The world now has unprecedented access to Australia's most recognisable landmark, after the launch of a new partnership between the Sydney Opera House and the Google Cultural Institute. More than 1000 historical items, including photographs and architectural drawings, have been made available online as part of the new digital collection, along with a virtual reality tour featuring some of Australia's leading classical musicians. Developed over more than six months, the online exhibition can be accessed by anyone with an internet connection, providing them with a behind the scenes look at one of the most iconic performance in the world. Archival footage, interviews, photographs and other documents take visitors through the history of the building's design and construction, but perhaps the most exciting element of the collection is the 360-degree tour for Google Cardboard, complete with performances by young Australian soprano Nicole Car, and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in rehearsal on the Concert Hall stage. "The Sydney Opera House is the symbol of modern Australia, its premier cultural venue, number one tourist destination and a World Heritage-listed masterpiece of human creativity," said NSW Deputy Premier and Minister for the Arts Troy Grant. "The launch of this incredible collection will mean more people can explore the Opera House's rich history and the diverse artistic and cultural experiences it offers, wherever they are." "We're delighted to have worked with the Sydney Opera House to bring this cultural icon online and make it available for all the world to experience," added Google Cultural Institute Director Amit Sood. You can access the Sydney Opera House on the Google Cultural Institute via desktop, tablet or mobile. Just visit the Google Cultural Institute's Sydney Opera House page or download the Google Arts & Culture app from the App Store or Google Play.
Home wine delivery is finally catching up with the wine fiend’s need to sample as many drops from as many places as often as possible. A new US-based service by the name of Vinebox brings wines to your door — by the glass, rather than by the bottle. For a neat monthly price, subscribers score three premium drops, sourced from wine regions all over the planet. Fingers crossed for an Australian version. Each tasting comes in the form of a 100ml vial. Thanks to Vinebox’s patented, cutting-edge tech, the packaging process meets the stringent standards demanded by bottling. The wine is not exposed to oxygen at any point, so you can store your samples for at least three years. Vinebox’s team of specialists and sommeliers are experts in unique vineyards, obscure locations and wines that wouldn’t normally be available in the US, so subscribers can count on fun and interesting discoveries. And the company provides your own user account, enabling you to keep track of your tastings and thoughts. Once Vinebox has established your preferred flavour profiles, you can choose to receive personalised recommendations — very much like this savvy taste-predicting app. So who dreamed up this handy service? Vinebox is the creation of two former attorneys from New York City, Matt and Rachael, who quit their jobs to pursue their passion for wine. Their goal is to promote “spectacular” wines made in independent wineries around the world that often don’t make it to bottle shop shelves. Unfortunately, Vinebox is only taking sign-ups from US residents at the moment. We’re hoping it’s not long before it catches on here.
We've all got a favourite drink to order when we're under pressure at the bar. Having a go-to drink is a source of comfort in an outrageous world of fat-washed cocktails and pear infused espresso martinis. A go-to keeps you steady when you're overwhelmed by options. Being comfortable is nice, but sometimes it's even nicer to throw caution to the wind and take a risk by trying something new. We say risk it, and risk it with The Rusty Nail. This classic Drambuie cocktail was the go-to drink of the Rat Pack boys (that's Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jnr. and chums if you didn't know) in the '60s. It's a combo of Scotch whisky and spicy, syrupy Drambuie (which is made with herbs, honey and scotch) served with a twist of lemon. The cocktail first appeared in 1937 at a British Industries Fair held in New York, and consisted of Drambuie, scotch whisky and bitters, uninspiringly dubbed the B.I.F. The cocktail then disappeared, but mysteriously popped up in the 1950s USA post-war boom. At the time, and for decades after, it was one of the hottest cocktails going around. The Rusty Nail as we know it today appeared under a variety of different names such as the Mig 21 (in Vietnam), and the D&S (in Manhattan). There are several stories as to how the name 'Rusty Nail' came about. One story mentions rusted nails on the wooden cases of Drambuie that were dropped off in the Hudson and East Rivers in NYC during the Prohibition era, while another cites a bartender stirring the cocktail with a nail. It's most likely that the name has to do with the golden hue Drambuie gave to young Scotch whisky when it was mixed. All good stories, so we don't mind which one is true, and we've probably told all three as gospel after we've indulged in a few Rusty Nails. The cocktail has been given the modern treatment by a fair few bartenders. It's not unheard of to mix Monkey Shoulder with Drambuie for an interesting flavour combination, or to mix tequila or mescal with your Drambuie for an extra kick. Drambuie is a top-notch way to pimp up your cocktails – you can skip using other syrups because the liqueur adds a splash of richness to your experience. The story of Drambuie originates in 1740s Italy. A Scottish prince was sentenced to exile in Rome (doesn't sound too bad, really), and brought his personal recipe of mixing saffron and honey with Scottish whisky with him when he came back over to Scotland in an ill-fated attempt to reclaim the British throne for his father. Prince Charles Edward Stewart's name sits on the shoulders of the bottle as a reminder of how far this recipe has come. Like a cocktail with a little bit of history? Suss out whether there's a bottle of Drambuie skulking around in your liquor cabinet. If there is, call your mates – it's Rusty Nail time. Head down to A Night With the Nail at Sydney jazz club The Swinging Cat every Thursday for three months from September 7. It's your chance to try the Rusty Nail, and to see the bar decked out prohibition-style.
Cities make possible the suspension of night and day. With enough neon and insomnia at our disposal, we can turn them into places where we can do anything we want, whenever we want. In New York City, for example, you can shop for nuts and bolts, stalk your crush with a nocturnal flower delivery, nab the latest smartphone and spruce up your hairdo 24/7. Like Simone Beauvoir wrote, “There is something in the New York air that makes sleep useless.” The big question is, now that we have this potential at our fingertips, what should we do with it? To what extent does a cosmopolitan city depend on infinite opening hours? Many laud the energy, excitement, romanticism and economic benefits of the 24-hour metropolis. Marion Roberts, a professor of urban design at the University of Westminster, concludes that it “generates more jobs, activities and social solidarities”. Others fret about excessive alcohol consumption, noise pollution and the next generation turning into a horde of sleep-deprived, hedonistic narcissists. With the one-year anniversary of Sydney’s controversial lockout laws looming over us, we take a look at how much napping is happening (or not) in some of the world’s best cities, and how essential it is their success on the world stage. WHERE NIGHTLIFE IS A RELIGION BERLIN In Germany, closing times are determined by each town or city. For Berlin, this means there’s no such thing as last call. Bars decide on their hours independently, with oodles of them operating according to the ebb-and-flow of demand, and a bunch of
From vending machines lining the streets to combinis (that is, convenience stores) taking up real estate on every corner of Tokyo, it's clear Japan is a nation puts a lot on emphasis on convenience. The Japanese attitude to fast food is no different — except in Japan, convenience doesn't have to mean compromising on quality. From curry houses filled with salarymen, ubiquitous heartwarming hamburgers and contemporary takes on traditional Japanese meals that will set you back less than $5AUD a pop, this is where to get real fast food in Japan. [caption id="attachment_629778" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Lucy Dayman[/caption] SUKIYA No matter how long you spend in the country, Sukiya (すき家) is one sight you'll become familiar with fast. With over 1600 stores dotted throughout the nation, the store's red, white and gold logo is a staple on the Japanese urban landscape. The 24-hour restaurant delivers no fuss, classic Japanese dishes, though their most iconic dish is gyudon, which translates to 'beef bowl'. What you'll get is shredded beef served over rice accompanied with topping of your choice. What's great about Sukiya is the chain's dedication to experimentation and perfection, with additions and modifications being made to the menu — so no matter how many times you've visited, there will be something new to try. A meal will set you back about ¥500-800 ($6-10AUD). [caption id="attachment_629781" align="alignnone" width="1920"] cathykid via Wikimedia Commons.[/caption] OOTOYA Ootoya might be a little steeper in price than beef bowl outlets like Yoshianoya and the aforementioned Sukiya, but it's worth the extra yen. Plus, with the average price hovering around ¥800 ($9-10AUD) it's still cheaper than anything in Australia. Ootoya specialise in classic Japanese teishoku 'meal sets'. Though a meal set sounds like something you'd get in a retirement village or jail, it's actually the best way to appreciate carefully curated Japanese cuisine. It will usually include rice, miso soup, and a main dish, which might be fish, or soba noodles. At Ootoya the sets are seasonal, so you won't be stuck eating the same thing over and over. [caption id="attachment_629779" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Lucy Dayman[/caption] HIDAKAYA RAMEN It's impossible to speak about Japanese fast food — or just Japanese food, for that matter — without giving time to the nation's most internationally loved culinary creation: ramen. In Japan, ramen is as diverse as it is popular; every prefecture, city, restaurant and even chef has a different take on the dish. In Tokyo the ramen options are almost excessive, so, if you do your research, you can definitely find the most perfect bowl for your palate. However, if you're after consistently good, cheap, filling and easy-to-access ramen, you can't miss Hidakaya. This generally 24-hour outlet is the perfect place to rest your weary body and dive into a warm comforting bowl any time of the day or night. Most meals will cost you little more than your pocket change at ¥500 ($6AUD) and, if you want to drink, booze options start at ¥270 ($3AUD). [caption id="attachment_629782" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Dick Thomas Johnson via Flickr.[/caption] UOBEI GENKI SUSHI Like ramen, you sushi is incredibly diverse in terms of options, price points and specialties — but as a little local tip, Uobei Genki Sushi is kind of special. Cheap and always delicious, the crew at Genki Sushi have reinvented the concept of conveyor belt sushi. Rather than constantly rotating dishes, the Genki Sushi use the conveyor belt method to deliver specifically ordered dishes right to you. With touch screen menus, all you have to do is select what you feel like and, within moments — like some strange futuristic dream — the sushi will take a ride on a little delivery plate stopping right in front of your face. With dishes costing around ¥100 ($1.20AUD) and simple English ordering, there's really no excuse not to go. [caption id="attachment_629783" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Hunter Nield via Flickr.[/caption] MOS BURGER It's impossible to speak about fast food in Japan without acknowledging the country's growing love of western cuisine. Like so many things here, Japan has turned appreciation into full-blown obsession and somehow managed to improve the already perfect. Though from the outside it seems like an average burger joint, MOS Burger is a not-so-little takeaway restaurant with a connection to the land: M.O.S stands for 'mountain, ocean, sun'. With over 1700 stores across the country, the store's mission is to "make people happy through delicious food". In a time where other burger chains are constantly unveiling artery clogging Frankenstein-style creations to garner publicity, Mos' humble attitude to producing made-to-order, well-crafted hamburgers is pretty refreshing. Depending on how fancy you want to go a MOS Burger will cost between 200- ¥600 ($2.50-8AUD) [caption id="attachment_629784" align="alignnone" width="1920"] kici via Wikimedia Commons.[/caption] COCO ICHIBAN Though the icon status goes to ramen and sushi, curry is actually the most popular dish in the country. With over 1200 locations sprinkled throughout Japan (and more internationally), Curry House Coco Ichibanya are the local curry kings. Traditionally, Japanese curry is a more mild take on the Indian dish and it comes in a variety of forms. From curry with udon noodles, 'curry pan' (that's curry-filled bread) and the classic karē raisu (aka curry rice), this dish is a lot more Japanese than you anticipated. What makes Coco Ichiban so exciting is your freedom to fully customise your order. The amount of rice, spice and all those toppings are so nice that it means you're never going to get a mass-produced run-of-the-mill plate here. Depending on your order you can easily get a serious meal for less than ¥700 ($8AUD).
This month, MAY SPACE plays host to Neoplasm, a surreal and visceral solo show from artist, curator and writer Claire Anna Watson. Known for her installations, video and photographic works questioning (recently) concepts like scientific manipulation, here Watson is exploring "ephemeral matter" as a jumping off point into discussions around humanity, our relationship to the environment and the associations between science and the food we consume. To what extent do we control the natural environment? What exactly happens when natural elements are distorted and synthesised? And what could the consequences be of our ongoing customisation of the natural world? Are humans "unwittingly cultivating a world engulfed in mutations?" From an artist with both sharp sociocultural curiosity and a playful penchant for the absurd, Neoplasm promises to be an arresting show. Plus, while you're there, you can treat yourself to One day I will live in a forest — the latest solo exhibition from the endlessly imaginative sculptress Mylyn Nguyen. Image: Claire Anna Watson, Neoplasm (still), 2017, HD Video.
Because you're reading this, we know you're not someone who once received a pet for Christmas, only to decide it wasn't for you. We know you're one of the good folks. You're probably wishing that you did receive a loveable animal as a gift, even if you already have one — or several — that you adore. We understand your yearning, and so does the RSPCA New South Wales. And, to find permanent homes for pups surrendered into its care from all over the state, it's lowering the adoption fee to $100 between Saturday, August 25 and Sunday, September 2. The week-long initiative is in honour of National Dog Day on Sunday, August 26 — but because every dog deserves more than its day, the RSPCA is extending the campaign across eight days. Although you can't put a price on the happiness that a new four-legged friend will bring, it's hoped that the low adoption fee will encourage people who have been thinking about adding a pet to their fam (and have considered it thoroughly) to make the commitment this week. The adoption fees — which usually range from $20–600 — help cover some of the costs of vaccines, training and microchipping for the animals. Across NSW, there are hundreds of animals that need a new home full of love and pats. There's more to pet adoption than overdosing on cuteness, of course, with making the commitment to care for an animal is serious business. For further information, read RSPCA's FAQs and head to a shelter.
Over the span of the universe, ten years is the blink of an eye. In a human lifetime, a decade can zip by unnoticed. In the realm of public works (a realm so dense that all previous laws governing time and space break down around it) ten years is, in practice, a millisecond. Projects can drag on for eternity before we see a single blade of grass (hell, in six seasons of Parks and Rec they only managed to fund one weeny little park). So you can understand why people may secretly believe Leslie Koch, president and CEO of The Trust of Governors Island in New York City, to be some kind of time-travelling magician. Since her instatement in 2006, she's worked with city government and private sector alike to transform a flat, derelict military island off Manhattan into a thriving public space with nearly half a million visitors each summer. Under Leslie's guidance, the first phase of the master plan, including 12 hectares of parkland, was opened to the public in May 2014. The second phase (named The Hills for the rolling Teletubbyland-esque vista and 360 degree panoramic views of New York City) is slated to open in July, a year ahead of schedule. And the next phase for Governors Island is even more ambitious: a 13.4 hectare innovation incubator and public campus to service the growing startup culture in New York. Leslie's flying in to Sydney to appear as one of the keynote speakers for REMIX Sydney 2016, so we found a tiny window in Leslie's obviously jam-packed schedule to sit down and talk big. [caption id="attachment_572737" align="alignnone" width="1280"] The Hills, Governors Island.[/caption] THE PESKY PROBLEM OF HAVING MORE IDEAS THAN EMPLOYEES Revamping Governors Island as a startup haven is a superhuman feat in itself, but let's backtrack for a moment. America is in a bind: the age of manufacturing has passed and technological innovation is now the hot economic commodity to sink graduates into. Tech startups are bread-and-butter for the emerging generation of computer scientists. However, there's a gaping crevasse between practice and education theory. The tech industry waits for no one, particularly not one who spends four years and a small fortune on a tertiary education only to emerge and find the skills they've learned are not the skills employers want — nor, often, are they even relevant anymore. "I was meeting with a very successful serial entrepreneur the other day and he said, 'Look we actually can't hire enough people for the ideas that we have'," Leslie Koch muses "There's no shortage of ideas, there's a shortage of people." The solution, she believes, begins with physically merging private sector components into the education model, eliminating the lag between industry practice and educational canon. It's an inevitable direction, considering our career path structure is changing — everyone's a freelancer, untethered by company loyalty, each in possession of a long resume dotted with short tenures. If you want to stay employable in a competitive marketplace rocked to and fro by the all-powerful internet and all her resplendent memes, you've got to freshen up your skills every now and then. ON BUILDING THE SILICON VALLEY OF THE EAST COAST Governors Island represents more than a green lung to New York City's concrete playground. In its second phase it will become an incubator for innovation, the Silicon Valley of the east coast and, as Jack Donaghy would say, 'innoventually' develop a solution to the human capital crisis in the tech industry in NYC. But just what is so magical about Silicon Valley that's worth mimicking? Does innovation bubble up from the very ground water? General consensus is the Valley works for two reasons. First, early in the game, big companies collaborated with educational institutions (to mould their chickens before they hatched). Second, a close physical proximity, as well as a focus on innovation, encouraged knowledge convergence and cross-fertilisation between tech startups. The underlying lesson here? Physical space organisation is incredibly important for knowledge sharing (there's a reason why open-plan offices are everywhere, and it's not just to keep you off Facebook during work hours). ON CREATING AN 'INNOVATION INCUBATOR' ON THE ISLAND The next stage for Governors Island is to build an 'innovation incubator'. It may sound like jargon, but the articulation of an 'incubator' draws on those ideas that people, and young startups in particular, hugely benefit when they physically share space with their contemporaries. "[A technology incubator] gives companies flexibility in leasing and acts as a social space, a cross-fertilisation space, that you wouldn't have in a conventional 'I'm going to rent my office, hire my people and I'm never going to interact with the other companies in my building' model," says Leslie. The needs of early stage technology startups go beyond infrastructure and financial support — expertise and knowledge must be shared freely to the benefit of all. WHY NEW YORK CITY GENERATES A DIFFERENT KIND OF STARTUP TO CALIFORNIA The Silicon Valley of New York (coming soon to Governors Island!) won't actually be all that similar to the Californian model. The startups coming out of New York (such as Tumblr, Kickstarter, Etsy) are an intrinsically different breed than the West Coast startups (Facebook, Google, Apple) — they're flavoured by the city. Leslie is very aware of this. "The second chapter of my career was in technology on the West Coast. I worked at Microsoft and, like its analogist companies in the Valley, it started in the suburbs and there were a few of us who commuted out to Redmond, Washington. What you're now seeing is companies recognising that to innovate, there's something about being in a city rather than isolated. When you create campuses with an urban flavour, that really makes sense for innovation." A city, unlike the 'burbs, is a cluster model in itself. The Governors Island incubator model will perhaps not be a scaled down version of Silicon Valley but of NYC itself, with educational institutions and private sector components physically merged instead of adjacent. "High-tech companies move to the city because of the messiness of the city and the interactions you have with all kinds of people and different kinds of industries… I personally believe that cities are the place where innovation takes place," she says "What I couldn't have planned for was the amount of emotion that New Yorkers have for Governors Island. We made a place people have embraced, have come to love, even though it's a place no-one has ever spent the night and it's never been open for more than 120 days a year." Australia has only 10 percent the urban density of America so notions of space can be a tricky to wrap your head around; space is a nuisance most of the time. But the cluster model is starting to take hold in Sydney and it works, no doubt in part, thanks to the mapping done on the front lines in the US. [caption id="attachment_572738" align="alignnone" width="1280"] The Hills, Governors Island.[/caption] WHAT'S NEXT? Sadly, Leslie recently announced she'll be stepping down as CEO after the Hills opens to the public. "This is a natural inflection point and when you run a seasonal recreation destination, you're on-duty every weekend so the thought of having my first summer off in 11 summers was just too good to pass up." And what a hard-earned summer it'll be. You can catch Leslie speaking at REMIX Sydney from June 2-3 at Sydney Town Hall. Your mates Concrete Playground will be there too, introducing you to Sydney's most successful entrepreneurs — the businesses we couldn't write fast enough about — with a special curated session on 'How Long Does It Take to Become an Overnight Success?'. More info right here. Top image: Iwan Baan/Governors Island.
