect the seasons. Sit in the peaceful private garden or in one of two cosy dining rooms. THE LAST WORD With its Spanish Mission facades, New Regent Street has long been a favourite shopping spot for Christchurch locals. Recent times have seen a burgeoning of bars, restaurants and cafes pop up in this quirky little space. One of the standouts is definitely The Last Word. With two floors of ambient retro sophistication, this is the place to go for some quiet reflection or intimate conversation over a cocktail. Indeed, the whisky list is a veritable library collection of greats, curated with love and knowledge. Try a glass of their 19-year-old Glendronach vintage single cask; a crisp citrus twist flows through sherry poached pears and ripe yellow plums with a warming white pepper spice finish. THE MONDAY ROOM If ever there was a place to get a cocktail in Christchurch, it's at The Monday Room. Think many variations on the Bloody Mary and pages of cocktail puns. Housed in one of the oldest standing buildings in Christchurch, you'll be enveloped by the rich and opulent atmosphere whether you're there for brunch, dessert or anything in between. The locally-grown and organic-inspired menu is expertly executed by head chef Hannah Cooper-Grieve and showcases some of Canterbury's finest meat, seafood and produce. The wine list is all biodynamic and organic, and favours local vineyards, particularly those 45 minutes away in Waipara. SMASH PALACE Smash Palace started as a bus converted into a bar on Victoria Street, but it has now found more permanent digs on High Street in Christchurch. The famous beer hall, and the bus for that matter, are key factors in the success of the joint. On a sunny day the outdoor courtyard is packed with people enjoying a beverage. A family business, Smash Palace is dedicated to craft beer, local wine and the community, aiming to bring more of one to the other. They also serve some of the city's best made-from-scratch burgers in house-made buns. Maybe you've been to New Zealand's North Island, but have you ever ventured down South? Christchurch, and New Zealand's surrounding Canterbury region, is the perfect place for a quick holiday. Use our planning guide to book your trip, then sort out your itinerary with our adventure, nature and relaxation guides. Top image: Roots Restaurant.
When Melbourne's beloved Middle Eastern restaurant Rumi moved from Lygon Street to Brunswick East Village in 2023, owners Joseph and Nat Abboud decided to also create a neighbourhood wine bar next door. Playfully named after the Lebanese Rocket Society — a university club that endeavoured to join the space race in 1960s Beirut — the wine bar is a brilliant spot to drop by before dining at Rumi, or to spend a few hours sipping and snacking with mates. During the day, Rocket Society serves up flatbread sandwiches, fries with tahini mayo, HSP croquettes and a bunch of mezze plates. As the sun sets, a heap more mezzes make the list, including lamb and sweetbread skewers, pickles aplenty, crunchy fried cauliflower leaves, cheesy doughnuts and freshly shucked oysters with pickled verjuice grapes. Being directly connected to Rumi, we expect great things in the food department. And we were absolutely not disappointed on our visit. These eats pack a punch, with plenty of spice and umami goodness weaved into each dish. The team behind the bar also know their bevs. They shake up a mean martini and a bunch of other classic cocktails, and pour a well-curated selection of 50+ wines hailing from Australia, Lebanon, Morocco and Europe. These drops range from mild to funky, so let the crew find your ideal pairing. You can't book a spot at this small wine bar in Brunswick East, so get in early to nab one of the few seats available. There are a handful of streetside tables, but we recommend heading inside to get all the vibes. Jump onto one of the high tables, or get a stool at the bar where the team is mixing drinks and spinning vinyl until 11pm each night. When compared to the local institution that is Rumi, Rocket Society feels like the cool younger sibling. It stays up later, plays alternative beats and is a bit more playful with its food and drink offerings.
Halal food, and the certification around it, has popped up in the Australian news a lot lately — mostly in the form of straight-up racist commentary that has no basis in fact. Most recently, newly elected Australian senator Pauline Hanson, threw a childish fit on Saturday after senator Sam Dastyari offered to buy her a Halal Snack Pack (HSP) as jesting congratulations. For those that don't know, an HSP is a greasy concoction of hot chips, kebab meat (chicken and/or lamb) and cheese, covered in sauces, including the 'Holy Trinity' of garlic, chilli and barbecue sauce. This dish is so popular among uni students that the Halal Snack Pack Appreciation Society (HSPAS) is nearly 150,000 members strong. Hanson has repeatedly made fact-less allegations that funds made from halal certified food goes directly to fund terrorism. Her blatantly discriminatory remarks, which have been repetitively disproven and shown to have no factual research behind them, got us thinking — what is halal certification really all about? We're bringing you some plain old facts on the subject, because knowledge is power. [caption id="attachment_578771" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Flickr.[/caption] WHAT IS HALAL FOOD? Halal (حَلَال) is an Arabic word that means 'permissible' or 'allowed' and refers to the dietary restrictions of the Muslim law. Foods that are explicitly prohibited by the Qur'an, and are therefore not halal, include: Alcohol (including used in food) Meat from carnivorous animals, most notably pigs and dogs Any bi-product of carnivorous animals, including lard, gelatine, blood, broth and enzymes (which many non-halal cakes, biscuits and ice-creams contain) Meat of an animal that has died of natural causes or as a result of strangling or beating All foods that do not meet these above restrictions are considered halal (that includes fruits, nuts and vegetables, to name a few). WHAT IS HALAL CERTIFICATION? Halal certification denotes to the consumer that the food is certified to fit the dietary restrictions of halal, much the way organic and gluten-free products must be certified. In order for a food to be certified as halal, it must be: Free from any meat or bi-product from a carnivorous animal Slaughtered with a Muslim person present and in compliance with Islamic rites Processed, manufactured and stored by using equipment that has been cleaned according to Islamic law (e.g. not cleaned with alcohol or in proximity to carnivorous animal bi-product). [caption id="attachment_578769" align="alignnone" width="1280"] CEphoto, Uwe Aranas.[/caption] OTHER USEFUL HALAL FACTS Food that is already halal is not changed during the certification process; it is simply certified to show that it has not broken any of the dietary restrictions within halal eating methods. Hundreds of Australian food products exist as halal certified, including Vegemite, Nestle Crunch bars, Maggi Two Minute Noodles and Kellogg's Coco Pops. Essentially, the animal used for food needs to be slaughtered humanely and using clean instruments that are namely pork and alcohol free. If you're thinking logically about it, a halal certification is similar to a food being certified as organic or gluten free — it simply tells a person who has specific dietary restrictions that they are able to eat the food and is actually very inline with standard ethical eating practices. ABC News Fact Check recently assessed Hanson's claims that halal certification directly results in funding terrorism and could find "no evidence whatsoever ... that money from halal certification has ever flowed to terrorist groups." They also debunked her claims that halal certification is a $3-trillion dollar industry — in fact, most responsive manufacturers claimed that their certification cost was negligible, even as little as $1-$2K per year. What is true is that the halal food industry is estimated to be in excess of $1-trillion. This means that the world economy profits in the trillions off of manufacturing halal food. [caption id="attachment_578861" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Dan Nguyen.[/caption] When it comes down to it, all the fuss is really about nothing but and Hanson's comments are just an embarrassment. Halal food is embraced around the western world and is specifically prevalent in New York City, where halal carts are seen on every corner. The city's famous Halal Guys, which is the "longest running and best known street cart in New York City", serves the cart equivalent of the HSP and is an integral part of the food scene in the city. They're also donating $30,000 to LaGuardia Community College this year, which sure doesn't sound like global terrorist activity to us. Sources: Australian Food & Grocery Council, The New York Times, SMH, ABC Fact Check, Junkee, Merriam-Webster. Image: Toby Jay, Halal Snack Pack Appreciation Society (HSPAS).
The Railway Club Hotel is a true Melbourne institution — with a happening bar at the front and an elegant dining room upstairs, it caters for all diners looking for a great host of experiences. The venue itself is charming with exposed brick arches, a Parisian salon of framed images on the wall and deep brown wood finishes throughout. It is elegant and sophisticated but still fun and carefree. The menu begins with charcuterie boards with cured meats, chicken liver parfait, duck rillettes and caramelised onions, as well as classic starters such as salt and pepper calamari, rock oysters and house-made garlic bread. The mains include the ever-popular pie of the day alongside mushroom gnocchi and damn good chicken parma. If you're after seafood, look no further than the grilled tiger prawns with preserved lemon, garlic and chilli. Most people venturing the Railway, however, are looking for something from the chargrill — featuring cuts such as a Gippsland pure Lackland porterhouse and a Cape Grim scotch fillet. Other steak specialties include a fillet mignon wrapped in bacon and served with hand-cut chips and mushroom sauce as well as the reef and beef with grilled tiger prawns and bernaise. You select your cut from a display fridge and sit back, knowing the chefs are going to grill up something spectacular. Wine-wise, Railway Club Hotel has an expansive list that features Aussie hits like Torbreck 'Woodcutter's' Shiraz by the glass and Henschke 'Hill of Grace' by the bottle. For something rich and European, look to the 2021 Arnuad Baillot 'La Montagne' Pinot Noir from Burgundy. Images: Simon Shiff
Just off Footscray's Nicholson Street and down a street art-filled alleyway, a small doorway leads you up a set of colourful stairs and into a bright, airy bar. Welcome to Baby Snakes, a European-style wine bar brought to you by Mark Nilson, formerly of Collingwood's The Moon. While there are some left-field offerings on the wine list, the team here aims to demystify and strip away the pretentiousness of old-world wine culture, instead celebrating interesting flavours that are approachable, sessionable and fun. Speaking of fun, there are also a couple of frozen cocktail machines with regularly changing flavours. The food at Baby Snakes Bar is similarly unpretentious, featuring crafty baguettes and sandwiches, and uncomplicated plates of charcuterie and pickles to help soak up the booze. You'll also find six taps pouring crushable craft beers and — best of all — a rooftop bar to sink them in. Images: Julia Sansone Appears in: The Best Wine Bars in Melbourne for 2023
The sun is shining, the palm trees are gently swaying, and there's a laid-back vibe in the air; you must be in Brisbane. As well as almost able to guarantee holiday-like weather every day of the year, the Queensland capital offers locals and visitors alike the opportunity to enjoy a leisurely yet luxurious weekend. Think taking your pick of gourmet sausages or hash browns for breakfast at a brand new cafe dedicated to both, shopping for vintage threads at the city's only curated boutique market, or eating all the cheese your stomach can handle. Book a room at the Pullman Brisbane and make the hotel's King George Square digs your launching pad. Spend a whirlwind 48 hours eating, drinking, strolling and generally being merry, particularly if you follow our itinerary. [caption id="attachment_587777" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Morning After. Image: @____morningafter via Instagram.[/caption] SATURDAY A Saturday in Brisbane should be spent treating your tastebuds and your eyes to the best the city has to offer. That starts with the most important meal of the day, though don't feel like you need to rush to West End for an early morning bite, because breakfast at Morning After is available all day long. With a name like that, this eatery clearly knows that everyone kicks into gear at their own pace. Have a serving of brekkie carbonara and wander down Vulture and Boundary streets for your next adventure. [caption id="attachment_587791" align="alignnone" width="1280"] GOMA. Image: @qagoma via Instagram.[/caption] To be specific, keep moseying along until you reach the Gallery of Modern Art. For ten years now, the gleaming building on the banks of the river has showered Brisbane with the kind of exhibitions art lovers dream about. There will be something great on regardless of when you're in town (in 2015 and 2016 alone, GOMA has hosted shows focused on photographer Cindy Sherman, filmmaker David Lynch and the best contemporary pieces from the Asia-Pacific, for example). And if you somehow have a few hours to spare, be sure to check out the Australian Cinematheque within the building for a classy afternoon at the movies. [caption id="attachment_587781" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Fromage the Cow. Image: @vintage_lil via Instagram.[/caption] Next, prepare to make friends with Brisbane's water-based transport, the City Cats. Head down the river to Milton, then make a beeline by foot to Fromage the Cow on Park Road. Since this licensed fromagerie opened its doors it has become an indulgent favourite, serving up everything from twice-baked cheese souffle to croque monsieur and cheese toasties. We recommend opting for a flight, which will pair three slices of dairy goodness with three of your chosen type of beverage. [caption id="attachment_587783" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Cobbler. Image: @cobblerwestend via Instagram.[/caption] So, that's the cheese and wine section of day done and dusted. Now, it's on to the whisky and cocktail part of proceedings. You'll find plenty of both at Cobbler back in West End, and yes, you can travel part of the way by City Cat again if you want another chance to soak up the Brisbane river air. Once you arrive on site, even if you generally like your spirits untainted by mixers, we're going to strenuously suggest that you try a cocktail. Why? Well, Cobbler's menus are something special, with both Die Hard and Top Gun-inspired tipples served up in recent times. Working your way through their cocktail list is how you turn a few quiet drinks into an evening to remember. If you're in Brisbane on the right weekend you can stop by Test Kitchen, a fortnightly five-course degustation that takes place at Thomson's Reserve and lets you taste dishes before they go on the menu. [caption id="attachment_587785" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Food trucks at Metre Market. Image: @metremarket via Instagram.[/caption] SUNDAY Start your Sunday with sausages and hash browns. Skip the fast food brekkie though; at Annerley's Snag & Brown in the inner-south, you're going to want to take things slowly. Pick from chorizo, pork chipolatas, chicken, spinach and pine nut, and semi-dried tomato, thyme and polenta bangers, plus classic, sweet potato, and tomato and feta hash browns. There's other food available, but here, it's all there in the name. You'll need all the sustenance you can get for your next stopover: the Metre Market. Every public space around town might turn into a stall-based shopping spot come Sunday morning, but this is the only boutique, clothing-focused venture that's so selective about the vintage wares on display, you'll instantly walk out with a new wardrobe. Alas, Metre Market is an every now and then kind of deal, so we also have a list of alternatives. Secondhand fiends should head to Suitcase Rummage's regular pop-up events at Brisbane Square and Brisbane Powerhouse, while those with designer tastes can give their wallet a workout at South Bank's monthly Young Designer's Market. After a busy morning browsing, buying and wondering what you can realistically fit in your suitcase, there's only one thing to do. Treat yourself to some swoon-worthy sweet stuff (and no, we're not talking about Doughnut Time, though eating one of their epic pastries is something every visitor to Brisbane should do too). Instead, head to New Farm Confectionery for some salted caramel lollipops, chocolate raspberry bark, passionfruit sherbet and more. [caption id="attachment_587796" align="alignnone" width="1280"] New Farm Confectionary. Image: @nfconfectionary via Instagram.[/caption] So, you've feasted, shopped and had something sugary; now it's time for dinner in a heritage-listed building that once housed a medicine dispensary. Yes, really. The food menu at The Apo is a rotating affair, but we're sure one of the seasonal dishes on offer (such as Lebanese tacos with spiced goat and frozen Arabic coffee dessert martinis at the time of writing) will take your fancy. You'll want to grab an Apo Old Fashioned while you're eating, but save some room for a nightcap at Barbara around the corner. They're known for their cocktails and for being a classy late-night hangout everyday of the week – that's how you should bring an ace two days in Brisbane to a perfect end. [caption id="attachment_588386" align="alignnone" width="1280"] The Apo. Image: @theapo_ via Instagram.[/caption] Pullman Hotels make a great base to explore Brisbane for a weekend.
