The Sydney satellite of the world's biggest comedy festival, Just for Laughs, based out of Montreal, returns in October to the Opera House. Gear up for pick-and-mix galas, compelling solo shows, and dirtier, more daring club nights calling on some of the coolest names from the international and local circuit. Drew Carey makes his live Australian debut, hosting the All-Star Comedy Gala, while Adam Hills hosts the curated collaboration of his favourite local and international comics, the International Gala. And no-one but Rhys Darby could host the Kiwi Gala. Otherwise known as Murray Hewitt from Flight of the Conchords, Darby will take to the stage to introduce the comic stars from the land "with rivers and gullies and hobbits and toothbrush fences". One of the most anticipated guests in the fest is the always outrageously dressed Noel Fielding, co-creator of The Mighty Boosh, star of Never Mind the Buzzcocks, and sexy deadpan conductor of characters and strange voices. Gracing the Australian stage for the first time in nearly 10 years, he'll be playing host to his own titular gala. It'll be an easy battle between logic and imagination on an acid trip. Joining these all-time faves is Aziz Ansari (Parks and Recreation), Gabriel Iglesias, Bill Burr, Ed Byrne, Dave Gorman, and Sam Simmons. Other highlights of the festival include The Nasty Show hosted by Jeff Ross, where crass and offensive comics fill out a club show set in the SOH Studio. With roasts, verbal assaults, and cringeworthy laughs, it's not a set for the fainthearted. On a lighter note, the Studio also plays home to Amp'd, the "music comedy show" for live music, improv, and skits.
It's the ultimate in work-life balance, an antidote to non-stop after-hours emails and Slack messages, and a guaranteed way to ensure what happens at work stays at work. In Apple TV+'s mind-bending new thriller series Severance — which plays like Black Mirror meets the Charlie Kaufman-penned Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, with Wes Anderson's aesthetic if he designed soulless office complexes, plus sprinklings of everything from George Orwell to also-excellent 2020 TV effort Devs — switching off when clocking off at Lumon Industries is easy. There's a brain implant for exactly that, and it's a condition of employment on "severed" floors. Accordingly, when quittin' time comes for Macrodata Refinement division employee Mark (Adam Scott, Big Little Lies), he physically steps into a tiny, shiny elevator to descend back into his after-hours life — but the version of him that works for Lumon won't recall anything beyond the company's walls. The instant that the one-person lift plummets at the end of the day, it goes back up for Mark's "innie", as his office-bound consciousness is dubbed. Voila, it's clocking-on time once more. For Mark's "outie", as the rest of his brain is labelled, the reverse occurs. Each day, he enters an elevator, hops out immediately, then drives to the suburban estate he calls home and repeats the process the next morning. Mourning the death of his wife, he's consciously chosen to separate his work and home selves in the most drastic of ways, giving him an eight-hour-a-day reprieve from his grief. But while it may sound like a dream escape — from Mark's pain, and for any employee eager to reclaim mental real estate from their job — this dark, twisty and instantly gripping series is firmly dystopian. Severance's attention-grabbing premise springs from creator Dan Erickson, a TV first-timer, and understands how most folks feel about office life. The show is knowing in its lead casting, too, given that Scott is best recognised for two workplace comedies: the joyous hug that is Parks and Recreation, as well as the acerbic, astute and soon-to-return Party Down. But as savvily and evocatively directed by Ben Stiller in its first three season-one episodes (and again in its last three, with Kissing Candice filmmaker Aoife McArdle helming three in the middle), Scott's new series dwells in 'be careful what you wish for' territory. For the part of Mark's brain that blanks out work, Severance initially seems like heaven. For the half that only knows the office, it's hell. The series begins with Mark two years into his time at Lumon, and newly installed as a division head after Petey (Yul Vazquez, The Outsider), his workplace BFF, leaves suddenly. One of his first tasks: onboarding Helly (Britt Lower, Future Man), who awakes in innie form for the first time sprawled atop a conference table. The camera gazes down, the eerie tone resembles leaping out of a nightmare but being unable to pick if you're still dreaming, and she hears Mark asking questions. Helly has queries herself, including: "am I livestock?". The severance process is jarring for newcomers, but they're expected to adjust swiftly. Innie Helly hasn't gotten that memo, however — and no, Party Down fans, neither her nor Mark are having fun yet. He grapples with his new role and the sudden loss of Petey, with his cold, unsevered boss Harmony Cobel (Patricia Arquette, The Act) and her omnipresent, also-unsevered assistant Mr Milchick (Tramell Tillman, Hunters) scrutinising every move, and his fellow severed MDR employees Irving (John Turturro, The Plot Against America) and Dylan (Zach Cherry, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings) handling Lumon life by being controlling and competitive, respectively. As for Helly's innie, she starts waging war on the new world order she definitely didn't sign up for, including writing briskly denied resignation requests to her outie. From The Truman Show and The Matrix to The Office and Office Space, Severance's list of influences is lengthy. It's Kafkaesque and Lynchian, too, and wandering its labyrinthine hallways — corridors designed like a maze to keep Lumon departments apart — is like being trapped in a surreal workplace version of Twin Peaks' red room. Indeed, every production design and cinematography choice enhances the feeling of being trapped in an off-kilter and deeply unnerving corporate purgatory. It's there in the 70s- and 80s-style technology, the green-and-white colour scheme, and the camera placement that flits between claustrophobic and cooly expansive. Lumon's innies don't have the choice, but Severance is also a series to willingly get lost in. Apple TV+ is dropping episodes week to week, following a two-instalment premiere, but the compulsion to lap up more of its unsettling mysteries springs quickly. Just like other standout shows of the past few months, such as Yellowjackets and Station Eleven, the desperation to piece together Severance's puzzles echoes strongly while watching — but this meticulously made head-trip is in no rush to unveil its answers. Given the wealth of wonders to be found within its frames — and the allure of its slow-drip secrets, including exactly what MDR is doing as its workers sort through screens of "happy" and "scary" numbers — it's hardly surprising that Severance isn't in a rush. It also boasts Christopher Walken (Percy vs Goliath) putting his distinctive on-screen presence to great use as another of Lumon's severed wager-earners, and is home to stellar performances across the board, including Scott's latest everyman turn, Turturro playing the office pedant with aplomb, a compellingly icy Arquette and the mesmerising Tillman. And, crucially, equally calling out, questioning and satirising today's ideas about work is always on the show's agenda. With a wry sense of humour, Severance sees the nine-to-five grind as the hellscape it can be, probes the control we've relinquished for paycheques and pokes fun at everything that's become normalised about the modern workplace. The hold our jobs have over our lives, the cult-like worship that large companies demand from underlings, the awkward office exceptions and social conventions, and these always clocked-on times in general: none of them escape this perceptive and addictive series' attention. Not so fond of the corporate treadmill? As it immerses, engages and intrigues, Severance truly understands. Check out the trailer for Severance below: The first three episodes of Severance's first season are available to stream via Apple TV+, with new episodes dropping weekly.
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]
So the saying goes, life imitates art. But in times of political and economic upheaval, perhaps the art we turn to isn't a mirror — it's a doorway. In 2025, Australians aren't just listening to music that reflects the world around them, but the worlds they'd rather escape to. Dance floors have become places of release, bass drops a kind of collective exhale, and the 2025 ARIA Award nominations tell the story: we're craving movement, connection and joy. According to Spotify editor Marty Doyle, this year's ARIA nominees capture that cultural shift — one that's driven not just by hooks and beat drops, but by a distinctly Australian sense of optimism. Dance and electronic music now dominate both the charts and the cultural conversation, with acts like Dom Dolla, RÜFÜS DU SOL and record-breaking nominee Ninajirachi leading the charge. Together, they represent a generation of artists who have turned isolation into innovation, transforming post-pandemic energy into something deeply communal — and distinctly global. [caption id="attachment_1005091" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Dom Dolla performing on his recent tour.[/caption] "The dominance of Australian dance music is undeniable and a true testament to the amazing work our artists are doing," Doyle says. "There were one billion export streams of Australian dance music in March 2025 alone, which is an amazing result." Those billion streams aren't just happening at home. Australian artists are setting the global tempo, taking sweaty club tracks and festival anthems far beyond local shores. "Artists like Fisher, RÜFÜS DU SOL and Dom Dolla are some of our biggest exports," Doyle says, "and they're helping pave new roads for more Australian artists to come behind them." That international reach now extends to Ninajirachi, whose eight nominations — the most ever for a female electronic artist — mark a new benchmark for women in dance music. "It's incredibly exciting to see Ninajirachi lead the charge," Doyle adds. "It's an achievement that should be celebrated." [caption id="attachment_1035191" align="alignnone" width="1920"] DJ Nina Wilson performs as Ninajirachi during Lollapalooza 2023.[/caption] The Sound of Escapism If dance and electronic music are thriving, it's not just about BPMs — it's about emotion. In uncertain times, Australians are finding joy, connection and escape on the dance floor. "It's impossible to pinpoint one reason," Doyle says of the genre's surge. "But COVID definitely accelerated our appetite for dance music." When lockdowns shut clubs, cancelled festivals and erased social connection, music filled the gap. "The idea of dancing in a sweaty club together or even being outside at a festival became one of our biggest aspirations," Doyle says. "When we were finally able to get outside again, there was an explosion of enthusiasm. People were partying like it was their last night on earth." That post-pandemic energy, Doyle argues, hasn't faded — it's evolved. "Amidst an unsettling and shifting geopolitical world, Aussie artists have managed to not only address complex issues within their music, but they've also found solace in making it fun," he says. "It's a testament to our resilience, optimism, sense of humour and shared values as Australians." In other words: when the world feels heavy, Australians dance. [caption id="attachment_913128" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Home-grown EDM favourites RÜFÜS DU SOL performing live.[/caption] From Lockdown Loops to Global Stages The pandemic didn't just reignite audiences' desire to dance — it reshaped how artists created. "COVID provided a chance for artists to retreat into their home studios and create some of their most profound work," Doyle says. Fred again.. is perhaps the most famous example, but the ripple effect was global — and local. Aussie duo Shouse turned their track 'Love Tonight' into an international anthem of resistance during lockdowns, soundtracking balcony singalongs across Europe. "There are so many stories like this that have contributed to the acceleration of dance music over the last few years," Doyle says. That creative spark continues. Spotify's data shows that dance and electronic streaming in Australia now spans every part of the day — from morning workouts to study playlists and nights out. "Electronic music is made up of various sub-genres, and new ones are constantly being invented and mashed together," Doyle explains. "It's fertile ground for innovation and discovery." And increasingly, that experimentation is paying off on the charts. "We're seeing electronic music cross over into mainstream and end up on the ARIA Charts," Doyle adds. "That curiosity among Australian listeners is helping drive the rise of the genre." [caption id="attachment_1035190" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Marty Doyle— Editorial Lead, Spotify AU/NZ[/caption] Beyond the Beat While electronic and dance dominate the conversation, other genres are thriving too. "Indie and guitar-based music is also booming," Doyle says. "Australia has always punched above its weight in this space." Spotify data backs it up: Australian indie exports have surged 94 percent since 2021, while indie pop isn't far behind, up 86 percent in the same period. It's evidence that our music scene isn't defined by one sound — it's an ecosystem of artists pushing boundaries across styles. Looking ahead, Spotify's editors don't expect the momentum to slow. "There's no evidence to suggest this growth will drastically change," Doyle says. "But we're also seeing exciting early signs in local country and post-punk." [caption id="attachment_1014087" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Melbourne's Electronic and EDM A3 Festival, returning later this year.[/caption] A New Era of Australian Sound If there's one takeaway from the 2025 ARIA nominations, it's that Australian music is entering a new era — one powered by diversity, innovation and fearless experimentation. "While you'll see some familiar names among the nominees," Doyle says, "it's amazing to see a record-breaking number of first-time and independent artists in the mix too. It proves there's a never-ending pipeline of incredible new talent that Australian audiences are embracing." From massive export numbers to global festival stages, Australian artists and producers aren't just making people move — they're exporting a feeling. And right now, that feeling sounds a lot like hope. Find out more about 2025's Aria Award nominees and cast your votes now. Images: Supplied | Getty Images
By far one of the biggest shifts in Sydney dining history is unfolding in front of our eyes. Charcoal chicken legend El Jannah is crossing into territory that has almost always been near-untouched by chook joints, the Sydney CBD. Since the news broke that the Castlereagh Street store was coming, thousands of CBD workers are eagerly preparing to swap their usual corporate slop bowl lunch runs for El Jannah's legendary chook and garlic sauce combos, and the store chain is celebrating the success with a very special offer next week. On Thursday, May 14, CBD diners can treat themselves to quarter chicken meals for just $5. That's juicy, smoky charcoal chicken with chips and a meal garlic sauce for less than a coffee will cost you at most cafes in the area these days. The deal is running all day long for the grand opening day, and it doesn't take much imagination to picture the line, so the early bird will get the chicken in this case. El Jannah has been on a roll in recent years. Having started as one family restaurant in Granville, 28 years ago, the brand has since grown into one of Sydney's charcoal chicken greats. Back in March, the brand set the city alight with a surprise offer of over 100,000 whole chickens being given away for free, now they've stirred up another wave of excitement around this new opening. The new store isn't code-switching in its move from Western Sydney into the CBD. The menu is unchanged, heavy with flame-cooked chicken, fresh rolls, tabouli, pickles, generously chicken-salted chips and of course, the garlic sauce… oh, the garlic sauce. Chief Marketing Officer, Adam Issa, said "It took 28 years to get here, and that's the point. We have never been in a rush to be everywhere; we have focused on getting it right. Same charcoal chicken, same recipes, same toum (garlic sauce) that built this brand in Granville in 1998." Images: supplied El Jannah will open its CBD store at 151 Castlereagh Street. Visit the website to browse the menu or for more information.
Oh, Christmas, how we missed you. The cold is fading while the distant sound of Mariah Carey is rising. Wishlists and plans are being drafted. And later this month, celebrations will begin. On Saturday, November 25, the CBD will become a winter (summer) wonderland courtesy of the Martin Place Christmas Markets. Beginning in the final weekend of November, the markets will be a festive oasis of food, gifts, homewares — the list goes on. These markets will be the centre of the City of Sydney celebrations when live music soundtracks the season, performers and carollers roam the stalls, decorations deck the sandstone walls and a 24-metre Christmas tree dazzles from the end of November all the way up until Christmas Day. Choirs will be popping up at Martin Place throughout December, and on Thursday, November 30, revellers can catch Santa enjoying a sleigh ride before lighting the tree, plus a festive firework show to usher in the season. The Martin Place Christmas Markets will open from Friday, November 24 to Sunday, November 26. They'll then run every Thursday, Friday and Saturday until Sunday, December 23. For more information, visit the website. Images: City of Sydney, Chris Southwood, Jessica Nash Photography
Venture down to the southernmost point of King Street and you'll find hot pinsa romana emerging five days a week from Newtown's newest Italian restaurant, Casa Mia Osteria. Pinsa romana is a contemporary reinvention of ancient Roman pizza that is growing in popularity across Italy — the fluffy oval-shaped pizzas have a distinctly different appearance from their circular Naples-style cousins, but that's not the most important distinguishing factor. That would be the flour and dough. Dough at Casa Mia combines three different types of flour, including rice and soy flour, and the team uses a ratio of 900 millilitres of water per one kilogram of flour. It means that the dough rises more when cooking compared to the Naples-style pizza base Sydneysiders are familiar with, and results in the pinsa romana's signature light and crunchy bases. Casa Mia Osteria comes from duo Andrea Nazzari and Valerio Boncompagni, who are passionate about bringing a fresh take on traditional Italian flavours to Sydney's inner west. The pair worked at Michelin star restaurants in their hometowns of Rome and Milan before moving to Sydney and meeting while working at Baccomatto in Surry Hills. From there, a friendship blossomed which would eventually give birth to Casa Mia Osteria. "It's our baby," Boncompagni tells Concrete Playground. "That's why it's called Casa Mia. Casa Mia means my home and this is going to be our home." When it comes to what's on top of the dough, the restaurant will have a new seasonal menu every few months. Currently, you can find a four-cheese and pear combo ($22), a puttanesca pinsa ($27) with cetara anchovies, olives, capers and stracciatella on a tomato base, or a zuvvhinem black olives and sundried tomatoes vegetarian option ($23). "When you go to an Italian restaurant you always find almost the same thing. You always find the caprese, the carbonara, the cacio pepe," says Boncompagni. "When we decided to open this restaurant, we decided to offer to our customers a different type of real Italian cuisine." "We're obviously doing something different from the rest of the pizza places," Nazzari adds. And the fun doesn't stop with the pinsa. An exciting mix of antipasti including garlic or rosemary focaccia ($10) and marinated mushrooms ($6), and a reserved pasta list featuring a beef and pork lasagna ($24) is accompanied by a collection of Italian and Australian wines. "We believe in a small wine list with good quality," says Nazzari, explaining that he is excited to introduce Sydneysiders to unique Italian wines. "Like the food, I want to give the people something different. Always try to surprise the customer." As well as its dinnertime menu, Casa Mia also offers lunch specials on Saturdays and Sundays. Swing by during the day and you'll find a spread of Italian treats ready to brighten what might otherwise be a gloomy lockdown weekend. You'll find a selection of baked goods including bomboloni, cakes and cannoli, plus fresh bread, cook-at-home lasagnas, bottled cocktails and mini lunch pizzas. Appears in: Where to Find the Best Pizza in Sydney
In 2003, Balmain locals protested against the private development of their much-loved heritage-listed Fenwick building. That resulted in the council acquiring the property and, this year, a stunning new cafe and restaurant has opened in the space. A win, for sure — as it is whenever a historic space is saved from private development (or demolition) and turned into a spot that the public can enjoy. There are quite a few spaces like this around Sydney — heritage-listed art deco-style banks that have been turned into pizza spots and historic former paper mills that are now dining precincts. These are little slices of Sydney history that you can visit basically whenever you like. Brunch inside them, dine inside them, have after-work drinks in them. Talk to the sandstone walls, see what you can get out of them.
