If you're a film and TV obsessive, how do you know that a new year has kicked off? Hollywood starts handing out awards. Tinseltown loves starting off the annual calendar by looking backwards, giving away trophies and having parties, with the Golden Globes 2025's first ceremony to celebrate on-screen achievements from the past 12 months — in cinemas and on television. 2025's accolades, rewarding 2024's big- and small-screen fare, took place on Monday, January 6 Australian time. Accordingly, there's now a brand-new batch of Golden Globes recipients for viewers to watch — or rewatch. Some, like The Brutalist and Emilia Pérez, haven't made their way Down Under just yet (they each arrive later in January), but plenty of others are ready and waiting for audiences to catch ASAP. Haven't seen Jesse Eisenberg (Fleishman Is in Trouble) and Kieran Culkin (Succession) play bickering cousins yet? Keen to relive every thrilling, heartbreaking and tense moment of Shogun? Fancy watching Baby Reindeer on your iPhon iPhone? Need a reason to shout "yes chef!". Feel like defying gravity? Eager for a dose of The Substance? They're just some of the 11 movies and TV shows that you can make a date with right now. (Wondering what else won, too? Read through the full list as well.) Movie Must-Sees A Real Pain He didn't feature on-screen in his first film as a writer/director, but 2022's When You Finish Saving the World couldn't have sprung from anyone but Jesse Eisenberg. Neither could've 2024's A Real Pain. In the latter, the Fleishman Is in Trouble actor plays the anxious part, and literally. He's David Kaplan, with his character a bundle of nerves about and during his trip to Poland with his cousin Benji (Kieran Culkin, Succession) — a pilgrimage that they're making in honour of their grandmother, who survived the Second World War, started a new life for their family in the US in the process and has recently passed away. David is highly strung anyway, though. One source of his woes: the ease with which Benji seems to move through his days, whether he's making new friends in their tour group within seconds of being introduced or securing a stash of weed for the journey. With A Real Pain as with When You Finish Saving the World, Eisenberg is shrewdly and committedly examining an inescapable question: what is real pain, and who feels it? Are David's always-evident neuroses more worthy of worry than the despondency that Benji shuttles behind his carefree facade, and is it okay for either to feel the way they do, with their comfortable lives otherwise, in the shadow of such horrors such as the Holocaust? As a filmmaker, Eisenberg keeps interrogating what he knows: A Real Pain's main train of thought, which was When You Finish Saving the World's as well, is one that he ponders himself. Although he's not penning and helming strictly autobiographical movies, his latest does crib some details from reality, swapping out an IRL aunt for a fictional grandmother, as well as a trip that Eisenberg took with his wife for a cousins' act of tribute. It's no wonder, then, that he keeps crafting deeply felt features that resound with raw emotion, and that leave viewers feeling like they could walk right into them. With A Real Pain, he also turns in a stellar performance of his own and directs another from Culkin, who steps into Benji's shoes like he wears them himself everyday (and takes on a part that his director originally had earmarked for himself). Thrumming at the heart of the dramedy, and in its two main players, is a notion that demands facing head-on, too: that experiencing our own pain, whether big or small, world-shattering or seemingly trivial, or personal or existential, is never a minor matter. Globes Won: Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture (Kieran Culkin). Where to watch it: A Real Pain is screening in cinemas Down Under. Read our interview with Jesse Eisenberg. The Substance If you suddenly looked like society's ideal, how would it change your life? The Substance asks this. In a completely different way, so does fellow Golden Globe-winner A Different Man (see: below), too — but when Revenge's Coralie Fargeat is leading the charge on her long-awaited sophomore feature and earning Cannes' Best Screenplay Award for her troubles, the result is a new body-horror masterpiece. Pump it up: the sci-fi concept; the stunning command of sound, vision and tone; the savagery and smarts; the gonzo willingness to keep pushing and parodying; the gore (and there's gore); and the career-reviving performance from Demi Moore (Landman). The Substance's star has popped up in Feud, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, Please Baby Please and Brave New World in recent years, but her work as Elisabeth Sparkle not only defines this period of her life as an actor; even with an on-screen resume dating back to 1981, and with the 80s- and 90s-era likes of St Elmo's Fire, Ghost, A Few Good Men, Indecent Proposal and Disclosure to her name, she'll always be known for this from this point onwards, regardless of whether awards keep rolling in. Turning 50 isn't cause for celebration for Elisabeth. She's already seen film roles pass her by over the years; on her birthday, she's now pushed out of her long-running gig hosting an aerobics show. Enter a solution, as well as another 'what if?' question: if you could reclaim your youth by injecting yourself with a mysterious liquid, would you? Here, The Substance's protagonist takes the curious serum. Enter Sue (Margaret Qualley, Drive-Away Dolls), who helps Elisabeth wind back time — and soon wants Elisabeth's time as her own. Just like someone seeking the glory days that she thinks are behind her via any means possible, Fargeat isn't being subtle with The Substance, not for a second. She goes big and brutal instead, and audacious and morbid as well, and this is the unforgettable picture it is because of it. No one holds back — not Elisabeth, not Sue, not Moore, not the also-fantastic Qualley, not Dennis Quaid (Lawman: Bass Reeves) eating shrimp, not Fargeat, and definitely not cinematographer Benjamin Kracun (Promising Young Woman) or composer Raffertie (99). Globes Won: Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy (Demi Moore). Where to watch it: The Substance streams via YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. A Different Man Two of 2024's best films have one person in common: Sebastian Stan. In cinemas in Australia, The Apprentice and A Different Man released within weeks of each other; as well as making a helluva double feature, they boast two of the finest performances of the year as well. In both movies, the former Gossip Girl star with the best taste in picking interesting parts — see also: Logan Lucky, I, Tonya, Destroyer, Monday, Fresh and Pam & Tommy — plays men chasing a dream that turns out to be a nightmare: once as a certain US real-estate tycoon-turned-reality TV host and then president, and once as a struggling actor who desperately wants a new face. When A Different Man's Edward Lemuel undertakes an experimental treatment for neurofibromatosis, his disfigurement disappears; however, his hopes for stardom, or even just to feature in his playwright neighbour's (Renate Reinsve, Presumed Innocent) off-Broadway production about his own life and attract her romantic interest, can't be grasped that easily. Also turning in an excellent portrayal is Adam Pearson (Ruby Splinter) as Oswald, who has a firmer grasp on the existence that Edward so feverishly covets without any medical intervention. Writer/director Aaron Schimberg (Chained for Life) knows that The Elephant Man will spring to many audiences' minds — and astutely probes and questions why in a film that is unflinching in its exploration of perception, prejudice, identity, authenticity and self-worth. As it muses on what it takes to accept yourself and ignore the world's feedback, too, and whether external change can bring about an internal transformation, A Different Man also pairs exceptionally well with The Substance (see: above). Styling his feature as a psychological thriller as much as a black comedy, Schimberg refuses to let any moment pass by without needling, probing and unpacking. He digs into not only the mindsets that surround Edward, but equally explores the character's own view as he reinvents himself — with his new Sebastian Stan good looks — as newcomer Guy Moratz. It might have a few kindred spirits in various ways among 2024's highlights, but nothing else truly like this has reached screens in years. Globes Won: Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy (Sebastian Stan). Where to watch it: A Different Man streams via YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Challengers Tennis is a game of serves, shots, slices and smashes, and also of approaches, backhands, rallies and volleys. Challengers is a film of each, too, plus a movie about tennis. As it follows a love triangle that charts a path so back and forth that its ins and outs could be carved by a ball being hit around on the court, it's a picture that takes its aesthetic, thematic and emotional approach from the sport that its trio of protagonists are obsessed with as well. Tennis is everything to Tashi Duncan (Zendaya, Dune: Part Two), Art Donaldson (Mike Faist, West Side Story) and Patrick Zweig (Josh O'Connor, La Chimera), other than the threesome themselves being everything to each other. It's a stroke of genius to fashion the feature about them around the game they adore, then. Metaphors comparing life with a pastime are easy to coin. Movies that build such a juxtaposition into their fabric are far harder to craft. But it's been true of Luca Guadagnino for decades: he's a craftsman. Jumping from one Dune franchise lead to another, after doing Call Me By Your Name and Bones and All with Timothée Chalamet, Guadagnino proves something else accurate that's been his cinematic baseline: he's infatuated with the cinema of yearning. Among his features so far, only in Bones and All was the hunger for connection literal. The Italian director didn't deliver cannibalism in Call Me By Your Name and doesn't in Challengers, but longing is the strongest flavour in all three, and prominent across the filmmaker's Suspiria, A Bigger Splash and I Am Love also. So, combine the idea of styling a movie around a tennis match — one spans its entire duration, in fact — with a lusty love triangle, romantic cravings and three players at the top of their field, then this is the sublime end product. Challengers is so smartly constructed, so well thought-out down to every meticulous detail, so sensual and seductive, and so on point in conveying Tashi plus Art and Patrick's feelings, that it's instantly one of Guadagnino's grand slams. Globes Won: Best Original Score — Motion Picture (Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross). Where to watch it: Challengers streams via Prime Video, YouTube Movies and iTunes. Read our full review, as well as what Zendaya, Josh O'Connor and Mike Faist had to say about the film when they were in Australia. Wicked The colour scheme was always a given. "Pink goes good with green," Galinda (Ariana Grande, Don't Look Up) tells Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo, Luther: The Fallen Sun). "It goes well with green," the grammar-correcting reply bounces back. The songs, beloved echoing from the stage since 2003, were never in doubt as both centrepieces and a soundtrack. As a theatre-kid obsession for decades, it was also long likely that the big-screen adaptation of Wicked — a movie based on a musical springing from a book that offered a prequel to a film that walked the celluloid road 85 years ago, itself jumping from the page to the screen — would have big theatre-kid energy as it attempted to ensure that its magic enchants across mediums. Enough to fill every theatre on Broadway radiates from Grande alone, someone who, as a kid, won an auction to meet the OG Wicked good witch Kristin Chenoweth (Our Little Secret) backstage. That enthusiasm is impossible not to feel. No one would ever want a muted Wicked, where the hues, in yellow bricks and emerald cities and more, weren't trying to compete with Technicolor — and the tunes, with Chenoweth and Idina Menzel's (You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah) voices previously behind them in such full force, weren't belted to the rafters. Jon M Chu has a knack as a filmmaker of stage hits reaching cinemas: matching the vibe of the show he's taking on expertly. It was true of his version of In the Heights. It now proves the case in its own different way with Wicked. Achieving such a feat isn't always a given; sometimes, even when it does happen, and blatantly, any stage spark can be lost in translation (see: Cats). Again, movie viewers can feel that synergy, and how much it means to everyone involved. Globes Won: Cinematic and Box Office Achievement. Where to watch it: Wicked is screening in cinemas Down Under, and streams via YouTube Movies and Prime Video. Read our interview with production designer Nathan Crowley. Small-Screen Standouts Hacks Sometimes you need to wait for the things you love. In Hacks, that's true off- and on-screen. The HBO comedy gave viewers a two-year wait, after its first season was one of the best new shows of 2021 and its second one of the best returning series of 2022 — a delay first sparked by star Jean Smart (Babylon) requiring heart surgery, and then by 2023's Hollywood strikes. But this Emmy- and Golden Globe-winner returned better than ever in season three in 2024, this time charting Smart's Deborah Vance finally getting a shot at a job that she's been waiting her entire career for. After scoring a huge hit with her recent comedy special, which was a product of hiring twentysomething writer Ava Daniels (Hannah Einbinder, Julia), the Las Vegas mainstay has a new chance at nabbing a late-night hosting gig. (Yes, fictional takes on after-dark talk shows are having a moment, thanks to Late Night with the Devil and now this.) At times, some in Deborah's orbit might be tempted to borrow the Australian horror movie's title to describe to assisting her pitch for a post-primetime chair. That'd be a harsh comment, but savage humour has always been part of this showbiz comedy about people who tell jokes for a living. While Deborah gets roasted in this season, spikiness is Hacks' long-established baseline — and also the armour with which its behind-the-mic lead protects herself from life's and the industry's pain, disappointments and unfairness. Barbs can also be Deborah's love language, as seen in her banter with Ava. When season two ended, their tumultuous professional relationship had come to an end again via Deborah, who let her writer go to find bigger opportunities. A year has now passed when season three kicks off. Ava is a staff writer on a Last Week Tonight with John Oliver-type series in Los Angeles and thriving, but she's also not over being fired. Back in Vanceland , everything is gleaming — but Deborah isn't prepared for being a phenomenon. She wants it. She's worked for years for it. It's taken until her 70s to get it. But her presence alone being cause for frenzy, rather than the scrapping she's done to stay in the spotlight, isn't an easy adjustment. Globes Won: Best Television Series — Musical or Comedy, Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Series — Musical or Comedy (Jean Smart). Where to watch it: Hacks streams via Stan. Read our full review. Shōgun Casting Hiroyuki Sanada (John Wick: Chapter 4), Cosmo Jarvis (Persuasion) and Anna Sawai (Monarch: Legacy of Monsters) as its three leads is one of Shōgun's masterstrokes. The new ten-part adaptation of James Clavell's 1975 novel — following a first version in 1980 that featured Japanese icon and frequent Akira Kurosawa collaborator Toshiro Mifune — makes plenty of other excellent moves, but this is still pivotal. Disney+'s richly detailed samurai series knows how to thrust its viewers into a deeply textured world from the outset, making having three complex performances at its centre an essential anchoring tactic. Sanada plays Lord Yoshii Toranaga, who is among the political candidates vying to take control of the country. Jarvis is John Blackthorne, a British sailor on a Dutch ship that has run aground in a place that its crew isn't sure is real until they get there. And Sawai is Toda Mariko, a Japanese noblewoman who is also tasked with translating. Each character's tale encompasses much more than those descriptions, of course, and the portrayals that bring them to the screen make that plain from the moment they're each first seen. As Game of Thrones and Succession both were, famously so, Shōgun is another drama that's all about fighting for supremacy. Like just the former, too, it's another sweeping epic series as well. Although it's impossible not to see those links, knowing that both battling over who'll seize power and stepping into sprawling worlds are among pop culture's favourite things right now (and for some time) doesn't make Shōgun any less impressive. The scale is grand, and yet it doesn't skimp on intimacy, either. The minutiae is meticulous, demanding that attention is paid to everything at all times. Gore is no stranger from the get-go. Opening in the 17th century, the series finds Japan in crisis mode, Toranaga facing enemies and Blackthorne among the first Englishmen that've made it to the nation — much to the alarm of Japan's sole European inhabitants from Portugal. Getting drawn in, including by the performances, is instantaneous. Shōgun proves powerful and engrossing immediately, and lavish and precisely made as well, with creators Justin Marks (Top Gun: Maverick) and Rachel Kondo (on her first TV credit) doing a spectacular job of bringing it to streaming queues. Globes Won: Best Television Series — Drama, Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Series — Drama (Hiroyuki Sanada), Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Series — Drama (Anna Sawai), Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role on Television (Tadanobu Asano). Where to watch it: Shōgun streams via Disney+. Read our full review. Baby Reindeer A person walking into a bar. The words "sent from my iPhone". A comedian pouring their experiences into a one-performer play. A twisty true-crime tale making the leap to the screen. All four either feature in, inspired or describe Baby Reindeer. All four are inescapably familiar, too, but the same can't be said about this seven-part Netflix series. Written by and starring Scottish comedian Richard Gadd, and also based on his real-life experiences, this is a bleak, brave, revelatory, devastating and unforgettable psychological thriller. It does indeed begin with someone stepping inside a pub — and while Gadd plays a comedian on-screen as well, don't go waiting for a punchline. When Martha (Jessica Gunning, The Outlaws) enters The Heart in Camden, London in 2015, Donny Dunn (Gadd, Wedding Season) is behind the counter. "I felt sorry for her. That's the first feeling I felt," the latter explains via voiceover. Perched awkwardly on a stool at the bar, Martha is whimpering to herself. She says that she can't afford to buy a drink, even a cup of tea. Donny takes pity, offering her one for free — and her face instantly lights up. That's the fateful moment, one of sorrow met with kindness, that ignites Baby Reindeer's narrative and changes Donny's life. After that warm beverage, The Heart instantly has a new regular. Sipping Diet Cokes from then on (still on the house), Martha is full of stories about all of the high-profile people that she knows and her high-flying lawyer job. But despite insisting that she's constantly busy, she's also always at the bar when Donny is at work, sticking around for his whole shifts. She chats incessantly about herself, folks that he doesn't know and while directing compliments Donny's way. He's in his twenties, she's in her early forties — and he can see that she's smitten, letting her flirt. He notices her laugh. He likes the attention, not to mention getting his ego stroked. While he doesn't reciprocate her feelings, he's friendly. She isn't just an infatuated fantasist, however; she's chillingly obsessed to an unstable degree. She finds his email address, then starts messaging him non-stop when she's not nattering at his workplace. (IRL, Gadd received more than 40,000 emails.) Globes Won: Best Television Limited Series, Anthology Series or Motion Picture Made for Television, Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role on Television (Jessica Gunning). Where to watch it: Baby Reindeer streams via Netflix. Read our full review. The Bear Serving up another sitting with acclaimed chef Carmy Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White, The Iron Claw), his second-in-charge Sydney (Ayo Edebiri, Inside Out 2) and their team after dishing up one of the best new shows of 2022 and best returning shows of 2023, the third season of The Bear is a season haunted. Creator and writer Christopher Storer (Dickinson, Ramy) — often the culinary dramedy's director as well — wouldn't have it any other way. Every series that proves as swift a success as this, after delivering as exceptional a first and second season as any show could wish for, has the tang of its prior glory left on its lips, so this one tackles the idea head on. How can anyone shake the past at all, good or bad, the latest ten episodes ruminate on as Carmy faces a dream that's come true but hasn't and can't eradicate the lifetime of internalised uncertainty that arises from having an erratic mother, absent father, elder brother he idolised but had his own demons, and a career spent striving to be the best and put his talents to the test in an industry that's so merciless and unforgiving even before you factor in dealing with cruel mentors. Haunting is talked about often in this third The Bear course, but not actually in the sense flavouring every bite that the show's return plates up. In the season's heartiest reminder that it's comic as well as tense and dramatic — its nine Emmy wins for season one, plus four Golden Globes across season one and two, are all in comedy categories — the Faks get to Fak aplenty. While charming Neil (IRL chef Matty Matheson) is loving his role as a besuited server beneath Richie aka Cousin (Ebon Moss-Bachrach, No Hard Feelings), onboard with the latter's commitment to upholding a Michelin star-chasing fine-diner's front-of-house standards and as devoted to being Carmy's best friend as ever, he's also always palling around with his handyman brother Theodore (Ricky Staffieri, Read the Room). They're not the season's only Faks, and so emerges a family game. When one Fak wrongs another, they get haunted, which is largely being taunted and unsettled by someone from basically The Bear equivalent of Brooklyn Nine-Nine's Boyles. For it to stop, you need to agree to give in. In Storer's hands, in a series this expertly layered as it picks up in the aftermath of sandwich diner The Original Beef of Chicagoland relaunching as fine-diner The Bear, this isn't just an amusing character-building aside. Globes Won: Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Series — Musical or Comedy (Jeremy Allen White). Where to watch it: The Bear streams via Disney+. Read our full review. The Penguin Ambition courses through The Penguin, both within its storyline and in bringing the spinoff from 2022's The Batman to the small screen. HBO might be giving a swathe of its cinema hits the TV treatment, including Dune, IT, Harry Potter and The Conjuring; however, there's nothing by the numbers about Oswald Cobb's time in the television spotlight. With Colin Farrell reprising the show's titular role, and starring in two of 2024's standout new series in the process alongside Sugar, The Penguin isn't a mere attempted caped-crusader cash-in, as some fare about nefarious folks connected to well-known heroes have proven (see: Morbius, Madame Web and Kraven the Hunter). Across its compulsively watchable eight-episode first season, this crime drama has more than a touch of The Sopranos and The Godfather films about it — and not only is it aiming high in endeavouring to follow in the footsteps of two of the greatest mob stories ever told but, as developed and co-written by Lauren LeFranc (Impulse, Agents of SHIELD), it heartily earns its place in their company. Never forgetting who it is about and what Oz's future path is, no matter how much viewers start to warm to him throughout the series, The Penguin is also responsible for one of the most-heartbreaking moments of the past year. Set after the events of The Batman — a big-screen sequel to which, aka The Batman — Part II, is on the way — the show steps back into Oz's life as he's chasing his own ambitions. After years spent as an underling, including as the righthand man to Carmine Falcone (Mark Strong, Dune: Prophecy), he has his sights set on more than just doing everyone else's bidding. Complicating this quest for power: that it coincides with the release of Carmine's daughter Sofia (Cristin Milioti, The Resort) from Arkham, and she isn't willing to simply do what she's told by the new Falcone underboss (Michael Kelly, Pantheon). As Oz navigates a turf war also involving incarcerated rival Sal Marone (Clancy Brown, Gen V), The Penguin keeps his exploits personal through his demential-afflicted mother (Deirdre O'Connell, The Big Door Prize) requiring his care, and with kindhearted teenager Vic Aguilar (Rhenzy Feliz, Encanto) trying to steal Oz's rims but ending up with a job as his driver. A grounded waddle into the supervillain realm, and boasting exceptional — and rightly Golden Globe-winning and -nominated, respectively — performances from Farrell and Milioti, this is comics-to-screen storytelling at its best. Globes Won: Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Limited Series, Anthology Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television (Colin Farrell). Where to watch it: The Penguin streams via Binge. True Detective: Night Country Even when True Detective had only reached its second season, the HBO series had chiselled its template into stone: obsessive chalk-and-cheese cops with messy personal lives investigating horrifying killings, on cases with ties to power's corruption, in places where location mattered and with the otherworldly drifting in. A decade after the anthology mystery show's debut in 2014, True Detective has returned as Night Country, a six-part miniseries that builds its own snowman out of all of the franchise's familiar parts. The main similarity from there: like the Matthew McConaughey (The Gentlemen)- and Woody Harrelson (White House Plumbers)-led initial season, True Detective: Night Country is phenomenal. This is a return to form and a revitalisation. Making it happen after two passable intervening cases is a new guiding hand off-screen. Tigers Are Not Afraid filmmaker Issa López directs and writes or co-writes every episode, boasting Moonlight's Barry Jenkins as an executive producer. True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto remains in the latter role, too, as do McConaughey, Harrelson and season-one director Cary Joji Fukunaga (No Time to Die); however, from its female focus and weighty tussling with the dead to its switch to a cool, blue colour scheme befitting its Alaskan setting, there's no doubting that López is reinventing her season rather than ticking boxes. In handing over the reins, Pizzolatto's police procedural never-standard police procedural is a powerhouse again, and lives up to the potential of its concept. The commitment and cost of delving into humanity's depths and advocating for those lost in its abyss has swapped key cops, victims and locations with each spin, including enlisting the masterful double act of Jodie Foster (Nyad) and boxer-turned-actor Kali Reis (Catch the Fair One) to do the sleuthing, but seeing each go-around with fresh eyes feels like the missing puzzle piece. López spies the toll on the show's first women duo, as well as the splinters in a remote community when its fragile sense of certainty is forever shattered. She spots the fractures that pre-date the investigation in the new season, a cold case tied to it, plus the gashes that've carved hurt and pain into the earth ever since people stepped foot on it. She observes the pursuit of profit above all else, and the lack of concern for whatever — whoever, the region's Indigenous inhabitants included — get in the way. She sees that the eternal winter night of 150 miles north of the Arctic Circle come mid-December isn't the only thing impairing everyone's sight. And, she knows that not everything has answers, with life sometimes plunging into heartbreak, or inhospitable climes, or one's own private hell, without rhyme or reason. Globes Won: Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Limited Series, Anthology Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television (Jodie Foster). Where to watch it: True Detective: Night Country streams via Binge. Read our full review.
