Picking up just seconds from where the last Muppets film left off, Muppets Most Wanted opens with a rousing song that explains: "Everybody knows a sequel is never quite as good". A few famous exceptions notwithstanding, the in-joke is right on the money, and even though it's definitely true of this film as well, thankfully the follow up to James Bobin's 2012 hit is only slightly poorer than its predecessor. This time round, the gang is talked into embarking upon a world tour by Ricky Gervais's smooth-talking yet unscrupulous talent manager, Mr Badguy ("Its...French. It's pronounced...Bad Geeee"). The tour is, however, just a front to enable Badguy and his boss Constantine (aka Evil Kermit) to conduct a series of high-end museum robberies and steal England's Crown Jewels. Key to the plan is Constantine's escape from a Siberian gulag and an ole switcheroo that sees him trade places with the real Kermit. "Eeets...dee Marrr-pet shaow" practices the heavily accented villain as he reviews file footage of Kermit in what's just one of dozens of charming imposter-Kermit based jokes. As always, the film is packed with self-referential humour (one Muppet complains that it's actually the seventh movie in the franchise), cameos (Usher plays an usher, Celine Dion takes the absolute piss out of herself and James McAvoy appears as a 'blink and you'll miss him delivery man', to name just a few), and — of course — musical numbers. None of the songs come close to matching The LEGO Movie's impossibly catchy 'Everything Is Awesome', but several of them are good enough to gets the toes tapping. Constantine's 'I'm Number One', for example, is amusing in its constant forcing of Gervais to reply 'I'm number two', and the disco-inspired 'I'll Get You What You Want' is just crying out for a Pharrell cover. The highlight of Muppets Most Wanted, however, is the subplot involving the partnership of Sam the Eagle and Interpol's Jean Pierre Napoleon (in an outrageously cliched swipe at the French by Ty Burrell). Their dogged pursuit of the thieves leads to some fantastic scenes involving muppet interrogations, crime scene analysis and police badge oneupmanship. Tina Fey also impresses as the gulag's warden Nadya, whose determination to put on the prison's annual revue sees Kermit end up directing a terrifically funny all-male A Chorus Line. I'm also told Ms Piggy's wedding dress (designed by Vivienne Westwood...no, seriously) is to die for. Based on the laughter of the kids attending the screening, kids will laugh at screenings of this movie, and so too will adults, though not in the same way or with the marked regularity of, say, a Pixar film. It's a little light on plot, and begins to feel a little repetitive by the end, yet the pacing is rarely in danger of lagging and the jokes come often enough to keep everyone entertained. Empire Strikes Back it 'aint, but it's not a bad sequel to what was always going to be a hard act to follow. https://youtube.com/watch?v=wXfLrt90CHM
Vivid already has a seriously stacked food program for its 2025 edition. On the menu, you'll find Nigella Lawson-curated dinners, a 1950s-style American plant-based diner complete with roller rink, as well as international guest chefs, fiery street eats and pop-ups by local faves as part of Vivid Fire Kitchen. And now, the Sydney Opera House is unveiling one more foodie destination to add to your Vivid trail, in the form of the all-new Forecourt Food Village. Setting up on the Opera House's harbourside forecourt from Friday, May 23 to Saturday, June 14, this vibrant new openair hub will serve up street-style snacks from two of Sydney's most exciting chefs. As a nod to her heritage, Opera House Events Culinary Director Danielle Alvarez is dishing up Cuban-inspired eats at bold new pop-up La Cubanita — think: fried fish sandwiches, pulled pork, Caribbean-style sweet potato fries and even a playful menu just for kids. Alongside it, Opera House Events Executive Chef Jimmy Ryu is plating up sizzling Seoul food at K-town Bites. Expect crowd-pleasers like crispy Korean fried chicken, gochujang cauliflower and sweet potato noodles, all with plenty of spice and crunch. To wash it all down, The Bar featuring Archie Rose will be shaking up mojitos, buttered rum and raisin cocktails, plus local wine, beer, and hot and cold non-alc sips. The Forecourt Food Village is open nightly from 5–10pm, and, like a heap other of events on Vivid's public program, entry is free. Hungry festival-goers will also find plenty to explore inside the Opera House. Enmore dive bar The Midnight Special returns to the Opera House for the fifth year with The Aurora — an immersive, light-soaked pop-up bar tucked into the Concert Hall Northern Foyer. Open from Friday, May 23 to Sunday, June 1, the space will glow with dreamlike projections and feature themed cocktails, elemental decor and DJs spinning into the night, all inspired by the dreamy shapes and colours of the Aurora Australis and Aurora Borealis. Entry is also free, with access via the western steps or through the Concert Hall for ticket-holders. Looking for something a little more luxe? Chef Peter Gilmore's two-hatted Bennelong has two Vivid-exclusive experiences on offer: a $65 snack-and-cocktail combo at the Bennelong Bar, or a premium $285 three-course dinner with champagne and bar snacks in the Dress Circle, all backdropped by the restaurant's sweeping harbour views. Other returning favourites include House Canteen's nostalgic candy floss and hot chocolate cart (which will also offer boozy options), and Opera Bar's warm espresso martinis and exclusive ice creams by Redfern fave Ciccone & Sons — all available daily throughout the festival. For something even more immersive, Dance of Dreams (Friday, June 13–Saturday, June 14) will see Alvarez pair a live dance performance and music with a three-course dinner in the Yallamundi Rooms, while Indigenous culinary legend Mark Olive will present Saltbush and Starlight, a new communal dining experience that runs every Friday and Saturday throughout the festival. The special event blends native ingredients, NSW wines and bespoke light projections, beginning with a behind-the-scenes tour of the Opera House. Vivid Sydney 2025 runs from Friday, May 23–Saturday, June 14 across Sydney. Head to the festival website for further information.
If you've ever wanted to get your hands on any of Frank Green's popular products, here's your chance to score some for free. To celebrate the recent launch of the brand's new three-in-one insulated iced coffee cup with a straw, Frank Green has teamed up with Melbourne coffee brand Industry Beans to sling some freebies. For one day only, Industry Beans will give away a limited amount of free Frank Green coffee cups with every iced coffee purchase. In Sydney, head into Industry Beans' York Street cafe on Friday, February 9 from 7am to grab your very own Frank Green iced coffee cup — which is available in a range of colours, from the pearly white cloud to pastels like mint gelato and lilac haze. But be sure to get in quick as stocks are limited. The reusable cup provides a sustainable alternative to single-use plastic cups, which a classic iced coffee usually comes in. And, it also offers up solutions to pesky problems that iced coffee fanatics know all too well. Frank Green's iced coffee cups contain a double-wall vacuum insulation feature to prevent condensation and guarantee that your drink will stay cool by maintaining the ice for up to 12 hours, as well as a splash-proof lid and a stainless steel straw. Plus, you can ensure that your barista never spells your name incorrectly, as the cups are monogrammable. In extra brownie points for versatility, too, it can double as a stubbie holder or cocktail glass.
Bring your family, your mates and your dogs — along with your sandy feet — to Mosman this weekend, as the harbourside sports club Mosman Rowers reopens on Friday, March 15. Now managed by Bird & Bear Group (The Sandy Bear, The Flying Bear & Foys), the century-old clubhouse boasts a brand new fit-out and an elevated pub offering across three levels. First up is Archie Bear cafe, a 100-seater slinging coffees, breakfast and long lunches, plus dinner on the weekends. Designed by Studio Etic (Barangaroo House), it has floor-to-ceiling windows that overlook an expansive outdoor deck and the bay views beyond. Inside, there are polished timber floors, brass and gold finishes and a fireplace for the cooler months ahead. Brekkie includes classic bacon and egg rolls alongside green breakfast bowls and maple-baked granola with stewed rhubarb and mint. Meanwhile, the lunch and dinner menus focus on share plates like Sydney rock oysters, baby squid with lemon and aioli and antipasti plates — think prosciutto, burrata, olives and flatbread. There's also a selection of salads and sandwiches, such as the soba noodle salad with poached chicken and soy-lime dressing, and the wagyu pastrami reuben with raclette, sweet and spicy pickles, coleslaw and smoky sauce. [caption id="attachment_711674" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Archie Bear[/caption] One level up is The Rowers Bar, which offers its own bar snacks and mains, as well as another 100 seats. For bar bites, there are wagyu sliders and rice paper rolls with daikon and water chestnuts. Larger dishes include the zucchini pasta with lemon, chilli and basil and grilled barramundi with butter bean puree and bean salad. Compared with the bright digs downstairs, the heritage interior upstairs boasts low-lighting, warm timber tones and nautical vibes. Expect more brass trimming here, too, alongside terrazzo table tops, navy leather banquettes and a marble bar with 11 beers on tap. The wider drinks list will be up for grabs in both venues, including R!ot Wine Co rosé on tap, seasonal cocktails — try the spicy margarita or melon fizz — and an extensive local and global wine list. Plus Pimm's, spritzes and white sangria jugs for sharing. There'll be heaps of weekly specials on too, including $6 beers and house wines during weekday happy hour, $12 spritzes from 3–6pm on Saturdays and $20 beer buckets and cocktail jugs on Sundays. While the venue will remain a registered club — with a private members space on the top level — non-members can access the lower two levels by signing up (free of charge) as a temporary member. The waterside digs will remain a community hub for activities such as rowing, paddling and kayaking, with a reinvigorated member events calendar in the works. Mosman Rowers will reopen on Friday, March 15 at 3 Centenary Drive, Mosman. Opening hours for Archie Bear are Monday through Wednesday from 7.30am–3.30pm and Thursday through Sunday from 7.30am until late. Opening hours for The Rowers Bar are Monday through Friday from 4pm until late and Saturday through Sunday from noon until late.
Cheap festival events are great. Free festival events? Even better. The Sydney Festival has done a lot in the last couple of years to up the free factor in its programming, which means you can breezily pad out your January with cardboard cities, free Flaming Lips concerts, whimsical fairgrounds, and other outings fun and fanciful. By the Concrete Playground team.
Maybe you're always on the hunt for new experiences. Perhaps you can't go past a meal with a view. You could be keen to indulge your adrenaline-junkie side any way that you can. Or, you just might want to see Brisbane from a different perspective. All of the above is on the menu at Vertigo, as is dinner. Sure, a great bite to eat should satisfy your tastebuds and your stomach; however, this one will also get your blood pumping and pulse racing. Initially announced in August and now serving sky-high diners Thursday–Sunday weekly, Vertigo is a brand-new addition to the River City's iconic Brisbane Powerhouse. The twist: it isn't just located on top of the riverside New Farm venue, but hangs off of the site's industrial facade. Forget just living on the edge — this is dining on the edge, and literally. Obviously, the views are spectacular. Given that patrons climb out to their seats while donning a safety harness, then eat four stories (and 17 metres) up, so are the thrills. An Australian-first vertical dining experience, Vertigo's levelled-up dinners welcome in tables of two to peer out over Brisbane. It comes with a big caveat, however, with the restaurant at the mercy of the weather. That'll certainly play a factor over Brissie's stormy summers, but the night's sitting will still go ahead if it's only lightly raining. Once you're seated, Brisbane Powerhouse's Bar Alto downstairs provides Vertigo's food across its eight tables — and each reservation's two-hour sitting — with the two-course menu featuring local ingredients to go with what's certain to become a local attraction. Unsurprisingly, a visit here doesn't come cheap, costing $250 per person. Another caveat: you can't head up if you've been drinking, with everyone breathalysed first and required to return a 0.00-percent blood alcohol reading. That said, while you need to be sober to climb over the edge, a matched glass of wine will be served with dinner. You'll also get a post-descent champagne, beer or soft drink. If you're not fond of heights, this won't be for you. But if you're fine with towering not just atop but over the side of an old power station-turned-arts precinct that dates back to the 1920s — whether you're a Brisbane local or a tourist — you'll be in for quite the unique experience. To make the evening even more dramatic, diners can also choose to come back to earth post-meal via dropline down the facade. Or, if that's too much adventure for you — especially after eating — you can just head back to the ground through the venue. If star chef Luke Mangan achieves his dream of setting up a restaurant on the Story Bridge, too, Brisbane might need to rename itself the Sky-High City. "Vertigo is unlike anything else in the world, it is an unexpected combination of adventure tourism and fine-dining on a heritage site," said Brisbane Powerhouse CEO/Artistic Director Kate Gould when the restaurant was first announced. "Stepping off the roof of Brisbane Powerhouse to take a seat suspended at your table, four stories above the ground, will be the ultimate thrill. Experience silver service dining — albeit one with unbreakable crockery and cutlery attached to the table!" "We are creating a uniquely Brisbane dining experience, at height. You will be on the edge of your seat in the open air before descending via an unforgettable exit," added Riverlife creator and co-founder John Sharpe, with the outdoor tour operator partnering with Powerhouse on the venture. "Vertigo will inspire fear but with the knowledge that safety is the priority of our experienced team of adventure tourism guides." Find Vertigo at Brisbane Powerhouse, 119 Lamington Street, New Farm, Brisbane, operating from 5pm Thursday–Sunday — head to the venue's website for further details and bookings. Images: Markus Ravik.