IMAX theatres are the cutting edge of the film industry, and no IMAX screen in the southern hemisphere can really hold a candle to IMAX Melbourne. It's kitted out with IMAX Laser 4K resolution, the only IMAX 1570 film projector in the country and the largest 1.43:1 cinema screen in the southern hemisphere. All that makes it the perfect home for Big Best IMAX Festival, which has set a Saturday, January 31 opening date for its 2026 return. The festival puts the biggest and best of Hollywood, both new and old, front and centre on the IMAX screen, with reruns of recent releases and remastered classics alike for eager theatre attendees — presented in Australia's only IMAX 70mm film prints and IMAX 4k Laser. This year, the program is led by Christopher Nolan classics like The Dark Knight trilogy, Interstellar and Oppenheimer. They're joined by award season frontrunners from 2025, including Ryan Coogler's Sinners and Paul Thomas Anderson's One Battle After Another — and blockbusters like F1: The Movie and Denis Villeneuve's award-winning Dune and Dune: Part Two ahead of the release of Dune: Messiah later this year. Other entries to the program include a Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049 double feature, George Miller's Mad Max: Fury Road in 3D and Francis Ford Coppola's divisive Megalopolis. Several classic films will get the remastered IMAX treatment, including The Matrix, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Apocalypse Now, Se7en, Back to the Future, The Shining, Princess Mononoke and more. [caption id="attachment_1061503" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Director/Producer/Co-Writer Christopher Nolan on the set of INTERSTELLAR, from Paramount Pictures and Warner Brothers Pictures, in association with Legendary Pictures.[/caption] The Christopher Nolan entries are a special standout, as Nolan is known to create films with IMAX theatres in mind. His last release, Oppenheimer, has a film reel that's 18km long and weighs over 270kg, seeing it in IMAX 1570 is an extremely rare treat. His upcoming release, The Odyssey, will be the first film in history to be entirely filmed on IMAX cameras, the film reel is supposedly even longer than Oppenheimer, and IMAX Melbourne will be the only theatre in the southern hemisphere to screen the film on IMAX 70mm when it releases in July. Tickets to BBIFF 2026 go on sale from Wednesday, January 14 at 1pm for IMAX Big League members and 3pm for the general public. Visit the IMAX Melbourne website for more information. Images courtesy of Warner Brothers via Museums Victoria
Drink West is the fresh-to-the-scene brewery and brewpub backed by Sydney UFC legends Tai Tuivasa and Tyson Pedro plus Penrith Panthers' Nathan Cleary. The sell? "The first beer made out here, and the first beer made for us." The range of crisp west-born frothies include the flagship lager, which according to the owners "pairs perfectly with a fresh pair of TNs and tall stories about how your old man nearly played for Penrith". Luckily, it also pairs with the loaded hotdogs and burgers. If lager doesn't tickle your fancy, there's also a nitro stout, oat cream XPA, pale, pils and hibiscus lime gose — plus a zero-carb mid. From Wednesday to Sunday, you can swing by or book a table in the huge brewery space (complete with a staggering mural of the players and black and yellow team colours), catch some live music, cheer on the big game or just hang out on the lawns beneath the palms. Appears in: The Best Sydney Brewery Bars for 2023
Surry Hills has a new creative pulse, and it's beating inside one of Sydney's most iconic buildings. Gallery Brave, which opened last month in the storied Hibernian House, is positioning itself as more than just another white-walled space — it's a street-facing creative playground where art, design and culture collide. Founded by an advertising agency called Today the Brave, the gallery represents something of a manifesto for the team. "So often ad agencies are making, that creative has been funnelled towards making advertising," says executive Jaimes Leggett. "We've tried to liberate our creative people. Let's make chocolate, let's make merch, let's develop music, let's write books, magazines, curate artists, create our own art." Hibernian House, with its walls covered in work from touring graffiti artists over the years, felt like a natural home. "I think if you are a touring graffiti artist and you come to Sydney, you've done work in this building. This feels like an epicentre for that street art scene." The name Gallery Brave speaks to something deeper of the creative process. "The very nature of creating something is such a personal, such an emotive thing for people to do," Leggett reflects. "Every artist goes through a journey, quite a profound and personal journey to create something. And then they put that thing out to the world for others to see, to judge. That takes incredible bravery." The approach seems to be working. The gallery kicked off with a statement-making launch featuring work from American contemporary artist and OBEY founder Shepard Fairey, arguably one of the most prolific global graffiti artists. And this month, Gallery Brave is hosting Among the Brave, a group exhibition in partnership with creative collective KRVNM & midsöle, a crew who've been shaping Australia's underground art scene since 2013. The show brings together over 30 artists, including Peque, Ink Hunter, Sindy Sinn, GBFZ, Silly Pear and RJ, celebrating the kind of community-driven, unfiltered expression that thrives outside traditional gallery spaces. KRVNM & midsöle have built their reputation through signature exhibitions that dive deep into subcultures, and have garnered widespread support — from skull-themed shows backed by Young Henrys to sneaker-focused projects with Trollyd. Their work has appeared across Sydney's contemporary art circuit, from M2 Gallery to aMBUSH Gallery, consistently championing both established names and the emerging artists defining the next wave of Australian street art. "Among the Brave is where art drops the filter — it's community-driven, gritty and alive," says Ladyj wüllf, founder of KRVNM. For Leggett, Gallery Brave's mission is straightforward: "If Gallery Brave was supporting and complementing the art scene in Sydney, that would be a good place to be. To help support and foster the street art scene in Sydney. We ask so much of artists to conceive and create things - we should be able to help them provide a platform where they can show their work to the world." Gallery Brave is open from 4–6pm Wednesday through to the weekend, offering a fresh after-work gallery hang for art lovers, culture chasers and anyone curious enough to see what's happening inside Hibernian House. Among the Brave opens November 13, 2025 at Gallery Brave, Hibernian House. Follow @GalleryBrave and @_krvnm_ for artist announcements and event details. Images: Supplied
A magical-realist coming-of-age tale, a clear-eyed family drama, a twisty crime and detective thriller, a time capsule of Brisbane in the 80s: since first hitting the page in 2018, Trent Dalton's Boy Swallows Universe has worn its happy flitting between different genres and tones, and constant seesawing from hope to heartbreak and back again, as confidently as readers have long envisaged Eli Bell's wide grin. That hopping and jumping, that refusal to be just one type of story and stick to a single mood, has always made sense on the page — and in the excellent seven-part Netflix adaptation that now brings Australia's fastest-selling debut novel ever to the screen from Thursday, January 11, it also couldn't feel more perfect. As played by the charmingly talented Felix Cameron (Penguin Bloom), Eli's smile is indeed big. As scripted by screenwriter John Collee (Hotel Mumbai), directed by Bharat Nalluri (The Man Who Invented Christmas) with Jocelyn Moorhouse (The Dressmaker) and Kim Mordaunt (The Rocket), and with Dalton and Joel Edgerton (The Stranger) among the executive producers, the miniseries version of Boy Swallows Universe embraces its multitudes wholeheartedly. Like style, like substance: a semi-autobiographical novel penned by a writer and journalist who lived variations of plenty that he depicts, learned and accepted early that everyone has flaws, and patently has the imagination of someone who coped with life's hardships as a child by escaping into dreams of an existence more fanciful, Dalton's tome and every iteration that it inspires has to be many things in one bustling package. Its characters are, after all. Seeing people in general, parts of a city usually overlooked, and folks with complicated histories or who've made questionable choices — those forced in particular directions out of financial necessity, too — in more than just one fashion flutters at the centre of Boy Swallows Universe. In the Australian Book Industry Awards' 2019 Book of the Year, Literary Book of the Year and Audio Book of the Year, and now on streaming, Eli's nearest and dearest demand it. So does the enterprising Darra-dwelling 12-year-old boy who knows how to spy the best in those he loves, but remains well-aware of their struggles. His older brother Gus (Lee Tiger Halley, The Heights) hasn't spoken since they were younger, instead drawing messages in the sky with his finger, but is as fiercely protective as elder siblings get. Doting and dedicated mum Frankie (Phoebe Tonkin, Babylon) is a recovering heroin addict with a drug dealer for a partner. And Lyle Orlik (Travis Fimmel, Black Snow), that mullet-wearing stepfather, cares deeply about Eli and Gus — including when Eli convinces him to let him join his deliveries. Slim Halliday (Bryan Brown, Anyone But You), the boys' sometimes babysitter and frequent source of wisdom, endured a lengthy stretch in the infamous Boggo Road Gaol for a murder that he's adamant he didn't commit. He's at peace with doing that time, but he also broke out (and he's based on an IRL person, name and all). Eli and Gus' biological father Robert (Simon Baker, Limbo) is an alcoholic and agoraphobic bookworm more comfortable with novels than people, initially estranged from his sons when Boy Swallows Universe begins, yet devoted to them in his affections. And Eli himself is all precocious charisma and keen curiosity mixed with unflinching nerve, whether being picked on at school, standing up to criminal thugs, breaking into a prison or talking his way into a job. Unsurprisingly, that's a combination that lands him in as many jams as it gets him out of. In all takes so far (the stage in 2021 among them), Boy Swallows Universe follows Eli as Lyle's illicit profession has consequences, Frankie is incarcerated and Robert re-enters his sons' lives. There's a bouncy air to the TV series as it works through its plot, with Eli doing everything that he can to make sure his mum is okay and get to the bottom of a disappearance, as continues when the show jumps forward to find him as a 17-year-old (then played by Totally Completely Fine's Zac Burgess). Again, the approach and atmosphere apes Boy Swallows Universe's protagonist, who can rarely be anywhere fast enough. This is a tale of darkness and violence — of addiction, murder, bullies, trauma, drugs, lopped-off limbs, loss, domestic assault, gang wars, jail, PTSD and fiendish plans — while also a story about working towards the best even in what seems to be the most dire of circumstances. Of course Eli keeps leaping towards brighter possibilities, then being pulled back into the shit (sometimes literally). A simple journey towards better days, this isn't, however. As its irrepressible central figure kicks around his neighbourhood, tags along with Lyle, writes letters to his prison penpal (Briggs, Get Krack!n), goes to school with a wannabe drug lord (Zachary Wan, Never Too Late) and endeavours to befriend The Courier-Mail's young star crime reporter (Sophie Wilde, Talk to Me), there's no shying away from the harsh realities surrounding Eli and almost everyone that he knows. Boy Swallows Universe doesn't revel in despair, though, but commits to seeing things as they are with no judgement — and zero traces of fatalistic certainty that nothing more will ever spring. That type of candour is as rare as spotting the areas of Brisbane that the narrative is set in on-screen. For locals, there's no mistaking that this is the River City, especially when there's no trace of Boggo Road, the Story Bridge or Brisbane City Hall in sight. Even as flying cars, red phones with mysterious voices on the line, eerie predictions and secret lairs factor into the plot, every second looks and feels lived in, turning an ace Brisbane book into an ace Brisbane-shot series. Tenderness and diligence linger in Collee's handling of Dalton's tale, and in Nalluri, Moorhouse and Mordaunt's attentiveness as directors. That said, if their efforts weren't matched by stellar casting, Boy Swallows Universe could've started to unravel the moment that it kicks off with Lyle being dragged away by nefarious heavies. The main adult cast members are superb, specifically in delivering unvarnished explorations of complex characters with a plethora of clashing — and realistic, and relatable — traits. Fimmel conveys Lyle's relentless attempts to take care of his family with both love and wildness in his every move. Tonkin is as resolute as she is adoring, while never sanding away the knocks she keeps taking. Baker turns in his second exceptional performance in the space of the year, and Brown perfects the role of a no-nonsense yet supportive mentor that it instantly seems he was born to play. Boy Swallows Universe's younger stars are equally as impressive. Expressive in their own ways — one in energy and movement, the other via quiet glances — Cameron and Halley know that they're the heart and soul of the show, and more than live up to the task. The former is missed when Eli ages up, but Burgess brings a deep-seated yearning to the part as someone who has spent his years approaching adulthood striving for so much that's constantly out of his grasp, despite still appreciating what he has. As with almost every detail seen and heard, that sense of absence when Eli gets older couldn't be more apt. This account of coping with day-to-day life at its most brutal and most fantastical doesn't only refuse to be just one thing, or stay with just one version of Eli, but wouldn't contemplate giving its audience anything other than the full emotional universe. Check out the full trailer for Boy Swallows Universe below: Boy Swallows Universe streams via Netflix from Thursday, January 11, 2024. Images: courtesy of Netflix © 2023.
The sandy shores of Brighton-Le-Sands haven't gone anywhere, but the coastline is looking a little different following the relaunch of The Brighton Hotel Sydney – MGallery Collection. Moving into the former digs of the Novotel Sydney Brighton Beach, this new era for the Accor-led accommodation, aka The Brighton, is more than just a name change. Over the last three years, the sprawling property has undergone a multi-million-dollar renovation, bringing the stay up to scratch with MGallery's reputation for luxe boutique hotels. Now, every space of The Brighton has been transformed, offering guests an experience that combines coastal comfort with European-inspired elegance. Primed for tourists and business travellers alike, The Brighton's beachfront location is easily accessible from the city and the airport, with Sydney CBD just 13 kilometres away. Yet guests might mistake their surroundings for the Mediterranean, as 307 sun-soaked rooms and suites offer sweeping bay views and blissed-out textures and materials inspired by the hotel's coastal context. Dining remains a highlight, with the hatted Ammos Brighton adding even more credibility to the property's Mediterranean-inspired ambience. Helmed by Greek-Australian chef Peter Conistis, dishes such as house-made taramasalata, reimagined moussaka with pan-seared scallops, and roasted eggplant bring a contemporary edge to age-old cuisine. For something a little more casual, Coco's on the Beach is The Brighton's answer to Sydney's laidback sports bars. Set by the beachside and serving until 3am, expect easygoing bites and refreshing drinks that pair with live sport on big screens and post-swim gatherings around the pool table. Meanwhile, Sands Bar offers a dreamy terrace-side spot for golden hour cocktails. From its idyllic setting, The Brighton also includes abundant wellness activities. Think indoor and outdoor pools, and a light-filled fitness centre complete with a rejuvenating sauna and steam room. The property will also become a go-to events destination, with the newly added Brighton Ballroom accommodating up to 600 guests, each relishing the ocean views and marble decor. The Brighton Hotel Sydney - MGallery Collection is now open at 2 Princess St, Brighton-Le-Sands. Head to the website for more information. Images: Steven Woodburn / Ryan Linnegar.
Lower north shore residents won't have to head into the city for Sydney's latest opening. Brand new, modern Scandinavian-style, Mediterranean-menued bar and restaurant The Public has opened its doors in Cammeray. Joining the local foodie strip of Miller Street in the space where Belgian Beer Cafe sat for 15 years, The Public is a big, breezy, modern space made for long lazy brunches and intimate catch-ups alike. Think marine-grade plywood, aquas, blues, whites, and 3D installation art. The brainchild of North shore brothers James and Will Christopher, The Public is nothing short of a labour of love. Not their first time at the Sydney hospitality rodeo, this new bar marks the third venue for the Christopher brothers, following their long-loved local cafe The Laneway and their Spanish tapas joint Ms Miller (right next door). They've also launched start-ups, cheffed here and there and Will feeds the entire team at the celebrated Secret Garden Festival every year — production team meals you have to taste to believe. Seriously. Next level. Aiming to give Cammeray a foodie identity of its own and steal some limelight from burgeoning eastern suburbs like Double Bay or western hubs like Marrickville, the Christopher brothers teamed up with business manager and superyacht seller (actual thing) Damian Barrow to swing the spotlight to the lower north shore. Alright, alright, now we know who's behind the joint, what can we expect to chow down on? The Christopher brothers have brought over Ms Miller head chef James Featherstone to create pub classic-meets-Euro-style dishes for The Public. Think Greek and Mediterranean food with housemade olive butter, taramasolata and hummus, with family-style platters of lamb kleftiko and barbecued chicken. Then there are the burgers, like the double beef, double bacon, double cheese wagyu beef burger. With all this hummus and barbecued chicken afoot, we're going to need some bevs here. Drinks-wise, you can expect an Australian, New Zealand, Italian and French-focused wine list, and ten beers on tap including Young Henry's, Two Birds, Rocks Brewing, Endeavour and Mountain Goat. The Public's set to become a Cammeray staple if it plays its cards right. And with monthly markets and beer and wine events planned for the future, it looks like this by-locals-for-locals newbie holds all the aces.