Whether you're heading north to chase the sun or to escape reality at Splendour in the Grass, there's no need to hurry to Byron Bay. In fact, with around 800 kilometres of road to cover — flanked by epic beaches, rivers, national parks, fresh produce, microbreweries and creative places to spend the night — it's your god-given duty to take your time. So, call your boss, nab a few extra days off and start planning your rest stops. Our road tripper's guide to the Legendary Pacific Coast will provide all the excuses you need. [caption id="attachment_576705" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Pete Saw.[/caption] CENTRAL COAST Despite being a 90-minute drive from Sydney, the Central Coast, with its calm water, surf beaches, cute villages and swathes of national park, is surprisingly unspoilt. Light on cash? Claim a patch of grass or caravan at a Central Coast Holiday Park. Alternatively, check into a light and airy two-bedroom apartment at the Patonga Beach Hotel, perched on the banks of the Hawkesbury River. Ten minutes drive east is pretty, pretty, National Trust-listed Pearl Beach. With just 600 dwellings and encircled by trees, it's home to two excellent lunch spots — the hatted Pearls on the Beach, specialising in Middle Eastern-inspired deliciousness, and the more budget-friendly Pearl Beach Cafe and General Store (go the choc chip pancakes with Nutella-maple fudge sauce, sliced banana and candied bacon). Across Broken Bay lies Killcare. Here, you can tuck into tasty, hatted Italian while surrounded by landscaped gardens at Manfredi or grab a $5 bacon and egg roll at The Fat Goose. Afterwards, stretch your legs while soaking in panoramic coastal views in the Bouddi National Park and, on the way out, swing by Distillery Botanica (home of an eponymous, garden-grown gin and Mr Black coffee liqueur), as well as the Six String Brewing Company. For more Central Coast tips, check out our weekender's guide to Patonga, Pearl Beach and Killcare and our day tripper's guide to Copacabana and the Bouddi National Park. [caption id="attachment_576728" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Pete Saw.[/caption] NEWCASTLE Two hours drive will land you in mighty Newcastle, sometime steel capital, now artsy community and one of Lonely Planet's top ten cities of 2011. For a comfy sleepover in a sunny room downtown, stay at The Lucky, which reopened in 2014 after a $6 mill revamp. Not enough time to spend the night? It's still worth detouring for a coffee (and cosy lounges) at Sprocket Roasters, a meticulously prepared cuppa at Tea Project or a locally-brewed beer at Foghorn. For scallop chowder or wild-caught prawns while gazing at the Tasman Sea through floor-to-ceiling windows, book a table at Merewether Surfhouse or, to catch up with Silverchair bassist, Chris Joannou, pop into The Edwards, where he and barista Chris Johnston have turned Joannou's parents' laundry warehouse into a friendly, funky eatery-cafe-bar. Get some exercise wandering among the CBD's many independent artists' spaces and laneways plastered with street art, or take a stroll along the Newcastle Memorial Walk, which spans the clifftops between Strzelecki Lookout and Bar Beach, affording 360-degree views. You'll find loads more Newie ideas over here. [caption id="attachment_576734" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Pete Saw.[/caption] PORT MACQUARIE Port Macquarie, perched on the Hastings River and bordered by eighteen beaches, is another three hours' drive north. On the way, stop overnight at Old Bar to sleep with your favourite rock star (be that David Bowie, Nick Cave, Dave Grohl or Louis Armstrong) in the Boogie Woogie Beach House. Each room in this designer, boutique hotel, located a short scurry from the beach, is dedicated to a music legend and comes with its own vinyl player (LPs supplied). Plus, there's live music on Fridays and Sundays. 30 kilometres inland, in the tiny town of Wingham, farm-fresh produce is turned into scrumptious dishes at Bent on Food. If you happen to be passing by in October, time your visit to coincide with the Wingham Akoostik Festival. For riverside accommodation in Port with a pool, as well as access to vintage bikes and paddle boards, there's Sails Resort By Rydges. Come lunch or dinner, head to the hatted Stunned Mullet for oyster flights, Glacier 51Toothfish or Orange-reared venison, as well as stunning views over Town Beach. Back in town, there's tapas, art and live music at Latin Loafer, and creative, local-produce driven dishes in Drury Lane Eatery's leafy courtyard. The best coffee in town is served among Social Grounds' murals and dark wooden tables and cracking beer is brewed onsite at Black Duck. The nine-kilometre Port Macquarie Coastal Walk is the place to work off your excesses. Start at Town Beach and finish at Tacking Point Lighthouse, taking in three beaches, several breathtaking lookouts and Sea Acres National Park, where the rainforest meets the sea. A shorter adventure is the 1.3-kilometre long, seven-metre high Sea Acres Boardwalk. Our weekender's guide can help with further explorations. [caption id="attachment_581230" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Andrew Sutherland.[/caption] URUNGA AND BELLINGEN Drive another 130 kilometres to get to Urunga, a tiny town where two rivers — the Bellinger and the Kalang — meet the sea. To see both river mouths up close, take a stroll on the one-kilometre long, elevated Urunga Boardwalk. You can expect 360-degree views all the way — inland over the Great Dividing Range, north towards Mylestom Spit and south as far as Nambucca Heads. Next, take a break from the coast and head west to Bellingen, a laidback, artsy 3000-person town on the Bellinger River's banks. There are eco-friendly retreats aplenty, but, even if you don't have an over-nighter in mind, leave some time to wander among the art galleries and jewellery makers of The Old Butter Factory and hang out in local cafes. For rainforest walks and waterfalls, travel another 35 kilometres inland to reach Dorrigo National Park. Get a mid-road trip workout with views on the Blackbutt Walking Track or visit several cascades on the Casuarina Falls circuit. The Dorrigo Rainforest Centre will give you the lowdown on local flora and fauna, as well as a dizzying adventure on the canopy-level Skywalk. [caption id="attachment_576785" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Andrea Schaffer.[/caption] COFFS HARBOUR Another hour of road time and you'll be in Coffs Harbour. Take your mandatory snap with the Big Banana before making tracks to Aanuka Beach Resort or, to escape the crowds, an Arthouse Beachfront Apartment on Emerald Beach, 20 kilometres north. May to July and September to November make up whale watching season, so head to a vantage point with a picnic and keep a lookout — Muttonbird Island's viewing platform and Emerald Beach's Look At Me Now Headland are both prime spots. Alternatively, jump on a local tour boat. [caption id="attachment_576794" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Richard Rydge.[/caption] HINTERLAND WAY For the final stretch — between Ballina and Byron Bay — try substituting the well-trodden Pacific Highway with the Hinterland Way. Starting at Ewingsdale, this idyllic, winding road takes you through the lush, green rolling hills west of Byron Bay. Make your first stop the Macadamia Castle and Animal Park, where you can sample local macadamias and hang out by a frog conservation pond. A ten-minute drive will bring you to teeny-tiny Newrybar, where the the oldest bakery in Australia has been transformed into the Harvest Cafe, Deli and Bakery. Linger over fresh sourdough baked in a 107-year-old woodfired oven, twelve-hour braised lamb shoulder or charcuterie, prepared onsite. Last of all, drop into Bangalow for heritage-listed buildings with shady verandahs, independent art galleries, peaceful parks and a stroll along Byron Creek. The epic Bangalow Market takes over the town on the fourth Sunday of every month, bringing live music, local farmers, artworks, design and loads more. [caption id="attachment_581233" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Jeremy Foster.[/caption] YAMBA If, however, you decide to stick to the coast, then make Yamba, 140 kilometres north of Coffs, your final pre-Byron Bay stop. After all, the CSIRO and Stanford University reckon it has one the best climates in the world, alongside San Diego, California and Bunbury, Western Australia. Even in July, you'll notice locals swimming — a warm current comes through, often pushing water temperatures up to summer levels. If you're keen for a dip, try Brooms Head Main Beach, which is beautifully protected by Yuraygir National Park. Keep an eye out for dolphins and whales while you're at it. Every Wednesday morning, local farmers bring their produce to the Whiting Beach Car Park for the Yamba Farmers Market. Alternatively, you'll find one of the best meals in town at the waterfront Yamba Shores Tavern. Definitely order the prawns — they're some of the freshest and most delicious on the East Coast. Top image: Richard Rydge.
The Kensington Street precinct, with the refurbished Old Clare Hotel as its anchor, is home to a variety of hospitality operators and cuisines. From the casual Asian 'eat street' Spice Alley to the suave Automata and the ever-evolving dining spaces upstairs, diners have no shortage of options in this area. So where to choose? Well, if you're a reasonably well-heeled middle-aged couple, have been tasked with taking out the in-laws, or are just in search of some nice hand-made pasta, you might head to Olio. It's a generous space, located on the top of The Old Rum Store, it has really lovely heritage bones, big arched windows and bare brick walls. Nicely spaced tables and double linens give it a step up from street-level, although the interiors have been jazzed up with some blue and green touches and wrap-around lighting on the bar which both seem at odds with the rustic vibe of the building itself. From the large open kitchen, Sicilian-born chef Lino Sauro is still serving food from his motherland with some contemporary flourishes. Antipasti includes a big-eye tuna loin carpaccio with "Salamoreci sauce", tomato and garlic shoots, and a smoked burrata with compressed blood plum, roasted almonds and mint oil. The traditional Italian zuppa — in this case, a rich Gattopardo seafood stew — is, without fail, one of the most delicious seafood things in a bowl we've ever eaten. It's Olio's signature dish, and with good reason. The rich broth holding a variety of seafood like clams, prawns and mussels that are each perfectly cooked is everything you want from a dish like this — it feels like it's come straight from Nonna's kitchen. Finish with the tiramisu — it's proper Italian-style with soaked sponge and not too much cream, although the crunchy cocoa topping will delight some and divide purists. Overall, Olio is a great reflection of Sauro's heritage and his eye for presentation and less traditional flavour combinations. Images: Lauren Commens. Appears in: The Best Italian Restaurants in Sydney for 2023
UPDATE: Due to an electrical fire in September, Nomad had to move up the road into the old Longrain space on Commonwealth Street. But, we have some good news: the OG restaurant will be back up and running on October 20. It's difficult to know what to love first about Nomad. Walking in off drab Foster Street in Surry Hills' fringe, you're hit first by the simple beauty of the interior design. High ceilings, clean lines and polished concrete create a chic warehouse aesthetic warmed by bursts of colour from scattered jars of preserved turnips, gherkins, cauliflower, carrots and other pickled surprises. Attractive wooden tables are arranged cleverly throughout the large space, but the most coveted seats are those that wrap around the oversized open kitchen: from here, you can whet your appetite with a view of Heston-trained chef Nathan Sasi working his culinary magic. With 50 hand-picked wines available by the glass, you'll need some time to make decisions; a plate of Nomad pickles ($8) is the perfect accompaniment for the process. The wine list has been cultivated by Rob Geddes, one of only 18 Masters of Wine in the country, and is a proud celebration of Australian viniculture. The menu is intended to shift and transform between every visit, with each iteration showcasing a rising Australian luminary. The inaugural honouree is Michael Hall, whose pleasurable 2012 Adelaide Hills Chardonnay ($15/$72) evokes stone fruit and truffles and whose spicy Flaxman Valley Shiraz is an ideal bedfellow for the rustic Mediterranean feast to follow. The 'snack' menu of small but explosive dishes offers one hit after another. The Devils on Horseback are succulent prune spheres wrapped in paper-thin pancetta and drizzled with liquid orange blossom marmalade ($8). For another burst of flavour, try the cured bonito, layered with goat horn peppers and thin, toasted pastry for a devastatingly perfect textural balance ($12). The Nomad charcuterie ($24) is a must; the house-cured meats are displayed grandly in the cool room by the kitchen and feature interesting combinations like wallaby with juniper berries and beef heart salami. The menu expands into more substantial servings like a flavoursome BBQ quail with smoked pork hock and crispy Brussels sprouts ($28) and Chermoula-braised lamb neck with trimmings for two ($36). It's worth ordering one of the barbecued options just to watch the drama of the woodfired grills being raised and lowered over the hot coals in the open kitchen. Whichever delicacy you choose, keep an eye out for the care with which it is arranged on the plate before being gently drizzled, dusted or decorated with pretty, edible flowers. The attention devoted to each dish is palpable, and it pays generously in terms of both aesthetic and taste. In addition to making its mark on the culinary scene, Nomad is set to become a fully functioning cellar door, offering you the opportunity to taste at the table and then take home a case of whatever you loved the most. All in all, 'Nomad' appears to be a misnomer: this is one place we'd be very content to set down some roots. Images: Petrina Tinslay.
Beloved inner west brewery Hawke's Brewing Co's 2100-square-metre Marrickville brewery is home to its own pub paying homage to 1980s boozers and the beer's namesake. The Bob Hawke Beer and Leisure Centre boasts a retro fit-out, a highly nostalgic bistro and the full range of Hawke's beers. The 300-seat venue opened on the cusp of Hawke's fifth anniversary. Inside, you'll find a pub or community centre-style restaurant and bar decked out with wood panelling inspired by Old Parliament House. Walking through the venue, you'll find walls lined with steel brewing tanks, a patio area, and a pool room filled with Bob Hawke memorabilia. Food-wise, patrons can enjoy The Lucky Prawn, an 80s Chinese-Australian bistro that the Hawke's team has created with help from Nic Wong (Cho Cho San, Bodega). The food is a throwback, just like the rest of the venue. There's prawn toast, sang choi bao, honey king prawn, sizzling beef and the mother of all nostalgic creations, deep-fried Viennetta. While a Hawke's brew is obviously the recommended beverage of choice at The Lucky Prawn, you can also order a bottle of Crown Larger for special occasions. "While we named the venue in his honour, we were mindful of being sycophantic and simply plastering imagery of Hawkie all over the place," Hawke's co-founder Nathan Lennon says. "I think we've achieved a balance that pays tribute to Bob in the Pool Room while delivering an authentic Australian experience throughout the rest of the space." While The Bob Hawke Beer & Leisure Centre is drenched in nostalgia, Lennon and fellow owner David Gibson wanted to ensure it was also sustainable and future-focused. The brewery is run with the help of a 100-kilowatt rooftop solar farm and houses several eco-innovations alongside the venue. The building's carbon capture system, developed with UTS Tech, uses carbon dioxide from the beer's fermentation to help grow plants and vegetables in the venue. Images: James Adams. Appears in: The Best Sydney Brewery Bars for 2023
For more than 20 years, Il Baretto served up its pappardelle with duck ragu and just the right amount of hipster charm on Bourke Street. In October 2020, in the midst of the global pandemic, it suddenly shut up shop — but, thankfully, it's reopened on Oxford Street. The Italian diner relocated to Paddington, bringing many of its signature dishes with it, including, yes, that ragu, as well as the spaghetti alla carbonara and the rigatoni alla aroma. But, apart from a very similar black-and-white Il Baretto sign, the setup and fit-out is a little different. Instead of its own space, Il Baretto 2.0 is located out the back of Solotel's Paddo Inn, in the former dining room space. It has a similar "unpretentious, relaxed charm", but it's no longer cash-only — and, sadly, no longer BYO. On the upside, though, the restaurant has a bigger drinks offering with a list of ten Italian and Australian wines — including a Das Juice fiano and Sicilian nero d'avola. The hospitality giant's front bar remains open and continues to serve up spritzes and blood orange negronis, alongside bar snacks alla Il Baretto. Expect the likes of the bruschetta al pomodore, salame norcia and beef carpaccio. Despite the move, owner Gabriella Fedeli says Il Baretto is still laidback and affordable. "We have always had a 'no fuss', 'simple' and 'traditional' approach to the way we do things, " Fedeli said in a statement. "The attitude and style of the place is not something that I want to change. I have always liked the fact that we are a broad-church for all types of customers – families, corporates, musicians – whoever. Our price and manner of service is intended to be for everyone." Images: Cassandra Hannagan Appears in: The Best Italian Restaurants in Sydney for 2023
Potts Point has seen many restaurants and bars come and go in its time, with upscale digs moving into sites previously home to the dives of The Cross's colourful yesteryear. Taking over the former home of Fratelli Fresh, Franca arrived with the area's move towards becoming more residential (and increasingly affluent). It's one of the many elegant-yet-casual eateries (see: Cho Cho San, Ms.G's and Ezra) that has sprung up in the area since its vast transformation — and certainly one of its best. With its moniker derived from lingua franca — a common language adopted by those whose native languages are different, historically a mix of Italian, French, Greek, Arabic and Spanish — Franca takes cues from all corners of the Mediterranean, though it leans heavily on France. The menu features reinvented French classics, be it a niçoise salad with sashimi-style tuna or duck a l'Orange. For entrees, expect king crab rolls with cocktail sauce, heirloom beetroot and stracciatella tarts and pan-fried mushroom and goats cheese gnocchi. For mains, there are seasonal dishes alongside 250-gram sirloin steak frites, Murray cod with crispy potatoes and kmbu crumb and more extravagant sharing plates like whole rock lobster or a lamb rack with roasted eggplant, pistachio caramel and mint jus. Dessert includes silky chocolate and caramel brulée with Little Marionette coffee ice cream, pillowy passionfruit soufflé with popcorn ice cream and a fresh lemon tart with creme fraiche. As well as the a la carte menus, the restaurant also has a dedicated vegan offering, with lunch options like the Franca wagyu burger and two set menus: Signature and L'Aristocrate. The cocktail list features European classics made with local ingredients, such as the Spring Bellini made with Chandon Blanc de Blancs NV, strawberry and pear puree and sage; or the Noble Cut Negroni combining Young Henrys Noble Cut Gin, Campari, strawberry dolin blanc and lemon myrtle. A 250-strong wine list focuses on labels from across France, Australia and New Zealand. Located on the ground floor of Macleay Street's Ikon building, Franca looks wildly different to its predecessor Fratelli Fresh. Extensive renovations in the lead-up to its opening were led by Steel and Stitch, the design firm behind some of Sydney's top hospo fit-outs, including Potts Point's Chula and the city's Havana-inspired Lobo Plantation, with the space home to spacious leather booths, red velvet chairs, an open wine cellar and lots of marble details. Franca Brasserie has been named in Concrete Playground's Best Restaurants in Sydney. Check out the full list for 15 Sydney spots that should be at the top of your must-try list. Venue images: Jennifer Soo Updated Tuesday, March 21, 2023. Appears in: The Best Restaurants in Sydney
The Dolphin Hotel made a big splash in the Sydney food scene when it reopened in 2016. Its ultra-chic interiors, high-flying Italian cuisine and charming salumeria and wine bar were envied by other local joints. As you can probably tell already, this ain't no ordinary boozer. The biggest talking point is the interiors which have been designed by George Livissianis, who is known for his work on The Apollo and Cho Cho San. Like one big interactive art installation, the public bar has been clad in swathes of fabric, while the dining room is graffitied in eye-popping monochrome motifs. The stark white interiors that dominate throughout will have you weeping for the cleaners on a Monday morning. The dining room menu serves up small antipasti plates, braises, grilled seafood and Northern Italian-style pastas. Try the grilled octopus salsa verde, whipped ricotta dip, king prawn linguini and the mighty cotoletta served with anchovies and a fried egg. Wash this all down with some Italian-inspired cocktails — think Sicilian margaritas, espresso martinis and a few sours — or one of the many Aussie and Italian wines. Aside from the dining room, The Dolphin boasts a number of different drinking and dining spaces, including a public bar, wine room, mezzanine and open-air terrace (with fireplace), as well as intimate rooms and nooks for small groups to gather. Get lost in this fabulous Sydney pub, drinking and eating your way through each of the uniquely designed spaces. Appears in: The Best Pubs in Sydney
Merivale has a number of great establishments around town — Mr Wong, Papi Chulo, Palmer & Co — but it's been hard to feel a lot of love or loyalty for a hospitality empire that seems to own every second venue in the city. Set to change that is Coogee Pavilion, which opened its doors at the foot of Coogee Beach on Thursday and breaks the mould of what we expect from suburban pub refits. The thing is, the Pavilion is more than a bar or restaurant. Think seaside Grounds of Alexandria. It's a buzzing beach boardwalk experience welcoming any and every kind of human. Inside, you can grab a coffee from the Will & Co stand, slurp on a superfoods smoothie off the lovejuice cart, get a trim at the barber's, pick up a bouquet of fresh flowers or just stroll around enjoying the choice overload. The nostalgia-ruled games area, set to open in the next week, will add 1960s ping pong tables reworked into adorable pastels, petanque (that's French bowls), a giant hand-painted Scrabble board and old-school arcade games to the mix. And there's another two floors of Pav to come. The food offering is designed so it's as easy to feed a family on chewy, true-Italian pizza for under $20 a head as it is to indulge in a sophisticated, three-figure seafood feast. The lengthy menu combines share plates by executive chef Jordan Toft and head chef Zac Sykes, woodfired pizza by Vincenzo Biondini and a raw bar — as well as breakfast (starting August 2) by Danielle Alvarez. Both the seafood and pizza are pretty solid. The thinly sliced Hervey Bay scallops with yuzu, mandarin and Japanese seven spice ($18) are a beautifully delicate start to our meal, while the grilled sardines with salmoriglio, lemon and sea salt ($14) follow up with a punch of strong, charcoaly flavours. A suitably maritime Vesuvio pizza ($22) of San Marzano tomatoes, Fior di Latte, olives, capers and Ortiz anchovies is perfect, marrying minimal, quality ingredients on a dreamy wisp of a base. The only disappointment on our table is the duck confit salad ($23), whose characterful individual components of crisp Jerusalem artichokes, white radicchio, green olive bagna cauda and goat's cheese are lost in combination. It's a good meal for two, but this is a menu best enjoyed in a group; I look over at the party beside us, hoeing into a platter of oysters ($3.50 each) and the 'smashed crab' (pot-roasted whole mud crab with caramelised garlic and black pepper drawn butter and parsley, at market price), with some jealousy. Drinks-wise, we have two of the best cocktails we've had in a while. The Shaky Pete ($16) of Beefeater Gin, ginger and James Squire One Fifty Lashes Pale Ale is a crowdpleaser; a ginger beer with a mean bite. The Pornstar No.2 ($17), meanwhile, is the adult Passiona you never knew you wanted: a mix of Hennessey Cognac, passionfruit, vanilla and Chandon with depth and a peppery finish. Though it would be nice to see more in the craft beer department (especially considering the number of summer days we're set to while away here), there is a nice variety of mainly Australian wines with — hip hip hooray — a few available on tap and by the carafe. The aesthetic here is familiarly Merivale, but it really works, combining nostalgic nautical touchstones with clean, contemporary character. Adding some jaunty charm are bespoke creations like the carnivalesque lettering designed in-house and this giant 45kg rope knitted lampshade — not to mention the adorable whale mascot in lightbulbs hanging out on the back wall. Already the best beach hang-out in Sydney, Coogee Pavilion is a gift: to the Coogee community, to young families and old sea dogs, and to the people of Sydney, who now have an instant beach holiday just 25 minutes out of the city. How the venue will settle into the neighbourhood is yet to be seen. While the atmosphere in the Pav is electric, metres away on the main road, the only life on a Thursday night is drunk backpackers. So long as the local-focused culture of the Coogee Pavilion holds, the future is bright.
In days gone by, the humble cheese plate was always that conspicuous option on the dessert menu nestled between chocolate cake and the creme brulee. As a child we would never consider opting for anything remotely cheese-themed on a dessert menu, because it was something that only adults ordered as they hate delicious things like chocolate cake because they're dead inside. But now, as only partially dead inside adults, we can admit that as children we were wrong about cheese plates. That's not to say we should ever forgo chocolate cake for a plate of cheese, but rather, being adults means we can have our cake and eat a cheese plate too. Not all cheese plates are crafted with equal levels of finesse, however; there are so many factors that can make or break the perfect cheese board. The sheer amount of cheese, obviously, is the most important factor. The less visibly uncheesed board the better. As for the cracker situation, rustic is always good, and an array of textures is key. These bars and restaurants have mastered the art, so your next sensuous cheese night is covered. THE STINKING BISHOPS, ENMORE If cheese were a religion, The Stinking Bishops would be its Mecca. Upon entering, you'll spy an entire blackboard devoted to all the different types of cheese, categorised according to hardness and milk type. You can curate your own two, three or four cheese platters ($21, $29 or $37, respectively) from their selection of over 30 cheeses, but we suggest you rely on the cheese connoisseurs' thoughtful guidance. All plates are served with a basket of various ribbons of lavosh, crusty bread and the most perfectly smooth quince paste. Behind the counter, there's a glorious closet packed with what looks like several thousand dollars worth of cheese, and we'll admit, it has crossed our minds several times to jump the counter, fill our pockets with as many wheels of triple cream brie as they can hold and hightail it out of there. CURED, MANLY With bottles of wine lining one wall, a picklery in the corner and cured meats hanging from the ceiling, Cured has a simple concept — who doesn't like wine and cheese? — but their offering isn't something that can be replicated at home. None of the wines on their menu can be found in bottle shops and the Dad & Dave's beer is from an up-and-comer brewed locally in Brookvale. Cured may not have a commercial kitchen, but they do have a chef who is on hand to help you select meats and cheeses that will complement one another. Every board comes with sourdough, olives and pickles — then it's up to you how far you take it. If you're not quite ready to commit, you could grab a glass of wine and share an aged cloth cheddar and bresaola. And for a bit of extra sweetness, throw some honeycomb into the mix. But if you really want to heat things up, try their habaneros. Go all-in with a mix — perhaps a truffle triple cream brie, burrata and a hunk of Al Malto D'Orzo whisky ($13-15), a semi-hard cheese that's been soaked in a whisky barrel for three months. For the ultimate pairing, save this for dessert and wash it down with a glass of Lagavulin single malt ($15). [caption id="attachment_526146" align="aligncenter" width="1280"] Bodhi Liggett[/caption] MV BISTRO, SURRY HILLS If you needed another reason to hit up MV Bistro (which was until recently Mille Vini), aside from their daily specials, it's their cheese plate (two cheeses for $19, three for $25, all four for $30). Choose as many cheeses as you can handle from their selection of blue, French brie, Comte gruyere and goat's cheese. They come served with Iggy's bread, rose-soaked figs and a respectable amount of crackers. We recommend you arrive early so you can lazily make your way through their extensive wine list and still remember your name when you go home. THE POTTING SHED, ALEXANDRIA It's worth the trip to The Potting Shed just for The Shed Platter: a plank of wood handsomely laden with internationally sourced cheeses, piles of cured meats, fruits, marinated vegetables and a basket of daily baked breads. They offer an epic platter for $54, which should feed four to six people. But it feels like the bar staff wouldn't judge you too harshly if you said you were dining with cheese-loving ghosts to round out the numbers. Plus, the al fresco dining area, nestled among planter boxes and a hanging garden adorned with fairy lights, is the perfect location for spending some quality time drinking wine and catching up with old friends (and ghost friends). DONNY'S BAR, MANLY If you've got a hankering for cheese northside, Donny's Bar has got your back. The industrial warehouse conversion with copper fixtures and low lighting feels like it's been cut and pasted straight out of a coffee table book on cool Brooklyn haunts. The cheese plate ($24) at Donny's Bar is particularly handsome, consisting of manchego, San Simon and Cabra Pimento served with marinated olives, chilli peanuts, chillies and crackers. And once you've polished that off, you can then venture upstairs for some deliciously strong cocktails and cheese-fuelled dancing. [caption id="attachment_526154" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Formaggi Ocello.[/caption] FORMAGGI OCELLO, SURRY HILLS Formaggi Ocello is a cheese lover's heaven. There's monthly cheese and wine tasting events and a glass cabinet filled with over 200 types of cheese, and they even make tiered cheese wedding cakes to order. Hailing from Spain, France and Italy as well as locally, the flooring selection is available for purchase to eat in the privacy of your own home, or you can curate your own cheese board, sip on one of their many wines and soak up the dappled sun while feeling sorry for all the suckers in the Bourke Street bike lane who aren't eating cheese. THE THEATRE BAR AT THE END OF THE WHARF, WALSH BAY The only thing better than looking at the best view of the Sydney Harbour Bridge is looking at the best view of the Sydney Harbour Bridge with a cheese-laden cracker en route to your mouth. The Theatre Bar at the End of the Wharf the perfect place to spend time before or after seeing a production from the Sydney Theatre Company (or just skip the show and spend your money on cocktails). Their cheese plate ($28) is classic: three cheeses served with quince paste, grapes and lavosh. It's also the perfect place to take a friend from out of town if you want to gloat about how nice Sydney is. [caption id="attachment_635660" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Katje Ford[/caption] THE RIO, SUMMER HILL For decades, The Rio was the coolest spot in Summer Hill, doling out sweets and soft drinks to cinemagoers and late-night drifters. It fell out of fashion more recently, but owner George Poulos (known as 'The General' to locals), never deviated from the old-school formula and kept dishing up the finest milkshakes in town, always immaculately dressed in a suit and tie. His shop was a labour of love, and he literally worked in the store until the day he died. Now, everything old is new again and a new team including owner Tess Robens (Newtown's Corridor) has re-opened the gem of a site as a small bar, retaining the name and paying loving homage to the venue's past life. There are, of course, some milkshakes on the drinks list, but we're there for the platters ($36 for two people, $52 for four), which arrive on a plank piled appealingly with creamy blue cheese, cornichons, salami, prosciutto and crackers. GPO CHEESE AND WINE ROOM, CBD The GPO Cheese and Wine Room is dealing in some serious cheese business. Stocking between 80 and 100 cheeses, this cosy little nook, tucked away in the depths of Martin Place, is the perfect place for post-dinner treats. As expected, the cheese board is a real triumph, served on a large piece of wood that wouldn't look out of place on a Game of Thrones set. You can curate your own plate, but we recommend you rely on the in-house cheese masters to fashion you up the perfect platter and offer pairings with over 250 wines ($30–44). The cheese portions are generous, served with impressive charcuterie and accompaniments, and they've perfected the cracker-to-cheese ratio, so you're never left eating dry, cheeseless crackers like a barbarian. Updated: October 2, 2017.
UPDATE: JUNE 3, 2020 — Nimble has postponed its sale for a week, until Thursday, June 11. The below article has been updated to reflect this. There's nothing like a fresh haul of shiny new workout gear to inspire a little fitness kick. Especially when that workout gear takes the form of some high-performance threads from sustainability focused label Nimble Activewear. Well, this June, you're in for a treat, as the local brand pulls together a swag of great pieces for its huge permanent markdown sale. Running online and in-stores from 10am on Thursday, June 11 until stock sells out, the sale will be packed full of bargains, offering a hefty range of outerwear, tights, sports bras, sweats, shorts and more, with discounts of up to 40 percent. You might even be able to catch discounted pieces from the label's core CompressLite line, which is cleverly crafted from recycled plastic bottles. Nab one of these and you'll really have something to feel good about — Nimble's saved over 900,000 plastic bottles from heading to landfill since 2015. Nimble's permanent markdown sale kicks off at 10am on Thursday, June 11 and runs until stock sells out.