We know you guys are probably tiring of the food truck trend, but hear us out on this one. Now, we're not entirely sure how to feel, so we're just gonna lay out the facts. There's a new food truck doing the rounds that specialises in… gourmet dog food. The Canine Wellness Kitchen (heh) is Australia's first food truck for dogs — which, honestly, is a sentence we never thought we'd write. Founders and 'canine chefs' Katie Crandon and Laura Yeomans aren't new to this game — they founded 'dog superfood' (apparently a thing) label Because I Luv My Dog, specialising in healthy pooch snacks for on-the-go doggos. It'll be the first food truck of its kind in Australia, offering a range of dog-friendly goods including dehydrated snacks, raw food, chicken necks and organic bone broth. And… again, not sure how to take this… a beer for dogs. It's named Freddie's Froth and it's not actual beer guys, it's bone broth, geez. The whole venture is a little tongue in cheek and pokes fun at the food truck revolution. This is a little snippet from the menu: "Forget the super smoothies, our bone broth is the ultimate detoxifier. Get your active wear on, this is all the warm up you need for a workout." Look, in your heart of hearts, you know this is one business that'll go incredibly well. We're on board. Canine Wellness Kitchen will be making their first appearance on September 24 at the Hank Marvin Markets in St Kilda.
Man the glitter cannons, crank the human-sized hamster wheels and blast the oversized wind machines; SBS has just announced it's developing a version of the Eurovision Song Contest for the Asia Pacific region. Yep. HOLY. CRAP. Announced today, the Australian broadcaster has signed an exclusive option with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the owners of Eurovision, to establish an Asian version of the contest. And guess who's up for hosting? AUSTRALIA. Really. According to SBS, the inaugural event would be hosted by Australia in 2017 (next year, my giddy aunt) and would then travel to other countries in the Asia Pacific. Like the Eurovision Song Contest proper, the Asia Pacific event would allow countries to showcase their songwriting and performing talent. Think about it, from J-Pop to K-Pop to Bollywood, this is perfect territory for Eurovision. "As the official broadcaster of Eurovision for over 30 years, SBS is pleased to explore the opportunity to bring an event of this calibre more closely to our shores, strengthening the multicultural ties in our region," said SBS managing director Michael Ebeid. "Asia Pacific has a spectacular music culture and the perfect next step to extend the Eurovision brand, bringing its hugely popular appeal beyond Australian audiences and to the wider region." Capitalising on the undeniable global success, crazy, crazy production values and epic scale of Eurovision, this brand new (and insanely close-to-home) event would bringing together up to 20 countries from the Asia Pacific region to compete in one live annual grand final. SBS and Blink TV will spend the next few months talking to potential sponsors, commercial partners and regional broadcasters to bring the event to life by 2017. With the potential to attract an estimated one billion viewers across the Asia Pacific region, we're pretty sure these'll be positive chats. No pressure, Dami Im. Image: Thomas Hanses (EBU).
With a luxurious yet welcoming blue and white interior and boundless natural light flooding in from two walls of uninterrupted windows, Middletown Prahran is a brunch venue designed to relax, inspire and rejuvenate. The space invites you to sit back and chill out as the world roars on outside — as the team of baristas turns out delicious brews by Code Black Coffee. The all-day breakfast menu features light and easy options such as oat granola with maple toasted oats, mixed nuts, vanilla yoghurt and dried and fresh fruits and corn fritters with jalapeños and a harissa-honey pumpkin puree, blistered cherry tomatoes, a poached egg and lemon coconut yoghurt. If you're after something more substantial, its big breakfast is bound to keep you busy for an hour or so. It features chilli scrambled eggs, pork sausages, streaky bacon, hash browns, roasted tomatoes and tomato relish on sourdough toast. If you're vegetarian, there are plenty of options for you, too. But our fave choice is the avocado on toast topped with cherry tomatoes, lemon vinaigrette, hazelnut and almond dukkah. Meanwhile, suppose you're swinging by for a work meeting or catch up over a meal. In that case, the lunch menu offers classics such as a beef burger with American cheese, burger sauce, pickles and tomatoes, while the fish and chips consist of a beer-battered John Dory with smashed peas, fries and tartare. For something leaving you a little lighter, opt for the Japanese pumpkin salad with cauliflower and brown rice or the chicken avo sandwich, which is loaded up with tasty cheese and seeded mustard. Drinks-wise, there's a decent range of teas, smoothies and fresh juices. And as the morning catch-up drags into the afternoon, treat yourself to a cheeky mimosa or espresso martini or a glass of wine from Victoria or South Australia. Appears in: Where to Find the Best Breakfast in Melbourne for 2023
The neighbouring Northcote sites, once home to siblings Estelle Bistro and Estelle by Scott Pickett (ESP), had a shakeup back in 2019. They closed down and reopened as one standalone venue encompassing wining, dining and everything in between. Dubbed simply Estelle, this hospitality project from acclaimed Chef Scott Pickett (Longrain, Estelle, Matilda and Pastore) is a spot for all occasions, showcasing his signature modern Australian fare across both the bar and dining room. The High Street space has more of a relaxed energy than before, the bar boasting splashes of exposed brick and emerald green marble, and the dining space kitted out with covetable kitchen-side seating. From that kitchen comes a collaborative effort by Pickett and his chefs, the menu running easily from bar snacks through to larger plates primed for lengthy dining room sessions. The menu oft changes, but you might come across the likes of wagyu bolognese and kimchi stuffed toasties and puffed crisps of veal tendon flavoured with coffee and roasted onion, or maybe a whole flounder cooked with black bean and XO sauce. Bigger feasts might mean delicate chicken wings stuffed with shiitake and kelp, hand-rolled macaroni cacio e pepe with guanciale, or the Berkshire pork matched with mustard leaf and kohlrabi. To match, almost 200 Aussie drops star throughout Estelle's considered wine list, while a cocktail lineup sits time-honoured classics alongside signature sips. Images: Simon Shiff.
You're going to need two hands for this one. And a pile of serviettes — or an exceptionally long tongue — for mopping up your mouth. And your hands, your wrists and maybe even down to your elbows. If you're looking for all the signs of a damn good burger, Chew Burger's got 'em — and the hipsters of this up-and-coming part of the north are swarming. It's nothing we haven't seen or devoured before. But something about Chew makes us feel like it is. They've toed the line of exposed brick walls and industrial lighting, and a plant box in the centre of the breaks up the surprisingly vast space with a bit of foliage, but white enamel plates upon shiny green tiled tables are convincing enough that they've somehow done this scene better. The Chew ($12.50) mimics the multitude of classic burgers that have come before it with the seemingly stock standard brioche bun, juicy, melt-in-your-mouth wagyu beef, cheddar, fresh cos lettuce, tomato, pickles and the stunning combination of mustard and aioli that makes you think: this is it. Not to mention, you'll never forget Preston's postcode again; the 3072 ($12) comes with more of that succulent wagyu, cos lettuce, jalapeños and a sriracha slaw that will bleed down your arm while stealing your heart. In the never-ending battle of fries versus thick-cut chips, Chew offers shoestring ($4), with the choice of parmesan or chilli dust as a seasoning. They also do three lighter, vegetarian burgers such as the Magic Mushroom with a crumbed and fried mushroom and gaucamole ($15), if you're so inclined. Head in on a Tuesday and you can even score one of those namesake Chew burgers for a bargain $10 — if that's not a reason to get in and get chewing, we don't know what is.
Berlin is a city that's constantly evolving. But despite the change, one thing will remain true – the German capital will always be cool. Yes, the days are gone when Berghain youths could pay a mere Australian $150 a month to rent a loft-like penthouse we could only dream of, but don't let the Berlin locals tell you that that means the city has been gentrified. The anarchist vigour that was born out of a city in political and economical shambles for the last 60 years lives on, and the middle finger to the man attitude in Berlin is present in almost everything. We asked an actual local to show us where we should spend our time in Berlin to ensure an unforgettable experience. If you've been thinking about booking that European holiday, do it now. Swapping your Australian winter for a European summer is a great way to make your 2017 something to look forward to. In partnership with Topdeck, here is the first instalment of our Less Obvious city guides. Episode one: Berlin. [caption id="attachment_589108" align="alignnone" width="1280"] @streethaus via Instagram.[/caption] PACK A PICNIC AND HEAD TO KORNERPARK Hidden in Neukolln, Berlin's answer to Fitzroy in Melbourne or Surry Hills in Sydney, Kornerpark is a pretty breath of fresh air compared to the suburb's usual grungy surrounds. Pack a picnic and enjoy the views of manicured flora while people-watching the local cool kids who hang out in this palace garden-esque retreat. On Sundays there's a free guided tour of the art gallery that overlooks the grounds. [caption id="attachment_589109" align="alignnone" width="1280"] @mr.akman via Instagram.[/caption] VISIT A GALLERY IN AN OLD RAILWAY STATION For all the contemporary art lovers out there, the Hamburger Bahnhof Museum boasts one of the best collections of Andy Warhol, Joseph Beuys and Keith Haring you'll find in Berlin. The former railway station was turned into a gallery in the mid-90s and its architecture is just as impressive as the artwork inside it. Entrance to the main building and temporary exhibitions will set you back €14 but with over 10,000 square meters of gallery space the bang is well worth the buck. As with all museums and big city attractions, avoid going on the weekend. Instead, get in first at 10am, the earlier in the week the better. Still check out some of Berlin's street art though – there's a reason it's so famous. [caption id="attachment_589113" align="alignnone" width="1280"] @burgermeisterberlin via Instagram.[/caption] TRY A GERMAN BURGER AT BURGERMEISTER Berlin has a slight burger obsession. For the true enthusiasts, make your attempt at getting through a patty three thumbs thick at The Bird near Schonleinstrasse train station. Or, brace yourself for the omnipresent line at Berlin Burger International (BBI) on Neukolln's Pannierstrasse. The true Berlin burger experience can be found at Burgermeister on Shlesisches Tor in the original hipster town of Kreuzberg. It's underneath the train station built into what used to be public toilets. Yum. Nowadays It's totally sanitary and arguably the best burger in town. Don't forget to order chilli cheese fries on the side. [caption id="attachment_589220" align="alignnone" width="1280"] @olamajaw via Instagram.[/caption] FLY A KITE AT TEMPELHOFER FELD There are over 2,500 public parks and gardens in Berlin but Tempelhofer Feld is undoubtedly one of the most unique. A functioning airport until 2008, the city of Berlin eventually claimed back the space (it's 386 hectares) and turned it into the number one BBQ destination for Berliners in summer. Grab a kite, dust off your skates or bring some beers and a frisbee to enjoy the ultimate Berlin park experience. Whilst you're in the area walk through Schillerkiez, one of Berlin's most covetable living destinations, get a burger and Augustiner beer from one of the many restaurants, cafes and spatis (small milk bars that sell alcohol) that you'll discover walking through the streets. [caption id="attachment_589225" align="alignnone" width="1280"] @___feede___ via Instagram.[/caption] DRINK FREE WINE? AT WEINEREI In a city where beer is often cheaper than water, it's not hard to drink on a budget. Even still, a pay-what-you-want wine bar has its appeal. In the yuppie happy suburb of Prenzlauer Berg you'll find Weinerei. Dodge the prams and start-up entrepreneurs and head straight to the wine bar run by Bavarian and Argentinian connoisseurs Jurgen Stumf and Mariano Goni. There are three different locations but the Forum Cafe & Weinbar is easily the most popular. Get tipsy in atmospheric candlelight and when it's time to move on, use your discretion and pay what you think you owe in a small money box left at the bar. [caption id="attachment_589120" align="alignnone" width="1280"] @markthalleneun via Instagram.[/caption] DEVOUR SOME MULTICULTURAL FOOD AT MARKTHALLE NEUN (MARKET HALL 9) Bringing all the multicultural food flavours you can enjoy in Berlin together under one roof, Markthalle 9 officially reopened in 2011, exactly 120 years after its first opening. Inside the huge hall, there's a Breakfast Market held every third Sunday of the month or the Naschmarkt (snack market) held once a quarter with all the snacks and sweet delicacies you could imagine. Your best bet though is Street Food Thursday. Get there early at 5pm to avoid the huge crowds and struggle with the agonising decision over what to order. British pies, Thai tapioca dumplings, Mexican tacos, Allgäu cheese spaetzle or Nigerian FuFu? It's a delicious smorgasbord. Don't worry if you can't make it on either of those special days, the market is open every day of the week. ENJOY AUTHENTIC GOZLEME AT THE TURKISH MARKET For a true local's experience, take a stroll along the Turkish Market on Maybachufer canal every Tuesday and Friday. Everything from fresh fruit and vegetables to flowers to yards of fabric is on offer at this sort-of farmer's market. It's organised by the Turkish community living in Berlin (the city is home to the largest Turkish community outside of Turkey), and the produce is fresh and unbelievably cheap. Snag a carton of avocados for under €5 (seriously) or grab a freshly baked spinach and cheese gozleme and join the crowd of impossibly cool kids listening to the busker who sets up shop at the end of every market. [caption id="attachment_589134" align="alignnone" width="1280"] @chrisfosterrr via Instagram.[/caption] SAVOUR RARE TABLE SERVICE AT NATHANJA AND HEINRICH At the end of bar-laden Weichselstrasse in Neukolln you'll find Nathanja und Heinrich. With the typical Berlin bar vibe with raw walls, exposed brick and mismatched furniture, Nathanja's is equally as great for an afternoon coffee as it is for an evening gin and tonic. Order first and pay later, at this bar they often play the blues and even offer table service, a rare occurrence in Berlin. Like almost all places that serve alcohol in the city, smoking inside is allowed after 9pm. It's a popular local hangout so make sure you arrive before 8pm on weekends to grab a table. Visit Europe (including Berlin) with a Topdeck trip and make 2017 a year to remember. Book early (that means now) and save up to $999.