Twenty years since the Australian fashion designer launched her easy-to-wear feminine collection at fashion week in Sydney, Lee Mathews continues to create ethically driven clothing designed for people like her — laidback, socially conscious and stylish. Nothing fits too closely, from wide-fit linen pants to floaty satin skirts and loosely structured culottes. Fabric is important — cotton, denim, wool and silk is thoughtfully sourced from around the world and Mathews' prints are all designed in-house. In fact, she's originally from the northern beaches of Sydney so the Glenmore Road store is the flagship and it has all those architectural and industrial finishing touches you'd expect from the designer known for her minimalist style. When you don't know where to start, let the team guide you to one of the Spanish-milled cotton tank dresses that'll become a summer wardrobe favourite.
The end of winter is finally within sight, but that doesn't mean the weather isn't still ripe for a comforting midweek feast. With this in mind, much-loved bakery Fabbrica Bread Shop is indulging your carb-loaded dreams, hosting a brand-new weekly Lasagna Night across three locations every Wednesday throughout August. Perfect for those chilly evenings where the last thing you want to do is cook, pasta lovers are invited to pre-order a selection of house-made lasagne, salads and sides from Fabbrica locations in Rozelle, Coogee and Sydney CBD. With the team taking care of all the prep, just collect your food before heading home to enjoy. The menu is teeming with Italian delights, with the classic lasagne — layered with Fabbrica's signature pasta sheets and slow-cooked beef ragù — an obvious choice. Meanwhile, the 'nduja alla vodka lasagne with a spicy, vodka-infused tomato sauce, or a veggie spinach and ricotta lasagne with house-made cacio e pepe sauce, makes an easygoing Wednesday night just a little special. With each lasagna available in serving sizes for two or four people, letting the crew at Fabbrica take care of your dinner plans is a wise decision, whether you're catering for the family or putting together a stress-free date night. Of course, there are sides to elevate your feast further, with sourdough garlic bread and two salads — a zesty mixed leaf option and a hearty chickpea and feta number — ensuring your home feast leaves you zonked on the couch. Did we mention there's tiramisu, too? Yet this feast isn't just aimed at home-diners. Fabbrica Bread Shop in Rozelle is welcoming walk-ins from 4–6.45pm, giving guests the chance to relish an early feast and make it home with time to spare before bed. Just know, if you're planning to pre-order, the cut-off time for each Wednesday night session is 11.55pm on the Monday prior, with collection time slots available at the three locations from 4pm–6.45pm on Wednesday afternoons. Founded in the CBD by the brains behind spots like Ragazzi and Love, Tilly Divine in 2020, Fabbrica's blue-and-white hue has spread across Sydney. With pasta bars rolled out in Newtown, Darlinghurst and Chatswood, the Fabbrica Bread Shop offshoot has also made waves, with Rozelle and Coogee stores brimming with classic and inventive baked goods. Swing by to pick up your lasagne, and don't forget to say ciao. Fabbrica Bread Shop's Lasagne Night is on every Wednesday throughout August. Pre-orders must be placed the Monday prior by 11.55pm, while the Rozelle location is open for walk-ins on Wednesdays from 4–6.45pm. Head to the website for more information.
This post is sponsored by our partners, lastminute.com.au. People don't know much about Western Australia. For something that's the combined size of Texas, Ireland, New Zealand, Japan and the UK, we should really know more than the fact Little Creatures is brewed there, and sometimes they have sharks. But this could be a blessing in disguise. Now you have an entire new land to discover out west, and all for the small price of a domestic flight. Here's our guide of where to go once you touch down. Perth and surrounds The first place people can think of in WA, Perth is not only the sunniest capital city in the world, but also one of the top ten most liveable. It may be pretty isolated from the rest of the country, but that creates a kind of camaraderie among its citizens that Melburnians and Sydneysiders can only dream of. Oh, you're trapped in peak-hour traffic on Parramatta Road? Perth locals are taking a weekend jaunt to Rottnest Island via ferry. What's that? You're in a packed train carriage staring at the filthy brown Yarra? People in Perth are having picnics next to the beautiful, dolphin-dotted Swan River. While visiting, we recommend Cottesloe Beach for some surf, this small bar tour for some culture, and the Swan Valley for some local vino. Also, Fringe World Festival is happening at the moment! Why aren't you there already? Where to stay: Esplanade River Suites if you're on a budget, or Crown Metropol Perth or Best Western Premier The Terrace Hotel Perth if you're splashing out. South West South of Perth lie even more treasures, including the renowned wine region, Margaret River. While just a 50-minute flight from the capital, we recommend you hire a car and drive. It will take about three hours, but as WA has 12,000km of the most beautiful coastline in the world, we're sure you won't be disappointed. Once there, it's all about leisure. Spend all day eating and drinking, then cycling off a few meals around the Margaret River. Where to stay: Kalbarri Edge Resort if you're on a budget, or Smiths Beach Resort or Injidup Spa Retreat if you're splashing out. Broome and the Kimberley To venture even further into the unknown, take a trip up north to these great, sunburnt plains. Here, you can expect camel rides along the beach, cheeky and profitable trips to Broome's pearl farms, and endless hours spent on Cable Beach (with sunscreen, because oh lord, you're much closer to the equator up there). This one is a bit more of a hike from Perth, at either a 2-hour 30-minute flight or 24-hour drive, but it's probably worth it. Taking in the entire Coral Coast could be just the first of your exciting experiences. Where to stay: Cable Beach Club Resort & Spa or The Pearle of Cable Beach. Exmouth and Coral Coast This place is like a real-life Seaworld, but you'll need a few days to see it all. A two-hour flight out of Perth, Ningaloo Marine Park and Cape Range National Park will be your first stops on this trail of aquatic wonder — world-heritage listed prime sites for snorkelling, diving with whale sharks and swimming with dolphins. In fact, every morning at Monkey Mia, wild bottlenose dolphins freely come to the shallows for no more than a pat hello. It's surely some kind of magic. Where to stay: Novotel Ningaloo Resort. Golden Outback Of course, most of this big, sprawling state is desert — the wild outback that our country is known for around the world. If you get sick of being greeted by dolphins every morning and visiting wineries in the afternoon (as unlikely as it may be), the outback could serve as the perfect getaway. First stop: wave rock. This natural anomaly is roughly 2,700 million years old and a true wonder to behold. Alternatively, if you don't like the idea of nature looming over you, you can get on top of it. Hot air ballooning is really popular over the Avon Valley, or you can get an unhindered view of the red terrain with a 14,000-foot skydive. Why not get a little dangerous in our most wild state? Where to stay: Black Wattle Retreat or The Grandhouse York. For more information on flights and accommodation in Western Australia, check out lastminute.com.au.
An absolute monster of a lineup and a special treat for anyone who missed out on Laneway tickets, with three of 2013's hottest hip hop acts set to tear the roof off the Enmore. Earl Sweatshirt came into the spotlight as part of the Odd Future crew but missed much of the group's huge first year of tours and releases, and no one knew quite why — was he in prison? At boarding school in Samoa? At a military academy? Whatever it was, Earl has been making up for lost time with his debut album, Doris, both a critical and commercial smash hit, and featuring on countless end-of-year lists. Danny Brown also had a big year with the release of his third album, Old, a throwback album that wears its love for old-school hip hop proudly on its sleeve. Brown's first successes as a musician came from very 'now' styles and sound like trap and electronica, but with this album Brown says he wanted to return to a sample-based, 'classic' sound that borrows most from J Dilla and Wu-Tang. The result somehow sounds both fiercely new and groundbreaking as well as immediately familiar. Run the Jewels is a new name, but the two names behind it are anything but. El-P and Killer Mike joined forces in 2013 after featuring on each other's albums the year before, and they somehow found the perfect balance between Mike's aggressive Southern flow and El-P's tense, hyper delivery. There have been lots of high-profile collaboration albums in hip hop, but it's been a long time since anything was released that is this cohesive and this wholly developed. And as anyone who saw El-P at Laneway this year will know, he's a tireless, frenetic live performer who never lets the intensity drop even for a moment. https://youtube.com/watch?v=anRkutaPS9w
Time doesn't quite fly when you're setting up Australia's newest airline, with low-cost carrier Bonza first announced in 2021 but only securing regulatory approval to hit the skies at the beginning of 2023. Still, just weeks after receiving its Air Operator Certificate (AOC) from the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA), aka the official go-ahead, Bonza has just put its first-ever fares on sale — and will take to the sky from Tuesday, January 31. Yes, your 2023 getaways just got cheaper — and you now have a new way to fly off on holidays, too. The soon-to-launch carrier's aim: opening up routes to more of the country's regional destinations, flying 27 routes to 17 locations, and offering low-cost fares in the process. In its first batch of flights, one-way fares start at $49, with tickets available to 12 destinations on 15 routes. In this initial batch of fares, most routes leave from the airline's Sunshine Coast base, with the $49 options getting passengers to Coff's Harbour, Port Macquarie and Rockhampton. Legs to the Whitsunday Coast, Mackay and Newcastle come in at $59 from the Sunny Coast, while the $69 fares include trips to Albury and Townsville. The most expensive? $79 to get to Victoria's Avalon airport, Mildura and Cairns. Departures from Cairns to Mackay cost $49, and to Rockhampton costs $59. Bonza's just-dropped first fares also include Rockhampton to Townsville for $49 and Newcastle to the Whitsunday Coast for $79. The number of flights per route varies, ranging from two to five — with the Sunshine Coast to Cairns getting the most each week. When its full range of flights hits the air, the airline will also service locations such as Bundaberg, Gladstone and Toowoomba, in Queensland — plus Tamworth in New South Wales — as part of its big focus on regional destinations. Bonza's second batch of fares is expected to drop in a few weeks, covering flights from its second base in Melbourne To book, you'll need to download the airline's app. For travellers who have already done so, the carrier advises that you will need to delete it and then reinstall the latest version to get access to reserve flights. App-only reservations are one of Bonza's points of difference, unless you're booking via a registered local travel agent. Another: a previously announced all-Australian in-flight menu, spanning both food and craft beer. Passengers will get soaring in planes given names as Aussie as the carrier's itself: Bazza, Shazza and Sheila. The trio will take passengers to places they mightn't otherwise been able to fly to, too, with Bonza noting that 93 percent of its routes aren't currently served by any other airline — and 96 percent of them don't presently have a low-cost carrier. The airline is launching with the backing of US private investment firm 777 Partners, which also has a hand in Canada's Flair Airlines and the Southeast Asian-based Value Alliance. Bonza's fares don't include baggage and seat selection, which you need to pay extra for — and it is cheapest to do so when you make your booking, rather than afterwards. Bonza is set to start flying from Tuesday, January 31 , with flights on sale now. For more information, and to buy fares, head to the airline's website, or download its app for Android and iOS.
First there was Bondi Hardware. Then there was The Botanist in Kirribilli. And now Applejack Hospitality have expanded their near-water empire to SoCal. It's time to slip into something a little more comfortable. Grab those large dark sunnies, your best dressed-up beach chic and head on over to the growing bar area of Neutral Bay. Sit back and allow Cali to introduce herself. This is for the good-looking North Shore crowd who have been calling out for more stylish drinking venues. And it's not just for booze. There are great things to munch on; in fact, you could call it a dinner venue just as much as a drinking den. The space use to be a 'gentlemen's karaoke bar' (although how much singing went on is questionable), which might explain the long staircase as you ascend into the bar. Once at the top you're greeted with a palette of bright yellows, including the large Cerveza Pacifico Claro sign in the courtyard area, pink flamingos, white timber, sky blue cushions and a stack of plants. The bar area with its large 'bar' sign (so there's no mistaking it for anything else?), old crates acting as shelves for the booze, adds a slightly different aesthetic to the mix, and the tunes, well, they're perfect for chilling out to. Then there's the staff. There's something about a bearded barman that just screams knowledgeable about liquor. Especially when paired with a Hawaiian shirt. There are three options for jugs of cocktails at $35 each, including the Caliente Punch — Ketel One Vodka, elderflower and pomegranate liquors, strawberries, lime, orange and ginger beer. They're very drinkable, though don't look for high alcohol content return on your investment. The Salted Caramel Espresso Martini ($16) could do with a dash more of salted caramel to the mix, but is a great espresso martini if that's what you're after. Other cocktails are classics with a twist like the Momma's Moonshine ($17) or the Muscle Beach Mai Tai ($18). To eat there's a MexiCali-inspired share plate scenario, with a focus on fresh flavours and seafood. The pulled pork, black bean, rosemary and grilled eggplant quesadillas ($20), served with cheese and salsa on flour tortillas, are the pick to go with a drink — perfectly crispy on the outside, yet soft and squishy on the inside. There's also the usual suspects like chilli dogs and pintxos, as well as a raw section including the likes of kingfish tiradito ($19). But you just can't go past the value-for-mulla tacos, even if they're a little bit drippy on the sauce side of things. You get three large ones for $20 — choose from Baja fish, shredded beef and Sriracha chicken. From the share section of the menu, the seared salmon with zucchini, coriander and walnuts ($20) is also worth trying out. A table inside is perfect for a hot date (there's no way anyone at any other table will be able to hear your conversation), or there's outside for large groups. The half-covered courtyard is great for warm-weather weekends, and if you squint really hard you could be mistaken for thinking you're in California. One of the best parts? The 2am licence, which means ol' Maisy's down the road has some competition. Okay, not really. SoCal wins hands down. Here's hoping more inspired venues spring up around the area. The younger locals are clearly dying for it — based on how packed it was. Yes, my booking for an outside table on my birthday was messed up, but it was rectified a few hours later. Hopefully any small issues like this are just teething issues. Get your white-toothed smile ready and pair with a laidback attitude for some serious drinking and chowing down in the sun.
While there are fewer feet dancing in the Cross than there used to be, the Kings Cross Hotel is still flying the good-time flag high. From the dive bar to the rooftop, you'll have ample opportunity to get your freak on. Bask under the neon light of the Coke sign on the club level as you pull your best moves to some of Sydney's finest DJ talents. At the occasional takeover, the entire six floors of the venue are transformed into one big party, and, yeah, you might want to take the following Monday off.
It's almost impossible to recognise Regent Place these days. What even was it before? The area was like antimatter, a nowhere place behind Event Cinemas George Street that if looked at directly would cause your eyes to blur and mind to slip until you came to in line for onion rings at a fast food place across the road. And now? Now it's like a cool offshoot of Chinatown. Level one is a neon-bright Tokyo mirage, while in the basement is the jumble of Senyai Thai, a Misschu hut and AstroTurfed cocktail bar Assembly. One ever-packed Regent Place destination is izakaya joint Yebisu, where you can mix and match a pre-movie feed or settle in for a long, congenial night of grazing on Japanese share plates and sake. Wood tones splashed with street art by Ash Johnston act as a trendy cloak from the city beyond. It's a gargantuan menu; with more than 100 dishes, the focus is on dizzying quantity rather than A-class quality, and that's fine when your meal is as fun and reliable as this. It's perfect for a party, really, as all tastes are accounted for, whether you fancy regional rarities such as dried skate fin ($8.80) and vinaigrette tuna skin ($10.80), dependables of the sushi or yakitori variety or just giving up on the world and going for fried mixed cheese ($14.80). Adding some spontaneity to your ordering is the iPad menu system, which is so often derided as a novelty but simply works for tapas-style dining. It means you genuinely can order course by course if you want to, and there's no awkward sitting around trying to get the waitstaff's attention. Yebisu could even take this further, letting diners access more information about a dish with a tap — though it's possible the information overload would be crippling. For us, it's a journey guided by gut from deep-fried to fresh and back again. The tom yum goong roll ($15.80/8 pieces) is one of those dishes you're likely to crave after leaving, though it's a hugely unsubtle hit of tempura prawn, lemongrass rice and salt. The cooling mix sashimi entree ($15.80/9 pieces) is welcome right about now, although some of the fish was not at its most tender on this occasion. We get through a small range of good yakitori, available by the skewer, but the best grilled meat is actually from the entree menu: Angus beef tataki ($16.80), seared ever so cleanly around the edges, butter-soft in the middle and topped with an abundance of crunchy, thin spring onion rounds. Sake and shochu are a specialty at Yebisu, and as well as ordering off the iPad, you'll also be visited by an attendant with sake trolley and plenty of recommendations to share. Each sake is served ceremoniously, with designated cups for each type and a cheer of 'Kanpai!' There's cold, sweet sake for beginners, but a warm Urakusami is a brusque step up. Accompany it with some takoyaki octopus balls ($7.80) — fried, doughy, croquette-ish fare on sticks is a comforting chaser at any bar.