A bookstore may have sadly departed the neighbourhood, but in its place is something equally as appreciated. Brewtown Newtown is keeping the literary mourners happy by serving up some quality food and drink. The handiwork is indebted to Charles Cameron and Simon Triggs, who met when working at Toby's Estate. Since then, they've had respective stints at Single Origin and Gnome Espresso, so it's no wonder Brewtown is shaping up to be a success. Fashioned from what used to be Berkelouw Books, the warehouse-type space is simplistic in its raw fit-out: industrialised green lamps hang from steel beams above and exposed brick walls run the length of the cafe. An extended counter showcases the baristas at work and there is ample space for wooden tables and chairs at which to sit. A sizeable staircase leads to a second level where pop-up shops showcase an eclectic mix of local designers and artisan goods. Downstairs, as the name suggests, coffee takes centrestage. The far end of the counter is home to the designated brew bar where the 'steampunk mod' replicates a variety of brewing methods — such as aeropress or pour over — via a computer. The fancy-looking gizmo effectively saves time without compromising on quality. Another impressive gadget set-up alongside is the cold-brew tap that pours out an invigorating cold-pressed coffee ($6). Steeped in cold water for 12 hours, it's the perfect caffeine hit for a summer's day. If none of these elaborate brews are your thing, the espresso machine to the right is pumping out a robust latte otherwise ($3.50). Food wise, the menu does not fail to impress. Designed around quality produce-driven dishes, breakfast includes sumptuous offerings such as a mini egg benedict brioche roll ($8.50); baked polenta with mushrooms, grilled asparagus, poached egg and parmesan ($15); or beetroot cured ocean trout with avocado smash on rye ($16.50) — all of which satisfy that rumbling morning stomach. If you've visited in-between meals, try something sweet to have with your coffee. Pastries are made in-house and we hear that Brewtown's cronuts are building quite the reputation. Lunch dishes are equally as notable, with sophisticated options at reasonable prices. Duck ravioli with porcini and wild mushroom ($16.50) appears to be a popular choice, so too does a poached chicken salad with quinoa ($14). But it's not all fancy-pants at Brewtown: sandwich lovers unite, the quintessential Reuben ($14) makes an appearance and ye' old chicken and mayo stops in for a visit too ($10). It might be a simplistic inclusion on the menu, but it's a smart strategy from this engaged team. And engaged they all are: the troops manning the floor are all incredibly with-it, and service is faultless, even on a busy Saturday morning. Newtown has a healthy storm brewing here and despite the upsetting departure of yet another bookstore, we're most pleased to have Brewtown in the 'hood.
When it was first announced that the on-site restaurant at Paramount House Hotel, already home to Golden Age Cinema and Paramount Coffee Project, would be helmed by Ester's Mat Lindsay, it quickly became the most anticipated restaurant opening of 2017. Then, thanks to building delays, of 2018. The suspense was almost palpable when Poly suddenly threw open its doors to hoards of eager Sydneysiders. Poly — not an abbreviation of Polyester, we're told — is like its Chippendale counterpart in many ways. It's unpretentious, fire is the hero of the kitchen and its wine list is impressive. But, unlike its sibling, it says it's a wine bar first, and a restaurant second. Whether it's a bar, a restaurant, or a portmanteau of the two, is still out for debate, but it's well-equipped to cater to guests looking for either (or both). The wine list, chosen by sommelier and co-owner Julien Dromgool, is loaded with minimal-intervention, skin-contact drops, sorted under helpful, descriptive headings like 'mid-weight & complex' and 'light & juicy'. While it's not one of the city's cheaper lists, you'll find some great local labels — like Lucy Margaux, Momento Mori and Commune of Buttons — for under $80. At the back of the light-filled, subterranean restaurant — by Anthony Gill Architects, who also designed Ester — behind the communal wooden tables, long shiny bar top and wall-length wine rack is the open kitchen. Unlike Ester, the hero of it is not a woodfired, but a huge coal-powered grill. Like many Sydney restaurants, the menu is oft-changing, reflecting the season and showcasing limited produce. So, one night you might find sweet honey bugs topped with shellfish aioli, others tuna belly on toast. And, we recommend keeping an eye on Poly's Instagram for occasional off-menu dishes, too. Regardless of what Poly is — a synthetic resin, a bar, a restaurant — it's carved a niche for itself in a suburb already teaming with good restaurants. And it's a guaranteed good night out. [caption id="attachment_698810" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Poly by Kitti Smallbone[/caption] Images: Kitti Smallbone. Updated Friday, March 31, 2023 Appears in: The Best Bars in Sydney The Best Degustations Under $100 in Sydney
In the words of The Little Mermaid, "it's better, down where it's wetter". For a city that's oft-accused of being surface-heavy, Sydney has a lot going on beneath. More than 500 species roam the harbour and surrounds — from flamboyant weedy sea dragons to green turtles and (thankfully) blunt-headed Port Jackson sharks. So, when the hectic pace of life on top gets you down, don your flippers and head underwater at one of the best Sydney snorkelling spots, where time slows to a delightfully dreamy tempo. Here are 13 of the most lively, colourful and intricate snorkelling spots around Sydney, from the crystalline waters of Little Bay to the rocky outcrops of Manly's Cabbage Tree Bay and the surreal seagrass beds of The Basin, Pittwater. Recommended reads: The Best Ocean Pools in Sydney The Best Waterfalls to Swim Under Near Sydney The Best Beaches in Sydney The Best Rivers to Swim in Near Sydney [caption id="attachment_704431" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Destination NSW[/caption] LITTLE MANLY COVE Little Manly Cove is made for slow, gentle, relaxing snorkelling. Your best bet is to start on the outside of the swimming enclosure's western wall and follow it all the way around to the rocks on the eastern side. Stick alongside them until you hit the point before heading back. If you're keen for further adventure, Collins Flat and Store Beaches are short strolls away. This is also one of our favourite spots for kayaking near Sydney. [caption id="attachment_704433" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Destination NSW[/caption] CABBAGE TREE BAY Like the Bronte-Coogee stretch, Cabbage Tree Bay is in an aquatic reserve. It comprises 20 hectares, between Manly Beach's southern end and the northern tip of Shelly Beach Headland. Most of the time, visibility is extraordinarily good and the diversity of critters Great Barrier-level impressive. The most convenient place to begin is Shelly Beach. Follow the reef along the headland or jump in at the boat ramp and swim alongside the walkway. Prepare to meet flounder, flathead, goatfish, old wives, fiddler rays and sharks — namely Port Jacksons, wobbegongs and, between January and June, young dusky whalers. [caption id="attachment_704435" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Destination NSW[/caption] THE BASIN, KU-RING-GAI This escapade takes you into new territory. Safe within the shelter of Pittwater, you'll discover the alternative universe created by seagrass beds. The star attraction is sea horses, but you'll also cross paths with starfish, cuttlefish, bream, leather jackets and, during the warmer months, tropical species. If you want a helping hand, book a tour with Eco Treasures. To make a weekend of it, take your tent and stay overnight in The Basin campground. The Basin is only accessible by water (or via a 2.8-kilometre track from West Head Road car park) — catch a ferry from Palm Beach. [caption id="attachment_663537" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Paros Huckstepp[/caption] CLOVELLY Like Little Bay (below), Clovelly is a safe, reassuring place to start for inexperienced snorkellers. Unless a storm is brewing at sea, the waters are tranquil and it's easy to get in and out via concrete steps. The most renowned underwater resident(s) is Bluey, a 1.2-metre long blue groper, who was allegedly murdered in 2002 and 2005, but keeps making mysterious returns. The entire Bronte-Coogee coastline is an aquatic reserve, so, in addition to Bluey (and his offspring), there's a wealth of marine life. By the way, killing a groper — New South Wales's official fish — can provoke a fine of up to $22,000. [caption id="attachment_703766" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Taso Viglas via Flickr[/caption] KURNELL Famous for being the Captain Cook's 1770 landing space, Kurnell is also where you'll find one of the city's busiest underwater communities. For an easy entry point, try Silver Beach, from where you can swim east towards Kamay Botany Bay National Park, passing Cook's obelisk on the way. Keep your eyes peeled for giant cuttlefish, moray eels, sea horses, Port Jacksons and firetruck red weedy sea dragons, decorated with bright blue stripes and canary yellow spots. Fur seals make occasional visits, too. [caption id="attachment_704432" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Destination NSW[/caption] BARE ISLAND Just north of Kurnell, across the mouth of Botany Bay, lies Bare Island. Arrive on a weekend and you'll be sharing with lots of scuba divers; it's one of the most popular diving sites in not only Sydney but also New South Wales. If the island looks familiar despite your having not visited before, that's because you saw it in Mission Impossible II (remember the villain's lair?). The western side has good visibility and vibrant sponge gardens filled with life, including red Indian fish and gurnards, while the eastern coast is hugged by a rocky reef. A footbridge connects the island to the mainland. [caption id="attachment_703769" align="alignnone" width="1920"] TotyVox via Wikimedia Commons[/caption] LITTLE BAY For snorkelling newbies, Little Bay is a treat. Rocky headlands provide excellent protection from the behemoth Pacific, so the water is almost always calm and clear. Shy, delicate creatures thrive here, from sea anemones and black urchins to squid and tiny fish, travelling in large, brilliant schools. The beach has toilet and change rooms about half way down the steep timber staircase that leads to the beach. [caption id="attachment_703770" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Adam JWC via Wikimedia Commons[/caption] MALABAR BEACH Just north of Little Bay is Malabar Beach, which is home to not one but two shipwrecks. In 1931, the MV Malabar was travelling to Sydney from Singapore when it smashed into the headland. Everyone on board survived, but the ship (or bits of it, at least) are still in the sea. As are parts of the HMAS Goolgwai, which hit rocks and was wrecked here 24 years later in 1955. It's a hit with divers, and, when visibility's good, snorkellers can check them out, too. Meanwhile, an abundance of octopuses, sting rays and assorted fish will keep you company. [caption id="attachment_704430" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Destination NSW[/caption] GORDONS BAY Hidden between Clovelly and Coogee Beaches, Gordons Bay is one of the eastern suburbs' prettiest spots. And it's the only snorkelling destination on this list with a dedicated underwater nature trail. Like the MV Malabar wreck, it's gold for divers, but, thanks to the bay's incredibly clear waters, snorkellers can also enjoy it on most days. Simply follow the series of sunken drums, linked by chains, each of which gives you info about local submarine dwellers, from starfish, sponges, urchins and anemones to cuttlefish, spotted goatfish and garfish. FISHERMANS BEACH, LONG REEF This one's inside yet another aquatic reserve: Long Reef, which covers 76 hectares between Collaroy's rock pools and the Long Reef SLSC. Most of it features rocky shores and wild surf, but lovely, sandy, sheltered Fishermans Beach is an exception. Watch out for feather stars, sea stars, heart urchins and sea slugs (also known by the more elegant name nudibranchs). OAK PARK Oak Park is one of Sydney's largest marine sites with tons of diverse marine life to ogle in your goggles. It's also a perfect spot to start your journey if you're a bit green — you can just start in the tidal pools to warm up, then move into the sea. Divers say seahorses and turtles are frequently spotted here. And, if you've been around the underwater block a few times, Oak Park is phenomenal for scuba diving, too. SOUTH BONDI Ah, Bondi. Australia's most famous beach gets an honourable mention for being its iconic self — and because it has an aptly named spot on its south end: Flat Rock. Flat Rock is ideal for a wondrous day strapped into flippers. Though be careful, the sea must be fairly calm to snorkel here. You can check to see if it's diveable from Wilga Street, which is the best way to get down to the snorkel spot. And make sure you look for slight south-easterly swells, otherwise you want it almost dead calm. If not, you'll want to head somewhere else for your snorkeling adventure. WATTAMOLLA BEACH Wattamolla Beach is like something from your most picturesque, lagoon swimming, bushwalking, beach picnicking dreams. If the emerald-clear water isn't enough to get you jumping in the car and driving an hour south from Sydney, then the Royal National Park it lies in will. The water at this beach is so incredibly calm, it's a family favourite for snorkelling and liloing.
Every stunning shoreline deserves a beachfront destination like Gold Coast's iconic Burleigh Pavilion. Well, now the relaxed combination of casual cuisine, cocktails and uninterrupted coastal views is touching down on the Central Coast, with the Terrigal Pavilion set to open on Saturday, November 15. Don't assume this is some cheap imitation. Burleigh Pavilion owner Ben May is behind the project, teaming up again with fellow restaurateur and regular right-hand man Rob Domjen (The Joey Palm Beach) to launch a multi-level venue and soon-to-be dining and chill-out hub. Taking over the former Reef Restaurant and Cove Cafe, the finishing touches on a mega renovation are almost complete. Purchased by May back in 2023, when the doors finally swing open, the new-look venue will be home to three inviting spaces. On the upper level, the Terrigal Pavilion, aka The Pav, is the place for casual bites and vibrant drinks, featuring breezy floor-to-ceiling windows and uninterrupted ocean views. Inside or settled on a wraparound deck, sun-drenched arvos equal spritzes, margs and relaxed pub classics and woodfired pizzas. Next, The Tropic brings a Med-like vibe to the Cenny, serving modern takes on fresh seafood cuisine in a downstairs restaurant. Share plates span burrata and pesto, spaghetti vongole, goldband snapper, and wagyu with beef jus, while a 90-bottle wine list makes the Terrigal Pavilion ideal for casual hangs and big-deal celebrations. Rounding out the offering, The General Store is geared towards locals, serving top-notch coffee, smoothies, juices and baked goods from sunrise. Later in the day, the hole-in-the-wall spot will sling tasty takeaway options, from fish and chips to burgers and pizzas. Then, it's just a short stroll to the beachfront or grassy nook to dig in. "We feel so fortunate to have been given the opportunity to reinvigorate this beautiful site, and we hope it's somewhere the community will both feel proud of and want to enjoy," says Domjen. "With more than 300 locals joining our team, this is very much a place that's both by and for them. But we're also excited for more people to experience the magic that is the Central Coast." The Terrigal Pavilion opens on Saturday, November 15, at 2 Scenic Hwy, Terrigal. Head to the website for more information.
Traditional Turkish fare with a modern Australian twist is what's on offer at this sprawling, laidback Crows Nest eatery. The bulk of the menu is inspired by the recipes of the owner's mother. For breakfast, think Yengen toast, a toastie with traditional Turkish cheese, chorizo and tomato. There is also a build your own option or a set breakfast banquet menu which is great for groups. Lunch sees a mixture of dips, salads, rolls and plates all featuring traditional Turkish fare, while dinner sees more large meze plates featuring seafood, lamb and chicken. Some Turkish wines are available as well as Efes beer and a selection of local and imported beers on tap. Dessert is a must and regularly features poached pears, Turkish ice cream and baklava, with a different dessert special of the day, too. Images: Mel Koutchavlis
Every year, once gifts have been given, turkey and prawns devoured, drinks sipped and backyard games of cricket played, the festive season delivers another treat. Whatever you spend your Christmas Day doing, Boxing Day is just as exciting if you're a movie buff — or even simply eager to escape the weather, and your house, to relax in air-conditioning and watch the latest big-screen releases. Just like in 2020, 2021 has seen many cinemas Down Under spend months empty, with projectors silent, theatres bare and the smell of popcorn fading; however, the country's picture palaces are well and truly back in business. And, they're screening a wide array of Boxing Day fare as always — so at least one thing about this chaotic year is proceeding as normal. If you're wondering not only what's showing, but what's worth your time, we've watched and reviewed the day's slate of new titles. It includes a trip back into an adored sci-fi franchise, getting swept up in a musical romance, catching a scorching new Shakespeare adaptation and taking in a glorious 70s-set coming-of-age slice of life. Even when you're done unwrapping your presents, these silver-screen gifts await. THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS Hordes of imitators have spilled ones and zeros claiming otherwise, but the greatest move The Matrix franchise ever made wasn't actually bullet time. Even 22 years after Lana and Lilly Wachowski brought the saga's instant-classic first film to cinemas, its slow-motion action still wows, and yet they made another choice that's vastly more powerful. It wasn't the great pill divide — blue versus red, as dubiously co-opted by right-wing conspiracies since — or the other binaries at its core (good versus evil, freedom versus enslavement, analogue versus digital, humanity versus machines). It wasn't end-of-the-millennia philosophising about living lives online, the green-tinged cyberpunk aesthetic, or one of the era's best soundtracks, either. They're all glorious, as is knowing kung fu and exclaiming "whoa!", but The Matrix's unwavering belief in Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss is far more spectacular. It was a bold decision those two-and-a-bit decades ago, with Reeves a few years past sublime early-90s action hits Point Break and Speed, and Moss then known for TV bit parts (including, in a coincidence that feels like the product of computer simulation, a 1993 series called Matrix). But, as well as giving cinema their much-emulated gunfire-avoidance technique and all those other aforementioned highlights, the Wachowskis bet big on viewers caring about their central pair — and hooking into their chemistry — as leather-clad heroes saving humanity. Amid the life-is-a-lie horrors, the subjugation of flesh to mechanical overlords and the battle for autonomy, the first three Matrix films always weaved Neo and Trinity's love story through their sci-fi action. Indeed, the duo's connection remained the saga's beating heart. Like any robust computer program executed over and over, The Matrix Resurrections repeats the feat — with plenty of love for what's come before, but even more for its enduring love story. Lana goes solo on The Matrix Resurrections — helming her first-ever project without her sister in their entire career — but she still goes all in on Reeves and Moss. The fourth live-action film in the saga, and fifth overall counting The Animatrix, this new instalment doesn't initially give its key figures their familiar character names, however. Rather, it casts them as famous video game designer Thomas Anderson and motorcycle-loving mother-of-two Tiffany. One of those monikers is familiar, thanks to a surname drawled by Agent Smith back in 1999, and again in 2003 sequels The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions. But this version of Thomas Anderson only knows the agent from his own hit gaming trilogy (called The Matrix, naturally). And he doesn't really know Tiffany at all, instead admiring her from afar at Simulatte, their local coffee shop. Before Reeves and Moss share a frame, and before Anderson and Tiffany's awkward meet-cute, The Matrix Resurrections begins with blue-haired hacker Bugs (Jessica Henwick, On the Rocks). She sports a white rabbit tattoo, observes a scene straight out of the first flick and helps set the movie's self-referential tone. As a result, The Matrix Resurrections starts with winking, nodding and déjà vu — and, yes, with a glitch, with Lana and co-screenwriters David Mitchell (author of Cloud Atlas) and Aleksandar Hemon (Sense8) penning a playful script that adores the established Matrix lore, enjoys toying with it and openly unpacks everything that's sprung up around it. Long exposition dumps, some of the feature's worst habits, explain the details, but waking up Anderson from his machine-induced dream — again — is Bugs' number-one aim. Read our full review. WEST SIDE STORY Tonight, tonight, there's only Steven Spielberg's lavish and dynamic version of West Side Story tonight — not to detract from or forget the 1961 movie of the same name. Six decades ago, an all-singing, all-dancing, New York City-set, gang war-focused spin on Romeo and Juliet leapt from stage to screen, becoming one of cinema's all-time classic musicals; however, remaking that hit is a task that Spielberg dazzlingly proves up to. It's his first sashay into the genre, despite making his initial amateur feature just three years after the original West Side Story debuted. It's also his first film since 2018's obnoxiously awful Ready Player One, which doubled as a how-to guide to crafting one of the worst, flimsiest and most bloated pieces of soulless pop-culture worship possible. But with this swooning, socially aware story of star-crossed lovers, Spielberg pirouettes back from his atrocious last flick by embracing something he clearly adores, and being unafraid to give it rhythmic swirls and thematic twirls. Shakespeare's own tale of tempestuous romance still looms large over West Side Story, as it always has — in fair NYC and its rubble-strewn titular neighbourhood where it lays its 1950s-era scene. The Jets and the Sharks aren't quite two households both alike in dignity, though. Led by the swaggering and dogged Riff (Mike Faist, a Tony-nominee for the Broadway production of Dear Evan Hansen), the Jets are young, scrappy, angry and full of resentment for anyone they fear is encroaching on their terrain (anyone who isn't white especially). Meanwhile, with boxer Bernardo (David Alvarez, a Tony-winner for Billy Elliot) at the helm, the Sharks have tried to establish new lives outside of their native Puerto Rico through study, jobs and their own businesses. Both gangs refuse to coexist peacefully in the only part of New York where either feels at home — even with the threat of gentrification looming large in every torn-down building, signs for shiny new amenities such as Lincoln Centre popping up around the place and, when either local cops Officer Krupke (Brian d'Arcy James, Hawkeye) or Lieutenant Schrank (Corey Stoll, The Many Saints of Newark) interrupt their feuding, after they're overtly warned as well. But it's a night at a dance, and the love-at-first-sight connection that blooms between Riff's best friend Tony (Ansel Elgort, The Goldfinch) and Bernardo's younger sister María (feature debutant Rachel Zegler), that sparks a showdown. This rumble will decide westside supremacy once and for all, the two sides agree. The OG West Side Story was many things: gifted with a glorious cast, including Rita Moreno in her Academy Award-winning role as Bernardo's girlfriend Anita, plus future Twin Peaks co-stars Russ Tamblyn and Richard Beymer as Riff and Tony; unashamedly showy, like it had just snapped its fingers and flung itself off the stage; and punchy with its editing, embracing the move from the boards to the frame. It still often resembled a filmed musical rather than a film more than it should've, however. Spielberg's reimagining, which boasts a script by his Munich and Lincoln scribe Tony Kushner, tweaks plenty while also always remaining West Side Story — and, via his regular cinematographer Janusz Kaminski (The Post) and a whirl of leaping and plunging camerawork, it looks as exuberant as the vibrant choreography that the New York City Ballet's Justin Peck splashes across the screen, nodding to Jerome Robbins' work for the original movie lovingly but never slavishly. Read our full review. LICORICE PIZZA A Star Is Born has already graced the titles of four different films, and Licorice Pizza isn't one of them. Paul Thomas Anderson's ninth feature, and his loosest since Boogie Nights — his lightest since ever, too — does boast a memorable Bradley Cooper performance, though. That said, this 70s- and San Fernando Valley-set delight isn't quite about seeking fame, then navigating its joys and pitfalls, although child actors and Hollywood's ebbs and flows all figure into the narrative. Licorice Pizza definitely births two new on-screen talents, however, both putting in two of 2021's best performances and two of the finest-ever movie debuts. That's evident from the film's very first sublimely grainy 35-millimetre-shot moments, as Alana Haim of Haim (who PTA has directed several music videos for) and Cooper Hoffman (son of the late, great Philip Seymour Hoffman, a PTA regular) do little more than chat, stroll and charm. The radiant Haim plays Alana Kane, a Valley dweller of 25 or 28 (her story changes) working as a photographer's assistant, which brings her to a Tarzana high school on yearbook picture day. Enter the smoothly assured Hoffman as 15-year-old Gary Valentine, who is instantly smitten and tries to wrangle a date. Alana is dismissive with a spikiness that speaks volumes about how she handles herself (a later scene, where she yells "fuck off, teenagers!" to kids in her way, is similarly revealing). But Gary keeps persisting, inviting her to the real-life Tail o' the Cock, a fine diner he claims to visit regularly. In a gliding ride of a walk-and-talk sequence that's shot like a dream, Alana says no, yet she's also still intrigued. As a smile at the end of their first encounter betrays, Alana was always going to show up, even against her better judgement (and even as she firmly establishes that they aren't a couple). Her demeanour doesn't soften as Gary interrogates her like he's a dad greeting a daughter's beau — a gag Anderson mirrors later when Alana takes another ex-child actor, Lance (Skyler Gisondo, Santa Clarita Diet), home to meet her mother, father and two sisters (all played by the rest of the Haims, parents included) and he's questioned in the same manner. That family dinner arises after Gary enlists the new object of his affection to chaperone him on a trip to New York, where he's featuring with Lance in a live reunion for one of their flicks. Upon returning to Los Angeles, Gary is heartbroken to see Alana with Lance, but all roads keep leading her back to him anyway. Charting Alana and Gary's friendship as it circles and swirls, and they often sprint towards each other — and chronicling everything else going on in the San Fernando Valley, where PTA himself grew up — Licorice Pizza is a shaggy slice-of-life film in multiple ways. Spinning a narrative that Anderson penned partly based on stories shared by Gary Goetzman, an ex-child talent turned frequent producer of Tom Hanks movies, it saunters along leisurely like it's just stepped out of the 70s itself, and also sports that anything-can-happen vibe that comes with youth. It's a portrait of a time, before mobile phones and the internet, when you had to either talk on a landline or meet up in person to make plans, and when just following where the day took you was the status quo. It captures a canny mix of adolescence and arrested development, too; teen exuberance springs from the always-hustling Gary, while treading water is both an apt description of Alana's connection with her would-be paramour and a state she's acutely aware of. Read our full review. THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD When Frances Ha splashed a gorgeous portrait of quarter-life malaise across the screen nearly a decade back — proving neither the first nor last film to do so, of course — its titular New Yorker was frequently running. As played by Greta Gerwig, she sprinted and stumbled to David Bowie's intoxicating 'Modern Love' and just in general, while navigating the constantly-in-motion reality of being in her 20s. It takes place in a different city, another country and on the other side of the globe, but The Worst Person in the World's eponymous figure (Renate Reinsve, Phoenix) is often racing, too. (Sometimes, in the movie's most stylised touch, she's even flitting around while the whole world stops around her.) Norwegian writer/director Joachim Trier (Thelma) firmly understands the easy shorthand of watching someone rush — around Oslo here, but also through life overall — especially while they're grappling with a blatant case arrested development. Capturing the relentlessly on-the-go sensation that comes with adulthood, as well as the inertia of feeling like you're never quite getting anywhere that you're meant to be, these running scenes paint a wonderfully evocative and relatable image. Those are apt terms for The Worst Person in the World overall, actually, which meets Julie as she's pinballing through the shambles of her millennial life. She doesn't ever truly earn the film's title, or come close, but she still coins the description and spits it her own way — making the type of self-deprecating, comically self-aware comment we all do when we're trying to own our own chaos because anything else would be a lie. The Worst Person in the World's moniker feels so telling because it's uttered by Julie herself, conveying how we're all our own harshest critics. In her existence, even within the mere four years that the film focuses on, mess is a constant. Indeed, across the movie's 12 chapters, plus its prologue and epilogue, almost everything about Julie's life changes and evolves. That includes not just dreams, goals, fields of study and careers, but also loved ones, boyfriends, apartments, friends and ideas of what the future should look like — and, crucially, also Julie's perception of herself. As the ever-observant Trier and his regular co-screenwriter Eskil Vogt track their protagonist through these ups and downs, using whatever means they can to put his audience in her mindset — freezing time around her among them — The Worst Person in the World also proves a raw ode to self-acceptance, and to forgiving yourself for not having it all together. They're the broad strokes of this wonderfully perceptive film; the specifics are just as insightful and recognisable. Julie jumps from medicine to psychology to photography, and between relationships — with 44-year-old comic book artist Aksel (Anders Danielsen Lie, Bergman Island), who's soon thinking about all the serious things in life; and then with the far more carefree Eivind (Herbert Nordrum, ZombieLars), who she meets after crashing a wedding. Expressing not only how Julie changes with each shift in focus, job and partner, but how she copes with that change within herself, is another of The Worst Person in the World's sharp touches. At one point, on a getaway with friends more than a decade older than her, Julie is laden with broad and trite generalisations about being her age — which Trier humorously and knowingly counters