Treat yo'self to something sweet, help save one of Australia's most beloved animals: that's what's on the menu right now thanks to Lindt. The brand has just launched a limited-edition item that not only looks adorable, but also assists a great cause — with its new koala-shaped chocolates raising funds for the Australian Koala Foundation. Everyone knows Lindt's gold Easter bunnies, so consider this the suitably silver and thoroughly Aussie version, all to support the AKF's work to ensure the Aussie marsupial's survival. Beneath that shimmering foil and its cute red ribbon with a heart-shaped pendant, the 100-gram chocolate is shaped like a koala, obviously. It's hollow inside, but you'll taste notes of both caramel and honey within the milk chocolate itself. For each koala purchased — with the new choccies only available via Lindt's retail stores and its website — the brand is donating $1 to the AKF. And, for every dollar that Lindt donates, AKF is matching it. Those funds are specifically earmarked for the foundation's 'Koala Kiss Project', which is all about finding where the species' fragmented habitat comes close to joining up, then regenerating the landscape to create a koala conservation corridor — with the first stage of the project focusing on developing software and collaborating with scientists to plot out all those 'kiss points' over a 1.5-million-square-kilometres patch between Cairns and Melbourne. "The Lindt koala is more than just chocolate. We want our Lindt koala to raise awareness and educate the community of the important role the Australian Koala Foundation plays in the long-term survival of our beloved native animal," said Lindt Australia CEO Michael Schai. "If we achieve contiguous habitat across the entire stretch of the koala range, then all creatures great and small could traverse through the bush unthreatened. With over 30 years of research behind the Koala Habitat Map, AKF's next grand vision could redirect the fate of the koala," added Deborah Tabart OAM, Chair of Australian Koala Foundation. "Lindt's support will help kickstart those efforts, with an ultimate vision to save the koala with 'kisses' through chocolate." Lindt's chocolate koalas are available to purchase for $6.25 at Lindt stores and via the Lindt website for a limited time.
The historic space at 10 Neild Avenue has left a bit of a black mark on the Sydney restaurant scene, with both celebrity chef Robert Marchetti's Neild Avenue and Keystone Group's Rushcutters closing after just brief stints in the location. But, not to be deterred, chef Paola Toppi and co. have taken on the enormous Rushcutters Bay warehouse. About 30 years ago she and her mum opened Machiavelli Ristorante, a Sydney institution that championed Italian home cooking, and this newest venture is an extension of the Machiavelli brand. The focus here is on antipasto and homemade pasta, which is a pretty appealing combination. But is it the right fit for a grand venue with a pretty grand price point? I'm not sure. Even though simple Italian food is harder to achieve than many realise, paying a fair amount of money for it can feel extortionate — especially in an area like Sydney, where so many good options are readily available and expectations are always high. The huge warehouse space has been reimagined by a deft hand in design Jason Mowen, who's used lighting, acoustics and creative flair to turn the previously cavernous and austere room into something quite appealing. He's used dark bare timber tables and some well-placed tall lamps to create a warm glow in what could easily be an open, cold atmosphere, and a mural coupled with cinematic images projected onto the high bare brick walls creates a fun, unpretentious feel to it all. There's an energetic hum from the clientele, who are mostly the kind of folks who pop into Catalina for a bite to eat on a Tuesday. The service is mostly attentive and enthusiastic, particularly behind the bar; they're keen sellers of items from their signature cocktail list, which includes the fresh and sharp peach and whisky number the Impeachment, and a surprisingly good take on a Negroni. As for the food, it's a bit of a hit and miss affair. On one hand, Bar M has some of the best salumi in town; the prosciutto, for example, with burrata and figs ($28) is perfect. Also on the antipasto menu, you'll find kingfish tartare with fennel salad, fried king prawns with Japanese breadcrumbs and grilled cuttlefish with caramelised onions and chilli. The pasta, which is served in pretty big portions and is beautifully made, has moments of total loveliness; the scampi spaghetti in a light tomato, chilli and garlic sauce ($59), a simple spaghetti carbonara ($39) and a duck ragu fettuccini ($39) are all hits. However, you can give anything with a beurre blanc sauce, like pappardelle with crab meat ($49) a miss. For mains, expect classics. There's a wagyu scotch fillet with potato ($49), rack of lamb with sweet potato mash ($49) and john dory fish served with panfried broccolini ($49). The desserts are a bit heavy, resembling something out of an '80s cookbook, like the tiramisu, ricotta-filled cannoli and profiterole with ice cream. Overall, Bar M is buzzing with hype and patronage at the moment, but it'll be a test of time to see if it can live on in its newest palatial home.
Need an extra sweet escape? To celebrate National Donut Day, held on Friday, June 6, Donut King has teamed up with luxury hotel brand Ovolo Hotels to create the 'Hot Cinni Hotel'. This collaboration is perhaps not what you'd normally expect for such an occasion. However, it quickly becomes obvious that this promotion hasn't cut any corners when it comes to fostering suite dreams. In an immersive hotel takeover, the heritage-listed Ovolo Woolloomooloo will see two of its elegant suites transformed into cinnamon doughnut-filled luxury stays. Decked out with shimmering pink accents, cinnamon-painted walls, colourful pop art and a Donut King-inspired bed adorned with plush fabrics, the 'Hot Cinni Suite' experience is like no other. Yet this doughnut-led experience goes beyond mere design. Guests will also see the suite filled with cinnamon doughnut-inspired scents and services, from aromatic diffusers and bathroom amenities to pink art-deco glassware and deluxe towels. Best of all, an exclusive room service offering means hot cinnamon doughnuts will arrive at your door with just the push of a button. That all sounds a little bonkers, but don't think the hotel is finished yet. Donut King and Ovolo Hotels have extended the fun to other areas of the hotel, with every guest invited to get amongst the celebration. In the lobby, pink and cinnamon lighting pay homage to the humble cinnamon doughnut, while the hotel's resident mixologist has created the Cinnitini — a spice-forward cocktail. Also in the bar, discover special nibbles like Donut King cinnamon doughnuts with dulce de leche; cauliflower bites with cinnamon-laced mayo; and chicken skewers with cinnamon barbecue sauce. As for other guests who happen to book a stay at Ovolo Woolloomooloo during this limited-time activation, they're welcome to order room service doughnuts for free. Just know, bookable stays for the Hot Cinni Hotel are only available from Friday, June 6–Sunday, June 9. "Partnering with Donut King to offer our guests an undeniably exhilarating and unexpected culinary experience during their stay is a sweet deal," says James Clark, General Manager at Ovolo Sydney. "We're constantly exploring new experiences for our guests to enhance their stay, and we believe they will absolutely crave and love this limited yet delightfully sweet addition." Bookings for the Hot Cinni Hotel open from Thursday, May 29 at 9am, with stays available from Friday, June 6–Sunday, June 9. Head to the website for more information.
Are you the kind of person who starts plotting your next meal before you've even finished the last? Love eating more than anything else? Well, you can get right to the guts of our global food obsession when culinary legend Nigella Lawson hits Aussie shores, joining social psychologist and author Hugh Mackay for two special conversation events this January. Hosted by The School of Life in Sydney on January 22 and Melbourne on January 24, Nigella Lawson On Why Food Matters will have audiences diving deep into the concepts surrounding food and its links to pleasure, creativity and belonging. The renowned celebrity chef will share insight into her philosophies on life and food while Mackay dishes up some of his own research finds, exploring rituals, our dependence on fast food, and the idea of food as a sort of therapy — whether that involves cooking up a storm, sharing a feed, or simply stuffing your face. Sink your teeth into some enlightening chat about social food trends and learn a little something about your own eating habits in the process. Those feeling inspired will also be able to grab a copy of Lawson's new book, At My Table. Catch Nigella Lawson On Why Food Matters at The School of Life Sydney on Monday, January 22, 118-132 Enmore Road, Newtown. It'll also take place on Wednesday, January 24, at The Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, Plenary 2, 1 Convention Centre Place, South Wharf. You can buy tickets at theschooloflife.com.au.
We don't need to tell you how downright glorious summer is in Sydney. The sun is shining, the nights are balmy and the beaches have never looked so inviting. As we near the last days of spring, there's no shortage of killer events happening around town, with plenty of ways to make the most of the season. With a little help from our friends at Sunglass Hut, we've put together five events that are perfect for when you want to get outside and embrace the day. Crank out the linen shirt, make sure your water bottle is full and the sparkling's on ice, and pop on some shades to face your summer.
It's happening again: Static Vision, the independent screening collective that loves putting on annual film festivals at Pink Flamingo Cinema in Marrickville, is doing exactly that once more. Static Vision also adores showing movies that Sydney's other fests mightn't, possessing a distinctive curatorial mindset that it can't wait to splash across the silver screen. When it's in charge of the viewing, you're in for an experience that you won't find elsewhere. In 2020, Hyperlinks was the Static Vision film festival to flock to. In 2021 came Dreamscapes, while 2022 gave rise to Metamorphoses. 2023's version is Goodbye, Pink Flamingo, because the collective is bidding farewell to its Sydney home, albeit hopefully only for now. On offer: a three-day single-screen program that focuses on queer, underground and punk countercultures — and that you can spend an entire weekend watching your way through from Friday, November 17–Sunday, November 19. The lineup highlights start with the newly restored Teenage Apocalypse Trilogy, aka Gregg Araki's 1993 film Totally F***ed Up, 1995 effort The Doom Generation and 1997 release Nowhere — which means that you're in for queer teens finding a sense of family together, a road movie unlike anything else you've seen and a college-set black comedy. You'll also spot everyone from Rose McGowan (The Sound) and Parker Posey (Beau Is Afraid) to Ryan Phillippe (I Love That for You) and Christina Applegate (Dead to Me). From there, Ken Russell's The Devils, Rainer Werner Fassbinder's Querelle and Tom Green's Freddy Got Fingered also sit on the supremely eclectic program, as do We Aim to Please, Shadow Panic and Vacant Possession from Sydney-based filmmaker Margot Nash. On a bill that spans 14 features and four shorts — plus a surprise screening that you'll need to attend to find out what's showing — the fest's recent flicks include T Blockers, as well as Fox Maxy's shorts Blood Materials and Maat, and also Tulapop Saenjaroen's shorts Squish! and Notes from the Periphery. Erotic cinema is also being thrust into the Goodbye, Pink Flamingo spotlight thanks to titles such as Ask Any Buddy, which has been spliced together from snippets of XXX gay cinema; a 4K restoration of Sextool; and The Exorcist-inspired queer horror Sex Demon.
Sunset Cinema is no stranger to St Ives Showground, screening flicks there late in 2021 and early in 2022. For its new season from Friday, December 9—Saturday, January 28, the openair cinema still boasts the same main attraction, too: watching movies under the stars. Whether you're planning a cosy date night or an easy group hang outdoors, there'll be something on the bill for you — kicking off with box-office behemoth Top Gun: Maverick, and spanning plenty of new and recent titles as well. If you haven't yet given Black Panther: Wakanda Forever a spin, or entered Strange World, or gotten twisty thrills from Don't Worry Darling, they're all on the lineup. Other highlights include Black Panther: Wakanda Forever; a heap of festive flicks leading into Christmas, such as Elf, Love Actually, Home Alone and The Nightmare Before Christmas; and three dog-focused films in January, spanning Marley & Me, Scooby-Doo and 101 Dalmatians. BYO picnics are encouraged here, but the event is fully licensed, so alcohol can only be purchased onsite. Didn't pack enough snacks? There'll be hot food options, plus plenty of the requisite movie treats like chips, chocolates, lollies and popcorn.
As we learn more and more about the impacts the fast fashion industry has on the environment, more people are looking for sustainable alternatives. A stylish and simple way to shop is uncovering secondhand gems, and Revivre has been doing just this since 1986. The consignment store has racks of preloved designer fashion in mint condition and it only takes authentic pieces, so the quality is guaranteed. Whether it's some blood-red Dries Van Noten silk slacks, a black double-breasted Jean Paul Gaultier blazer or a timeless Chanel button-down cardigan, you'll be able to hunt down a designer piece at a nice price. Images: Arvin Prem Kumar
The Sydney CBD is set to welcome a highly lauded New York City import into its ranks as Employees Only launches on Barrack Street this Saturday, November 24. The US venue is an architect of the modern speakeasy movement in New York and will bring its late-night vibes and world-class cocktails with it Down Under. Follow the neon 'psychic' symbol through the curtain and into its heritage-listed basement haunt. Once through the curtains, you'll see the bar offering both signature EO drinks and Sydney-exclusive drops. Classics include the Amelia (Wyborowa vodka and elderflower liqueur shaken with fresh lemon and puréed blackberries) and the Ginger Smash (rum and Barbadian sweet syrup Falernum shaken with muddled ginger and ripe mango, then topped with maraschino cherries and fresh lime). Brand new drinks created by the Sydney team include The Down Payment — a complex combination of Barsol Pisco, Italian herbal liqueur and French bitters shaken with avocado, fresh lime and aquafaba (a replacement for egg white). This level of creativity is no surprise, considering the bar is lead by 12-year EO alumni Robert Krueger and award-winning head bartender Dula Lorenzohewa. Alongside the drinks is an all-night bar menu that is available until 2.30am. Think Berkshire pork cottaletta (Italian schnitzel) with Tuscan cabbage slaw, and a monterey jack cheeseburger with pancetta, jalapeño, bois boudran sauce and relish. On the high-end, there's a decadent, three-option caviar service, all served with chive crème fraîche, grated egg and buckwheat blinis. In the kitchen are French head chefs Aurelien Girault and Leo Garnier, who have created a bistro menu reminiscent of New York but using native Australian ingredients and locally sourced seafood. The full dinner menu is served from 5pm–11pm and includes heartier dishes like charred calamari risotto, whole fish for two and chargrilled ribeye with red wine, watercress and horseradish. Signature NYC EO menu items are also on offer, including hand-cut filet mignon tartare, bone marrow poppers in a pastry shell and house-made cavatelli with pork sausage, rocket and parmesan. As part of the brand's tradition, special staff meals will be on offer for patrons each day at a discounted price — meaning you eat what the staff eats. Think cacio e pepe with grilled sardines, or gnocchi with gorgonzola. Another brand tradition is the chicken soup meal, which comes from a 15-year-old family recipe and will be a complimentary offering at 3am each night as the bar closes up. Designed by Tim Leveson (The Sandwich Shop, Pane e Cipolla), the space takes notes from the New York original while embracing the Sydney heritage location — including the antique main doors, industrial chandelier and large-scale, hand-painted wall murals. The curved, brass-topped bar is the hero of the space and you can expect some serious mood lighting, too. Dark timber with brass finishes and green velvet banquette seating is found in the dining room, with a private room also on offer. Plus brass-embellished, vintage lockers allow customers to keep their belongings safe and come complete with interior charging stations. Sydney is only the latest EO launch, with outposts also opening in Los Angeles, Miami and Singapore since 2016. Though speakeasy-style bars have become common place across Australia, we're keen to see what this international heavy-hitter can bring to the table. Employees Only will open at 6pm on Saturday, November 24 at 9a Barrack Street, Sydney. Opening hours will be Monday through Saturday from 5pm to 3am and Sunday from 5pm to midnight.