When you're trying to settling on viewing plans for an evening — any evening — there are almost as many ways to pick what to watch as there are movies and television series vying for your attention. One of the easiest options? Working your way through award-winners, whether you know you've already seen and loved plenty of them, you've been meaning to catch up with a heap or you just want to discover what all the fuss has been about. 2023's first excuse to pack your streaming queue and stack your cinema visits based on a Hollywood organisation is the Golden Globes, aka the Hollywood gongs that always kick off each year — and honour both films and TV series. Taking place on Wednesday, January 11 Australian time, the 2023 awards handed out trophies to many of 2022's absolute best on the big and small screens, giving you quite the list of things to watch and/or rewatch. Whether you're keen to hit the silver screen to catch a filmic gem, stream a stellar flick or binge your way through an excellent series or two, here are 15 of the Globes' best winners that you can check out immediately. (And if you're wondering what else won, you can read through the full list, too.) MOVIE MUST-SEES EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE Imagine living in a universe where Michelle Yeoh isn't the wuxia superstar she is. No, no one should want to dwell in that reality. Now, envisage a world where everyone has hot dogs for fingers, including the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon icon. Next, picture another where Ratatouille is real, but with raccoons. Then, conjure up a sparse realm where life only exists in sentient rocks. An alternative to this onslaught of pondering: watching Everything Everywhere All At Once, which throws all of the above at the screen and a helluva lot more. Yes, its title is marvellously appropriate. Written and directed by the Daniels, aka Swiss Army Man's Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, this multiverse-hopping wonder is a funhouse of a film that just keeps spinning through wild and wacky ideas. Instead of asking "what if Daniel Radcliffe was a farting corpse that could be used as a jet ski?" as their also-surreal debut flick did, the pair now muses on Yeoh, her place in the universe, and everyone else's along with her. Although Yeoh doesn't play herself in Everything Everywhere All At Once, she is seen as herself; keep an eye out for red-carpet footage from her Crazy Rich Asians days. Such glitz and glamour isn't the norm for middle-aged Chinese American woman Evelyn Wang, her laundromat-owning character in the movie's main timeline, but it might've been if life had turned out differently. That's such a familiar train of thought — a resigned sigh we've all emitted, even if only when alone — and the Daniels use it as their foundation. Their film starts with Evelyn, her husband Waymond (Ke Huy Quan, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom's Short Round and The Goonies' Data) and a hectic time. Evelyn's dad (James Hong, Turning Red) is visiting from China, the Wangs' daughter Joy (Stephanie Hsu, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings) brings her girlfriend Becky (Tallie Medel, The Carnivores) home, and IRS inspector Deirdre Beaubeirdra (Jamie Lee Curtis, Halloween Ends) is conducting a punishing audit. Then Evelyn learns she's the only one who can save, well, everything, everywhere and everyone. GLOBES Won: Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy (Michelle Yeoh), Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture (Ke Huy Quan). Where to watch it: Everything Everywhere All At Once streams via Binge, Prime Video, Google Play, YouTube Movies and iTunes. Read our full review. BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER Black Panther: Wakanda Forever isn't the movie it was initially going to be, the sequel to 2018's electrifying and dynamic Black Panther that anyone behind it originally wanted it to be, or the chapter in the sprawling Marvel Cinematic Universe that it first aimed to be — this, the world already knows. The reason why is equally familiar, after Chadwick Boseman died from colon cancer in 2020 aged 43. At its best, this direct followup to the MCU's debut trip to its powerful African nation doesn't just know this, too, but scorches that awareness deep into its frames. King T'Challa's death starts the feature, a loss that filmmaking trickery doesn't reverse, no matter how meaningless mortality frequently proves when on-screen resurrections are usually a matter of mere plot twists. Wakanda Forever begins with heartbreak and pain, in fact, and with facing the hard truth that life ends and, in ways both big and small, that nothing is ever the same. Directed and co-written by Ryan Coogler (Creed) like its predecessor — co-scripting again with Joe Robert Cole (All Day and a Night) — Wakanda Forever's emotional tributes to T'Challa and Boseman hit swiftly, after the former's tech-wiz sister Shuri (Letitia Wright, Death on the Nile) agonises over not being able to save him. In a swirl of song, dance, colour, movement, rhythm and feeling on par with the first instalment, but also solemn, Wakanda erupts in mourning, and the film makes plain that the Black Panther audiences knew is gone forever. A year later, sorrow lingers, but global courtesy wanes — now that the world knows about the previously secret country and its metal vibranium, everyone wants a piece. Such searching incites a new threat to the planet, courtesy of Mesoamerican underwater kingdom Talokan and its leader-slash-deity Namor (Tenoch Huerta, Narcos: Mexico). The Atlantis-esque ocean realm has vibranium as well, and it's not keen on anywhere else but Wakanda doing the same. If Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett, Gunpowder Milkshake), Shuri and their compatriots don't join Namor to fight back, Namor will wage war against them instead. GLOBES Won: Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture (Angela Bassett). Where to watch it: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is currently screening in Australian cinemas. Read our full review. RRR The letters in RRR's title are short for Rise Roar Revolt. They could also stand for riveting, rollicking and relentless. They link in with the Indian action movie's three main forces, too — writer/director SS Rajamouli (Baahubali: The Beginning), plus stars NT Rama Rao Jr (Aravinda Sametha Veera Raghava) and Ram Charan (Vinaya Vidheya Rama) — and could describe the sound of some of its standout moments. What noise echoes when a motorcycle is used in a bridge-jumping rescue plot, as aided by a horse and the Indian flag, amid a crashing train? Or when a truck full of wild animals is driven into a decadent British colonialist shindig and its caged menagerie unleashed? What racket resounds when a motorbike figures again, this time tossed around by hand (yes, really) to knock out those imperialists, and then an arrow is kicked through a tree into someone's head? Or, when the movie's two leads fight, shoot, leap over walls and get acrobatic, all while one is sat on the other's shoulders? RRR isn't subtle. Instead, it's big, bright, boisterous, boldly energetic, and brazenly unapologetic about how OTT and hyperactive it is. The 187-minute Tollywood action epic — complete with huge musical numbers, of course — is also a vastly captivating pleasure to watch. Narrative-wise, it follows the impact of the British Raj (aka England's rule over the subcontinent between 1858–1947), especially upon two men. In the 1920s, Bheem (Jr NTR, as Rao is known) is determined to rescue young fellow villager Malli (first-timer Twinkle Sharma), after she's forcibly taken by Governor Scott Buxton (Ray Stevenson, Vikings) and his wife Catherine (Alison Doody, Beaver Falls) for no reason but they're powerful and they can. Officer Raju (Charan) is tasked by the crown with making sure Bheem doesn't succeed in rescuing the girl, and also keeping India's population in their place because their oppressors couldn't be more prejudiced. GLOBES Won: Best Original Song (for 'Naatu Naatu' by Kala Bhairava, M.M. Keeravani, Kala Bhairava, Rahul Sipligunj). Where to watch it: RRR streams via Netflix. Read our full review. THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN In The Banshees of Inisherin, the rolling hills and clifftop fields look like they could stretch on forever, even on a fictional small island perched off the Irish mainland. For years, conversation between Padraic Súilleabháin (Colin Farrell, After Yang) and Colm Doherty (Brendan Gleeson, The Tragedy of Macbeth) has been similarly sprawling — and leisurely, too — especially during the pair's daily sojourn to the village pub for chats over pints. But when the latter calls time on their camaraderie suddenly, his demeanour turns brusque and his explanation, only given after much pestering, is curt. Uttered beneath a stern, no-nonsense stare by Gleeson to his In Bruges co-star Farrell, both reuniting with that darkly comic gem's writer/director Martin McDonagh for another black, contemplative and cracking comedy, Colm is as blunt as can be: "I just don't like you no more." In the elder character's defence, he wanted to ghost his pal without hurtful words. Making an Irish exit from a lifelong friendship is a wee bit difficult on a tiny isle, though, as Colm quickly realises. It's even trickier when the mate he's trying to put behind him is understandably upset and confused, there's been no signs of feud or fray beforehand, and anything beyond the norm echoes through the town faster than a folk ballad. So springs McDonagh's smallest-scale and tightest feature since initially leaping from the stage to the screen, and a wonderful companion piece to that first effort. Following the hitman-focused In Bruges, he's gone broader with Seven Psychopaths, then guided Frances McDormand and Sam Rockwell to Oscars with Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, but he's at his best when his lens is trained at Farrell and Gleeson as they bicker in close confines. GLOBES Won: Best Motion Picture — Comedy, Best Screenplay — Motion Picture (Martin McDonagh), Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy (Colin Farrell). Where to watch it: The Banshees of Inisherin is currently screening in Australian cinemas. Read our full review. GUILLERMO DEL TORO'S PINOCCHIO Guillermo del Toro hasn't yet directed a version of Frankenstein, except that he now has in a way. Officially, he's chosen another much-adapted, widely beloved story — one usually considered less dark — but there's no missing the similarities between the Nightmare Alley and The Shape of Water filmmaker's stop-motion Pinocchio and Mary Shelley's ever-influential horror masterpiece. Both carve out tales about creations made by grief-stricken men consumed by loss. Both see those tinkerers help give life to things that don't usually have it, gifting existence to the inanimate because they can't cope with mortality's reality. Both notch up the fallout when those central humans struggles with the results of their handiwork, even though all that the beings that spring from their efforts want is pure and simple love and acceptance. Del Toro's take on Pinocchio still has a talking cricket, a blue-hued source of magic and songs, too, but it clearly and definitely isn't a Disney movie. Instead, Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio is an enchanting iteration of a story that everyone knows, and that's graced screens so many times that this is the third flick in 2022 alone. Yes, the director's name is officially in the film's title. Yes, it's likely there to stop the movie getting confused with that array of other page-to-screen adaptations, all springing from Carlo Collodi's 19th-century Italian children's novel The Adventures of Pinocchio. That said, even if the list of features about the timber puppet wasn't longer than said critter's nose when he's lying, del Toro would earn the possessory credit anyway. No matter which narrative he's unfurling — including this one about a boy fashioned out of pine (voiced by Gregory Mann, Victoria) by master woodcarver Geppetto (David Bradley, Catherine Called Birdy) after the death of his son — the Mexican Oscar-winner's distinctive fingerprints are always as welcomely apparent as his gothic-loving sensibilities. GLOBES Won: Best Motion Picture — Animated. Where to watch it: Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio streams via Netflix. Read our full review. ELVIS Making a biopic about the king of rock 'n' roll, trust Baz Luhrmann to take his subject's words to heart: a little less conversation, a little more action. The Australian filmmaker's Elvis, his first feature since 2013's The Great Gatsby, isn't short on chatter. It's even narrated by Tom Hanks (Finch) as Colonel Tom Parker, the carnival barker who thrust Presley to fame (and, as Luhrmann likes to say, the man who was never a Colonel, never a Tom and never a Parker). But this chronology of an icon's life is at its best when it's showing rather than telling. That's when it sparkles brighter than a rhinestone on all-white attire, and gleams with more shine than all the lights in Las Vegas. That's when Elvis is electrifying, due to its treasure trove of recreated concert scenes — where Austin Butler (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) slides into Presley's blue suede shoes and lifetime's supply of jumpsuits like he's the man himself. Butler is that hypnotic as Presley. Elvis is his biggest role to-date after starting out on Hannah Montana, sliding through other TV shows including Sex and the City prequel The Carrie Diaries, and also featuring in Yoga Hosers and The Dead Don't Die — and he's exceptional. Thanks to his blistering on-stage performance, shaken hips and all, the movie's gig sequences feel like Elvis hasn't ever left the building. Close your eyes and you'll think you were listening to the real thing. (In some cases, you are: the film's songs span Butler's vocals, Presley's and sometimes a mix of both). And yet it's how the concert footage looks, feels, lives, breathes, and places viewers in those excited and seduced crowds that's Elvis' true gem. It's meant to make movie-goers understand what it was like to be there, and why Presley became such a sensation. Aided by dazzling cinematography, editing and just all-round visual choreography, these parts of the picture — of which there's many, understandably — leave audiences as all shook up as a 1950s teenager or 1970s Vegas visitor. GLOBES Won: Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture — Drama (Austin Butler). Where to watch it: Elvis streams via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. THE FABELMANS "Movies are dreams that you never forget," says Mitzi Fabelman (Michelle Williams, Venom: Let There Be Carnage) early in Steven Spielberg's The Fabelmans. Have truer words ever been spoken in any of the director's flicks? Uttered to her eight-year-old son Sammy (feature debutant Mateo Zoryon Francis-DeFord), Mitzi's statement lingers, providing the film's beating heart even when the coming-of-age tale it spins isn't always idyllic. Individual pictures can come and go, of course. Only some — only some on the Jaws, Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park and West Side Story filmmaker's own resume, in fact — truly stand the test of time. But as former concert pianist Mitzi understands, and imparts to her wide-eyed on-screen Spielberg boyhood surrogate, movies as an art form are a dream that keeps shining in our heads. We return to theatres again and again for more. We glue our eyes to films at home, too. We lap up the worlds they visit, stories they relay and fantasies they inspire, and we also add our own. To everyone that's ever stared at the silver screen in awe, The Fabelmans pays tribute far more than it basks in the glow of its director. Because everyone is crafting cinematic memoirs of late, Spielberg adds this tender yet clear-eyed look at his childhood to a growing list of self-reflective flicks; however, he's as fascinated with cinema as a dream-sparking and -making force as is he with fictionalising his own tale. Slot The Fabelmans in alongside James Gray's Armageddon Time, Kenneth Branagh's Belfast, Paul Thomas Anderson's Licorice Pizza and Alejandro González Iñárritu's Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths from the past year or so, then, but don't merely consider it Spielberg jumping on a trend. Focusing on Sammy's film fixation, including as a teen (played by Gabriel LaBelle, The Predator) and as his fragile family hops around the US following his computer-engineer dad Burt's (Paul Dano, The Batman) work, this is a heartfelt, perceptive and potent movie about how movies act as a mirror — a vividly shot and engagingly performed one, too, complete with a pitch-perfect late cameo — whether we're watching or creating them. GLOBES Won: Best Motion Picture — Drama, Best Director — Motion Picture (Steven Spielberg). Where to watch it: The Fabelmans is currently screening in Australian cinemas. Read our full review. SMALL-SCREEN STANDOUTS ABBOTT ELEMENTARY The Office did it, in both the UK and US versions. Parks and Recreation did so, too. What We Do in the Shadows still does it — and, yes, there's more where they all came from. By now, the mockumentary format is a well-established part of the sitcom realm. Indeed, it's so common that additional shows deciding to give it a whirl aren't noteworthy for that alone. But in Emmy-winner Abbott