frame by frame with lived-in minutiae. Read our full review. THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH Bringing Shakespeare to the big screen is no longer just about doing the material justice, or even about letting a new batch of the medium's standout talents bring their best to the Bard's immortal words. For anyone and everyone attempting the feat (a list that just keeps growing), it's also about gifting the playwright's material with the finest touches that cinema allows. It's never enough to simply film Macbeth like a theatre production, for instance, even if all that dialogue first penned four centuries ago still ripples with power — while riffing about power — without any extra adornments. No Shakespeare adaptation really needs to explain or legitimise its existence more than any other feature, but the great ones bubble not only with toil and trouble, but with all the reasons why this tale needed to be captured on camera and projected large anew. Joel Coen knows all of the above. Indeed, his take on the Scottish play — which he's called The Tragedy of Macbeth, taking Shakespeare's full original title — justifies its existence as a movie in every single frame. His is a film of exacting intimacy, with every shot peering far closer at its main figures than anyone could ever see on a stage, and conveying more insight into their emotions, machinations and motivations in the process. The Bard might've posited that all the world's a stage in As You Like It, but The Tragedy of Macbeth's lone Coen brother doesn't quite agree. Men and women are still merely players in this revived quest for supremacy through bloodshed, but their entrances, exits and many parts would mean nothing if we couldn't see as far into their hearts and minds as cinema — and as cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel's (The Woman in the Window) stripped-down, black-and-white, square-framed imagery — can possibly allow. In a year for filmmakers going it alone beyond the creative sibling relationships that've defined their careers — see also: The Matrix Resurrections — Joel Coen makes a phenomenal solo debut with this up-close approach. His choice of cast, with Denzel Washington (The Little Things) as powerful as he's ever been on-screen and Frances McDormand (The French Dispatch) showing why she has three Best Actress Oscars, also helps considerably. The former plays Macbeth, the latter Lady Macbeth, and both find new reserves and depths in the pair's fateful lust for glory. That's another key element to any new silver-screen iteration of Shakespeare's most famous works: making its characters feel anew. Washington and McDormand — and Coen as well — all tread in the footsteps of of Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard and Australian filmmaker Justin Kurzel (Nitram) thanks to 2015's exquisite Macbeth, but they stand in absolutely no one's shadows. The narrative details remain the same, obviously, from the witches prophesying that Macbeth will soon be king to his murderous actions at Lady Macbeth's urging to make that prediction become a reality. All that scheming has consequences, both before and after Duncan (Brendan Gleeson, Mr Mercedes) is stripped of his throne — and one of the smartest parts of the movie's central casting is the change it brings to the Macbeths' seething desperation. Due to Washington and McDormand's ages, their versions of the characters are grasping onto what might be their last chance, rather than being ruthless with far more youthful abandon. That's the intensely meticulous level that Coen operates on in The Tragedy of Macbeth. His visual use of light and darkness is just as sharp, too; here, stepping back into the acclaimed play is a lean, ravishing, eerie and potent experience again and again. Read our full review. SWAN SONG Sit down on your couch to watch Swan Song, and a Mahershala Ali (Green Book)-starring sci-fi drama about mortality, farewells and leaving a mark on the world beckons. Head to the cinema instead, and you'll see the great German actor Udo Kier grappling with the same concepts — in a movie that shares the same name, too, and is also anchored by a weighty central performance. They're vastly different features in almost every other way, however, and only one boasts the inimitable Kier. His seven-decade resume spans everything from the original Suspiria and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective to a wealth of Lars von Trier movies, but he turns in career-best work in this SXSW-premiering film-festival favourite about a small-town hairdressing superstar enjoying one last hurrah by styling a former favourite client who has just passed away. Kier plays Pat Pitsenbarger — and, when the movie begins in an Ohio nursing home, he looks as washed-out as a months-old dye job. With a stare that stings like bleach, he fills his days refolding napkins in an extremely precise way and spending his Social Security benefits on cigarettes he's not supposed to smoke. After his lawyer arrives with the $25,000 funeral gig offer, Pat isn't initially willing to shatter his dull routine, but getting a rare taste of a life less institutionalised is too alluring to pass up. His initial reaction — "bury her with bad hair!" — isn't so quickly cast aside, though. From his acerbic attitude to the rings he packs onto every finger, Pat has spent his life fighting to do things his own way, and he isn't about to change that for anyone. The care that Kier puts into Pat can't be underestimated. His is an attention-grabbing performance, but also always a deeply nuanced one, all while playing a character that's gleefully outrageous and always has been, and is also unshakeably tinged with melancholy. Every second that Kier is on-screen is a marvel, because every second conveys new character details or plunges further into the many complexities of a man who proudly strides down his own path. Writer/director Todd Stephens (Another Gay Movie) has clearly conceived Pat with just as much thought and precision, and extended the same meticulousness to the town around him. Swan Song could've played like a one-note gag — a flamboyant senior citizen making a splash in a conservative midwestern spot — but interrogating what it means to be an openly gay man in such surroundings, both in the past and now, sits firmly at the core of this poignant drama. Like its lead, Swan Song is both eclectic and electric, especially in balancing different tones in every way it can muster. The narrative is episodic and encounter-driven, but each chapter heaves with slice-of-life glimpses that contrast who Pat once was with the situation that he's in now. Stephens' film can look both candidly naturalistic and glitteringly dreamy — and, in the same vein, Kier stands out in his nursing home garb and rocking a women's safari suit alike. Swan Song also smartly acknowledges the struggles that today's queer elders have navigated and survived, embodied here by enduring grief over past losses and the impending closure of Pat's old favourite gay nightclub, as well as the world they find themselves in now. Brief appearances by Jennifer Coolidge (The White Lotus) as Pat's former assistant and Michael Urie (Younger) as someone touched by his trailblazing add the same layers, in a film that couldn't be more delicately styled if it was sculpted one snip at a time with hairdressing scissors. DELICIOUS No one eats the rich in Delicious, but French nobility is still savaged in this gently pointed gastronomical comedy. The year is 1789, the revolution hasn't yet broken out, and the chasm between the wealthy and everyone else is so glaring that it even extends to cuisine — with eating well solely reserved for the kinds of aristocrats who smugly think that no one else could appreciate a fine meal. At one such dinner in the Duke of Chamfort's (Benjamin Lavernhe, The French Dispatch) household, his personal chef Pierre Manceron (Grégory Gadebois, Night Shift) earns the table's ire by daring to cook a new dish featuring potatoes and truffles, which he dubs 'the delicious'. The humble tuber is considered beneath the Duke's dining companions, but Manceron refuses to apologise for his new creation, choosing to leave his prestigious post and man his own roadside inn instead. Delicious is framed around the restaurant trade and its beginnings; it isn't just superheroes that earn origin stories these days, it seems. With his son Benjamin (Lorenzo Lefèbvre, Sibyl) following him home, Manceron busies himself cooking for travellers — but he's both fiercely proud of his past work and visibly bitter about how the whole situation has turned out. He's so aggrieved with his current lot in life that when a woman, Louise (Isabelle Carré, De Gaulle), arrives at his door asking to become his apprentice, he's sharply and rudely dismissive. He questions her story, and perpetuates the stereotype that women can't be great chefs, too. But she's a key ingredient in his quest towards a different future, which first involves trying to re-win the Duke's favour, and then boils up a bowl of revenge. Everything from Parasite to The White Lotus have set their sights on class disparities with far more brutality, but Delicious adds an affable course to this ongoing pop-culture reckoning. It's the dessert of the genre, even as its frames are filled with sumptuous close-ups of savoury dishes in various stages of creation — pastry kneaded, potatoes and truffles placed exactingly, and egg wash glistening to begin with. (Yes, if you haven't eaten before watching, it'll make your stomach rumble.) An opening title card sets the scene, advising that dining away from home, and for pleasure in general if you weren't rich, was utterly unheard of at the time. Writer/director Éric Besnard (L'esprit de famille) then spends nearly two hours slowly smashing that status quo, albeit by firmly sticking to the obvious. Recipes are a culinary staple for a reason, though; amass the right parts in the right way and magic frequently happens. Delicious isn't the filmic equivalent, but it's charming nonetheless — as engaging as sitting down to a well-cooked meal where you know what everything will taste like in advance, but you're happy to get swept up in the flavour. It mightn't have proven so appetising without Gadebois, Carré and Lefèbvre, however, even if their parts are clearly thinner in Besnard and Nicolas Boukhrief's (The Confession) script than they play on-screen. The handsome period staging also assists immensely, including all those shots of tastebud-tempting cuisine. Eating is as much about the setting and the company as the food, of course, a concept Delicious bakes into its frames. SING 2 Star voices, a jukebox worth of songs, anthropomorphic animated critters, cheesy sentiments: that's the formula fuelling far too many all-ages-friendly films of late. Back in 2016, Sing used it to box office-smashing success by doing little more than spinning a colourful version of American Idol but with zoo animals doing the singing. It wasn't the worst example of this kind of flick, but perhaps the most interesting thing about it was the skew of its soundtrack, which favoured songs that the adults in its audience would like more than the pint-sized viewers entranced by its bright hues, talking lions and koalas, and frenetic pacing. It should come as no surprise, then, that Sing 2 doubles down on that idea by not only mining the discography of U2, but by also casting Bono as a reclusive ex-rockstar. For the Irish frontman, the double payday must've been nice. For everyone watching Sing 2, what follows is the latest example of a style of filmmaking that resembles turning on Nickelodeon or your other kid-centric TV network of choice, cueing up a Spotify playlist full of past hits and letting the two run at the same time. Returning writer/director Garth Jennings explored how young minds process, respond to, and both internalise and externalise pop culture in the delightful 2007 comedy Son of Rambo, but his Sing franchise only wishes it could echo to such depths. The fact that its characters are merely belting out souped-up karaoke is telling, because giving familiar 'believe in yourself' and 'trust your pals' rhetoric some new packaging is the gambit here. Yes, the animated creatures are cute, plenty of the songs are classics, and it's clearly meant to be disposable fun, but it's all so dispiritingly lazy and generic. It might begin with a saccharine rendition of Prince's 'Let's Go Crazy', but that song choice isn't instructional or descriptive; nothing here departs from the expected. This time around, after already gathering a gang of music-loving animals via a singing contest in the first flick, koala Buster Moon (Matthew McConaughey, The Gentlemen) has a hit show filling his theatre — but he still wants to make it big in the bigger smoke. Alas, Suki (Chelsea Peretti, Brooklyn Nine-Nine), a dog and a talent scout, advises that Buster's ragtag crew don't have what it takes. He's determined to prove otherwise, taking pigs Rosita (Reese Witherspoon, The Morning Show) and Gunter (Nick Kroll, Big Mouth), gorilla Johnny (Taron Egerton, Rocketman), porcupine Ash (Scarlett Johansson, Black Widow), and elephant Meena (singer Tori Kelly) to Redshore City to pitch directly to wolf and media mogul Jimmy Crystal (Bobby Canavale, Nine Perfect Strangers). If Sing was an animal karaoke caper that turned reality television into a star-studded cartoon while trying to evoke warm and fuzzy sentiments — and it was — then Sing 2 proves a case of just flogging the same exact thing. The narrative has changed slightly and been overstuffed, but that's all just new words set to the same beat. While a few parts of the initial flick gleamed beyond the template, mainly because it still remained just fun enough, it's all about as fresh as a U2 greatest hits CD here. Children will still be distracted, but family-friendly entertainment should always strive for more. Dropping two already over-used Billie Eilish tracks within five minutes to sprinkle in some more recent cuts says plenty about Jennings' second-time approach, as does the heavier reliance upon songs in general to convey all the movie's emotions and fill almost all of its minutes, too. If you're wondering what else is currently screening in Australian cinemas — or has been lately — check out our rundown of new films released in Australia on August 5, August 12, August 19 and August 26; September 2, September 9, September 16, September 23 and September 30; October 7, October 14, October 21 and October 28; November 4, November 11, November 18 and November 25; and December 2, December 9 and December 16. You can also read our full reviews of a heap of recent movies, such as The Suicide Squad, Free Guy, Respect, The Night House, Candyman, Annette, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), Streamline, Coming Home in the Dark, Pig, Big Deal, The Killing of Two Lovers, Nitram, Riders of Justice, The Alpinist, A Fire Inside, Lamb, The Last Duel, Malignant, The Harder They Fall, Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain, Halloween Kills, Passing, Eternals, The Many Saints of Newark, Julia, No Time to Die, The Power of the Dog, Tick, Tick... Boom!, Zola, Last Night in Soho, Blue Bayou, The Rescue, Titane, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn, Dune, Encanto, The Card Counter, The Lost Leonardo, The French Dispatch, Don't Look Up, Dear Evan Hansen, Spider-Man: No Way Home, The Lost Daughter and The Scary of Sixty-First.
The summer backyard barbie is a much-loved Aussie tradition. So, if you're looking to extend barbecue season into the colder months of the year, sans the freezing backyard, we've got the perfect solution for you. The family share-style menu of Korean barbecue is best enjoyed surrounded by enthusiastic mates and equally enthusiastic appetites. Wander into any of Sydney's best Korean barbecue restaurants and expect to be presented with dazzling cuts of marinated and non-marinated meat, a bountiful array of banchan (aka side dishes) and a variety of hot soups in heated clay pots. For some of the best soul-warming winter dining experiences in Sydney, head to one of these ten Korean barbecue restaurants or some of our our other favourite styles of barbecue joints. 678 KOREAN BBQ, EASTWOOD 678 Korean BBQ is part of Korean celebrity Kang Ho-dong's chain of BBQ restaurants around the world. It's easy to see why they're so popular with a no-fuss menu that focuses on delivery quality cuts in spades. The kitchen dishes and banchan aren't as extensive in comparison to other Korean BBQ joints, but the Eastwood venue features a small in-house butcher for diners to watch their cuts being sliced and prepared. You'll find glorious cuts of pork, beef and for good measure — a separate premium list of wagyu. Don't miss out on the soy-marinated pork short rib or if you're feeling adventurous, try the marinated beef intestines. Combined with attentive service, 678 is one of the top spots for diners seeking a casual spot with top-tier ingredients. Where? 14 Glen Street, Eastwood. 678 Korean BBQ is also at Level 1, 396 Pitt Street. O BAL, HAYMARKET It's easy to pass right by this Korean barbeque restaurant, which is hidden down a seedy CBD alley. Luckily for O Bal, its reputation precedes it — and for good reason. The bustling, DIY Korean style barbecue is popular among all nationalities. At the centre of each table sits a charcoal barbecue pit, perfect for cooking the selection of meats, seafood and offal that can be found on the menu. Believe it or not, the thinly sliced wagyu and the marinated king prawns go particularly well together. Expect a bit of a wait — but you'll be seated and eating way before your counterpart at the neighbouring Madang. Where? 363A Pitt Street, Haymarket. [caption id="attachment_814222" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Kogi's Korean BBQ, Haymarket.[/caption] BORNGA, HAYMARKET Searching for Korean barbecue with a dazzling venue filled with spacious booths and lovely décor? Look no further than Bornga, one of the fancier Korean barbecue restaurants in Sydney. Another international chain, this time by celebrity Korean chef Baek Jong-won, Bornga features an extensive menu with high-quality meat and traditional Korean dishes. Expect steaming stews, traditional dishes like japchae (a Korean stir-fried glass noodle dish) and marinated samgyeopsal (pork belly). Grab their signature woosamgyup (thinly-sliced beef loin) which comes with a lovely ratio of fat. Leave the beef loin longer on the barbecue until the fat crisps up the meat into a bacon-like consistency — and you'll never look at thin beef strips the same way. Trust us. Where? Level 1, 78 Harbour Street, Haymarket. HANABI, LIDCOMBE Unpretentious and no-frills are the words that best describe Hanabi. Located in Lidcombe, this humble Korean restaurant is a local favourite and it's not hard to see why. One of their main attractions is the 'cheese-pong' dish that either comes with spicy chicken or pork belly and baby octopus. The dish comprises of hot a plate with spicy marinated pork belly and octopus at its centre, while the edges are made of slots of grilled cheese, corn or egg so diners can dip the spicy proteins into melted stringy goodness. The result is all the cheese-pulling antics your social media heart desires. Their menu also includes a comprehensive list of wagyu and pork cuts for a more traditional Korean barbecue experience in Sydney. Plates of fried chicken fingers and chips is another secret favourite among locals. Where? 33 Joseph Street, Lidcombe. JANG TA BAL, STRATHFIELD A buzzing atmosphere, beer towers and sizzling mayhem are what you'll find at Jang Ta Bal, particularly if you're at their Strathfield location. A favourite amongst the livelier patrons of Korean barbecue, Jang Ta Bal's menu here is first class with premium cuts of wagyu and extensive beef and pork menus. Order a whole wagyu scotch fillet for only $35 and sit back as their brilliant staff take care of the rest — cooking your meat to perfection. Their fresh crab marinated in chilli paste is one to try if you're there on the weekend, along with the fluffy egg soup, often touted as one of the best in Sydney. Where? 48A The Boulevarde, Strathfield. Jang Ta Bal is also at Level 1, 73 Liverpool Street. YANG SAN PARK, SYDNEY Another favourite go-to location for rowdier patrons, Yang San Park is a place suited for any occasion whether you're after a fun date spot, a casual lunch with friends or a reliable dinner location before a big night out. You'll be delighted to find your favourite pork and beef cuts at much cheaper prices here with no sacrifice on the quality. The staff here are friendly, efficient and attentively cook your food for you. With great value on the menu, exceptional staff and a bustling atmosphere, this Dixon Street Korean barbeque joint is the whole package for your next group hang. Where? Shop 21, 1 Dixon Street. SE JONG KOREAN BBQ BUFFET, CAMPSIE Who doesn't love a good buffet? If you're the type that can feast on unlimited cuts of meat, Se Jong will offer you just that. You'll find all the usual suspects for protein here in abundance. The restaurant also services other delights like japchae, Korean fried chicken and Korean dumplings. The homey decor allows you to relax as you eat and no-frills service will ensure that you have all your needs met. At $42 per head, it's a reasonably priced buffet for the great variety you get in return. Where? 8 London Street, Campsie or 270 Castlereagh Street. You'll also find Se Jong Korean BBQ Buffet at 821 Pennant Hills Road, Carlingford. [caption id="attachment_814224" align="alignnone" width="2560"] Kogi's Korean BBQ, Haymarket.[/caption] KOGI, HAYMARKET Kogi is run by General Manager David Bae who has a long family history of Korean barbecue venues in Australia. His father, Donald Bae, is credited with bringing the popular Korean dining concept to Australia in 1992 meaning Kogi is in very safe hands with this family. With attentive staff making sure that different grills are used for different proteins, diners can sleep soundly knowing they're getting the absolute best out of their barbecued proteins – over charcoal too for the traditionalists out there. Their menu features a series of fresh and marinated proteins, plus veggies to share. If you're feeling cold this winter, choose from an extensive range of hot pots to warm you up. Kogi has been one of the best places to get Korean barbecue in Sydney for many years now, and it is showing no sign of slowing down. Where? Level 3 Market City, 9-13 Hay Street, Haymarket. DANJEE, SYDNEY If you're looking for something a little classier then you won't put a foot wrong with heading over to Madang's sister restaurant, Danjee. The self-proclaimed fine-dining restaurant focuses primarily on high-quality food, eye-catching presentation and elevated table service. If you open its menu, you'll find a beautiful array of delectable meats, stews, seafood and noodles. If you're feeling fancy, order the wagyu top blade or wagyu short ribs. The beverage list also offers slightly more refined options compared to other Korean barbecue spots in Sydney, like premium-distilled soju, red and white wines. If you're in the mood for something more progressive, Danjee also offers some fusion dishes like bulgogi burgers. Where? 1/7 Albion Place, Sydney. WAGYU HOUSE, CROYDON Another buffet venue to add to your list, Wagyu House enters in as one of the best in terms of quality and value. its Croydon location is split into two sections; an indoor dining area on one side and a butcher department on the other which acts as the buffet spread. Featuring a variety of fresh and marinated proteins — expect seafood, pork, chicken, beef and wagyu beef slices. Wagyu House also features a buffet spread of Korean and non-Korean dishes such as pancakes, fried rice and sushi nigiri. At $36.60 (including wagyu) per head, Wagyu House is one of the most affordable Korean barbecue all-you-can-eat places available in Sydney. Where? 668-670 Parramatta Road, Croydon. Top image: Supplied by Kogi.
When Indigenous Australian artist Archie Moore made history at the 2024 La Biennale de Venezia, aka the Venice Biennale, in April 2024 by winning the event's coveted Golden Lion for Best National Participation, he also did Brisbane's major art galleries proud. When the First Nations talent earned Australia the top gong at the Olympics of the art world for the first time ever, he did so with an exhibition curated by Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art's Ellie Buttrose, and with a date with Brisbane GOMA on its 2025–26 program. kith and kin is displaying in South Brisbane between Saturday, September 27, 2025–Sunday, October 18, 2026 — and it has also been gifted to QAGOMA permanently. The piece didn't just make history with its Venice Biennale accolade. A hand-drawn genealogical chart that spans back 65,000 years, this creation also chronicles it. Both a personal and a political work, kith and kin steps through Moore's Kamilaroi, Bigambul, British and Scottish heritage across the installation's five-metre-high, 60-metre-long black walls. More than 2400 generations are covered. The exhibition uses chalk on blackboard, with a reflective pool sitting in the middle of the room and 500-plus document stacks suspended above it. Every aspect of kith and kin makes a statement. With its size and scale, it speaks to Australia's Indigenous peoples being among the world's longest-continuous living cultures. The use of black is also designed to look like a celestial map, and therefore nod to the resting place of First Nations ancestors. Highlighting the decrease in Indigenous Australian languages and dialects since colonisation, the fragility that stems from not being able to pass down knowledge and injustices such as deaths in custody are all also part of the work — with the aforementioned piles of paper primarily from coronial inquests. Images: Archie Moore / kith and kin 2024 / Australia Pavilion at Venice Biennale 2024 / Photographer Andrea Rossetti / © the artist / Images courtesy of the artist and The Commercial.
Since it opened in late 2021, Odd Culture's ferment-forward wine bar and diner on King Street has been a cornerstone of Newtown's hospitality scene. Then came Spon, in mid-2023 — a hybrid bar and bottle shop specialising in craft brews, boutique drops and pours by the glass. In February this year, the Odd Culture team — who also operate beloved Sydney pubs The Old Fitz and The Duke of Enmore — added kooky late-night cocktail den Pleasure Club to their Newtown empire. Now, a fourth venture has been added, transforming the mezzanine of the King Street flagship into an elevated bistro — and it's not just another cookie-cutter steak frites joint. Bistro Grenier is a refined spot for an intimate soirée, where diners can experience classic French fare at its best. To realise this new venue, Odd Culture has tapped the skills of Executive Chef James MacDonald — formerly of Sydney's Restaurant Hubert and London's pioneering nose-to-tail eatery St John. MacDonald has developed a menu that celebrates traditional recipes while adding modern flourishes, leaning on heartier, rustic dishes showcasing low-waste butchering. For example, the côtelette de porc features a juicy Berkshire pork chop served alongside braised boneless trotters, dressed with prunes and served with a side of sugar loaf cabbage, while the house-made boudin noir uses yet more of the beast, pairing smoked pork jowl and pigs blood with caramelised apples and a lightly whipped pomme puree. Other dishes offer more playful riffs on tricolore favourites, like the pudding chômeur — a self-saucing maple syrup dessert finished with buttermilk ice cream inspired by Head Chef Jesse Warkentin's Canadian heritage. Vino-philes have plenty to get excited about. A list of French drops including vintage gems and rare allocation bottles from Odd Culture's extensive cellar are available exclusively in the bistro. There's also be a range of Gallic digestives and apéritifs behind the bar, including ricard pastis, picon bière aperitif, vin jaune and chartreuse. The fitout of what was formerly an underutilised loft storage space channels a luxurious yet bohemian vibe, with deep burgundy peaked ceilings and walls, dark timber panelling, and a moody lighting design summons the sultry spirit of Parisian salon. Meanwhile, fans of the King Street OG have nothing to fear. The existing downstairs wine bar remains the pillar of Newtown's drinking scene Sydneysiders know and love. Images: Philip Huyhn
For the uninitiated, omakase is a chef's choice meal like no other — it is an opportunity for a chef to showcase their skills and celebrate seasonal produce. Kuon Omakase is making waves in Sydney's Darling Square, offering a taste of Japan in a pocket of the Harbour City. The incredibly intimate omakase restaurant has only ten seats at its chef's counter, and the spots are snapped up quite quickly. The group is co-founded by head chef Hideaki Fukada, who creates unique expressions of Japanese cuisine with a touch of Aussie flavour. We sat down with Fukada to chat about his journey, omakase and his sushi knives. Kuon Omakase regards itself as "modern Japanese Edomae sushi": an evolved, refined way of enjoying sushi and combining elements of the west and east, old and new. At Kuon, guests can enjoy aged sushi served with sake alongside fresh seafood caught off the coast of Australia — everything in balance. The menu changes with the seasons, using only the freshest, in-season ingredients. Kuon Omakase is part of the Kuon restaurant group in Sydney. In addition to the omakase outpost, there's Sushi Sei for all your sushi needs, Irori Takibi and Izakaya Tempura. So, whatever your preference or budget regarding Japanese cuisine, the Kuon team has you covered. Guests can choose between two seatings Tuesday–Sunday, one at 5.15pm and one at 7.45pm. There are also lunch seatings at 12.30pm on Friday–Sunday. The spots fill up quickly, so make a reservation on the website. Images: Brooke Zotti
High-concept cocktails, leather booths and a distinctly horny vibe are the modus operandi at play in Pleasure Club. You'll find the bar-meets-live music venue and performance space down a long flight of stairs on Wilson Street in Newtown. The vibe of Pleasure Club is an anything-can-happen horny hedonism. A glowing purple eye greets you at the street-level entrance, hinting at the layers of violet hues contained within. Otherworldly decor and stage design are tone-setters for the entertainment program, which is be a true mixed bag of live music, performance art and audience interaction (including what the venue refers to as Dark Service around the 11pm mark). But this is a bar first and foremost and the drinks list is pretty unreal. For the venue's launch, Creative Beverage Lead Sam Kirk collaborated with booze whisperer Matt Whiley (of Re) on a cocktail series dubbed 'Nostalgia Machine' which included a number called the 'Cheese TV' a Coco Pops-infused version of an old fashioned that throws you back to your days of watching morning cartoons. Other more radical creations on the menu include the Chicken Parm, a real one-of-a-kind experience made with vodka, comte cheese, bacon, tomato and chicken salt. We liken it to a chilled alcohol-laced cheese and chicken soup. Do with that information what you will. The drinks are accompanied by a simple menu of good hot dogs that pair surprisingly well with the cocktails. Sydney has jumped on the 'dog train, taking inspiration from other sausage-loving cities like Copenhagen and Berlin. Loaded dogs have been popping up at increasingly cool and high end locations whether it's Love, Tilly Devine's Scandi snacks or Rockpool's happy hour chorizo dog. Pleasure Club's late-night snacks are just as impressive, loading up LP's franks on potato buns with fries, mustard and sauerkraut. But it's generally just a standout spot to grab a drink and hang out. While the signature cocktails may be a little out of your comfort zone, there's a huge wall of spirits and a team of bartenders more than happy to whip up a perfect negroni or amaretto sour. And, there's a pool table in the corner so you can hit the felt with an impressive bev in hand. Sydney could definitely do with more cocktail bars with pool tables.