One of the country's premier film events, the Melbourne International Film Festival, has released a sneak peak of 2013's programming. Artistic director Michelle Carey admits that she is "especially excited about the MIFF 2013", and after a glance we can see why. Three years ago Wentworth Miller's Stoker was voted one of 2010's best unproduced screenplays, and now the rest of us finally have a chance to see what all the fuss is about. The unnerving tale is centered on 18-year-old India, who, fresh from burying her father, meets the mysterious uncle her mother has invited into the family home to fill their void. The cast includes a trifecta of Australian talent, with Nicole Kidman, Jacki Weaver and Mia Wasikowska breathing life into the Stoker family. To add to the hype, it is also the English language debut of celebrated South Korean director Park Chan-wook (Oldboy). Other movies on the radar include Tim Winton's The Turning (starring Cate Blanchett); festival patron Geoffrey Rush's turn as an eccentric art auctioneer in Italian box-office smash The Best Offer; Shane Carruth's highly anticipated follow-up to cult time-travel puzzler Primer, titled Upstream Color; and US gore-fest of a horror flick You're Next. The documentary contingent looks set to more than hold its own this year as Australia's almost-rock legend Jeremy Oxley's battle with schizophrenia and alcoholism takes centrestage in The Sunnyboy, and UK director Ken Loach looks to the England of old in The Spirit of '45. Loach's exploration of British domestic policy pre- and post-Thatcher is a rallying call to UK politicians to reject austerity and remember that great 20th-century experiment, the welfare state. What would a film festival be without something to call the next Woody Allen? MIFF fills that category with the black-and-white comedy Frances Ha. Star Greta Gerwig (To Rome with Love) co-wrote the film with director Noah Baumbach (The Squid and the Whale). It contains dialogue like this: Guy: What do you do? Frances: It's kind of hard to explain. Guy: Why, is what you do really complicated? Frances: Because, I don't really do it. So it looks like they are onto a good thing. An annual event, the MIFF runs from July 25 to August 11. For more information, head to the website and keep an eye out for the full program, which will be released on July 2. Image: Festival patron Geoffrey Rush as Virgil Oldman in The Best Offer
Booking in for a fresh cut is usually a practical decision. Things are looking a bit shaggy and you can't remember the last time your mop was treated to a good rinse. But one look at the Strand Arcade's NOAH Barber will change all that. The barbershop is kitted out with retro chairs, nostalgic bottles and waxes galore, blending modern trends with old-fashioned charm. Stop by for a hot towel shave, beard trim or go all out with The Full Service experience. Once you've sharpened your look, peruse the shelves of gels, fragrances and tonics — a selection from around the world with quality, minimalism and sustainability the focus — to walk away with a swag of goodies to keep your cut looking its best. Images: Rodrigo Vargas.
When it comes to history's legendary painters, Claude Monet's name stands out above most. Now, for the first time ever, Australian audiences are invited to experience the painting that the entire Impressionist movement was named after as the National Gallery of Australia exhibits Monet's world-famous masterpiece, Impression, sunrise. As well as a striking collection of other Monet paintings — including the instantly recognisable Waterlilies and On the Beach at Trouville — the exhibition features works by an array of artists who inspired or followed Monet into leaving behind the studio and painting 'en plein air'. From JMW Turner to James McNeill Whistler and Eugène Boudin, other contemporaries of Monet featured at the NGA include Alfred Sisley and Berthe Morisot, one of the few female painters among the Parisian Impressionists. With their visible brush strokes and incredible depictions of light and its subtle changes, many of these works have been gathered from the Musée Marmottan Monet in Paris, which almost never loans its collection. Running until Sunday September 1, Monet: Impression Sunrise is undoubtedly worth taking a wintertime road trip to Canberra for, so grab your pals and hit the road. Images: Claude Monet, Impression, sunrise (1872), courtesy Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris and Christian Baraja SLB; Claude Monet, Waterlilies (1914–17), courtesy NGA; Claude Monet, On the beach at Trouville (1870), Courtesy Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris and Bridgeman Images.
A Northern Beaches institution since the late 1970s, Dee Why Hotel has unveiled a $3-million makeover, complete with three distinct new spaces and a bold retro-glam look. At the heart of the upgrade is Mr B's, a schmick new sports bar anchored by a ten-metre TV wall, believed to be the largest on the Beaches. Named for the venue's original sports bar from the 90s, the expansive space is fitted with raised booths, high tables and curated sporting memorabilia, setting the perfect scene for match day. [caption id="attachment_1022162" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Trent van der Jagt[/caption] Jade's, a lush, greenhouse-inspired bistro, shifts the mood with earthy tones of eucalyptus green, turmeric, pink sand and natural timber. By day, it's a breezy spot for long lunches; by night, an elegant private event space separated from the rest of the venue by custom steel-framed sliding doors. The expansive front bar has also scored a smart new fitout that combines contemporary elements with playful retro touches — expect baby-blue and brown polka-dot carpets, glossy terracotta and chocolate-hued tiles and rich wood panelling, as well as a bespoke timber and brass back bar and striking pendant lights overhead. [caption id="attachment_1022158" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Trent van der Jagt[/caption] The food and drinks menu has also been refreshed. The pub's legendary burgers — like The Famous Trufflenator, with two smash patties, truffle mayo, truffled provolone, truffled maple syrup, bacon, American cheddar and onion rings — remain, and are joined by chargrilled skewers, stone-baked pizzas, elevated pub classics and daily specials like a $28 Sunday roast. Cocktails also lean into nostalgia, with summer-ready signatures like the Mango Weis, featuring Smirnoff vodka, peach schnapps, coconut and mango, and The Glider Room, a mix of Woodford Reserve bourbon, St Germain, honey syrup, lemon, pomegranate and Peychaud's bitters. The list is complemented by a tight edit of mostly Australian wines and beers, including Nev's Lager, brewed by Brookvale's 4 Pines and named for the pub's original owner, Neville Bayfield. Drink specials sweeten the deal, with $12 margaritas on Thursdays and $12 cocktails every Friday and Saturday. Nearly five decades since it opened, Dee Why Hotel remains independently owned and operated by the Bayfield family. This is a rare feat in Sydney's pub scene — and a big part of what keeps the venue's community spirit alive in a rapidly changing suburb, which now has the headline local it deserves. [caption id="attachment_1022159" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Trent van der Jagt[/caption] Top images: Trent van der Jagt.
Alexandria's all-vegan brewery Yulli's Brews is dishing up an unlikely, but very welcome, combo when it hosts its first boozy greyhound adoption drive on Sunday, May 26. The usual lineup of brews and vegan pub food will have to step out of the spotlight for the afternoon as the the team at Greyhound Rescue will be there with a pop-up adoption station. If you're ready to add a new four-legged addition to your family, you'll be able to meet some orphaned doggos and start the process to meet your perfect fluffy match. Adoption fees will be reduced on the day. Even if you can't take on the responsibility of adopting a dog, you can still head along and donate some cash to the charity while drinking from the bar's karma keg. Or bring your own pup for a good old-fashioned doggy meetup. Pooches are allowed all throughout the venue.
It's not only the playing of tennis that works up a healthy appetite — it's also the watching of it. But, when you're at the Australian Open, surrounded by fellow ravenous spectators in 40-degree heat, working out where to get a decent bite can be a challenge. So, we thought we'd save you some trouble by tracking down the best places to eat in and around Rod Laver Arena this year. Whether you want to stick to the village or roam over to the CBD or Richmond, here are some spots to try. And if you're visiting from out of town, you'll also get to tick a few of Melbourne's best places to eat off your list. [caption id="attachment_704328" align="alignnone" width="1920"] 400 Gradi[/caption] GRAND SLAM OVAL, AUSTRALIAN OPEN VILLAGE Grand Slam Oval – located within the Australian Open village – is a gathering place for pop-ups, food trucks and bars. You'll find OTT kebabs by Biggie Smalls, Mexican street food by Collins Street's Mamasita, burgers by Neil Perry's Burger Project, some of the world's best slices from 400 Gradi, and, from Beijing Betty, Chinese fusion snacks created exclusively for the event. There are also bars for drinkers of all kinds, including one dedicated to champagne, one to beer and another to Aperol Spritz. Ideal if you don't have much time before the coin toss or can't be bothered to leave the village between matches. HARLOW, RICHMOND If you're looking for a new adventure, settle in at Harlow, a pub that, in December, took over the space then belonging to the Great Britain. It's on Church Street, Richmond. Whether you hang out in the dining room or head into the beer garden, you'll be starting with creative bites, like mini crab doughnuts and duck and bacon sausage rolls. The mains list is more about decadent takes on classics: there's a steak sandwich loaded with maple bacon and Swiss cheese, a smoked beer hot dog and a behemoth vegan burger. It's open from midday right through until late. ARBORY AFLOAT, SOUTHBANK Cool off by the Yarra at Arbory Afloat, at 69-metre-long floating bar that, since 2015, has set up on the river every spring, ready to get you through long hot days and balmy evenings. Downstairs is a citrus-and-fig grove, inspired by the Cinque Terre, while upstairs is dotted with day beds. Wherever you are, you'll be sipping on blood orange Aperol spritzes, watermelon sangria and piña coladas, and tucking into Neapolitan-style wood-fired pizzas, seafood platters and salads. Arbory Afloat is at 2 Flinders Walk – just a 15-minute walk down the Yarra from the Australian Open. THE CORNER HOTEL, RICHMOND Two years ago, this Melbourne live music stalwart scored a rooftop refurbishment and a tasty new menu. Thankfully, it hasn't lost any of its down-to-earth good vibes. If you haven't caught enough sun at the Open, go straight upstairs to relax in the fresh air; otherwise, stay downstairs where many a band has played into the wee hours. Either way, the food offerings include fried chicken, roast chicken roulade, the Corner parma and the Patti Smith beef burger. Craft beers a-plenty are on-tap. The Corner is a 15-minute walk from the Open. GAZI, CBD Weekend attendees can factor in a little trip to the Greek Islands at Gazi. This Hellenic eatery is hosting yum cha every Sunday, from midday till 3pm. The dishes have their roots in Mediterranean cuisine, but pay homage to Chinese, too. Among them are spanakopita gyoza, feta honey sesame spring rolls and sweet bread filled with lamb. A reasonable $49 buys a ten-course banquet and, for $35, you can add bottomless cocktails. Gazi is at 2 Exhibition Street in the CBD – 15 minutes from the action. FEAST OF MERIT, RICHMOND Fuel up before you hit the court at Feast of Merit, on Swan Street, around a 20-minute walk from the Rod Laver Arena. Among street art, vintage furniture and hanging greenery, you'll be feasting on hearty, Middle Eastern-influenced brekkies, such as börek, a vegetarian dish of corn fritters, poached egg, garlic yoghurt, feta and dukkah, or smoked ocean trout with asparagus, potato rosti and sour cream. For hardcore ticket holders, it's hard to knock back the büyük kahvalti, a big breakfast piled with eggs, sucuk sausage, haloumi, spinach, heirloom cherry tomatoes and flatbread. It's also open for dinner if you're looking for something post-match. [caption id="attachment_636986" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Emily Blake[/caption] CUMULUS INC., CBD Take a rest from the heat, grit and grunts in a low-lit corner at Cumulus Inc., a dreamy escape designed to soothe your every sense. Owned and run by chef Andrew McConnell (Builders Arms Hotel, Cutler & Co. and Supernormal), this all-day eatery celebrated its tenth anniversary last year and has been stocking up on Good Food hats since 2010. Begin with beef tartare, tarragon and anchovy toast, then move onto snapper with mussels, fennel pollen and dill oil. There's also a tasting menu, which changes daily. Cumulus Inc. is at 45 Flinders Lane – 15 minutes' walk from the tennis. Top image: Visit Victoria.
The atmosphere of a writer's den, insanely long opening hours, fun and flavorsome food, a drinks menu that will keep even the most inspired drinker guessing, and not even the slightest degree of pretension. In short, Hemingway's must be one of the best spots in town right now. And it's perhaps not where you would expect it to be. A far cry from the back lanes of Darlinghurst or even the fame of King Street, this bar is firmly situated on Manly's main strip, right across from the beach. Despite this, it's about as dissimilar from a tourist trap as you can imagine. For a start, the prices. The house cocktails are $15 and the suggested mixers, almost good enough to be cocktails themselves, are a mere $10. Hemingway's Cup is the ten to one favourite cocktail, spotted in the hands of almost every lady in the place. It's gentle mix of Hendrick's gin, rose and apple tea, sugar, and spice, served in a tea cup and saucer with slices of cucumber alongside. While it's very good, my pick would be the Miffy: house-infused vanilla rum, Falernum, orange, lemon and egg white whisked into a cloud-like dream. On a summer's day, the Creaming Soda might be more your style, with vodka, crème de cassis, home-made lemonade, wild berry foam and a paper cocktail umbrella. As far as mixer ideas go, Aperol and Fanta isn't a bad choice, and neither is Rum, Spicy Bitters and Ginger Beer. Both pack a flavoursome punch. The food, too, picks up on this childhood-made-tastier theme. From the bar menu, the Corn ($6) with lime butter, black salt and finely grated Manchego is reminiscent of one of the Norfolk's best menu items. Of the sliders , we're told that the Beef ($14 for two, $26 for four) is the best pick and it definitely lives up to the hype. With cheese, bacon, barbeque sauce, mayo and pickles, it's the burger you wish fast food joints served. The Chilli Dog ($8), with a smoked frankfurt, chilli con carne, mustard, jalapenos and cheese, rounds the meal off nicely. For two, that is. While dessert might sound like a stretch, these offerings demand to be taken up. We tried a new one, titled simply Milo ($10). It turned out to be a rich chocolate marquise with vanilla ice cream to the side, balanced on a soil of Milo and Coco Pops, alongside a smear of salted caramel, and topped with milk foam. In other words, a stoner's dream. It's worth mentioning that these are only two of the many menus on offer. Hemingway's serves breakfast and lunch and, between Monday and Saturday, offers a full, fancy dinner upstairs. In a place this good, I suspect that I'll be an expert on all of those menus within the month. [nggallery id=117]
Ask any ski addict where the best resort is in Australia, and you'd best gear up for a fierce defence. "Mine's got the best terrain!" "Mine's got the best powder!" "Mine's got a goddamn day spa!" These spirited answers just go to show that, despite having an international reputation for sun and surf, we don't fare too poorly on the snow front either. In fact, the country just had a stellar start to the ski season and , in the middle of winter, all of the snowy bits of the Aussie Alps are actually bigger in surface area than Switzerland. Take that, Northern Hemisphere. So, now you know that Australia is actually a secret winter wonderland, where should you head for some frosty good times? We take a look at ten of the country's best resorts, helping you choose the one that suits you — whether you're looking for gnarly vertical drops or a massage and a glass of fine wine between runs. THREDBO, NSW If you're into extremes, then get yourself to Thredbo. Here, you'll find the longest run in Australia — the mighty, five-kilometre-long Crackenback Super Trail — as well as the country's highest lifted point, Karel's T-Bar, at 2037 metres. Then, for complete and utter terror, there's the super-steep Balls to the Wall pitch as well. Beginners are catered to, too, thanks to friendly Friday Flat, where many an Aussie has conquered his/her first snow plough. All in all, more than 50 runs weave their way across the resort. In between skiing and snowboarding, try snow-shoeing in back country, tobogganing in the Snow Play Park, eating at Australia's highest restaurant or apres-skiing in Thredbo Village, where you can sip champagne while star gazing in the Alpine Hotel's outdoor jacuzzi. The resort also has a heap of events going on all season, which you can check out here. Thredbo is about 490 kilometres or five-and-a-half hours' drive southwest of Sydney and about 530 kilometres or six-and-a-half hours' drive northeast of Melbourne. PERISHER, NSW Reckon size matters? Make tracks to Perisher, the biggest ski destination in the Southern Hemisphere. It became so in 1995 when the four resorts within it — Perisher, Smiggins, Blue Cow and Guthega — joined forces. You get 1245 hectares, 47 lifts, seven mountains and five terrain parks to carve up on. One of the trickiest runs is Olympic, on Back Perisher Mountain, while, for newbies, Smiggins Holes makes falling over not-too-scary. If you're keen to take a break from down hill skiing, there are 100 kilometres of marked cross-country tracks to try. On-snow sleepovers abound, but Perisher also allows the affordability of a stay in Jindabyne (try this cabin). From there, drive to Bullocks Flat and catch the Ski Tube. Perisher is about 490 kilometres or six hours' drive southwest of Sydney and about 600 kilometres or seven hours' drive northeast of Melbourne. CHARLOTTE PASS, NSW Charlotte Pass is the fine wine of ski fields. Just 50 hectares in size, with only five lifts, it doesn't attract the crowds and hype of Thredbo or Perisher. But, it does have