It's Easter. Time to stuff yourself with baby animal-shaped chocolates and cross-covered pastries while feeling absolutely zero shame. To help you make the most of it, here are the best holiday treats making up your Easter hunt this year. HOT X BUN ZUMBARONS AT ADRIANO ZUMBO Adriano Zumbo Patissier has to win the award for the most creative and varied range of Easter treats in Sydney. Alongside Easter Bunny Pause tarts and fish, bunny and chicken couverture dioramas, a favourite for pure simplicity is the Hot X Bun Zumbarons. They lend an Easter touch to the patissier's year-round mouthwatering macarons. Check the Zumbo website for locations. FRANKINCENSE COATED HOT CROSS BUNS AT BLACK STAR PASTRY For a pleasant old-world feel with your Easter treats, have a try of Black Star Pastry's traditional hot cross buns. Famous for their strawberry and watermelon cake, this patisserie coats all of their hot cross buns in Frankincense glaze to truly take over all your senses with the spirit of the season. At $4.50 each, get in quick — they usually cap the amount each customer can order because the demand is so high. 277 Australia Street, Newtown and corner of Dunning Avenue and Hays Road, Rosebery GELATO MESSINA'S CHICK MAGNET Easter gelato? Yep, it's a thing. Every year, those frozen wonder wizards at Gelato Messina whip up a specific dish that'll make you think they've grown their very own pair of rabbit ears. In 2016, none other than the Chick Magnet is on the menu, offering up milk chocolate ganache and white choc hazelnut gelato inside a milk and white chocolate shell. DARK EASTER BEERS AT KEG & BREW Keg & Brew, along with their big sister venue the Dove & Olive and new family member The Dog in Randwick, is turning your 'traditional' Easter celebrations on their head with a special craft beer offering. Look for Willie the Boatman's Black Bunny Dark Ale on tap, with hints of chocolate, vanilla, cream, caramel and toffee. There'll also be a selection of 'hot cross burgers' at the K&B, D&O and The Dog, in two versions: tempura soft shell crab and Ohio turkey hot cross burgers. BABUSHKA EGG FROM KAKAWA + SORRY THANKS I LOVE YOU This could be the most grown-up Easter egg/piece of chocolate art we've found this year. Purveyors of lovely things Sorry Thanks I Love You have worked with Sydney chocolate wizards Kawawa Chocolates to create this gem. Painstakingly constructed by hand by master chocolatier Jin Sun Kim over a few days, these limited edition Babushka eggs are three layers of delicate, chocolatey goodness. Hand-painted 'quail' eggs are encased within a fine milk chocolate shell, within a thick, single origin dark chocolate outer shell. It's about 20cm long and will set you back $60, available from Sorry Thanks I Love You's Martin Place store. [caption id="attachment_564065" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Image: @brickfieldsbakery.[/caption] SOURDOUGH HOT CROSS BUNS AT BRICKFIELDS Brickfields offer you a different take on the traditional hot cross bun with their own signature sourdough version. Made with whey and mixed with cranberries, currents and sultanas, they're denser then the traditional Easter bun, and somehow extra delicious. SOURDOUGH HOT CROSS BUNS AT SONOMA Ok, so we're including two sourdough hot cross buns. But Sonoma's buns are worth including too. Balancing that tricky ratio of moisture to fluffiness, Sonoma's sourdough delights come with just right amount of juicy fruit bits. Whack a big dollop of local butter on them, we're done. CLASSY PRALINE EGG INSIDE A REAL EGGSHELL FROM WINNOW CHOCOLATES For some a bit of whimsy and a touch of "how the hell did they get that in there?" look no further than Winnow Chocolates' praline eggs. Sealed inside a real eggshell that you have to crack and peel yourself to reach the sweet hazelnut praline inside, they're a completely reasonable $4.50 each. The perfect treat to hide through your garden for a natural egg hunt look. HOT CROSS BUN BRITTLE BY WINNOW CHOCOLATE When sweet things pose as other sweet things, we're always on board. Dark couverture chocolate, decorated with edible 23 carat gold leaf, lemon rind, candied orange and sultanas, and spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg, Winnow Chocolate's signature Easter treat is one decadent slab. While this one's a little exxy for one slab of brittle at $22 each, we reckon it's worth every bite. HOT CROSS BEN TRUFFLES AT HAIGH'S In a precious little crossover of your favourite Easter treats, Haigh's is offering hot cross bun chocolates ($23.75 for six). Filled with fruit and spice fudge, covered in dark chocolate and finished with a white cross, they'll go perfectly with the traditional Haigh's chocolate bilby. HOT CROSS LOAVES AT BOURKE STREET BAKERY A big favourite around Easter time, the Bourke Street Bakery hot cross loaves skip the part where you eat a whole bag of hot cross buns and just give you the loaf-sized portion you know you want. They're perfect to share around at Easter family gatherings and are great to toast up for breakfast all throughout the Easter season. DRAGON EGG AT SAKE Taking three days to make, the signature Dragon Egg dessert at Saké Double Bay has a bit of a cult following (around 400 are made each week at the Double Bay venue). It's a Valrhona chocolate shell filled with toasted chocolate crumble, edible soil, passionfruit yoghurt crispy chips, chocolate mousse, passionfruit curd, and mango caramel, A light gold dust finishes everything off and the egg comes served with passionfruit ice cream, under a pouring of liquid nitrogen — so it can be broken open with a mere spoon. Over Easter, you'll be able to order the Dragon Egg at Sake in The Rocks (Sydney), Hamer Hall (in Melbourne) and Eagle Street Pier (Brisbane) too. Only 50 will be available at each venue and for a limited period — Friday, March 25 to Monday, March 28. Spotted any other inventive and tasty Easter treats around town? Let us know in the comments below. By Elise Newton, Sarah Ward, Shannon Connellan and Gemma Mollenhauer.
A George Lambert-style self portrait by Yvette Coppersmith has nabbed the 97th annual Archibald Prize — her work Self-portrait, after George Lambert was chosen from a talented bunch of 58 finalists. The prestigious portrait competition pulls a compelling lineup of artworks each year, portraying an eclectic mix of artists, musicians, politicians, sports heroes and other notable Aussies. This year's $100,000 prize attracted a whopping 794 entries from across the country and New Zealand, their works depicting homegrown icons ranging from NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian to actor Guy Pearce and musician Courtney Barnett. Coppersmith's winning piece pays homage to the stylings of acclaimed fellow artist George Lambert, who himself took out the 1927 Archibald Prize. The win's been a long time coming for Coppersmith, who has been a finalist five times. She's also only the tenth female artist in history to have taken out the top prize. As is custom, all the winning portraits and finalists will be on display at the Art Gallery of NSW. The finalists for the Wynne and Sir John Sulman prizes will also be on display at the gallery — and, this year, both winners are Indigenous women. Pintupi artist Yukultji Napangati took out the former — which awards the best landscape painting of Australian scenery or figure sculpture — for her depiction of a scene among sandhills west of Kiwirrkura in Western Australia. The Sir John Sulman Prize goes to the best mural, subject or genre painting, and was this year awarded to Kaylene Whiskey's work of Cher and Dolly Parton. The exhibition will be on display from May 12 until September 9. And if you do't agree with the judges' pick for the Archibald, you can cast your own vote for People's Choice at the gallery. Image: Self portrait after George Lambert, Yvette Coppersmith. Photo shot by Jenni Carter courtesy of AGNSW.
Like many a great singer-songwriter before her (cue Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and Tom Waits), Kate Tempest began as a dealer in words. In 2013, she became the first ever person under 40 to win the Ted Hughes Award for innovation in poetry. In 2014, she attracted a Mercury Prize nomination for her hip hop-driven debut album, Everybody Down. Now she's published a novel. Billy Bragg loves her. Chuck D is a fan. Check out her fresh, authentic freestyling for yourself. Kate Tempest plays the Magic Mirrors Spiegeltent on January 21 at 7.30pm and January 22 at 11.45pm. This is just one of our ten picks for Sydney Festival's best gigs. Check out the whole list.
Phil Ferguson, aka Chili Philly, is a Melbourne-based artist proving that crochet is not just for nannas. Creating wearable crochet art in the form of just about anything — from burgers to beer bottles, goon sacks to pea pods, tea bags to sushi rolls — Ferguson has become an Instagram wunderkind, clocking up a casual 140,000 followers to @chiliphilly in a flash. Ferguson's cheeky craftwork is now the subject of a new exhibition at Australian Design Centre, titled Crochet Social. It's his first major solo exhibition and features his crochet art alongside the quirky and slightly awkward self-portraits that have gained him so much popularity on social media. As part of the exhibition, ADC is also presenting a series of events and workshops to incite audiences to jump aboard the crochet bandwagon. There's a 'Cocktails and Crochet' night, a makers market, talks and panel discussions. Images courtesy the artist. Installation images by Simon Cardwell.
It's easy to look at abstract art with an air of confusion, yet it is this initial reaction that strikes at the core of the discipline. The very soul of the principle of abstraction is to challenge a point of view, a way of thinking, or an entire mindset. Superposition of three types gathers brand new and specially commissioned works from 13 Australian artists who have spent their careers experimenting and pushing the boundaries of their craft. The exhibition focuses on challenging conceptions of colour and form in art by displaying works that use varying media to create new and unique ways of expressing dissent from traditionalist art. The exhibition takes place at Artspace, one of Sydney's leaders in contemporary art, from February to April, and will combine not only the colourist work by Sydney Ball, Rebecca Baumann, live-artist Huseyin Sami and a host of others, it will also incorporate audiovisual performances, including a choreographed experience from Shelley Lasica. Image: Brendan Van Hek, Colour Comp.
Camperdown's catacombs got a major dose of cool when the Wayward Brewing Company opened its public brewery way back in 2015. Walk into one of the many white-walled warehouses down the hidden Gehrig Lane, and you'll find yourself in a mysterious cave with serious mood lighting and rooms that seem to stretch on indefinitely. Wayward Brewing is not your standard brewery and better resembles the building's roots — a wine cellar since the early 1900s. The Wayward team have maintained the softly illuminated waxed and wine-spattered walls, making the place feel more like an underground speakeasy than a craft beer haven. This covert laneway location was purposefully chosen as it perfectly complements the meaning behind Wayward: "to be lost on purpose". Owner Peter Philip and Head Brewer Shaun Blissett worked tirelessly to ensure the brewery epitomises this quote at every turn. The gloriously mounted motorcycle and 'carpe bierum' artwork don't hurt this image, either. [caption id="attachment_811810" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Wayward Brewing[/caption] This traveller's mentality isn't just present in the brewery's decor though — it's also been built into Wayward's beers. Across the board, the award-winning beer is full-flavoured but approachable, and always inventive; the Wayward Brewing Co crew are "not afraid to go off the beaten track" when it comes to their brews. And there's certainly nothing standard about the Wayward core four: the Everyday Ale, Everyday Lager , a Hazy IPA and the India Pale Ale. The imaginative range doesn't stop there, either — Philip and Blissett are turning out even wackier brews, like the Raspberry Berliner Weisse that is hot pink in colour and tart as can be. The rooms themselves are furnished with repurposed material, from the vintage, 70s-style couches and tables to the theatre seating and keg lamps hanging from the ceiling. Each upcycled item comes with a story, much like the building itself. If the dimly lit interior has you fooled, the open brew room will remind you what you're really here for. The bright, Wayward yellow floors and modern equipment contrast the relaxed atmosphere of the cellar door. The Wayward Brewing Co crew love to throw a good party, too, from themed holiday events to brewhouse yoga and their first inaugural laneway festival. Along with works by a local artist and three rotating guest taps for local brewers, this is a community hangout through and through. So go ahead and carpe bierum. Appears in: The Best Sydney Brewery Bars for 2023
Why make one drink when you can make ten? Batched cocktails have grown significantly in popularity across the cocktail world. They're a great, easy option for the amateur bartender — particularly useful when you're hosting a party, because you're not going to be stuck behind the bar all night mixing drinks if you plan ahead. You'd expect that bartenders would turn up their nose at a pre-mixed cocktail, but the trend has caught on in multiple Australasian venues — it turns out they love pre-mixing too. One of the main reasons why is that it's much more practical for bartender and consumer. They don't have to spend 15 minutes mixing and muddling up a complex cocktail, and you don't have to wait. Cocktail ingredients are pre-prepared (bars usually pre-mix cocktails two to three hours before opening), and the ingredients in the drink are left to infuse. When you're using gin, this means there's enough time for botanicals to infuse with the other ingredients, and richer, bolder flavours appear. In partnership with Bombay Sapphire, we asked Sean Forsyth (the Bombay Sapphire Australian ambassador) to show us how to mix up a big batch of Coffee Negronis — literally just the Negroni cocktail you know and love with cold-drip coffee added. Like a Negroni, coffee is sweet, bitter and complex — so it's the perfect ingredient to complement and spice up this famous gin cocktail. Get your hands on some cold-drip and you've got yourself a breakfast-appropriate cocktail. "If you walk into a bar and they don't know how to make a Negroni, leave," Forsyth says. He's right. To make a Negroni you just need to know how to mix gin, vermouth and Campari — it's easy. To make a batch of Coffee Negronis, you need water, a one-litre measuring jug, a funnel and a one-litre glass bottle instead of a shaker. It's getting much, much easier to make good cocktails. THE COFFEE NEGRONI (Serves 10) Ingredients: 250ml Bombay Sapphire 200ml Martini Rosso 200ml Campari 100ml cold drip espresso 250ml water 1 litre sealable glass bottle Method: Using a funnel and a one-litre measuring jug, build ingredients into a clean one-litre glass bottle Shake and add into the freezer one hour before service Pour into rocks glass filled with cubed ice Garnish with an orange slice Images: Kimberley Low.
Sydney Harbour's Pullman Quay Grand has opened a new bar — and it looks tremendously luxe. Located within the Circular Quay hotel, Hacienda is a brand new "vista bar", taking inspiration from Cuba's grandiose, plantation-style architecture and the vintage hotels of 1950's Miami. Applejack Hospitality — whose venues include Bondi Hardware, The Butler and Della Hyde — have teamed up with AccorHotels to pull off this stylish throw-back "botanical oasis" of a space. And it's stunning. The harbourside space is filled with luxurious, pastel lounge furniture, brass details and lush roof greenery, all surrounded by floor-to-ceiling windows which showcase panoramic views of the city, the bridge and Sydney Harbour. Plus, they can all open to create a terrace-like feel. The drink menus mimics the venue design by using Cuban flavours, slinging cocktails which include classic ingredients like banana, guava and custard apple. The Tropical Sour – banana-infused Encanto pisco, Tío Pepe sherry, lime and honey — sounds especially tasty, as is the Old Smoked Presidente: a concoction of aged rum, orange curacao, dry vermouth, house-spiced raspberry syrup and Angostura bitters. The bar also has an impressive stock of rum and American whiskey for those looking for something neat. The food offering, curated by Executive Chef Stefan Brademann, will complement the drinks and have a Cuban-American flare. Fusion dishes like the yuka fries, buttermilk fried chicken and a pork neck mojo will sit on the menu alongside a Cubano-Reuben hybrid and burgers galore. The menu will be balanced between bar snacks and more substantial dishes to accommodate for anything from nibbling patrons to hangry ones. This little slice of Cuban culture may play to cliches but we're not fussed — especially considering the iconic views that come with it. Hacienda is now open inside the Pullman Quay Grand, 61 Macquarie Street, Sydney Harbour, from noon till late seven days a week. For more information, visit their website.
It's time to make the pilgrimage to the Supernatural Amphitheatre once again, Golden Plains has opened the ballot for 2017. Taking place over a long weekend under a full moon, Meredith's other beloved festival returns for March 11-13, 2017. And they've announced on heck of a legend to top the bill: Neil Finn. As always, the lineup will appear on one stage in the Supernatural Amphitheatre, fronted by one of history's greatest songwriters. Crowded House legend Neil Finn will play a special career-spanning set under the full moon. It's been seven years since Finn played The Sup', so this should be pretty special. The full lineup will drop soon. Meanwhile, Golden Plains is set to be the same festival you know and love — no dickheads, no need to hide your goon sacks, no commercial sponsors — but with a new sound system, new campaground, new foods and kids under 12 can attend the festival free. The ballot for GPXI is open now until 10pm on Monday, October 17. Visit www.goldenplains.com.au for details.
Summer is coming to Chippendale's Old Clare Hotel. The recently revamped luxury lodgings opened for business a few months back, wowing us with their stylish interior and food offerings so good they border on offensive. To be honest, we didn't really need another reason to want to pay them a visit. But then who are we to say no to a high altitude pool and bar? Officially open as of Friday, November 20, The Old Clare Rooftop Pool and Bar is located on the fourth floor of the boutique hotel, which occupies the site that formerly housed the Carlton United Brewery Administrative Building. Visitors will be able to enjoy killer views of the city while lounging around on deckchairs in the sun, before cooling off with a dip in the proverbial drink. As for literal drinks, you can expect summer cocktails a plenty courtesy of Matt Fairhurst, who is also the beverage manager at the yet-to-be-opened Kensington Street Social downstairs. The Miami Vice, for example, is part pina colada, part frozen strawberry daiquiri, and seems like basically the most perfect poolside beverage that anyone could possibly imagine. They'll also have beers, ciders, spirits and gin & tonics with a twist, as well as fresh juice and non-alcoholic spritzers. Get a preview of the rooftop #Clarepoolbar at the Clare bottle shop this Sat 14th and Sun 15th Nov from 3-7pm. Expect tastes of the outrageous Miami Vice frozen cocktail, Strawberry Daiquiri layered with Pina Colada. Bring down the heat with chilled Murray's Fred beers and live music from Cory Jackson. P.S. Chances to win bar tabs for the Rooftop Pool and Bar opening (next) weekend for the best guests. -- #TheOldClareHotel #Clarebottleshop #unlistedcollection A photo posted by The Old Clare Hotel (@theoldclare) on Nov 10, 2015 at 10:06pm PST The Old Clare will also use the rooftop space for group fitness sessions that will be open to both hotel guests and the general public. Classes will include yoga, cardio boxing, circuit and personal training. The Old Clare Hotel can be found at 1 Kensington Street, Chippendale. The poolside bar will be open from 3pm Wednesday through Friday, and from 11am on weekends. Images: Nikki To.