New year, new chance for Hollywood to pat itself on the back. That's how every January starts, even if things are a little different in 2022. After multiple controversies surrounding the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the organisation behind Golden Globes, the first batch of film and TV awards for the new year weren't given out at a star-studded event — but a long list of worthy movies and shows still won glittering trophies. When the Globes announced its nominees back in December 2021, it went big on plenty of the year's best. The Power of the Dog, Succession, West Side Story, Ted Lasso, Hacks, Squid Game — they all earned nods, and deservedly so. Today, Monday, January 10, they all just scored a spot on the winners' list as well. In fact, most of them nabbed more than one accolade. Highlights include The Power of the Dog's three wins, and particularly Jane Campion taking out the Best Director field. Her directing gong really can't be underestimated — it's just the third time that a female filmmaker has won the award, and the second in a row after Chloé Zhao won last year for Nomadland. Also for The Power of the Dog, Aussie actor Kodi Smit-McPhee nabbed the Best Supporting Actor award, while the exceptional film itself won Best Drama. And, still skewing local, Succession's Sarah Snook scored a Best Supporting Actress award in the TV categories — and Nicole Kidman is a Best Actress winner, in the Motion Picture — Drama camp, for playing Lucille Ball in Being the Ricardos. Obviously, the list goes on, spanning more big-screen and small-screen highlights. If you're wondering what else emerged victorious, the full rundown is below — and you can also check out our picks for the 12 winners you can watch right now. GOLDEN GLOBE NOMINEES AND WINNERS: BEST MOTION PICTURE — DRAMA Belfast CODA Dune King Richard The Power of the Dog — WINNER BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE — DRAMA Jessica Chastain, The Eyes of Tammy Faye Olivia Colman, The Lost Daughter Nicole Kidman, Being the Ricardos — WINNER Lady Gaga, House of Gucci Kristen Stewart, Spencer BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE — DRAMA Mahershala Ali, Swan Song Javier Bardem, Being the Ricardos Benedict Cumberbatch, The Power of the Dog Will Smith, King Richard — WINNER Denzel Washington, The Tragedy of Macbeth BEST MOTION PICTURE — MUSICAL OR COMEDY Cyrano Don't Look Up Licorice Pizza Tick, Tick … Boom! West Side Story — WINNER BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE — MUSICAL OR COMEDY Marion Cotillard, Annette Alana Haim, Licorice Pizza Jennifer Lawrence, Don't Look Up Emma Stone, Cruella Rachel Zegler, West Side Story — WINNER BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE — MUSICAL OR COMEDY Leonardo DiCaprio, Don't Look Up Peter Dinklage, Cyrano Andrew Garfield, Tick, Tick … Boom! — WINNER Cooper Hoffman, Licorice Pizza Anthony Ramos, In the Heights BEST MOTION PICTURE — ANIMATED Encanto — WINNER Flee Luca My Sunny Maad Raya and the Last Dragon BEST MOTION PICTURE — FOREIGN LANGUAGE Compartment No. 6 Drive My Car — WINNER The Hand of God A Hero Parallel Mothers BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN ANY MOTION PICTURE Caitríona Balfe, Belfast Ariana DeBose, West Side Story — WINNER Kirsten Dunst, The Power of the Dog Aunjanue Ellis, King Richard Ruth Negga, Passing BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN ANY MOTION PICTURE Ben Affleck, The Tender Bar Jamie Dornan, Belfast Ciarán Hinds, Belfast Troy Kotsur, CODA Kodi Smit-McPhee, The Power of the Dog — WINNER BEST DIRECTOR — MOTION PICTURE Kenneth Branagh, Belfast Jane Campion, The Power of the Dog — WINNER Maggie Gyllenhaal, The Lost Daughter Steven Spielberg, West Side Story Denis Villeneuve, Dune BEST SCREENPLAY — MOTION PICTURE Paul Thomas Anderson, Licorice Pizza Kenneth Branagh, Belfast — WINNER Jane Campion, The Power of the Dog Adam McKay, Don't Look Up Aaron Sorkin, Being the Ricardos BEST ORIGINAL SCORE — MOTION PICTURE Dune — WINNER Encanto The French Dispatch Parallel Mothers The Power of the Dog BEST ORIGINAL SONG — MOTION PICTURE 'Be Alive', King Richard 'Dos Orugitas', Encanto 'Down to Joy', Belfast 'Here I Am (Singing My Way Home)', Respect 'No Time to Die', No Time to Die — WINNER BEST TELEVISION SERIES — DRAMA Lupin The Morning Show Pose Squid Game Succession — WINNER BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES — DRAMA Uzo Aduba, In Treatment Jennifer Aniston, The Morning Show Christine Baranski, The Good Fight Elisabeth Moss, The Handmaid's Tale MJ Rodriguez, Pose — WINNER BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES — DRAMA Brian Cox, Succession Lee Jung-jae, Squid Game Billy Porter, Pose Jeremy Strong, Succession — WINNER Omar Sy, Lupin BEST TELEVISION SERIES — MUSICAL OR COMEDY The Great Hacks — WINNER Ted Lasso Reservation Dogs Only Murders in the Building BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES — MUSICAL OR COMEDY Hannah Einbinder, Hacks Elle Fanning, The Great Issa Rae, Insecure Tracee Ellis Ross, Black-ish Jean Smart, Hacks — WINNER BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES — MUSICAL OR COMEDY Anthony Anderson, Black-ish Nicholas Hoult, The Great Steve Martin, Only Murders in the Building Martin Short, Only Murders in the Building Jason Sudeikis, Ted Lasso — WINNER BEST TELEVISION LIMITED SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION Dopesick Impeachment: American Crime Story Maid Mare of Easttown The Underground Railroad — WINNER BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LIMITED SERIES OR A MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION Jessica Chastain, Scenes From a Marriage Cynthia Erivo, Genius: Aretha Elizabeth Olsen, WandaVision Margaret Qualley, Maid Kate Winslet, Mare of Easttown — WINNER BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LIMITED SERIES OR A MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION Paul Bettany, WandaVision Oscar Isaac, Scenes From a Marriage Michael Keaton, Dopesick — WINNER Ewan McGregor, Halston Tahar Rahim, The Serpent BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A SERIES, LIMITED SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION Jennifer Coolidge, The White Lotus Kaitlyn Dever, Dopesick Andie MacDowell, Maid Sarah Snook, Succession — WINNER Hannah Waddingham, Ted Lasso BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A SERIES, LIMITED SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TV Billy Crudup, The Morning Show Kieran Culkin, Succession Mark Duplass, The Morning Show Brett Goldstein, Ted Lasso Oh Yeong-su, Squid Game — WINNER For further details, head to the awards' website. Top image: The Crown, Des Willie/Netflix.
Redfern's hidden retro bar Misfits is adding yet another tasty element to its offering — by throwing its hat into the ever-expanding ring of bottomless brunches and lunches in Sydney. The newly launched Misfits Lunch Club runs on the last Saturday of each month. The lunch is hosted in the upstairs powder pink dining room from noon–4pm each Saturday. Expect shared starters like zucchini and fontina croquettes, haloumi with burnt honey and thyme, and bread with caramelised onion butter. For mains, you can choose from barramundi with broccoli purée and pine nuts, duck breast with beetroot and amaranth or vegetarian ravioli. The mains are also served with shared sides, like fried potato with dill and white anchovies, brussels sprouts with wagyu fat and roasted cauliflower with burnt butter milk. You can nab all that food for $45, but we know you're really after the bottomless bit. That'll cost you an additional $20, a price well worth it for three straight hours of unlimited cocktails. The drinks offering will change each month. While you indulge, the venue's resident DJ will spin beats all arvo, and we reckon there'll be more than a few nineties and noughties bangers thrown in there. You can book your spot via the website. Updated: July 31, 2019.
A massive makeover of one of Sydney's busiest and most famous spots, adding more green space for the public to enjoy. An elevated park that takes its cues from New York's High Line. More ferry wharves. If plans put forward by the current New South Wales Government come to fruition, this is all in Sydney's future at Circular Quay and the Cahill Expressway. NSW's powers that be have been announcing ambitious ways to reshape the city — and state — with gusto over the past week, all due to the 2022–23 budget. Dubbed the Circular Quay Renewal, this major inner-city revitalisation plan is the latest, following news of a hefty 91-kilometre waterfront walkway from the Sydney Opera House to Parramatta, as well a new 46-kilometre multi-day walking track in the state's Gondwana rainforests. The aim for Circular Quay and the Cahill Expressway: to pair must-visit experiences and facilities with Sydney's must-see views. Yes, at CQ, the state government hopes that things can get even busier. The proposal is also designed to help throw some love towards the area's restaurants, bars, venues and culture offerings, giving patrons — locals and tourists alike — even more reasons to stop by. First, at Circular Quay, new wharves will be added. Also, the promenade between CQ station and the wharves will be widened to 20 metres — which means there'll be extra seating and shade, and also dedicated spaces for buskers. The station itself will be given a makeover, complete with widened entrances (which, if you've ever tried to get through there during Vivid, you know will be a welcome improvement), but the revamp will also still ensure that historical parts of the precinct remain. That includes First Fleet Park, which features in the revitalisation, but in a way that'll protect the archaeology underneath. Still, expect new green spaces, as well as a new pavilion. More restaurants, more venues for performances, and new education and tourist information facilities are also slated. Then, with the Cahill Expressway — which was already used as a festival site to see out 2021 and welcome in 2022 — the existing pedestrian walkway will be expanded. That's where the NYC-style High Line-esque park comes in, all with those killer views. Yes, heading there to make the most of Vivid's lights and installations has already been floated. The NSW Government has committed $216 million in the 2022–23 budget to the Circular Quay Renewal project — but you won't see the results just yet. That funding is just for the planning process, covering design work and approvals, as well as an Environmental Impact Statement, plus community consultation. Basically, it's for everything needed to get the proposal shovel-ready. If the renewal moves ahead from there, construction isn't expected to commence until late 2024, with the revamp opening progressively between 2026–28. "The scar of the Cahill Expressway splits our amazing city from its best asset and while we cannot get rid of it right now, I'm delighted we can enhance it in the meantime and create one of the world's truly great walks," said NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet, announcing the budget funding in a statement. "This investment is a critical step in reinvigorating Circular Quay, which will ultimately see millions of tourism dollars flowing back into local businesses as we build our way forward to a brighter economic future for NSW," the Premier continued. Treasurer Matt Kean added the "renewal would create a more dynamic space for visitors and locals to enjoy new places to eat, drink and shop. We're considering options to upgrade the wharves and revamp the train station to reaffirm Circular Quay as a key transport hub for Sydney." And, regarding the potential for both impressive walking tracks and views, Minister for Infrastructure, Cities and Active Transport Rob Stokes advised that the government is "also designing one of the world's most breathtaking walks and viewing platforms linking the Royal Botanic Gardens to Observatory Park and Stargazer Lawns as part of our vision to create a city within a park." For more information about the Circular Quay Renewal plans, head to the NSW Government website.
Big changes have come to The Newington on Stanmore Road, with the familiar local set reopening under a new moniker after extensive renovations. To be henceforth known as Public House Petersham, the venue has overhauled its traditional pub decor, transforming the space into a 'local cultural hub', inspired by the vibe of Bushwick, Brooklyn. The rebranding is the idea of hospitality group Solotel, who purchased the venue and also operates the likes of Opera Bar, Paddington Inn and Goros. The venue features two unique street art designs by Sydney artists Phibs and Numskull, new booth seating, a community herb garden made from repurposed pallets and a shipping container beer garden. Under newly appointed head chef, Martin Cerny, the menu and drinks list has also had a facelift with a focus on craft beers, fresh produce seasoned with plants from the herb garden, wine and share food (including gingerbread men-topped desserts), as well as pizzas cooked in a brand new wood-fire oven. The owners will also be encouraging local community groups and clubs to use the venue as a place to meet and host activities. Licensee Amanda Veratti said in a statement that the owners "are thrilled to be able to give the old Hotel a new lease of life, where people can meet and socialise over a fantastic range of beverages and food that is made to be shared". Images: Nikki To.
Some say good things come in small packages, which is true of both Tuckerbox and the range of grab-and-go bites it sells. The tiny cafe opened in Paddington in October 2019 and is a go-to for locals — like CP reader @isyrouslstone, who recommended it to us — for its range of takeaway salads, sandwiches and hot meals, which are prepared daily in an off-site commercial kitchen. Pair your feed with a coffee — a Mecca roast is the bean of choice — or a cold-pressed juice from nearby Simon Says Juice. [caption id="attachment_798468" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Cassandra Hannagan[/caption] Images: Cassandra Hannagan
This LED-lit karaoke haven is considered one of the city's best. Open until 4am daily, K1 Karaoke is a Chinatown mainstay that's a worthy reason to get your mates together for a night out — or a way to continue the night out. Inside, expect to find electric blue and pink rooms, decked out with LED tables and flat-screen TVs. The Haymarket haunt has a ridiculously wide range of songs to choose from, whether you're after old school classics like 'Twist and Shout' or modern pop songs like 'Born This Way'. The lounge also boasts impressive audio and visual equipment, so you can hear yourself belting to ABBA's 'Dancing Queen' loud and clear.
This part of the multiverse mightn't boast chefs controlled by raccoons, talking rocks and hot dog fingers, but it has turned a mind-bending movie spanning all of the above into one of the year's big awards contenders. Everything Everywhere All At Once is one 2022's very best movies, too, and it might soon have some shining trophies for its troubles from the 2023 Golden Globes. Awards season is upon us again, because the end of the year doesn't just mean all things jolly and merry — and the beginning of the new year isn't just about fresh starts and resolutions you likely won't keep, either. The Golden Globes will unveil its latest batch of winners on Wednesday, January 11 Australian and New Zealand time, but its just-announced list of nominees features plenty to get excited about, including a heap of 2022's must-see movies and TV shows. While the Oscars cover films and the Emmys focus on television, the Golden Globes spread its gongs across both formats, meaning that big-screen hits like Elvis and Top Gun: Maverick have scored some love, and so have small-screen favourites such as Severance and Wednesday. Topping the nominations on the movie side is standout Irish comedy The Banshees of Inisherin, including nods for stars Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson. School-set sitcom Abbott Elementary — think Parks and Recreation, but in a Philadelphia public school — leads the TV contenders. Reuniting Farrell, Gleeson and their In Bruges director Martin McDonagh, The Banshees of Inisherin nabbed eight noms, with Everything Everywhere All at Once picking up five, including for actors Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan and Jamie Lee Curtis. Next on the list, Damien Chazelle's Babylon and Steven Spielberg's The Fabelmans each turned their love letters to cinema into five nominations. On the small screen, Abbott Elementary picked up five nods, followed by The White Lotus, DAHMER — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, The Crown, Pam & Tommy and Only Murders in the Building with four each. Other highlights include Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery scoring a nomination for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, and Daniel Craig for Best Actor in the same category; Emma Thompson's Best Actress nod in the same genre for Good Luck to You, Leo Grande; both Decision to Leave and RRR among the non-English language picks; and Angela Bassett receiving some Best Supporting Actress love for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. And, there's The Bear picking up two noms (including for lead Jeremy Allen White) in the TV fields, Diego Luna's Andor nomination, Zendaya's Euphoria nod and Better Call Saul's final season being recognised, too. Although there's plenty to celebrate among this year's contenders — including a hefty showing for Australians, including Baz Luhrmann's Best Director nom for Elvis, and Cate Blanchett, Margot Robbie, Hugh Jackman and Elizabeth Debicki all picking up acting nominations (for Tár, Bablyon, The Son and The Crown, respectively) — the Globes are sadly back to ignoring women directors. If you're wondering what else is in the running, here's the full list of nominations: GOLDEN GLOBE NOMINEES: BEST MOTION PICTURE — DRAMA Avatar: The Way of Water Elvis The Fabelmans Tár Top Gun: Maverick BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE — DRAMA Cate Blanchett, Tár Olivia Colman, Empire of Light Viola Davis, The Woman King Ana de Armas, Blonde Michelle Williams, The Fabelmans BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE — DRAMA Austin Butler, Elvis Brendan Fraser, The Whale Hugh Jackman, The Son Bill Nighy, Living Jeremy Pope, The Inspection BEST MOTION PICTURE — MUSICAL OR COMEDY Babylon The Banshees of Inisherin Everything Everywhere All at Once Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery Triangle of Sadness BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE — MUSICAL OR COMEDY Lesley Manville, Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris Margot Robbie, Babylon Anya Taylor-Joy, The Menu Emma Thompson, Good Luck to You, Leo Grande Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All at Once BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE — MUSICAL OR COMEDY Diego Calva, Babylon Daniel Craig, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery Adam Driver, White Noise Colin Farrell, The Banshees of Inisherin Ralph Fiennes, The Menu BEST MOTION PICTURE — ANIMATED Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio Inu-Oh Marcel the Shell With Shoes On Puss in Boots: The Last Wish Turning Red BEST MOTION PICTURE — NON-ENGLISH LANGUAGE All Quiet on the Western Front Argentina, 1985 Close Decision to Leave RRR BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN ANY MOTION PICTURE Angela Bassett, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Kerry Condon, The Banshees of Inisherin Jamie Lee Curtis, Everything Everywhere All at Once Dolly De Leon, Triangle of Sadness Carey Mulligan, She Said BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN ANY MOTION PICTURE Brendan Gleeson, The Banshees of Inisherin Barry Keoghan, The Banshees of Inisherin Brad Pitt, Babylon Ke Huy Quan, Everything Everywhere All at Once Eddie Redmayne, The Good Nurse BEST DIRECTOR — MOTION PICTURE James Cameron, Avatar: The Way of Water Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All at Once Baz Luhrmann, Elvis Martin McDonagh, The Banshees of Inisherin Steven Spielberg, The Fabelmans BEST SCREENPLAY — MOTION PICTURE Todd Field, Tár Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All at Once Martin McDonagh, The Banshees of Inisherin Sarah Polley, Women Talking Steven Spielberg, Tony Kushner, The Fabelmans BEST ORIGINAL SCORE — MOTION PICTURE Carter Burwell, The Banshees of Inisherin Alexandre Desplat, Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio Hildur Guðnadóttir, Women Talking Justin Hurwitz, Babylon John Williams, The Fabelmans BEST ORIGINAL SONG — MOTION PICTURE 'Carolina' by Taylor Swift, Where the Crawdads Sing 'Ciao Papa' by Alexandre Desplat, Guillermo del Toro, Roeban Katz, Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio 'Hold My Hand' by Lady Gaga, BloodPop, Benjamin Rice, Top Gun: Maverick 'Lift Me Up' by Tems, Rihanna, Ryan Coogler, Ludwig Göransson, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever 'Naatu Naatu' by Kala Bhairava, M.M. Keeravani, Kala Bhairava, Rahul Sipligunj, RRR BEST TELEVISION SERIES — DRAMA Better Call Saul The Crown House of the Dragon Ozark Severance BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES — DRAMA Emma D'Arcy, House of the Dragon Laura Linney, Ozark Imelda Staunton, The Crown Hilary Swank, Alaska Daily Zendaya, Euphoria BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES — DRAMA Jeff Bridges, The Old Man Kevin Costner, Yellowstone Diego Luna, Andor Bob Odenkirk, Better Call Saul Adam Scott, Severance BEST TELEVISION SERIES — MUSICAL OR COMEDY Abbott Elementary The Bear Hacks Only Murders in the Building Wednesday BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES — MUSICAL OR COMEDY Quinta Brunson, Abbott Elementary Kaley Cuoco, The Flight Attendant Selena Gomez, Only Murders in the Building Jenna Ortega, Wednesday Jean Smart, Hacks BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES — MUSICAL OR COMEDY Donald Glover, Atlanta Bill Hader, Barry Steve Martin, Only Murders in the Building Martin Short, Only Murders in the Building Jeremy Allen White, The Bear BEST TELEVISION LIMITED SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION Black Bird DAHMER — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story The Dropout Pam & Tommy The White Lotus BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LIMITED SERIES OR A MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION Jessica Chastain, George and Tammy Julia Garner, Inventing Anna Lily James, Pam & Tommy Julia Roberts, Gaslit Amanda Seyfried, The Dropout BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LIMITED SERIES OR A MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION Taron Egerton, Black Bird Colin Firth, The Staircase Andrew Garfield, Under the Banner of Heaven Evan Peters, Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story Sebastian Stan, Pam & Tommy BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A LIMITED SERIES, ANTHOLOGY SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION Jennifer Coolidge, The White Lotus Claire Danes, Fleishman Is in Trouble Daisy Edgar-Jones, Under the Banner of Heaven Niecy Nash, Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story Aubrey Plaza, The White Lotus BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A LIMITED SERIES, ANTHOLOGY SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION F. Murray Abraham, The White Lotus Domhnall Gleeson, The Patient Paul Walter Hauser, Black Bird Richard Jenkins, Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story Seth Rogen, Pam & Tommy BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MUSICAL-COMEDY OR DRAMA TELEVISION SERIES Elizabeth Debicki, The Crown Hannah Einbinder, Hacks Julia Garner, Ozark Janelle James, Abbott Elementary Sheryl Lee Ralph, Abbott Elementary BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MUSICAL-COMEDY OR DRAMA TELEVISION SERIES John Lithgow, The Old Man Jonathan Pryce, The Crown John Turturro, Severance Tyler James Williams, Abbott Elementary Henry Winkler, Barry The 2023 Golden Globes will be announced on Wednesday, January 11 Australian and New Zealand time. For further details, head to the awards' website.
In what was once a bit of a no-go zone for serious foodies, in the cross-section between Alexandria, Redfern and Erksineville, now stands a cafe that is worth the venture. Meet Gerard is born from the experience of Mariella Traina (formerly of Petersham eatery The Counter) and Sarah MacWilliam (who previously ran the kitchen at West Juliett). Here the duo is exploring a fresh take on local cafe culture. The menu might have a few familiar mentions — scrambled eggs, smashed avo and French toast — but on closer inspection, these aren't standard dishes you know. The scrambled eggs are topped with broccolini, sumac and goat's curd. The french toast is jazzed up with baked apple, salted caramel, ricotta and a spice crumble. It isn't the biggest space so it fills up quick. If you can't stick around, it is still worth grabbing a cuppa — made with a special blend from local brewers Coffee Alchemy — and a house-made sweet treat before you head on your merry way.
A gallon is nearly four litres, which is about how much wine you'll be tempted to drink at this relaxed Harris Street wine bar. Obviously don't, but do get around a chilled night out consisting of a glass of pinot and a plate of crumbed soft cheese. Take a seat in the Gallon's leafy outdoor courtyard "The Stables" — which was actually home to horses back in 1870 — or prop yourself up alongside the exposed, interior sandstone brick wall. Produce is sourced locally and a lineup of pizzas, salads and bar snacks will keep your stomach lined. Gallon is good for dates, a night out with the girls or a quiet post-work drink away from the full intensity of the CBD.
House Made Hospitality has made a habit of breathing new life into historic Sydney addresses — Hinchcliff House, Wunderlich Lane and Sofitel Sydney Wentworth among them. Now, the group has turned its attention to Bondi Pavilion with Etheus, a breezy Greek diner backed by postcard-ready views of Bondi Beach. Taking over the former Promenade dining room, Etheus swaps coastal crowd-pleasers for bold meze spreads and fire-backed Greek classics just steps from the surf. The menu, by Executive Chef Chris Benedet and Head Chef Stav Stavrou, leans into tradition — per Benedet: "we're not modernising anything for the sake of it". It's built for sharing across five sections, including a generous lineup of veggies. Start with meze like a roast fennel-backed tirokafteri, ouzo-doused saganaki or kataifi-wrapped king prawns, before moving to larger dishes from the charcoal oven — think kleftiko lamb shoulder, pork neck souvla or roast chicken with tomato butter and lemon-herb yoghurt. [caption id="attachment_1018635" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Steven Woodburn[/caption] There's a nice nod to home-style comfort, too — carbs include a bright spanakorizo with seasonal greens and mizithra, yemista in a creamy avgolemono and slow-cooked beef stifado lifted with clove and cinnamon pepper served over kritharaki. Stavrou's Cypriot heritage gets a shout out with the likes of a creamy tahini, a lentil, almond and pomegranate grain salad and charcoal-cooked sheftalies from The Souvlaki Shop in Brighton-Le-Sands. To drink, the wine list balances coastal Mediterranean producers — including a solid Greek showing — with Australian labels, including House Made's own NSW drops. Cocktails are sunny and beach-ready: the Sunshine of Socrates is a bright mix of Archie Rose White Cane rum, watermelon, guava, sesame and fresh lemon, while the Aristole Apero teams Widges gin with quince paste, thyme-infused honey, fresh lemon and thyme. Pair your pour with a spread of meze — or Stavrou's house-made yoghurt with honey and walnuts — for an ideal post-swim refuel. [caption id="attachment_1018633" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Steven Woodburn[/caption] Images: Steven Woodburn.
Part pub, part wine bar and part romantic diner, The Waratah is a jack-of-all-trades venue that's taken over a classic two-storey hotel in Darlinghurst. Led by hospitality heavyweights Evan Stroeve (ex-Re, Bulletin Place and Swillhouse), Alex Prichard (Bondi Icebergs) and business partner Cynthia Litster, the impressive spot is located on the corner of Liverpool and Victoria Streets, just a few doors down from Shadow Bakery. The Waratah offers a couple of different zones that you can occupy. Downstairs, you'll find the walk-in-only public bar — an easy-going spot with approachable eats. Upstairs things are a little more serious, with a moody dining room equipped with a semi-al fresco area and breezy outdoor tables on the balcony. There's earthy tones, warm lighting and touches of local flora throughout the venue, setting a tone apt of the playful menu. The Waratah menu folds in a strong dose of Australian nostalgia with all of the sensibilities of modern Sydney favourites. The ideal way to kick things off is with a double serve of scallops — crispy brown potato scallops topped with raw scallops and served with tartare sauce. If you're in the mood for more of a snack-for-one, the lobster roll is here to help. Otherwise the menu lends itself to sharing. Must-orders include the butterflied king prawns, the brick chicken swimming in a honey gravy and the barbecued eggplant topped with oyster mushrooms and Davidson plum. For dessert, choose between the nostalgic and the indulgent. Those who want something a little fun can go a fairybread ice cream sandwich, while real dessert lovers should look no further than the Daintree vanilla flan accompanied by amaro and a poor man's orange caramel. Pair this with the house blend of vermouth and you're in heaven. The wine menu has something to satisfy any palette, but if you're after something a little stronger, turn your attention to the cocktail list titled 'Drinking Australia'. Highlights include a cocoa and cherry negroni that uses gin, local cherries and wine made with Daintree cacao; the Mango and Cream, which combines rum, spiced mango, caramelised cream, coconut and lime; and the signature Waratah Spritz. There's much to love about The Waratah. Images: Jason Loucas
Adoring Pixar films is generally easy for a whole heap of reasons, and here's one them: the Disney-owned animation studio knows what it likes and what it does well, and it finds multiple ways to keep giving both a whirl in new and different fashions. Even when you can see the formula behind toys, fish, monsters and feelings having feelings — to name a few of Pixar's similar ideas — the end result usually carves its own niche, and also makes its own heartfelt and delightful impact. 2023 release Elemental looks set to be one of those flicks. Even from just its title, it's easy to see the path that the studio is taking. The question this time: what if the elements, aka fire, water, land and air, had feelings? The film dubs its characters fire-, water-, land- and air-residents, but getting big Inside Out and Soul vibes comes with the territory while watching the movie's just-dropped first trailer. That initial sneak peek is also as adorable as you'd expect if you've ever just seen one frame of a Pixar feature. The teaser heads to Element City, where its various Captain Planet-like characters reside together — and where the fiery Ember (voiced by Leah Lewis, Nancy Drew) and go-with-the-flow Wade (Mamoudou Athie, Archive 81) cross paths. As is generally the case with debut trailers, Elemental's first look is all about style and mood rather than diving too far into the story, but it does show Ember and Wade meeting, and also surveys the passengers on an Element City water train. Flaming legs, grassy creatures, critters that look like clouds, earthy parents with children in pot plants: they're all sighted. Then Ember's headphones fall off — and Wade picks them up. Directed by The Good Dinosaur's Peter Sohn, and with the rest of the voice cast yet to be announced, it's literally a story of water and fire trying to get along. Maybe Pixar is staffed by George RR Martin fans? There's a Studio Ghibli feel to it all, too, thanks to the big focus on nature (and that water train, which isn't quite a cat bus, but might get you thinking of one). Following 2022's Turning Red and Lightyear, Pixar's most recent releases, the film hits cinemas on June 15. Check out the first trailer for Elemental below: Elemental releases in cinemas on June 15, 2023.