Elementary, which is currently streaming its second season, the faux doco gimmick is also deployed as an outlet for the series' characters. They're all public school elementary teachers in Philadelphia, and the chats to-camera help convey the stresses and tolls of doing what they're devoted to. In a wonderfully warm and also clear-eyed gem created by, co-written by and starring triple-threat Quinta Brunson (Miracle Workers), that'd be teaching young hearts and minds no matter the everyday obstacles, the utter lack of resources and funding, or the absence of interest from the bureaucracy above them. Brunson plays perennially perky 25-year-old teacher Janine Teagues, who loves her gig and her second-grade class. She also adores her colleague Barbara Howard (Sheryl Lee Ralph, Ray Donovan), the kindergarten teacher that she sees as a mentor and work mum. Actually, Janine isn't just fond of all of the above — she's so devoted to her job that she'll let nothing stand in her way. But that isn't easy or straightforward in a system that's short on cash and care from the powers-that-be to make school better for its predominantly Black student populace. Also featuring Everybody Hates Chris' Tyler James Williams (also The United States vs Billie Holiday) as an apathetic substitute teacher, Lisa Ann Walter (The Right Mom) and Chris Perfetti (Sound of Metal) as Abbott faculty mainstays, and Janelle James (Black Monday) as the incompetent principal who only scored her position via blackmail, everything about Abbott Elementary is smart, kindhearted, funny and also honest. That remains the case in season two, where Janine is newly single and grappling with being on her own, sparks are flying with Williams' Gregory and James' Ava can't keep bluffing her way through her days. GLOBES Won: Best Television Series — Musical or Comedy, Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series — Musical or Comedy (Quinta Brunson), Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical or Comedy or Drama Television Series (Tyler James Williams). Where to watch it: Abbott Elementary streams via Disney+. THE BEAR First, an important piece of advice: eating either before or while watching The Bear is highly recommended, and near close to essential. Now, two more crucial slices of wisdom: prepare to feel stressed throughout every second of this riveting, always-tense, and exceptionally written and acted culinary series, and also to want to tuck into The Original Beef of Chicagoland's famous sandwiches immediately. The eatery is purely fictional, but its signature dish looks phenomenal. Most of what's cooked up in Carmen 'Carmy' Berzatto's (Jeremy Allen White, Shameless) kitchen does. But he has taken over the family business following his brother's suicide, arriving back home after wowing the world in fine dining's top restaurants, and nothing is easy. Well, coveting The Bear's edible wares is across the show's eight-episode first season — but making them, keeping the shop afloat, coping with grief and ensuring that the diner's staff work harmoniously is a pressure cooker of chaos. That anxious mood is inescapable from the outset; the best way to start any meal is just to bite right in, and The Bear's creator Christopher Storer (who also directs five episodes, and has Ramy, Dickinson and Bo Burnham: Make Happy on his resume) takes the same approach. He also throws all of his ingredients together with precision — the balance of drama and comedy, the relentlessness that marks every second in The Original Beef's kitchen, and the non-stop mouthing off by Richie, aka Cousin, aka Carmy's brother's best friend (Ebon Moss-Bachrach, The Dropout), all included. Carmy has bills to pay, debts to settle, eerie dreams and sleepwalking episodes to navigate, new sous chef Sydney (Ayo Edebiri, Dickinson) mixing up the place and long-standing employees (such as Hap and Leonard's Lionel Boyce, In Treatment's Liza Colón-Zayas and Fargo's Edwin Lee Gibson) to keep happy. Every glimpse at the resulting hustle and bustle is as gripping as it is appetising — and yes, binging is inevitable. GLOBES Won: Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series — Musical or Comedy (Jeremy Allen White). Where to watch it: The Bear streams via Disney+. Read our full review. EUPHORIA From the very first frames of its debut episode back in June 2019, when just-out-of-rehab 17-year-old Rue Bennett (Zendaya, Spider-Man: No Way Home) gave viewers the lowdown on her life, mindset, baggage, friends, family and everyday chaos, Euphoria has courted attention — or, mirroring the tumultuous teens at the centre of its dramas, the Emmy-winning HBO series just knew that eyeballs would come its way no matter what it did. The brainchild of filmmaker Sam Levinson (Malcolm & Marie), adapted from an Israeli series by the same name, and featuring phenomenal work by its entire cast, it's flashy, gritty, tense, raw, stark and wild, and manages to be both hyper-stylised to visually striking degree and deeply empathetic. In other words, if teen dramas reflect the times they're made — and from Degrassi, Press Gang and Beverly Hills 90210 through to The OC, Friday Night Lights and Skins, they repeatedly have — Euphoria has always been a glittery eyeshadow-strewn sign of today's times. That hasn't changed in the show's second season. Almost two and a half years might've elapsed between Euphoria's first and second batch of episodes — a pair of out-of-season instalments in late 2020 and early 2021 aside — but it's still as potent, intense and addictive as ever. And, as dark, as Rue's life and those of her pals (with the cast including Hunter Schafer, The King of Staten Island's Maude Apatow, The Kissing Booth franchise's Jacob Elordi, The White Lotus' Sydney Sweeney, The Afterparty's Barbie Ferreira, North Hollywood's Angus Cloud and Waves' Alexa Demie) bobs and weaves through everything from suicidal despair, Russian Roulette, bloody genitals, unforgettable school plays, raucous parties and just garden-variety 2022-era teen angst. The list always goes on; in fact, as once again relayed in Levinson's non-stop, hyper-pop style, the relentlessness that is being a teenager today, trying to work out who you are and navigating all that the world throws at you is Euphoria's point. GLOBES Won: Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series — Drama (Zendaya). Where to watch it: Euphoria streams via Binge. OZARK In 2022, Julia Garner schemed her away into New York's upper echelons in the instantly addictive Inventing Anna, playing IRL faux socialite Anna Delvey — and won the unofficial award for wildest accent on TV, too. She didn't end up nabbing a Golden Globe for her part, despite being nominated; however, the acclaimed actress hasn't been going home empty-handed at awards ceremonies. The reason? Fellow Netflix series Ozark. The Assistant keeps picking up Supporting Actress gongs for the crime drama, for her blistering performance as Ruth Langmore. When the show started back in 2017, Garner wasn't in its top-two biggest names, thanks to Jason Bateman (The Outsider) and Laura Linney (Tales of the City), but she's turned her part into an absolute powerhouse. Ozark's focus: a financial advisor, Marty Byrde (Bateman), who moves from Chicago to a quiet Missouri town — yes, in the titular Ozarks region — after a money-laundering scheme goes wrong in a big way. That's a significant shift for his wife Wendy (Linney) and kids Charlotte (Sofia Hublitz, What Breaks the Ice) and Jonah (Skylar Gaertner, Daredevil), but it doesn't see Marty change his ways. Instead, more laundering is in his future, as well as crossing paths with Ruth, who hails from a criminal family. Across its four-season run, Ozark has always been lifted by its performances, which is unsurprising given that Bateman, Linney and Garner are all at the top of their games. It's a masterclass in tension, too, and in conveying a relentless feeling of dread. GLOBES Won: Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Musical or Comedy or Drama Television Series (Julia Garner). Where to watch it: Ozark streams via Netflix. BLACK BIRD 2022 marks a decade since Taron Egerton's first on-screen credit as a then-23 year old. Thanks to the Kingsman movies, Eddie the Eagle, Robin Hood and Rocketman, he's rarely been out of the cinematic spotlight since — but miniseries Black Bird feels like his most mature performance yet. The latest based-on-a-true-crime tale to get the twisty TV treatment, it adapts autobiographical novel In with the Devil: a Fallen Hero, a Serial Killer, and a Dangerous Bargain for Redemption. It also has Dennis Lehane, author of Gone Baby Gone, Mystic River and Shutter Island, bringing it to streaming. The focus: Jimmy Keene, a former star high-school footballer turned drug dealer, who finds his narcotics-financed life crumbling when he's arrested in a sting, offered a plea bargain with the promise of a five-year sentence (four with parole), but ends up getting ten. Seven months afterwards, he's given the chance to go free, but only if he agrees to transfer to a different prison to befriend suspected serial killer Larry Hall (Paul Walter Hauser, Cruella), and get him to reveal where he's buried his victims' bodies. Even with new shows based on various IRL crimes hitting queues every week, or thereabouts — 2022 has seen plenty, including Inventing Anna, The Dropout, The Girl From Plainville and The Staircase, to name a mere few — Black Bird boasts an immediately compelling premise. The first instalment in its six-episode run is instantly gripping, too, charting Keene's downfall, the out-of-ordinary situation posed by Agent Lauren McCauley (Sepideh Moafi, The Killing of Two Lovers), and the police investigation by Brian Miller (Greg Kinnear, Crisis) to net Hall. It keeps up the intrigue and tension from there; in fact, the wild and riveting details just keep on coming. Fantastic performances all round prove pivotal as well. Again, Egerton is excellent, while Hauser's menace-dripping efforts rank among the great on-screen serial killer portrayals. And, although bittersweet to watch after his sudden passing in May, Ray Liotta (The Many Saints of Newark) makes a firm imprint as Keene's father. GLOBES Won: Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Limited Series, Anthology Series or Motion Picture Made for Television (Paul Walter Hauser). Where to watch it: Black Bird streams via Apple TV+. Read our full review. THE WHITE LOTUS Lives of extravagant luxury. Globe-hopping getaways. Whiling away cocktail-soaked days in gorgeous beachy locales. Throw in the level of wealth and comfort needed to make those three things an easy, breezy everyday reality, and the world's sweetest dreams are supposedly made of this. On TV since 2021, HBO's hit dramedy The White Lotus has been, too. Indeed, in its Emmy-winning first season, the series was a phenomenon of a biting satire, scorching the one percent, colonialism and class divides in a twisty, astute, savage and hilarious fashion. It struck such a chord, in fact, that what was meant to be a one-and-done limited season was renewed for a second go-around, sparking an anthology. That Sicily-set second effort once again examines sex, status, staring head-on at mortality and accepting the unshakeable fact that life is short for everyone but truly sweet for oh-so-few regardless of bank balance — and with writer/director/creator Mike White (Brad's Status) still overseeing proceedings, the several suitcase loads of smart, scathing, sunnily shot chaos that The White Lotus brings to screens this time around are well worth unpacking again. Here, another group of well-off holidaymakers slip into another splashy, flashy White Lotus property and work through their jumbled existences. Another death lingers over their trip, with The White Lotus again starting with an unnamed body — bodies, actually — then jumping back seven days to tell its tale from the beginning. Running the Taormina outpost of the high-end resort chain, Valentina (Sabrina Impacciatore, Across the River and Into the Trees) is barely surprised by the corpse that kicks off season two. She's barely surprised about much beforehand, either. That includes her dealings with the returning Tanya McQuoid-Hunt (Jennifer Coolidge, The Watcher), her husband Greg (Jon Gries, Dream Corp LLC) and assistant Portia (Haley Lu Richardson, After Yang); three generations of Di Grasso men, aka Bert (F Murray Abraham, Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities), Hollywood hotshot Dominic (Michael Imperioli, The Many Saints of Newark) and the Stanford-educated Albie (Adam DiMarco, The Order); and tech whiz Ethan (Will Sharpe, Defending the Guilty) and his wife Harper (Aubrey Plaza, Best Sellers), plus his finance-bro college roommate Cameron (Theo James, The Time Traveller's Wife) and his stay-at-home wife Daphne (Meghann Fahy, The Bold Type). GLOBES Won: Best Television Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television, Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Limited Series, Anthology Series or Motion Picture Made for Television (Jennifer Coolidge). Where to watch it: The White Lotus streams via Binge. Read our full review of season two. THE DROPOUT Dramatising the Theranos scandal, eight-part miniseries The Dropout is one of several high-profile releases this year to relive a wild true-crime tale — including the Anna Delvey-focused Inventing Anna, about the fake German heiress who conned her way through New York City's elite, and also documentary The Tinder Swindler, which steps through defrauding via dating app at the hands of Israeli imposter Simon Leviev. It also dives into the horror-inducing Dr Death-esque realm, because when a grift doesn't just mess with money and hearts, but with health and lives, it's pure nightmare fuel. And, it's the most gripping of the bunch, even though we're clearly living in peak scandal-to-screen times. Scam culture might be here to stay as Inventing Anna told us in a telling line of dialogue, but it isn't enough to just gawk its way — and The Dropout and its powerful take truly understands this. To tell the story of Theranos, The Dropout has to tell the story of Elizabeth Holmes, the Silicon Valley biotech outfit's founder and CEO from the age of 19. Played by a captivating, career-best Amanda Seyfried — on par with her Oscar-nominated work in Mank, but clearly in a vastly dissimilar role — the Steve Jobs-worshipping Holmes is seen explaining her company's name early in its first episode. It's derived from the words "therapy" and "diagnosis", she stresses, although history already dictates that it offered little of either. Spawned from Holmes' idea to make taking blood simpler and easier, using just one drop from a small finger prick, it failed to deliver, lied about it copiously and still launched to everyday consumers, putting important medical test results in jeopardy. GLOBES: Won: Best Performance by an Actress in a Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television. Where to watch it: The Dropout streams Disney+. Read our full review. HOUSE OF THE DRAGON In its very first moments, House of the Dragon's opening episode delivers exactly what its name promises: here be dragons indeed. Within ten minutes, the Iron Throne, that sprawling metal seat that all of Westeros loves fighting about, also makes its initial appearance. By the time the 20-minute mark arrives, bloody violence of the appendage-, limb- and head-lopping kind fills the show's frames as well. And, before the debut instalment of this Game of Thrones prequel about House Targaryen's history even hits its halfway mark, a brothel scene with nudity and sex is sighted, too. Between all of the above, the usual GoT family dramas, squabbles over successors and power struggles pop up. Of course they do. House of the Dragon was always going to check all of the above boxes. None of this can constitute spoilers, either, because none of it can come as a surprise. Game of Thrones' fame and influence have become that pervasive, as have its hallmarks and trademarks. Everyone knows what GoT is known for, even if you've somehow never seen this page-to-screen franchise yet or read the George RR Martin-penned books that it's based on. After green-lighting a different prequel to pilot stage, scrapping it, then picking this one to run with instead — and also making plans to bring novella series Tales of Dunk and Egg to TV, working on an animated GoT show, exploring other potential prequels and forging ahead a Jon Snow-focused sequel series — House of the Dragon is the first Game of Thrones successor to arrive in streaming queues, and it doesn't mess with a formula that HBO doesn't consider broken. Its focus: the Targaryen crew 172 years before the birth of Daenerys and her whole dragon-flying, nephew-dating, power-seeking story. Cue silky silver locks aplenty, including cascading from King Viserys I's (Paddy Considine, The Third Day) head as he takes to the Iron Throne over his cousin Princess Rhaenys (Eve Best, Nurse Jackie). She had a better claim to the spiky chair, but gets passed over because she's a woman. Years later, the same scenario springs up over whether the king's dragon-riding daughter Princess Rhaenyra (Upright's Milly Alcock, then Mothering Sunday's Emma D'Arcy) becomes his heir, or the future son he's desperate to have, or his headstrong and shady younger brother Prince Daemon (Matt Smith, Morbius). GLOBES: Won: Best Television Series — Drama. Where to watch it: House of the Dragon streams via Binge. Read our full review. Top image: HBO.