If your ultimate holiday involves a beach dedicated to you — and only you — then make the Far South Coast your next destination. This wild stretch of shoreline, beginning at Moruya in the north and ending at the Victorian border, is so far from both Sydney and Melbourne it can easily be forgotten. Here you'll find some of Australia's most pristine beaches, hidden away at the end of long, winding dirt roads and protected by national parks. And in between beach days, you can visit 19th-century lighthouses, cruise deep natural harbours, sample award-winning oysters and snorkel with fur seals. If those aren't reasons enough to book your night in the Far South Coast, we've listed a few more below. From coastal getaways to outback adventures, Australia is home to a wealth of places to explore. Every trip away offers the chance to not only reconnect and recharge, but also to support the communities that have been affected by bushfires. Your visit plays an important role in Australia's recovery, which is why we've partnered with Tourism Australia to help you plan your next Holiday Here This Year. Some of the places mentioned below may still be closed due to COVID-19 restrictions. Please check websites before making any plans. [caption id="attachment_772991" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Dee Kramer Photography[/caption] MAKE YOUR FIRST STOP GREEN CAPE LIGHTHOUSE It's a long drive to the Far South Coast if you're travelling from Sydney. Prepare for a seven-hour drive south, or a 70-minute drive from Merimbula Airport if you've chosen to fly there. Make your first stop Green Cape lookout, where you'll find a lighthouse surrounded by wilderness, perched on Disaster Bay's rocky northern peninsula. Forget mobile coverage. Step into the 19th century in the former keeper's cottages — which have been turned into cosy accommodation, with classic wooden furniture, claw foot baths, open fires and shady verandahs. Between May and December, you may even spot whales from the lookout point. But if you don't spot one, there's plenty of other wildlife to look out for, including fur seals, dolphins, albatrosses, gannets and sea eagles. [caption id="attachment_772989" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Destination NSW[/caption] EXPLORE THE DEEP NATURAL HARBOUR IN EDEN Fifty minutes north of Green Cape is the 3000-person settlement of Eden, which spreads over undulating cliff tops on the shores of one of the deepest natural harbours in the world. Formerly a whaling capital, Eden is now better known for whale watching. Cat Balou Cruises runs ocean-going adventures from the main wharf. During whale season, you could be spotting as many as 70 in a day. Between January and April, you can spot dolphins and seals, too. [caption id="attachment_772990" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Destination NSW[/caption] LEARN ABOUT THE HISTORY OF KILLER WHALES IN EDEN To know about the history of Eden's relationship with the mighty whale, make sure you visit the Eden Killer Whale Museum. It's $12 entry for adults, and you'll get to explore permanent exhibitions that relate the story of Old Tom — an orca known to whalers in the port of Eden during the 1930s — and others that look at the continuing use of the port for tourism and as a food source. Hungry? Head to the Great Southern Inn afterwards. It's self-dubbed "that nice pub on the coast", and the seafood here is locally caught and served unpretentiously with salad and chips. Also keeping matters simple is Sprout Cafe, with its fresh, pesticide-free produce. Slip into the sunny courtyard for a toasted ciabatta with house-made salmon pate and local salmon gravlax. Or, down the road at Eden Smokehouse, there's smoked-on-the-spot rainbow trout, eel and hoki. [caption id="attachment_772995" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Tathra Hotel, Destination NSW[/caption] VISIT THE HOME OF WORLD RENOWNED ROCK OYSTERS Make your next stop the home of the best bivalves in Australia, if not the planet: Tathra Oysters. They've won 180 awards and are Neil Perry's favourite, mainly because they grow in pristine Nelsons Lake, surrounded by national park. What's more, the Rodeley family have been running this oyster haven since the 1980s. And the oysters taste even better eaten from Tathra's dramatic headland. Head to Tathra Hotel to sample a few. The traditional country pub has been a beacon for locals for 100 years and the family friendly establishment has all the pub classics, like schnitties and steaks, as well as a platter of oysters served natural, Asian-inspired or kilpatrick. Order a dozen and wash them back with a tap beer made at the onsite craft brewery, Humpback Brewery. [caption id="attachment_773007" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Destination NSW[/caption] FIND THE HORSE HEAD ROCK AT WALLAGA LAKE In Bermagui, you can seek out a rock formation that's thought to be 500 million years old. It's majestic, and has a curved shape that you can't help liken to a graceful horse's head. You can see it from an elevated walking track between Camel Rock and Murunna Point at Wallaga Lake. Allow for an hour to complete the 1.5-kilometre track, and if you choose to get up close to the rock be aware that it's not an easy task, and should only be attempted during low tide. [caption id="attachment_772999" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Destination NSW[/caption] SNORKEL WITH FUR SEALS AT MONTAGUE ISLAND Rise and shine, your next adventure is Montague Island, a magnificent nature reserve nine kilometres off shore. It hosts the biggest fur seal colony in New South Wales, which attracts as many as 2500 seasonal residents, as well as over 90 bird species and a 12,000-strong little penguin colony. The best time to visit if you want a good chance of seeing these animals is during spring, but from late winter the seal colony on the island starts to grow and you're likely to spot penguins on an evening walk around the island. For a more organised tour, Lighthouse Charters offers a variety of options, including day trips with whale watching, snorkelling with fur seals and little penguin watching. To make the most of your trip, book an overnight stay. Montague Island's Assistant Lighthouse Keeper's Cottage sleeps seven people across three bedrooms, and you'll more or less have the island to yourself. Before leaving Narooma, grab an antipasto grazing box from Mr Bold Catering Co, which comes packed with local cheeses, chutneys, cured meats and fruit. [caption id="attachment_773000" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Destination NSW[/caption] SEE MORUYA'S BEAUTY FROM THE SKIES Drive 40 minutes north to the riverside town of Moruya, where you can level up your trip with a 15-minute flight taking in views of unspoilt beaches directly below, and mountains to the west. You'll be in prime position to spot whales in the Batemans Marine Park, too. It's $188 for a scenic flight with Moruya Sea Planes, and if you want to spend more time in the skies there are flights around Montague Island, Tross Falls and special occasion experiences where you'll break up the in-air fun with a picnic on a secluded beach. [caption id="attachment_775021" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Tanja Lagoon Camp[/caption] SLEEP UNDER CANVAS AT TANJA LAGOON CAMP Twenty-two kilometres east of Bega is a wilderness camp surrounded by spotted gum trees, overlooking Tanja Lagoon. Expect to be greeted by kangaroos before being shown to a luxury safari tent, one of only four, on the edge of Mimosa Rocks National Park. For active types, there is a chance to go paddling and bushwalking to secluded beaches. For lazy bones, options include lolling about in the handcrafted bed followed by moonlit soaks in a giant bathtub, which looks out to the surrounding trees through a big picture window. Expect to pay upwards of $600 per two-night stay, and plan your trip well in advance as this place tends to book out quickly. Whether you're planning to travel for a couple of nights or a couple of weeks, Holiday Here This Year and you'll be supporting Australian businesses while you explore the best of our country's diverse landscapes and attractions. Top image: Montague Island Nature Reserve courtesy of Destination NSW.
Hitting the indoor mini-golf course for a few holes of pop culture-themed fun and a few rounds of delightfully named beverages isn't just something Brisbanites should enjoy, or Sydney residents either. After launching in Queensland in late 2016, and announcing their first New South Wales venture, Holey Moley Golf Club officially opens in Melbourne today, Thursday, April 20. From noon, 590 Little Bourke Street will be home to 27 holes of club-swinging antics across two levels. It's Holey Moley's biggest venue yet, which means that there's plenty of room for the three nine-hole courses. The Brisbane bar is known for its creativity when it comes to creating courses, and this venue is no exception. Melburnians will be able to tap, tap, tap their way through rooms dedicated to The Simpsons and Game of Thrones and throwbacks to Pacman and Barbie dolls. Plus, everyone will be able to break out into song at the same time, with karaoke part of the antics. If you choose to work your way through the Happy Gilmore soundtrack, no one will stop you (at least not any of the staff). Drinks-wise, expect cocktails. The Caddyshack Bar boasts a pun-laden drinks list that includes the The Sugar Caddy, the Teeyonce Knowles and a Long Island Iced Tee (just what it sounds like, but with an appropriate name). Beer, cider and wine will also be available, but when you're aiming for a hole-in-one, it seems appropriate to be drinking from one (made from Pampero white rum, cinnamon whisky, half a banana, sugar syrup and a doughnut — yep, a doughnut) at the same time. Holey Moley Golf Club is now open at 590 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne. It will be open noon till late Monday to Friday, and 10am till late on weekends. For more info, check out their website. Images: Lucas Dawson.
What would you do if you were a little less freaked out by consequences? Would you talk to more new people, fear a bit less, dance a little more like FKA Twigs, or quit your desk job and start that business you've always wanted to give a red hot go? Some sparkling young Australians are already flinging their inhibitions into a ziplock bag and seizing this little ol' life with both hands. Concrete Playground has teamed up with the Jameson crew to give you a sneak peek into the lives of some of the country's boldest characters who took a big chance on themselves. They've gone out on a limb and rewritten their path, encapsulating 'Sine Metu', the Jameson family motto which translates to 'without fear' — getting outside your comfort zone and trying something new. After all, we only get one shot at this. Take notes. Having dabbled in his fair share of pulse-quickening activities as a youngster, Sydney street artist and skateboarder Sid Tapia is no stranger to the concept of overcoming big fears. In a career that started at age ten, he's hung out of train doors to tag them, skateboarded at a pro level and even founded his own label, Crown St. rediscover a passion he thought he'd lost forever. FUEL THAT FIRE IN YOUR BELLY Sid got cracking on his creative pursuits pretty early on, recalling being captivated by his mother's old handwriting textbooks at the age of four. Soon after that, Sid began recreating the characters in his life: the faces of friends and family. "I'd spend ages trying to do what I saw," he says. "I would see someone or something that I thought was beautiful and be like, 'I want to do that on paper'." It's an interest that would eventually lead him into the graff scene, swapping out paper and pens for trains, walls and spray paint. Meanwhile, Sid's older brother Walker was offering his own brand of influence, introducing him to alternative music genres, hip-hop culture and, ultimately, the street art movement. "He was like my mentor-slash-father figure growing up," Sid explains. "He really taught me a massive step in being able to overcome not just challenges, but confrontations as well." NEVER STOP LEARNIN' At around age ten, Sid discovered the world of graffiti, and he was instantly hooked on this risky, yet exhilarating form of creative expression — especially the risky sport of train tagging. The fact that he could lean out of a train, paint his name up and others would see it was both scary and adrenaline-pumping (not to mention highly illegal). But just a few years later, Sid's flirtation with locomotive art was rattled, after his friend was injured in a serious train accident, reminding him (very bluntly) of the elephant in the room: mortality. "Graffiti was never the same after that," Sid says. "It was nerve-wracking — it was scary." And so he gave up graff. Having come so close to paying the ultimate price for his passion, Sid diverted his attentions to skateboarding — and despite being discouraged from the sport by his family, it was clear he had some serious skills. "My grades were really bad, but I knew that my skating was really good," he says. "And I was like, 'I'm gonna do this thing.'" Skating was a passion that continued well into his twenties, landing him sponsorship deals and a heap of recognition on the Sydney scene. He was even profiled in the awesome 1997 short film by Warrick Thornton for SBS's Eat Carpet. Like many twenty-somethings, at the time it looked as though Sid had, in his own words, "everything sorted" — but he was really "a wreck". So he turned to an old friend to navigate through it: books. "To understand what it is to overcome, what it is to get through a challenge, what's needed — and a lot of the time what's needed is knowledge." TACKLE THE CHALLENGES AND GET BACK IN THE DAMN GAME 23 years later, Sid was still shaken by that train accident — and his own decision to run away. "I had to live with that for a long time," he admits. "I knew I ran away from something massive that could have helped her out. I was just too scared. But about a year ago, I thought: 'I have to face up to this'." So he located his former friend and reached out to her on social media, laying down the emotional apology that had been such a long time coming. "I was in tears…it was heavy," Sid says. "That was a fear I had to overcome by literally confronting it…having to just man-up and be emotional and apologise." Like the big cats he spray paints on his walls, Sid was finally fierce in approaching the situation, and moved forward regardless of harboured fears. And in doing so, he not only opened up a positive new relationship with his old friend, but a newfound positive relationship with his art. Sid's back doing the graffiti thing again — only this time around, it's in a much more holistic (and completely legal) capacity. Working on both commissions and his own pieces, his striking large-scale murals grace walls across Sydney, from the skate park at Bondi Beach to countless buildings in Stanmore, Camperdown, Newtown and the inner west. His lettering and illustration work is equal parts mind-blowing and mindful. He's a highly sought-after, full-time working artist now, running the odd class with Work-Shop and the Museum of Contemporary Art, and working with Marrickville Council's 'Perfect Match' program pairing residents with street artists. All those setbacks? Turns out he didn't let them set him back at all. "I love that I'm able to get what I do and bless people with it. I want to put something out that's going to inspire, or encourage… spark a little bit of wow in someone's life." Want to experience a little bit of 'Sine Metu' yourself? Thanks to Jameson and The Rewriters, one extremely fortunate Concrete Playground reader (and their even more fortunate mate) will get the chance to 'fear less' and go on a big ol' adventure to Ireland. In addition to two return flights departing from your choice of Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane, this epic giveaway comes with five night's accommodation and $500 spending money you can use to paint the Emerald Isle red. ENTER HERE. For more about how 'Sine Metu' influenced John Jameson's journey visit Jameson's website. Images: Sid Tapia.
Packing well for holidays is one of the vastly underrated artforms of our time. Knowing exactly what to bring and what to spend your dimes on before the actual trip takes a long-practiced, realistic ability to predict the weather, activities and highly Instagrammable moments of your future vacation. But not everyone's got the coin to drop on exxy designer threads before they land. So we've taken it upon ourselves to pack your suitcase with affordable goods, whether you're headed for a riotous camping adventure to your chosen annual music festival, hitting art galleries and destination restaurants on a cultural endeavour, or opting for the classic ol' beach holiday. Best bit? It's all from the one place — ASOS. And because they know some of the world's most keen travellers are penny-pinching students, they're offering a 20 percent discount just for students from Wednesday, February 23. THE MUSIC FESTIVAL CAMPING WEEKEND You've loaded up your rental (or pa-rental) car with tents, tarps and tinnies. You've pored over the festival timetable and listened up to the lineup. You're in full-on camping festival mode, and the trick here is to pack light, but pack smart. You've got to toe the line between statement pieces and everyday essentials — you'll need both for this adventure. Word to the wise? Leave the exxy cocktail dresses and dress shirts at home, but remember to bring pieces that make you happy; you'll be in them all day in the hot sun, pouring rain and occasional mud-slips. And bring more undies than you think you'll need. WOMENS ESSENTIALS Reclaimed Vintage Pull Over Hooded Festival Jacket $95 Cheap Monday Denim Short Dungarees $99 Pimkie Wellie Boot $34 MENS ESSENTIALS Nike Court T-Shirt 739479-100 $51 ASOS Check Shirt in Viscose With Long Sleeves $53 ASOS 5 Panel Cap In Black Canvas With Contrast Patch $26 THE ARTY CULTURE ADVENTURE Whether you're scooting between galleries, tasting All The Wine or sauntering through some serious shopping districts, culture adventures can be the trickiest for packing light. You'll want to bring every last pair of kickass shoes in your closet. You'll have plans to debut every new outfit you've recently impulse bought. But here's the thing, you're carrying your wardrobe with you. So choose a couple of pieces you can wear day-to-night and one pair of all-purpose, super fly shoes. That way you can throw more dosh on new pieces on your holiday shopping sprees. WOMENS ESSENTIALS ASOS Oversize T-Shirt Dress With Curved Hem $47 Glamorous Bell Sleeve Smock Dress With Festival Embroidery $51 ASOS OTTAWA Heels $74 MENS ESSENTIALS ASOS Super Longline Long Sleeve T-Shirt With Hooded Drape Neck $38 Reclaimed Vintage Drapey Duster Jacket $138 River Island Chukka Boots In Brown Faux Leather $95 THE CLASSIC BEACH HOLIDAY Towel, sunnies, bathers, sunscreen, book, beer. So begins the checklist for the age old beach holiday, the classic retreat for city slickers. This vacation's the easiest to pack light for, but that doesn't mean you have scrimp on style. Invest in a few new beachy staples and you'll be staging your own magazine shoots on your next ocean-bound road trip. Just remember to slip, slop, slap, wrap etc. WOMENS ESSENTIALS South Beach Mix and Match Wrap Cut Out Bikini Top $30 ASOS Stripe Rope Belted Beach Shirt Dress $60 ASOS Strappy Maxi Dress $38 MENS ESSENTIALS ASOS Mid Length Swim Shorts With Turtle Print $38 Base London Tiberius Leather Sandals $74 River Island Round Sunglasses In Silver $43
From Nutie and Bourke Street Bakery to Paramount Coffee Project, Surry Hills is home to an overwhelming number of cafes. Running a cafe in Surry Hills would be a daunting task, but one of the area's hottest spots, SOUL Deli, is offering something different. It's a Korean cafe and deli, slinging fresh and packaged deli goods, cafe food to have-in and takeaway, and a range of products made by local Korean community members. From the deli, you can purchase a wide variety of kimchi, pickles, sauces and snacks. For those who want to dine in or pick up a morning meal, the menu stretches from cafe classics like the bacon and egg or Korean fried chicken rolls to exciting creations such as kimchi cheese pulled pork sandwiches, a Korean chicken porridge and buttermilk hot cakes with maple syrup and cultured butter. It also makes a great coffee for those looking for their caffeine fix, as well as bellflower and ginger tea, juices and Korean soft drinks. While you're picking up your locally sourced coffee or pulled pork sandwich, you can also shop the range of products that line the walls at SOUL Deli. Browse ceramics, pottery and clothing all from local small businesses and artists. Images: Leigh Griffiths Appears in: Where to Find the Best Breakfast in Sydney
If you're a North Shore local or frequent visitor, consider yourself onto a winner with Goodfields. The brainchild of father-and-son duo George and Anthony Karnasiotis (The Butcher's Block), it's a charming, contemporary corner spot perched just across from Lindfield Station. Inside, good feels abound, with the cheery mix of polished concrete, crisp white tiles and foliage spilling from above. From 6am daily, the coffee window is open and the machine up and running, tempting early morning commuters with brews from Five Senses. Meanwhile, the kitchen is turning out a memorable all-day brunch offering that sits classics alongside fun, modern revamps. There's an indulgent lobster benedict with roasted lobster tail bites, grilled garlic brioche, spinach and hollandaise, and an avocado smash served with heirloom tomatoes, feta, poached eggs and sourdough. Lunch might call for the slow-roasted lamb shoulder pita, crispy-skinned salmon with charred broccolini, or a fried chicken burger with bacon, maple aioli, American jack-cheese and thick-cut chips. Littlies will be kept busy, too, with options like house-made buttermilk chicken nuggets and maple syrup-drenched hotcakes. To accompany those long lunches or weekend brunches with mates, you'll even find a tidy range of beers and wines at Goodfields. Appears in: Where to Find the Best Breakfast in Sydney