First, Emilia Pérez picked up three awards at Cannes. Now, the musical crime comedy from director Jacques Audiard (A Prophet, Rust and Bone) — which stars Karla Sofia Gascón (Harina), Zoe Saldaña (Special Ops: Lioness) and Selena Gomez (Only Murders in the Building) — has made history at the Golden Globes. Earning ten nominations for 2025's ceremony, it has now beaten Barbie's 2024 record for the most nods by a musical or comedy in a single year. Emilia Pérez is also the most-nominated film among 2025's just-announced batch of contenders. Down Under, add the movie to your must-see list for January — plus The Brutalist and Conclave, too, with the former scoring seven nominations and the latter six. So, that's monumental historical dramas and papal thrillers covered. 2024 Palme d'Or-winner Anora and body-horror gem The Substance picked up five nods apiece, while Wicked joins the contenders with four. The Golden Globes not only recognise big-screen highlights but also small-screen excellence, with The Bear topping the TV pool with five nominations. Next comes Only Murders in the Building and Shogun, both picking up four. Nobody Wants This, Baby Reindeer, Disclaimer and Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story also earned some love, each collecting three nominations. As always, you can consider the roster of nominees a handy to-watch list ahead of the winners being announced on Monday, January 6 Australian and New Zealand time — which means also getting excited about the upcoming Timothée Chalamet (Dune: Part Two)-starring Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown; appreciating not one but two Sebastian Stan performances, given that he's nominated for both The Apprentice and A Different Man; and catching up with Mr & Mrs Smith, Slow Horses, Abbott Elementary, Hacks, The Penguin, Ripley and True Detective: Night Country if you haven't seen them already. Ahead of dropping on Boxing Day, the second season of Squid Game also scored some attention — if you weren't already keen enough for the Netflix smash. On the homegrown front, Australians are among the nominees thanks to Memoir of a Snail's recognition in the Best Motion Picture — Animated category, plus acting nods for Nicole Kidman for Babygirl, Guy Pearce for The Brutalist, Cate Blanchett for Disclaimer and Naomi Watts for Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans. Although every round of nominations for every awards has its highlights and omissions, the Golden Globes' standout choices include remembering to give Challengers some affection (including Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for its propulsive score), nominating two female filmmakers in The Substance's Coralie Fargeat and All We Imagine as Light's Payal Kapadia for Best Director, making room for the gorgeous dialogue-free Flow in the animation camp, putting Pamela Anderson among the Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Motion Picture — Drama competitors for The Last Showgirl and Demi Moore in the equivalent musical or comedy field for The Substance, and the supporting actor Succession battle between Kieran Culkin for A Real Pain and Jeremy Strong for The Apprentice. If you're wondering what else is in the running, here's the full list of nominations: 2025 Golden Globe Nominees Best Motion Picture — Drama The Brutalist A Complete Unknown Conclave Dune: Part Two Nickel Boys September 5 Best Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy Anora Challengers Emilia Pérez A Real Pain The Substance Wicked Best Motion Picture — Animated Flow Inside Out 2 Memoir of a Snail Moana 2 Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl The Wild Robot Cinematic and Box Office Achievement Alien: Romulus Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Deadpool & Wolverine Gladiator II Inside Out 2 Twisters Wicked The Wild Robot Best Motion Picture — Non-English Language All We Imagine as Light Emilia Pérez The Girl with the Needle I'm Still Here The Seed of the Sacred Fig Vermiglio Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Motion Picture — Drama Pamela Anderson, The Last Showgirl Angelina Jolie, Maria Nicole Kidman, Babygirl Tilda Swinton, The Room Next Door Fernanda Torres, I'm Still Here Kate Winslet, Lee Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Motion Picture — Drama Adrien Brody, The Brutalist Timothée Chalamet, A Complete Unknown Daniel Craig, Queer Colman Domingo, Sing Sing Ralph Fiennes, Conclave Sebastian Stan, The Apprentice Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy Amy Adams, Nightbitch Cynthia Erivo, Wicked Karla Sofía Gascón, Emilia Pérez Mikey Madison, Anora Demi Moore, The Substance Zendaya, Challengers Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy Jesse Eisenberg, A Real Pain Hugh Grant, Heretic Gabriel Labelle, Saturday Night Jesse Plemons, Kinds of Kindness Glen Powell, Hit Man Sebastian Stan, A Different Man Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture Selena Gomez, Emilia Pérez Ariana Grande, Wicked Felicity Jones, The Brutalist Margaret Qualley, The Substance Isabella Rossellini, Conclave Zoe Saldaña, Emilia Pérez Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture Yura Borisov, Anora Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain Edward Norton, A Complete Unknown Guy Pearce, The Brutalist Jeremy Strong, The Apprentice Denzel Washington, Gladiator II Best Director — Motion Picture Jacques Audiard, Emilia Pérez Sean Baker, Anora Edward Berger, Conclave Brady Corbet, The Brutalist Coralie Fargeat, The Substance Payal Kapadia, All We Imagine as Light Best Screenplay — Motion Picture Jacques Audiard, Emilia Pérez Sean Baker, Anora Brady Corbet, Mona Fastvold, The Brutalist Jesse Eisenberg, A Real Pain Coralie Fargeat, The Substance Peter Straughan, Conclave Best Original Score — Motion Picture Volker Bertelmann, Conclave Daniel Blumberg, The Brutalist Kris Bowers, The Wild Robot Clément Ducol, Camille, Emilia Pérez Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, Challengers Hans Zimmer, Dune: Part Two Best Original Song — Motion Picture 'Beautiful That Way', Andrew Wyatt, Miley Cyrus, Lykke Zachrisson, The Last Showgirl 'Compress / Repress', Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, Luca Guadagnino, Challengers 'El Mal', Clément Ducol, Camille, Jacques Audiard, Emilia Pérez 'Forbidden Road', Robbie Williams, Freddy Wexler, Sacha Skarbek, Better Man 'Kiss The Sky', Delacey, Jordan K. Johnson, Stefan Johnson, Maren Morris, Michael Pollack, Ali Tamposi, The Wild Robot 'Mi Camino', Clément Ducol, Camille, Emilia Pérez Best Television Series — Drama The Day of the Jackal The Diplomat Mr & Mrs Smith Shogun Slow Horses Squid Game Best Television Series — Musical or Comedy Abbott Elementary The Bear The Gentlemen Hacks Nobody Wants This Only Murders in the Building Best Television Limited Series, Anthology Series or Motion Picture Made for Television Baby Reindeer Disclaimer Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story The Penguin Ripley True Detective: Night Country Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Series — Drama Kathy Bates, Matlock Emma D'arcy, House of the Dragon Maya Erskine, Mr & Mrs Smith Keira Knightley, Black Doves Keri Russell, The Diplomat Anna Sawai, Shogun Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Series — Drama Donald Glover, Mr & Mrs Smith Jake Gyllenhaal, Presumed Innocent Gary Oldman, Slow Horses Eddie Redmayne, The Day of the Jackal Hiroyuki Sanada, Shogun Billy Bob Thornton, Landman Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Series — Musical or Comedy Kristen Bell, Nobody Wants This Quinta Brunson, Abbott Elementary Ayo Edebiri, The Bear Selena Gomez, Only Murders in the Building Kathryn Hahn, Agatha All Along Jean Smart, Hacks Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Series — Musical or Comedy Adam Brody, Nobody Wants This Ted Danson, A Man on the Inside Steve Martin, Only Murders in the Building Jason Segel, Shrinking Martin Short, Only Murders in the Building Jeremy Allen White, The Bear Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Limited Series, Anthology Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television Cate Blanchett, Disclaimer Jodie Foster, True Detective: Night Country Cristin Milioti, The Penguin Sofía Vergara, Griselda Naomi Watts, Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans Kate Winslet, The Regime Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Limited Series, Anthology Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television Colin Farrell, The Penguin Richard Gadd, Baby Reindeer Kevin Kline, Disclaimer Cooper Koch, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story Ewan McGregor, A Gentleman in Moscow Andrew Scott, Ripley Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role on Television Liza Colón-Zayas, The Bear Hannah Einbinder, Hacks Dakota Fanning, Ripley Jessica Gunning, Baby Reindeer Allison Janney, The Diplomat Kali Reis, True Detective: Night Country Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role on Television Tadanobu Asano, Shogun Javier Bardem, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story Harrison Ford, Shrinking Jack Lowden, Slow Horses Diego Luna, La Máquina Ebon Moss-Bachrach, The Bear Best Performance in Stand-Up Comedy on Television Jamie Foxx, Jamie Foxx: What Had Happened Was Nikki Glaser, Nikki Glaser: Someday You'll Die Seth Meyers, Seth Meyers: Dad Man Walking Adam Sandler, Adam Sandler: Love You Ali Wong, Ali Wong: Single Lady Ramy Youssef, Ramy Youssef: More Feelings The 2025 Golden Globes will be announced on Monday, January 6, Australian and New Zealand time. For further details, head to the awards' website.
This friendly neighbourhood bar won over Marrickville locals when it opened its doors in 2015, and it'll undoubtedly win you over too — it's the perfect place to stop in for a nightcap after hitting one of Illawarra Road's affordable Vietnamese eateries. The late-night small bar always has soul and hip hop on the speakers, ingenious cocktails and local craft brews on the menu, and serves up mouthwatering tacos. And we can't forget to mention the must-try Frankencheese Toastie, a multi-level grilled cheese served with Frank's Hot Sauce, pickles and crisps. A recent change of ownership has ushered in more live music, too, including Saturday afternoon sessions, when you can also nab two-for-one cocktails. Images: Arvin Prem Kumar
Hidden among the high-rises of central Parramatta's George Street is a gem serving comforting classics and first-rate brews. Housed in an airy industrial space, Homage has quickly become a well-loved mainstay of the local community, slinging breakfast, lunch and coffee from Monday to Saturday. Cosy up with the chilli scram with pecorino and chives, Middle Eastern breakfast eggs with whipped garlic labneh, chickpeas and cauliflower, or lemongrass chicken salad. If you're craving something more carb-heavy, there are Brooklyn Boy bagels with a selection of spreads and jaffles and toasties galore, including the popular bolognese, cheeseburger or zucchini parmigiana options. What stands out most, however, are the hundreds of five-star Google reviews that note the cafe's unparalleled service and warm staff, so make sure you sing out with any coffee queries or just say g'day.
Following the world-altering whirlwind that was 2020, award-winning Eau-de-Vie closed down, promising to return in the near future. While it took a little longer than expected, the sleek cocktail bar that was once 13th on the World's 50 Best Bars list has officially reopened to the public in Sydney's CBD. The Speakeasy Group (Mjølner, Nick & Nora's) and its directors Sven Almenning and Greg Sanderson have revived Eau-de-Vie at the Brookfield Place development inside the Beneficial House site at 285 George Street, joining Shell House, Romeo's, Edition Coffee, Gojima, NeNe Chicken and PappaRich in the complex. All of the class of the original Eau-de-Vie is on show at the new opening with moody lighting, a smooth jazz soundtrack, the signature Whisky Room and private whisky lockers within the building's basement. The cocktails are built to impress, starting with the Hall of Fame section of the menu featuring Almenning's signature Smoley Rob Roy which combines two types of whisky, Diplomatico Mantuan rum, sweet vermouth and orange bitters before being served under a cloud of smoke. There's also a tangy take on the Moscow mule made with yuzu curd and your choice of rare aged spirit, Eau-de-Vie's famous old fashioned served hot or ice cold, and the Espresso Zabaione which reinvents the espresso martini with cold drip coffee, maple syrup, saffron and vanilla mouse and a touch of liquid nitrogen. All of this is on just page one of the ten pages of cocktails on the menu. A considered list of snacks, both raw (oysters, tuna tartare) and cooked (lamb croquettes, wagyu beef cheek pastry) are available at Eau-de-Vie, but if you find yourself hungry, you should head upstairs to the bar's lavish sibling venue The Sanderson. Appears in: Sydney's best Underground Bars for 2023
Across from the Seymour Centre and hidden just out of view from the hustle of Cleveland Street is a real quacker of a pub. Yeah, you'd be a goose not to duck into The Duck Inn Pub & Kitchen — and everyone would be crying fowl if these avian puns continued, so here is where they'll end. Situated on Rose Street in Chippendale, The Duck Inn's a pub with a distinctly un-pub-like feel. You'll find no pokie machines, no punters fixated on the dogs on TV. Instead, it looks and feels more like going to a friend's place that you're a little bit jealous of, with cosy couches and reading lamps, a cardboard deer head on the wall and a bunch of well-worn books and board games (Uno tournaments every quarter, trivia every Monday). Despite its shiny new interior, The Duck's still a pub where being a pub matters the most — the pub grub. The Classic Oz Beef Burger with shoestring fries ($18) is an updated classic that was our highlight of the menu. The fish pie topped with mashed potato (also $18) ties in well with winter nights. If you're still feeling chilly after eating, the buttered rum ($10 mug) goes down a warm, buttery, cinnamon-y treat. It's hard to deny the warmth and homely comfort of The Duck. Between the whitewashed walls and leafy beer garden, it's the perfect watering hole for friends, family or first dates. The perfect Duck sitting? Sunday afternoon drinks that turn into dinner with a side of Jenga.
2023 marks 65 years since Australia's film and television industry first started recognising its best work of the year with accolades. Back then, the gongs were called the AFI Awards. When the Australian Film Institute created the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts in 2011, the awards changed names to the AACTAs. The country's standout flicks and TV highlights are still rewarded with shiny trophies, though — and, since making the switch in monikers in 2012, the big winners paint quite the picture of Australia's screen output. Red Dog, The Sapphires, The Great Gatsby, The Babadook, The Water Diviner, Mad Max: Fury Road, Hacksaw Ridge, Lion, Sweet Country, The Nightingale, Babyteeth, Nitram and Elvis have all been anointed Australia's top movie. Among the small-screen recipients, Best Drama has gone to East West 101, Puberty Blues, Redfern Now, The Code, Glitch, Wentworth, Top of the Lake: China Girl, Mystery Road, Total Control, The Newsreader and Mystery Road: Origin. They all now have company, with the 2024 awards looking back on 2023's highlights announced on Saturday, February 10. Talk to Me was named Best Film, while The Newsreader claimed Best Drama again. The AACTAs are known to concentrate the love towards a few titles each year. 2024 is different, however. The list of winners goes on, and makes an ace must-see lineup of top-notch Aussie movies and TV shows to catch up on or revisit from the past year. Here's 13 that you can watch now: Movie Must-Sees Talk to Me An embalmed hand can't click its fingers, not even when it's the spirit-conducing appendage at the heart of Talk to Me. This is an absolute finger snap of a horror film, however, and a fist pump of a debut by Australian twins Danny and Michael Philippou. As RackaRacka, the Adelaide-born pair have racked up six-million-plus subscribers on YouTube via viral comedy, horror and action combos. As feature filmmakers, they're just as energetic, eager and assured, not to mention intense about giving their all. Talk to Me opens with a party that's soon blighted by both a stabbing and a suicide. It segues swiftly into a Sia sing-along, then the violent loss of one half of the Aussie coat of arms. A breakout hit at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, where it sparked a distribution bidding war won by indie favourite A24, it's constantly clicking, snapping and ensuring that viewers are paying attention — with terror-inducing imagery, a savvy sense of humour, both nerve and the keenness to unnerve, and a helluva scary-movie premise that's exceptionally well-executed. The picture's outstretched mitt is the Philippous' Ouija board. That withered and scribbled-on paw is also a wildly unconventional way to get high. In a screenplay penned by Danny with fellow first-timer Bill Hinzman, but based on Bluey and Content executive producer Daley Pearson's short-film concept — yes, that Bluey — shaking hands with the distinctive meat hook is a party trick and dare as well. When the living are palm to palm with this dead duke, in flows a conjuring. A candle is lit, "talk to me" must be uttered, then "I let you in". Once heads are kicking back and the voices start, no one should grasp on for more than 90 seconds, as Hayley (Zoe Terakes, Nine Perfect Strangers) and Joss (Chris Alosio, Millie Lies Low) explain. But, as she navigates the anniversary of her mother's death, Mia (Sophie Wilde, Boy Swallows Universe) is up for going as far as she can. Here, being consumed by sinister spirits, not consuming booze, is an escape. That, and filming whatever twisted chaos happens when you connect with the otherworldly. It isn't all fun and frights and games, though; when her best friend Jade's (Alexandra Jensen, Joe vs Carole) 14-year-old brother Riley (Joe Bird, First Day) takes part, traumatic consequences spring. AACTAs Won: Best Film, Best Direction (Danny and Michael Philippou), Best Lead Actress (Sophie Wilde), Best Editing, Best Hair and Makeup, Best Original Score, Best Screenplay, Best Sound. Where to watch it: Talk to Me streams via Netflix, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review, and our interview with Danny Philippou. Limbo When Ivan Sen sent a police detective chasing a murdered girl and a missing woman in the Australian outback in 2013's Mystery Road and its 2016 sequel Goldstone, he saw the country's dusty, rust-hued expanse in sun-bleached and eye-scorching colour. In the process, the writer, director, co-producer, cinematographer, editor and composer used his first two Aussie noir films and their immaculately shot sights to call attention to how the nation treats people of colour — historically since its colonial days and still now well over two centuries later. Seven years after the last Jay Swan movie, following a period that's seen that character make the leap to the small screen in three television seasons, Sen returned with a disappearance, a cop, all that inimitable terrain and the crimes against its Indigenous inhabitants that nothing can hide. Amid evident similarities, there's a plethora of differences between the Mystery Road franchise and Limbo; however, one of its simplest is also one of its most glaring and powerful: shooting Australia's ochre-toned landscape in black and white. Limbo's setting: Coober Pedy, the globally famous "opal capital of the world" that's known for its underground dwellings beneath the blazing South Australian earth, but reimagined as the fictional locale that shares the film's name — a place unmistakably sporting an otherworldly topography dotted by dugouts to avoid the baking heat, and that hasn't been able to overcome the murder of a local Indigenous girl two decades earlier. The title is symbolic several times over, including to the visiting Travis Hurley (Simon Baker, Boy Swallows Universe), whose first task upon arrival is checking into his subterranean hotel, rolling up his sleeves and indulging his heroin addiction. Later, he'll be told that he looks more like a drug dealer than a police officer — but, long before then, it's obvious that his line of work and the sorrows he surveys along the way have kept him hovering in a void. While he'll also unburden a few biographical details about mistakes made and regrets held before the film comes to an end, such as while talking to the missing Charlotte Hayes' brother Charlie (Rob Collins, The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson) and sister Emma (Natasha Wanganeen, The Survival of Kindness), this tattooed cop with wings inked onto his back is already in limbo before he's literally in Limbo talking. AACTAs Won: Best Indie Film. Where to watch it: Limbo streams via iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review, and our interview with Ivan Sen and Simon Baker. The New Boy Warwick Thornton, Cate Blanchett, Deborah Mailman, Nick Cave and Warren Ellis: name a better Australian quintet. The director of Samson & Delilah and Sweet Country, the two-time Oscar-winner and Tár tour de force, the local screen mainstay, and the Bad Seeds bandmates and seasoned film composers all combine not for the ultimate Aussie dinner party, but for The New Boy. None are debuting in their jobs. All are exceptional. They're each made better, however, by the luminous and entrancing Aswan Reid. As well as playing the titular part, the 11-year-old first-time actor lives it among such a wealth of acclaimed and experienced talent — and he's such a find in such excellent company, while saying little in words but everything in every other way, that Thornton's third fictional feature owes him as much of a debt as its applauded and awarded household names. There's a spark to Reid from the moment that he's first spied grappling with outback law enforcement under blazing rays as Cave and Ellis' (This Much I Know to Be True) latest rousing score plays. His sun-bleached hair couldn't be more fitting, or symbolic, but it's the confident way in which he holds himself as New Boy, plus the determined look on his face, that sears. Wily and wiry, the feature's eponymous figure is toppled by a boomerang, then bagged up and transported to the remote Catholic orphanage doted on by Sister Eileen (Blanchett, Nightmare Alley) in the 1940s. The cop doing the escorting notes that the kid is a bolter, but the nun is just as fast in her kindness. She sees what Thornton wants his audience to see: a boy that beams with his presence and through his sense of self, even though he's been snatched up, taken from his Country and forced into a Christian institution against his will. Sister Eileen is as drawn to him as the movie, but — and not just due to the red wine she likes sipping and the subterfuge she's keeping up about the resident father's absence — she isn't as certain about what to do. AACTAs Won: Best Lead Actor in Film (Aswan Reid), Best Supporting Actress (Deborah Mailman), Best Cinematography, Best Production Design. Where to watch it: The New Boy streams via Binge, Prime Video, YouTube Movies and iTunes. Read our full review, and our interview with Warwick Thornton. John Farnham: Finding the Voice There's no need to try to understand it: John Farnham's 1986 anthem 'You're the Voice' is an instant barnstormer of a tune. An earworm then, now and for eternity, it was the Australian song of the 80s. With its layered beats, swelling force and rousing emotion, all recorded in a garage studio, it's as much of a delight when it's soundtracking comedy films like the Andy Samberg-starring Hot Rod and the Steve Coogan-led Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa as it is echoing out of every Aussie pub's jukebox. Making a noise and making it clear, 'You're the Voice' is also one of the reasons that Farnham's 1986 album Whispering Jack remains the best-selling homegrown release ever nearing four decades since it first dropped. But, as John Farnham: Finding the Voice tells, this iconic match of track and talent — this career-catapulting hit for a singer who'd initially tasted fame as a teen pop idol two decades prior — almost didn't happen. Whispering Jack also almost didn't come to fruition at all, a revelation so immense that imagining Australia without that album is like entering Back to the Future Part II's alternative 80s. Writer/director Poppy Stockwell (Scrum, Nepal Quake: Terror on Everest) and her co-scribe Paul Clarke (a co-creator of Spicks and Specks) know this, smartly dedicating a significant portion of Finding the Voice to that record and its first single. The titbits and behind-the-scenes anecdotes flow, giving context to a song almost every Aussie alive since it arrived knows in their bones. Gaynor Wheatley, the wife of Farnham's late best friend and manager Glenn, talks about how they mortgaged their house to fund the release when no label would touch the former 'Sadie (The Cleaning Lady)' crooner. Chris Thompson, the English-born, New Zealand-raised Manfred Mann's Earth Band musician who co-penned 'You're the Voice', chats about initially declining Farnham's request to turn the tune into a single after the latter fell for it via a demo. AACTAs Won: Best Documentary. Where to watch it: John Farnham: Finding the Voice streams via YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. Shayda Whether or not Noora Niasari was ever explicitly told to write what she knew, the Iranian Australian filmmaker has taken that advice to heart. Her mother listened to the same guidance first, even if it was never spoken to her, either. The latter penned a memoir that has gone unpublished, but helped form the basis of the powerful and affecting Shayda. This account of a mum and her daughter attempting to start anew in a women's shelter doesn't entirely stick to the facts that writer/director Niasari and her mother lived through. The Sundance-premiering, Melbourne International Film Festival-opening, Oscars-entered feature — it was Australia's contender for Best International Feature Film at the 2024 Academy Awards, but wasn't nominated — isn't afraid to fictionalise details in search of the best screen story. Still, the tale that's told of courage, resilience, rebuilding lives and finding a new community is deeply and patently personal. Perhaps even better, it's inescapably authentic. Niasari peers back at being barely of primary-school age and making a new home. Fleeing to a women's shelter is the only option that the film's eponymous figure (Zar Amir Ebrahimi, 2022's Cannes Best Actress-winner for Holy Spider) has to get away from the abusive Hossein (Osamah Sami, Savage River), whose controlling nature is matched by that of their patriarchal culture. So, Shayda leaves with six-year-old Mona (debutant Selina Zahednia). As she waits for her divorce proceedings to go through — a complicated task under Iranian law and customs — she seeks refuge at a secret site overseen by the caring Joyce (Leah Purcell, The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart). Even surrounded by kindness and filled with desperation for a better future, every iota of Shayda's decision is fraught and tense; Niasari starts the film with Mona at an airport being told what to do if she's ever there with her father, should he try to take her not only away from her mum but also back to Iran. AACTAs Won: Best Casting. Where to watch it: Shayda streams via YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review, and our interview with Noora Niasari. Carmen Breaking down a classic tale best known as an opera, rebuilding it as a lovers-on-the-run drama set across the US–Mexico border and making every moment burst with emotion, Benjamin Millepied's Carmen is a movie that moves. While its director is a feature debutant, his background as a dancer and choreographer — he did both on Black Swan, the latter on Vox Lux as well, then designed the latest Dune films' sandwalk — perhaps means that the former New York City Ballet principal and Paris Opera Ballet Director of Dance was fated to helm rhythmic, fluid and rousing cinema. His loose take on Georges Bizet's singing-driven show and Prosper Mérimée's novella before it, plus Alexander Pushkin's poem The Gypsies that the first is thought to be based on, is evocative and sensual. It's sumptuous and a swirl of feelings, too, as aided in no small part by its penchant for dance. And, it pirouettes with swoon-inducing strength with help from its stunningly cast leads: Scream queen and In the Heights star Melissa Barrera, plus Normal People breakout and Aftersun Oscar-nominee Paul Mescal. When Mescal earned the world's attention in streaming's initial Sally Rooney adaptation, he had viewers dreaming of fleeing somewhere — Ireland or anywhere — with him. Carmen's namesake (Barrera) absconds first, then has PTSD-afflicted Marine Aidan (Mescal) join her attempt to escape to Los Angeles. Carmen runs after her mother Zilah (flamenco dancer Marina Tamayo) greets the cartel with thunderous footwork, but can't stave off their violence. Aidan enters the story once Carmen is smuggled stateside, where he's a reluctant volunteer border guard in Texas alongside the trigger-happy Mike (Benedict Hardie, The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson). As the picture's central pair soon hurtle towards California, to Zilah's lifelong friend Masilda's (Rossy de Palma, Parallel Mothers) bar, they try to fly to whatever safety and security they can find. That may be fleeting, however, and might also be in each other's arms. AACTAs Won: Best Costume Design. Where to watch it: Carmen streams via Stan, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review, and our interview with Benjamin Millepied. The Giants Nature documentaries rarely simply spy the earth's wonders, point cameras that way and let the planet itself do the talking. Instead, films such as 2017's The Ancient Woods are by far the exception rather than the rule. And yet, the best footage within any movie about our pale blue dot makes viewers wish that more favoured the "a picture is worth a thousand words" approach. Take The Giants, for instance. When it includes talk, which is often, it's no lesser a feature. The conversation and commentary offered is illuminating, in fact. But when it wanders through Tasmania's colossal foliage within the Styx Valley, Southern Forests and the Tarkine, which is also regularly, it feels like it barely needs to utter a single thing. This isn't merely a factual affair about flora, with environmental campaigner and pioneering former Greens senator Bob Brown firmly at its core, but The Giants knows that paying tribute to both is best done by staring at leafy surroundings as much as it can. It's no everyday feat to get a movie-watching audience admiring the natural world while peering at a screen, even if the frequency with which David Attenborough's docos arrive has helped everyone both think and expect otherwise. Indeed, notching up that achievement is a mammoth accomplishment on the part of The Giants' filmmakers Laurence Billiet (Freeman) and Rachel Antony, plus cinematographer Sherwin Akbarzadeh (Carbon — The Unauthorised Biography). Crucially, it assists what was always going to be a fascinating ode to bloom as much as any plant