Food enthusiasts in Fitzroy are in for a good time at Bontempo Pizzeria. In fact, that's literally what the name of the restaurant means, 'good time'. The second venture from the team behind Fratellino in South Yarra, this newly opened Brunswick Street eatery is serving woodfired pizza alongside an array Italian staples, and is generally doing everything it can to deliver what it promises. "With the space we have we can cater to everyone, from couples to families and larger groups," says co-owner Joe Kavanagh. "We know that if we keep it simple by teaming good quality pizza and pasta with affordable drinks in a casual atmosphere, the rest will take care of itself." Kavanagh points to The Bont, the restaurant's signature pizza made with whiskey-infused Western Plains pulled pork, fresh basil, garlic, sage, tomato and mozzarella, as a menu highlight. Other standout options include the Salsicce e Funghi with pork and fennel sausage, mushrooms, garlic, parsley and mozzarella; and the Zucca, a vegetarian number with roast pumpkin, feta, basil, pine nuts, spinach, rosemary, garlic and tomato. All Bontempo's pizzas are made in a Valoriani clay wood-fire oven imported from Italy and custom-built on site. If you're not in the mood for pizza (although we can't fathom why that would be), you might want to try the Fettuccine Gamberoni made with king prawns, white wine, garlic, cream and a dash of napoli. Alternatively, you can sink your teeth into a chargrilled swordfish steak. For dessert, choose from classic Italian sweets such as affogato and chocolate calzone. As for beverages, Bontempo offers a wide range of local and Italian wines, as well as beers from Fitzroy Cellars and Thunder Road Brewing, and cocktails from The Everleigh Bottling Co. Find Bontempo Pizzeria at 416–418 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy. For more info, visit their website. Images: Tom Ross.
Australia has a love affair with bartenders. Photographing these women and men about town, known for their prowess behind the bar and sought after for their mad mixology skills, has become quite the artform of late. Our obsession with bar teams and their unique concoctions has been realised in a nationwide competition run by Auchentoshan, dubbed Distilled Different. Twelve of Australia's best bar teams have created a cocktail incorporating Auchentoshan American Oak — the only triple distilled Scottish single malt whisky in the world. They're going head-to-head to win bragging rights, an epic photo shoot and a huge team trip to Glasgow. Before the winner is crowned, all 12 bar teams will appear in the national Dare to be Distilled Different photography exhibition. Their talented faces and creative cocktails will be captured by three up-and-coming photographers, all chosen by Art Pharmacy. We asked them how they plan to bring the multi-sensory world of the cocktail — and the unique story behind each bar team — to life. [caption id="attachment_584663" align="alignnone" width="1279"] Oli Samsom[/caption] OLI SAMSOM (MELBOURNE) Why are you excited about shooting bartenders for the Auchentoshan competition? I'm excited to bring my love and fascination of the dim, grim and classical to help represent a glorious bunch of artists in a craft pretty far removed from mine. Collaboration is king and I'm pretty stoked to make something that the teams and folks within them are all proud of. Has social media, particularly Instagram, changed the way you photograph cocktails? I try not to let mediums change how I shoot. I'm aware of little tricks and approaches that work best for the platform, but I think the devil is in trying to get a maximum arbitrary return each and every time. There's a lot to be said for doing stuff the way you feel is right, even if it means admitting the 'engagement' suffers. It's that old quality vs quantity chestnut. And really, if I wanted the most amount of engagement the quickest, I'd just be posting landscape shots and swimsuit images in alteration. If anything though, Instagram in particular has encouraged me to do what I love, which is write in my own voice. It hits sleeper followers in ways that you only find out about later. How do you think photography has played a role in making people more interested in getting to know their city's bartenders? They're more revered than ever now. It's no secret and should be no surprise to anyone that the current movement across hospitality, or anything remotely craft-related, centres on celebrating the folks behind the product. We're seeing that in mass media with cooking shows shifting spin to the makers being held up as 'rock stars'. This also goes along with the whole 'care economy' happening everywhere: a competition for who gives a shit the most — which has been a great thing for culture, tourism, the lot. We're competing on who does things best, not so much price, speed, or geographic factors. With the general standard being lifted, folks are wanting to experience more of the story of those behind the curtain, they're wanting to see that care first-hand, and enjoy that romance of skill and attention to detail. Photography plays a huge role in that. Much like photography has been the underrated force in driving the feel and magic/mystique of our favourite musicians over the years, a strong image that sets the scene for a maker, in this case a bartender, can really help cement them as a maker and give an intelligent and artistic glimpse into their world and what's involved. Take us through the process of shooting in low light — bar's aren't the brightest or easiest to shoot of places. Bars are an interesting old beast, not only are they dim, but there are a lot of competing light sources, reflections, and surfaces that are sometimes ideal as a punter in the space, but more of a challenge to represent photographically. So it becomes a mix of celebrating the light and mood as it exists through longer exposures, while bringing out the subjects with artificial light in a tasteful way. I'm a fan of subtle composites so that will form part of the approach too. What's your creative concept for capturing the bar teams you'll be shooting? With these shoots all being on location, ultimately they'll be pretty informed by the space they're set in. So I'll be keeping the focus simple, on what's driven most of my existing work: mood, stillness, and a dash of old-world. [caption id="attachment_584659" align="alignnone" width="1279"] Savannah Van Der Niet[/caption] SAVANNAH VAN DER NIET (BRISBANE) Why are you excited about shooting bartenders for the Auchentoshan competition? I enjoy the challenge of capturing people — meeting a stylistic brief but also trying to show a bit of the character in the subjects as well. How do you think photography has played a role in making people more interested in getting to know their city's bartenders? I think it's about connection. People want a human element in the imagery they see to make them feel comfortable and enticed. Photographers can use their skill to shed light on a bartender's personality. Take us through the process of shooting in low light — bars aren't the brightest or easiest to shoot of places. I generally shoot with natural light and focus more on people and food than bars. So usually I'll shoot during the day. Or I will bring my lights along. What's your creative concept for capturing the bar teams you'll be shooting? My creative concept is to focus on the personalities of the bar staff and the cocktail they will be making. I can't wait! [caption id="attachment_584661" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Brendan Fitzpatrick[/caption] BRENDAN FITZPATRICK (SYDNEY) Why are you excited about shooting bartenders for the Auchentoshan competition? Photography allows me to draw back the curtain on subjects and learn something from the time spent in their world. The science of bartending and cocktail making has a long history and a nuanced culture. The best bartenders are artists in their field. I learn a lot listening to them talk about an art crafted from a very different palette of materials from my own. Has social media, particularly Instagram, changed the way you photograph cocktails? Nothing will ever change the way I shoot cocktails. I am entirely platform-agnostic when it comes to my cocktail shoots. How do you think photography has played a role in making people more interested in getting to know their city's bartenders? They're more revered than ever now. Digital platforms have allowed businesses to communicate directly with their customers. Each bartenders and team has their own personality — I intend to capture this through this competition and share it with the world. Take us through the process of shooting in low light — bars aren't the brightest or easiest to shoot of places. The main thing to have to hand in a dark space is a light. The light banishes the dark. No matter if you're a photographer in a bar or just a civilian at home minding your own business, there's nothing like a light to get you over the line. What's your creative concept for capturing the bar teams you'll be shooting? The bars have worked hard to differentiate themselves through their design and branding. I hope some of the techniques and ideas I use will be inspired by what they've created. In broad terms I see the bar as a stage and the bar teams themselves as actors on that stage. Right now I'm researching, meeting everyone and listening to their stories. The more I understand them and why they do things in the manner specific to them, the better I can convey their unique personality in a single image.
Salami enthusiasts and hunters of simple, homemade Italian lunches, you'd better get yourself to North Melbourne. There's a brand new salami bar opened on Atkin Street dubbed Saluministi, run by a hard-working Melburnian team painstakingly dedicated to handcrafted, Italian-style cured meats and paninis. Owners and brothers-in-law Frank Bressi and Peter Mastro are on a mission to bring back nostalgic Italian classics they grew up with, combined with their love for making salami. The team's signature handcrafted salami (which they've been making for eight years) was judged top three in the Melbourne Salami Festa for two years running. But now their delicious cured meats have a permanent home, snuggled in a warehouse-style, exposed brick type of minimalist kitchen in North Melbourne. There’s many ways you can delve into the wondrous world of Italian-style meats at Saluministi. You can tuck into one of their absolute specialties: the humble panini, from the breakfast panini (above), to the Salsiccia (grilled pork and fennel sausage, roasted peperonata, pecorino cheese and rocket), the Cotoletta (crumbed free-range pork loin, vincotto mayo, Italian coleslaw and provolone) or the Porchetta (free-range slow-roasted pork, artichoke paste, pecorino and rocket), each sitting at a pretty damn good $11-12. Nibbles are simple and traditionally Italian — we’re keen to get our mitts on the seasoned polenta sticks ($3 each). Plus, there’s Italian-style baked goods on offer — the housemade warm Nutella bombolini ($4 each) look genuinely insane. Find Saluministi at 8 Atkin Street, North Melbourne, 0413 082 253, www.saluministi.com.au. Open Tuesday to Saturday, 7.30am - 4pm. Via Good Food. Images: Saluministi.
Suzuran in Camberwell is unlike any takeaway sushi place you've ever been to, for not only does it serve fresh and inventive sushi for a quick lunch or a hearty dinner, but it is also a Japanese market with a huge range of imported Japanese products. Suzuran prides itself on having the most extensive range of Japanese food and products available anywhere in Victoria, whether it is cooking ingredients or a quick snack, that brand of sake or beer you can't find elsewhere or everything you need to make the perfect at-home ramen. When ordering takeaway eats, the chefs will also make the food right in front of you, which is always one of the joys of Japanese dining as the theatre of Japanese cooking is second to none. This place is famous among Japanese food aficionados in Melbourne and is considered one of the most authentic offerings in the city. One of the specialties here is the uni (sea urchin), and if you've been too nervous to try it in the past, then be sure to give it a go here first, as it is consistently delicious and prepared to perfection. The sushi sets include nigiri with salmon and prawn, while the nigiri vegetarian is perfect for those who avoid meat. Other options include eel, cucumber, pickled radish and fermented soybean, as well as the classic salmon or tuna.
Explore hidden nooks and marvel at grand designs as doors open all around town for the latest edition of Open House Melbourne. Returning for its ninth consecutive year, this year's event is happening this weekend July 30-31, and will for the first time extend beyond the CBD and into the surrounding suburbs. In fact, the 2016 program features a whopping 140 buildings, stretching all the way from Newport to Bundoora. Highlighting many an architectural marvel, the Open House program covers everything from government buildings including Parliament House and the Supreme Court of Victoria; commercial spaces like Hassell Studios' Medibank building; houses of worship such as St Paul's Cathedral and East Melbourne Synagogue; cultural institutions like the Athenaeum Theatre and the State Library; and sporting venues including AAMI Park and the National Tennis Centre. Pop across the Yarra and you can also pay a visit to the National Gallery of Victoria, or stargaze at the Melbourne Observatory nestled inside the Royal Botanic Gardens. And that's just in the city, mind you. Venture north and you can explore Circus Oz HQ or wander through the Melbourne General Cemetery. Alternatively, head west for a look at Yarraville's Sun Theatre and the Footscray Town Hall. Local history buffs might enjoy a gander at the city's heritage tram fleet, housed in the Hawthorn Tram Depot. And what trip through Melbourne could truly be called complete without paying a visit to Luna Park? Below, we've compiled a list of five must-visit sites on the Open House Melbourne program. Time to get explorin'. ABBOTSFORD CONVENT These days, most people probably know Abbotsford Convent as the home of Lentil as Anything and the Shadow Electric Outdoor Cinema and Bandroom. But the site has a rich history that pre-dates European settlement, when it served as a meeting point for the people of the Wurundjeri and Kulin nations. Since then it's been everything from a university to a multi-purpose arts and exhibition space. The convent will host several tours throughout the Open House weekend, with a focus on the venue's social and architectural history as well as its magnificent heritage-listed gardens. JACK'S MAGAZINE Located by the banks of the Maribyrnong River out near the Melbourne Showgrounds, Jack's Magazine is a relic of a bygone era. First opening in 1878, the former explosives store consists of 12 main buildings shielded by blast walls made of earth and bluestone. Explore the tunnels, tramways and cave-like storerooms that link bank to Victoria's early industrial past. We just hope nobody left any barrels of gunpowder lying around. MELBOURNE GENERAL CEMETERY Put your nerves to the test with a (daylight) visit to the Melbourne General Cemetery, the final resting place of former Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies and failed continental explorers Burke and Wills. Tours will take visitors along the winding cemetery paths, past several significant graves and historic sites, and through the two-storey bluestone gate lodge. While you're there, keep your eyes peeled for Melbourne's most famous ghost, Federici, who supposedly splits his time between the cemetery where he's buried and the Princess Theatre where he died. SUN THEATRE Take a look behind the scenes at one of Melbourne's most iconic cinemas: the art deco Sun Theatre in Yarraville. First opened back in 1938, the Sun has been a mecca of foreign, arthouse and golden age Hollywood films in the inner west for decades. As part of Open House, movie lovers can wander through the eight-screen cinema at their leisure, or take a guided tour through areas normally off limits to the public. Ever wanted to watch a classic motion picture from inside the projection room? This might be your one and only chance. VICTORIAN COMPREHENSIVE CANCER CENTRE When US Vice President Joe Biden visited Melbourne earlier this month, it was to cut the ribbon on the $1 billion Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre in Parkville. The new home of the Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute, the centre sits at the cutting edge of cancer treatment, education and research, boasting state-of-the-art facilities and equipment. Over the course of a 45-minute guided tour, visitors can catch a glimpse of the pioneering work being done by the centre's staff of more than 2000 doctors and scientists, who have helped make Australia a world leader in this critically important field.