Usually, when a new year hits and Hollywood starts handing out shiny trophies for the best movies and television programs of the past 12 months, audiences are asked to get watching not once but twice. First, there's all of the ceremonies — and then there's the must-view list that springs from those newly anointed winners. The initial cab off the rank each year, the Golden Globes, did their thing for 2022 on Monday, January 10. This isn't a normal event for these accolades, however. After multiple controversies surrounding the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the organisation behind the awards, the Globes weren't given out at a star-studded event. Plenty of films and TV shows still emerged victorious, though. Yes, even without sitting through the three-hour-plus televised ceremony, you still have a whole heap of freshly minted Globe-recipients to see — and you can watch most of them right now. Whether you're keen to hit the big screen to catch a filmic gem, stream a stellar flick or binge your way through an excellent series or two, here's 12 of the Globes' best winners that you can check out immediately. (And if you're wondering what else won, you can read through the full list, too.) MOVIE MUST-SEES THE POWER OF THE DOG Don't call it a comeback: Jane Campion's films have been absent from cinemas for 12 years but, due to miniseries Top of the Lake, she hasn't been biding her time in that gap. And don't call it simply returning to familiar territory, even if the New Zealand director's new movie features an ivory-tinkling woman caught between cruel and sensitive men, as her Cannes Palme d'Or-winner The Piano did three decades ago. Campion isn't rallying after a dip, just as she isn't repeating herself. She's never helmed anything less than stellar, and she's immensely capable of unearthing rich new pastures in well-ploughed terrain. With The Power of the Dog, Campion is at the height of her skills trotting into her latest mesmerising musing on strength, desire and isolation — this time via a venomous western that's as perilously bewitching as its mountainous backdrop. That setting is Montana, circa 1925. Campion's homeland stands in for America nearly a century ago, making a magnificent sight — with cinematographer Ari Wegner (Zola, True History of the Kelly Gang) perceptively spying danger in its craggy peaks and dusty plains even before the film introduces Rose and Peter Gordon (On Becoming a God in Central Florida's Kirsten Dunst and 2067's Kodi Smit-McPhee). When the widowed innkeeper and her teenage son serve rancher brothers Phil and George Burbank (Spider-Man: No Way Home's Benedict Cumberbatch a career-best, awards-worthy, downright phenomenal turn, plus Antlers' Jesse Plemons) during a cattle-run stop, the encounter seesaws from callousness to kindness, a dynamic that continues after Rose marries George and decamps to the Burbank mansion against that stunning backdrop. Brutal to the lanky, lisping Peter from the outset, Phil responds to the nuptials with malice. He isn't fond of change, and won't accommodate anything that fails his bristling definition of masculinity and power, either. GLOBES Won: Best Motion Picture — Drama, Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture (Kodi Smit-McPhee), Best Director (Jane Campion) Nominated: Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture — Drama (Benedict Cumberbatch), Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture (Kirsten Dunst) The Power of the Dog is available to stream via Netflix. Read our full review. WEST SIDE STORY Tonight, tonight, there's only Steven Spielberg's lavish and dynamic version of West Side Story tonight — not to detract from or forget the 1961 movie of the same name. Six decades ago, an all-singing, all-dancing, New York City-set, gang war-focused spin on Romeo and Juliet leapt from stage to screen, becoming one of cinema's all-time classic musicals; however, remaking that hit is a task that Spielberg dazzlingly proves up to. It's his first sashay into the genre, despite making his initial amateur feature just three years after the original West Side Story debuted. It's also his first film since 2018's obnoxiously awful Ready Player One, which doubled as a how-to guide to crafting one of the worst, flimsiest and most bloated pieces of soulless pop-culture worship possible. But with this swooning, socially aware story of star-crossed lovers, Spielberg pirouettes back from his atrocious last flick by embracing something he clearly adores, and being unafraid to give it rhythmic swirls and thematic twirls. Shakespeare's own tale of tempestuous romance still looms large over West Side Story, as it always has — in fair NYC and its rubble-strewn titular neighbourhood where it lays its 1950s-era scene. The Jets and the Sharks aren't quite two households both alike in dignity, though. Led by the swaggering and dogged Riff (Mike Faist, a Tony-nominee for the Broadway production of Dear Evan Hansen), the Jets are young, scrappy, angry and full of resentment for anyone they fear is encroaching on their terrain. Meanwhile, with boxer Bernardo (David Alvarez, a Tony-winner for Billy Elliot) at the helm, the Sharks have tried to establish new lives outside of their native Puerto Rico through study, jobs and their own businesses. Both gangs refuse to coexist peacefully in the only part of New York where either feels at home — but it's a night at a dance, and the love-at-first-sight connection that blooms between Riff's best friend Tony (Ansel Elgort, The Goldfinch) and Bernardo's younger sister María (feature debutant Rachel Zegler), that sparks a showdown. GLOBES Won: Best Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy, Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy (Rachel Zegler), Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture (Ariana DeBose) Nominated: Best Director (Steven Spielberg) West Side Story is currently screening in Australian cinemas. Read our full review. ENCANTO Five years after Lin-Manuel Miranda and Disney first teamed up on an animated musical with the catchiest of tunes, aka Moana, they're back at it again with Encanto. To viewers eager for another colourful, thoughtful and engaging film — and another that embraces a particular culture with the heartiest of hugs, and is all the better for it — what can the past decade's most influential composer and biggest entertainment behemoth say except you're welcome? Both the Hamilton mastermind and the Mouse House do what they do best here. The songs are infectious, as well as diverse in style; the storyline follows a spirited heroine challenging the status quo; and the imagery sparkles. Miranda and Disney are both in comfortable territory, in fact — formulaic, sometimes — but Encanto never feels like they're monotonously beating the same old drum. Instruments are struck, shaken and otherwise played in the film's soundtrack, of course, which resounds with energetic earworms; the salsa beats of 'We Don't Talk About Bruno' are especially irresistible, and the Miranda-penned hip hop wordplay that peppers the movie's tunes is impossible to mentally let go. Spanning pop, ballads and more, all those songs help tell the tale of the Madrigals, a close-knit Colombian family who've turned generational trauma into magic. This is still an all-ages-friendly Disney flick, so there are limits to how dark it's willing to get; however, that Encanto fills its frames with a joyous celebration of Latin America and simultaneously recognises its setting's history of conflict is hugely significant. It also marks Walt Disney Animation Studios' 60th feature — dating back to 1937's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs — but its cultural specificity (depictions of Indigenous, Afro Latino and Colombian characters of other ethnicities included) is its bigger achievement. GLOBES Won: Best Motion Picture — Animated Nominated: Best Original Score — Motion Picture, Best Original Song — Motion Picture Encanto is currently screening in Australian cinemas, and is also available to stream via Disney+. Read our full review. DUNE A spice-war space opera about feuding houses on far-flung planets, Dune has long been a pop-culture building block. Before Frank Herbert's 1965 novel was adapted into a wrongly reviled David Lynch-directed film — a gloriously 80s epic led by Kyle MacLachlan and laced with surreal touches — it unmistakably inspired Star Wars, and also cast a shadow over Hayao Miyazaki's Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. Game of Thrones has since taken cues from it. The Riddick franchise owes it a debt, too. The list goes on and, thanks to the new version bringing its sandy deserts to cinemas, will only keep growing. As he did with Blade Runner 2049, writer/director Denis Villeneuve has once again grasped something already enormously influential, peered at it with astute eyes and built it anew — and created an instant sci-fi classic. This time, Villeneuve isn't asking viewers to ponder whether androids dream of electric sheep, but if humanity can ever overcome one of our worst urges and all that it brings. With an exceptional cast that spans Timothée Chalamet (The French Dispatch), Oscar Isaac (The Card Counter), Rebecca Ferguson (Reminiscence), Jason Momoa (Aquaman), Josh Brolin (Avengers: Endgame), Javier Bardem (Everybody Knows), Zendaya (Spider-Man: No Way Home) and more, Dune tells of birthrights, prophesied messiahs, secret sisterhood sects that underpin the galaxy and phallic-looking giant sandworms, and of the primal lust for power that's as old as time — and, in Herbert's story, echoes well into the future's future. Its unpacking of dominance and command piles on colonial oppression, authoritarianism, greed, ecological calamity and religious fervour, like it is building a sandcastle out of power's nastiest ramifications. And, amid that weightiness — plus those spectacularly shot visuals and Hans Zimmer's throbbing score — it's also a tale of a moody teen with mind-control abilities struggling with what's expected versus what's right. GLOBES Won: Best Original Score — Motion Picture Nominated: Best Motion Picture — Drama, Best Director (Denis Villeneuve) Dune is currently screening in Australian cinemas. Read our full review. NO TIME TO DIE James Bond might famously prefer his martinis shaken, not stirred, but No Time to Die doesn't quite take that advice. While the enterprising spy hasn't changed his drink order, the latest film he's in — the 25th official feature in the franchise across six decades, and the fifth and last that'll star Daniel Craig — gives its regular ingredients both a mix and a jiggle. The action is dazzlingly choreographed, a menacing criminal has an evil scheme and the world is in peril, naturally. Still, there's more weight in Craig's performance, more emotion all round, and a greater willingness to contemplate the stakes and repercussions that come with Bond's globe-trotting, bed-hopping, villain-dispensing existence. There's also an eagerness to shake up parts of the character and Bond template that rarely get a nudge. Together, even following a 19-month pandemic delay, it all makes for a satisfying blockbuster cocktail. For Craig, the actor who first gave Bond a 21st-century flavour back in 2006's Casino Royale (something Pierce Brosnan couldn't manage in 2002's Die Another Day), No Time to Die also provides a fulfilling swansong. That wasn't assured; as much as he's made the tuxedo, gadgets and espionage intrigue his own, the Knives Out and Logan Lucky actor's tenure has charted a seesawing trajectory. His first stint in the role was stellar and franchise-redefining, but 2008's Quantum of Solace made it look like a one-off. Then Skyfall triumphed spectacularly in 2012, before Spectre proved all too standard in 2015. Ups and downs have long been part of this franchise, depending on who's in the suit, who's behind the lens, the era and how far the tone skews towards comedy — but at its best, Craig's run has felt like it's building new levels rather than traipsing through the same old framework. GLOBES Won: Best Original Song — Motion Picture No Time to Die is currently screening in Australian cinemas. Read our full review. TICK, TICK... BOOM! "Try writing what you know." That's age-old advice, dispensed to many a scribe who hasn't earned the success or even the reaction they'd hoped, and it's given to aspiring theatre composer Jonathan Larson (Andrew Garfield, Under the Silver Lake) in Tick, Tick… Boom!. The real-life figure would go on to write Rent but here, in New York City in January 1990, he's working on his debut musical Superbia. It's a futuristic satire inspired by George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, and it's making him anxious about three things. Firstly, he hasn't yet come up with a pivotal second-act song that he keeps being told he needs. Next, he's staging a workshop for his debut production to gauge interest before the week is out — and this just has to be his big break. Finally, he's also turning 30 in days, and his idol Stephen Sondheim made his Broadway debut in his 20s. Tick, Tick… Boom! charts the path to those well-worn words of wisdom about drawing from the familiar, including Larson's path to the autobiographical one-man-show of the same name before Rent. And, it manages to achieve that feat while showing why such a sentiment isn't merely a cliche in this situation. That said, the key statement about mining your own experience also echoes throughout this affectionate movie musical in another unmissable way. Lin-Manuel Miranda didn't write Tick, Tick… Boom!'s screenplay; however, he does turn it into his filmmaking directorial debut — and what could be more fitting for that task from the acclaimed In the Heights and Hamilton talent than a loving ode (albeit an inescapably overexcited one) to the hard work put in by a game-changing theatre wunderkind? GLOBES Won: Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy (Andrew Garfield) Nominated: Best Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy Tick, Tick… Boom! is available to stream via Netflix. Read our full review. SMALL SCREEN BINGES SUCCESSION For fans of blistering TV shows about wealth, power, the vast chasm between the rich and everyone else, and the societal problems that fester due to such rampant inequality, 2021 has been a fantastic year. The White Lotus fit the bill, as did Squid Game, but Succession has always been in its own league. In the 'eat the rich' genre, the HBO drama sits at the top of the food chain as it chronicles the extremely lavish and influential lives of the Roy family. No series slings insults as brutally; no show channels feuding and backstabbing into such an insightful and gripping satire of the one percent, either. Finally back on our screens after a two-year gap between its second and third seasons, Succession doesn't just keep plying its astute and addictive battles and power struggles — following season two's big bombshell, it keeps diving deeper. The premise has remained the same since day one, with Logan Roy's (Brian Cox, Super Troopers 2) kids Kendall (Jeremy Strong, The Trial of the Chicago 7), Shiv (Sarah Snook, Pieces of a Woman), Roman (Kieran Culkin, No Sudden Move) and Connor (Alan Ruck, Gringo) vying to take over the family media empire. This brood's tenuous and tempestuous relationship only gets thornier with each episode, and its examination of their privileged lives — and what that bubble has done to them emotionally, psychologically and ideologically — only grows in season three. It becomes more addictive, too. There's no better show currently on TV, and no better source of witty dialogue. And there's no one turning in performances as layered as Strong, Cox, Snook, Culkin, J Smith-Cameron (Search Party), Matthew Macfadyen (The Assistant) and Nicholas Braun (Zola). GLOBES Won: Best Television Series — Drama, Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series — Drama (Jeremy Strong), Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Supporting Role (Sarah Snook) Nominated: Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series — Drama (Brian Cox), Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Supporting Role (Kieran Culkin) All three seasons of Succession are available to stream via Binge. SQUID GAME Exploring societal divides within South Korea wasn't invented by Parasite, Bong Joon-ho's excellent Oscar-winning 2019 thriller, but its success was always going to give other films and TV shows on the topic a healthy boost. Accordingly, it's easy to see thematic and narrative parallels between the acclaimed movie and Netflix's highly addictive Squid Game — the show that's become the platform's biggest show ever (yes, bigger than everything from Stranger Things to Bridgerton). Anyone who has seen even an episode knows why this nine-part series is so compulsively watchable. Its puzzle-like storyline and its unflinching savagery making quite the combination. Here, in a Battle Royale and Hunger Games-style setup, 456 competitors are selected to work their way through six seemingly easy children's games. They're all given numbers and green tracksuits, they're competing for 45.6 billion won, and it turns out that they've also all made their way to the contest after being singled out for having enormous debts. That includes series protagonist Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae, Deliver Us From Evil), a chauffeur with a gambling problem, and also a divorcé desperate to do whatever he needs to to keep his daughter in his life. But, as it probes the chasms caused by capitalism and cash — and the things the latter makes people do under the former — this program isn't just about one player. It's about survival, the status quo the world has accepted when it comes to money, and the real inequality present both in South Korea and elsewhere. Filled with electric performances, as clever as it is compelling, unsurprisingly littered with smart cliffhangers, and never afraid to get bloody and brutal, the result is a savvy, tense and taut horror-thriller that entertains instantly and also has much to say. GLOBES Won: Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Supporting Role (Oh Yeong-su) Nominated: Best Television Series — Drama, Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series — Drama (Lee Jung-jae) Squid Game is available to stream via Netflix. TED LASSO A sports-centric sitcom that's like a big warm hug, Ted Lasso belongs in the camp of comedies that focus on nice and caring people doing nice and caring things. Parks and Recreation is the ultimate recent example of this subgenre, as well as fellow Michael Schur-created favourite Brooklyn Nine-Nine — shows that celebrate people supporting and being there for each other, and the bonds that spring between them, to not just an entertaining but to a soul-replenishing degree. As played by Jason Sudeikis (Booksmart), the series' namesake is all positivity, all the time. A small-time US college football coach, he scored an unlikely job as manager of British soccer team AFC Richmond in the show's first season, a job that came with struggles. The ravenous media wrote him off instantly, the club was hardly doing its best, owner Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham, Sex Education) had just taken over the organisation as part of her divorce settlement, and veteran champion Roy Kent (Brett Goldstein, Uncle) and current hotshot Jamie Tartt (Phil Dunster, Judy) refused to get along. Ted's upbeat attitude does wonders, though. In Ted Lasso's also-excellent second season, however, he finds new team psychologist Dr Sharon Fieldstone (Sarah Niles, I May Destroy You) an unsettling presence. You definitely don't need to love soccer or even sport to fall for this show's ongoing charms, to adore its heartwarming determination to value banding together and looking on the bright side, and to love its depiction of both male tenderness and supportive female friendships (which is where Maleficent: Mistress of Evil's Juno Temple comes in). In fact, this is the best sitcom currently in production. GLOBES Won: Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series — Comedy (Jason Sudeikis) Nominated: Best Television Series — Comedy, Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Supporting Role (Hannah Waddingham), Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Supporting Role (Brett Goldstein) Ted Lasso's first and second seasons are available to stream via Apple TV+. THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD Two words: Barry Jenkins. Where the Oscar-nominated Moonlight director goes, viewers should always follow. That proved the case with 2018's If Beale Street Could Talk, and it's definitely accurate regarding The Underground Railroad, the phenomenal ten-part series that features Jenkins behind the camera of each and every episode. As the name makes plain, the historical drama uses the real-life Underground Railroad — the routes and houses that helped enslaved Black Americans escape to freedom — as its basis. Here, though, drawing on the past isn't as straightforward as it initially sounds. Adapting Colson Whitehead's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same moniker, the series dives deeply into the experiences of people endeavouring to flee slavery, while also adopting magic-realism when it comes to taking a literal approach to its railroad concept. That combination couldn't work better in Jenkins' hands as he follows Cora (Thuso Mbedu, Shuga), a woman forced into servitude on a plantation overseen by Terrance Randall (Benjamin Walker, Jessica Jones). As always proves the case in the filmmaker's work, every frame is a thing of beauty, every second heaves with emotion, and every glance, stare, word and exchange is loaded with a thorough examination of race relations in America. Nothing else this affecting reached streaming queues in 2021 — but even one series like this made it a phenomenal year for audiences. GLOBES Won: Best Television Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television The Underground Railroad is available to stream via Amazon Prime Video. HACKS It sounds like an obvious premise, and one that countless films and TV shows have already mined in the name of laughs. In Hacks, two vastly dissimilar people are pushed together, with the resulting conflict guiding the series. Ava Daniels (Hannah Einbinder, North Hollywood) and her new boss Deborah Vance (Jean Smart, Mare of Easttown) couldn't be more different in age, experience, tastes and opinions. The former is a 25-year-old who made the move to Hollywood, has been living out her dream as a comedy writer, but found her career plummeting after a tweet crashed and burned. The latter is a legendary stand-up who hasn't stopped hitting the stage for decades, is approaching the 2500th show of her long-running Las Vegas residency and is very set in her ways. They appear to share exactly one thing in common: a love for comedy. They're an odd couple thrust together by their mutual manager Jimmy (Paul W Downs, Broad City), neither wants to be working with the other, and — to the surprise of no one, including each other — they clash again and again. There's no laugh track adding obvious chuckles to this HBO sitcom, though. Created by three of the talents behind Broad City — writer Jen Statsky; writer/director Lucia Aniello; and Downs, who does double duty in front of and behind the lens — Hacks isn't solely interested in setting two seemingly mismatched characters against each other. This is a smart and insightful series about what genuinely happens when this duo spends more and more time together, what's sparked their generational conflict and what, despite their evident differences, they actually share beyond that love of making people laugh. And, it's a frank, funny and biting assessment of being a woman in entertainment — and it's also always as canny as it is hilarious. GLOBES Won: Best Television Series — Comedy, Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series — Comedy (Jean Smart) Nominated: Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series — Comedy (Hannah Einbinder) Hacks is available to stream via Stan. Read our full review. MARE OF EASTTOWN Kate Winslet doesn't make the leap to the small screen often, but when she does, it's a must-see event. 2011's Mildred Pierce was simply astonishing, a description that both Winslet and her co-star Guy Pearce also earned — alongside an Emmy each, plus three more for the HBO limited series itself. The two actors and the acclaimed US cable network all reteamed for Mare of Easttown, and it too is excellent. Set on the outskirts of Philadelphia, it follows detective Mare Sheehan. As the 25th anniversary of her high-school basketball championship arrives, and after a year of trying to solve a missing person's case linked to one of her former teammates, a new murder upends her existence. Mare's life overflows with complications anyway, with her ex-husband (David Denman, Brightburn) getting remarried, and her mother (Jean Smart, Hacks), teenage daughter (Angourie Rice, Spider-Man: Far From Home) and four-year-old grandson all under her roof. With town newcomer Richard Ryan (Pearce, The Last Vermeer), she snatches what boozy and physical solace she can. As compelling and textured as she always is, including in this year's Ammonite, Winslet turns Mare of Easttown into a commanding character study. That said, it's firmly an engrossing crime drama as well. Although yet again pondering the adult life of an ex-school sports star, The Way Back's Brad Ingelsby isn't just repeating himself by creating and writing this seven-part series, while The Leftovers and The Hunt's Craig Zobel takes to his directing gig with a probing eye. GLOBES Won: Best Performance by an Actress in a Limited Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television (Kate Winslet) Nominated: Best Television Limited Series, Anthology Series or Motion Picture Made for Television Mare of Easttown is available to stream via Binge.