that it waters with attention. When you're crafting a documentary that intertwines a love letter to Australia's ancient native forests and their ecosystems with a powerful portrait of a hefty figure who has devoted much of his life to fighting for them, showing all the green splendour it possibly can is equally a must and a masterstroke. AACTAs Won: Best Cinematography in a Documentary. Where to watch it: The Giants streams via DocPlay, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. Ego: The Michael Gudinski Story Post-viewing soundtrack, sorted: to watch Ego: The Michael Gudinski Story is to take a trip down memory lane with the Australian music industry and hear homegrown standouts from the past five decades along the way. Unsurprisingly, this documentary already has an album to go with it, a stacked release which'd instantly do its eponymous figure proud. His tick of approval wouldn't just stem from the artists surveyed, but because Ego: The Michael Gudinski Story's accompanying tunes comprise a three-disc number like Mushroom Records' first-ever drop, a 1973 Sunbury Festival live LP. To tell the tale of Gudinski, the record executive and promoter who became a household name, is to tell of Skyhooks, Split Enz, Hunters & Collectors, Jimmy Barnes, Paul Kelly, Kylie Minogue, Archie Roach, Yothu Yindi, Bliss n Esso, The Temper Trap, Gordi and Vance Joy, too — and to listen to them. Need this on-screen tribute to give you some kind of sign that the Gudinski and Mushroom story spans a heap of genres? Both the film and the album alike include Peter Andre. Any journey through Michael Gudinski's life and career, from his childhood entrepreneurship selling car parks on his family's vacant lot to his years and years getting Aussie music to the masses — and, on the touring side, bringing massively popular overseas artists to Aussies — needs to also be an ode to the industry that he adored. The man and scene are inseparable. But perhaps Ego: The Michael Gudinski Story plays as such an overt love letter to Australian music because it's an unashamed hagiography of Gudinski. Although the movie doesn't deliver wall-to-wall praise, it comes close. When it begins to hint at any traces of arrogance, moodiness or ruthlessness, it quickly does the doco equivalent of skipping to the next track. Australian Rules and Suburban Mayhem director Paul Goldman, a seasoned hand at music videos as well, has called his feature Ego and there's no doubting his subject had one; however, the takeaway in this highly authorised biography is that anything that doesn't gleam was simply part of his natural mischievousness and eager push for success. AACTAs Won: Best Sound in a Documentary. Where to watch it: Ego: The Michael Gudinski Story streams via YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. Small-Screen Standouts Deadloch Trust Kate McCartney and Kate McLennan, Australia's favourite Kates and funniest double act, to make a killer TV show about chasing a killer that's the perfect sum of two excellent halves. Given their individual and shared backgrounds, including creating and starring in cooking show sendup The Katering Show and morning television spoof Get Krack!n, the pair unsurprisingly add another reason to get chuckling to their resumes; however, with Deadloch, they also turn their attention to crime procedurals. The Kates already know how to make viewers laugh. They've established their talents as brilliant satirists and lovers of the absurd in the process. Now, splashing around those skills in Deadloch's exceptional eight-episode first season lead by Kate Box (Stateless) and Madeleine Sami (The Breaker Upperers), they've also crafted a dead-set stellar murder-mystery series that ranks among The Kates' best work in almost every way. The only time that it doesn't? Not putting the tremendous pair on-screen themselves. Taking place in a sleepy small town, commencing with a body on a beach, and following both the local cop trying to solve the case and the gung-ho blow-in from a big city leading the enquiries, Deadloch has all the crime genre basics covered from the get-go. The Tasmanian spot scandalised by the death is a sitcom-esque quirky community, another television staple that McCartney and McLennan nail. Parody requires deep knowledge and understanding; you can't comically rip into and riff on something if you aren't familiar with its every in and out. That said, Deadloch isn't in the business of simply mining well-worn TV setups and their myriad of conventions for giggles, although it does that expertly. With whip-smart writing, the Australian series is intelligent, hilarious, and all-round cracking as a whodunnit-style noir drama and as a comedy alike — and, as Box's by-the-book Senior Sergeant Dulcie Collins and Sami's loose and chaotic Darwin blow-in Eddie Redcliffe are forced to team up, it's also one of the streaming highlights of the past year. AACTAs Won: Best Acting in a Comedy (Kate Box), Best Casting in Television, Best Editing in Television, Best Original Score in Television, Best Screenplay in Television. Where to watch it: Deadloch streams via Prime Video. Read our full review, and our interview with Kate McCartney and Kate McLennan. The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart In The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, blooms are rarely out of sight and petals never evade attention. Adapted from Holly Ringland's 2018 novel, the seven-part Australian miniseries is set on a farm that cultivates native flora. It dubs the women who tend to them, an ensemble from various backgrounds largely seeking refuge from abusive pasts, "flowers" as well. Whether stem by stem or in bunches, its characters use florets as their own secret language. And yet, as much as bouquets linger, getting all things floral on the mind, star Sigourney Weaver burns rather than blossoms. Fire is another of the show's strong recurring motifs, so it's still fitting that its biggest name is as all-consuming as a blaze. She needs to be that scorching: this is a story about endeavouring to survive while weathering woes that ignite everything in their path. Weaver also draws upon almost five decades of thriving before the camera, often playing steely, smart and sometimes-raging women. Her on-screen career began sparking with Alien, the film that made her an instant icon. Since then, everyone has heard her performances scream — and, in The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, she's again dazzling. Flowers frequently surround Weaver's June Hart far and wide. With a carefully selected cutting, the shotgun-toting matriarch of Thornfield Flower Farm can say all she needs to. That's what the eponymous Alice (Ayla Browne, Nine Perfect Strangers) quickly learns about her grandmother when she arrives at the property following a tragedy, becoming one of the farm's flowers after losing her pregnant mother Agnes (Tilda Cobham-Hervey, Hotel Mumbai) and violent father Clem (Charlie Vickers, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power). The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart is a tale about traumas, secrets and lies that lurk as deeply as the earth — about the choices and cycles that take root in such fraught soil, too. When nine-year-old Alice relocates fresh from hospital, the determined June, her doting partner Twig (Leah Purcell, The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson) and their adopted daughter Candy Blue (Frankie Adams, The Expanse) aim to shower the girl with sunlight to blaze away her horrors. You can't just bury problems, however, then hope that something vivid and colourful will grow over the top. Dedicating its first half to Alice's childhood and its second to 14 years later, when she's in her early twenties (Alycia Debnam-Carey, Fear the Walking Dead), The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart understands this immutable fact in its core. AACTAs Won: Best Miniseries, Best Cinematography in Television, Best Production Design in Television, Best Sound in Television. Where to watch it: The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart streams via Prime Video. Read our full review. Colin From Accounts A girl, a guy and a meet-cute over an adorable animal: that's the delightful and very funny Colin From Accounts' underlying formula. When medical student Ashley (Harriet Dyer, The Invisible Man) and microbrewery owner Gordon (Patrick Brammall, Evil) cross paths in the street one otherwise standard Sydney morning, they literally come to an impasse. He lets her go first, she flashes her nipple as thanks, then he's so distracted that he hits a stray dog with his car. As these circumstances demonstrate, Colin From Accounts isn't afraid to get awkward, much to the benefit of audiences. There's a syrupy way to proceed from the show's debut moments, intertwining sparks flying with idyllic dates, plus zero doubts of a happy ending for humans and pooches alike. If this was a movie, that's how it'd happen. Then there's Dyer and Brammall's way, with the duo creating and writing the series as well as starring in it, and focusing as much on ordinary existential mayhem — working out who you want to be, navigating complex relationships and learning to appreciate the simple pleasure of someone else's company, for example — as pushing its leads together. Just like in the Hollywood versions of this kind of tale, romance does blossom. That Dyer and Brammall are behind Colin From Accounts, their past chemistry on fellow Aussie comedy No Activity and the fact that they're married IRL means that pairing them up as more than new pals was always going to be on the show's agenda. It's how the series fleshes out each character and their baggage — including those who-am-I questions, Ash's difficult dynamic with her attention-seeking mother Lynelle (Helen Thomson, Elvis), and the responsibility that running your own business and committing to care for other people each bring — that helps give it depth. Colin From Accounts lets Ash and Gordon unfurl their woes and wishes, and also lets them grow. Sometimes, that happens by peeing and pooping in the wrong place, because that's also the type of comedy this is. Sometimes, it's because the show's central couple have taken a risk, or faced their struggles, or genuinely found solace in each other. Always, this Aussie gem is breezy and weighty — and instantly bingeable. AACTAs Won: Best Narrative Comedy Series. Where to watch it: Colin From Accounts streams via Binge. Read our full review. The Newsreader Aspiring Australian actors, take note: modelling your career after Anna Torv's so far is highly recommended. She's among the lengthy list of Aussies to call The Secret Life of Us one of her launch pads (another: Joel Edgerton). For five seasons and 100 episodes, she led fantastic US sci-fi series Fringe opposite Joshua Jackson (Fatal Attraction). The Daughter and Force of Nature: The Dry 2 in cinemas, plus Secret City, Mindhunter and The Last of Us on TV: they're also on her resume, which boasts both Hollywood and homegrown standouts. In the latter category, so is The Newsreader. Debuting with a six-episode first season in 2021, returning for the same stretch in 2023 and with another half-dozen on the way in 2024, it casts Torv as Helen Norville, News at Six's first-ever female newsreader. With the show set in the 80s, that gig isn't easy as misogyny and sexism run rife in the media industry — and as major real-life events, including the Challenger explosion, the Azaria Chamberlain case, Chernobyl and the 1987 federal election, are weaved in, all requiring news coverage. Torv is unsurprisingly excellent as Helen, and also in great company. As Dale Jennings, who starts the series as a budding reporter, Sam Reid is every bit up to the task. (He'a also someone whose own filmography is impressive both at home and abroad, thanks to past parts in The Railway Man, Belle, '71, Prime Suspect 1973, Lambs of God, The Drover's Wife the Legend of Molly Johnson and the Interview with the Vampire TV series.) The Newsreader isn't just anchored by two stellar leads, however, or guided by a cast that also includes Robert Taylor (Scrublands), William McInnes (NCIS: Sydney), Michelle Lim Davidson (After the Trial), Marg Downey (Jones Family Christmas), Chum Ehelepola (Preppers) and Stephen Peacocke (Five Bedrooms). It's textured at the character level, and also enthralling in its newsroom antics and glance backwards at Australia's past. Indeed, it's no wonder that more seasons keep coming. AACTAs Won: Best Drama Series, Best Lead Actress in a Drama (Anna Torv), Best Supporting Actor in a Drama (Hunter Page-Lochard), Best Costume Design in Television, Best Direction in Drama or Comedy. Where to watch it: The Newsreader streams via ABC iView. Love Me Add Love Me to the list of Aussie dramas set in Melbourne and featuring starry casts, alongside The Secret Life of Us, Tangle and Offspring. In this one, which first arrived in 2021, then returned in 2023, the ensemble runs deep — starting with Hugo Weaving (The Royal Hotel) and Bojana Novakovic (Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)). Bob Morley (In Limbo), Celia Pacquola (Utopia), Heather Mitchell (Jones Family Christmas), William Lodder (Bali 2002) and Shalom Brune-Franklin (The Tourist) also feature. Kim Gyngell (The Artful Dodger), Eryn Jean Norvill (Preppers) and Frank Woodley (The Ex-PM) each pop up as well. Given that this is a series about a family and their complicated romantic relationships, the who's who-esque roster of familiar Aussie talent is particularly fitting. The show steps inside the Mathieson clan's amorous ups and downs, in this Aussie adaptation of Sweden's Älska mig, and with such superb casting instantly creating a sense of intimacy in an effort that marked Binge's first local series when it initially debuted. Weaving's Glenn is the father of Novakovic's Clara and Lodder's Aaron. They quickly have death to deal with, as well as love; that life is messy thrums through the series from the outset. What stands out isn't always every minute detail in the plot, as universal and relatable as the storylines are, but the folks navigating it. That, again, is a testament to such savvy casting. Of course, putting Weaving is anything is usually reason enough to press play, especially when he's in thoughtful and layered mode as an everyman grappling with the fact that existence brings pain as well as joy. Amid the scenic vision of Melbourne roved over by helmers Emma Freeman (The Newsreader) and Bonnie Moir (Foe's second-unit director), this series brings characters to the screen with deeply engaging performances that feel layered and lived-in, and worth spending time with. AACTAs Won: Best Lead Actor in a Drama (Hugo Weaving), Best Supporting Actress in a Drama (Heather Mitchell). Where to watch it: Love Me streams via Binge.
Not all that long ago, the idea of getting cosy on your couch, clicking a few buttons, and having thousands of films and television shows at your fingertips seemed like something out of science fiction. Now, it's just an ordinary night — whether you're virtually gathering the gang to text along, cuddling up to your significant other or shutting the world out for some much needed me-time. Of course, given the wealth of options to choose from, there's nothing ordinary about making a date with your chosen streaming platform. The question isn't "should I watch something?" — it's "what on earth should I choose?". Hundreds of titles are added to Australia's online viewing services each and every month, all vying for a spot on your must-see list. And, so you don't spend 45 minutes scrolling and then being too tired to actually commit to watching anything, we're here to help. From the latest and greatest to old favourites, here are our picks for your streaming queue from November. NEW STUFF TO WATCH NOW https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7QpnvmMmag&feature=emb_logo PALM SPRINGS It wasn't the first movie to play with temporal trickery; however, Groundhog Day has a lot to answer for. Films about folks stuck in a loop, repeating the same day or events over and over, now almost comprise their own genre — but, wearing its allegiance to the aforementioned Bill Murray-starring comedy on its sleeves, Palm Springs is one of the best of them. Here, Brooklyn Nine-Nine's Andy Samberg plays Nyles, who has ventured to the titular location with his girlfriend Misty (Meredith Hagner, Brightburn) to attend a friend's nuptials. He gets drunk, makes a speech and a scene, befriends fellow wedding guest Sarah (Cristin Milioti, Modern Love) and disappears into a cave, warning the latter not to follow. When dawn breaks, it's the same day again. Then variations on the same events happen once more, and they just keep repeating over and over. Also featuring an initially intense JK Simmons (21 Bridges) as another ceremony attendee, Palm Springs has a wealth of fun with its concept, and becomes one of the year's most enjoyable movies in the process. Produced by Samberg alongside his Lonely Island colleagues Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone, directed by feature first-timer Max Barbakow and written by Lodge 49's Andy Siara, it also finds its own way to grapple with the time-loop genre's usual elements — the repetition that feels like being stuck in purgatory, and the existential malaise that comes with it — in a smart and funny rom-com that boasts particularly great performances from Samberg and Milioti. Palm Springs is available to stream via Amazon Prime Video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vv-Mb4vTxj0 WE ARE WHO WE ARE Two on-screen tales about American teenagers in Italy. Two floppy-haired male leads oozing with uncertainty and yearning. One filmmaker. After Call Me By Your Name, Luca Guadagnino returns to familiar territory with HBO miniseries We Are Who We Are — and if its star Jack Dylan Grazer reminds you of the now ultra-famous Timothée Chalamet, that's completely unsurprising; in 2018's Beautiful Boy (not directed by Guadagnino), the former even played a younger version of the latter's character. But don't go mistaking Guadagnino's eight-part TV show for a mere or lazy rehash of the director's past work. Following two neighbouring 14-year-olds who live on a US army base with their enlisted parents, including Grazer's newly arrived loner, We Are Who We Are once again taps into universal themes about finding one's own identity and place in the world, and navigating affairs of the heart as well, but it definitely has its own story to tell. Also starring first-timer Jordan Kristine Seamón, plus Chloë Sevigny (Queen & Slim), Alice Braga (The New Mutants), Scott Mescudi (aka Bill & Ted Face the Music's Kid Cudi), Francesca Scorsese (daughter of iconic filmmaker Martin Scorsese) and Tom Mercier (Synonyms), this patient yet involving series once again boasts Guadagnino's eye for gorgeous and revealing imagery, though, with every intoxicating shot (and every camera angle and placement used for each shot) luring viewers in. We Are Who We Are is available to stream via SBS On Demand. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BVoYKwTc4E AUNTY DONNA'S BIG OL' HOUSE OF FUN 2019's I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson was the best sketch comedy of that year. In 2020, the equivalent title goes to Aunty Donna's Big Ol' House of Fun. If you're familiar with Australian comedy troupe Aunty Donna, then you'll know what to expect. Writers and performers Mark Samual Bonanno, Broden Kelly and Zachary Ruane, director and writer Sam Lingham, filmmaker Max Miller and composer Tom Armstrong have been treating audiences to absurdist gags, satire, wordplay and songs since forming in 2011 — but now the group has channelled all of its silliness and surreal gags, and its astute ability to make fun of daily life in a smart yet ridiculous way, into a six-part Netflix series. Bonanno, Kelly and Ruane star as themselves, and housemates. Each episode revolves around a theme, starting with the search for a fourth member of their household when they decide to turf their annoying talking dishwasher (voiced by Flight of the Conchords' Kristen Schaal). There's nothing too over-the-top for Aunty Donna, or too trivial, including treasure hunts, an out-there recreation of Ellen DeGeneres' talk show, a pitch-perfect takedown of trendy barber shops to a parody of male posturing when the guys turn their house into a bar. And there's little on offer in the extremely binge-able show that doesn't deliver just the dose of side-splitting absurdity that this hectic year needs. Aunty Donna's Big Ol' House of Fun is available to stream via Netflix. Read our full review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5FXjdKxgrA LEAP OF FAITH: WILLIAM FRIEDKIN ON THE EXORCIST First, a word to the wise: if you haven't already seen The Exorcist, you'll want to give it a whirl before checking out this new Shudder documentary. And even if you've watched the iconic horror movie so many times that you've memorised every crucifix and spinning head, revisiting it is never a bad idea; this in-depth examination of the 1973 hit by the filmmaker behind it will certainly make you want to as soon as possible. Leap of Faith: William Friedkin on The Exorcist is as straightforward as its title intimates. For the movie's 104-minute running time, the director also responsible for The French Connection, Sorcerer and Killer Joe chats through the feature he's best known for, explaining both behind-the-scenes and on-screen details. Expect an insight into the battles to even get The Exorcist to the screen, anecdotes about the quest to find the exact right stars for this unsettling tale of demon possession and insider recollections about the now-85-year-old Friedkin's wide-ranging career in general. Indeed, it's impressive just how wide a range of topics and themes this doco covers, proving absolute catnip for cinephiles. Leap of Faith's own filmmaker Alexandre O Philippe is known for diving deep into great screen works, as seen in 78/52 (about Psycho) and Memory: The Origins of Alien (about, well, Alien), after all. Leap of Faith: William Friedkin on The Exorcist is available to stream via Shudder. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEv0xy7p5Rg GANGS OF LONDON When crime kingpin Finn Wallace (Colm Meaney, Seberg) is killed unexpectedly after a 20-year reign over London's illicit dealings, the city's underworld is forced to react. The first order of business: find out who ordered the assassination, which is Finn's brooding, grieving and quick-to-react son Sean's (Joe Cole, One of These Days) only priority, and one he's determined to pursue at any cost. At first, it seems as if Gangs of London's nine-episode debut season is simply charting familiar territory — because many a movie and TV show about mobsters has focused on shock hits, succession scrambles and bloody fights over turf. But this British series has a particular strength that none of its genre compatriots can boast, aka filmmaker Gareth Evans. He's the director behind The Raid and its 2014 sequel The Raid 2: Berandal. If you've seen those two movies, that should be all you need to know. Here, Evans' penchant for balletic brutality and exquisitely shot and choreographed action scenes is on full display once again. He doesn't just rely upon intense, ultra-violent fights to keep viewers interested in this contemporary-set gang epic, though, plotting out an intricate world filled with meaningful, memorable and menacing characters (and just as impressive performances). Gangs of London's first season is available to stream via Stan. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDrieqwSdgI THE QUEEN'S GAMBIT In much of The Queen's Gambit, Beth Harmon sits at a chessboard. As a child (Isla Johnston), she demands that orphanage janitor Mr Shaibel (Bill Camp, The Outsider) teach her the game. As a teenager (Anya Taylor-Joy, Radioactive), she earns a reputation as a chess prodigy. As her confidence and fame grows, she demonstrates her prowess at tournaments around America and the globe, while also spending her spare time hunched over knights, rooks, bishops and pawns studying moves and tactics. None of the above sounds like innately thrilling television unless you're a chess grandmaster, but this seven-part miniseries proves that you should never judge a show by its brief description. Based on the novel of the same name by Walter Tevis, written and directed by Oscar-nominee Scott Frank (Out of Sight, Logan), and dripping with lavish 50s and 60s decor and costuming to reflect its period setting, The Queen's Gambit doesn't expect that all its viewers will be chess aficionados; however, it's made with a canny awareness that anything can be tense, suspenseful and involving — and that every different type of game there is says much about its players and devotees. The series doesn't lack in creative and inventive ways to depict chess on-screen. It knows when to hang on every single move of a pivotal game, and when to focus on the bigger story surrounding a particular match or Beth path through the chess world in general. And it's especially astute at illustrating how a pastime based on precision and strategy offers an orphaned girl a way to control one lone aspect of her tumultuous and constantly changing life. The Queen's Gambit is available to stream via Netflix. Read our full review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4X9fQsiAOQ FIREBALL: VISITORS FROM DARKER WORLDS Werner Herzog could make a documentary about absolutely any topic and, as long as the great filmmaker narrated it himself in his inimitable tones and with his lyrical, observational prose, it'd be worth checking out. As his on-screen acting roles in the likes of Jack Reacher, Parks and Recreation and The Mandalorian have shown, listening to his voice is one of life's purest joys — and, in Fireball: Visitors From Darker Worlds, he spends his time talking about a riveting topic. Reuniting with University of Cambridge professor Clive Oppenheimer, who he worked with on the volcano-focused Into the Inferno, Herzog turns his attention to meteors. As well as searching for sites where they've fallen from the sky and made a literal impact, his new doco surveys experts from around the world, explores meteors in both ancient and recent times, and looks at the subject from a scientific, historical, archaeological and anthropological basis as well. From the Norwegian jazz musician who collects micrometeorites to the way that rocks descending from the heavens have played a part in Indigenous Australian culture, Fireball: Visitors From Darker Worlds is never anything less than fascinating. And, it also sees Herzog describe one part of the globe as "so godforsaken it makes you want to cry", which just might be one of his best turns of phrase yet. Fireball: Visitors From Darker Worlds is available to stream via Apple TV+. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYY0QJhlXjc HIS HOUSE Stories about fleeing persecution are innately horrifying, but His House makes viewers confront the scenario in a visceral and purposefully confronting way. That's what happens when you pair an unsettling real-world situation that's distressingly common with the horror genre — using the latter to augment and emphasise the terror of the former, as His House does commandingly. The first feature from writer/director Remi Weekes, this British-set movie follows Bol (Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù, the aforementioned Gangs of London) and Rial (Wunmi Mosaku, Lovecraft Country) from war-torn South Sudan, across the Mediterranean by boat, into detention in the UK and finally to a home on the edge of London. They're thrilled to have made the journey safely, albeit at a significant personal cost that neither can shake, and they're initially excited to have a place to call their own. But, after their case worker Mark (Matt Smith, Official Secrets) gives them the keys, the couple's new abode turns into a nightmare. It doesn't help that Bol is certain that they need to farewell everything about their own culture to show the government that they deserve to stay, while Rial is rightly resistant to that idea. The pair are quite literally haunted, though, as Weekes manifests in eerie detail in a movie that cleverly and compellingly (and creepily, too) interrogates the refugee experience. His House is available to stream via Netflix. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfiH_526qhY THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SPONGE ON THE RUN Never let anyone tell you that SpongeBob SquarePants is just for kids. The long-running show about the absorbent, yellow and porous sea critter has always proved otherwise, but his big-screen adventures wholeheartedly make the case — because when you have Keanu Reeves playing a talking sage tumbleweed that's also a sage that dispenses wisdom, that pitch-perfect piece of casting is 100-percent aimed at adults. Yes, that's something that happens in The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run, and more often than you might expect. Yes, it's delightful. There are more surreal and absurd gags where that came from, too, which has always been SpongeBob's appeal for older viewers. Story-wise, the movie — SpongeBob's third, after 2004's The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie and 2015's The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water — sees everyone's favourite Bikini Bottom resident leave his pineapple under the sea in search of his kidnapped pet snail Gary, with the vain King Poseidon (as voiced by What We Do in the Shadows star and Sponge Out of Water alum Matt Berry) the culprit. It's silly, it's sweet, it's chaotic and, although the flashbacks to SpongeBob's childhood are just a blatant way to promote a new TV spinoff, it's supremely entertaining. The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run is available to stream via Netflix. CULT CLASSICS TO REVISIT AND REDISCOVER https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0xENt3xZqA THE FRESH PRINCE OF BEL-AIR Add this show about a west Philadelphia teen's life-changing move to Los Angeles to the list of classic series making a comeback in 2020. The Will Smith-starring sitcom hasn't returned in the proper sense. It is actually getting a reboot, in a darker, more dramatic form, because everything old is new again, but that was just announced a few months back and hasn't arrived just yet. Still, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air's surviving original cast members have all come together for a brand new reunion special — which Stan now has available to stream alongside each and every one of the 148 episodes that initially aired between 1990–96. Accordingly, if you'd like to while away more than a few hours, days and weeks seeing where Smith's on-screen career kicked off, laughing at The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air's fish-out-of-water premise and feeling mighty nostalgic for times gone by, now you can. You'll obviously be treated to a hefty array of 90s fashions, because that comes with the territory. And, you'll be certain to get the series' famed theme tune stuck in your head (if you haven't already while reading this paragraph, that is). Every season of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air is available to stream via Stan. Top images: The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run, Paramount Animation; The Queen's Gambit, Phil Bray/Netflix; His House, Aidan Monaghan/Netflix.