This March, the National Gallery of Victoria hosted a symposium to accompany the opening of its splendid 200 Years of Australian Fashion exhibition. Industry insiders, curators and commentators reflected on the question: 'What is Australian fashion?' — something we did too. It was a masterstroke on the part of symposium organisers to include the designers behind cult Melbourne label DI$COUNT, Cami James and Nadia Napreychikov. A more obvious choice would have been to invite the Australian scene's currently reigning faces — think Young Turks, Anna Plunkett and Luke Sales of Romance Was Born. Nevertheless, James and Napreychikov provided a level of insight about fashion that would come as no surprise to fans of their long running blog — but could have surprised a few industry figures. Why? Why has DI$COUNT been so popular with their fans, but has been left out of so many Australian fashion conversations? We took a stroll through 200 Years of Australian Fashion to find out where this bold, highly original label sits in the Aussie design landscape. THEY LEAPFROGGED FASHION WEEK AND MADE FRIENDS WITH THE INTERNET A stroll through the NGV's seriously delightful exhibition reveals just how varied Australian fashion, particularly in the late 20th century, has been. As a result, the NGV symposium panel members were hesitant to spout generalisations. For James and Napreychikov, the notion of defining DI$COUNT in terms of national boundaries would be especially wrongheaded. Even before the pair had finished their studies at RMIT, they were receiving and disseminating ideas about fashion in a global context (thanks to that wonderful beast, The Internet). This interweb-fluency can probably account for DI$COUNT's rapid international success, despite the label having leapfrogged certain channels traditionally traversed by up-and-coming Aussie designers, such as presenting at Australian Fashion Week and being picked up by one of the big two department stores. Indeed, given the nature of James and Napreychikov's designs, it's possible that avoiding the beaten path was a wise move. The spiciest part of the symposium came when the two designers noted (with appropriate disdain) that their wares have been featured in every international Vogue magazine — save the Australian edition. If only the symposium's audience (myself included) had had the cojones to question Vogue Australia's deputy editor, Sophie Tedmanson, who was a member of the next session's panel, about this curious oversight. Then again, the omission by Australian Vogue (which seems to be in competition with its US counterpart for the title of Most Soporific Vogue) is unsurprising. The heavily sequined, badass imagery with which DI$COUNT has made its name is a world away from Australian fashion's Serious Designers — think Dion Lee, Toni Matičevski and (since his Spring/Summer 2015/16 collection) Michael Lo Sordo. There's no doubt that the work of these designers is exquisite, intelligent, and entirely deserving of the local fashion media's attention. Still, one wonders why there isn't room for coverage of both the beautiful and the brash in our local mags. [caption id="attachment_566976" align="alignnone" width="1200"] YouTube.[/caption] AUSTRALIAN VOGUE HASN'T FEATURED THEM, BUT THE ART AND MUSIC WORLD HAS It's a relief that the Australian art world has picked up the local fashion establishment's slack.Within the NGV's exhibition itself, DI$COUNT is represented by a truly gorgeous trompe l'oeil beaded bodysuit, originally worn by Kimbra at the 2012 ARIAs. An adaptation of the piece was later created by James and Napreychikov for Katy Perry. The bodysuit is DI$COUNT at its exuberant, witty and glittering best. Perry's version (which the popstar wore on her Prismatic tour during renditions of 'Birthday') included sweet smiling balloons on her boobs, cake on the cooch and DI$COUNT's trademark (ahem, more on that later) eyes on the hips. The ready-to-wear DI$COUNT line includes pared down versions of such couture-level creations. The label's loyal following and impressive sales come despite the few concessions made in their designs to the traditional notions of wearability that RTW supposedly demands (see for example the currently-stocked high cut briefs entirely covered in hand-sewn sequins). Densely sequined garments constitute some of DI$COUNT's most recognisable designs. Of course, figural representation in beading isn't exactly new in western fashion history, and antecedents to DI$COUNT designs can be found in the work of Elsa Schiaparelli, Patrick Kelly, Geoffrey Beene, and Gianni Versace. Apart from their inherently satisfying tactile qualities, sequins bring to the table a lot of fashion baggage concerning conceptions of bad taste, camp and luxury. Crucially, these are ideas that James and Napreychikov have given plenty of thought to, and as designers they're really more Leigh Bowery than Bob Mackie. Incidentally, there was a moment during the symposium when James and Napreychikov mentioned that they will eventually move on from sequins. NO! [caption id="attachment_566979" align="alignnone" width="1280"] MTV.[/caption] THEY'VE BEEN ROYALLY RIPPED OFF The problem, of course, for designers who focus on surface decoration (including beading and print) is the ease with which your ideas can be ripped off. This happened to James and Napreychikov most famously when Miley Cyrus (who had previously been a conspicuous DI$COUNT fangirl) performed with dancers at the 2015 MTV awards wearing evil eye-emblazoned costumes that MTV itself initially attributed to the Australian label (spoiler: they weren't DI$COUNT). This wasn't the first time that James and Napreychikov had dealt with this kind of thing. In 2010, the label twitter-slammed celebrity jack of all trades, Ruby Rose, for designing a pair of studded denim shorts for her Milk & Honey Collection, which bore a remarkable resemblance to a DI$COUNT pair she herself had previously worn. A more cynical designer might have seen the Miley episode as an opportunity to gain valuable media coverage. Similarly, other labels might have judged it unwise to publicly accuse Ruby Rose of plagiarism, given her status as one of the few Australian celebrities who will even dip their toe in the pool of experimental fashion. Instead, James and Napreychikov's response to Cyrus' performance, via Instagram, included the lines, "The one thing you can't TAKE and get away with is someone's IDENTITY. We know it might be risky for us career-wise to comment on this, but if we didn't, it would mean that we stand for NOTHING." The highly manicured world of fashion seldom sees such raw emotions put on display for all to see. THEY KEEP ON KEEPIN' ON, RIGHT INTO RIHANNA'S WARDROBE Creative souls generally recover from such unfortunate incidents ("It is much more disheartening to have to steal than to be stolen from,"), and, indeed, James and Napreychikov continue to go from strength to strength. (Rihanna's wearing of their YOU DON'T OWN ME/ I WILL NEVER FEAR YOU dress, has to be one of the most moving pop culture/ fashion moment of recent times). That the NGV recognised DISCOUNT, firstly by including their work in the exhibition, but also, and perhaps more significantly, by including James and Napreychikov in the symposium, elevated the discourse of Australian fashion. Despite the fact that their designs don't adhere to mainstream notions of elegance and beauty, James and Napreychikov are both extraordinarily talented and earnest about the very idea of fashion as an intellectual pursuit. So put em on your cover, Vogue, yeah? Get a good dose of DI$COUNT in Kimbra's video for '90s Music'. Top image: Miley Cyrus for DI$COUNT UNIVERSE by Terry Richardson.
Anyone who takes it upon themselves to 'make coffee for the city that loves to drink it' is setting themselves up for a challenge. But it's come as a walk in the park for Market Lane Coffee, which has established an enviable presence in Melbourne and, with it, has reeducated the public about what an excellent cup of coffee truly looks like. Since 2009, the self-professed bad multi-taskers behind the helm of this specialty coffee roastery have spread themselves across the city with an arsenal based on creating an obscenely good product. Originating out of a humble lane at Prahran Market — the roastery's flagship store — this dynasty now includes northside outposts at Therry Lane in the CBD, Faraday Street, Carlton and the Dairy Produce Hall at Queen Victoria Market. The Market Lane philosophy is all about high-quality coffee. Simple as that. Careful roasting, attentive brewing and having the right tools at hand shine brightly, with the roastery only serving seasonal blends. It shows — find yourself with a cup, and, before you realise you're doing it, you'll be contemplating the origins in hand. Such emphasis on coffee means that you'll find only basic food accompaniments upon visiting, but with serious coffee accoutrements littering each location, your attention will be taken to starting your own little brewing station at home. Best of all, knowledgeable, passionate staff make for an approachable discovery, whether you're an expert or a beginner. Our hot tip: visit the Faraday Street outpost and grab yourself a loaf of bread and cheeky pastry from Baker D. Chirico, right next door, while you're at it. Right down to the minimal, sleek fit-outs by Hearth Studio, this experience is seamless. Whether you're a purist or a no-frills drinker, Market Lane's philosophy is likely to excite or perhaps even alienate. Whatever your opinion, though, these guys make no apologies: it's all about the coffee. Appears in: Where to Find the Best Coffee in Melbourne
Melbourne hospitality folk are getting better and better at finding weird and wonderful locations for bars, and Goldilocks is no exception. This particular watering hole is found four levels above a Chinese restaurant at the top end of Swanston Street. Enter via the restaurant, fend off the eager wait staff and take the elevator up. As you step out, it's a world apart from the bustle of below. Calm, dark, sophisticated. Something about it, just like its namesake nursery rhyme would have us believe, is just right. The team is headed up by bar manager Lou Dare (ex Amelia Shaw, New Gold Mountain, Double Happiness and briefly Kodiak Club) and, only weeks after opening, they are seemingly on top of the small, yet considered, menu that is all about local produce (they make exceptions for things like Bourbon — but who wouldn't?) The cocktail offering features an ever-changing selection of six cocktails. And, like most venues, they'll whip you up something else if nothing takes your fancy. Try the Drunken Chicken Sazerac, with Hennesey VS, Peychaud's bitters and chicken fat-washed ginger syrup ($18) or, for something with less poultry, go for the Tea Time — a mix of West Winds Gin, St Germaine elderflower, 'Gone Surfin' Tea Syrup', lemon, grapefruit and floral bitters ($20). The wine and beer list stick to the small side as well. For bubbles go for the Bottega Prosecco ($11 glass) or, for white, try the Tomich Hill Pinot Grigio ($10 glass). The Hedonist Shiraz ($13 glass) is one serious red and a whole lot of woman, and beer drinkers can go Australian with the Mountain Goat Hightail Ale ($10) or the Murray's 'Dark Knight' Porter ($10). The food menu is picnic themed and offers small bites and sharing platters. Bites might see truffle butter popcorn ($8) or three little pig sliders ($15), while the sharing platters offer larger dishes like Chicken Little — Katie's Fried Chicken with dill pickles and three bear sauce ($18) — and Miss Muffet's Curd cheese selection (p.o.a). Goldilocks was fussy, but she sure knew when something was just so right.
Melburnian adventurers, this one's for you. Over the last little while, we've been going on about pristine waterfalls right outside the city, we've given you the keys to secret gardens around town, and we've sent you valiantly exploring on Melbourne's very best walks. Haven't done it all? Haven't kind of sort of gone camping? Haven't elegantly dog paddled with your dog at a nearby pooch-friendly beach? Yet to take your ol' trusty two-wheeler on the city's best bike trails? Fill up your canteen with water (wink), pack a little lunchbox and get going this weekend. Here's a little guide to help you.
Back in July, we told you about the opening of a booze-free bar in Auckland, whose owners hoped to tackle New Zealand's serious drinking obsession and simultaneously capitalise on council alcohol regulations that saw all city watering holes closed by 4am. It seemed like a nice idea in theory, but punters clearly didn't agree, and now just five weeks after opening, Tap Bar has shut its doors. Co-owner Grady Elliot admitted defeat to the New Zealand Herald, telling the paper, "We gave it a shot and Auckland drinking culture just didn’t tie in with the dry bar." Or, to put it another way, "No one showed up." Guys, this might be a reaaaaaal good time to start thinking about our relationship with alcohol. New Zealand's first and presumably last dry bar, Tap (briefly) served a mix of alcohol-free beer, wine and mocktails starting from around NZ$5. The absence of alcohol meant they could stay open all night, but according to Elliot, what few patrons they did get mostly stuck with the free water. The NZ$15 entry fee probably didn't help matters either. Perhaps the most depressing thing about this story is that Elliot was clearly well prepared for failure, and has already applied for a liquor licence for the location, which will reopen as a more traditional nightclub as soon as possible. Talk about sticking to your guns. On the plus side, now he'll be able to drink to forget about that pesky oversight. Meanwhile, the operators behind London's recently opened alcohol free bar Redemption are presumably rolling beer kegs in through the back door. Just in case. Via The New Zealand Herald. Image: Dollar Photo Club.
Deck the halls and unpack the plastic tree — the festive season is well and truly upon us. And while that whole Christmas tradition stuff is nice, we're not going to deny what we're most excited about: a whole stocking-load of new films. Along with the cricket and stampeding through shopping centres, going to the movies is one of our favourite Boxing Day traditions. After all, what better place to recover from your post-Christmas food coma than in a nice, dark, air-conditioned cinema? Of course, not all of the end-of-year titles measure up. That's why we're reporting in with our annual Boxing Day Battle Royale, to ensure that you get maximum bang for your Kris Kringle gift voucher buck. Or you could just go see the new Star Wars movie for the third time. That's also a totally valid option. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDMf9m7FXd4 LA LA LAND We give it: 4 stars A surefire contender at this year's Academy Awards, Damien Chazelle's follow-up to the critically acclaimed Whiplash is a bittersweet love letter to music, movies and the old school sense of romance we associate with both. Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling are at their charming best as a pair of dreamers who fall madly in love against the backdrop of Los Angeles, only for their creative ambitions to get in the way. The film is beautifully shot, and its toe-tapping song and dance numbers will leave you with a gigantic smile on your face. Also: tears. Oh boy, will there be tears. – Tom Clift https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKFuXETZUsI MOANA We give it: 4 stars The latest film from the Disney animation juggernaut, Moana hits all the right marks. Indeed, it's a cocktail of all of the best elements of the Disney princess genre – a desperate quest, a charismatic supporting cast, catchy tunes and an animal sidekick – but with one subtle but important difference. Unlike most Disney princesses, Moana doesn't need a training montage to become a boss bitch, because she already is one. She's a beautiful role model, maybe the best Disney princess ever. And the score, written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Mark Mancina, and Opetaia Foa'i, is the music she deserves. Prepare your ears to hear the main refrain 'How Far I'll Go' more than that damn 'Let It Go' song from Frozen. We ain't mad, though, because it's the perfect summer jam. – Imogen Baker https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pX5vI4osR50 A UNITED KINGDOM We give it: 4 stars As far as rousing romances based on real-life stories go, Amma Asante's A United Kingdom hits the jackpot. Rosamund Pike and David Oyelowo star as typist Ruth Williams and future president of Botswana Seretse Khama, whose romance in the years following WWII challenged racial divisions and provoked widespread international attention. The film provides an example of solid emotional storytelling from start to finish. Complications keep forcing the star-crossed lovers in opposite directions, but they never lose sight of what's important. Nor does Asante or writer Guy Hibbert, who are at their best when swapping easy sentiment for quiet fortitude. – Sarah Ward https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tl3sTpmEKIs RED DOG: TRUE BLUE We give it: 3.5 stars Five years ago, a little local film with a lot of heart scampered its way into cinemas — and into the country's box office records. Given the tail-wagging success of Red Dog, a follow-up was all but inevitable. Still, while there's much that's familiar about Red Dog: True Blue, it still earns every bit of emotion that oozes from this second trip into family-friendly territory. This time around, the eponymous pooch gets an origin story starting in 1968, and a lonely boy (Pan's Levi Miller) gets a new best friend. For their part of the bargain, viewers get a broad, crowd-pleasing, affectionate effort that's certain to make everyone fall in love with the red-coloured canine all over again. – Sarah Ward https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qksQSt8K830 WHY HIM? We give it: 3 stars "Produced by Ben Stiller. Story by Jonah Hill. Starring James Franco." Put those things together and you already know what you'll get: fart jokes, dick jokes, poo jokes, semon jokes, stoners, swearing and sex. And yet, true to form, you also get laughs. Not as many as you might have hoped for given the involvement of Bryan Cranston, Megan Mullally and Keegan-Michael Key, but maybe just enough to keep you entertained. In this modern day riff on Guess Who's Coming To Dinner, Cranston's daughter invites her family out to Silicon Valley to meet her eccentric tech millionaire boyfriend Laird, whereupon daddy decides to go to war with the very idea of their relationship. Too often the film turns to the loud and the wacky for easy laughs, when all the best material comes in the gentler, well-directed barbs at San Fran startup culture. Franco steals the show, forging Laird into a genuinely endearing character whose vulnerabilities lie bare like the tattoos adorning his torso. – Tom Glasson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jlp94-C31cY ALLIED We give it: 3 stars Partially styled after and sharing its initial setting with classic World War II romance Casablanca, Allied poses an age-old question in a specific context: how well does anyone actually know each other, particularly married couples who've started a family together while the planet battles it out around them. Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard mightn't boast overwhelmingly convincing chemistry together, but each turn in fine performances as a Canadian intelligence officer and French resistance fighter, respectively, whose pairing on an undercover mission soon leads to a genuine connection. Obviously pitched at an older crowd, Allied is an elegant affair that seems like a response to the complaint that they just don't make them like they used to. – Sarah Ward https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrWjjOOYxhI SING We give it: 3 stars On paper, animal karaoke caper Sing sounds like reality television turned into a star-studded cartoon – albeit in a form that aims to make viewers feel warm and fuzzy rather than inducing a serious case of cringe. On screen, the latest film from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Son of Rambow director Garth Jennings plays out just as you'd expect, though it thankfully remains fun enough despite its obvious formula. Think bright colours, a bouncy pace, recognisable songs a plenty, Matthew McConaughey voicing a theatre-owning koala, and the likes of Scarlett Johansson, Reese Witherspoon and Eddie the Eagle's Taron Egerton among the cast. If you're looking for a film to keep youngsters distracted, this animated effort should do nicely. – Sarah Ward https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_3CL12eNaE ROSALIE BUM We give it: 2.5 stars While Rosalie Blum bears the name of Noémie Lvovsky's protagonist— a middle-aged corner store-owner saddened by past pain – the intertwined fates of three individuals sit at the centre of this light and breezy effort. Adapted from a series of graphic novels, the film – a hit at this year's Alliance Francaise French Film Festival – explores the story not just of Rosalie, but also the hairdresser who starts following her every move, and the college student (and Rosalie's niece) who starts shadowing him in turn. Coincidence and contrivance rear their head, though so does a genuine understanding of the interplay between unhappiness and escapism. The result is a well-acted but often a tad too convenient movie about coping with life's ups and downs. – Sarah Ward If you're looking to steer well clear of cinemas on Boxing Day, why not check out one of our favourite films from throughout the year instead. Words by Imogen Baker, Tom Clift, Tom Glasson and Sarah Ward.