the magical advantage of being the only snowbound resort in Australia. A car won't get you there; you have to catch an over-snow buggie from the Skitube. Thredbo might have the nation's highest chair lift, but Charlotte Pass isn't far behind — at 1765 metres at its lowest point and 1954 at its highest, it makes for rather reliable snowfall. The limited accessibility is definitely an excellent excuse to stay on-snow in the irresistibly cute Charlotte Pass Village. Charlotte Pass is about 500 kilometres or six hours' drive southwest of Sydney and about 620 kilometres or seven-and-a-half hours' drive northeast of Melbourne. SELWYN, NSW For affordability, Selwyn is hard to beat. Here, $599 buys you a pass for the entire season. That said, Selwyn doesn't offer the excitement of Thredbo or the scale of Perisher. Like Charlotte Pass, it's on the compact side, with just ten kilometres of runs in total. However, it's closer to sea level, the lowest point being 1492 metres and the highest 1614 metres, which makes the season shorter. If you're new to skiing or boarding, though, and are looking to develop your skills, Selwyn's a top choice. Overall, the terrain is pretty gentle and you won't have to worry about aggressive types cutting you off while you're bravely snow-ploughing your way along screaming internally with your eyes firmly closed. Selwyn is about 500 kilometres or five-and-a-half-hours' drive southwest of Sydney and about 540 kilometres or six hours' drive northeast of Melbourne. MOUNT HOTHAM AND DINNER PLAIN, VIC Another spot that'll have you towering above mere, grass-bound mortals is Hotham, the highest resort in Victoria. Like Thredbo, it comes with spectacular vistas and, on good days, promises bucketloads of powder. If you're keen to take a break from doing all the work yourself, casually join a dog sled ride, which involves a bunch of huskies whooshing you across the snow, or book a snow mobile journey in back country. In between conquering the mountain, you can slip into an on-snow day spa or grab a gluhwein (a traditional Austrian beverage with red wine, cinnamon, oranges and cloves) in your pick of 20 bars and restaurants. There are a bunch of hotels, lodges and chalets on Mount Hotham; alternatively, hob nob at Dinner Plain, a village ten kilometres away that specialises in luxury stays, pretty snow gums and an outdoor onsen. Mount Hotham is about 700 kilometres or eight hours' drive southwest of Sydney and about 380 kilometres or four-and-a-half hours' drive northeast of Melbourne. [caption id="attachment_628046" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Andrew Railton[/caption] MOUNT BULLER, VIC Mount Buller is only three hours from Melbourne, so you can ski it as part of a day trip if you don't mind an early start. It's also got more lifts than any other Victorian resort, with 22 lifts across 300 hectares. Pro skiers should head to the south side of the mountain, where they'll find plenty of black (read: difficult and scary) runs, while intermediates will be happier on the northern side, scooting down blue runs. If you've never even so much looked at a pair of skis before, grab a Discovery Pass, which includes a lesson and access to eight beginner's lifts. You can do husky rides here, too. Off-snow, you can take five in Australia's highest day spa, go rock climbing and hop between 30 bars and restaurants. Not keen to drive back to Melbourne? There are 7000 beds in Mount Buller Village. Mount Buller is about 800 kilometres or eight hours' drive southwest of Sydney and about 230 kilometres or three-and-a-half hours' drive northeast of Melbourne. FALLS CREEK, VIC Falls Creek might be a third of the size of Perisher, but it's still the largest ski resort in Victoria. 450 hectares give you 15 lifts and more than 90 runs. The terrain is less dramatic than at other spots, which means that a whopping 80 percent of it suits beginner and intermediate skiers. And, in between downhill escapades, you can investigate 65 kilometres of cross-country trails. If you're around at the end of August, check out the Kangaroo Hoppet, a marathon 42-kilometre-long ski race which happens to be the Southern Hemisphere's biggest snow sport event. Falls Creek is about 670 kilometres or seven hours' drive southwest of Sydney and about 380 kilometres or four-and-a-half hours' drive northeast of Melbourne. LAKE MOUNTAIN, VIC If your main objective is to get to snow — any kind of snow — as quickly as possible, then head for Lake Mountain. It's just two hours' drive from Melbourne, so it's an even easier day trip than Mount Buller. However, the terrain is for cross-country skiing only, which means no downhill thrills. The adventure here is more about strapping on a pair of cross-country skis or, if you'd prefer to walk, snow shoes, and having a bit of an explore of the 37 kilometres of trails. There's also a park dedicated to snow people and a flying fox that bears you through the air for 240 metres. Lake Mountain is about 840 kilometres or nine hours' drive southwest of Sydney and about 120 kilometres or two hours' drive northeast of Melbourne. MOUNT BAW BAW, VIC Mount Baw Baw is officially the closest downhill ski resort to Melbourne, being just two-and-a-half hours' drive away. It's not as vertical as Mount Buller, but less flat than Lake Mountain. Plus, like Charlotte Pass and Selwyn, it's little, offering just ten kilometres of runs. So, it's another sweet spot for beginners, especially nervy ones. When you're ready to take a break, go careering around back country in a sled led by huskies, experiment with snow shoeing or swing by stunning Red Rock Spa, surrounded by giant-sized granite boulders and snow gums. Mount Baw Baw is about 900 kilometres or ten-and-a-half-hours' drive southwest of Sydney and about 180 kilometres or two-and-a-half hours' drive northeast of Melbourne. BEN LOMOND, TAS Despite being our southernmost and therefore coldest state, Tassie isn't well-known as a skiing destination. There's no shortage of snow though, and the resorts are small, laid back and friendly. Plus, if you go in June, you can combine your skiing with a moment or two at Dark Mofo. The best-known resort is Ben Lomond, on Tassie's second highest peak, and getting there is an adventure in itself: it's at the end of a long, narrow road that twists and turns its way up the mountainside. The scenery is epic, but just don't expect fancy facilities, as at Australia's major resorts — things are kept pretty simple and rustic here. Ben Lamond is about 220 kilometres or three hours' drive north of Hobart.
Struggling to pay the electricity bill this month? What would you say to jumping rope instead? Innovative technology-with-a-conscience company Uncharted Play has come up with PULSE, a skipping rope that harvests energy with every single jump. That’s energy that can later be used to power electronic devices — including smartphones — and lights. Made of strong, resilient plastic, the device features 3D-printed handles which store the kinetic energy created by each spin. It’s converted to electricity via an adaptor. One hundred PULSEs, priced at US$129 each, comprise the first run. But Uncharted Play’s higher goal is to make the invention accessible to individuals and communities in the developing world, where electricity can be insanely expensive and resorting to high-risk alternatives such as kerosene is often the only option. If the initial distribution takes off, the company will start looking at ways to bring the price down. Previous Uncharted Play successes include the SOCCKET — an energy-harvesting soccer ball connected to an LED lamp — and a foldable, sustainable, recyclable, eco-friendly water bottle. All sales proceeds go towards providing SOCCKETs to disadvantaged children and lifting educational standards in remote areas. Via Springwise.
The winter chill is starting to set in across Sydney, which means it's time to bust out your warmest winter woolies once again. Happily enough, to coincide with the start of winter, a heap of private igloos are popping up across the city so you can get your winter escape without even having to leave the big smoke. You'll soon find pop-up winter wonderlands across Sydney as Surry Hills' The Winery and Darling Harbour's Cargo Bar are set to bring back their popular igloos from June. Head to The Winery between Saturday, June 8 and Sunday, September 26, and you can chill out in your wintry bubble with up to seven of your mates. For $50 per person, you'll get a hearty winter set menu for you and your buddies to share featuring olives, Sydney rock oysters, ricotta and pine nut ravioli, The Winery's sausage rolls, baked camembert and a triple chocolate brownie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Want to take things up a notch? You can add on two hours of unlimited booze for an additional $39 a head. To book, just head over to The Winery's website. [caption id="attachment_773890" align="alignnone" width="1920"] The Winery[/caption] If you're keen to kick back in a waterfront igloo, head to Cargo Bar instead. Here, 90 minutes inside a fairy light-lit dome will cost you $59 a head — and includes four tasty dishes and endless drinks, with a choice of beer or wine, and the option to add an espresso martini into the mix for $10. For food, you'll be feasting on mac and cheese balls, birria tacos, buffalo wings and margherita pizza. Hit up the Cargo Bar website to book a spot between Thursday, June 17 and Sunday, September 26. The phenomenon of pop-up winter igloos has been growing in recent years, with igloos currently also occupying Pier One, as well as a bunch of venues down in Melbourne. Private igloos are available to hire at The Winery from Saturday, June 8 and Cargo Bar from Thursday, June 17.
Darlinghurst's Japanese cafe Sandoitchi has a new addition to its katsu menu — and it's the most over-the-top sando we've seen yet. Co-Owner and Chef Pureephat "Bhass" Kraikangwan (Long Chim) has teamed up with Sydney's wagyu experts Osawa Enterprises to create the kobe katsu sando. And it'll set you back a casual $200 a pop. A high-end variety of wagyu, kobe beef is raised to strict standards in the Japanese prefecture of Hyōgo (its capital city is Kobe). The super-premium kobe used in Sandoitchi costs a whopping $400 per kilo. While the exact price of each sando will depend on portion size, expect around 200-grams of pink-centered kobe sandwiched between Japanese-style thick-cut white bread topped with tonkatsu mayo and mustard. These kobe katsu sandos are available by pre-order only, via DM on Sandoitchi's Instagram. The dish will be available for all of October — and potentially beyond if there's enough thirst for it in Sydney. [caption id="attachment_785328" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Kobe katsu sando by @dangimhungry via Sandoitchi.[/caption] If dropping four pineapples on some meat and bread sounds extravagant to you, you can also opt for a few less OTT options. Those include a South Australian wagyu strip loin for $59 — it boasts a marble score of 9+, which is the highest score possible — and the regular wagyu sando with beef from NSW's Rangers Valley for $29 (marble score 4+). These sandos are also topped with tonkatsu mayo and mustard and served on pillowy white bread. This rather pricey sando is a departure for the cafe, which generally serves up reasonably priced eats — like the katsu-heavy dinner menu from July, which saw most dishes sit under $20. We're not sure who can afford this latest katsu offering, but we're sure it'll be a memorable bite for those who can. The kobe katsu sando will be available at Sandoitchi Cafe for the remainder of October. It must be pre-ordered via DM on Sandoitchi's Instagram here.
The flavours of Korea and Mexico have formed an unlikely, but delicious allegiance, given equal billing at Canterbury's modern fusion eatery Vecino. It's an uncommon culinary mash-up, but not one you'll forget in a hurry, thanks to a creative menu packed full of big flavours. Co-owners Tony Lee and Eunice Lim play on the similarities between two famously lively cuisines, drawing both on Lee's Korean heritage and his experience working in Mexican kitchens across the world. At Vecino, the lineup is crafty, rather than quirky, with instant hits including the bulgogi tacos (two for $13.50) — the Korean classic reimagined with black beans and guac — and the loaded fries ($14.90), here topped with bulgogi, pico de gallo, kimchi, sour cream and cheese. There's a ripper Korean fried chicken, too —served either original, sweet and spicy, teriyaki, rosemary honey garlic and chimichurri — while the burrito ($16) comes loaded with kimchi fried rice, spicy pork, black beans, guac and hot sauce. Equally vibrant and just as memorable is the funky cocktail selection. Head in for gutsy creations like the Makgeorita, blending tequila with Korean rice wine, alongside a lineup of soju-infused signatures and giant frozen margaritas.
When it comes to casual group dining, Motel Mezza ticks all the boxes. You can come in for drinks and share mezze plates by the fireplace, or book in for a banquet feast with a group of mates and stay for electric blue coloured cocktails and a chat with the bartenders. It's easy-breezy. The Middle Eastern restaurant menu has dips and small plates, and its mains include zaatar cauliflower served with tahini and garlic dip, lamb kafka served with Lebanese bread, fresh tomato and onion, and shish taouk — sauteed chicken in a tomato marinate, served on rice with almonds. For the best value, share a banquet between two; the $45 plant-based mezza includes hummus, vine leaves, tabouli, zaatar cauliflower, falafel, lubia green beans and rice. [caption id="attachment_777186" align="alignnone" width="1620"] Kitti Gould[/caption] Everything here is designed to share, so the more the merrier. That way you can add in labneh dressed with olive oil and zaatar and mint, kabis pickles or warmed olives to start — and a medley of desserts, like the halawi ice cream, rosewater panna cotta or orange and almond cake, to round out your night. From the bar, cocktails are colourful and playfully named. The Axel Rose mixes up vodka, rose water, lime and cucumber and the Blue Sky is a striking blend of vodka, blue curacao, lemon and pineapple. Like any good bar, it also offers the classics, so if you're here for a cosmo, no one will judge. Wine and beer drinkers have their pick from a plentiful list of Australian and New Zealand wines and craft beers. Plus, there are lots of non-alcoholic options that aren't limited to sugary soda. Images: Kitti Gould
Brisbane's Gallery of Modern Art started 2023 by musing on air, with floating mirrored spheres, volcanic mounds, and dances between light and darkness to help. When the year comes to an end, it'll turn its attention to fairy tales, complete with twisted woodlands taking over the South Bank venue. In-between, GOMA is shining a spotlight on two Australian artists, Michael Zavros and eX de Medici, in a pair of exhibitions that feature everything from cars to blood swabs. Running now until Monday, October 2, and filling GOMA for winter as well as the start of spring in the process, Michael Zavros: The Favourite and eX de Medici: Beautiful Wickedness are taking their status as major surveys of each talent's work seriously. The former covers 90-plus paintings, sculptures, videos, photos and performances by the Queensland artist, while the latter is the most extensive retrospective to-date on the Canberra-based creative and tattooist, spanning more than 100 works. With The Favourite, GOMA looks back across 25 years of Zavros' art — although Drowned Mercedes is brand new. Created for the exhibition, the sculpture fills the cabin of an original classic 90s Mercedes-Benz SL convertible with water. When attendees peer at the piece, they see their own reflection in the water. Other Zavros highlights include paintings including Man in a wool suit and Ferragamo 2000, which take inspiration from men's magazines; the Prince/Zavros, with American conceptual artist Richard Prince's late-80s Cowboy images and Marlboro Man tobacco ads an influence; architectural representations Love's temple and Unicorn in the anticamera; and a heap of portraits, with Zavros himself a frequent subject. Still-life works; equestrian paintings, drawings and sculptures; depictions of rare Japanese Onagadori chickens: they all grace GOMA's walls and halls, too. So does Acropolis Now, a large-scale mural depicting the Parthenon in Athens, which is being turned into a Greek coffee house once a month thanks to folks from Brisbane's Greek community playing backgammon and sipping Greek caffeinated beverages. "At the core of the exhibition and among the things that differentiate Michael Zavros from other artists of his generation is an unapologetic love of beauty and craftsmanship, folly, and grandeur. Audiences will enter Michael's world. They will see the rigour and breadth of his practice and how his work across multiple media reveals a subtly evolving worldview," said Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art Director Chris Saines. "His work is inescapably about who he is: his lifestyle — real or imagined — his family, his interests and values." In Beautiful Wickedness, the gallery harks back four decades, charting eX de Medici's exploration of life's fragility, death, greed, power, conflict and more. Here, visitors can peer at watercolours; intricate botanical studies; ample works featuring flowers and skulls; and even a bridal gown that takes its cues from Julie Andrews' dress in The Sound of Music. Early pieces include The Blood of Others, which is where those blood swabs come in — from eX de Medici's tattoo clients back in the 90s — while later works go large, feature moths and weapons, and explore war's pointlessness. "An avowed environmentalist and activist, de Medici's life and career has been dedicated to uncloaking misuses of power and revealing its effects on everyday lives. Exquisitely detailed and technically adept, her often large-scale watercolours seduce the viewer while seeking to expose the shadowy underbelly of consumerism and the long reach of systems of surveillance, authority, and control," said Saines. "Her artworks conceal surreptitious yet razor-sharp barbs among lush arrangements of historical and contemporary emblems of excess." Michael Zavros: The Favourite and eX de Medici: Beautiful Wickedness display at Brisbane's Gallery of Modern Art, Stanley Place, South Brisbane from Saturday, June 24–Monday, October 2, 2023. For further details — or to find out more about the gallery's full 2023 slate — visit its website. Images: installation views of Michael Zavros: The Favourite and eX de Medici: Beautiful Wickedness, Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, 2023. © Michael Zavros and eX de Medici / Photographs: Joe Ruckli © QAGOMA.