Tasmania has firmly established itself as a go-to destination on Australia's culinary map. The island's verdant farmlands and inventive chefs produce some of the finest cuisine in the country. Plus, a budding collection of paddock-to-plate restaurants are helping visitors to better appreciate the island state's incredibly rich variety of produce. Here, we've teamed up with Tourism Tasmania to highlight a selection of incredible restaurants where almost everything you feast upon is locally grown and produced. Got a penchant for restaurants that champion sustainability and seasonality? It's time to push Tassie to the top of your travel list. [caption id="attachment_866855" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Van Bone[/caption] VAN BONE Set against the backdrop of Marion Bay's picturesque coastal landscape, Van Bone's eco-conscious philosophy ensures it stands out as a quintessentially Tasmanian fine dining experience. Led by chef Tim Hardy and his partner Laura Stucken, the venue offers seasonal and hyperlocal dishes with incredible vistas and refined architecture to match. Seating just 20 guests, the intimate venue sees diners gazing upon rolling green hills as the chefs prepare the daily degustation menu in an open kitchen. Much of the produce on offer here is grown in the kitchen garden and orchard, while nearby suppliers provide everything else. [caption id="attachment_865477" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Jarrad Seng[/caption] THE AGRARIAN KITCHEN EATERY Rodney Dunn and Séverine Demanet have long been fascinated by the relationship between everyday food and the earth that provides it. After opening in 2015, The Agrarian Kitchen Eatery has helped the couple explore this dynamic further, with their spacious venue in the rural community of New Norfolk serving local, seasonal cuisine that celebrates its origins. Many of the ingredients used across the restaurant's woodfired and hot-smoked dishes are grown on a nearby farm and showcase a relaxed expression of Tasmanian cuisine focused on local, small-batch makers and producers. Soon, the duo will share their skills via a new cooking school and kitchen garden which are set to open alongside the restaurant in October this year. [caption id="attachment_865491" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Nat Mendham[/caption] STILLWATER Set in a 19th-century flour mill overlooking a charming estuary in Launceston, Stillwater has been recognised as one of the country's top paddock-to-plate restaurants since its launch. Renowned for its casual fine dining, the venue boasts a highly seasonal menu with almost everything on it grown locally. Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, Stillwater delivers a distinctly Tasmanian dining experience that's only made better by its picturesque setting. Plus, the knowledgeable staff will be more than happy to walk you through where each ingredient is sourced, from the meat to the herbs. [caption id="attachment_868520" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Jason Charles Hill[/caption] WATERLOO INN Overlooking the east coast of Tasmania about a 30-minute drive from Freycinet National Park, the Waterloo Inn offers simple, seasonal cuisine that reflects its stunning location in Swansea. Housed inside an unassuming hotel, Waterloo Point, the restaurant is guided by chef Zac Green's (ex-Movida) ode to cosy pubs that dot the island's often chilly coastline. Taking cues from the weather and the available local produce, the three-course Sunday set lunch changes by the week so it's best to keep an eye on the restaurant's socials for updates. Head along soon to experience this local favourite before it becomes a bona fide interstate icon. Booking are essential. [caption id="attachment_865478" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Liam Neal[/caption] FAT PIG FARM Matthew Evans and Sadie Chrestman (of Gourmet Farmer fame) have established Fat Pig Farm – a thriving working property that hosts a multi-course Friday Feast (as well as the occasional Thursday session) — on a 70-acre block in the Huon Valley. These long lunches almost exclusively showcase ingredients grown on the surrounding paddocks. Its heritage apple orchard, market garden, chooks, cows and namesake Wessex Saddleback pigs offer a communal experience for diners to explore the flavours of the Huon Valley. Matthew and Sadie even take guests on a guided tour of the farm between courses, bringing diners closer to the source of their food. [caption id="attachment_865479" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Kelly Slater[/caption] TIMBRE Just a short drive from Launceston in the Tamar Valley, Timbre offers an ever-changing seasonal menu that highlights the region's very best producers and growers. Plus, you can soak up the pastoral views and serene landscapes of the grounds of adjacent Vélo Wines as you enjoy a variety of woodfired dishes. You can choose from standard or deluxe banquets or opt for a selection of tasty shared plates. Although the offering is constantly changing, some recent highlights include pork rib with fermented manzano chilli and miso caramel mousse topped with honeycomb. With exceptional wine coming from the vines outside, Timbre is a must-visit dining destination to add to your Tasmanian food itinerary. Ready to plan a trip for your tastebuds around Tasmania? To discover more, visit the website. Top image: Tourism Tasmania and Peter Whyte
When it comes to one of the easiest pastimes there is — sitting on the couch and staring at a screen — the streaming era has brought about plenty of changes. We all now spend more time than anyone should deciding what to view next, for example, and we tend to know if and where you can watch Friends at any given moment. Another big shift: movies that bypass cinemas no longer arrive with an asterisk next to their name. That didn't ever quite happen literally, obviously, but skipping the big screen and heading straight to home entertainment wasn't really seen as a great sign. These days, however, streaming platforms are delivering top-notch flicks week in, week out — all ready to be viewed and enjoyed by your ravenous eyeballs while you're wearing your pyjamas. Across the first half of 2021, everything from potent Oscar-nominated dramas to caustic and twisty thrillers have made their way to audiences solely via streaming services. Also on the list: spirited coming-of-age flicks, engaging documentaries and a deliciously entertaining movie about a killer pair of jeans. From the year's straight-to-streaming haul so far, we've picked the films that deserve your attention — and one must-see comedy special that runs as long as a movie as well. ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI Pondering the conversations that might've occurred between four pivotal historical figures on one very real evening they spent in each other's company, One Night in Miami boasts the kind of talk-heavy concept that'd clearly work well on the stage. That's where it first began back in 2013 — but adapting theatre pieces for the cinema doesn't always end in success, especially when they primarily involve large swathes of dialogue exchanged in one setting. If Beale Street Could Talk Oscar-winner and Watchmen Emmy-winner Regina King doesn't make a single wrong move here, however. The actor's feature directorial debut proves a film not only of exceptional power and feeling, but of abundant texture and detail as well. It's a movie about people and ideas, including the role the former can play in both bolstering and counteracting the latter, and the Florida-set picture takes as much care with its quartet of protagonists as it does with the matters of race, politics and oppression they talk about. Given the folks involved, there's much to discuss. The film takes place on February 25, 1964, which has become immortalised in history as the night that Cassius Clay (Eli Goree, Riverdale) won his first title fight. Before and after the bout, the future Muhammad Ali hangs out with his equally important pals — activist Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-Adir, High Fidelity), footballer Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge, The Invisible Man) and musician Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr, Hamilton) — with this equally meticulous and moving Oscar-nominee ficitionalising their time together. One Night in Miami is available to stream via Amazon Prime Video. I CARE A LOT She didn't end up with an Oscar for her efforts, but Rosamund Pike's Golden Globe win for I Care a Lot was thoroughly well-deserved. The Radioactive and Gone Girl star is stellar in a tricky part in a thorny film — because this dark comic-thriller isn't here to play nice. Pike plays Marla Grayson, a legal guardian to as many elderly Americans as she can convince the courts to send her way. She's more interested in the cash that comes with the job, however, rather than actually looking after her charges. Indeed, with her girlfriend and business partner Fran (Eiza González, Bloodshot), plus an unscrupulous doctor on her payroll, she specifically targets wealthy senior citizens with no family, gets them committed to her care, packs them off to retirement facilities and plunders their bank accounts. Then one such ploy catches the attention of gangster Roman Lunyov (Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones), who dispatches his minions to nudge Marla in a different direction. She isn't willing to acquiesce, though, sparking both a game of cat and mouse and a showdown. Dinklage makes the most of his role, too, but I Care a Lot is always the icy Pike's movie. Well, hers and writer/director J Blakeson's (The Disappearance of Alice Creed), with the latter crafting a takedown of capitalism that's savagely blunt but also blisteringly entertaining. I Care a Lot is available to stream via Amazon Prime Video. SLAXX Ask any style guru for their opinion on denim, and they'll all likely give the same answer. Everyone needs a pair of killer jeans, after all — the type that fit perfectly, flatter every inch of your lower half, and that you just don't want to ever take off. In Slaxx, CCC is the store aiming to make all of the above happen. Already priding itself on its eco-friendly, sustainable, sweatshop-free threads, the chain is set to launch a new range of denim that moulds to the wearer's body, with the company's buzzword-spouting CEO (Stephen Bogaert, IT: Chapter Two) certain that they'll change the fashion industry. On the night before the jeans hit the shelves, employees at one store are tasked with making sure everything goes smoothly; however, as new hire Libby (Romane Denis, My Salinger Year), apathetic veteran employee Shruti (Sehar Bhojani, Sex & Ethnicity) and their over-eager boss Craig (Brett Donahue, Private Eyes) soon learn, these are killer jeans in a very literal sense. Quickly, the ravenous pants start stalking and slaying their way through the store. It's a concept that'd do Rubber's Quentin Dupieux proud and, in the hands of Canadian filmmaker Elza Kephart (Go in the Wilderness), the results are highly entertaining. Slaxx wears its equally silly and savage attitude like a second skin, smartly skewers consumerism and retail trends, and possesses stellar special effects that bring its denim to life — and, although never subtle (including in its performances), it's exactly as fun as a film about killer jeans should be. Slaxx is available to stream via Shudder. AND TOMORROW THE ENTIRE WORLD Submitted as Germany's entry for Best International Feature at this year's Oscars, And Tomorrow the Entire World mightn't have ultimately earned a nomination or the prized gong itself, but it's still a compelling and confronting — and timely — film. And, an impassioned one as well, with filmmaker Julia von Heinz (I'm Off Then) leaving zero doubt about her feelings on the re-emergence of right-wing extremist views in general, and specifically in a country that'll never escape the shadow of the Holocaust. University law student Luisa (Mala Emde, Shadowplay) swiftly shares her director's horror and anger. Brought up in comfortable middle-class surroundings, and in a family where taking a weekend hunting trip is commonplace, she has her eyes opened at school when she joins an anti-fascist group. They're soon doing whatever it takes to combat hate-filled ideologies, including letting their actions speak louder than words; however, the stakes are raised when they endeavour to thwart an upcoming attack. Aesthetically, von Heinz opts for edge-of-your seat immersion. Feeling like you're in Luisa's shoes as she steps into a topical conflict is part of the experience, as is feeling her struggles as she grapples with the reality of counteracting abhorrent views by violent means. Emde is exceptional in the lead role, pulsating with urgency in even the quietest of scenes — as does everything in the film. And Tomorrow the Entire World is available to stream via Netflix. HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY: THE REN & STIMPY STORY When August 2021 rolls around, it'll mark 30 years since a psychotic chihuahua and a kindly cat first brought their chaos to the small screen and changed the way people think about Nickelodeon's animated shows. At the time, there was simply nothing like The Ren & Stimpy Show — and that applies to its dark humour, willingness to shock and often grotesquely detailed visuals, as well as its characters, storylines and jokes. The 52-episode show also proved immensely influential. Without it, SpongeBob SquarePants probably wouldn't exist, in fact. But the history of Ren & Stimpy is filled with both highs and lows, as documentary Happy Happy Joy Joy: The Ren & Stimpy Story explores. More than just a nostalgic look back, this chronicle by first-time directors Ron Cicero and Kimo Easterwood covers the series' origins, evolution and success, as well as its behind-the-scenes struggles and eventual demise. It chats with the folks who made it happen to examine why it struck such a chord, and to also make plain the reality of making such a hit. And, it doesn't shy away from the accusations levelled at John Kricfalusi, Ren & Stimpy's creator and the voice of Ren, including not only the difficult working environment that sprang under his watch, but the allegations of sexual abuse and grooming that came to light in 2018. Indeed, the latter could fuel its documentary, but here it adds another layer to the tale of a TV show unlike anything else, and the ego that both made it happen and caused its downfall. Happy Happy Joy Joy: The Ren & Stimpy Story is available to stream via Docplay. VIOLATION The rape-revenge genre isn't new, but two of the most powerful films to reach Australian audiences this year step into it with unflinching confidence. They do more than that, though. They savagely dissect society's willingness to accept that sexual assault is part of our culture — and misogyny, too. They demand that their audience not only spend almost two hours thinking about a subject so many would rather avoid, but that they have a visceral reaction. The movies: Promising Young Woman and Violation. Both are the product of first-time feature directors. Both include women among their filmmakers, either solely or as half of a duo. Both are anchored by blistering lead performances as well, and neither fades quickly (or at all) from memory. They'd make a stellar double bill; however, tonally, they each march to their own beat. In Violation's case, co-writer and co-director Madeleine Sims-Fewer (Operation Avalanche) stars as Miriam. As she visits her sister Greta (Anna Maguire, The Hummingbird Project) and brother-in-law Dylan (Jesse LaVercombe, Murdoch Mysteries), it soon becomes obvious that more than just a happy reunion is on the cards. Playing a traumatised woman soon grappling the reality of vengeance in a primal and tangible way, Sims-Fewer puts in a performance that it's impossible to look away from, but that's just one of the savvy steps that the actor/filmmaker and her co-director Dusty Mancinelli take. Violation is available to stream via Shudder. MOXIE When Amy Poehler made her feature directorial debut with 2019's Wine Country, movie magic wasn't splashed across the small screen. But thankfully Moxie is now here to wipe that underwhelming comedy out of viewers' minds — and to demonstrate Poehler's knack at helming a high school-set tale of blossoming feminist activism. Adapted from the 2015 novel of the same name, the film follows 16-year-old Vivian (Hadley Robinson, I'm Thinking of Ending Things). Quiet, studious and happy hanging out with her similarly introverted best friend Claudia (Lauren Tsai, Legion), she has always known that her male classmates have an attitude problem, and that their teachers and the general status quo both enable it. But, until newcomer Lucy (Alycia Pascual-Pena, Saved by the Bell) arrives, she's never been willing to rock the boat and fight for change. Inspired by her mother's (Poehler) crusading teen years, she starts a zine that calls out the toxic behaviour around her. That's where the film gets its title, and her school is scandalised by the homemade publication's pages. Story-wise, Moxie isn't big on surprises, especially if you've seen more than a couple of teen flicks in your time, as everyone has. Nonetheless, it's always as impassioned about its tale and as angry about the way the world treats anyone who isn't a white male as it is engaging and hopeful. And, as it follows the quest for equality being passed from one generation to another, it boasts a stellar soundtrack — including Bikini KIll's 'Rebel Girl', of course. Moxie is available to stream via Netflix. OXYGEN When Elizabeth Hansen (Mélanie Laurent, 6 Underground) awakens in a cryogenic chamber, she doesn't know who she is, where she is or why she's there. She's strapped in via an array of invasive tubes and restrictive belts, the pod's oxygen levels are rapidly depleting and, in trying to work out what's going on and how to survive, she only has the unit's artificial intelligence program, called MILO (voiced by Sound of Metal's Mathieu Amalric), on hand. That's how Oxygen starts, taking cues from everything from Buried to Locke. But each engaging single-setting, talk-driven thriller lives or dies on the strength of its story, dialogue and cast, all of which hit their marks here. It helps having Laurent at the film's centre, as tends to happen when the French Inglourious Basterds star is pushed into the spotlight. Also pivotal: director Alexandre Aja's horror background, which includes the remake of The Hills Have Eyes and 2019's Crawl. As he demonstrated with the latter, he's particularly skilled at not merely working with familiar tropes and conventions, but at getting the most out of them. Accordingly, even as Oxygen nods to a wealth of one-location and survival flicks — and a hefty number of closed-in sci-fi movies as well — it still grippingly wrings every ounce of tension it can out of its nightmarish scenario. Oxygen is available to stream via Netflix. THE AMUSEMENT PARK In 1968, George A Romero changed cinema forever. Night of the Living Dead, his first film, was famously made on a tiny budget — but it swiftly became the zombie movie that's influenced every single other zombie movie that's ever followed. His resume from there is filled with other highlights, including further Dead films and the astonishing Martin, but one of his intriguing features didn't actually see the light of day until recently. It was also commissioned by the Lutheran Service Society of Western Pennsylvania to preach the evils of elder abuse, which isn't the type of thing that can be said about any other flick. The Amusement Park is incredibly effective in getting that message across, actually. As star Lincoln Maazel explains in the introduction, it aims to make its statement by putting the audience in its ageing characters' shoes, conveying their ill-treatment just for their advancing years and showing the chaos they feel as a result. That's the exact outcome as Maazel plays an older man who spends a day wandering around the titular setting, only to be constantly disregarded, denigrated, laughed at and pushed aside as hellishness greets him at every turn. Romero's film is grim, obvious and absurd all at once, and it's a powerful and winning combination in his hands. The Amusement Park is available to stream via Shudder. BO BURNHAM: INSIDE Watching Bo Burnham: Inside, a stunning fact becomes evident. A life-changing realisation, really. During a period when most people tried to make sourdough, pieced together jigsaws and spent too much time on Zoom, Bo Burnham created a comedy masterpiece. How does he ever top a special this raw, insightful, funny, clever and of the moment? How did he make it to begin with? How does anyone ever manage to capture every emotion that we've all felt about lockdowns — and about the world's general chaos, spending too much time on the internet, capitalism's exploitation and just the general hellscape that is our modern lives, too — in one 90-minute musical-comedy whirlwind? Filmed in one room of his house over several months (and with his hair and beard growth helping mark the time), Inside unfurls via songs about being stuck indoors, video chats, today's performative society, sexting, ageing and mental health. Burnham sings and acts, and also wrote, directed, shot, edited and produced the whole thing, and there's not a moment, image or line that goes to waste. Being trapped in that room with the Promising Young Woman star and Eighth Grade filmmaker, and therefore being stuck inside the closest thing he can find to manifesting his mind outside his skull, becomes the best kind of rollercoaster ride. Just try getting Burnham's tunes out of your head afterwards, too, because this is an oh-so-relatable and insightful special that lingers. It's also the best thing that's been made about this pandemic yet, hands down. Bo Burnham: Inside is available to stream via Netflix. Looking for more viewing highlights? Check out our list of film and TV streaming recommendations, which is updated monthly.
Right near Paddington's well-known Five Ways junction, a vintage set of Swedish industrial windows give way to Saint Cloche, an independent art gallery championing contemporary Australian art and some of the best fresh creatives behind works worth investing in or simply observing in-person. Inside the space, concrete, glass metal and polished marble provide the ideal blank canvas for a number of exhibits, works and installations thoughtfully chosen by gallery founder and curator Kitty Clark. At any given time on display you'll find art from many disciplines and mediums, including painting, photography, ceramics and sculpture created by both up-and-coming and well-established artists — all in a non-intimidating setting that draws prospective collectors in and encourages aficionados to better connect with the work. Saint Cloche also exclusively represents an excellent lineup of local artists including Leanne Xiu Williams, Saxon Quinn and Evi O for any purchases of works or potential commissions, should you be in the market for a specific special something. The space is also available or functions, as well as hosting a number of artistic workshops throughout the year. Saint Cloche opening hours Wednesday to Saturday: 10am-5pm Sunday: 11am-4pm Monday and Tuesday: By appointment only Public Holidays: Closed For details of upcoming shows or to peruse works available for purchase visit the website. Images: Kitti Gould
On Wednesday, August 21, the front page of The Sydney Morning Herald led with an explosive exposé revealing a culture of on-the-clock drug use, sexual abuse and unsafe work environments for female employees across the Swillhouse Group's collection of Sydney venues, including Shady Pines, Restaurant Hubert, Alberto's Lounge, the Caterpillar Club and the now-closed Frankie's Pizza. The bombshell report by Sydney Morning Herald's investigative reporter Eryk Bagshaw and Good Food reporter Bianca Hrovat contained shocking allegations including experiences of sexual assault, sexually inappropriate behaviour from male staff, and staff being pressured into drug and alcohol use. The report, which was compiled from a months-long investigation, also found failures in management with complaints from staff minimised or improperly resolved. Swillhouse Group CEO Anton Forte was aware of this misconduct and made various attempts to curtail certain behaviours amongst his staff, including hiring an HR specialist and introducing specific sexual harassment policies. In 2023, Forte went as far as prohibiting 50 percent discounts and free knock-off drinks for staff in an attempt to "prioritise and promote a culture of safety and wellbeing". The report stressed that Forte himself has never been accused of misconduct by his staff. The backlash against Swillhouse Group in the wake of the report has been searing. Hundreds of comments from customers have appeared on the Swillhouse Group's various Instagram accounts. One comment posted to Restaurant Hubert's feed read: "So disappointed and sickened to read the article in the SMH about sexual abuse. Abusing women like that for your fun has a detrimental affect on them that has lifelong consequences. The worst thing is that you'll say something to the media and that will be it, nothing will change." Another added, "So disappointed. You were my favourite place in Sydney, but I'm so sad for all the women who have had to endure such horrible things - and that's just the stuff we know about from the ones who have been brave enough to speak out!" [caption id="attachment_932655" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Andrea Veltom[/caption] Industry backlash has been just as swift. Swillhouse Group's debut culinary and music festival, Swillfest, which was due to take place on September 21 with tickets already sold out, was cancelled after major sponsors, artists and masterclass chefs pulled out en masse. The respected hospitality magazine Gourmet Traveller also announced that it would be removing Restaurant Hubert from the digital iteration of its prestigious annual Restaurant Guide, although the venue will still appear in the already-produced print edition. Editor Joanna Hunkin said in a statement relating to the removal of Restaurant Hubert: "While these allegations are not isolated, I cannot stress enough, it is not the prevailing norm. We cannot let this tarnish an entire industry, which is full of decent, hard-working and conscientious humans." Revered chef Neil Perry — one of the nation's most respected restaurateurs and the chair of the Australian Restaurant and Cafe Association — confirmed to The Herald that Forte would be stepping down from his position on the board of the Association with immediate effect. On the evening of Thursday, August 22, Swillhouse issued an apology via its social media channels, emphasising that the reports of abuse were historical and also announcing the cancellation of its upcoming Swillfest. "This week, our business has faced scrutiny with distressing claims about how Swillhouse used to operate in the past. We sincerely apologise to anyone who has felt hurt, unsafe, unprotected, triggered, or unheard. We particularly extend this apology to our female staff, guests, friends and family," the statement reads. It continues: "We acknowledge that Swillhouse was not always perfect and that we got things wrong in the past. We sincerely regret that any of our former staff have felt let down or unsafe. Questions about workplace safety and inclusiveness have been an industry-wide issue, and we are committed to being part of the solution, not the problem. Several years ago we began the process of building a better workplace where our people feel protected and where those poor behaviours are not tolerated. No one should feel unsafe in their workplace. That's not OK. "While we cannot right the wrongs of the past, we acknowledge them and apologise for any hurt caused. We assure our people, our customers, our friends and our patrons that we currently have best practice policies and processes in place to ensure our people work in the safest possible environment today and tomorrow. "We understand and respect community expectations and, today, are proud to have a workplace that is inclusive and diverse, where our people have a voice and we listen and support them. We recognise we can always be better and are making our workplace systems and support even stronger. "Our responsibility and focus right now is to our people and their wellbeing and for this reason, we don't feel it's appropriate to go ahead with plans for Swillfest on 21 September." View this post on Instagram A post shared by Swillhouse (@swillhouse.hospitality) A follow-up article published by The Herald and Good Food on Thursday, August 22, written by journalist Dani Valent, alleged systemic failures across Australia's hospitality sector, representing "endemic" levels of widespread gender-based violence and sexual danger in the workplace. If you need to speak to someone about an experience you have had or are seeking information, please contact 1800Respect on 1800 737 732 or visit 1800respect.org.au. Top image: Kristoffer Paulsen
After conquering the western peaks, this craft beer favourite is taking on the Big Smoke. Mountain Culture Beer Co has continued to expand at an extraordinary pace since its launch in the Blue Mountains in 2019, but this latest venture, located just three kilometres from Sydney's CBD, is the brewery's first foray into a broader hospitality offering. Mountain Culture experienced a rocky first 18 months after opening its first brewery in Katoomba just prior to the COVID-19 lockdowns, but after surviving these early trials, the company bounced back and quickly outgrew its initial site, opening a second production facility in Emu Plains to meet booming demand. Since then, the business has been going from strength to strength and currently holds the title of fourth-largest independent brewer in Australia, also winning the coveted GABS Hottest 100 two years in a row. With this third venue, located within a converted warehouse in Redfern, Mountain Culture continues to bring their innovative brews to an adoring fan base. Revamped to be the perfect home for its growing popularity, the space has retained an industrial feel while incorporating custom metal work into the bar and lighting fixtures. Barrels of Mountain Culture's popular brews line the walls but leave plenty of room for visitors to mingle over a freshly poured frothy. Offering its Award-winning core range along with 16 rotating brews straight from Mountain Culture's innovation program, visitors can purchase every beer offered on tap or for takeaway, including weekly limited releases. The Redfern venue has also launched the brand's barrel program, where a variety of exclusive beers will be aged in and blended from disused barrels including ex-Bourbon and Australian Rum. For those looking for a bite, the modern Australian lunch and dinner menu offers familiar dishes as well as a new late-night kebab menu. "This venue represents a pivotal moment for our brand. We're not just opening a new venue; we're doing it the Mountain Culture way, with a focus on creating something new and exciting," says Mountain Culture co-founder and CEO, DJ McCready. We'll drink to that.
Nothing beats the simple beauty of a quaint community market. Roaming the stalls of local producers and artisans, tote bag in hand, the sounds of music and happy marketgoers all around you. South Sydney residents would know from a local favourite, one that's swapping its historically weekly runs for a monthly recurrence: Green Square Markets. Like its Cambridge Markets-run siblings in Ryde Wharf, Wentworth Point, The Entertainment Quarter, The Cannery, and many more spots around Sydney, Green Square Markets is all about local produce and community spirit. It's been a year since the Green Square Markets kicked off, and now, from Saturday, April 26, the markets will take over Zetland's Green Square Plaza from 9am to 2pm on the fourth Saturday of every month. During each edition, you'll find a 50-stall-strong selection of fresh produce, baked goods, international eats and unique artisan goods, all sold by local vendors. Beyond the browsing, you can expect live family entertainment in the form of puppet shows, bubble wands, live music and more. It's a top excuse to get out of the house and get among the community spirit. The fact that you can get a great bite to eat, too, is gravy. To get there, the Green Square train station is across the road from the plaza, or parking can be found on Johnson Street and Queen Street, Alexandria. [caption id="attachment_1000732" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Christian Gilles[/caption]
Huge news: Darlinghurst is set to be home to Soho House Sydney, Australia's first outpost for the ultra-exclusive membership club. The much-hyped global brand which has locations across the world from Berlin to Miami, is now looking to transform a building on the corner of Crown and Foley Street above Shady Pines Saloon, with ambitious plans in the works to completely reshape the space. Plans for an estimated $24-million multi-storey mega-venue have been lodged, with the proposed building featuring a restaurant and bar, gym, cabaret facilities and a rooftop terrace and pool. The plans also reveal anticipated changes to the facade, replacing the building's fairly rundown exterior with a simple, sleek and modern cream and brown design in line with other Soho Houses around the world. The Darlinghurst building has a storied history, taking many forms over the years including Bolot's Embassy Dancing Academy between 1924–30, the Playbox Theatre and Stanley Twig's auction house in the 1930s and, most recently, housing several retail tenants throughout the 2000s including an espresso bar, convenience store and a nail salon. Fans of affordable drinks and Americana aesthetics, never fear: it looks like Shady Pines won't be disrupted by the opening of Soho House Sydney, with the floor plan revealing an allocated zone for "tenancy" on the basement floor where the bar currently resides. Concrete Playground reached out to the Swillhouse team for comment on the future of the site, but they didn't get back to us in time for publication. Australia's first ever Soho House was originally set to open on Domain Road in Melbourne's South Yarra, but developers were forced to ditch plans at the direction of VCAT in late October, after strong opposition from local councils and a residents' group. Now boasting over 40 houses across the globe, Soho House first opened in London in 1995 as a private members club for clientele in the creative sphere. It has since spread throughout Europe and North America, opening restaurants, cinemas, workspaces, spas and bedrooms alongside the traditional clubs. From New York to Istanbul, exclusivity is a common global denominator. If you want to apply for a membership, you can explore all of the options and lodge an application at the Soho House membership page. [caption id="attachment_653445" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Shady Pines[/caption] Soho House Sydney is set to open at 256 Crown Street, Darlinghurst.