Forget slimy beans and pineapple rings, Continental Deli Bar Bistro in Newtown is serving up an elaborate spread of Ortiz anchovies, La Belle-Iloise sardines and mussels escabeche, alongside other European delicacies, straight from the can. That's right, ladies and gentlemen, the tin is in. The team behind Continental Deli's dream is to share canned food with us. Really. Perhaps not the tin spaghetti that you grew up eating, but the marinated octopus and boquerones they grew up eating, alongside some tasty morsels they've made and canned themselves. As you walk into their Australia Street deli in Newtown, you'll be greeted with shoulders of prosciutto hanging from the ceiling, glass cabinets stocked with mature cheese and shelves of obscure dry goods that you simply must have. Welcome to heaven. The upstairs bistro has plenty of seats, but we like to prop ourselves at the deli counter or, if we're lucky, nab one of the two sun-soaked tables at the front. One side of the laminated menu is taken up entirely by tinned Ortiz seafood, including sardines, three types of anchovies and mussels, plus octopus, sea urcin and squid in ink to name a mere few. The kitchen kindly peels back the lid and adds a few wheat crackers to the side. Yes, it's a bit expensive, but you'll be far from disappointed. The other side of the menu consists of cold cuts, cheeses and tinned seafood. While most venues create the charcuterie for you, here you can handpick each individual item, so you get exactly what you want and nothing you don't. Some wise choices would be the locally-made prosciutto ($16), jamon Iberico ($42) and wagyu bresaola ($23). For lunch, there are a few sandwiches on offer, which are simply made with high-quality ingredients. Try the classic mortadella or ham, cheese and butter pickle sandwich ($16), which are more than just the sum of their parts. There's also the meatball sub ($24) and fish and chips sanga ($24) for heartier lunch options at Continental Deli Bar Bistro. You know the canning has got out of hand when you order a Martini — or Mar-tinny ($19) — which is opened and poured from the tin by the bartender, who could be out of a job the way things are going. But back in store, when you're ready to leave, don't forget to take a moment to peruse the dry goods, most of which you've probably never seen before. If you're still hung up about being forced to eat baked beans as a child, maybe grab one of Continental's homemade versions on the way out. Images: Kimberley Low. Updated Monday, March 13, 2023
The NGV has hosted some pretty epic exhibitions over the last few years — Ai Weiei and Andy Warhol, Hokusai and Van Gogh are just a few— but this might be its most ambitious exhibition yet. Descending on the gallery from today — Friday, December 15 — and then every three years after that, the NGV Triennial presents a smorgasbord of art and design, plucked from all corners of the globe and representing established artists, emerging talent, and plenty else in between. And the first one is nothing short of grand. The free exhibition will take over all four levels of the gallery until April 2018 and host a slew of newly commissioned works by over 60 artists and designers. But where it's really upping the ante is in the audience experience, with visitors invited to present their own ideas through cross-platform content, and the exhibition's participatory works designed to engage like never before. Legendary Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, best known for her obsessive patterning and vibrant representations of the infinite, will invite glimpses into the artist's mind with a work titled Flower obsession. Created especially for the NGV Triennial, the interactive exhibition will have visitors unleashing some creativity of their own, as they help plaster a furnished space with an array of colourful flower stickers and three-dimensional blooms. Another highlight is an epic display of 100 oversized human skulls created by Australian artist Ron Mueck, and you'll want to step inside teamLab's immersive mirrored room that reacts to visitors' movements. Kusuma joins other international names like Germany's Timo Nasseri and Canada's Sascha Braunig, alongside an Aussie billing that includes the likes of Ben Quilty, Louisa Bufardeci, and Tom Crago. There'll be an installation from Chinese haute couture fashion guru Guo Pei, designer of Rihanna's canary-yellow Met Ball gown, and chemist and odour theorist Sissel Tolaas will create the 'scent of Melbourne' exclusively for the Triennial. And Alexandra Kehayoglou will be creating one of her monumentally-sized, lushly illustrated carpets, spanning over eight metres long. The NGV Triennial will be on display at the National Gallery of Victoria from December 15, 2017 till April 15, 2018. For more info, visit ngv.com.au.
In Patricia Piccinini's mind, bulbous creatures float through the sky. In her imagination, automobiles may as well be animals, and the line between humans and other critters is razor thin. It all sounds like something out of a science-fiction movie (or several), but the Australian artist's output isn't just confined to a screen. Across a variety of media, Piccinini explores the way that nature and technology, people and animals, and the unusual and the sublime all combine — and, more than that, she finds ways to make their weird and wonderful blend appear, feel and seem real. With Piccinini's body of work spanning from figures that look so naturalistic you'll expect them to start moving, to looping short film installations that bring strange beings to life, to paintings and sculptures made with actual human hair, wandering through her creations is like wandering into another realm. At Brisbane's Gallery of Modern Art until August 5, that's exactly what's on offer. Taking over the entire ground floor of the building — and filling the place with more than 70 sculptures, photographs, videos, drawings and large-scale installations, including both exisiting favourites and newly commissioned pieces — Patricia Piccinini: Curious Affection transforms GOMA into a pleasingly intriguing playground. Indeed, if Piccinini's famous animal-shaped hot air balloon, The Skywhale, literally unleashed her unique sensibilities out into the world, then Curious Affection does the opposite: it invites everyone into the acclaimed artist's mind and lets them roam around. Inside, visitors get a peek at not-quite-human lovers cosying up in a caravan, walls filled with alien-like mushrooms, and a vast array of peculiar yet beautiful creatures. And, in an exhibition designed to make you ponder what it means to be human, that's just a fraction of its treasures. In short: entering the otherworldly showcase is an experience like few others, crafted by an artist who has taken her visibly distinctive sensibilities everywhere from the Venice Biennale to Japan's skies to galleries around the world over the past two decades. Discovering exactly what her imagination has brought forth is part of the fun, but here are five things to look out for along the way — and, whether you're a Brisbanite keen on an arty staycation or you're travelling from interstate to see the exhibition, we've found you somewhere to stay as well. [caption id="attachment_667357" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Installation view 'Patricia Piccinini: Curious Affection' at Brisbane's Gallery of Modern Art, 2018, featuring The Field 2018. Photograph: Natasha Harth, QAGOMA.[/caption] WANDER THROUGH A FIELD OF OTHERWORLDLY FLOWERS The Field isn't the first thing you'll see at Curious Affection, but this darkened room will stay with you long after you've left GOMA. It's the exhibition's main attraction for a very good reason: there's nothing quite like walking into a cavernous hall filled with more than 3000 flower-like sculptures, lightly bouncing along the spring-loaded floors and finding out that nothing's really as it seems. Each individual stem is a feat of astonishing artistry that'll make you think about the real meaning of beauty, not to mention the kind of creations that sci-fi filmmakers like Ridley Scott (Alien) and David Cronenberg (The Fly) would be proud of. When you're not staring into their hypnotic expanse, the four larger-scale sculptures — two of mothers with children, two of curious creatures — scattered around the gallery are just entrancing, not to mention perfectly on-theme. [caption id="attachment_667360" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Patricia Piccinini, Australia VIC. b.1965. Pneutopia 2018. Ripstop nylon, shed, air. Courtesy the artist, Tolarno Galleries, Melbourne; Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney; and Hosfelt Gallery, San Francisco.[/caption] ENTER A GARDEN SHED — AND LOOK UP Maybe you saw The Skywhale float through the sky back earlier this decade. Maybe you just wished you did. Either way, if you ever wondered what it looked like inside, then inflatable installation Pneutopia almost has the answer. It's not Skywhale 2.0, but this custom-built blow-up creation comes close — just confined within GOMA's huge two-storey hallway rather than roving free on the wind. Roam around either the ground or second level, and you can feast your eyes on the outside of this billowing orange and pink structure. Enter the ordinary-looking garden shed underneath, however, and you'll peer through a window into the heart of the balloon. [caption id="attachment_664391" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Installation view 'Patricia Piccinini: Curious Affection' at Brisbane's Gallery of Modern Art, 2018, featuring The Young Family 2002. Photograph: Natasha Harth, QAGOMA.[/caption] GET UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL WITH CURIOUS CREATURES In one corner, a girl sits with an owl flapping over her shoulder. At several other points around the exhibition's first few rooms, kids reach out to strange critters, or cradle them in their arms, or find them laying on their backs. On a leather platform, a pig-human chimera feedings her suckling offspring. In a life-sized bed, a toddler stands shoulder-to-shoulder with a creature that could've stepped out of her dreams (or nightmares). There's more where they came from, representing some of Piccinini's best-known sculptures, and they really are the best introduction to the artist's work that you can get. Each attention-grabbing piece makes a statement, whether about natural evolution, genetic experimentation, the open mind that comes with child-like wonder, or the fine line between horror and empathy. As the exhibition's explanatory text describes, it's a collection that's "startling but rarely fearsome". [caption id="attachment_664396" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Installation view 'Patricia Piccinini: Curious Affection' at Brisbane's Gallery of Modern Art, 2018. Photograph: Natasha Harth, QAGOMA.[/caption] MOSEY THROUGH A STRANGE PATCH OF GREENERY In the last corner of the exhibition, GOMA becomes a forest — but you don't usually see creatures called 'tyre lions' and 'butthole penguins' in a standard patch of greenery. Yes, that's their actual name, and they're bizarre but delightful, like figures from an offbeat animation you now definitely wish existed. Piccinini arranges these pieces as if she's arranging a display in a natural history museum, which only adds to their uncanny allure. It's the final piece in a gallery-wide puzzle that presents an assortment of seemingly familiar figures, animals, scenes and objects, but shows that they really couldn't be less ordinary. [caption id="attachment_667355" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Installation view 'Patricia Piccinini: Curious Affection' at Brisbane's Gallery of Modern Art, 2018. Photograph: Natasha Harth, QAGOMA.[/caption] KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE SCREENS As well as Piccinini's eye-catching sculptures, installations and other pieces, GOMA's walls are lined with multiple screens playing her video works. Each runs on a loop, ranging from 90 seconds to a couple of minutes in duration — and if you're keen to dive even deeper in the artist's mind, they're all well worth your time. Gaze at Ghost, aka a hairy chicken-like creation hanging from the ceiling, for example, then watch In Bocca Al Lupo, a mesmerising short film filled with similar critters. If you only make time for one, however, then head to an adorably odd effort called The Seedling's Dance. It runs for less than three minutes, and it's playing on a cinema-sized screen that you you really won't be able to miss. COMING FROM OUT OF TOWN OR INTERSTATE? Can't get enough art? Not quite ready to re-enter reality after wandering through Piccinini's intriguing creations? Heading in from out-of-town and looking for a suitably creative place to stay? Brisbane's Art Series Hotel The Johnson fills its walls, halls, rooms and suites with abstract works from its namesake artist, Michael Johnson, offering the closest thing you'll find to sleeping in a gallery. And, for the duration of Curious Affection, the boutique hotel has a stay-and-see deal that includes one night's accommodation and two tickets to the GOMA exhibition. When you're not marvelling at Piccinini's work, you can look through the in-house art library, watch the dedicated in-room art channel, or get a dose of outdoor splendour while you're taking a splash with a view in the 50-metre pool or lazing around on the luxe deck. Patricia Piccinini: Curious Affection exhibits at Brisbane's Gallery of Modern Art until August 5, and includes a film screening series and Friday night art parties throughout June and July. For more information, head to the gallery website. Patricia Piccinini: Curious Affection images: Natasha Harth, QAGOMA.
Supergroups pop up every so often, from Broken Social Scene to The Postal Service, Empire of the Sun to Atoms for Peace. The rhyme or reason behind such team-ups varies, from longtime mates Doing a Thing to visionaries wanting to branch out from their superstar band. Now, a new supergroup has formed, dubbed Mind Gamers. Picture this: French producer Sebastien Tellier, John Kirby (Blood Orange, Norah Jones, Cypress Hill) and Daniel Stricker (Midnight Juggernauts, Kirin J Callinan). Expect some trippy, out-of-this-world business. What the heck does that mean? You'll just have to find out at MoVement Sydney, where Mind Gamers will make their very first live appearance as a group. They'll be supported by Shags Chamberlain (Ariel Pink) Presents: The Crystal Machine, breakthrough talent Zuri Akoko and Siberia DJs. [competition]594526[/competition]
Words like 'sustainable' and 'eco-friendly' are bandied about left, right and centre these days, but few restaurants really take them on as unswervable principles. After all, going green isn't easy — it means all kinds of adjustments, from making friends with organic farmers to working out what to do with food waste, to installing solar panels and revamping your larder (so it's stocked full of nasty-free ingredients). Ahead of this weekend's massive FOOD FIGHT event, raising awareness about food security in Liverpool and South Western Sydney (part of the Museum of Contemporary Art's C3West program), we looked beyond hollow, bandwagon-jumping buzzwords and found the real sustainable foodies in the city. Here are ten Sydney restaurants and bars that are actually walking the walk. THREE BLUE DUCKS This Bronte-based cafe is evidence that sustainability doesn't have to involve compromising on taste. In fact, Three Blue Ducks serves up one of Sydney's best breakfasts, which is why you'll be queueing, should you swing by on a weekend. Chef/owner trio Darren Robertson, Mark LeBrooy and Shannon Debreceny maximise the business's eco-friendliness by sourcing produce from their farm in Byron Bay, generating power from rooftop solar panels, sending all organic waste straight to local residents and community gardens, and serving takeaway in biodegradable containers. What's more, Three Blue Ducks is famous for its support of Grow It Local, an initiative that promotes and celebrates urban farming. 143 Macpherson Street, Bronte; (02) 9389 0010. NOMAD Another water-conscious eatery is Nomad. To avoid wasting thousands of plastic bottles, owners Al Yazbek and Rebecca Littlemore use a Vestal system for filtering, chilling and carbonating. 10 percent of the cash made from water sales goes to the Whole World Water Fund. What's more, Nomad gets its charcoal from Aussie sawdust mills that process plantation pine and recycles all paper, cardboard and plastic. If you're tucking into a wood-roasted suckling pig or half-smoked Holmbrae chicken, you can have peace of mind in the knowledge that it free-ranged before hitting your plate, while every fish on the menu is line-caught. 16 Foster Street, Surry Hills; (02) 9280 3395. RED LANTERN Given that Australia is the driest continent in the world (after Antarctica, where most humans can't live comfortably for long anyway), conserving our water supplies is crucial to our sustainable future. And that's why Red Lantern, the most awarded Vietnamese restaurant on the planet, has installed its own rain tanks, as well as a wok cooking system that works without a drop of water. The majority of produce comes from organic farms and used-up cooking oil heads to Cookers, where it's turned into bio fuel. Red Lantern head chef Mark Jensen is so passionate about sustainability, he's written a book about it. 60 Riley Street, Darlinghurst; (02) 9698 4355. THE GROUNDS OF ALEXANDRIA The Grounds' green efforts start at the most fundamental (and important) of levels: by offering you significant rewards for car pooling and cycling. After all, vehicle emissions are among the biggest contributors to greenhouse gases. So, should you rock up with four or more people in your car, you score valet parking and one free coffee. And, should you and your mates turn up on bikes, you ALL get free coffees. In addition, there's an onsite composter, which means that scraps go directly to The Grounds' organic garden, which supplies bucket loads of produce to the kitchen. It's also a lovely spot to sit. 7A, 2 Huntley Street, Alexandria; (02) 9699 2225. SEAN'S PANORAMA Way before sustainability was the new trend on the block, chef/owner Sean Moran was hanging out on his farm in Bilpin (near the Blue Mountains), nurturing crops and tending to livestock. He brings his creations to his Bondi Beach restaurant, where he turns them into seasonal, hat-worthy dishes, like free-range chook roasted with thyme, parsnip puree and mushrooms, and dark chocolate pudding with cumquats and hazelnuts. Once the feasting is over, all scraps return to the farm, where they go towards growing next season's deliciousness. 270 Campbell Parade, Bondi Beach; (02) 9365 4924. BILLY KWONG Winner of the Good Food Guide's inaugural Sustainability Award, which arrived in 2009, Billy Kwong has been been going green since 2004. In 2007, it became the first restaurant in New South Wales to go 100 percent climate neutral. Owner/chef Kylie Kwong puts as much emphasis on the small details as the big picture. So, in the pantry, you'll find a plethora of organic and biodynamic sauces, while, on your plate, the ingredients come from 30 small producers, with whom Kwong has developed close working relationships. The restaurant also takes part in a renewable energy credits program, through a wind farm in Hebei, China, and supports a stack of community projects — from The Wayside Chapel's rooftop community garden to Urban Beehive. 1/28 Macleay Street, Elizabeth Bay; (02) 9332 3300. YOUNG HENRYS For a start, Young Henrys keeps travel miles down, down, down by brewing all its goodness in Newtown. Second up, those famous growlers are not only there to help you keep your fridge stocked up, but also to minimise glass production. Thirdly, every day, local chicken farmers receive one tonne of grain left over from the brewing process — which is way better than chucking it all out. Finally, in November last year, Young Henrys added to its already impressive efforts with the announcement that community energy group Pingala would build a solar farm on the roof. Knocking back a cold one has never been so good for the environment. 76 Wilford Street, Newtown; (02) 9519 0048. SINGLE ORIGIN ROASTERS Another joint harnessing the mighty power of the sun is Single Origin Roasters. Every time you sip on one of their coffees or grab a packet of their beans to take home, you can rejoice in the fact that all roasting was done by solar power, at Single O's headquarters in Alexandria. Plus, most beans come from small, environmentally-friendly and ethically-sound growers. And, more recently, the team played a role in developing a brand new invention: The Juggler Cafe Milk Tap System, which makes sure that not a single drop of milk is wasted during coffee-making. 60-64 Reservoir Street, Surry Hills; (02) 9211 0665. BONDI'S BEST Been wondering how Bondi's Best consistently churns out some of the best fish 'n' chips in Sydney? It's largely in the catch. Since this hole-in-the-wall opened in 2011, owner Joel Best has focused on serving up sustainably-caught seafood. Whether you're chowing down on tuna bruschetta with tomatoes, mushrooms and basil or Skull Island banana prawn linguini with chilli and garlic, you can rest assured that your feast has come from a responsible fisher. The Bondi Best team goes to market every morning to track down the freshest of the fresh. 39-53 Campbell Parade, North Bondi; (02) 9300 9886. LOVE.FISH When you order a dish at this Rozelle-based restaurant, you'll know exactly where it comes from. The origin of every fish is listed on the menu — whether it's wild-caught flat head from Ulladulla on the South Coast or yellowtail kingfish from South Australia. Yes, it's exactly like that Portlandia pilot. But it's a genuinely good-for-the-planet business. Love.fish works only with environmentally-respectful fishers in Australia and New Zealand. Whatever's left over after dinner — from food scraps to napkins — is transformed into green power or organic fertiliser and every inch of packaging is recycled or reused. According to love.fish's website, "As a family of two small children we are increasingly aware of how accountable we are for their future." 580 Darling Street, Rozelle; (02) 9818 7777. Want to truly celebrate Sydney's sustainable foodie scene? A huge artist-led food fight and celebration is coming to Liverpool's Bigge Park on Saturday, April 30. Part of the MCA's C3West program, FOOD FIGHT aims to raise awareness about food security in Liverpool and Greater Western Sydney. There'll be artist-led workshops, cooking demonstrations and food stalls such as Knafeh (with those insanely good Middle Eastern desserts), alongside Ukrainian, Laotian, Vietnamese and more culturally diverse foods, cooked by locals. Plus live roaming art and performances starting from 5pm and 'Food Warriors' dressed in costume heading into a giant inflatable dome for a food fight. There's more info right here. Top image: Young Henrys.
"Authenticity is paramount for us," says The Maybe Group's co-owner Stefano Catino. "We didn't want the concept to be a nod towards Mexican culture, spirits or food — it had to be a respectful homage." This is the approach the team behind multi-award-winning cocktail bar Maybe Sammy has taken to El Primo Sanchez, its cantina-style Mexican bar inside Paddington's The Rose. The Oxford Street haunt is led by Bar Manager Eduardo Conde — who brings his Mexico City heritage to the bar — in collaboration with Catino and The Maybe Group's Creative Director Martin Hudak. While Maybe Sammy and some of its sibling venues like Dean & Nancy on 22 are built on luxury, El Primo Sanchez brings the group's passion for quality cocktails to a more casual affair. The venue can accommodate up to 100 guests with intimate tables for two, secluded lounge areas and long communal benches all filling the space. The energy is fun and playful, with spotlights drawing attention to patrons with shots of tequila on the way to their table, and a two-person karaoke room hidden behind the DJ booth loaded up with hit songs — plus a functional 'Press for Tequila' button. An exciting selection of food and drinks brings unexpected twists and turns to the venue's offerings. Highballs feature prominently, ranging from mandarin palomas ($22), a refreshing highly drinkable version of the cocktail without the grapefruit; to the Charro Negro ($22), a smoky highlight of the menu that combines corn liqueur, mezcal, cola and a smoked salt rim for an experience you're unlikely to find anywhere else in Sydney. Elsewhere on the beverage list, you'll find a gimlet that uses cordial made from toasted leftover tortillas ($24); a fruity watermelon, rose, strawberry gum and lime slushy ($24); and the venue's take on a margarita ($24). Plus, most of the cocktails can be ordered by the glass — the margarita even comes in specially designed glassware — or in a jarrito ($69), El Primo Sanchez's version of a carafe. And, while there's plenty of unique creations to discover, there's also a healthy selection of classics done in the El Primo Sanchez way. Mexican-born and -raised chef Alejandro Huerta heads up the kitchen, bringing his experiences from across Sydney (No. 92, Chica Bonita) and the world (Alinea, Noma) to The Rose. Here, pork belly is marinated for 12 hours before being cooked over coals, and brussels sprouts are roasted and tossed in chilli vinegar — both ready to be placed on tacos ($11–12). Outside of the tacos, the share plates are best ordered for the table around a jarrito of the cocktail of your choice. Highlights include snapper ceviche ($23), chorizo con papas ($18), guacamole ($16), dry-aged steak ($45) and charred broccolini served with a creamy chipotle sauce ($14). The bar is the first collaboration between The Maybe Group and Public Hospitality (Oxford House, The Strand Hotel). Together, they've transformed this 1940s pub into a vibrant cocktail bar. The colour palette is bright, boasting orange and blue floor tiles, and next to the bar, you'll find a trophy cabinet displaying merch designed to honour the imaginary hero of the venue, El Primo Sanchez himself. Images: Steven Woodburn and DS Oficina.