Having helped stimulate something of a Redfern renaissance, it's with a heavy heart that Damien Minton Gallery will soon close its doors. Although Sydney's creative scene is thriving, it's the ease and international scope of the online marketplace that has seen less buyers step inside commercial galleries. One of the last exhibitions to be shown at this space is a two-part show by Australian painter Peter Gardiner. Currently on display is a ten-year survey of his work, and opening on July 22 is a selection of new work, titled Prima Facie. Hailing from Newcastle, Gardiner digs into his local roots, producing dramatic oil paintings of this industrial city. However, there's not a hint of homeliness to these monochrome works. Full of shadowy streets and silhouetted buildings, they seem to obscure rather than reveal urban details. One of the most distinctive features of his painterly style is a kind of blurring effect. Blending angry clouds with rising smoke, his streaky brushwork creates an electric atmosphere. Switching dense and dark for something full of fine detail and white space, Gardiner’s Padoga series takes its cue from the traditional tiered towers commonly found in East Asia. He populates these structures with all sorts of symbols and characters. It feels like part travelogue and part folklore. There are wandering elephants and half butchered animals, grim reapers and gargoyles. Again, there’s a blurring of natural phenomena — a rain cloud dissolves into a treetop, and a smoking explosion becomes a cascading waterfall. Another interesting work is Parliament. This grid of floating heads looks like a collection of political forefathers. With protruding lumps and jagged teeth some are quite ghoulish, while others are barely discernible. Evidently, Gardiner has an affinity with the 18th- and 19th-century painters, skimming over modernism and post-modernism. These are Goya-style grotesqueries, while his moody landscapes look like something a contemporary William Blake might paint. His latest offering goes back a bit further, inspired by the 16th-century mannerist Arcimboldo. Cited as an early influence on the Surrealists, his whimsical portrait heads are loaded with colour and cheekiness. Gardiner's take is a curious fusion of object, fauna and flesh. Bursting with different elements and seasons, they form an incoherent sensuality. Throughout his practice, there's a fascination with the elements, particularly conflicting ones like fire and water. It’s not only Gardiner’s technical finesse that is quite compelling, but also the fluidity with which he manages to combine eclectic subject matter. It's as if he is standing with one foot in reality and another in mythology.
It's only taken a few short years for the British Film Festival to become a highlight of Australia's busy festival calendar, and their first titles for their fourth year demonstrate why. Fancy seeing this year's Cannes Palme d'Or winner? Or a host of high-profile titles direct from their premieres at the Venice and Toronto film festivals? Or a restored version of the David Bowie-starring sci-fi classic The Man Who Fell to Earth? Well, they're all on the bill. Ken Loach's I, Daniel Blake — which took top honours in Cannes back in May — takes a look at the British welfare system through the filmmaker's usual social realist lens, and ranks among the most highly anticipated of the bunch. It's joined by the high-profile likes of opening night's A United Kingdom and closing night's A Monster Calls. The former tells the true tale of a Botswana prince (Selma's David Oyelowo) who caused a scandal when he married a white Englishwoman (Gone Girl's Rosamund Pike), and is also slated to open the London Film Festival. Directed by The Impossible's Juan Antonio Bayona, A Monster Calls adapts a fantasy novel about a young boy coping with his mother's terminal illness, and features Liam Neeson as the voice of the titular creature. Audiences will also get the chance to see crime-drama Trespass Against Us, which not only stars Michael Fassbender and Brendan Gleeson, but marks the film debut of the Chemical Brothers' long-term visual collaborator Adam Smith. For cinephiles looking for something completely different, rom-com fans can get their fix watching Gemma Arterton and Sam Claflin in Their Finest, from An Education helmer Lone Scherfig. And because all good film fests don't just look forward to future hits but also peer back to the greats of years gone by, this year's British Film Festival has curated a ten-movie tribute to some of the country's enduring cinematic heroes. As well as Bowie proving his out-of-this-world acting abilities, catch Gary Oldman getting his punk on in Sid and Nancy and feast on the epic action adventure that is Highlander. The full program will be released in late September, so expect more ace titles to come. The BBC First British Film Festival tours the country from October 25, screening at Sydney's Palace Verona and Palace Norton Street from October 25 to November 16, Melbourne's Palace Cinema Como, Palace Balwyn, Palace Brighton Bay and The Astor from October 26 to November 16, and Brisbane's Palace Barracks from October 27 to November 16. For more information, visit the festival website.
Summer has returned to Chippendale's Old Clare Hotel. The luxury inner-city lodgings, which opened for business back in 2015, has a stylish interior and a lineup of food offerings so good they border on offensive. With A1 Canteen, Automata and Barzaari already in the building, we didn't really need another reason to want to pay it a visit. But then who are we to say no to a high altitude pool and bar? The Old Clare Rooftop Pool and Bar, located on the fourth floor of the boutique hotel, has just reopened to the public for the warmer months. Visitors can once again enjoy killer views of the city while lounging around on deckchairs in the sun, sipping refreshing cocktails and eating snacks prepared by Barzaari downstairs. Expect summer cocktails a plenty with the Pain-Killer ($21) — tequila, pineapple and maraschino, served in either a glass or an actual coconut — watermelon spritz ($19) and an extra-boozy rosé cocktail dubbed Rosey All Day ($18). All the classics will be available, too, as well as beers, spirits and G&Ts. Eastern Mediterranean-inspired snacks start with Sydney Rock oysters covered in colourful roe and harissa-spiked chicken wings served with pickled chilli, then move on to prawns with falafel and two pizza-style pita breads topped with the likes of chermoula, toum (a garlicky yoghurt), pickles and lountza (smoked pork). If you're famished, order the next-level bagel — filled with smoked brisket, pickles, iceberg and labneh — and a slice of sticky baklava served with a scoop of salted caramel ice cream. [caption id="attachment_706205" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Nikki To[/caption] The Old Clare will also use the rooftop space for group fitness sessions, which will be open to both hotel guests and the general public. The program has not yet been announced, but last time it included yoga, cardio boxing, circuit and personal training. We'll let you know as soon as it drops. The bad news for those wanting to take a sky-high dip is that you can only swim in the pool if you're a hotel guest. But maybe that means it's time to plan a staycation (or a night away for V-Day). The Old Clare Hotel can be found at 1 Kensington Street, Chippendale. The poolside bar is open from 3–9.30pm Wednesday and Thursday, and from midday–9.30pm Friday through Sunday. Images: Nikki To.
For over a decade, London's Serpentine Gallery has staged a series of unusual and wonderful summer pavilions. Each is put up, left out and pulled down over the course of a few months and designed by some of the biggest talents in architecture from around the world. Sydney's Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation has taken a leaf out of the Serpentine's book to stage its own series of strange architectural creations, starting with last year's beautiful Crescent House and following on with this year's double feature: Trifolium, put together by AR-MA, and Tomahawk // Archer Breakspear's contribution, Poly Trifolium sits outside the gallery proper in SCAF's 'Zen garden'. And there's definitely a calm sensation under its six-toed frame. The distant bamboo and half-quiet of busy Paddington buzzes away in the background. From the outside, the structure looks somewhere between Utzon's Opera House and the awnings of a football stadium. Its skin is sleek and white, like a spaceship, the arch repeating three times with a dip slumping in the roof. Inside is organic. The inner roof is black, actually a mesh of 152 laser-cut, stainless steel panels. They look slightly bulbous, layered and grape-like, curved plate over plate. Beneath the inner roof, darkly iridescent like a bug's wing, each arch captures different angles of the sun at an oblique angle. The day I visited, one side was somewhere between liquorice black and purple, another shifted between purple and rock brown, while the last caught the afternoon brilliance. Black, slate and gravel colours mixing with slabs of sunlight. It's an impressive structure, a bit like a cathedral shrunk down to the scale of its own model. Inside the gallery proper is Poly. It's a parliament of moveable aluminium seating pods. Each about 2 metres tall, plushly lined inside, stark metal polish and sharp angles without. Visitors are meant to sit inside or move them around. Shifting and seated among them, their sharp, silver lines become more obvious and the things really loom: silent, sharp-edged and impersonal. They do feel ripe to be rearranged, but are so large they seem to drag the balance in the room around with them when you pull the chairs around yourself. Trifolium and Poly are pretty low key. These aren't begging for a momentous cross-city expedition. Rather, a quiet visit on a jaunt through Paddington in their own small moment of zen. SCAF is open Wednesdays to Saturdays, 12-5. Photo: Jacob Ring
Throw those GoPros, bubble bottles and novelty gumboots in your rucksack, Splendour in the Grass is returning to North Byron Parklands for another year of festival merriment. With the epic likes of Blur, Mark Ronson, Florence and The Machine, Death Cab For Cutie, The Wombats, Tame Impala and Of Monsters And Men, Pond, Royal Blood and the Dandy Warhols on the bill, 2015's fest has one heck of a huge lineup. Odd Future's Earl Sweatshirt is back, Australia's own dancefloor kings Flight Facilities are landing back home, Azealia Banks makes her Australian festival return and Spiritualised will play their only Australian show. Ryan Adams is comin' on over, Best Coast is bringing the beachery back to Splendour, while recent Coachella-smash Jenny Lewis is another of the bigwigs we can all get squealy about. SXSW buzz artists like Gengahr and Elliphant are coming, UK producer Shlomo will take things down a notch (and King Khan will do exactly the opposite), while Canadian duo Purity Ring should be one packed-out, all-the-emotions must-see. Australian artists really dominate the lineup this year, including Client Liaison, Elizabeth Rose, Hayden James, Megan Washington, Thundamentals, Meg Mac, Japanese Wallpaper, Dune Rats and more. Plus, there's going to be four stages this year, with the new Tiny Dancer stage joining the Amphitheatre, Mix Up, GW McLennan stages to host Splendour's DJ lineup. Splendour will return to North Byron Parklands on Friday 24, Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 July. Onsite camping is once again available from Wednesday 22 July. Splendour In The Grass 2015 lineup Blur Florence + The Machine Mark Ronson Of Monsters & Men The Wombats Tame Impala Peking Duk Ryan Adams Flight Facilities Royal Blood (only Aus show) Death Cab For Cutie Earl Sweatshirt Boy & Bear Porter Robinson (Live) The Dandy Warhols (only Aus show) Xavier Rudd & The United Nations Azealia Banks The Rubens Jamie T Pond Spiritualized (only Aus show) Alison Wonderland Thundamentals Best Coast Everything Everything San Cisco MS MR Jarryd James Purity Ring Allday Carmada The Grates The Smith Street Band Tkay Maidza Johnny Marr Last Dinosaurs Megan Washington The Vaccines #1 Dads The Church Kitty, Daisy & Lewis The King Khan & The BBQ Show Alpine Catfish and the Bottlemen Paul Mac Dustin Tebbutt MØ Years & Years Jenny Lewis C.W. Stoneking Seekae George Maple Elliphant Client Liaison Palma Violets SAFIA Hayden James Dune Rats Wolf Alice Meg Mac Cosmo's Midnight Marmozets Oh Mercy Mansionair The Districts Shlohmo Elizabeth Rose The Delta Riggs Circa Waves Nancy Whang Eves The Behaviour Urban Cone Art of Sleeping Japanese Wallpaper Gengahr Bad//Dreems Ecca Vandal Holy Holy Vallis Alps UV Boi The Babe Rainbow Harts Generik Young Franco Mickey Kojak GL Benson Harvey Sutherland Total Giovanni DJs Dugong Jr I'lls Akouo Noise In My Head triple j Unearthed Winners Plus ... Joyride Post Percy Ara Koufax CC:Disco! Adi Toohey Set Mo Edd Fisher Mike Who Shantan Wantan Ichiban For more info, check out the official Splendour In The Grass site.