If you truly want a break from city life and fully immerse yourself in country living, there's no finer place than the Orange region. Whether you'd love to be sipping wines by a fire pit at the Winter Fire Festival, taking a summer hike up Mount Canobolas, watching the leaves change in autumn or seeing the bud bursts in vineyards in spring, there's always a reason to make the trek to the Central Tablelands. Together with Orange360, we've collated some of the best reasons to visit the Orange region, from epic festivals and top-notch wine to some of the country's best food and cosiest country stays. Outdoor and Festive Events The highlight of the winter season in the Orange region is the Winter Fire Festival. Attendees can enjoy a series of events curated by local producers to showcase the region's finest food and wine offerings. Sample local treats and wines throughout the day. As night falls, fire pits will line the streets as you enjoy live music and family-friendly activities before the event culminates in a dazzling fireworks display. It's a celebration of community against the backdrop of the picturesque countryside. Fireworks are nothing next to this next annual activity. Massive hot air balloons take to the skies every autumn in the Canowindra International Balloon Challenge. This creative festival is held annually in Canowindra, a small but strong rural community in the picturesque and fertile Belubula Valley. It has a long history of hot air ballooning, dating back to the first modern hot air balloon flight in Australia in 1966. Stick around for the monthly Twilight Markets at The Palms Canowindra. Six times a year, this market showcases producers from Canowindra's surrounds. Peruse the produce, hunt for gifts or snack on local food and wines. There's also live music and an open mic for brave travellers wishing to share a song or two. Wine Tasting and Vineyard Visits Thanks to the Orange region's unique climate and high altitudes on the Great Dividing Range's north and west slopes, wine producers can cultivate a diverse range of grape varieties in the region. Cooler sub-regions are perfect for riesling and sauvignon blanc, the warmer spots are ideal for merlot, shiraz and cab sav, and chardonnay and pinot noir are happy in between. So, you simply can't come here and not make time for a wine tasting. Macquariedale Organic Wines should be on your itinerary if you're a mindful wine fan. It specialises in organic, biodynamic, low-preservative, vegan-friendly and natural wines — as nature intended. The winery hosts a range of wine tastings and experiences at its cellar door, including a Wander and Graze package that will take you up the gentle slopes of the property to take in views across to Mount Canobolas while enjoying a hamper stocked with local goodies (and wine, of course). Head to the family-owned winery Angullong in Millthorpe for a more traditional wine tasting. Visit its historic bluestone cellar door to sample its range, which includes classic cool-climate varieties such as sauvignon blanc, shiraz and cabernet. There are also some dynamic alternative wines in the mix, such as viognier, tempranillo, barbera and sangiovese. Delve deeper into the countryside and take a jaunt out to the Logan Wines cellar door. This whimsical wine brand was started by wine industry stalwart Peter Logan. Everything on the wine list is an experiment and a testament to the team's determination to create a shift from the norm. Epicurean Experiences As the Central Tablelands' food bowl, the Orange region is the perfect place to polish up your cooking skills or simply taste some delicious food. Local winery Ross Hill Wines — Australia's first certified carbon-neutral winery — hosts cooking classes every other week with chef Michael Manners, as part of its school of food and wine Barrel & Larder. Classes range from how to prepare Mediterranean share plates to mastering the art of pies, pizzas and desserts. For a taste of the region in the city centre, head to Hey Rosey, on Summer Street. This stylish wine bar celebrates local food and wines. For big feeds, opt for a roasts with seasonal veg or, for lighter bites, go for the oeuf mayonnaise with soft poached eggs, Pernod mayo and salmon roe. Another local favourite is Byng Street Local Store, a must-stop for breakfast, lunch or coffee on the go. From Wednesday to Saturday, the store opens for dinner service. The menu changes weekly but includes dishes like crispy pork belly with a mango and curry sauce, tuna tataki with grapefruit and ponzu dressing, and seven-hour beef short ribs with tamarind and kaffir lime. Cosy Stays in the Country The Orange region has many epic spots to stay, from charming cottages to elegant hotels, but what could be more immersive than a real farm experience? 11 kilometres from the city centre is a sixth-generation sheep station, Bondonga, where you'll find The Quarters' farm stay. Encounter all kinds of flora and fauna and spend the day as a farmer on an ATV Tour, where you'll meet lambs and get a taste of life as a sheep farmer. For a home away from home, The White Place Home on Byng could be the perfect stay for you. This quaint cottage, only steps away from the Byng Street Local Store, boasts four generous bedrooms, fireplaces and glass French doors that open out to an entertaining deck that overlooks an in-ground pool — ideal for a dip after a long day, weather permitting. Whether you're planning a springtime escape or a wintry weekend away, the Orange region has fine wine, good food and spectacular surroundings that make for a great break. Start planning your trip here.
You can forget about cramped seats and other people's heads obscuring your view of the big screen when you next catch a flick, because Sydney has scored a new next-level movie-going experience. And it's from the same minds behind Gold Class, V-Max and the multi-sensory 4DX cinema. The latest luxe additions to Event Cinemas George Street, the two boutique theatres each boast their own unique design, the 'Paparazzi' auditorium inspired by red carpet glamour and sibling space 'The Library' celebrating the art of storytelling. They're intimate cinemas, with room for just 46 and 28 guests, respectively. Dubbed Event Boutique cinemas, they're decked out with luxurious recliner chairs, state-of-the-art sound technology, in-seat waiter service and a not-boring menu of food and drinks. [caption id="attachment_725804" align="alignnone" width="1920"] The Library[/caption] Step inside and you're in for a premium experience, helped along by extra large screens featuring world-class laser projection. What's more, while you're kicking back watching a film, you'll also be tucking into a top-notch lineup of eats and drinks — delivered to your seat by a waiter, of course. Think platters of cheese and charcuterie courtesy of Vic's Meats, smashed avo, croissants and banana loaf from Sonoma Bakery, as well as wagyu beef burgers, braised brisket pies, reuben sandwiches and mini pizzas topped with the likes of mortadella and pumpkin and goat's cheese. For dessert, there are fried-to-order cinnamon doughnuts, pints of Magnum ice cream and popcorn-topped chocolate brownies, as well as all the candy bar classics. As an added bonus, each Event Boutique cinema is customisable, so they're primed for functions, special events and private screenings (if you wanna be that extra). It's just the latest luxe cinema experience to land in Aus, too, with Palace Cinemas also recently stepping things up a notch with its Palace Platinum offering, now available in Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and Melbourne.
For the next three months, the Sydney Opera House will not be home to any operas, Vivid Live performances, thought-provoking talks or podcast recordings, with all public performances suspended until at least June 17. But you will be able to relive many of the highlights from its 47-year history on the Sydney icon's new digital program, 'From our House to yours'. The program will see full-length performances, talks, long-form articles, podcasts and behind-the-scenes content brought to your screens. As well as a heap of footage that's never been seen by the public before. You'll also be able to access a bunch of free content on demand, plus new videos, recordings and articles will be released daily every Wednesday through Sunday, with each week's schedule announced on Tuesday. Kicking things off was award-winning Aussie musician Missy Higgins, followed by a conversation from this year's All About Women with writer Chanel Miller about her new memoir Know My Name on Thursday; footage of last year's Dance Rites; Sydney Symphony Orchestra performing Beethoven's Symphony No. 9; and a recording of The Writers Room with Celia Pacqoula (Rosehaven), Josh Thomas (Please Like Me), Luke McGregor (Rosehaven) and Dan Harmon (Rick and Morty, Community). Other highlights include the premiere screening of All About Women's panel discussion with fierce journalist Clementine Ford and DJ Flex Mami; world-renowned philosopher and author Alain De Botton discussing love; culinary legend Nigella Lawson talking about the joys of home cooking;Bangarra Dance Theatre's Bennelong; and Yotam Ottolenghi discussing simple cooking with Adam Liaw. For its fifth weekly season, the Opera House is streaming a recording of WikiLeaks whistleblower and trans activist Chelsea Manning at 8pm AEST on Thursday, April 30. Part of ANTIDOTE 2018, the recording features Manning in conversation with award-winning journalist Peter Greste via satellite, direct from LA. [caption id="attachment_768842" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Prudence Upton[/caption] Then, you can catch a recording of Bach's Golberg Variations on Friday, May 1 at 8pm AEST; a never-before-seen edit featuring musicians Glen Hansard, José González, Poliç, Conor Oberst and Nai Palm at 8pm AEST on Saturday, May 2; and celebrated author Fran Lebowitz on cultural nostalgia and leading a panel on women in the age of Trump, and Tarana Burke, the US-based founder of the #MeToo movement at 3pm AEST on Sunday, May 3. Its on demand content includes an interview with British comedian, actor and musician Noel Fielding, a video on first-wave feminism, a podcast featuring intimate interviews with First Nations artists and leaders, and an article on the Opera House staff's most memorable moments. From our House to yours will run from Wednesday, April 1 till at least mid-June, 2020. Each week's schedule will be announced on Tuesday.
Vaccinated masses rejoice: up to five double-jabbed mates can now gather in outdoor areas together, meaning the hottest ticket in town is the humble BYO picnic. So, it's high time to grab cured meats, crudites and cold ones and make tracks to your nearest scenic park for a long, leisurely day in the sun. But you don't want to throw your picnic blanket down on any old patch of bindi-riddled grass. Sure, you may be restricted to your LGA or five-kilometre bubble, but there are still plenty of sprawling parks, stunning gardens and secluded reserves around. We've teamed up with Rosie Spritz to round up five of the most idyllic spots in the inner city 'burbs — all of which allow you to BYO booze. Here's where to lay in the sun, crack open a pre-batched bottle of rosé spritz and tuck into some A-grade cheese. [caption id="attachment_826962" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Brooke Zotti[/caption] BARANGAROO RESERVE, BARANGAROO Named after the Cammeraygal leader and wife of Wangal man Bennelong, Barangaroo is known for both its cultural heritage and as a sprawling precinct nestled between Sydney Harbour and the city. It's also home to Barangaroo Reserve: a six-hectare swathe of rolling parklands brimming with Australian natives, meandering trails, dreamy harbour views and plenty of space to plant your vaxxed bums for a picnic. It's close to Wynyard Station and, if you haven't packed a picnic basket, Barangaroo's southern end is conveniently home to much-loved Sydney eateries like Belles Hot Chicken, Bourke Street Bakery, Ume Burger and Rivareno Gelato, all of which are currently offering takeaway options for your al fresco snack needs. [caption id="attachment_827001" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Brooke Zotti[/caption] ROYAL BOTANIC GARDEN SYDNEY, CBD Both the oldest scientific institution in Australia (it was opened way back in 1816) and one of the oldest botanic gardens in the southern hemisphere, the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney is truly one of the Harbour City's top natural(ish) gems. It's also a perfect spot to set your self up for an afternoon. Why? For one, it's absolutely massive — 30 hectares in total. And, as one of the city's most prized green spaces, it is home to a jaw-dropping collection of both native and foreign species of plants, and, of course, local wildlife. And with all that space, there are myriad options for either a lively picnic with harbour views or a quiet leafy paradise all to yourselves. There are also endless amenities, so if you desperately need a coffee or (inevitably) need to go to the bathroom, you won't have to leave the park. [caption id="attachment_826968" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Brooke Zotti[/caption] BEARE PARK, ELIZABETH BAY Known mostly for its foreshore trail loved by seemingly every jogger in town, Beare Park is a stunning space to take a load off post run — or walk, or drive. While this pocket of green space is relatively small (compared with the Royal Botanic Garden anyway), it has ample space for you to spread out. It's also BYO booze-friendly and, thanks to it being a stone's throw from Potts Point, it has no shortage of sweet food options for a luxe picnic spread, including top cheese shop Penny's and go-to sandwich spots like Small's Deli and Room Ten. Kick back, sip a Rosie Spritz and daydream you're one of the local multibillionaires who owns a superyacht moored in the bay. [caption id="attachment_826987" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Brooke Zotti[/caption] HARMONY PARK, SURRY HILLS If you're on the hunt for a park that's close to the best eateries in town, look no further than Harmony Park. An ol' faithful outdoor lunch spot for the Surry Hills crowd, the park has an endless list of A-class food spots surrounding it. You can pick up a falafel-filled pita pocket at Shwarmama, a quality cup of joe from Single O, a Japanese-style katsu sando from Sandoitchi and Butter's famed fried chicken — the list of Surry Hills spots goes on and on and on. Harmony Park is also BYO-friendly (praise be), so you can cheers it up with your vaccinated pals. But, the real drawcard is all the cute pups parading around the park, so bring your pooch along, or simply coax a cute doggo over to your gathering with a fistful of leftovers. [caption id="attachment_825209" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Flickr, Amelia Collins, creative commons[/caption] HICKSON ROAD RESERVE, THE ROCKS If you're looking to picnic as close as humanly possible to an Australian landmark, then Hickson Road Reserve is your spot. The park sits underneath the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and it brings some vacay vibes with the giant palm trees lining the foreshore footpath. Not to be outdone by the bridge, there's also a pretty bloody spectacular view of Sydney Opera House and the rich blue hues of the harbour waters. Though small, it's probably the most blue-chip patch of grass to roll out a picnic blanket in the city. Rosie Spritz is an ideal springtime sip and is available at BWS, Dan Murphy's and First Choice Liquor stores across Sydney. For more picnic inspiration, check out our guides to idyllic picnic spots where you can BYO booze in Sydney's inner west, eastern suburbs, lower north shore and northern beaches. Top image: Barangaroo Reserve, Brooke Zotti Remember to Drinkwise.
Many people say you can't have a bad meal in Japan, whether you're grabbing drinks in a small laneway bar, knocking elbows with locals at a local ramen spot, or even just having a pit stop at a convenience store. This September, Barangaroo House turns into a three-level playground celebrating Japanese food and drink brilliance with limited-time menus and pop-ups. [caption id="attachment_1020297" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Image supplied[/caption] Perth's Papi Katsu will take over Smoke Bar on September 5 to kick off the month-long event. On the rooftop of Barangaroo House, enjoy izakaya-style bites like bluefin tuna gyoza tacos and scampi tartare on crispy chicken skin, alongside Nikka whiskey cocktails. [caption id="attachment_1020295" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Image supplied[/caption] One floor down, Rekōdo's transforms into a ramen bar soundtracked by jazz vinyl records. When Newtown ramen joint Rising Sun Workshop pops up from September 17-19, lunchtime crowds will be treated to $20 ramen bowls. Pick from shio ramen, a heavier shoyu ramen or a vegetarian miso ramen — and pair your noodles with fusion snacks like yakitori with kosho romesco and momen tofu in gochujang sauce. [caption id="attachment_1020301" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Image supplied[/caption] And all month long, you'll find a Japanese kombini on the ground floor. House Bar will be serving riffs on iconic Japanese 7-Eleven items such as egg sandos, tuna onigiris and yakisoba-stuffed sandwiches alongside ice-cold Asahi and Nikka highballs. If you're going in for a second Asahi, win some Japanese snacks and exclusive merch from a vending machine. Nikka features throughout the festival, but fans of Japanese whisky will be delighted to hear that's not all. Every Friday in September, Barangaroo House will be pouring glasses of one of Japan's most exclusive whisky exports: a Nikka Decades blend made from whiskies spanning nine decades. The venue owns one of the 100 bottles available in Australia. At $60 for a 15ml pour or $120 for a 30ml pour, the whiskey is served tableside via trolley and can be paired with a $50 karaage chicken and caviar combo for a luxe night out. [caption id="attachment_1020296" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Image supplied[/caption]
Returning for 2025, SMASH!, the much-loved annual Sydney Manga and Anime Show, will take over the ICC Sydney from Friday, July 11–Sunday, July 13. It's set to be a weekend filled with lots of dancing, good food and tasty drinks. During the weekend, live DJ performances will take place from 12–4pm, featuring anime-inspired tunes and party beats to get you in the mood. At the convention, visitors can also expect an artist market, unique panels and workshops, as well as a host of free activities. A range of international guests, including cosplayer Thames Malerose, voice actor Erica Mendez, VTuber Virtulantes and illustrator Hokuyuu will also be taking the stage. Just a short walk from Darling Square, there is a range of food and drink options and exclusive deals for SMASH!-goers. Dress up in cosplay and get 10 percent off your order at Toastiesmith, or 10 percent off at authentic Indonesian eatery Dapur Sate. You can also find deals at pasta shop Spago, as well as everyone's favourite place for chicken, Wingboys. To drink, 15cenchi and Batch Brewing Co. have teamed up to bring you the perfect dessert and drink combo. Purchase a slice of 15cenchi's basque cheesecake and enjoy a small glass of Elsie the Milk Stout or sparkling white from Batch Brewing Co. for just $5. Images: Supplied.
One of Australia's most famous venues is changing face once again, as Qudos Bank Arena transforms into Afterpay Arena in a new deal with the buy-now-pay-later platform Afterpay. Announced this morning, it'll see the stadium refreshed not only visually but also functionally — with Afterpay and Square point-of-sale technology integrated throughout the stadium. Qudos Bank Arena first opened its doors in 1999 as the Sydney SuperDome. Since then, it has become a go-to destination for sporting events, concert tours, comedians, family events and cultural experiences, selling over 15 million tickets and in 2025, was ranked by Billboard as the fifth-best live music venue in the world. Harvey Lister AM, President and Chief Executive of the venue's owner and operator Legends Global (Asia-Pacific and Middle East) said, "More than 1.1 million people walk through this arena's doors every year, and this partnership represents a significant evolution in how Australians access live entertainment." The deal is scheduled to begin its initial five years sometime in the coming months and will include new signage and internal refreshes, as well as Afterpay added as a payment method at retailers, bars, merch stands and ticket booths throughout the arena. The transformation of Qudos Bank Arena into Afterpay Arena is currently underway and is expected to be completed later this year. The events calendar will not be affected during the transition period. Like what you see? Subscribe to the Concrete Playground newsletter to get stories just like these straight to your inbox. Images: Supplied.