“People are realising that they’ve become pretty disconnected from their food — where it comes from, who grows it and what goes into it,” says Indira Naidoo. “And that’s why a lot of people are growing their own. They’re learning to grow organically, without pesticides, and discovering the taste is so much better because the food is grown fresh and picked as you need it, without storage or refrigeration or transportation.” Since transforming her inner-city balcony into a fresh feast, Indira has been promoting Australia's urban farming revolution. In her new book, The Edible City, she visits some of the nation’s most productive community gardens, including a rooftop retreat for Sydney's homeless, a bush-tucker patch connecting Indigenous school students with their heritage and a worm farm helping a Melbourne restaurant to reduce food waste. In the process, Indira gives readers inspiration and tips for starting their own projects, as well as 40 urban garden recipes. The Edible City follows her popular growers guide for beginners, The Edible Balcony. “More and more, our cities are becoming about concrete and steel,” she says. “There aren’t too many green spaces around. So starting a community garden is a beautiful way to connect with nature. And it’s also a place where you can make social connections. With iPhones, and travelling in cars, we are really isolated from our communities and disconnected from our neighbours. But gardens allow us to work towards something together.” Indira shared with us five of her top tips for starting an urban garden — be it your own project or a community venture. YOU’VE GOT TO LEARN HOW TO POT BEFORE YOU LEARN HOW TO FARM “I think the first mistake that new gardeners make is that they can get a bit too enthusiastic. They go to their garden centre or hardware store and pick up lots and lots of seedlings and things – tomatoes and capsicums and chillis – and head back and plant a lot of stuff. And it gets overwhelming and a bit out of control. So, I recommend starting small. “Start with some woody herbs, like oregano, rosemary and thyme. They’re hardy. They don’t need as much water and they can take higher heat or higher cold. Then move onto soft-leafed, green herbs, like basil and parsley, and then lettuce. After that, try tomatoes and fruit, and then root vegetables.” FIND THE RIGHT SPACE — AND SIZE DOESN’T MATTER “The key thing is to find the right space to grow in. Make sure that it gets at least six to seven hours of sunlight per day. Vegetables love sunlight. You need a water source as well, whether that’s a watering can or hose. “If you don’t have much space, grow in pots and choose plants that you eat a lot of. I eat plenty of salads and greens and herbs. So, on my window sill, I have one long, thin, pot that fits nicely, and sits on a little tray, so it catches the water. I put all my lettuces in and just give them a bit of water every morning. It’s so easy. I pick the outer leaves and the plant keeps growing, so one can last me three or four months. It’s perfect. If you have more space, for a bigger pot on the ground, put in a tomato seedling – a cherry variety. They’re fun and delicious. Nothing tastes better than a home-grown tomato.” ONLY GROW WHAT YOU HAVE TIME FOR – AND STAY REGULAR “Think about how much time you have. I set aside about ten minutes a day for my plants. I’ve got about thirty pots and they keep me busy enough. Don’t put in too many if you don’t have much time. “Once you start planting, make sure you do things systematically. A garden needs regular attention. You can’t just look after things on a Wednesday and then ignore them for two weeks. You don’t need a lot of time, but you do have to be noticing changes daily or every second day, doing some watering, doing some weeding and checking for bugs or pests. It’s about putting in a little care over a period of time.” PROMOTE PLANT HEALTH TO KEEP THE BUGS AT BAY “Plants are just like humans. When you get run down, that’s when you get sick. So, if you keep your plants healthy – if you feed them well, make sure they’re in nutritious soil, fertilise them every two weeks – they’re less likely to get a bug problem. “I like using organic sprays, like Neem. They don’t harm the environment, so you still have good bugs in your pots, but they do put off an odour that moths and butterflies don’t like, so they don’t lay their eggs. And I also do a lot of companion planting. Bugs don’t like the smell of marigolds, so I put them around my basil. Sage and rosemary are good like that, too. “But you can always get bug problems, even if you’re the best gardener in the world. Insects are amazing colonisers and they find a way to get into everything. So, don’t get too despondent. I just say to myself, ‘Oh well I’m giving food to other creatures on the planet.’” GET THE TIMING RIGHT “As I explain in [Edible Balcony and Edible City], most vegetables are season-sensitive, so there’s only a few you could plant all through the year without any problem. It’s important to look at the seed packet or the little label on the seedling. “The beginning of spring is a really good time for planting across most of Australia. It’s perfect for greens, tomatoes, capsicum, chilli, eggplant ... You can put your seeds or seedlings directly into your beds or pots. I’ve a got a sunny windowsill, where I have a seed-growing tray, with a seed-growing mix which is lighter and sandier than normal potting mix. So I just pop in a few seeds and wait for them to germinate.” Tour Europe's urban gardens with Indira Naidoo in 2016 In 2016, Indira will travel to Europe to visit urban gardens in four cities – London, Amsterdam, Vienna and Berlin. And you’re invited. “It’s a way to show people that there are cities (unlike in Australia, sadly), where urban growing is taken very seriously. As the UN says, 20 percent of our food now comes from urban farms around the world, and there are lots of spaces we don’t think of that work – like underground tunnels for growing mushrooms and aquaponics systems. It’s just extraordinary, all the ways that we can grow food in cities, close to where we live.” Indira's book, The Edible City, is out now through Penguin Books.
If you managed to nab a ticket to Paul Kelly's Making Gravy tour in Melbourne last year, then you were one of the lucky ones. If you weren't and have been lamenting ever since, you can stop. The songwriting legend has just announced that he'll be performing the show all over again this December, in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. As in 2017, you can expect to hear a stack of songs from Kelly's four-decade long career. Listen out for all the hits, from "Dumb Things", from the album Live, May 1992, to "Love Never Runs On Time" from Wanted Man (1994). The Christmas classic "How To Make Gravy", first released in 1996 on an eponymous EP, is on the menu, too. Chances are, you'll also hear some tunes from Kelly's new album, Nature. Due out on 12 October, it features poems by Dylan Thomas, Walt Whitman, Sylvia Plath, Gerard Manley Hopkins and Phillip Larkin, alongside original poems and songs. Last year, his 23rd studio album, Life is Fine, topped the ARIA Albums Chart, becoming the first of his albums to do so. Kelly won't be hitting the road alone: he's inviting a bunch of special guests. He'll be joined by Angus & Julia Stone, playing tunes from 2017 album Snow, Alex Lahey at all shows, with Angie McMahon and D.D Dumbo joining the lineup in Sydney. The show is outdoors and all-ages.
In the Southern Hemisphere, we're quick to flock overseas when we hear the word 'holiday'. However if time is scarce and hopping over the equator isn't an option, there are a number of incredible accommodation options in Australia and New Zealand that are serving up some serious competition to the north. Not only are the below accommodation options impeccably designed, but most are encompassed by immaculate landscapes and vivacious cultures. In partnership with boutique hotel curator Mr & Mrs Smith, here are ten incredible hotels worth checking out this long weekend. HUKA LODGE, NEW ZEALAND Huka Lodge is nestled in Taupo, the volcanic heartland of New Zealand. It proudly sits at the forefront of the North Island on the dreamy Waikato River. The lodge complements the natural beauty of its surroundings, with peaceful bedrooms furnished with a blue and white colour palette. Unwind in the main lodge with some New Zealand Pinot Noir beside the fire. Don't leave without visiting the mesmerising Huka Falls, where the water runs at about 220,000 litres per second. It's a place for both adventure and rejuvenation. EAGLES NEST, NEW ZEALAND This luxury getaway has rightly deserved its multiple awards. Eagles Nest is a lodge that sits above New Zealand's Bay of Islands, a cluster of about 140 subtropical islands at the northern tip of the country. Visitors are treated to inspiring views that combine secluded beaches with coastal bushland. The hotel itself is sleekly put together, rich with gentle timbers. Eagles Nest caters to all types of holidays; patrons can have a day at the on-site spa, or have a session with the resident personal trainer. Watching the Pacific peacefully roll from the infinity pool could be the closest thing to feeling like you're at the end of the earth. MATAKAURI LODGE, NEW ZEALAND Overlooking adventure capital Queenstown is Matakauri Lodge—11 rooms blessed with vistas of Lake Wakatipu and the glory of its bordering mountains. We like to think of it as the Lake Como of the Southern Hemisphere. The lodge has a fireside lounge, spa, infinity pool and multiple dining areas. Plus, it's only seven minutes from the main town, where you can sign up for horse riding or helicopter tours, or (if you're game) skydiving or bungee jumping. It helps knowing you'll return to the royal yet homely comforting setting of the lodge, where adrenaline subsides and calmness kicks in. COMO THE TREASURY, AUSTRALIA The award-winning Como the Treasury is the first (and only) Australian hotel in the Singaporean chain of Como Hotels and Resorts. Occupying the old State Buildings, the hotel is one of Perth's most lavish offerings. The hotel is filled with sophisticated spaces, energised with cultural facets that pay homage to Australia's heritage. Diners at the hotel's restaurant Wildflower will find indigenous flavours, and visitors to the spa can treat themselves to Kakadu-plum facials. EMPIRE RETREAT AND SPA, AUSTRALIA Tucked away in one of Australia's most culinary rich settings is Empire Retreat and Spa. Modern meets rustic in the hotel's ten suites, which sit among manicured gardens hiding jacuzzis, a sauna and an outdoor shower for patrons to enjoy. While the hotel doesn't have its own restaurant, there is no shortage of dining options in the region. Plus, staying here is a good excuse to venture through the undisturbed bush of the Yallingup Margaret River region. If it's wine you crave, Empire has it covered with its own winery—Empire Estate. EMIRATES ONE&ONLY WOLGAN VALLEY, AUSTRALIA This Emirates One&Only resort sits among the grandeur of the sandstone Blue Mountains. There's something about the mist, endless green, and sheer volume of the region that gives it an out-of-this-world aura. This resort seizes its naturally setting, with large windows that give way to valley-filled vistas. Pools are aplenty, incorporated into many of the accommodation's 40 villas. Some are three-bedroom retreats, which makes this One&Only a top spot for group holidays. ROYAL MAIIL HOTEL & MT STURGEON, AUSTRALIA Foodies have endlessly celebrated the Royal Mail Hotel's award-winning dining room, where meals are created daily using produce harvested in the monstrous kitchen gardens. The restaurant may have an art deco feel, but the cottages part of the Mount Sturgeon Homestead stylishly go back in time, made of thick bluestone combat the weather extremes of the area. Inside are photos of local wildlife, while the generous backdrop of the Grampians sits just outside the window. THE LOUISE, AUSTRALIA If it's a vineyard retreat you're after, consider The Louise. Situated in South Australia's Barossa Valley, the hillside houses are fitted out with various tones of red and purple—very wine-appropriate. The Louise's award-winning restaurant, Appellation, serves meals with a heavy reliance on locally-sourced food. About 80 percent of the menu's ingredients are sourced within a 50-kilometre radius. The restaurant makes for the perfect setting to look over the hundred of acres of vines. SPICERS PEAK LODGE, AUSTRALIA Spicers Peak Lodge is the highest non-alpine lodge in the country, perched on Queensland's Scenic Rim. Amid 8000 acres of Scottish Highland cattle, kangaroos and wallabies bouncing around are ten suites and two lodges that present the best of modern lodge living. Guests are invited by the high-ceilinged main lodge, where you can sign up for private guided walks on the area's many trails. Sink into a lounge chair beside the deck-fringed infinity pool, or beside the fireplace with a cocktail. BELLS AT KILLCARE, AUSTRALIA Bells is a concoction of seaside modernity and comforting Hamptons-style flair. Blue, white and coral tones fill the rooms alongside revitalising bright white walls that showcase prints of flora and fauna. Rose-filled gardens circle the rooms and the restaurant. Ensure you squeeze in a bush walk through Bouddi National Park—made up of about 3700 acres of spotless beaches, waterfalls and spurts of rainforest. If you decide to take a trip this Easter long weekend, visit Mr & Mrs Smith to book your accommodation.
Joining beloved venues XOPP on the top floor of Darling Exchange, Haidilao Hotpot is an expansive restaurant, throwing its hat in the ring of Darling Square's dining precinct. The 200-seat venue offers traditional hotpot from midday till 1am, seven days a week. Guests choose up to four soup bases for their hotpot with bases like spicy oil, mushroom, tomato and chicken all on offer. From there, diners can mix and match from the menu which is divided into meat, seafood, beans and noodles, vegetables and snacks. Highlights of the meat menu include wagyu beef M8, XO tongue, pork kidneys and marbled pork belly. Be sure to order the 'dancing noodles' at some point in the meal as well, where staff will hand-stretch them in front of you before dropping them into your hotpot. Pre-meal fruit and self-serve condiment bars featuring housemade sesame paste and a variety of oils and sauces are on hand to complete your meal. Added comforts like complimentary hair ties and plush toys (to accompany solo diners) are also provided to ensure you have the perfect Sydney hotpot experience. Those waiting for a table can also be treated to a complimentary manicure — subject to availability — so waiting has never been easier or more glamorous. Originating in China, Haidilao is an international restaurant group with venues across Sydney, Australia and the world. Walk-ins are available but if you want to ensure your spot, you can book by calling the restaurant on 02 7252 3500.
Michael Hutchence died here. Bill Clinton and George Bush Senior stayed here. Elton John played the lobby piano here. Now, one of Sydney's grandest hotels (with quite the rambunctious history) is still one of the city's glitziest spots. After dwindling into disrepair, the former Ritz Carlton swept away the cobwebs and reopened as the Intercontinental Sydney Double Bay on in November 2015. One of the most talked about bits of the hotel? Aside from the hotel's own dedicated gin bar, Stillery, it was that outrageous jaw-dropper of a rooftop pool. Boasting sweeping panoramic views over Sydney Harbour and Double Bay, The Rooftop poolside bar is open officially open to both hotel guests and visitors again this summer (after a winter guest-only period), welcoming a new season from Saturday, October 1. Think blue and white striped cabana lounges and plenty of ostentatious cocktails ready for your diamond-encrusted paws. Winter's officially done. Intercontinental Sydney Double Bay's The Rooftop is open to both hotel guests and the public from Saturday, October 1. You'll find it up top at 33 Cross Street, Double Bay, with hotel bookings available from here.
Since opening its first pop-up in November 2015, Barangaroo's culinary precinct, The Streets of Barangaroo, has been running full steam ahead. The waterfront dining precinct is bursting with food options both high-brow and casual, with a new opening every other week. Queues form daily at the permanent instalment of Melbourne's Belles Hot Chicken, which delivers the deep-fried goods with abandon, just-opened vermouth bar Banksii is packed at quitting time, while Zushi serves up fresh sushi with pearler views of Darling Harbour. Also buzzing is Devon, which has just moved their Danks Street cafe to the new precinct, as well as Bentley-run restaurant Cirrus and the new Ume Burger. We could go on. And to make things even more gloriously overwhelming, there's even more to come. Over the next few months another five new eateries are set to open in the precinct, from rooftop cocktail bars to Louisiana-style barbecue joints. Stay tuned.
A good martini is all in the detail — it relies on the skill of the bartender, the quality of the booze and the beauty of the glass itself — rarely will two ever be the same. Informed, friendly service, and an ambiance that matches the luxury of a martini is an added bonus. Sydney is spoilt for martini choice. Whether you like it shaken or stirred, above or below ground, loud and loose or classy and personal, someone around town is making your perfect martini. We've partnered with Grey Goose, one of the most luxurious brands of vodka you can get, for our series of guides that are helping you discover the luxury in your city. This one is for martinis — it's the most decadent cocktail you can sip on. Start ticking off the martinis at these ten bars, or if you're on a budget, grab a bottle of Grey Goose and take it home to make your own. ARCHIE ROSE DISTILLERY If you like getting up close and personal with the contents of your martini glass, go visit Archie Rose. The bespoke distillery in Rosebery provides a unique experience of creating your own vodka or gin on-site, with tastings and tours available for the interested. The glamorous old-world bar is also the perfect setting to sit down and taste test Archie Rose's four on-menu martinis. There's a dry option, a strong, option, an espresso martini and one made with a twist of orange. THE ROOSEVELT The Roosevelt is hailed by many martini snobs to have the best martini in town. It's next-level luxury at this Potts Point bar, with its cosy leather booths and tables that come complete with a hole in the middle for your champagne bucket. One part glam, one part retro and one part mixologist's fantasy, The Roosevelt is an irresistible mix that has almost immediately become one of Sydney's best cocktail destinations. One of their martinis is made with Grey Goose vodka and served with liquid nitrogen, but you should just order the classic here. BULLETIN PLACE The award-winning bartenders at this cosy joint can mix up a classic martini with the best of them. Industry favourite and much lauded Bulletin Place is pint sized but full of candle-lit character and quality drink making. These guys take their drinks, but not themselves, pretty seriously. SINCE I LEFT YOU Tucked down an alleyway, Since I Left You has one of the city's most coveted venue features - a courtyard. The whole bar is art deco themed, which makes it's the perfect old-school spot to sit in luxurious surroundings and sip on one of their martinis. The courtyard is decorated with fairy lights, and the cocktail list is impressive and creative. DEAD RINGER This unassuming but stylish casual bar in Surry Hills is doing some excellent work for the drinks category in Sydney. From the team that opened Bulletin Place, Dead Ringer is quietly setting an impressive benchmark for cocktails and bar food. Come for a martini, order some snacks, and then stay for dinner. ICEBERGS DINING ROOM AND BAR At some point everyone needs to sit with what is possibly the most Instagrammed pool in the world, at Icebergs. All the better to do it with a luxurious martini in hand, which will have been delivered to you by suited waiters, while perving on the fashionable crowd that generally occupies the elegantly understated bar. It's class all the way here, folks. Take a date, take an overseas visitor, and definitely take your credit card — don't forget to take a photo. THE BAXTER INN There might be a queue and it might be hard to find but The Baxter Inn is definitely worth seeking out when you've hit with martini cravings. This small cave-like, romping bar is all drinks and loud music. Bartenders use sliding ladders to scale a two meter wall stacked with beautiful bottles of booze and give every patron the personalised service that drinks this good require — even if you do have to lean over the bar and yell your martini order at times — you'll be glad you did. EAU DE VIE One of the most experimental and celebrated bars in town, Eau De Vie is also one of the original game changers in the scene. There's smoke, there's spherical ice, there's showmanship and Grey Goose vodka as well as an extremely high level of skill and care going into your drinks. If you like your martini ice cold — head to EDV, where the bartenders glove-up to mix your vodka of choice with liquid nitrogen and personalise every step to your preference. Trust us, your martini is in safe hands here. STITCH BAR In Sydney's inner city Stitch is known for their burgers, hotdogs and tacos as well as their stellar drinks menu. With luxuriously low lighting and bluesy tunes, this is a popular after-work drink spot for all the right reasons. Grab a martini made with Grey Goose and take a seat at the bar among the luxuriously casual setting. THE ROOK One word: Rooftop. Another word: Drinks. That's pretty much all you need to know about The Rook. One of the very few rooftop bars in Sydney, the view is mostly of the business district's skyscrapers, but being perched above the cars and noise below does invoke a sense of special occasion. Head here on a Sunday afternoon and sip on a martini to finish off your weekend in style. BUTTON BAR The leather booths, long timber bar and warm lighting makes Button Bar a favourite haunt for the hip crowd of the innermost part of Surry Hills. It's cosy, and hidden behind an unmarked doorway. Drinks are the focus here, with knowledgable staff taking the time to make a classic the way you want it — that means your martini will be personalised, and delicious. Not keen on a martini? Answer four simple questions and Grey Goose Vodka's discover function will tell you which cocktail you're perfectly suited for. Discover the luxury in your city with our Luxe Guide. Top Image: Steven Woodburn.