Sydney Harbour's New Year's Eve fireworks are rarely a dull affair. But they're set to pack an extra punch this year, as the City of Sydney delivers a colourful celebration of both marriage equality and the 40th anniversary of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. As announced yesterday, 2018 will kick off in a blaze of glory, as a rainbow waterfall of fireworks tumbles from Sydney Harbour Bridge, capping off a momentous year for the local LGBTIQ+ community. As well as honouring those who marched for gay rights for the first Mardi Gras, Lord Mayor Clover Moore says the display is "a fabulous way to see out 2017 – the year that four out of five Sydneysiders said a resounding 'Yes' to marriage equality." The display will be the first of its kind for Sydney Harbour Bridge, sporting cascading fireworks in red, yellow, green, blue, purple and silver. The night's entire display, featuring over 100,000 individual pyrotechnic effects, will take the team from Foti Fireworks International a solid 5,000 hours to create.
Get ready to savour the flavours of Japanese dining as Concrete Playground and Haku Vodka are offering you the chance to win a salmon masterclass for three at luxe omakase restaurant Toko — with a $600 tab. Step into the kitchen and test out your knife skills as Toko Head Chef Sunil Shrestha shows you and two guests how to fillet and portion a whole salmon. You'll then get to try your hand at preparing it in three different ways, making salmon sashimi, seared salmon maki and miso salmon. [caption id="attachment_877635" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Credit: Steven Woodburn[/caption] Afterwards, you will enjoy the spoils of your labour along with edamame and oysters. You can also spend your $600 restaurant tab on some delish Haku Vodka martinis, as well as any additional food you want to order to round out your meal. Toko reopened its sleekly appointed new digs on George Street after closing the doors to its Surry Hills location in 2022. Menu favourites from the original venue remain — like the miso eggplant, delicate ponzu kingfish and incredibly moreish broccolini — alongside the sashimi omakase, starring a daily selection of the freshest raw seafood. [caption id="attachment_974084" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Jude Cohen[/caption] To be in with a chance to win this delectable experience, fill out the form below. [competition]977589[/competition] Image Credit: Steven Woodburn
Sydney might be world-renowned for its harbour, bridge and Opera House, and Melbourne's food and live music scenes might've won it plenty of fame and acclaim, but neither Australian city is one of the world's greatest places of 2023. Each year, TIME magazine singles out 50 locations around the globe that it considers extraordinary — and that travellers should make it a priority to visit — with just two Aussie destinations making the latest cut. Kangaroo Island keeps earning praise in 2023; already, The New York Times has named it one of the best places to head to this year in its version of the same type of list, and the South Australian spot's Stokes Bay topped Tourism Australia's best ten beaches for 2023, too. So, its place among TIME's picks is hardly surprising. But the publication also chose one Australian state capital: Brisbane. Move over Sydney and Melbourne — the rivalry that the New South Wales and Victorian capitals have is pointless, with the Sunshine State just sweeping in and nabbing the glory. In three words, TIME shouted out Brissie's "sports and sun", but it had more to say. And, while the hosting the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games obviously got a mention, that's also just the beginning. "The capital of Queensland is already gearing up with ambitious infrastructural advancements, which visitors can enjoy before the crowds pour in," TIME notes. It then shouts out United Airlines' new direct flights between San Francisco and Brisbane; the soon-to-open Queen's Wharf with its bars, restaurants, four luxury hotels and sky-high observation deck; and co-hosting the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup. "Beyond the central business district, the James Street Precinct is a welcome testament to how urban development can champion local businesses and artisans rather than supplanting them. The semi-industrial area leverages Brisbane's perennial sunshine to showcase an outdoor promenade anchored by artsy boutiques and cafes, all under the canopy of Moreton Bay fig trees," TIME also advises. "The surrounding neighbourhood, Fortitude Valley, has recently evolved into a culinary epicentre with new places like sAme sAme showcasing inventive international fare within a laid-back, uniquely Australian atmosphere; a growing assortment of global flavours befitting a now-worldwide audience." sAme sAme has been around for a few years now, but otherwise TIME's praise tells Brisbanites what they already know: that the River City is ace. Fresh from noting that the city's Myer Centre shopping centre would lose Myer, Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said "while this is a fantastic accolade for our city, it's also about time!". "It's no accident that Brisbane is the fastest growing capital city in the country with people from southern states recognising that our city's incredible climate, lifestyle and liveability is second to none. We're investing in fantastic projects like Victoria Park, Brisbane Metro and our green bridges to help make Brisbane even better," the Lord Mayor continued. "Precincts like South Bank and Howard Smith Wharves are world-class destinations while our suburbs are great places to live, work and relax." Chosen by soliciting "nominations of places from our international network of correspondents and contributors, with an eye toward those offering new and exciting experiences," TIME explains, Brisbane sits on the world's greatest places of 2023 list alongside the likes of Barcelona, Kyota and Nagoya (home of the new Studio Ghibli Park) in Japan, St Moritz in Switzerland and Dijon in France. Also getting some love: Mexico City, South Korea's Jeju Island, Vienna, the pyramids of Giza, and the prime northern lights spot of Churchill, Manitoba in Canada. For TIME's full World's Greatest Places of 2023 list, head to the publication's website.
With catastrophic weather conditions saturating Queensland and New South Wales over the past week, good news has been in very short supply. Enter the team at Sikh Volunteers Australia, which has put in an enormous effort to help folks affected by flooding in northern New South Wales. Their actions can only be described as heartwarming, feel-good, wholesome and just all-round ace. Any other synonym for great, nice, lovely and generous that you can think, it'd fit as well. The charity, which has a mission to provide people in need with free food, is based in Melbourne. But after seeing that its services could be used further north as the devastating weather hit, its members hit the road. Cue a 34-hour drive to serve free, freshly cooked vegetarian meals to flood-affected communities in Lismore — which has been doing it tough after the wet conditions moved through the regional town earlier in the week. Team is serving free meals to flood affected communities in Lismore NSW pic.twitter.com/BsO1HjEaJw — Sikh Volunteers Australia (@AustraliaSikh) March 3, 2022 Originally, the plan was to head to Queensland — so that drive would've been even longer — but, based on community response, the Sikh Volunteers decided that there was more need for their services in Lismore. They arrived yesterday, Wednesday, March 2, and have been dishing up free meals since. Sikh Volunteers Australia's efforts in Lismore follow the organisation's ongoing work in Melbourne, including delivering meals to COVID-19 cases during the recent Omicron wave — and, before that, via 320 dedicated volunteer drivers who did the same during the city's 2021 lockdown from August onwards. That's a huge effort, and the charity aims to expand its work to other parts of the country in the future, too. In Lismore now, Sikh Volunteers Australia has set up at 60 Ross Street, Goonellabah, and is providing free meals to anyone who needs them. For more information about Sikh Volunteers Australia, or to support their work via a donation, head to the organisation's website.
Across from the Seymour Centre and hidden just out of view from the hustle of Cleveland Street is a real quacker of a pub. Yeah, you'd be a goose not to duck into The Duck Inn Pub & Kitchen — and everyone would be crying fowl if these avian puns continued, so here is where they'll end. Situated on Rose Street in Chippendale, The Duck Inn's a pub with a distinctly un-pub-like feel. You'll find no pokie machines, no punters fixated on the dogs on TV. Instead, it looks and feels more like going to a friend's place that you're a little bit jealous of, with cosy couches and reading lamps, a cardboard deer head on the wall and a bunch of well-worn books and board games (Uno tournaments every quarter, trivia every Monday). Despite its shiny new interior, The Duck's still a pub where being a pub matters the most — the pub grub. The Classic Oz Beef Burger with shoestring fries ($18) is an updated classic that was our highlight of the menu. The fish pie topped with mashed potato (also $18) ties in well with winter nights. If you're still feeling chilly after eating, the buttered rum ($10 mug) goes down a warm, buttery, cinnamon-y treat. It's hard to deny the warmth and homely comfort of The Duck. Between the whitewashed walls and leafy beer garden, it's the perfect watering hole for friends, family or first dates. The perfect Duck sitting? Sunday afternoon drinks that turn into dinner with a side of Jenga.
Undeniably Sydney's most beautiful theatre, the Enmore maintains an antique, old-world feel inside a contemporary venue. Built in 1908, this art deco theatre has gradually been transformed into the kind of luxury that is pure rock 'n' roll: band posters are plastered beneath luxurious chandeliers, drinks are purchased from a bar in the foyer, and the seats in the stalls are, depending on the occasion, removed to make way for standing room audiences. If the ambiance alone isn't enough to entice you, never fear: the Enmore plays host to some of the biggest acts to visit our shores. We're talking The Rolling Stones, Sonic Youth, Wu Tang Clan, The Pretenders, Grace Jones... The list goes on. And while the size and prestige of this place is strong enough to attract the big acts, the performance space remains cosy and intimate. The combination of the theatre's traditional acoustics and an immense front of house system also results in exceptional sound, making the Enmore one of Sydney's premier live venues. Image: Destination NSW
For the past seven years, juniper spirits have been flowing everywhere from London and Hamburg to Melbourne thanks to big gin festival Junipalooza. But if you're a Sydneysider with a fondness for the tipple in question, you've probably been more than a little envious — and wondering when the fest might make the trip to this part of the globe. Now, those requests have finally been answered. Actually, those dreams were supposed to come true in 2020, but then the pandemic happened. Come Saturday, August 28 and Sunday, August 29, however, Junipalooza will arrive on Sydney's shores for the first time. Set to take over Carriageworks for two wintry days, the juniper-filled festival is run by the founders of the UK's Gin Foundry, Olivier and Emile Ward — so you know you're in good gin-pouring hands. The renowned brothers live, breathe and drink gin, compiling all their knowledge onto their comprehensive online gin directory. They've also been running the OG London version of Junipalooza since way back in 2013. The Sydney event will feature sampling stations, cocktails and gin masterclasses with some of the world's best distillers. Thirty distillers from around the globe will be sharing their gins, with around 200 different types set to feature. The full lineup is yet to be announced, but we still see a lot of gin drinking in your future. If you're eager to sip your way through the fest, you can choose between three sessions, with tickets on sale now. On the Saturday, you can start the day with drinks from 11am–3pm, or spend your evening sampling gin between 4–8pm. On Sunday, an 11am–5pm session is on the cards. Junipalooza will take place in Sydney on Saturday, August 28 and Sunday, August 29 at Carriageworks. Tickets are on sale now — and for more information, head the the festival's website.
To say that Secret Garden Festival is improving with age is a deadset understatement. Next month marks the flamboyant forest party's tenth turn around the sun and it's celebrating with a music program and lineup of fun as good as any it's dished up before. Taking over its usual lush green home of NSW's Brownlow Hill Farm on February 23 and 24, the grassroots festival promises a weekend of dress-ups, dance floor antics and forest adventures to remember. Those lucky enough to snaffle one of this year's tickets (which are sold out, sorry) will find themselves in utter aural heaven, the bill sprinkled with exciting acts like Queensland dance-punk duo DZ Deathrays, powerhouse Melbourne artist Ecca Vandal, acclaimed indie rockers Holy Holy and soul-pop four-piece The Harpoons. Even more music goodness will be served up by hard-hitting hip hop artist Miss Blanks, Sydney singer-songwriter Alex The Astronaut, and Triple J's Unearthed Artist of The Year, Stella Donnelly. Of course, the live tunes and the 14 dance floors are just one part of this jam-packed weekend. Also helping Secret Garden ring in its first decade will be the Annual Feast, hosted by The Great Fatsby, appearances aplenty from the Camp Queen drag queens, the debut of the Shout Something Nice Bar, a kissing booth and a seated theatre flowing with a whole lotta Champagne. Last year a couple got married among the madness, so who knows what will happen this time round. As always, a festival-wide fancy dress theme will help kick everything off in style on opening night. This year, in homage to Secret Garden's tenth birthday, it's a throwback to your year ten formal — don your wildest old-school party duds and relive those teenage wonder years, with a little help from 11-piece Blink 182 cover band, Bris 182.
Sydney's annual Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras is more than just the parade. In fact, the festival features over two weeks of events — both official and not. One such place that's getting the party going early is The Winery. This year, the Surry Hills' garden oasis is hosting the perfect warm-up shindig with four fun-filled nights of good tunes, tasty food, great booze and, of course, drag queens. Go along between Tuesday, February 26 and Friday, March 1 with your dancing feet and vocal cords ready as the queens from Sydney Drag Royalty engage in an old-fashioned drag battle. Each night there'll be three heats where the queens perform to classic pop hits — we're talking tracks from Elton John, Tina Turner, Dolly Parton, Madonna and George Michael — to the whim of the crowd, who'll vote to decide who'll make it through to the grand final 'battle royale' on Friday, March 1. The nightly show will set you back $20, which includes an Absolut cocktail on arrival. Plus, $5 from that goes straight to the Black Dog Institute (a mental health research facility). While you're watching these fabulous renditions, you can snack on tasty treats including prawn skewers, chicken wings and wagyu beef sliders. A carb-free option comes in the form of a dress-your-own-lettuce-cup station with meats from the barbecue on offer — vegetarian options will be available, too. Food is not included in ticket price. And if you want to be close to the action, but not so close that you're actually stuck in the crowds of people, The Winery will be screening the Mardi Gras parade on Saturday, March 2 on the big screen for free. The Mardi Gras Laneway Tribute Nights will run nightly from 5pm, Tuesday, February 26 to Friday, March 1. To purchase tickets, visit The Winery's website.