It has been over 130 years since the site on the corner of Langridge Road and Raphael Street first started pouring beers, but the Abbotsford watering hole has not too long ago undergone a significant makeover. Visitors to The Carringbush Hotel found a new team at the helm and a new menu tempting tastebuds. Plenty of brews remain, obviously, but the food lineup is now completely vegan and vegetarian. The Carringbush has ditched meat in favour of vegan burgers, chargrilled cauliflower pieces, eggplant parmigiana, plus spicy corn fritters, onion rings and miso ramens. [caption id="attachment_863427" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Carmen Zammit[/caption] The Carringbush Hotel has a great cocktail list too, featuring a pineapple vanilla mojito and a caliente margarita. The wine list is also on point, featuring ambient drops such as a 2020 Garage Project pinot noir. And for those keen on a bit of history, The Carringbush's original name — The Friendly Societies Hotel — is still emblazoned on its facade. The spot has been known by its current moniker since 1984, with the title stemming from Frank Hardy novel Power Without Glory. Appears in: The Best Vegan Restaurants in Melbourne for 2023
Although Wabi Sabi Salon is located in Collingwood, this is one for both northsiders and southsiders alike. Wabi Sabi also have an outpost in St Kilda called Wabi Sabi Garden, meaning that no one has to cross the river. These guys love authentic food with a fusion twist. And they also dig local produce sourced daily from the markets. The menu is varied, featuring anything from tempura oysters, to sweet potato chips with yuzu sour cream, to wagyu beef sashimi and twice-cooked pork belly. There is also a range of sashimi and sushi on offer as well — platters are a good way to go. Highlights from the sharing menu include the pan fried teriyaki broccolini with chickpeas and toasted seaweed, while the octopus carpaccio is light and delicate and comes with red onion, ponzu, sesame oil and dill. Other highlights include the pumpkin stuffed mushroom tempura with teriyaki balsamic and pumpkin seeds while the spiced lamb meatball with cheese and red miso is a curious dish packed with flavour. If you're a traditional style stew with opt for a vegan or mixed oven and a warm sake to back it up. The ramens include a tan tan ramen in chicken bone, sesame broth and spicy chicken meat, while the vegan option is a mushroom and seaweed base with spicy soy meat. For an after dinner treat opt for a blue cheese and a cool sake or the seasonal homemade ice cream.
Gather a gaggle of your best mates and get ready to hit the town. White Night, Melbourne's massive all-night arts bash, is back for another year, with a jam-packed program of music, film, performance, light shows and interactive art. Perhaps you'll see a school of jellyfish floating down Flinders Lane, or pay a visit to the NGV's Andy Warhol | Ai Weiwei exhibition. Alternatively, you could spend the whole night skateboarding or dancing up a storm. The only thing that's for certain is, with so much on offer, you'd better know ahead of time what you really want to see and do. That's where we come in. We've pored over the program, combed through hundreds of events and artists, and narrowed it down to the ten events you simply can't afford to miss. Circus acts, grumpy cats and a giant golden monkey are just a few of the things you'll find on our list, which we've conveniently ordered by location (starting north and heading south). Dive in! FOR PROJECTIONS: PITCHA MAKIN FELLAS Anyone who was out and about at White Light last year would tell you the projection at the Royal Exhibition Building was one of the absolute highlights. Luckily for us, Portuguese creative studio OCUBO are returning to the historic building, and this time they're collaborating with Indigenous arts collective Pitcha Makin Fellas. The resulting work will see traditional Aboriginal stories reinterpreted and brought to life via a mesmerising light show. Sounds like the perfect way to kick off (or close out) your evening, depending on which direction you're heading. FOR ACROBATICS: CIRCUS CIRCUS Run away and join the circus at the Melbourne Museum Plaza, where some of Australia's most talented acrobats will be putting on a show. Artists from Circus Oz and the Women's Circus will join students from NICA and various other community circuses for a non-stop, 12-hour display of aerials, acrobatics and death-defying stunts. You'll also get the chance to see behind the scenes and even learn a few simple tricks yourself. Think juggling and hula hooping — tightrope walking might be a little too advanced! FOR AQUATIC VISUALS: INCUBATOR Something strange is bubbling just beneath the surface at the iconic Melbourne City Baths. Using a combination of projections and 3D animation, celebrated artist Craig Walsh will turn a 30m lap pool into an oversized glowing petri dish positively writhing with strange and sensational life forms. You'll likely never want to go swimming again, but we'll be damned if it doesn’t sound fascinating. Or maybe we're confusing 'fascinating' with 'horrifying'. It's such a fine line. FOR SPARKLY SKIPPING: JUMP ROPE It's back to the playground at the RMIT Alumni Courtyard, where illuminated skipping ropes will weave rainbows through the darkness. Designed by public artist Ainslie Macaulay, a team of rope twirlers will be on hand all night to keep the glowing ropes moving and provide participants with a few helpful pointers. Anyone is welcome to throw themselves in, regardless of age or ability. Although, come to think of it — if you've been pre-drinking, you might be better off watching from the sidelines. FOR LIBRARY LIGHTS: IDEATION Step into what the White Night program describes as "a multi-sensory ecosystem of imagination", when a group of artists invade the State Library of Victoria. Ideation will give visitors the chance to explore the magnificent building, and see the iconic dome lit up as part of a spectacular light and sound show. Basically, it's the perfect event for any bookworms out there who've dreamed of spending the night locked in the library. FOR A SURPRISE: GOLDEN MONKEY There's an air of mystery around this particular artwork, with the White Night website promising that "all will be revealed on the night". What we do know is that this major installation, from acclaimed Melbourne artist Lisa Roet, involves a 10-metre high golden monkey and the facade of the Melbourne Town Hall. If you just had a vision of the end of King Kong, then rest assured, you're not alone. Sounds like a whole lot of monkey business to us — but we have to admit, we're intrigued. FOR SMALL-SPACE PERFORMANCE: NEON LANEWAY Graffiti and contemporary dance may not seem like a natural pairing, yet they're being smashed together on Rutledge Lane as part of this collaborative piece of after-dark promenade theatre. With eight performances throughout the night (at 8.30pm, 9pm, 10pm, 11pm, midnight, 2am, 4am and 6am), expect a vibrant mix of street art, mime, clowning, dance, contact improvisation and physical theatre — all accompanied by a beat-driven soundtrack from sound artist Sam McAuliffe. FOR KITTIES: INTERNET CAT VIDEO FESTIVAL Yes, it's exactly what it sounds like. This White Night, ACMI are hosting a film festival dedicated entirely to internet cat videos. Screening every half hour, this compilation of the web's most amusing felines should provide a welcome reprieve from the more serious, thought-provoking stuff on the program. While you're at ACMI, you can also check out the Next Level Games Lounge, their collection of virtual reality shorts, or pay a visit to Julian Rosefeldt's ongoing Manifesto exhibition. FOR INTERACTIVITY: CMD. CTRL. DECIPHER Seize control of one of Melbourne's most recognisable landmarks, as part of a large-scale interactive light show at the Arts Centre. White Night revellers will be asked to work as a team, using touch sensitive floor tiles in the Arts Centre forecourt to change the colour of the building's 162-metre spire. Meanwhile, sensors in front of the NGV North Wall can be used to unlock a hidden puzzle, triggering waves of light and sound. FOR ALL-NIGHT BOOGIES: MUSIC PRECINCTS This one's cheating a little, since it's actually several dozen events in one. In fact, this year's music lineup is so massive that organisers have had to spread it over four separate stages. At Live on Lonsdale you'll find a whole heap of Melbourne-based acts, including Thelma Plum, Emma Donovan, Briggs and The Harpoons, while the Bourke Street Mall stage will be partying NOLO style with the likes of Donut, Kylie Auldist and Horns of Leroy. Trip the Light Fantastic will turn Birrarung Marr into one gigantic dance floor, with beats by Sol Nation, Funk Buddies and Quarter Street. And lastly, Alexandra Gardens will welcome musicians from Melbourne's thriving blues scene, including Miss Whiskey, TK Reeve and The Screamin' Honkies. Phew. White Night kicks off at 7pm on Saturday, February 20 and runs until 7am on Sunday, February 21. For more information, including the complete program, visit whitenightmelbourne.com.au.
Brunswick Street Mall boasts a plethora of bars, markets on weekends and a once-a-year festival, but it doesn't have a permanent indoor space where thousands of people can watch a band or show. Come mid-2019, that will change, with the folks behind The Tivoli, The Triffid and Splendour in the Grass teaming up to build a brand new live entertainment venue. 312 Brunswick Street is the address that'll be undergoing quite the revamp, in what'll be a massive $40 million project bound to change both Fortitude Valley's and Brisbane's live music scenes. The 2500-square-metre site next door to McWhirters will be repurposed to become a mid-sized venue for concerts, events and productions, with a capacity of 3300. By comparison, The Tivoli holds 1500 and The Triffid only 800. In addition to theatre and functions facilities, the space — which was first built as a Coles in 1957 and most recently known as The Optus Centre — will include retail stores, restaurants, cafes and bars. Inside, the live venue will be designed by the same acoustic and service team responsible for The Triffid. Outside, the exterior will feature a modernised '50s-style exterior that nods to the place's history. Given the city's lack of comparable places since Festival Hall was turned into apartments over a decade ago, there's certainly room for it — and if anyone would know Brissie's needs in this area, it'd be Scott Hutchinson of Hutchinson Builders, who helped rescue The Tivoli when it was slated to become units; former Powderfinger bassist John Collins; and Paul Piticco from Secret Sounds, the group behind Splendour in the Grass, Falls Festival and more. Together, they own and operate The Triffid at Newstead — so they've all already played a part in adding a new live music venue and hangout to Brissie's cultural scene. "We've learned a lot since the early days of The Triffid," explains Collins. "I guess our hunch about the potential growth of the live music scene back then has paid off in spades… I think that venues created for music by musicians add something extra to the whole experience for both audiences and performers." Image: The Triffid.