With the end of the year come lists in which we can wrap up 12 months into a neat little package, and 2014 thankfully has been an uncommonly good year for publishing. Some of the most interesting and articulate books published in recent memory emerged in the last 12 months. What follows is our selection of some of the some of the best. Read them deeply, and furiously, with all the extra sunlight the summer affords. A GIRL IS A HALF-FORMED THING BY EIMEAR MCBRIDE A Girl Is A Half-Formed Thing follows an insistently insurrectionary young girl from childhood in rural Ireland through to her mid-twenties. The book has acquired the beginnings of its own literary mythology: it took Eimear McBride six months to write and nine years to find a publisher. In short, it’s a book that does what it does with complete indifference to the needs of the book market. And that makes it utterly unique, and a heretically, dangerously beautiful book. The story loosely follows the young woman’s relationship with her brother, and the long shadow cast by his childhood brain tumour. But the plot is not as important as the mode of expression. The language, while difficult to compare to anything else, is forceful, jagged, bearing close resemblances to the writing of Samuel Beckett and James Joyce. The result is a book that tears you apart, which feels completely and overwhelmingly necessary. Get A Girl Is a Half Formed Thing from Booktopia. THE EMPATHY EXAMS BY LESLIE JAMISON The Empathy Exams is arguably the best and most culturally pivotal collection of essays published in recent memory. Beginning with the author’s experience as a medical actor, paid to perform symptoms for medical students and then grade their responses, Jamison’s essays focus on how we understand the pain of others: how, and if we should, care about one another, the ways that empathy can be tested, how we confront pain both real and imagined. In writing which is both precise and vulnerable, Jamison’s essays in The Empathy Exams cover poverty tourism, bewildering marathons, reality television and incarceration, the fundamental thesis of which is that we are experiencing a very specific cultural moment: an urgency compelling us to feel. Get The Empathy Exams from Booktopia DEPT. OF SPECULATION BY JENNY OFFILL Jenny Offill’s second novel, Dept. of Speculation charts the course of a steady and then gradually precarious marriage through curious fragments of prose. The narrator, like the writer, lives in Brooklyn, falls in love, marries, has a child (it being Brooklyn there is both yoga and bedbugs). Over the course of the marriage there are jobs and dinners and sleepless nights; the plot is not really the point here. What makes Dept. of Speculation important is the language — gorgeous, enthralling, moving quickly while it commands your attention. I read Dept. Of Speculation in one sitting, over three hypnotised hours. When I got to the end of it I crept into the bedroom, nuzzled against my boyfriend who had been quietly checking his email, and wept — to his immense confusion – for a solid 20 minutes. Get Dept. of Speculation from Booktopia AN ELEGANT YOUNG MAN BY LUKE CARMAN An Elegant Young Man was published at the end of 2013 by Giramondo — arguably the most interesting Australian publishing house at the moment — with a particular interest in supporting literary culture in western Sydney. An Elegant Young Man does precisely that, imbuing the streets of Liverpool and Penrith with the poetry of Dylan Thomas and the dark ennui of Dostoevsky, but going further than that, making something uniquely his own, a distinctive literature to reflect contemporary Sydney. The book comprises eight interlinked stories, all narrated by 'Luke', who hails, like Carman himself, from the suburb of Mt Pritchard. Luke is adrift, unsure whom he represents, shifting between bluster and hesitation in a place where the lights from police helicopters wake children from their sleep, where kids in gang wars crush the roses on the front lawn. An Elegant Young Man deserves to get Carman much more attention than he has so far been afforded. Get An Elegant Young Man from Booktopia THIS HOUSE OF GRIEF BY HELEN GARNER On Father’s Day 2005, near the town of Winchelsea in rural Victoria, a car ran off the road and plunged into a dam. Robert Farquharson, the man driving the car, escaped unharmed. His three sons — who he was in the process of returning to their mother, from whom he had recently separated — they all drowned. The ensuing court trial spanned the best part of the decade, resulting in three life sentences for murder. This House of Grief presents the theatre of the courtroom: how we grapple with truth, what justice looks like, what a person means by their words and by their actions. Helen Garner is without question one of Australia’s greatest living writers, and arguably our best writer of nonfiction. And this book is some kind of masterpiece. Get This House of Grief from Booktopia THE BLAZING WORLD BY SIRI HUSTVEDT The Blazing World is Siri Hustvedt’s sixth and newest novel, returning her to the territory of New York’s art world. The story is set in the years before and after 9/11, and follows an ageing, brilliant, occasionally unruly artist named Harriet Burden, who orchestrates an elaborate hoax on the art world she entitles ‘Maskings’. Over a period of five years she holds exhibitions of work using the 'masks' of different practising male artists to expose the art market’s gender bias. The hoax is eventually revealed. Mayhem ensues. The Blazing World is pieced together from multiple sources; there are critical essays by art scholars, interviews with art dealers, reviews of exhibitions, diary entries and written testimonials. It is without doubt one of the most innovative and unsettling books published in the last year. If you are interested in art, in women, in New York, then, please, read this book. Get The Blazing World at Booktopia THOSE WHO LEAVE AND THOSE WHO STAY BY ELENA FERRANTE In September the third book in Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan series was published: Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay. For those who are new to Ferrante, it’s best to begin at the beginning, with My Brilliant Friend. The Neapolitan books (of which there are an uncertain number, although so far three have been published) follow the story of a life-long friendship between two women, Lilia and Elena, growing up in an impoverished neighbourhood in 1950s Naples. Their lives converge and diverge, and in doing so they encompass personal truths about family, friendship between women, desire, and the political and economic realities of Italy and the rest of the world as it stumbled through the mid-20th century. Ferrante’s writing is sinewy, scaldingly direct. Her books ransack you. If you aren’t reading Elena Ferrante you are missing out. Get Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay at Booktopia WHAT WE SEE WHEN WE READ BY PETER MENDELSUND Peter Mendelsund’s What We See When We Read is a friendly and shyly philosophical, fully illustrated exploration into the phenomenology of reading — precisely how we visualise stories from reading words on a page — from one of America’s very best book designers. It explores a simple but confounding question, one the author wrests from literary theorists and transforms through beautiful imagery redolent of X-Acto knives, drawing tables and the very best design books you can find. It’s fascinating, beautiful and filled with news you can almost use. Get What We See When We Read at Booktopia READ HARDER: FIVE YEARS OF GREAT WRITING FROM THE BELIEVER EDITED BY ED PARK AND HEIDI JULAVITS Read Harder collects some of the finest essays from the last five years of The Believer magazine, which, it’s reasonable to argue, is one of the best magazines anywhere. Read Harder features articles by Nick Hornby on his first job explaining England to Korean businessmen, Kent Russell on self-immunisers in Wisconsin, Molly Young on the Hollister experience, Rebecca Taylor on her time acting in no-budget horror movies and Francisco Goldman on the failings of memoir to deal with personal tragedy. “If you sincerely investigate it, every detail hides reason, and any environment is far more sophisticated than our senses can appreciate,” former Washington Post reporter Monte Reel writes in a survey of Victorian explorer manuals. This is the sentiment that unites the pieces in Read Harder, in what amounts to a primer for the best contemporary non-fiction writing being written. Get Read Harder at Booktopia 10.04 BY BEN LERNER 10.04 was arguably the most ‘hyped’ book of the last year. Lerner, ordinarily a poet, published his first novel, Leaving The Atocha Station, in 2011, and 10.04 takes off where that book leaves off. 10.04 inhabits a weird liminal zone between maybe-true and maybe-not-quite-as-true. The narrator bears every resemblance to a writer who has published the same short stories and poetry in the same magazines as Lerner. 10.04 isn’t strictly a work of fiction; it’s much more interested in the changes in cell metabolism or air pressure or whatever it is that turns life into art. Sometimes it can feel a little like a big practical joke at the reader’s expense. But if you want to know where the English language was at in 2014, 10.04 is the book to read. Get 10:04 from Booktopia
It's almost too easy to fill up your calendar with fun activities in Sydney. Look this way and you'll get a smack of harbour vista, look that way and you'll encounter some public art, say 'yes' to any invite from a friend and you'll be feasting on something delicious. But seeing the best, truly distinctive things that Sydney has to offer — the things we do better than anybody else, the things that become burned in the memory — that can take some planning. Start scheming to get to these 26 bucket list places and events, our very favourites from across the whole city, and we guarantee you'll be goo-goo-eyed with love for Sydney. What are your favourite things to do in Sydney? Let us know in the comments. [A]rtbar at the MCA. Every day is good at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, but it's the nighttimes we savour. See the exhibitions, peek out over the harbour from the rooftop terrace and enjoy the party cooked up by the guest artist curator. [B]ondi to Coogee walk. It's a given the Bondi to Coogee walk would be on here, isn't it? It's just so damn beautiful. It's just so damn Sydney. Bonus: wherever you start from, there's always a great brunch waiting for you at the other end. (These other coastal walks come a close second.) [C]rosswords and breakfast dessert at Devon on Danks. If there's a downside to your usual breakfast, it's that it's over as quick as it came. But at the magical place that is Devon on Danks, you can follow your eggs with a filled doughnut ball (i.e. Danks-In-Donut), a cronut (cronnie) or soft serve with hot chips. Linger long enough with the Saturday papers and you might just fit in all three. [D]rinking coffee in Surry Hills. Sorry, Italy. Somewhere along the line, Australia really took the ball and ran with it when it came to coffee, and now New York and London clamour for our Antipodean alchemy. Enjoy the ready supply over at the legendary Single Origin, or hop over to Paramount Coffee Project, Reuben Hills and The Reformatory around the corner. [E]ating takeaway fish and chips from Bondi's Best on the grassy knoll of North Bondi. Fish and chips make winter taste like summer and summer taste like some kind of Coke ad for summer that's too good to be an actual thing that you get to live through. [F]ancy dinners at Quay. It's not cheap, but when we want to impress out-of-towners (or anyone really), this is where we head. Best bit: cracking into one of Peter Gilmore's famous Snow Eggs at the end of your meal. [G]igs at OAF chased by Mr Crackles in the late night/early morning. Ears ringing and mouths gummed with slow roast pork belly, this is when we feel most alive. [H]itting up Cabramatta for some freshly squeezed sugarcane juice and pandan waffles. There's a lot of great food adventures to be had in Sydney's west, but the mini Vietnam in Cabra takes the cake. A few banh mi heavier, waddle into a grocery store and stock up on those hard-to-find Asian delights to enjoy at home. [I]mbibing a vodka, gin and whisky flight at Archie Rose. Think you know your spirits? So did we until Archie Rose handed us an eye-dropper and got us reacquainted with the holy trinity. The old-world distillery bar does everything with excellence. [J]oining in a game of lawn bowls with city skyline views at The Greens. And just to make sure you're at peak bowling fitness, ordering one of those cocktails they serve in a whole watermelon. [K]ayaking on Sydney Harbour. If you want the feeling of joie de vivre that comes from a day out on sparkling Sydney Harbour, it helps to be rich. But anyone with 25 dollarydoos in their pocket can rent out a kayak from Rose Bay and paddle to nearby coves or even islands Shark and Clarke. We also rate these kayaking spots around Sydney. [L]icking chicken and garlic sauce from your fingers at El-Jannah in Granville. Look, everyone has their charcoal chicken loyalties. That's understandable. But if, in this dingy cafeteria, as you wipe clean your melamine plate of its slop of famous sauce, you feel anything less than truly satisfied deep within your soul, then you are a rare and unlucky individual. [M]essina sundaes and a John Candy Box at Golden Age. We love this Surry Hills cinema for its clever and quality programming, its vintage forest-green seating and its snack bar selection. For the perfect snuggly movie date, it's a close tie between this and Cremorne's glorious art deco picture palace, the Hayden Orpheum. [N]estling into your seat at the Opera House as the lights go down. Really, it's remarkable that this distinctive beauty even made it past the naysayers, reactionaries and xenophobes of 1960s Sydney and got built. When we go there now to take in one of the 1500+ theatre, dance, contemporary music, talks and art events they host throughout the year, we can't help but feel lucky. [O]gling the fishies while snorkelling at Cabbage Tree Aquatic Reserve. There are a number of fine snorkelling spots in Sydney, but the sheer volume and diversity of sea life here keeps us coming back. Plus, you're in Manly, so perfectly placed for barbecue meats at Papi Chulo or a restorative feed at Fika Swedish Kitchen afterwards. [P]laying on Cockatoo Island. There's something about that ferry ride to Cockatoo Island. It's like a rite that gets us to leave our inhibitions and expectations behind. We arrive ready to play at festivals like the Biennale of Sydney and Underbelly Arts, both of which have made the island a home for large-scale, interactive and fantastical art in recent years. [Q]uestioning everything you know about The Rocks with The City of Forking Paths. This is easily one of the best art experiences to be had in the city. Acquired by the City of Sydney during the 2014 Biennale, The City of Forking Paths is a mobile video work that is GPS-activated and time-locked so you can only open the app at Customs House after dark. Hold your phone up to your face and be led through The Rocks for a soul-rattling 70-minute walk. [R]iding the ferry during Vivid. It's more crowded and intense than your usual commute, but the visual splendour more than makes up for it. [caption id="attachment_526608" align="aligncenter" width="1280"] Photo: Bodhi Liggett[/caption] [S]wimming and picnicking at Milk Beach. There are dozens of contenders for best place to swim (these beaches, ocean pools and secluded spots among them), and some have clearer waters, fun bars and impressive natural features. But sheltered Milk Beach, where you can dog paddle into a perfect harbour panorama, has got to be the most unique to Sydney. [T]wilight at Taronga — or anytime at Taronga. Baby animals: turns out, they're even better in real life than on YouTube. Go to Taronga to make some new penguin friends, spend time with nature, soak up summer concert series Twilight at Taronga and, every now and then, do the epic Roar and Snore campout. [U]nwinding with a day at Palm Beach. Or, when we really want to get away from everyone, hopping on the ferry from there to car-free Coasters Retreat. [V]isiting the White Rabbit Gallery for 21st-century Chinese art, tea and dumplings. Now, Chippendale is a thriving arts district. But back in 2009, there was just the White Rabbit and temporary tenant Fraser Studios giving the suburb a spark of new life. With collector-philanthropist Judith Neilson's eye for bold, political yet fun works, this place is a bit like Sydney's own MONA. [W]atching Opera on the Harbour with the Opera House in the backdrop. The problem with seeing a show at the Opera House (not that it's so problematic it didn't make the list) is that you can't see the exterior of the house once you're inside it. Have your cake and eat it too in March and April when Opera on the Harbour sets up at Mrs Macquaries Point, with views stretching across the water. It ain't cheap (or subtle), but it's truly spectacular. Summer's St George Openair Cinema is a well-priced alternative. E[x]panding your mind over drinks at Jurassic Lounge. This event series at the Australian Museum is the blue ribbon holder among after-hours culture parties for adults. The program varies but you can invariably have a few drinks, see some live acts, dance in the silent disco and hold a giant stick insect on your arm. [Y]ielding to another plate of meat at Porteno. There's no shortage of excellent barbecue feasts to be found in Sydney, but what we love about Porteno is that it's idiosyncratic, full of personality, always delicious and a real stayer in a dining scene regarded as fickle. Also, our mums thank them for finally converting us to Brussels sprouts. [Z]igzagging your way up the art-splashed stairs of Hibernian House for a fringe play, gig or haircut. It's been compared to Berlin's Kunsthaus Tacheles, but this rambling warehouse space exudes a force all of its own. As well as the ever active Old 505 Theatre, the venue is home to gigs, parties, art shows, a hairdresser, studios and residences. Just remember that last function and respect people's privacy when you're stickybeaking.
Back in 2016, Bentley co-owners Brent Savage (food) and Nick Hildebrandt (wine) announced they were going 100 per cent vegetarian with fine diner Yellow. Their aim? To show that vegetarian and vegan dishes are just as tasty as any other menu item. Now, it's one of Sydney's go-to dining destinations. Set in Yellow House on Macleay Street, the bistro's name and design pay respect to the building's history as an artists' dive during the 70s when Brett Whiteley, Martin Sharpe and George Gittoes would reportedly grace the place with their presence. Designer Pascale Gomes-McNabb gives due respect to the original building by retaining a bohemian character and featuring exposed brickwork. The fit-out takes a leap forward into high irony with elements such as distressed wooden tables that belong more at a beachside country kitchen than inner-city bistro, but with the geometric bling of mirrors and gold frames as a counterbalance, we know we're in safe hands. Service is snappy and informative, and early on a Monday night the place had a Friday night buzz. Open seven nights a week from 6pm (and for lunch on weekends), this could very easily become a second home for Potts Point locals. Lucky things.
One of Australia's most redeeming qualities is its ability to give good afternoon sun. There's something about its familiar glow that almost demands casual drinks – whether it's cracking open a cold beer after a day out, heading to the pub after a long day of work, or deciding on a whim that your backyard is perfect for having friends over. We love summer afternoons, so we've spoken to a few of our favourite chefs, musicians and artists, to get their insights on creating the perfect balmy afternoon. And what's better than a barbecue? For advice, we asked the boys from Three Blue Ducks. Mark LaBrooy specifically — he's one of the co-founders of the restaurant-cafe hybrid that was born in Bronte but ended up being so popular it expanded to Byron Bay and, most recently, Rosebery. He and the team at Three Blue Ducks have made working with barbecue flames and smoke a priority at their venues. At their Rosebery location, there's a barbecue, a wood-fired oven and an outdoor charcoal pit. They're experts in barbecue. And more than that, they're experts in taking the standard barbecue fare you usually whip up to the next level, and LaBrooy has shared some tips so you can do the same. He's also given us some recipes, for a burrata salad, a seafood prawns main, and a charred pineapple dessert. "They're all about spring and summer flavours," he says. "Inspired by warm weather and catching up with friends." The burrata salad is a green (but hearty) vegetarian option for your barbecue friends who don't eat meat, while the prawn dish is "light, and great for entertaining because it's not rocket science to prepare". The pineapple recipe is LaBrooy wanting you to try something a little different by charring your fruit. "People should experiment more with fruit on the barbecue, vegetables too," he says. He says the first thing to think about when you're cooking is that produce is key to a good barbecue. He suggests going elsewhere than the supermarket to grab your ingredients. "Go to a real butcher, not a supermarket. Go to the fish markets to get your prawns, and a local organic growers market for your fruits and vegetables." Let the ingredients lead you — if the produce is good, just put it on the barbie and see what happens. "Like a whole bunch of Dutch carrots or something, just give them a wash, put on some good quality olive oil, salt and pepper and char it up. Don't be shy — the hotter the better." "Barbecuing is the cooking technique that fits in best with us," he says. "It's connected to the environment and there's something really intimate about using the fire — it's inconsistent, there's a real element of maintenance and care in the cooking process." When finished, all three dishes will look incredible, but don't get too caught up with perfection when you're hosting a barbecue. Part of the fun is that barbecue-ing isn't always pretty. "It's a bit ugly and charred," he says. "You can get those really aggressive, black tones in the appearance and colouration of your cooking." Follow these three recipes and transform your afternoon barbecue into one that's worthy of being on the menu at Three Blue Ducks. BURRATA WITH CHARRED ZUCCHINI AND SPRING ONIONS Ingredients: 4 pieces of burrata (about 100 grams each) ¼ bunch parsley ¼ bunch basil 1 clove garlic 100ml virgin olive oil 1 tsp Dijon mustard 1 lemon zest and juice salt and pepper 1 bunch spring onion 3 zucchini cut in ¼ 100g toasted hazelnuts roughly chopped Method: Make a nice coal fire on the grill side of your barbecue. Char off the zucchini and the spring onions after giving them a good season and a splash of olive oil. When the zucchini and spring onions get some good colour, take them off the heat and start plating up. Take a food processor and place the herbs, olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, zest and Dijon inside. Give it a good whizz until a bright green paste forms. Season well and set aside. Take a plate or bowl and arrange the zucchini and spring onions around the outside, making a well for your burrata to sit in. Flick in a few teaspoons of the herb puree, place the burrata in the centre and sprinkle over some hazelnuts. Season the burrata and drizzle a bit of olive oil if you feel you need it. Squeeze a bit of extra lemon juice over everything to finish off. CONFIT GARLIC AND CHILLI BBQ PRAWNS WITH BUTTERMILK AVOCADO AND RADICCHIO Ingredients: 1 bulb garlic peeled 3 long red chillies deseeded 1 cup olive oil 16 large king prawns cleaned and butterflied 3 avocados 1 lemon juice and zest 2 tablespoons olive oil 100ml buttermilk 1 large radicchio with the outer leaves pulled off and cut in ¼ Salt and pepper Method: Take the chillies and garlic and place in a small saucepan. Add the cup of olive oil and cover with foil. Bake at 160-degrees for 1-30 mins, then place in a food processor and give it a whizz. Using a pastry brush baste the prawns just before grilling on the barbecue. Take your food processor and add the avocado, olive oil, lemon juice and zest and the buttermilk, give it a whizz and set aside for when your plating up. Grill your prawns and radicchio on super high heat, season well and brush with olive oil. This should only take a few minutes. Give a good whack of buttermilk avo purée. CHARRED PINEAPPLE WITH CASHEWS, THAI BASIL AND LEMONGRASS GRANITA Ingredients: 1 pineapple skinned and cut into quarters 1 tablespoon brown sugar For the granita: 350ml water 180g sugar 3 stalks lemongrass, roughly chopped 2 chillies roughly chopped 80g ginger roughly chopped 100ml lemon juice 100g yogurt 1 vanilla bean scraped and deseeded ¼ bunch Thai basil 80g toasted and salted cashews Method: The granita needs to be made the day before and set in the freezer over night. To serve all you have to do is scrape it with a fork or give it a quick whizz in a food processor. Make sure you put the bowl in the freezer first so you don't melt the granita too much. Take a medium sized pot and add the sugar, lemongrass, chilli, and water. Bring to the boil and then set aside and let it cool down on the bench, then strain and add the lemon juice, and put in the freezer to set overnight. Sprinkle the pineapple with brown sugar and place on the grill on high heat. You're looking to get some good colour and charring on the pineapple, cooking it at the same time. Cut into chunks and set aside. Take a small bowl and add the yogurt and the vanilla give it a good mix. To plate up, arrange the pineapple on the base of the plate and a few dollops of the vanilla yogurt. Take a large spoon of granita and place in the centre, then sprinkle with cashews and Thai basil. Images: Kimberley Low.