Sydney's Japanese festival, Japanaroo, struggled to get off the ground this year after a lengthy lockdown. But there's one big, delicious silver lining — organisers have rallied to launch Japanaroo+, an extension of the original program, running across Friday, December 3 to Sunday, December 19. It's a two-week, wall-to-wall celebration of everything Japanese — and everything Sydney. Here's the best bit: As part of Japanaroo+, the Fukuoka tourism board are teaming up with some of the city's best Japanese restaurants and hottest chefs to offer a limited-edition Tonkotsu ramen tasting trail as part of Flavours of Fukuoka. It kicks off on Saturday, December 4, with four restaurants set to serve up traditional Fukuoka dishes and a double helping of omotenashi (a term for Japanese hospitality). Tonkotsu-style ramen, a thick noodle soup usually starring a pork bone broth that's been simmered for hours, actually comes from Fukuoka city, on the southern island of Kyushu. If you haven't had it before, you're in for a treat (and some spicy meat sweats). The four restaurants participating in Flavours of Fukuoka will be GOGYO in Surrey Hills, Sekka Dining in St Leonards, Ramen Zundo in World Square and Chatswood, and Sakana-Ya in Crow's Nest, each doing a slightly different spin on the classic dish. Gogyo and Sekka will both serve up a traditional Tonkotsu ramen — order it with gyoza or a grilled M7 wagyu skewer from respective restaurants, and you'll also score a free Japanese bevvy. Ramen Zundo has created a Tonkotsu Ramen Fukuoka Special at both World Square and Chatswood locations, while Sakana-Ya will offer its range of hot and cold udon as well as a Fukuoka chicken teriyaki special. The special Fukuoka menus will run from Saturday, December 4 until Sunday, December 12 and will be available for dine-in and takeaway. Dine-in guests will also get a free glass of wine or sake with their tonkotsu. Flavours of Fukuoka will run from Saturday, December 4 until Sunday, December 12. You can check out the full run-down here.
Sydney cinephiles, the moment you've been waiting for is here. From June 6 to 17, the Sydney Film Festival will fill the city's cinemas with more than 334 movies. Race-relations comedies straight from Cannes, true crime documentaries about famous cases, behind-the-scenes looks at iconic fashion designers — they're just some of the flicks on offer in what's shaping up to be SFF's mighty busy 65th year. In fact, if you wanted to see BlacKkKlansman, Cold Blooded: The Clutter Family Murders or McQueen, we have bad news — they've already sold out. We told you that the fest will be busy. Thankfully, there's plenty more where those popular titles came from, which is where we come in. Fancy watching one of the absolute best films of the year? A compilation of clips excised from other films by the Australian censors? Gorgeous Japanese animation? A documentary about loving boy bands? Of course you do, and they're all on our must-see list. We've selected ten movies to keep you busy over SFF's 12-day run, so prepare to spend a lot of time inside a cinema. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHbUrdCXa4g YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE After screening at Cannes in 2017 — and deservedly winning Joaquin Phoenix the festival's best actor award for his gut-wrenching performance — it has taken some time for You Were Never Really Here to make it to our shores. Don't worry, this exceptional film is completely worth the wait. It's also one of the best movies of this or any other year. The highly anticipated latest feature from We Need to Talk About Kevin's Lynne Ramsay, the dark effort follows Phoenix's Joe, an ex-soldier and FBI agent turned hitman who rescues children from sex trafficking rings. Unsurprisingly, it's a tense, bleak dive through the mindset of a man coping with several layers of trauma; however neither Ramsay or Phoenix put a foot wrong in a feature that dials up its intense revenge thrills to astounding levels. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6o5WPcCgT0 FOXTROT Back in 2010, Israeli writer-director Samuel Maoz made a movie that was almost entirely set in a tank. Lebanon became one of the year's and the decade's most talked-about films — and while his next feature, Foxtrot, isn't confined to one setting, it is just as inventive, immersive and absorbing. The military drama kicks into gear with a knock at the door, as a couple are told by officials that their son has been killed in the line of duty. What happens from that point onwards is best discovered by watching, in a feature that astutely explores bureaucracy, grief and the many difficulties of living in a state of perpetual conflict. From playing with the narrative's timeline to inserting both dance sequences and animation into the mix, Maoz never fails to find the most fitting, astonishing and surprising ways to get to the heart of his story. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mtojt31IlQs [CENSORED] Ever wondered just what ends up on the cutting room floor — not during the normal editing process, but when the censors are deciding if a film is fit for public consumption? Or perhaps you fall into the other category, and you've never really thought about whether the version of a movie you're seeing is the same as the one submitted by the filmmakers for classification. Either way, Sari Braithwaite's [CENSORED] is bound to open your eyes, with the documentary made from clips excised from flicks by Australian censors between 1951 and 1978. Expect to be challenged and entertained, and to explore the role of censorship, as you step through a movie compiled from parts of other movies that you really weren't meant to see. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mp6IcekfEpo MIRAI Outside of Studio Ghibli, Mamoru Hosoda is one of the most important names in Japanese animation — and if you've seen Summer Wars, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time or Wolf Children, you'll know why. The writer-director possesses quite the knack for matching eye-catching visuals with emotionally resonant stories, which could be why his latest, Mirai, became the first Japanese animated film to hold its world premiere at Cannes. Story-wise, it tells of a toddler unhappy about getting a baby sister called Mirai, which all sounds rather routine. If there's one thing that Hosoda's movies have taught audiences, however, it's that there's no such thing as a routine tale. Here, the unhappy four-year-old protagonist not only comes face-to-face with a teenager with the same name as his new sibling, but they're soon stumbling through a magical portal in search of adventure. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgKLCqJc_oI NUMBER 37 One of the greatest films ever made gets a completely different twist in Number 37. This mightn't be the first time someone has been inspired to toy with Alfred Hitchcock's iconic Rear Window — the Shia LaBeouf-starring Disturbia did it (and ended up in court as a result), and so did one of the standout shorts at this year's Berlinale — but this South African feature uses the classic flick as a starting point, then finds its own riff. Written and directed by first-timer Nosipho Dumisa, the feature spends its time with a small-time crook who comes up with a new scam just by looking out of his window. He's stuck peering through his binoculars because he was paralysed in a drug deal gone wrong, and that's just one of the factors complicating this suspenseful narrative. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrB0Xbx1YCg THE RIDER In rodeo drama The Rider, real-life cowboy Brady Jandreau plays a version of himself. If you're wondering why writer-director Chloe Zhao opted to stick so close to reality, it's because her subject-turned-actor boasts quite the story. A member of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe, Jandreau was a rising star when the two first met, inspiring Zhao to make a movie about him. Then a tragic riding accident changed his future forever, placing him at a crossroads. Part specific character study, part universal tale of chasing and losing a dream, then trying to come out of the other side, The Rider wouldn't be the same without its star — who acts alongside his real-life family members. Since premiering at Cannes last year, the movie has also been earning Zhao considerable praise for her empathetic modern-day take on the western genre. JULIET, NAKED The latest film adapted from a Nick Hornby book, Juliet, Naked sounds more than a little familiar — even if you haven't read the novel. To the surprise of no one acquainted with the author's work, it features a music-obsessed man who isn't too successful with romance, as well as a musician who earns the same description. High Fidelity 2, this isn't, however. Stuck between the two hapless male figures (played by Chris O'Dowd and Ethan Hawke) is the woman who's actually the protagonist of this story, Annie (Rose Byrne). A rom-com about people learning what's really important in life, the end result takes Hornby's usual insights (and his usual love of music, naturally) in a slightly different direction, and pairs them with an excellent cast. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtVPjv9xLKw JIRGA The only Australian film competing for this year's Sydney Film Festival prize, Jirga was actually shot in Afghanistan. In fact, author, paramedic and filmmaker Benjamin Gilmour not only wrote and directed the feature, but shot the entire thing himself. That was the only way he could get his tale made after his initial funding fell through, with Gilmour forging ahead in incredibly difficult circumstances. Relaying the story of an Australian soldier who returns to Afghanistan to find the family of a man killed during a raid three years earlier, it's a movie that only explores the impact of war in its narrative, but bears its scars in every frame. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yodiBkuL00Y RAFIKI A lesbian romance set in Nairobi, Rafiki blazes several trails. In fact, the response to this Kenyan rarity has been varied to say the least. The film became the nation's first feature to screen at Cannes, which is an incredible feat. Back home, however, the movie's subject matter saw it banned by the Kenyan classification board. Focusing on two young women trying to cast aside society's conservative ideas about their futures, Rafiki follows Kena and Ziki as they fall in love, break free from their families' expectations, fight widespread prejudice and forge their own identities. Along the way, as she tells their fictional tale writer-director Wanuri Kahiu also embraces the vibrancy of Nairobi at street level. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pp_YEf1olR0 I USED TO BE NORMAL: A BOYBAND FANGIRL STORY Calling all boy band fans — and pop culture fans in general. Since The Beatles caused hordes of teenage girls to scream in city streets all over the world all those decades ago, boy bands and pop culture really have gone hand in hand. If you're wondering why, or what inspires avid obsessives to devote their time and attention to their favourite group, then Melbourne-based filmmakers Jessica Leski and Rita Walsh might just have the answers courtesy of their documentary I Used to be Normal: A Boyband Fangirl Story. Exploring the stories of four women across three generations, the film also promises an insight into fandom and its joys, thrills and excesses in general. Want more recommendations? Given the hefty size of SFF's 2018 program, we have a few other picks. From our list of Australian titles to look out for, catch biker thriller 1% — and from our Sundance rundown, Kusama: Infinity, Leave No Trace, The Miseducation of Cameron Post, The Guilty and Searching all made the bill. There's more from our Berlinale selections, such as Aga, Daughter of Mine, Transit and An Elephant Sitting Still, while our Cannes standouts include Burning, Climax and Shoplifters.
A beloved Redfern Street hideout for half a decade, Ron's Upstairs turned its fairy lights off for the last time back in May. Ron's called the space home for five years. When one door closes, however, another opens, and in place of Ron's is Fontana, a new Italian diner above Itacate. The vibrant new venue arrived just two months after the closure of Ron's, bringing the warm hospitality of its predecessors. Gone are the playful plastic vines and colourful wallpaper, while the red carpet and parquetry flooring from Ron's remains. New leather-clad booths are complimented by warm mahogany tones and just the right level of mood lighting. And, most importantly, the charm and homeliness of the space's previous occupant are still here in spades. Fontana is the latest opening from Daniel Johnston, Harry Levy and Ivery Wawn, who have all worked together across Don Peppino's, Wilmer and Alfios. In the two years since Don Peppino's has closed, the trio has been busy. Johnston and Wawn have been honing their craft at Alberto's and Cafe Paci respectively. Levy opened Porcine above P&V Paddington with Nick Hill and Matt Fitzgerald. Johnston is in charge of the kitchen, creating an Italian-focused menu full of recognisable and nostalgic flavours. While Fontana's menu is ever-changing, expect to choose from a selection of share plates, a few choice pasta dishes and a couple of mains. Possible highlights include warm crunchy bread rolls with a layer of baked balsamic vinegar (it's best ordered with the ricotta della casa); or the creamy fettuccini verde. The panne frito is another standout — fried bread complimented with a schmear of tomato paste and an anchovy. An array of specials also pop up each day, and as is tradition, gnocchi is added to the menu on Thursdays. Accompanying Johnston's food is the drinks menu that has been led by Wawn. There are a handful of classic cocktails and a range of interesting and eclectic wines showcasing organic and biodynamic farming principles. Fontana is located at 133a Redfern Street, Redfern. It's open from 5.30pm Wednesday–Friday and from midday Saturday.
It might be the season for shopping and trying to find unique gifts; however sourcing design-focused fashion is a year-round affair. With that in mind, add Barangaroo's latest addition to your next outfit-buying trip. Run by the folks who gave Surry Hills the retail haven that is Somedays, The Waiting Room is a Sydney-based offshoot of the stylish Melbourne store of the same name. Curation is key at the fresh space on the corner of Shipwright Walk and Scotch Row on Barangaroo Avenue, with The Waiting Room as selective about what they sell as you should be about what you wear. Expect a careful balance of clothing and accessories from Scandinavian, European, American and local designers, including Aussie labels such as Backstage, Chloe Gard Pottery and Salty Beach Life, New Zealand favourite Kowtow, and the global likes of Céline, Samsøe & Samsøe, Eton and Royal Republiq. If that sounds like a hefty list to navigate — and there's plenty more where they came from, too — The Waiting Room's staff are on hand to give you an old-school shopping experience, boasting their own passion for design and helping the store hark back to a seemingly bygone era where being served by someone who had an artisan knowledge of their product was the norm. And as far as matching the products and vibe to the surroundings is concerned, architects Burley Katon Halliday have decked out the space with a marble mosaic floor, timber, brass and leather aplenty, and even a custom ottoman upholstered in Tibetan goats' wool. Find The Waiting Room on the corner of Shipwright Walk and Scotch Row, 200 Barangaroo Avenue, Barangaroo. Visit their website for more information.