The Powerhouse Museum's first exhibition of 2021 is an incredible retrospective of photographer and Turkish-Cypriot immigrant Bayram Ali (1920–95). When Ali was 15 years old he joined the British Army and fought in World War II, allowing him to come to Australia in 1949 (along with over two million post-war migrants that arrived in 1965). Ali worked for the Snowy Mountains Authority for over 20 years until the late 1970s, documenting his work with a camera. His photographs show what life and work was like during the time huge engineering feats were achieved at Lake Eucumbene, Talbingo Dam and Tooma Dam — all of which are considered to be some the greatest hydroelectric builds in the world. The unique prints on display are taken from 35 millimetre transparencies and are part of the amateur photography archives in the Powerhouse Collection. Image: Bayram Ali, Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme, Powerhouse Collection
The best Italian restaurants are often appealingly small in scale, offering just a handful of carefully selected dishes in an intimate space. Matteo Downtown, however, is a convincing argument in the other direction: the space is sprawling, with teams of chefs efficiently moving around an open-air kitchen and woodfired ovens. The menu is also extensive, stretching to an array of cheeses, antipasto sharing plates, pasta, meat and seafood and pizzas from the woodfired oven. Any place with a dedicated mozzarella station already has a lot going for it, and Matteo Downtown's version offers the likes of an elegant cow's milk burrata ($21) which sits atop a dark green swirl of wild nettles and sea vegetables is topped with glossy, vivid orange pearls of trout roe. Waiters in smart blazers add to the upscale feel and the cocktail list has plenty of sophistication, not to mention numerous varieties of the king of cocktails: the negroni. Try the well-balanced Downtown Negroni ($19), which offers just a slight tweak to the classic with added bitters. The Matteo Spritz ($19) is the type of luxurious tipple you can imagine sipping poolside at a resort, the rhubarb bitters and blood orange make their presence felt without dominating. For a touch of theatre, opt for the classic beef tartare ($26), which is chopped and dressed on a tableside trolley and can be mopped up with slices of schiacciata, the scrumptious Tuscan flatbread. It's simple but refined, the kind of dish that is deceptively hard to pull off successfully and that goes to the very heart of Italian cuisine. As well as a negroni list, the drinks menu features a spritz selection that changes with the seasons — kicking off with the Downtown Spritz, made with Aperol, elderflower liqueur, grapefruit bitters and homemade cucumber soda — house wines are on tap and a broad-ranging, 300-strong collection of bottled wines, which make a masterpiece of the dining room's back wall. It makes sense to opt for at least one of the woodfired options on offer, whether that's a classic pizza or a main of tiger prawns ($35) served simply with a wedge of lemon. Sourced from Skull Island off the Northern Territory, they're plump, flavoursome and slightly smoky. The Downtown team is just as handy with the pans as the woodfire oven; the free-range quail ($36) is a delight, with crisp skin giving way to tender meat. Sides of endive, slightly blackened at the edges, and a farro salad, add a welcome bit of textural variety to the dish. If you're still not sated, desserts on offer include the Sicilia, three bite-sized sweet morsels from the Mediterranean island, including the obligatory cannoli and an unusual dome-shaped delicacy with a neon green shell and a mascarpone centre. All this just scratches the surface of Matteo Downtown's menu, but you'll likely be inspired enough for a return visit.
Everyone likes their home to be comfortable, but the Danish take this idea to new levels. Pronounced hoo-gah, the term hygge goes beyond simply having a cosy place to live. It's a philosophy that encourages you to turn your home into a space that promotes togetherness, personal wellbeing and maximum amounts of chill. The Danes are some of the happiest people in the world — even in winter — which is even more reason to take a leaf out of their book. Luckily, Sydney has plenty of shops that sell all the Scandinavian-inspired homewares and pieces you need to kit your room (or entire home) out like a cosier version of an IKEA showroom. We've teamed up with American Express to find eight local boutiques across the city that'll help you do just that. All of these shops let you pay for your new wares with your American Express Card, too. So, not only are you supporting some amazing small businesses, you're also reaping the sweet rewards of being a Card Member. Read on to discover some top spots to go full hygge and drop your hard-earned dollars on stuff for your home.
Australia is wrapped in tens of thousands of beaches — is it really possible to choose a definitive list of the best? When it comes to New South Wales, it's icon after icon. Along the coastline, there's a whopping 892 recorded beaches, some are known all over the world (looking at you, Bondi), while others are preciously guarded local favourites. When it comes to choosing favourites, we have our own opinions when it comes to the best beaches in Sydney, but there's a lot more ground to cover. For that, we've turned to the travel experts at Lonely Planet, who shared with us their selections — which you can read in full in the newly published Best Beaches Australia guide. [caption id="attachment_1075487" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Shutterstock[/caption] Zenith Beach, Port Stephens Soaking up the panoramic coastal views from the 161m (528ft) summit of Tomaree Head is a quintessential Port Stephens experience. Directly below is one of several glorious beaches naturally carved from this rugged stretch of coastline north of Newcastle/Muloobinba, perfect for cooling off after the steep hike up Tomaree Head. Framed by ancient volcanic headlands cloaked in the native forests of Tomaree National Park, unpatrolled Zenith Beach feels deceptively remote – Shoal Bay, the closest village, is less than 1km (0.6 miles) down the road. Just 120m (394ft) from the car park, its clear waters beckon confident swimmers and surfers, with June to August bringing the best waves and whale‐watching opportunities. Dolphins are frequent visitors, and an array of birdlife can be seen here throughout the year. Zenith Beach also marks the beginning of the Tomaree Coastal Walk, a three‐day, 27km (17‐mile) walking adventure linking secluded beaches, coastal villages and koala habitats on Worimi traditional lands. Getting there: Zenith Beach is 220km (137 miles) or nearly three hours' drive north of Sydney/Warrane. The 130 bus from Newcastle to Fingal Head stops at Zenith Beach, via Nelson Bay. [caption id="attachment_1075489" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Shutterstock[/caption] Broken Head Beach, Broken Head Nature Reserve The long and wild beach stretching 7km (4.5 miles) south from the historic Cape Byron Lighthouse comes to a dramatic end at Broken Head Beach. Surrounded by the coastal rainforest of the Broken Head Nature Reserve, 'Broken' remains largely unchanged from the beach that road‐tripping surfers 'discovered' in the 1960s; a small caravan park is the only beachside development and limited parking restricts crowds. A long, hollow right‐hander peels around the rocky point in the right conditions (look for a southeasterly swell with a southwesterly offshore wind) and there are rock pools to discover at low tide. Follow the 1.6km (1‐mile) return Three Sisters Walking Track around the headland for glorious views and to learn about Broken's significance to its Arakwal Traditional Custodians. Known as the Three Sisters, the series of rocky outcrops rising from the water beyond the headland tell the story of three sisters turned to stone by their ancestors. They're a warning to future generations about the importance of respecting cultural traditions – and to take care at this beach patrolled only in the summer school holidays (late December through January). Getting there: Located on the New South Wales North Coast, Broken Head Beach is 9km (5.6 miles) or a 15‐minute drive south of Byron Bay. [caption id="attachment_1075491" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Shutterstock[/caption] Hyams Beach, Jervis Bay It's often described as having the world's whitest sand (a 2006 study found Western Australia's Lucky Bay to be even whiter), but there's no denying that Hyams Beach is as white as the waters of the vast Jervis Bay are blue. The contrast between its snow‐white sand and the over‐exposed gradient of blue water darkening into the depths made Hyams so social‐media famous that in 2019 the local Shoalhaven council appointed traffic controllers to redirect visitors from the tiny Hyams beach village. As you may have guessed, this is a beach best avoided during the summer (and autumn and spring) school holidays, especially weekends. Aim for a windless, off‐season weekday, and you won't just have a better chance at scoring a parking spot – Hyams' dreamy blues will beam you straight to heaven on Earth. Bring a snorkel and look for groupers and stingrays at the northern end of the beach, known as Little Hyams. Getting there: Hyams Beach is 200km (124 miles) or around three hours' drive south of Sydney/Warrane. Park at Greenfield Beach and take the White Sands Walk (1.7km/1 mile) to Hyams Beach, which takes you past the similarly sublime Chinamans Beach. [caption id="attachment_1075492" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Getty Images[/caption] Emily Bay, Norfolk Island Aat first, this small Australian island looks like a chunk of New Zealand's bucolic North Island that has broken off and drifted 1100km (683 miles) north. But despite being only 8km (5 miles) long and 5km (3 miles) wide, Norfolk Island is vividly, defiantly, more than just a Mini‐Me of its two largest neighbours. For one thing, its history reads like an epic adventure tale: from the seafaring Polynesian settlers who called the island home from 1200 to 1600; to two brutal convict eras, during which Norfolk became known as the 'Hell in the Pacific'; to the arrival, in 1856, of 194 Pitcairn Islanders descended from HMS Bounty mutineers and their Tahitian families, whose culture and language still infuse daily life on Norfolk. Ringed by high volcanic sea cliffs and surrounded by deep ocean trenches and undersea mountains, Norfolk Island is also ruggedly natural. There's a national park, multiple walking trails, and a botanical garden. The eponymous pine trees grow everywhere; even the main settlement is called Burnt Pine. And because of strict biosecurity regulations, most of Norfolk's food is grown, caught, foraged or made on the island, even coffee and wine. It all comes together at Emily Bay. One of the island's best swimming beaches – and picnic spots – just happens to be within the Kingston UNESCO World Heritage Site, surrounded by Norfolk Marine Park. It's a stone's throw from the ruins of the island's notorious penal settlement, and includes a pier, boathouses, prisoners' barracks and a cemetery overlooking the sea. You can swim in water that's as clear as a glacial stream but warm all year round, because Norfolk lies at the same latitude as Byron Bay in Northern New South Wales. The sandy beach isn't patrolled, but low headlands partially enclose the bay, keeping its waters calm and family friendly. Swim out a little way and you can even snorkel over a coral reef, though the snorkelling is arguably better at neighbouring Slaughter Bay (which is more inviting than its name). A turquoise lagoon fringed by coral, its temperate and tropical fish like wrasse and parrotfish are known to swim right up to your mask. Getting there: Norfolk Island is 1400km (870 miles) east of Byron Bay. Flights to the island depart from Brisbane/Meanjin, Sydney/Warrane and Auckland. Emily Bay is 5 to 10 minutes' drive from the main township of Burnt Pine (be mindful of the island's cows, which have right of way). [caption id="attachment_1075494" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Shutterstock[/caption] Number One Beach, Seal Rocks The first beach you see on your left as you drive into the hamlet of Seal Rocks, Number One is a north‐facing beauty with a gentle right‐hand point break at its eastern end, and calm waters ideal for families. The caravan park is just across the road, there are picnic tables and an accessibility ramp. Up and over the hill, past Seal Rocks' only shop, lies Boat Beach, where tractors launch small fishing boats straight off the sand. It's ideal for both swimming and snorkelling; the three‐hump rock island just off the beach is a sanctuary for grey nurse sharks. And just south of Seal Rocks, a gravel road leads to three more beaches popular with experienced surfers: Lighthouse (Sugarloaf Point Lighthouse stands at its northern end), Treachery (synonymous with its sprawling family‐owned campground behind the dunes) and Submarine Beach (named after a 1945 Dutch submarine‐wreck), also called Yagon after the national park campground located at its northern end. Getting there: Seal Rocks is a tiny town encircled by Myall Lakes National Park, 239km (148.5 miles) north of Sydney/Warrane. The nearest train station is in Taree, on the Sydney–Brisbane XPT line. From Taree, it's about 90 minutes by car to Seal Rocks. [caption id="attachment_1075496" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Shutterstock[/caption] Balmoral Beach, Sydney/Warrane With more than 100 beaches to choose from in Sydney/Warrane, the city's excellent harbour beaches are often overlooked. Captured in the works of some of Australia's most prolific painters – from Arthur Streeton to Ken Done – unpatrolled Balmoral Beach is a special place for many Sydneysiders, and its calm waters popular with families. Separated from Edwards Beach by the tiny Rocky Point Island, the 840m (2638ft) arc of Balmoral Beach lies on the traditional lands of the Cammeraygal people of Sydney's North Shore, who have camped, hunted and feasted along this caramel sandstone coastline for generations. A tramline from the city opened in 1922, improving access to Balmoral's enclosed bathing area built in 1899. A grand bathing pavilion, a rotunda for brass‐band concerts and a wide promenade was added in the 1930s. While the tram is long gone, the Balmoral Baths and the Art‐Deco rotunda and pavilion (now a celebrated restaurant) remain, adding an air of regality fitting for a beach named for Queen Victoria's Scottish castle. Getting there: Buses from the city (Wynyard) take approximately 20 minutes to reach the junction of Spit Rd and Awaba St. From here it's a steep 600m (1968ft) downhill walk to the beach. There's limited beachfront parking. These excerpts were supplied by 'Lonely Planet' from their 'Best Beaches Australia' guide — available online and at bookstores near you now. Images: supplied
Potts Points proudly welcomes Parisian-inspired Le Frérot. The all-day diner serves crisp croissants from first thing in the morning and slings midday salads and sandwiches before transforming into an elegant yet easy-going bistro come evening. Standing alongside its older sibling, Franca Brasserie, which you might save for a special occasion, Le Frérot is designed to be a casual and inviting space to be enjoyed seven days a week, for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Le Frérot is the latest venture from Rivage Hospitality, which follows the success of their upscale, elegant French brasserie Franca, serving reimagined French classics such as a chicken liver parfait eclair with hazelnut praline and a pumpkin tarte tatin with blue cheese. Andrew Becher, Managing Director of the group, says, "We're absolutely delighted to be opening Le Frérot in the heart of Potts Point. This new cafe, bar and bistro will bring a fresh French concept to the neighbourhood, right alongside our beloved Franca…Le Frérot gives our guests an all-day dining experience while adding an exciting new layer to what we offer across Franca and Armorica. It's a natural little brother to Franca, with familiar nods to what has made it so successful, but with its own unique character and energy." Taking the lead in the kitchen is José Saulog, Group Executive Chef, who brings classic technique and a creative vision to create a menu that is both luxe and accessible. Mornings are made easier with fresh boulangerie baked goods, woodfired tartines, as well as more lavish dishes such as steak and eggs, Moreton Bay bug benedict and spanner crab omelettes. Classy lunch options include a smoked duck salad or a classic tuna nicoise, as well as speedy sandwiches. Bottomless fries are the star of the show come evening. Served alongside mussels in white wine and kombu butter, pork cutlets, roast duck breast and Black Angus hanger steak, they'll keep coming, as long as you keep eating. Le Frérot has introduced a series of weeknight specials that are too good to pass up. Making Mondays more manageable is Le Frérot's M&M Mondays, where margaritas and martinis are available for just $10 each. At that price, expect a rough wake-up on Tuesday morning because you'll be hard-pressed to stop at just one. And if you're looking to make the mid-week grind a little more exciting, why not try Le Frérot's T Bone Tuesdays? Grab a whopping one-kilogram T-bone steak, served with bottomless fries, for just $99, (just be prepared for the meat sweats). Images: Supplied.