Ask people about voguing and the first thing most can come up with is an offhand reference to that music video Madonna did back in 1990. While her hit single 'Vogue' did serve to catapult the dance form onto the world stage, the story of its origins as a queer, black cultural practice born in the marginalised locales of New York is a more obscured tale. For the young kids living back in Harlem back then (and even today), it wasn’t so much of a dance form as it was about cultivating a safe space for self-expression and community. In a world so primed to reject these minorities, voguing was a fresh cause for celebration. Australian performance artist Bhenji Ra is out to shatter people’s Madonna-imbued misconceptions and redefine how we think of voguing. Performing in Performance Space’s weekend of live art, Day for Night, Bhenji and Liverpool-based dance troupe The Pioneers will be conducting a series of vogue ‘classes’ that explore the appropriation of the practice across different subcultures. With Day for Night looming and Mardi Gras hot on its heels, we thought it time to learn about the true history of voguing. Here it is, from its streetside beginnings to its commercial success. ORIGINS: THE DRAG BALLROOMS OF HARLEM Just as the name suggests, voguing drew its start from the pages of Vogue magazine, as dancers took to emulating the elaborate poses struck by editorial models. Harlem’s community halls were transformed into drag ballrooms, places that working class, queer, Latino and African Americans could truly claim as their stomping ground, removed from the judgment of the heteronormative world. They established different ‘Houses’ – a network of fraternity that was almost a home away from home for these young outcasts. Away from Harlem, others were also playing it up. "The gay inmates [of Riker's Island in New York] would imitate the models of Vogue magazine and it became a thing of replicating the catwalk and also having drag battles," says Bhenji. THEN: STRIKE A POSE So how did such a localised cultural practice become thrust into the world spotlight? As was the answer to most things in the '80s, it was Madonna. Her song 'Vogue', with its ubiquitous music video, disseminated a washed-down version of vogue culture, easily digestible for the pop audience (“It makes no difference if you’re black or white, if you’re a boy or girl,” she sings). For the original voguers, the success of this new publicity was only short lived. “[For] people like Willi Ninja, who really had a vision for vogue to be known globally, to think that something that started in the community hall went into this hyper-globalised market and just being known by millions around the world, I think that blew their mind," says Bhenji. "But I guess from my point of view, post-post all of that, you can sit back and say, it's not really correct in a way in that what happens to [the voguers] after that? They're in the same place, their careers haven’t escalated." NOW: VOGUING GOES VIRAL In the 20 plus years since, voguing has gone through countless reinventions and interpretations, transforming from a pose-heavy expressionism to a much more fluid and stylised choreography as influences from sub-genres of dance such as femme, waacking, and dancehall fed into its evolution. And with technology of course, voguing can be taught anywhere, anytime: “Kids are learning from YouTube and screens and they’re not learning from the OGs [Original Gangsters], or the legends, or the originals in New York ... people exploring voguing in Australia or anywhere outside of New York, there’s always a new twist to it,” says Bhenji. DECONSTRUCTED AT DAY FOR NIGHT The Madonna moment of vogue is just one instance of cultural appropriation that Bhenji Ra and the Pioneers aim to address in Performance Space's Day for Night. But what happens when vogue is transferred and reincarnated across marginal groups, from the original African Americans on the New York piers to Australia’s suburban centres of diaspora? “People go ‘Oh why isn't there vogue groups that we know of?’. Well sometimes, especially in Australia, we don't need them," says Bhenji. "But then you go out into the fringes, in the suburbs, where there's mostly Polynesians or Asians ... then you see these kind of things pop up where people start to gather together and create crews. "We should question ourselves when we pick up the form. We should talk about the form, that it's not just wavy arms ... It's a community, it's a culture, just like any other traditional form of performance." Presented by Performance Space, Carriageworks and Sydney’s Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, Day for Night is on in February in two parts: a party on the night of Friday 20 (7.30 - 11.30pm) and the live art exhibition on February 21 – 22 (where you can catch Bhenji, from 12 – 8pm daily). Image by James Brown for Performance Space.
The future of Sydney's nightlife in the face of the NSW Government's infamous lockout laws might still be in a state of polarising uncertainty, but the perseverant bunch at nightlife lobby group Keep Sydney Open is attempting to reinvigorate one of Sydney's central night spots. After a Kings Cross-wide event back in July, KSO is taking over Darlinghurst for a day-to-night takeover of the areas best venues. Alongside the Darlinghurst Business Partnership, the collective will take over 16 (and counting) Darlo nightlife venues for a precinct festival on Saturday, October 21 from 3pm all the way through to 3.30am. You'll be able to ho between venues such as Shady Pines Saloon, Golden Age, The Unicorn, The Colombian, The Cliff Dive and Stonewall, each of which will be throwing their own parties all through the afternoon and night. Some events will be ticketed while others, like markets and outdoor activations, will be free to attend. "A report conducted by the Darlinghurst Business Partnership found that bars and clubs took a 33 percent hit to their turnover after the lockouts, but shockingly, daytime business fell by 25 percent," says KSO campaign director Tyson Koh. "It shows how far-reaching the effects of the lockouts are on all aspects of the city's vitality. There's a sense now, however, that things are heading in the right direction. Creating a vibrant city starts with us, which is why we're putting on Meet Me In Darlo. I think it's time we get out there, take back nightlife and take back our city!" Who will you find having a mad boogie within these venues? Well, that's all set to be revealed soon, along with the full program and ticketing details. So keep October 21 free and stay tuned. Meet Me in Darlo is happening across Darlinghurst on October 21 from 3pm till 3.30am. Tickets will go on sale soon here. Image: Kimberley Low.
A Purity Ring gig is not just a concert, but an experience. This is due to three factors. One: their unrestrained dedication to deep, deep bass. Two: their hypnotising light show, which they've created themselves. And three: Megan James's extraordinary, soaring vocals. And their sci-fi costumes are pretty damn impressive, too. Hailing from Canada, the duo — who is made up of James and producer Corin Roddick — have been mesmerising crowds at festivals and clubs all over the planet. Following their breakthrough album, Shrines, they've since collaborated with the likes of Danny Brown and Jon Hopkins. Coming our way to play St Jerome's Laneway Festival in Melbourne and Perth, Purity Ring will make two headline appearances while they're here — one at the Sydney Opera House on February 9 and at Melbourne's Forum Theatre on February 11. Then they're off to the States to play a bunch of festivals, including Coachella.
Located in the heart of the bustling CBD, Machiavelli Ristorante dates back to 1988, and focuses on brining the finest and freshest ingredients to its menu, while choosing organic whenever possible. Head chef Laurent Cambon has been at the helm since 1994, drawing from his experience working at Paris classics such as L'Arpege and Au Trou Gascon to bring the finest dining experience to Sydney. The interior is a classic Italian eatery, complete with white-washed arches and tiled brick floor. The tables are adorned with classic white tablecloths and the simple wooden furniture helps to draw attention to the main star — the cuisine. Its not hard to picture Don Corleone enjoying a meal here, however with the excellent service and delightful clientele the night is destined to be memorable for only the right reasons. The Machiavelli Ristorante menu here is everything you could expect from a traditional Italian joint that's famed for hosting prime ministers and media moguls. The antipasti menu includes zucchini flowers with ricotta, a caprese salad with vine-ripened tomatoes, basil and fresh mozzarella and a serving of prosciutto served straight up. For a pasta dish, try the gnocchi gorgonzola or the pappardelle duck ragu in a rich madeira sauce and fresh thyme. They are absolute winners. Mains include the Milanese scaloppine with golden bread crumbs and lemon as well as the deliciously rich and creamy steak diane with butter garlic and Worcestershire sauce. Be sure to pair it all with a glass of red or two and finish off with an adffogato paired with Amaretto or Frangelico. Appears in: The Best Italian Bars in Sydney for 2023
You never need an excuse to go away for the weekend, but having an event to plan one around really sets the wheels in motion. This spring, regional spots across NSW (and the ACT) will be hosting everything from tulip shows to exhibitions of American master artworks to riverside camping festivals. So pick one, lock in some mates and accommodation, and you'll have a ready-made pearler on the horizon.
Royal Headache may have made history as possibly the first band to have an Opera House gig (almost) shut down by the police, but for the returning kings of the Sydney garage scene it's pretty much exactly what you would expect. Playing as part of the Repressed Records night for Vivid LIVE this past Saturday night, the band tackled the question of "Can a garage band really work in the Opera House?" with their typically riotous and joyful gig ending abruptly when security and NSW police responded to thirty or more fans who had jumped the stage, promptly shutting down the gig. Returning for their first hometown gig in more than two years, Royal Headache’s Vivid excursion to the Opera House (despite ending dramatically) is part of a commendable, if perhaps too-vaguely researched, experiment by the Opera House to open their doors to a different kind of Sydney scene. Audience members were free to wander in and out of the Joan Sutherland Theatre throughout the night — one doorwoman adeptly noted to ticketholders, "This isn’t the symphony." An excellent array of cross-genre bands took the stage, handpicked by those legends of independent music sellers, Repressed Records. Ranging from the eclectic ensemble of Snake and Friends (headed by Al Montfort from Dick Diver) to the blissful spotlight performance of solo pianist Monica Brooks, it was incredible to see such a diverse and original group of local performers alight the grand stage of the Opera House. In many ways, when Royal Headache took the stage, it felt like this was the stage they've always deserved. As a band that has always been more accustomed to playing in small local bars or literally in a garage out the back of their house, lead singer Shogun's vocals and energy have always seemed bigger than any space could fully contain. His charisma radiated venue-wide, as he paced rapidly back and forth across the stage quashing any question that the band might be overwhelmed by the cavernous space. Starting the performance with some more soulful songs from Royal Headache’s yet to be released second and final album, Shogun gave a typically raw and open performance — shirt off by the second song and channelling that patented and ever-endearing pessimism, drawing our attention to the "negative sweat" he was soaked in and unashamedly admitting when a song messed up. By the second song, people were on their feet, and by the third? Up on the plush red seats and in the aisles. With the opening chords of 'Down the Lane' — a crowd favourite and possibly their most complete song — the energy in the room peaked and fans began clambering onto the stage to surround Shogun in the mad crush Royal Headache gigs are known for. Followed quickly by the rapid-fire chords and hardcore vocals of 'Girls' (a personal favourite), a crowd of thirty or more fans found a manic — but certainly not destructive — tipping point, and despite one fan clambering on the kick drum and few water bottles being thrown, the only worries were what could only be incredibly expensive Opera House speakers embedded in the stage tripping up the feet of avid dancers. In what seemed like lightning speed (most likely helped by the ramped up police presence for Vivid), around twenty NSW police and Opera House security guards had appeared to escort fans offstage. The mood in the room quickly turned, with a disgruntled Shogun trying to move the band offstage, muttering into the mic what sounded like "Thank you and goodnight, I don't want to see my friends punched in the head by a bunch of fucking pigs. Take it easy." With the crowd back in the aisles and starting up a chant of "Let them play," the band eventually returned to the stage and were allowed to play a final song; although some fans were discontented by their choice to end on their cover of Womack & Womack's 'Teardrops'. Despite the rapid response of security, when asked, members of the NSW Police, Opera House security and staff on the door all expressed their surprise at the turn of events. One NSW police officer commented that the venue was "probably not" expecting fans to get as rowdy as they did, while an Opera House security member firmly stated that such behaviour was "not allowed" and that those involved in the performance had been informed beforehand that such behaviour would not be tolerated. Someone forgot to give the memo to the audience though, with most fans expressing annoyance that behaviour typical of any Royal Headache gig was dealt with such a heavy hand. While the night might seem to have settled the question of whether garage bands are suited to the grand, but strictly monitored venue of the Opera House, it would be a shame to think that this event would prevent a champion of the local alternative scene like Repressed Records from bringing new and non-mainstream talent back into the Opera House in the future. This experiment might seem to have failed, but one hopes that events like Vivid can find ways to continue to bring young alternative performers together with the grand Sydney stages they so deserve. Watch the stage invasion here: Images: Prudence Upton.
A few of Sydney's hospo greats have joined forces to revamp Double Bay's old Limoncello site, giving it new life as an Italian eatery. Orazio D'Elia (Da Orazio Pizza and Porchetta), Eddie Levy (Kittyhawk, Lobo Plantation and Darlo Country Club) and Adam Abrams (also of Darlo Country Club) will open Matteo on Wednesday, July 5. The restaurant is named after D'Elia's two-month-old baby boy. "Finding the name is the hardest thing and in the end Eddie convinced me to go with Matteo," says D'Elia. "It means I have to put a lot of soul and work into this restaurant because it has to be perfect with my son's name." This genuine big-heart Italian nature is indicative of of D'Elia and his signature ventures. The three mates had been chatting about opening a new venue together for a while — and when they visited the Limoncello site, things just fell into place. "They knew I was looking for something and said they liked the look of the Limoncello site,"says D'Elia. "I actually used to work as head chef there and we got a good opportunity to take it." While Matteo will cater to families during the day, the vibe will change to a cocktail den by night, with DJs on the weekends and Quynh Nguyen (Brooklyn Social, Luis Tan, Icebergs and China Diner) behind the drinks list. Cocktails will focus on simple ingredients with some Italian twists, like blood orange and Amaro Montenegro. As with Da Orazio, the Italian eatery will be all about house-made pastas, pizzas and share plates, focusing on simple Italian dishes — think seasonal snapper cooked in rock salt, char-grilled octopus (this reminds D'Elia of summer in Europe), and, for winter, saffron capunti (that's a pea pod-shaped pasta) with osso buco ragu. The traditional pizza menu will include a few focaccias and tiramisu for dessert because, as D'Elia puts it, "every Italian restaurant needs to have a tiramisu". The 150-seater features a Mediterranean-style fit-out by interior designer Ian Nessick, which includes a six-metre-long marble and stone bar, hand-rolled porcelain light fittings and upcycled aged timber ceilings and panelling that give the feel of an old Italian house. The new pizza oven, which just arrived from Italy, is the hero of the open kitchen and the finishes are multicoloured Italian terrazzo throughout — that chipped marble set in concrete that is characteristic of the Mediterranean. "We wanted to elevate the interior to match the food," says Nessick. "Ori [Orazio] is authentic Italian and cooks from the heart, so that is at the soul of the fit-out as well, and why the kitchen is at the centre of the venue." The colour palate is earthy and light, with blonde American oak tables and chairs with rust coloured upholstery. The open deck out front has been designed to feel like you're sitting on a luxury yacht, and will host an aperitivo hour. "The space has a really handmade feel and is turning into the most beautiful little restaurant," says Nessick. D'Elia has recently made the decision to leave his hatted Bondi restaurant so he can focus on Restaurant Matteo full time, with his business partner, Maurice Terzini, taking the reigns and Icebergs' chef Monty Koludrovic stepping up in the kitchen at Da Orazio. Of the new Double Bay restaurant, he says: "I want this space to be something people will enjoy as an experience and make them feel like they're coming to eat with me and my family." Matteo will open on Wednesday, July 5 at 29 Bay Street, Double Bay. For more info, visit matteosydney.com. Images and video: Steven Woodburn.
It had been three decades since Sydney institution Golden Century opened its doors in Haymarket. The late-night Chinese restaurant was famed for its unbeatable midnight feasts and the queues of chefs, celebrities, hospo workers and everyday diners that lined up to partake into them. And just before the original shut down thanks to the lockout laws, they opened a new one in 2019— XOPP by Golden Century — inside the (at the time) new Exchange Building. Those who had eaten at the original restaurant might recognise the name as a homage to its pipis in XO sauce, a dish so revered that even David Chang has called it "the best dish in the world". This 160-seat restaurant is helmed by Billy Wong — son of original owners Eric and Linda — who has developed a more contemporary dining concept that he's hoping will speak to a new generation of casual diners. Most notably, there is a bar serving snacks and smaller dishes alongside cocktails — think XO mayo prawn rolls and chicken liver parfait served with Chinese doughnuts. Oh, and 250 wines. Just as the vibe is different to Golden Century in Chinatown, so is the menu. Chinatown regulars will notice the addition of baby abalone with salted egg yolk, and a roasted kung pao cod fish fillet with cashew nuts. Other modern additions include kale and brussels sprouts and a jasmine bubble tea panna cotta. But you can expect to see a few nods to the OG restaurant — including the pipis in XO, of course. The impressive XOPP venue is located on the mezzanine level within Darling Square's striking new six-storey Exchange Building designed by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma. The dining room makes use of the circular building with floor-to-ceiling windows that show the timber that wraps around the facade. Inside, it's all very sleek with black ceilings, leather banquettes patterned light fittings. It joins the Maker's Dozen on the ground floor of the building, which includes a Tokyo-inspired milk bar from the Devon team, a bar from craft beer specialists Bucket Boys and a Japanese pasta shop from Hamish Ingham and Rebecca Lines of Banksii and Kerby Craig of Ume. The building is also home for Haymarket Library. And if you're booking for a special event then look to book one of XOPP's impressive and elegant private dining rooms, with spaces available for 10, 20, 40 or 60 guests. [caption id="attachment_742977" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Steven Woodburn[/caption] Images: Steven Woodburn