Many an Aussie kid has spent a Saturday night hyped up on lime cordial spinning around their lounge room to Kylie Minogue. So, prep the cordial, and get ready to party like it's 2000 'cause the Aussie pop icon is heading back to home turf. While your inner child might be more familiar with her hits 'Spinning Around', 'Can't Get You Out of My Head' and that duo with Robbie Williams 'Kids', next year, Minogue is returning to Australia to perform songs off her just-released album Golden. Minogue was last here four years ago, in 2014, for her Kiss Me Once Tour, and now she's back, taking her Golden Tour for a spin around the country in March, 2019. As well as performing headline shows in Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne, she'll also be performing at A Day on the Green in Perth, the Hunter Valley and Mount Cotton, Queensland. She'll be singing hits off her latest — and fourteenth — album Golden, which debuted at number one on the ARIA charts just this year. Featuring hits like 'Dancing' and 'Stop Me from Falling', the album has more of a country music-feel than her others, which is fitting, seeing it was recorded in Nashville, Tennessee. On stage, Minogue will be joined by former Scissor Sisters frontman (now solo artist) Jake Sears at all shows and Brisbane artist Hatchie at A Day on the Green. Another special guest is expected to be announced soon, too. KYLIE MINOGUE 2019 'GOLDEN' TOUR DATES Sydney — ICC, March 5 Perth — A Day on the Green, Sir James Mitchell Park, March 9 Melbourne — Sidney Myer Music Bowl, March 13 Hunter Valley — A Day on the Green, Bimbadgen, March 16 Mount Cotton — A Day on the Green, Sirromet Wines, March 17 Tickets for capital city shows are available through Frontier Touring and A Day on the Green tickets are available through its website. Both go on sale at midday on Monday, November 19.
The Italians. Good food, good wine, good catchphrases, and good looks. The Italians make the finest cheese, the sweetest pastries, and the heartiest of family feasts. The culture of eating and drinking Italian style is such an adored facet of Sydney's diverse dining scene that Concrete Playground has decided to showcase some of the best all in one place. Let us present to you our guide to Italian Sydney. 1. Best for group festas: Popolo Here's where punters can find some of the best Southern Italian cuisine in Sydney. Both owners are ex-Fratelli Paradiso staffers and retain from their previous employment the adage 'first in, best dressed'. Only half the restaurant's tables are bookable so we recommend you get in quick. Suited for a group celebration over a southern Italian feast or a solo excursion, Popolo is an insider tip for one of Sydney's best Italians. 50 McLachlan Avenue, Rushcutters Bay; 02 9361 6641; www.popolo.com.au 2. Best for Lovers: 121BC 121BC is the bar attached to the eponymously named boutique bottle shop in the wilds of Surry Hills. With a focus on regional Italian flavours, 121BC's wine list changes monthly, and is complemented by the menu of fresh, seasonal food which is uniformly delicious. The folks behind 121BC are also particularly concerned with 'bio-dynamic', natural wines, the kind that are preservative-free and linger on the tongue. One of Sydney's most exciting and authentically Italian wine bars. Do it. 4/50 Holt St (enter via Gladstone St), Surry Hills; 02 9699 1582; www.121bc.com.au 3. Best for gelato: Gelato Messina Gelato Messina is old school; it's been around since 2002 and they aim to make ice cream the way it was done a hundred years ago. More than 40 flavours are made daily on the premises and come at you via paper cup or waffle cone. "For traditionalists, Gelato Messina has all the staples of the classic gelato repertoire. There's vanilla bean, chocolate and all manner of fruit sorbets. But for the daring, the real specialty is Messina's conceptual ice cream flavours," says Gelato Messina's co-owner Declan Lee. 389 Crown Street, Surry Hills; www.gelatomessina.com 4. Best for pizza: Vacanza in the Hills Let us introduce you to the god of traditional southern Italian pizza. Vacanza in the Hills is the ticket. Emphasising the southern Italian connection, the kitchen staff are from the home country and slide out thin-based pizzas of the more traditional variety. The Vacanza is sprinkled with truffle oil and grated pecorino, Il Sacaceno peppered with prosciutto and parmesan, and Il Capitano laced with fennel sausage, goat's cheese, and roasted mushroom. 414 Bourke Street, Surry HIills; 02 8964 6414; www.vacanzainthehills.com.au 5. Best in the North: The Italian What a treat the north shore has been served. No longer must local Mediterranean enthusiasts trek to the inner west for fabulous Italian fare. Italian feels like the village trattoria you have in your Italy-inspired dreams. The pastas are named after their region of origin, the wine list extensive, and atmosphere aplenty. A food-focused team make this suburban gem zing, and the result is an authentic Italian experience with a distinctly local focus. 191 High Street, Willoughby; 02 9967 5468; www.theitalianwilloughby.com.au 6. Best for a Beautiful Life: Cafe Sopra Cafe Sopra, literally 'above' the original Frat Fresh in Waterloo, is another level of deliciously fresh delights. Sopra's policy is menu items that emphasise the best that Fratelli has to offer, focusing on fresh produce. The resulting dishes are light, fresh and exciting: a mix that is perhaps at its best in the morning hours. 7 Danks Street, Waterloo; 02 9699 3550; www.fratellifresh.com.au 7. Best for salumi & antipasti: Parma On a prime real estate corner on Crown Street sits Parma. Named after the north Italian town famed for parmigiano reggiano, prosciutto, and Barilla pasta, Parma has imported these flavours and a relaxed cafe/bar interior to Surry Hills. The menu is a large and diverse Italian spread offering entrees, mains, and desserts. Our go to? The Nutella panzerotto for an indulgent finish. 285A Crown Street, Surry Hills; 02 9332 4974; www.parmacucina.com.au 8. Best for Mama's cooking: Baccomatto Osteria You're unlikely to get authentic home-cooked Italian food unless your mama or papa is from the homeland, but hey you're in luck. Baccomatto, meaning "mad mouth" in Italian, isn't trying to be fancy pants fine dining, but a relaxed place to socialise. In doing so, with authentic regional dishes and sauces, it succeeds where other stuffier places fail, in good-natured service and a lack of omnipresent Buddha Bar ambient beats in the background. 212 Riley Street, Surry Hills; 02 9215 5104; www.baccomattoosteria.com.au 9. Best for long summer nights: North Bondi Italian This is a beachside trattoria. There are plenty of people who will get dressed up to be seen here. Yet, you don't have to. The placemats double as paper menus. You'll be fishing your cutlery out of a box on the table. The floorstaff are gadding about in denim aprons. The menu is split into formaggio, antipasti, salumi, insalate, verdure, pasta, panini, carpaccio, fruitti di mare, offal, carne, dolci, and 'roast of the day'. Italian Sydney, eat your heart out. 118-120 Ramsgate Avenue, North Bondi; 02 9300 4400; www.eqpg.com.au/ 10. Best for drama: Buffalo Dining Club The Buffalo Dining Club itself is quite laidback, but when they serve you your spaghetti from a giant wheel of cheese, you are guaranteed to gasp. It is a little piece of Campania dropped into the backstreets of Sydney's inner city. This time, it happens to be in trendy Darlinghurst. As you can probably guess, buffalo mozzarella and burata are the main attractions here. For $17, you order one of the cheeses and two vegetable sides — and with options like balsamic carrots, Portobello mushrooms, chargrilled broccolini, and marinated fennel, it's a hard choice. 116 Surrey Street, Darlinghurst; 02 9332 4052; www.facebook.com/BuffaloDiningClub By the Concrete Playground Sydney team.
If it's been a while between Chardonnays with you and Orange, or if you've never actually ventured to the regional foodie hub of New South Wales, now's your time to make amends. On Thursday, September 22 and Friday, September 23, Sydneysiders can take in the best of Orange's food and wine right in the heart of the CBD, at the annual Taste Orange @ Sydney festival in Martin Place. Taste your way through NSW's 'food basket' with 19 of the regions best wineries offering tastings, including Phillip Shaw, Dindima, Logan, Ross Hill, Tamburlaine and more. Seriously, if you haven't tasted a Phillip Shaw Chardonnay, get amongst it. The festival will run from 11.30am till 2.30pm with food, wine tastings, entertainment and talks, while after-work drinks are made for the After Dark Pop-Up Wine Bar, open 5pm to 8pm both nights. But you're going to want some high quality, Orange-grown nibbles with that vino. Taste's lunch and dinner offerings include food from the incredibly Orange-proud teams at Agrestic Grocer, Chateau de Chocolate, The Second Mouse Cheese Factory and Franklin Road Kitchen. The Stinking Bishops crew will also be plating up cheese and charcuterie boards made exclusively with product from the region. Entry to the festival is free, but you'll have to purchase all food and wine once you're in. It's $5 for a wine glass and and then you can choose between $8 per full glass of wine (120 ml) or $4 per half glass of wine (60 ml) for the tastings. If you don't want to wait in line, you can purchase a $40 tasting pack online before you head in, which gets you ten tokens for either five glasses or ten half glasses.
After playing more than his fair share of stoners, Seth Rogen co-writes and lends his voice to a film that was probably thought up in a pot-toking, munchies-craving state. What if our food was sentient, aware of everything around it, and had feelings, thoughts, hopes and dreams? What if each edible item interacted with others, and their exchanges mimicked humanity's issues with sex, religion, race and class? That's the world Sausage Party brings to the cinema, from its opening sing-a-long to its climatic display of a very different kind of food porn. As far as Rogen and co-writers Evan Goldberg, Kyle Hunter and Ariel Shaffir are concerned, talking grocery products just want to get laid. Otherwise, they're generally happy conforming to cultural stereotypes and being kept in their place via a placating ideology. Turns out food isn't so different from the people who eat it. In case it's not clear, this film is for adults only, with directors Conrad Vernon and Greg Tiernan — best known for helming Madagascar 3 and episodes of Thomas & Friends, respectively — operating in much ruder, cruder territory than they're used to. A sausage by the name of Frank (Rogen) serves as the film's protagonist, whose primary goal in life is to consummate his relationship with his hot dog bun girlfriend Brenda (Kristen Wiig). As the Fourth of July approaches, they're both eager to leave the Shopwell's store they call home and move into the utopia of The Great Beyond. But things change after a jar of Honey Mustard (Danny McBride) returns from the supposed paradise outside, screaming that everything they thought they knew is a lie. Working his way around a shop also inhabited by a Jewish bagel (Edward Norton), an Arabic flatbread (David Krumholtz), an affectionate taco (Salma Hayek) and more, Frank sets out to discover the truth — all while an obnoxious, juiced-up douche (Nick Kroll) stalks the aisles. In waxing philosophical about the nature of belief systems, Sausage Party's premise proves surprisingly smart and thoughtful, with its characters forced to face the fact that their ultimate fate involves being eaten by the humans they consider gods. Unfortunately, the anti-Pixar flick also feels decidedly over-stuffed, bogged down by everything from endless food puns and hit-and-miss gags propped up by Scorsese-level swearing, to an over-reliance on bodily functions, drug use and pop-culture references to generate a laugh. Thankfully, a stacked cast of Rogen's male regulars, including Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, Paul Rudd and James Franco, helps keep Sausage Party bouncing merrily along. Everyone's clearly having fun spouting their inappropriate dialogue, even if their glee isn't always contagious. In that way, the film quickly becomes the movie equivalent of a tripped-out dinner party, one that boasts plenty of quality ingredients, but can't quite deliver a satisfying meal.
Paddington's much loved restaurant Fred's has been a go-to dinner spot since it opened back in 2016. Now, internationally renowned head chef Danielle Alvarez is opening for the daytime crowd, starting this Saturday, April 28. The new Saturday morning offering will see the front bar reimagined into a European-inspired café from 8–11am each week. It'll serve up pastries, sweet treats and coffees for dine-in or takeaway. The succinct brekkie menu has been curated by Alvarez and includes options like savoury scrolls with goat's curd and leeks, buttermilk scones with lemon curd, apple and quince galettes, and plum and almond cakes. Plus, there will be canelés, those rum and vanilla pastries from Bordeaux with a custard centre and caramelised crust. Everything will be made in-house using organic flour and butter. Apart from these goodies, there will also be $65 seasonal produce boxes on offer from Sift Produce. The company — who supplies to the Fred's kitchen — works specifically with small-scale farmers who practice regenerative agriculture, so each box will include just-harvested ingredients sourced directly from local growers. You'll need to pre-order by sending Sift an email. The chef sees this new offering as a step toward turning Paddington into a destination for home cooks. "I would love our guests to be able to buy some of the produce we offer in the restaurant, to cook with the ingredients at home and get a better understanding of what true seasonality means," Alvarez said. It's certainly in the right spot, with the neighbourhood's adored seafood restaurant Saint Peter also just opening a Fish Butchery, plus the institution that is the Paddington Markets happening across the road every Saturday. Fred's will be open for breakfast from 8–11am every Saturday starting April 28 at 380 Oxford Street, Paddington. For more info, visit the website.