This CBD watering hole might come from the same crew behind globally renowned cocktail destination The Everleigh, but the two are absolute worlds apart. Wild child Heartbreaker is an American-style dive bar through and through, oozing cool-kid attitude and promising good times aplenty. We're talking red neon signs, black leather booths, a pool table and a jukebox chock full of old-school rock 'n' roll. With a 3am closing time Thursday through Saturday, no less. Refreshment options include a solid slew of both local and US craft beers, with a tidy tap rotation serving up plenty of hits from the likes of Hop Nation, Grifter, Philter and Stomping Ground. The fridge is a goldmine, too, starring the likes of Mountain Culture's Double Red IPA ($18) and The Mill's Mosaic Pale Ale ($11). A strong selection of whisky, mezcal and tequila is primed for rocking nights out, while the cocktail lineup showcases the full range of Everleigh Bottling Co batched sips — from famed classics like the negroni ($21) and martini ($21), to sparkling creations like the gin-infused Fruit Cup ($18). Appears in: The Best Bars in Melbourne for 2023
Coffee savants may be able to smell the roasting of beans from Sydney Road, but the Code Black warehouse front doesn't give as much away. The industrial-sized frosted sliding door may only be open a crack and, if there's no one sipping a latte out front, passers-by may be forgiven for thinking it's closed. But, inside, the place is big and bustling — like Wonka's chocolate factory for the caffeine addicted. Code Black doesn't just make your coffee, but they personally sources the beans and roasts them in-house. Opening back in 2013, it has constantly stayed towards the front of Melbourne's roasting community pack. The guys see the process right through from beginning to end — from farm to cup — which is something rather nice to consider as that last bit of espresso lingers on your lips. The warehouse space is much longer than first anticipated, and surprisingly light considering the sleek black fit out, concrete floor and black exposed brick walls. With communal seating and tables for two, locals stop by for a quick fix or extended stay any day of the week. Coffee is, of course, the main game here. Their seasonal blend ($5) is always sharp and — if you choose a cup of single origin — expect freshly roasted beans from anywhere from Guatemala to Brazil, Rwanda or Costa Rica. But, in a suburb where single origin cup isn't too hard to find, Code Black Coffee sets itself apart with a brunch menu just as incredible as the coffee it roasts. Both sweet and savoury are covered, as well as some notable vegetarian and gluten-free options. Sweet-toothed patrons will be more than satisfied by the ricotta hotcakes ($25) served with seasonal berries, a rich peanut butter mousse, a fluffy white chocolate cremeaux, a peanut butter crumble and some maple syrup for good measure. The sugar rush will keep you going for a little while, but you will need to prepare for the inevitable crash. Chilli scrambled green harissa eggs are another win, consisting of roasted chilli harissa, labneh and Turkish bread. And we are equally impressed with the lemongrass pork roll, with Vietnamese saté and chicken liver pâté shredded herbs and pickled carrots. Nowadays, you can also stop by for a boozy brunch, pairing your meal with cocktails and a truly impressive wine and beers list. At Code Black coffee is most certainly the name of the game, but this roasting house matches its brew with a brunch menu like no other. Who says you can't have it all? Appears in: The Best Cafes in Melbourne Where to Find the Best Breakfast in Melbourne Where to Find the Best Coffee in Melbourne
Ponyfish Island has delivered few big changes in the decade it's spent atop the Yarra, beneath the Evan Walker Bridge. Until now. The legendary bar reopened last week, showing off the results of a long-planned revamp, which came to fruition during Melbourne's latest lockdown. Owners Jerome Borazio (Laneway Festival, Back Alley Sally's), DJ Grant Smillie (Melbourne City Brewing Co, and LA's EP & LP) and Andrew Mackinnon (from marketing communication agency The Taboo Group) opened the boozer ten years ago to the month. But the unique set of challenges that comes with such an unconventional location have meant a makeover's been on the wishlist for almost half that time. Bags of ice and bottled drinks had to all be lugged in by hand, and powering appliances often managed to black out half of nearby Southbank. "We realised the business itself wasn't broken, so it was a risk saying 'start again'," Mackinnon tells Concrete Playground. "But the only way to fix it, to make it more efficient, was to strip the whole thing down...and start again." The guys have worked with Adelaide's Studio Gram on multiple makeover plans over the past few years, but various delays kept putting renovations on hold. It wasn't until COVID-19 lockdowns struck that the timing fell into place and this latest design iteration was able to be brought to life. "We were running Ponyfish right up until that week hospitality venues were told to close and it was about that exact week we'd always planned to close," remembers the co-owner. "And so building was allowed to continue." Of course, construction wasn't without its own challenges, requiring a barge to be sent up the Yarra just to move building materials to and from the bar. But now, Ponyfish Island's new look is finally complete, ready for a balmy riverside summer. Julia Sansone "We were really focused on improving the aesthetic, instead of being that shanty shack, dive bar in the middle of the Yarra," explains Mackinnon. "I think we've challenged what people would expect, it's a bit more modern, more Miami," he says of Studio Gram's newly chic space full of curves and terrazzo. There are now additional bathrooms and extra seating, bumping up capacity to 150 (outside of restrictions), while custom-made adjustable shade paddles rise artistically above the bar's al fresco section. Much of the space is reserved for walk-ins, though there are three green-cushioned booth set-ups available to book. For the first time, the venue's got its own cool room, ice machines and beer lines, the latter pouring a concise range of tap brews that includes a recreation of the Ponyfish lager. Elsewhere on the drinks list, you'll find some bottled beers, an Aussie-led wine selection and a handful of summer-inspired cocktails — ranging from a share-friendly rosé sangria, to the Ponystar Martini crafted with passionfruit liqueur and mango syrup. Meanwhile, a vastly bigger kitchen will be making its debut in the coming weeks, turning out a secret menu from what Mackinnon hints is some "exciting" chef talent. Images: Julia Sansone
The first few months of the year in Melbourne can get hot and claustrophobic. So sometimes it's best to get out — even if it's just for a day. Hiking is an activity you can do with friends or on your own that gets you outside, in the sun and — better yet — it costs nothing. We spent the winter looking for the best spots so you could spend the summer exploring. Here are some long and short hikes for everyone — from the fitness enthusiast to the fair-weather walker. THE EAST-WEST LOOP, YOU YANGS REGIONAL PARK The You Yangs are located near Geelong, less than an hour's drive from Melbourne. There are plenty of easy walking tracks in the area with mostly gentle terrain. With splendid views of the surrounding countryside, it's a relaxing way to spend the afternoon. There's no need for hiking boots, the trails are fine for small children and families and there are plenty of great picnic spots to have lunch and take it easy. The East-West loop is a four-kilometre track that starts at the Turntable car park, offering varied terrain without too much of an incline. THE MONOLITH AND PULPIT ROCK, MT BUFFALO This is an easy 13.4-kilometre circuit showcasing the most picturesque landmarks and lookouts at Mt Buffalo. The area is striking in its beauty, although doesn't have the same sense of isolation as more difficult hikes in the area. This walk won't take longer than four hours, being of an easy grade with pleasant spots to stop and picnic along the way. There's even a vendor selling ice cream and coffee. The starting point, Lake Catani Campground, is about a 4.5-hour drive from Melbourne, but is a well serviced campsite with plenty of amenities. MT STAPYLTON, THE GRAMPIANS NATIONAL PARK The Grampians offers some of the best hiking in Victoria. Located a three-hour drive from Melbourne, the Mt Stapylton loop is 4.6 kilometres and takes just under three hours to complete. It is a hike of moderate difficulty that offers grand views and fun terrain. Starting at the Mount Zero Campground, follow the signs through ferns and low gullies, past looming cliff faces, to finish with a quick scramble to a spectacular outlook. This walk is challenging in some sections but easy if you have good balance and shoes that grip. I wouldn't recommend attempting this one after heavy rainfall. MT STIRLING, MT BULLER Mt Buller is better known for its skiing terrain, but in summer (especially during the shoulder season) it's a wonderful place to go hiking. From October to December (before the 4WD and mountain biking season begins) you have the entire mountain to yourself. Heading from the Mt Buller village, take the shared mountain bike track to Howqua gap and follow the signage to Mt Stirling. The walk is about 12 kilometre and takes four–five hours. On a sunny day, the summit is a perfect spot for lunch. This hike is for those with a reasonable level of fitness and hiking boots are recommended. Some of the uphill sections can be challenging, but are well worth the effort. SOUTHERN CIRCUIT, CATHEDRAL RANGES Only a two-hour drive from Melbourne, the Southern Circuit in the Cathedral Ranges is perfect for a day trip. This hike is not for beginners, with steep climbs and lots of rock scrambling. Sturdy hiking boots, agility and a head for heights are a must. This walk is 11 kilometres and takes three-four hours, starting and finishing at Cooks Mill Campground. The track takes you up to Sugarloaf Peak for spectacular views and back down along the Razorback. Make sure you pay attention to the trail markers as it's easy to get lost in this area. CRAIG'S HUT, MT BULLER Craig's Hut was originally built for the set of The Man From Snowy River. It was kept as a waystation for hikers and cross-country skiers. Over the years it has been rebuilt after bushfires and now stands as a landmark in the area. The walk from Telephone Box Junction to Craig's Hut is 21 kilometres and takes six hours, depending on your fitness. It is very steep and challenging in some place and takes a sandy, rocky 4WD track in others. This walk gets the heart pumping and the legs burning; the views are nothing short of breath-taking. Images: Visit Victoria
Simon Lay, founder of Simon's Peking Duck, was a living legend in Melbourne. He was well known for tossing his famous duck pancakes while serving customers, while his sense of humour and loveable nature made him an unforgettable part of the city's dining experience here. Sadly, he passed away back in 2018, and while Simon's Peking Duck Chinese Restaurant will never be the same, it survives in his honour and lives up admirably to his legacy of making the best Peking duck in Melbourne. This Box Hill classic serves up traditional Chinese fare with personality and style. If you're here, it's probably for the Peking duck, and there are two options as to how it's served. Option one comes with pancakes, spring onion, cucumbers and its special plum sauce. It is served alongside stir-fried bean shoots with duck meat and duck bone soup with bean curd. Option two skips the bean shoots and instead comes with duck stir-fried with handmade crispy noodles. Pair it with some steamed rice and a bottle of Tsing Tao and you've got yourself a Chinese feast. If you'd prefer to venture elsewhere on the menu, the top beef options include sizzling butter beef and Mongolian beef, while the seafood options include royal Peking chilli fish and chill prawns. For vegetarians, there are mixed vegetable with mushrooms and green vegetables stir-fried with generous amounts of garlic. Desserts at Simon's Peking Duck Chinese Restaurant include banana fritters with ice cream and syrup or the holy deep fried ice cream. For those who don't drink beer, there is a modest wine selection of three options; sauvignon blanc, pinot noir or shiraz. it's simple. But it more than gets the job done.
Nailing the restaurant sequel can prove a tough task, especially when it's being transplanted into a different city than the original. But the crew behind Melbourne newbie Mjølner make it all look like a breeze. Having settled into the Hardware Street space once home to Nieuw Amsterdam, the restaurant and bar comes just 12 months after its sister venue opened in the heart of Sydney's Redfern. The concept's the same: the space a nod to Norse mythology and imagined as an earthly version of the feasting halls of Valhalla. Though this time, it's been rejigged to suit a new, Melbourne audience. Taking up the lower level, the bar is a moody, intimate space that's primed for late-night whisky sipping sessions. Worth a visit in its own right, it's sporting a 3am weekend licence, a solid craft beer tap rotation and some pretty clever cocktails. Above it sits the modern feasting hall, with its neat collection of viking paraphernalia and a very serious display of whisky stretched behind the bar. Here, you can opt to drink your beer from an animal horn, and select your own custom-made knife when you order any meat dish. The menu was made for feasting and begs to be shared. Kick things off with the likes of rich Stormy Bay clams, cut through with umami butter and pickled sea greens ($23), or play viking with the most-famous Mjølner Sydney carryover, the roast bone marrow ($20). This one's the gift that keeps on giving — once you've spooned out all that buttery inside, back it up with one of the coolest shots around. For The Whisky Luge, that empty marrow bone gets a lick from a blowtorch, then you pour in your choice of whisky, choose the best slurping angle and voila! If that move doesn't leave you feeling like an extra from Vikings, nothing will. The carvery selection sticks to a simple quartet of bird, beast, fish and vegetable. Opt for the likes of charred bonito matched with a fennel pollen vinaigrette and green tomato ($39), or go large with that day's meat feature special, dry aged on site and cooked on the rotisserie. On our visit, it was a share-friendly lamb chump ($60), paired with a winter-worthy ensemble of kale, barley and tomato, and waiting to meet your weapon of choice. Gnawing those last bits off the bone is definitely encouraged. Sides lean to the hearty, with seasonal offerings like roasted cauliflower teamed with IPA-soaked raisins and almond dukkah ($12). And, if you're in the mood for yet more theatre, you can wrap things up with a Blazing Glogg ($22) — a flaming cocktail blending cognac, port and cranberry, infused with a house-made teabag of rich spices. Images: Kate Shanasy Appears in: Sydney's Best Underground Bars for 2023
Margaret River's Colonial Brewing Co. is coming for the east coast. And while Sydneysiders have been treated to a mini tap takeover at the Newtown Hotel, Melburnians are lucky enough to score an entire brewery. The WA brewers opened their second outpost in Port Melbourne earlier this year — and while it's been open to the public for a few months now, the venue has just added a new, state-of-the-art canning machine that spits out 100 tinnies a minute. This tinnie-only brewery's motto, "brewed small, lived big", may be on the sentimental side, but it is a good way to describe Colonial's ethos. The Margaret River brewery is situated on a farm and the brand encapsulates Aussie country living. Colonial doesn't make beer for craft snobs alone — instead, they're dedicated to creating sessionable brews, geared toward the everyday drinker and craft converts, and their core range includes pale, IPA and Kölsch classics. The beer to keep an eye out for is their Small Ale. A mid-strength beer in name only, the flavour profile and hop aroma successfully (and surprisingly) mimic a big West Coast IPA. For the cider heads out there, the newly released Bertie is refreshingly dry, though, we have to say, no match for the brews. This 'average Aussie'-meets-craft beer drinker mentality is reinforced by their 360 tinnie lids — the lids peel off completely, allowing for great aroma and airation, while still allowing consumers to enjoy the satisfaction of a good ol' beer in a can. As beer nerds ourselves, we wouldn't say it's a true replacement for pouring into a glass, but you have to appreciate the thought. If you're lucky, they may even given you a tinnie straight off the line during a brewery tour — truly fresh as. While the brewery is now officially launching its small town WA vibe into the east coast market, it isn't doing it without some self-awareness. When it comes to the Port Melbourne brewery, the fit-out is, well, much more Melbourne than its Margaret River counterpart. Think a lush indoor beer garden fitted out with hanging greenery, a graffiti wall and space for Food Truck Fridays, along with ping pong and beer pong tables (which ustilises their 360 cans as cups, of course). On Thursday nights they're also doing a very reasonably priced pizza and pot deal for $10. The eight-tap wooden bar also has a makeshift feel, and it's all tucked inside of a small entryway that you'd never expect to expand into this massive warehouse. You certainly couldn't mistake Colonial's brews for anything but Aussie beers, and we bet, as they expand, this WA brewery will go far in converting mainstream beer drinkers to craft — even those who swear they'll never go off VB. The Colonial Brewing Co. is open on Thursdays and Fridays from noon till 11pm at 89 Bertie Street, Port Melbourne. For more info, visit colonialbrewingco.com.au. Images: Simon Shiff.
Another beloved Australian music festival is sitting 2025 out, with the Listen Out team revealing that the event won't be on the calendar this year. In 2024, when Groovin the Moo announced its dates then cancelled, and Splendour in the Grass sadly did the same, this electronic-meets-hip hop fest still toured the country. Now, though, it's "hitting pause on Listen Out as you know it", organisers announced via social media. "We've always tried to build something special — where the lineup reflects the culture and the energy flows both ways between the artists and you," the statement advises. "The last few years have been tough." View this post on Instagram A post shared by Listen Out (@listenout) Although Listen Out isn't going ahead in 2025 in its usual format, the crew is putting on a series of shindigs badged Listen Out Presents, however. Music lovers can expect "one-off, carefully curated parties in killer locations around Australia all year long" featuring "some of the best artists in the world", the festival team announced. No further details have been revealed so far. Skipping the big fest setup for a smaller affair yet still boasting impressive names was Spilt Milk's approach in 2024 — when it ditched its usual festivals but had Troye Sivan, Glass Animals and G Flip take to the stage Newcastle, Perth and on the Gold Coast. The fellow fest is returning in its full form in 2025, headlined by Kendrick Lamar. That said, Listen Out's cancellation this year in favour of parties comes after both Groovin the Moo and Splendour in the Grass failed to make 2025 comebacks following their year off. [caption id="attachment_957230" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Samm Venn[/caption] In 2024, Listen Out did the rounds for its 11th year with a lineup featuring 21 Savage, Skepta, Tyla and Flo Milli among its hip hop and R&B names, plus John Summit and Sub Focus on the electronic side. The year prior, in 2023, the fest held its most-successful event at the time in terms of ticket sales ever, with the crew behind it hoping to continue that trajectory by turning the fest into a 16-plus event, age-wise, which was a first for 2024. [caption id="attachment_957228" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Anna Warr[/caption] [caption id="attachment_957224" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Mitch Lowe[/caption] [caption id="attachment_957218" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Jordan Munns[/caption] [caption id="attachment_957221" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Sam Venn[/caption] Listen Out is not taking place in 2025, with Listen Out Presents parties set to pop up instead — we'll update you when more details are announced, and keep an eye on the festival's social media in the interim.
Melbourne is never short of innovative and intriguing film events, and the latest is Here My Eyes at Howler. Hear My Eyes screens films that are accompanied by an original score performed live by local musicians, Sleep Decade. The experimental, audiovisual experience is a playful alternative to more traditional screenings, and $15 to see a film and live music gig all rolled into one sounds like a pretty good deal to us. For Hear My Eyes first event they will be screening Jessica Oreck’s acclaimed The Vanquishing of the Witch Baba Yaga, which combines documentary footage with hand-drawn animated storyboard panels. One for all you film nerds out there, the 16mm shots of the visually stunning Romanian, Hungarian and Polish forests and countrysides are truly captivating. Pair that with an ambient and experimental soundscape and you’ve got yourself quite an extraordinary Thursday night.