Something delightful has been happening in cinemas across the country. After months spent empty, with projectors silent, theatres bare and the smell of popcorn fading, Australian picture palaces are back in business — spanning both big chains and smaller independent sites in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. During COVID-19 lockdowns, no one was short on things to watch, of course. In fact, you probably feel like you've streamed every movie ever made, including new releases, comedies, music documentaries, Studio Ghibli's animated fare and Nicolas Cage-starring flicks. But, even if you've spent all your time of late glued to your small screen, we're betting you just can't wait to sit in a darkened room and soak up the splendour of the bigger version. Thankfully, plenty of new films are hitting cinemas so that you can do just that — and we've rounded up, watched and reviewed everything on offer this week. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wnmC7uLTNQ THE DISSIDENT If you know even the slightest thing about the circumstances surrounding Jamal Khashoggi's death, it's impossible to watch The Dissident without feeling angry. That's most viewers' starting mood, given that the Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist's assassination has garnered ample media attention — and Oscar-winning director Brian Fogel (Icarus) is well aware of how much coverage the subject has received, and of how the world feels about the situation. Indeed, his thorough and exacting documentary both feeds upon and fuels that shock and ire. The mood is tense, the commentary is pointed and the prevailing sentiment is savage. Both rage and outrage permeate each frame, unsurprisingly so, as the film lays bare the brutal facts surrounding Khashoggi's murder, its lead-up and its aftermath. No other tone would be acceptable. Nothing other than dismay, abhorrence and anger would be either. When you're making a movie about a man who entered his nation's embassy to obtain paperwork so that he could get married, then left it in dismembered pieces while his bride-to-be waited outside, how could anything other than fury, horror and alarm eventuate? Although the details have already been well-documented since October 2, 2018, they're still reassembled in The Dissident. Accordingly, the doco tells of Khashoggi's visit to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul just over a year after fleeing his country, after which he was never seen alive again. He wanted to marry academic Hatice Cengiz, his Turkish fiancée. To do so, he needed a document certifying that he was no longer wed to his prior wife. He'd first sought that necessary certification from the embassy just a few days earlier, so they knew that he'd be returning — and once he stepped inside once more, he was ambushed, attacked and killed by a newly arrived team of Saudi agents. Cengiz contacted the authorities when the man she thought she'd be spending the rest of her life with didn't surface, but the Saudi government claimed that the exiled reporter had left via a back entrance. It didn't take long to ascertain the truth, as was suspected from the moment he failed to reemerge. The official story changed several times, and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman denied any knowledge of a premeditated plot, but the fact remains that Khashoggi was slaughtered by operatives from his homeland. Read our full review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGLmTd8q3Ec&t=7s THE UNITED STATES VS BILLIE HOLIDAY More than 80 years after it was first sung and heard, Billie Holiday's 'Strange Fruit' still isn't easily forgotten. Drawn from a poem penned to protest lynchings, it's meant to shock and haunt. It's designed to galvanise and mobilise, too, as drawing attention to the extrajudicial killings of Black Americans should. Indeed, so vivid is the song in its language — "Black bodies swingin' in the southern breeze" describes the third line — US authorities demanded that Holiday stop performing it. She refused repeatedly, so there were repercussions. Concerned that the track would spark change, inspire Holiday's fans to fight for civil rights and justice, and perhaps motivate riots against against oppression and discrimination as well, the US Treasury Department's Federal Bureau of Narcotics went after the musician for her drug use. If it couldn't get her to cease crooning the controversial tune via other means, such as overt warnings and a prominent police presence at her shows, it'd do whatever it could to keep her from reaching the stage night after night. With Andra Day (Marshall) turning in an intense, impassioned, career-defining portrayal as its eponymous figure (and in her first lead film role, too), so tells The United States vs Billie Holiday, the latest Oscar-nominated biopic to step through its namesake's life. Back in 1972, Lady Sings the Blues loosely adapted Holiday's autobiography of the same name, enlisting Diana Ross to play the singer — but, in taking inspiration instead from Johann Hari's non-fiction book Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs, this latest big-screen vision of the music icon's story adopts its own angle. Holiday's troubled childhood and youth has its part in this tale, which is scripted for the screen by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks. Her addiction, and the personal woes that she tried to blot out, clearly don't escape filmmaker Lee Daniels' (The Butler) attention, either. But The United States vs Billie Holiday also falls in alongside Seberg, MLK/FBI and Judas and the Black Messiah in interrogating bleak truths about mid-20th century America. In a film that manages to be both rousing and standard, that includes surveying the misplaced priorities of its government during multiple administrations, and the blatant determination shown by an array of agencies under various presidents to undermine, persecute and silence those considered a supposedly un-American threat to the status quo. Read our full review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNE7ap2lOnU MORTAL KOMBAT No one enjoys watching someone else mash buttons. While it's a passable way to spend a few minutes, losing interest quickly simply comes with the territory. That's how viewing Mortal Kombat feels as well, except that watching your friends play any of the martial arts video game franchise's 22 different arcade and console titles since 1992 (or any game at all) would be far more entertaining. Shot in South Australia and marking the feature debut of filmmaker Simon McQuoid, the latest attempt to bring the popular series to the big screen — following a first try in 1995 and a sequel in 1997 — feels like watching cosplay, too. The movie's cast literally dresses up in the outfits needed to recreate the game's characters, of course, but the film shouldn't so overtly resemble fans donning costumes at a pop culture convention. And yet, Mortal Kombat evokes this situation from the moment its 17th century Japan-set prologue, which is also its best scene, comes to an end. After establishing a mythic and bloody backstory for the movie's narrative as a whole, the character that'll become an undead ninja ghost called Scorpion (Hiroyuki Sanada, Westworld) and his prophecised descendants, this B-grade flick is happy to, in fact. It's not just the violence that's cartoonish here; it's every glare exchanged and word uttered, with much of the script trading in cliches, dramatic pauses and catchphrases. Mortal Kombat's gaming fanbase may be eager to see their beloved characters given flesh and blood, face off against each other and spout lines that usually emanate from a much smaller screen, but that doesn't make a movie engaging. Nor can a flimsy screenplay by first-timer Greg Russo and Wonder Woman 1984's Dave Callaham, which follows the battle between Earthrealm and Outworld — one that'll be lost by the former if an MMA fighter named Cole Young (Lewis Tan, Wu Assassins), who bears a dragon birthmark, doesn't team up with the other figures with the same marking to stop humanity from losing for the tenth time. That's where the no-nonsense Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee, Black Water: Abyss) comes in, and also the grating, wisecracking Kano (Josh Lawson, Long Story Short). The villainous Sub-Zero (Joe Taslim, Warrior) might be threatening to freeze all of earth's champions so that Outworld's Shang Tsung (Chin Han, Skyscraper) can rig the tournament before it even happens, but Mortal Kombat still has time — and far too much of it — to spend pondering supernatural destinies and letting an over-acting, always grating Lawson mug for attempted laughs. The end result is intentionally ridiculous, and presumably unintentionally dull, all while setting up an unearned sequel. And although brutal enough amidst the silliness for an R rating, even the film's fight scenes merely go through the motions, especially given the heights that films like The Raid and John Wick have scaled in with their eye-popping action choreography over the past decade. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YZuNQLSJlQ EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE In The Nightingale, Sam Claflin wasn't charming, kindly or gallant. He was worlds away from his roles in rom-com Love, Rosie, weepie drama Me Before You and the page-to-screen Hunger Games franchise — and, playing a supporting but still key part in the exceptional 2019 film, he was excellent. Alas, while he remains in darker territory with Every Breath You Take, this psychological thriller isn't a highlight on his or anyone's resume. The good news: it doesn't feature the 1983 single by The Police that shares the film's title. The not-so-great news: it is indeed about someone surveilling others, so it must've taken the production's entire reserves of restraint not to include that song. Little subtlety seems to be displayed elsewhere, including by Claflin, and little intelligence, either. In development for almost a decade, once set to be directed by Misery's Rob Reiner, and also slated to star Harrison Ford and Zac Efron over the years, the film focuses on the fallout from a psychologist's decision to talk to one of his patients about his own problems. Not long after gushing to a lecture hall filled with students about his successful new technique, however, he finds himself the target of a vindictive stalker who is intent on destroying his entire family's lives. Debut screenwriter David Murray has clearly seen Fatal Attraction, Unfaithful, Cape Fear and Fear, and The Silence of the Lambs as well, and he's not afraid to mash pieces of each together here. Looking pensive, grappling with family woes again but worlds away from his Oscar-winning performance in Manchester by the Sea, Casey Affleck (The Old Man and the Gun) plays Philip, the analyst in question. He crosses paths with James (Claflin, Enola Holmes) at the scene of a tragedy, then finds him knocking on his door — and soon his wife Grace (Michelle Monaghan, The Craft: Legacy) and teenage daughter Lucy (India Eisley, Dead Reckoning) are both bumping into the newcomer seemingly everywhere they go. In an already tense household thanks to an accident years earlier, James easily upsets the status quo. When Philip starts having professional problems as well, the trio's struggles only deepen. It's hard to guess what attracted this starry cast to such a routine film, but it definitely isn't the pulpy script or Vaughn Stein's (Inheritance) overboiled direction. Indeed, in a movie that somehow thinks that being as blatant as possible will ramp up the suspense — which, unsurprisingly, it doesn't — only the icy visuals by cinematographer Michael Merriman (another Inheritance alum) garner much attention. Well, that and the screechy score by Marlon Espino (also returning from Inheritance), although the latter does so with the same obviousness that characterises almost everything about the feature. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COLOJaM3k_M SISTER More than once during Sister, An Ran (Zhang Zifeng, Detective Chinatown 3) is reminded that her status as a sibling — and as a woman — is burdened with strong expectations in China. With her much-younger brother An Ziheng (Kim Darren Yowon) earning pride of place in her parents' hearts, and in Chinese society's patriarchal hierarchy in general, she's meant to defer her dreams and desires in favour of her family's male heir. That's just what's done, and always has been. And, after the pair's mother and father are killed in a car accident, no one can quite understand why An Ran is determined to buck convention. But, after weathering a childhood coloured by her dad's disappointment about her gender, she has spent years trying to break free from her past. A nurse hoping to gain acceptance into medical school so that she can become a doctor, and so distanced from her parents and brother that she doesn't even know the latter, she doesn't just vehemently disagree with the idea that she should now devote her life to An Ziheng; she refuses to abide by it. Instead, An Ran wants to sell the family apartment, find adoptive parents for her sibling and continue working towards her own future. Neither director Yin Ruoxin (Farewell, My Lad) nor screenwriter You Xiaoying (Love Education) shies away from the harsh reality facing their protagonist in Sister, or from the fact that her plight is emblematic of the nation's women in a much broader sense. And, for most of its duration, their sensitive but clear-eyed drama firmly and unflinchingly tackles the ramifications of simply being born female in China. The continued pressure directed An Ran's way and the treatment she receives for not toeing the line aren't the film's only sources of conflict, with class differences and the way that power structures play out both domestically and professionally also playing their part in the movie's layered narrative. They're aided by Zhang's weighty performance, too — a portrayal that segues seamlessly back and forth from defiant and committed to exhausted and exasperated, and shows both the will to eschew norms and the weariness from the constant battle on multiple levels. The film's boldness is eventually undercut, though. Budding within its naturalistically lit imagery and its often roving and restless frames is an awareness that the bonds of blood will eventually pull at An Ran. The script ensures that her growing bond with her brother feels genuine; however, it's also a far more sentimental turn of events than Sister indulges otherwise. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SodO2VN0iYY SIX MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT Eddie Izzard takes inspiration from her home town of Bexhill-on-Sea in Six Minutes to Midnight, using its pre-World War II history as the basis for an intriguing but also muddled thriller. Before the conflict broke out, the coastal spot was home to the Augusta Victoria College, where the daughters of high-ranking Germans were sent to finish their education. In Izzard's hands as the film's star, executive producer and co-writer — the latter with Celyn Jones (The Vanishing) and director Andy Goddard (A Kind of Murder) — this real-life scenario gives rise to espionage antics. She plays Thomas Miller, the school's new teacher, and also a spy sent to keep tabs on the students' whereabouts for British intelligence. Headmistress Miss Rocholl (Judi Dench, Blithe Spirit) dotes on the girls, and naively sees only camaraderie in the college's existence, but Miller and his superiors are concerned that the institution's pupils could be smuggled out in secret. It doesn't help that Ilse Keller (Carla Juri, When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit), the school's only German employee, hardly seems trustworthy. The pro-Nazi ideology infused into her lessons is hardly a promising sign, but soon it's Miller that is the object of suspicion, despite his efforts to uncover just who in English society has been pledging their allegiance abroad. No one can fault Izzard's interest in Augusta Victoria College, or her eagerness to bring its little-known place in Britain's past to the screen. But Six Minutes to Midnight is so caught up in being a spy film — and one that takes its cues from Alfred Hitchcock at that — that it serves up a paper-thin story that's on the verge of blowing over in the East Sussex breeze. Twists, double crosses, wavering loyalty, murder, chases, interrogations and clandestine plots all ensue, but with few surprises, and with exactly why the students' possible return to Germany would be so catastrophic never fully fleshed out. Handsome seaside scenery does abound, though, and so does a committed performance from Izzard. She spends much of her screen-time running, as she often does in reality — completing 43 marathons in 51 days in 2009, 27 in 27 days in 2016 and 32 in 31 days earlier this year — but her wit and charisma are always evident. Saddled with a one-note role, Dench is less convincing, but supporting players Jim Broadbent (King of Thieves) and James D'Arcy (Avengers: Endgame) make the most of their small parts as a kindly bus driver and a wily detective respectively. As for the young women, the fact that they're primarily regarded as a group, rather than given the time and space to convey their personalities, speaks volumes about their function as the feature's MacGuffin. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xXFm78O6P8 MOON ROCK FOR MONDAY Kurt Martin, the first-time feature writer/director behind Moon Rock for Monday, must owe much of his film education to Australian cinema of the 90s. His road-trip drama — which is also a coming-of-age tale and a crime thriller, and happens to be set in the 90s, too — takes clearcut cues from The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and Two Hands. Here, though, a 12-year-old girl and an older teen sit at the centre of the narrative. Thankfully, while the nods towards other prominent homegrown movies are obvious, these sources of inspiration don't cast an overbearing shadow. There isn't much about Moon Rock for Monday that proves overtly novel, but it doesn't simply trudge in other films' footsteps, either. The importance of the feature's canny casting can't be understated, with fellow debutant Ashlyn Louden-Gamble a winsome presence as the titular pre-teen and George Pullar (Playing for Keeps) infusing his wayward but well-meaning jewellery store thief-turned-fugitive with more depth than might be expected. Indeed, their rapport as their characters first evade the police on Sydney's streets, then take to the highway towards the Northern Territory, gives this warm-hearted movie enough charm to do more than simply coast by. Named for the day she was born, Monday's (Louden-Gamble) entire life has revolved around an illness that requires frequent medical treatment. But, despite the lived-in weariness and worry perennially plastered across the face of her dad Bob (Aaron Jeffrey, The Flood), she handles the situation with a sunny disposition, an eagerness to see the world and an obsession with Uluru — or Moon Rock, as she calls it. Then, this father-daughter duo stumble into Tyler's (Pullar) orbit. Soon Monday is by the latter's side, indulging her thirst for adventure and tagging along as he hightails it out of town. Bob isn't the only one desperate to find them, with Detective Lionell (David Field, Mortal Kombat) also on their trail in the aftermath of Tyler's light-fingered ways. From the outset, even before Monday and Tyler start heading west, there's an episodic feel to Moon Rock for Monday; however, flitting from one narrative incident to the next suits the road-trip premise. When nothing but landscape surrounds its central pair, that dusty red expanse does plenty of heavy lifting — a scene outside of Coober Pedy is particularly striking, both visually and emotionally — but this is still a promising big-screen start for its director and leads alike. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyopYXVJNmQ THIS LITTLE LOVE OF MINE Blatantly formulaic rom-coms are cinema's version of junk food, as Netflix has been trying to use to its advantage. Scroll through the platform's catalogue, especially around Christmas, and a wealth of straight-to-streaming movies that eagerly play up every trope and cliche await — but being easy to make and undemanding to consume isn't the same as being worth watching. This Little Love of Mine is debuting in cinemas; however, it'll feel at home when it does find its way into a streaming service's lineup. Its story is that predictable and its dialogue is that hoary. The setup: ambitious workaholic lawyer Laura (Saskia Hampele, The Heights) is certain that she'll finally make partner and be able to start doing worthwhile work helping small business owners if she convinces a building magnate's (Martin Portus, Home and Away) island-dwelling boat captain grandson Chip (Liam McIntyre, Them) to take over his billion-dollar development company. The catch: the island, Sapphire Cove, is where she grew up before she left for her high-powered, big-city life in San Francisco, and Chip is the childhood best friend she's thought of fondly over the years, but hasn't seen since she departed. Romantic comedies don't need to trade in surprises. When you're just aiming to bring two characters together so that they can presumably live happily ever after, twists aren't a necessary feature. But viewers should enjoy their time watching said central figures overcome the obligatory obstacles that come their way on the inevitable path to becoming a couple. They should get invested in their plights, be charmed by their personalities and care about their fates —and, even with the ultimate outcome remaining obvious to anyone and everyone, no one should feel as if they're just peering on as a movie works through a checklist. While Hampele and McIntyre do their best to liven up Georgia Harrison's (Rip Tide) rote script, they can't nudge This Little Love of Mine into engaging waters. The same applies to Lynn Gilmartin (How Do You Know Chris?) as Laura and Chip's fellow lifelong friend Gem, who proves the kind of dutiful sidekick-slash-trusty confidant character that could've strolled out of almost every rom-com ever made. Also unable to lift the material: the eye-catching Far North Queensland backdrop, which sets a suitably swoon-worthy scene; however, the repeated palm tree and beach shots peppered throughout the film by first-time director Christine Luby and cinematographer Simon Harding (Ruben Guthrie) begin to feel like filler quickly. If you're wondering what else is currently screening in cinemas — or has been lately — check out our rundown of new films released in Australia on January 1, January 7, January 14, January 21 and January 28; February 4, February 11, February 18 and February 25; March 4, March 11, March 18 and March 25; and April 1 and April 8. You can also read our full reviews of a heap of recent movies, such as Nomadland, Pieces of a Woman, The Dry, Promising Young Woman, Summerland, Ammonite, The Dig, The White Tiger, Only the Animals, Malcolm & Marie, News of the World, High Ground, Earwig and the Witch, The Nest, Assassins, Synchronic, Another Round, Minari, Firestarter — The Story of Bangarra, The Truffle Hunters, The Little Things, Chaos Walking, Raya and the Last Dragon, Max Richter's Sleep, Judas and the Black Messiah, Girls Can't Surf, French Exit, Saint Maud, Godzilla vs Kong, The Painter and the Thief, Nobody, The Father, Willy's Wonderland, Collective, Voyagers, Gunda and Supernova. Top image: Takashi Seida.