Planning a trip to the Blue Mountains? Head to the Blue Mountains Cultural Centre where you'll find a Christmas artisan market, a designers' panel discussion and a couple of exhibitions, which are all happening on the one day. Taking over the Katoomba-based venue on Saturday December 14, these design-focused events give you an excuse to skip the city for the day and, in the process, explore the Mountains' art and design scene. Want to get a kick-start on your Christmas shopping? You'll find something unique at the Xmas Wollemi Artisan Market. Look out for handcrafted textile art by Blushing Rose, stunning prints by Block and Baren and resin jewellery by Mikano World, among other delights. In between browsing, kick back to local music and snack on gourmet eats. Meanwhile, in the gallery, there'll be two stunning exhibitions. The first, Obsessed: Compelled to Make, features 14 Australian designers and makers and is a touring show from the Australian Design Centre. You can also catch a panel discussion starring artist Honor Freeman, designer Stephen Goddard and curator Lisa Cahill at 11am. The talk will delve into the fundamental human need to create, plus discuss artists' inspiration and practice. The second exhibition is John Mawurndjul: I am the old and the new, a collection of the Kuninjku artist's bark paintings that spans 40 years. Entry to both exhibitions and the talk are ticketed, costing $5 per person. Then, head to a local cafe for a late lunch or go for a bushwalk to make the most of your trip to the Mountains. [caption id="attachment_751910" align="alignleft" width="1920"] Angus Lee Forbes[/caption] Top images: Angus Lee Forbes and Ona Janzen.
Finally, the wait is over. Erskineville's Imperial is back in action after an eight-month, $6 million makeover — set to be bigger, bolder and more colourful than ever before. And kicking off the first phase of the pub's relaunch is flamboyant bar and restaurant, Priscillas, rocking a clever, veggie-driven menu and a live 'drag & dine' entertainment offering. It'll help push the venue into its next era of life, building on that long-held reputation for great live shows and performances, while upping the ante in the food department. In the Priscillas kitchen, vegetables are the stars of the show, the menu heroing plant-based options like island-style coconut ceviche, and 'crabless crabcakes' made with spiced jackfruit and palm hearts. They'll sit alongside a handful of carnivore-friendly offerings, and a trio of paellas — vegetarian, pescetarian and meaty. Meanwhile, vibrant signature cocktails pay homage to some of the Imperial's most fabulous characters and a late-night Espresso Martini Club will be serving up the goods from 10pm each night. Following shortly, with a launch later this month, is late-night haunt The Basement — a space for drag shows, colourful performances, DJ tunes and a whole lotta dancing. Later in the year, the pub will add a top floor event space, cocktail lounge and LGBTIQ hub, and come early 2019, the adjoining building will play host to Australia's first same-sex wedding chapel. The Imperial will open at 5pm on Friday, March 2, to host a series of events and parties over Mardi Gras weekend, before Priscillas makes its official public debut on Monday, March 5. For more information, head to the website.
If your ideal holiday involves hitting the sea, sailing to a heap of countries and exploring some of the most famous sites in popular culture over the past decade, then come September 2021, you'll be in luck. With Game of Thrones turning Iceland, Northern Ireland, Spain, Malta and Croatia into must-visit tourist destinations, a new cruise is launching to take fans to all of the above places. Naturally, it's called Cruise of Thrones. While it isn't officially affiliated with Game of Thrones, HBO, author George RR Martin or any of the enormous page-to-screen hit's powers-that-be, Cruise of Thrones will let fans live out their love for their series on a prolonged boat trip through Europe. Two eight-day options will be available, so you can pick one or the other — or sail them back to back. If you choose the northern cruise, you'll head to Iceland and Northern Ireland, where the Fist of the First Men, the Bloody Gate, Jon and Ygritte's cave, The Wall, Castle Black, Hardhome, Winterfell, Pyke and the King's Road all await. Folks on the southern cruise will journey through Spain, Malta, and Croatia, visiting Sunspear and the Water Gardens, the Tower of Joy, the Citadel, the Long Bridge of Volantis, King's Landing and the Red Keep. https://www.facebook.com/CruiseofThrones/posts/2368376046808980?__xts__[0]=68.ARDKtajQ6dIZzuH_8UMZveijqPbNWJ88xfHW_GQ6UnaQKDIySSo9wuynxBaGqzaE5RMgt1kvfbiPP72SkIxqYTDdqXHeRnGBbDFK-S1ZNx11lNElAkoMAz5BV-jxuAQP9mHcE0XZZDPoam__mGLvNX6HDpDg8q9Yfl7Gcry4wRIkfhAie_ASB0hdAcp2jqDh_Cjst8zO-V4-mLh6B1crmVCQWS2-ersCur9OLezRpRJhekaONPIVxPti0say29XxAi5MN150hD4GC29nvksfKnoO8gDgkoO9qS6q_YzRnKTmZhRjx1etMSh__oC9OKhEc04moCBZYECoat6Q2twFitPl4s3w&__tn__=-R Apparently the luxury ship will be fitted out to suit the theme, too; think dining rooms that resemble Winterfell's feasting halls, other decorative touches that recall various places from the show, and plenty of encouragement to dress up and play along. Everything from panels, discussions and lectures to wine tasting, storytelling, a scavenger hunt and game shows is also listed on the cruise's website, should you be in need of some onboard entertainment. A reference to celebrity guests is also made — presumably meaning GoT stars — but no specifics have been provided. If you're keen, you'll need to have a hefty Iron Bank account, with prices starting at US$5130 per person for eight nights. Of course, if you're not overly fond of organised cruises, plenty of fans have been making similar treks themselves — and, from sometime in 2020, you'll also be able to visit a huge new (and official) GoT tour through sets, costumes and props in Northern Ireland. For more information about Cruise of Thrones, which is due to set sail in September 2021, visit its website.
A death-defying aerial work that's designed to bring attention to climate change, an inflatable dreamscape filled with glowing six-metre-high sculptures, an audio adventure that you can only listen to in a pool, and a physical theatre show that unleashes skaters and BMX riders on a half-pipe: Sydneysiders, that's all headed your way. So is a musical set to Bob Dylan's songs and a theatre show that doubles as a rave. The reason? The massive 2022 Sydney Festival lineup, which has just been announced in all its glory. When Thursday, January 6 rolls around, all of these highlights and more will form part of the massive 2022 Sydney Festival lineup, which is bringing 133 events to spaces all around the city for 25 days until Sunday, January 30. That includes performances, shows, gigs, installations and more across Sydney's stages, screens, parks, ferry rides, the Andrew (Boy) Charlton Pool and at a new 1000-seat pop-up site in Cathedral Square — because a major citywide arts festival should sprawl absolutely everywhere it can around town. From the aforementioned highlights, Airship Orchestra shines brightest — literally. Already a hit in both Adelaide and Brisbane, the installation from ENESS is all about towering, luminous, bulbous shapes that come complete with a choir score. If you're after jaw-dropping displays that make a statement, however, you'll find that at THAW by Legs On the Wall. It'll lift a 2.7-tonne sculpted block of ice a whopping 20 metres above Sydney Harbour — at the foot of Sydney Opera House, no less — and task one daring performer with standing atop it for ten hours a day, all as the ice melts. [caption id="attachment_832872" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Shane Rozario[/caption] Also among the standouts is Floors of Heaven: Submersive Study, a soundscape — or 'sonic tapestry', as Sydney Festival calls it — that's designed by UK producer Leon Vynehall. It'll echo across the Andrew (Boy) Charlton Pool and yes, you'll listen to it while you're splashing around. Musical Girl From the North Country was initially announced back in October, but is still one of Sydney Festival's major shows. And if you only see one BMX-fuelled performance, make it DEMO in Parramatta's Century Square. If you only take one trip into the history of Sydney's queer nightlife, too, make it the dance party-meets-theatre show that is Qween Lear at Hordern Pavilion. Other Sydney Festival must-sees include the entire lineup at Cathedral Square, at the 1000-seat pop-up dubbed Speakers Corner. That's where you'll be able to enjoy gigs by Amyl and The Sniffers, Gordi, King Stingray, Jaguar Jonze, Tropical Fuck Storm, Washington and more — plus a Radiohead for Solo Piano performance by Josh Cohen. It'll also host lively discussions each Sunday, to truly live up to its name. Fans of The Cat Empire will want to head to Parramatta Park for the band's final Sydney performance with its original line-up — playing for a 12,000-capacity crowd. Also epic: a contemporary corroboree by Bangarra Dance Theatre and Sydney Theatre Company, which'll feature 17 dancers, four musicians and five actors. [caption id="attachment_832879" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Victor Frankowski[/caption] Elsewhere, Jake Nash will unveil his large-scale artwork Future Dreaming on Barangaroo's Star Gazers Lawn, Acoustic Life of Boatsheds will take you on a ferry ride to listen to performances inspired by the boatsheds and waterways, and 宿 (stay) will combine a concert, ceremony and storytelling — in a tale of two skeletons and three women. There's also Nat Randall and Anna Brecko's Set Piece, a theatre-film experiment that unpacks queer relationships; Darlinghurst Theatre Company's new production of iconic musical A Chorus Line; and a race-conscious Australian reimagining of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by First Nations director and actor Margaret Harvey — plus Chunky Move's new dance production Yung Lung, and Prehistoric Picnic, a puppetry dinosaur zoo at the Royal Botanic Garden that's obviously for audiences of all ages. Sydney Festival's 2022 program marks the first under new artistic director Olivia Ansell, and also spans the return of several long-running favourites, such as Parramatta Park's Sydney Symphony Under the Stars and Barangaroo's First Nations-focused The Vigil: Songs for Tomorrow. Sydney Festival 2022 runs from Thursday, January 6–Sunday, January 30 at venues across the city. For further details and to buy tickets, visit the Sydney Festival website. Tickets go on sale at 9am on Wednesday, November 17. Top image: Ben Weinstein.
If golden leaves and blustery weather make you want a weekend away in the countryside, then pack a bag, jump in the car and make a beeline for Bathurst. Sure, it may be known to many Australians for its car races at Mount Panorama, but there's a whole lot more to this town than endurance motorsports. Not only is the Bathurst region home to wineries and cellar doors galore, but it also has a burgeoning foodie scene, up-and-coming art spaces and outdoor adventures aplenty. Not to mention it's only about a three-hour drive from the big smoke. Don't know where to start? To help you put together a top-notch itinerary, we've teamed up with Bathurst Region Tourism in celebration of its much-loved Autumn Colours festival. So, whether you're after rolling green hills, heartwarming feasts, cultural trails or just sitting by crackling fires this autumn, you'll find it all in the rural NSW pocket of Bathurst. [caption id="attachment_807238" align="alignnone" width="1920"] General Store at Hill End Historic Site[/caption] EAT If you're arriving early, your first port of call should be The Hub. Located in the centre of Bathurst, the aptly named cafe serves up locally roasted coffee and hearty breakfast and lunch options. It also runs regular events showcasing live music and entertainment, making it a hive of activity. And that's not all for Bathurst's bean scene, with shipping container cafe Doppio Espresso, located in the Tremain's Mill cultural precinct, also high on the list. Keen to go a little further for your cup of joe? The General Store at Hill End Historic Site is a perfect pit stop for a coffee and a bite to eat. After you refuel, you can pick up some local produce and learn more about the former gold mining town that's now home to a thriving artist community. Back in Bathurst, head to Vine & Tap for lunch or dinner in its leafy courtyard (just be sure to nab a spot under a heater). Inspired by Italian spuntini (snacks), the dishes are designed to be shared. And, as you're on holiday, you'll no doubt want to order yourself some vino from the lengthy list of local and European drops. Feel like a good ol' pub feed? Book a table at The George Hotel. Helmed by Executive Head Chef Matthew Hayden, the kitchen serves up sophisticated gastropub grub like steak, battered fish and lamb rump. Another go-to spot is American-style diner Dogwood BX, which promises a slice of small-town US atmosphere and hospitality out in regional NSW. Food-wise, you'll be tucking in to deep-fried pickles, jambalaya, burgers and brisket. No matter where you dine, you'll want to save some room for dessert at the old-fashioned Annie's Ice Cream Parlour, which serves up ice cream (obviously) that's made fresh on-site every day. [caption id="attachment_807239" align="alignnone" width="1920"] The Victoria[/caption] DRINK Thanks to its high altitude and unique terroir due to the rolling granite hills, the Bathurst region is known for some pretty top-notch vino. So, unsurprisingly, it's a great place to visit and channel your inner sommelier. At 800 metres above sea level, the family-run Rock Forest Vineyard specialises in chardonnay, sauvignon blanc and shiraz varietals, made with minimal intervention. For tastings, drop by the cellar door on the first Sunday of the month between 10am–2pm. Over at Vale Creek Wines, located on the outskirts of the town, you'll find only Italian grape varieties such as sangiovese, vermentino and dolcetto, with the cellar door open most weekends. If you'd prefer to drink your wine then sleep among the vines, make tracks to Winburndale and book a night in one of its on-site cottages. Want even more wine? Beginning as a side hustle in 2001, Renzaglia Wines is headed up by the award-winning (and former Winburndale viticulturist) Mark Renzaglia, who moved to Bathurst from Illinois in the 1980s. Since then, the winery has been producing critically acclaimed drops, which you can try at the cellar door by appointment only. But it's not wine all the time in the Bathurst region. For beer lovers, 1859 Brewing Company at The Beekeeper's Inn, located midway between Bathurst and Orange, is where you'll want to be. It's an English-style alehouse that produces small-batch, seasonal craft brews. While you can't nurse a cold one inside the brewery, you can at the Inn — as well as purchase takeaways. Back in town, you'll find go-to watering hole Church Bar in the old digs of the Anglican Church School House. Despite the autumn chill, you'll want to sit in the stunning beer garden as you sip cocktails and tuck in to woodfired pizzas. Another local institution is The Victoria, where you can get amongst the local nightlife scene. Self-described as a 'food, beverage, arts, music and events hub', the pub is a melting pot of fun. Plus, it's got a cracking pool table. [caption id="attachment_807252" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Renzaglia Wines[/caption] DO No doubt after all that wining and dining, you'll want to do some moving. Bathurst's Autumn Colours festival celebrates the area's rich history with activities ranging from guided walks and cultural trails to high teas, workshops, performances and behind-the-scenes night tours. For a more comprehensive look at the area's heritage, head on a 4WD excursion with local Wiradyuri elders who educate, promote, build and preserve the cultural significance of the Wiradyuri people. If you're still after more culture kicks, the Bathurst Regional Art Gallery runs three to four exhibitions at any one time, with shows changing up to every ten weeks. So, you're sure to find something that catches your eye — plus, it's free to enter. For the more wine-inclined, Simmo's Off-Road Winery Tours will show you the ins and outs of the Bathurst wine region, as only someone who's lived in the region for over quarter of a century can. Simmo can tailor his tours to any location preferences, drink desires and group sizes, too. And, since wine accompanies food, why not head down to Bathurst Farmers Market to pick up some goodies? Held at the historic Bathurst Showground on the fourth Saturday of the month (January–November), the market offers up all the local produce you could dream of — think sweet treats, fresh fruit and veg, meats and flowers. STAY If you want Bathurst as your base, it's hard to do much better than The Mill Apartments. Located just 100 metres from the railway station, the boutique apartments are situated in a 19th century flour mill. It's ideal for couples, with five equally quaint studios available. Bathurst obviously knows how to repurpose its historic attractions, because you're also able to stay at the Old Milltown Police Station, which is now a popular bed and breakfast. Here, there are three ensuite rooms to choose from or, if you're travelling in a larger party, the entire house is available to rent with additional facilities. Big groups who prefer somewhere further away will love Hosies. The seven-bedroom, two-storey 1870s building is situated in Hill End, making it ideal for picturesque views, as well as brining you close to a plethora of walking tracks. Or if it's the high life you're after, the luxurious Wilga Station is a must. Just 12 minutes' drive from Bathurst, the 260-acre working sheep farm offers two idyllic options: the secluded Farmer's Hut, which is sleeps two adults and is completely off-grid, and The Shearer's Hall, a beautiful retreat that can meet the needs of up to ten people. Choose your autumn adventure at Bathurst Region Tourism. Top image: Bathurst Region Tourism
In the two years since its opening in 2022, popular Potts Point Japanese diner Bones Ramen has become a trusted go-to for fans of soupy noods. Now, Bones' head chef Jake Riwaka is branching out with a month-long pop-up exclusively serving the ultimate golden, crispy, deep-fried Japanese comfort food, alongside his brothers Conner and Kyle. Much like its sister venue, Don's Katsu is an intimate space with seating for just 16 diners on Bayswater Road. This walk-ins-only concept has an unapologetically streamlined menu with just a single item: a katsu set featuring a pork loin coated in nama panko crumbs and fried till perfectly golden and crisp on the outside and juicy and succulent within. Katsu is typically served with cabbage or curry and rice, but Don's is more ambitious with its sides, adding a rich pork, tofu and seaweed miso soup, cucumber and kombu pickles, smoked chilli and grated daikon to the traditional fennel and cabbage salad, and Japanese rice. Loins from free-range Berkshire pigs, sustainably sourced from regenerative Bundarra Farm in the Murray River region, are the star of meal and echoing the Japanese tradition of dish personalisation, diners are also offered a choice of different katsu portion sizes to suit their appetite, budget or preference. The drinks selection is another highlight — floats blending ice cream with yuzu, cola and a striking Midori-hued melon are a must-try. Diners can also wash down their katsu with a selection of Japanese beers and saké. Images: Lily Austin
Impromptu Dining is done with and in its place stands et.al, a sleek new Potts Point restaurant co-owned by chef Daniel Backhouse and manager Stephen Craig. As the name suggests, sharing a meal with friends, family, lovers et al is at the heart the restaurant's ethos and every element of the place has been designed with this in mind. Backhouse, a former chef at Bathers Pavilion and Berowra Waters Inn, and Craig, a former colleague of Colin Fassnidge at the Four in Hand Dining Room, have put a great deal of passion into the venue — and it shows. The food is an inventive take on modern classics born from the imagination and expertise of Backhouse's culinary genius. For lunch, there'll be a maple chili bacon butty, and a burrata with shaved zucchini, tempura flowers and hazelnuts. For dinner, an impressive 600g scotch fillet served with black garlic butter and fried potatoes catches our eye, although the vodka cured salmon with zesty grapefruit, avocado and fennel makes us think we might need to order both. The dishes are designed to be crisp, carefully balanced and showcase the eloquence of simplicity whilst Craig's short, sharp and worldly wine list complements the food's clear flavours. The new space has been fitted out by Chris Wilks of Giant Design, so expect chic wooden furniture, vibrant textiles and an open plan kitchen of tiles, concrete, stainless steel and light that looks out into the courtyard dining space. Everything — from the water carafes to the saucepans — has been granted it's own place. At the risk of making a bit of a generalisation, this place oozes 'Sydney' right down to the weight of the cutlery and the shape of the wine glasses. Find et.al at 7/24-30 Sprinfield Avenue, Potts Point.
It's easy to forget all about the Parramatta wing of the program when there's so much other Sydney Festival stuff going on. But you'll want to head west to check out the musical offerings of their Festival Garden in the Salon Perdu Spiegeltent. What's on? First up is nine-piece Melbourne Afro-inspired band Saskwatch (January 18, 7pm). Think Aretha Franklin and James Brown combined with a dash of contemporary New York-style soul. This one's standing tickets only — but we don’t think you'll be wanting to sit down. A few days later (January 20, 7pm) is something completely different with Leah Flanagan's Midnight Muses. It'll be a collection of songs, music, and stories arranged by Flanagan, backed by a five-piece band and inspired by poet Sam Wagan Watson. If that’s not your thing, then British singer and multi-instrumentalist Lianne La Havas (January 22-23, 7pm) might be more up your alley with her neo-soul and scuffed folk-pop. Then there’s New York’s indie, contemporary, and classical sextet yMusic (January 24,25 7pm). You might have heard some of their members performing with Björk, Jay Z, Dirty Projectors, Grizzly Bear, Bon Iver, Peter Gabriel, Vampire Weekend, or other groups. To finish up, there’s two-man show Norman Blake and Joe Pernice (January 26, 7pm; 27, 5pm), performing both their new material as well as stuff from as far back as their first show in a tavern in Toronto. You can fuel your adventure through one of the nearby Fast Festival Feast partners. Courtney's Brasserie and El-Phoenician are both offering two tailored courses for $55. Time to go west.
Let's admit it: us coffee lovers have always had that ambitious plan of becoming a skilled barista in our own homes every morning just like the pros. Ain't nothing wrong with that either. For many, however, the desire to tamp, extract and pour before the work commute becomes all but a distant reality when that fancy coffee machine bought in a flurry of caffeine-fuelled enthusiasm becomes but a dust collector on the kitchen bench. Contrary to the general misconception that your local barista actually cares about your hangover, office politics, how beautiful your cat is and your dramatic love life, it's more than likely they've got better and more relevant things to think about. It's time to give these guys a break from the earful we give them every morning, and we've just the plan. The gastrodome of the inner west, The Grounds of the Alexandria, has launched barista training workshops that will run throughout 2013. Jack Hanna, master roaster and 2007 National Latte Art champion, is interested in pinning down some barista basics at home without any complicated scientific prerequisites necessary. The classes run for two hours and are held at The Grounds' 'research facility' — just a fancy name for the venue's cafe space. Hanna's approach is straightforward and honest with no coffee-geek dictionary necessary. "There are many factors that contribute to a good cup of coffee; however, it's very simple and anyone can do it," says Hanna. "Everything takes practice and you need to play around with a few things before you get it right." Hanna demonstrates the process step-by-step on the machine, starting from the grind right up to steaming the milk to achieve that silky consistency. He emphasises that a warm, clean machine and glasses are key aspects to good coffee. "The coffee will lose flavour instantly if it hits a cold cup!" he says. Apparently, another essential component is dosage. Too much coffee or a grind that's too fine can result in over-extraction and bitter coffee. Hanna suggests tasting as you go, "This way, you know what you’re doing right and wrong." Once you've mastered the dosage and crema, it's time for some milk steaming and latte art. "What you're basically doing is stretching the milk, putting foam in it and bringing it to a temperature of about 65-68 degrees," says Hanna. What about the latte art part? Well, let's just say there's bound to be plenty of laughs at some of the shapes students come up with. All part of the experience, we say. And lest we forget to mention that students may even be lucky enough to witness Jack's flawless technique as he pours some R-rated latte art. We're pretty sure there'd be a couple of shocked pram pushers if he sent these out of a Saturday morning service. Most importantly, Hanna's classes are nurturing; he doesn't use convoluted idioms and you can count on him to ensure everyone can see and understand what's happening. As Hanna says, quite simply, "Coffee is fun!" *Classes cost $80 and run for approximately 1.5-2 hours. *Private, corporate and more advanced classes are available, as well as Roasting and Cupping Workshops. *All workshops held at The Grounds of Alexandria; Building 7A, 2 Huntley Street, Alexandria; 02 (02) 9699 2225; www.groundsroasters.com.
Stop what you're doing (particularly if what you're doing is re-watching old Seinfeld episodes for the 33rd time), because Jerry Seinfeld, the man himself, is finally coming to Australia. Announced just this morning, the comedian will be gracing our shores with a five-date national stand-up tour of our capital cities — his first visit Down Under in almost 20 years. Yowsa. The Seinfeld Live tour — which will visit Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney's soon-to-open International Conference Centre — is booked in for August of next year. So you'll have ample time to rewatch seasons one through nine at least twice. It's Seinfeld's first visit to Australia since 1998, when he toured the country just after the show wrapped. On that visit he called Melbourne the "anus" of the world — we'll see what he has to say about it this time round. SEINFELD LIVE 2017 TOUR DATES PERTH: Friday, August 4 – Perth Arena ADELAIDE: Saturday, August 5 – Adelaide Entertainment Centre MELBOURNE: Sunday, August 6 – Hisense Arena BRISBANE: Wednesday, August 9 – Brisbane Entertainment Centre SYDNEY: Friday, August 11 – ICC Sydney Theatre, Darling Harbour Seinfeld Live will tour Australia in August 2017. Tickets go on sale at 10am on Monday, November 14 via Ticketek.
Perhaps the rarest thing in Hollywood is the producer who says, “You know what? That was great, so let’s just leave it there”. As a result, we get sequels. Lots of sequels. Prequels, too, and spinoffs. One need only look at American food portions to recognise it’s not a nation possessed of the ability to know when enough is enough. The application of restraint (at least in the entertainment world) seems a decidedly British trait, sparing us from horrors like Love Actually 2: The Re-Loving or Slumdog Billionaire, and allowing gems like Faulty Towers to end after a mere 12 episodes, before there was any risk of overstaying its welcome. It’s not that sequels are bad, but there’s a grace to knowing when something should become a sequel (or even a franchise) and when something that’s both critically acclaimed and financially successful should nonetheless stand alone and untouched, forever. It’s not hard to see why 2012’s surprise hit Ted found itself a challenge to that notion of restraint. The film took in over half a billion dollars worldwide and, despite its often controversial content, proved one of the funner comedies of the year. It’s the kind of movie where you hear they’re making a sequel and you think, "yes, I laughed quite a lot in the first one, and I like laughing, so I’ll welcome more of that, thank you." Even the plot of the sequel offered a genuine extension of the original, with the living, breathing, foul-mouthed and pot-smoking teddy bear ‘Ted’ (voiced by writer/director Seth MacFarlane) told that his marriage to Tami-Lyn (Jessica Barth) has been nullified on account of him being deemed ‘property'. TED 2 hence finds itself a civil rights story that literally (and repeatedly) compares a teddy bear’s struggle to adopt a human baby with the plight of African slaves being considered human in the eyes of the law. Seth MacFarlane, ladies and gentlemen. Seth MacFarlane. Is it funny? Absolutely. MacFarlane is a clever and talented comedian who knows how to extract laughs from a variety of different setups, be they gross-out, shock value or pop-culture referential. But is it consistently funny? Not even close, and the quantity over quality approach means a lot of the film is rendered uncomfortably dull (or worse, offensive) as a result. The latter is particularly concerning, with racism, sexism and homophobia all rearing their heads over and over again in Ted 2, as though somehow MacFarlane has completely lost sight of the distinction between ‘confronting' and straight-up ‘wrong’. Drenching Mark Wahlberg’s character, John, in a shelf load of semen is a tough sell at the best of times, but suggesting his plight is made all the worse because it’s “black guy’s cum” demonstrates just how far off the mark Ted 2 consistently lands. When it gets things right, of course, the film shines. The opening titles are a delightfully choreographed musical number straight out of the golden age of cinema, and Liam Neeson’s brief cameo as a gravely serious man concerned about the purchase of cereal marketed strictly for children is terrifically funny. Amanda Seyfried, too, puts in a nice turn as both Ted’s lawyer and John’s love interest, even enduring constant barbs about her Gollum-esque eyes. But overall the film leaves a bad taste in your mouth and regret in your heart that the bottled lightning of the original couldn’t have just been left alone and untouched, forever.
