It seems Sydney street artist Scott Marsh didn't spend too much time celebrating his alleged $100k profit last week (or drinking it at The Glad, for that matter). After his seven-metre Chippendale mural of Kanye West kissing himself went viral last month — and garnered interest from Yeezy himself, who apparently paid $100,000 to have it painted over — Marsh has come back with a new piece that is arguably even more relevant than Kanye's narcissism: a mural of NSW Premier Mike Baird. Great photo of me finishing up last night by @colebennetts 📷 Caught @mikebairdmp out on a big Friday night he was happy to pose for a few reference flicks 👍🏻 #casinomike #keepsydneyopen A photo posted by Scott Marsh (@scottie.marsh) on Apr 17, 2016 at 3:52pm PDT The mural, which was painted last night, Sunday, April 17, has popped up on the side of the Lord Gladstone Hotel in Chippen Lane. Dubbed #casinomike by Marsh, it depicts the Premier on a "big Friday night" past lockout time at 1.31am, complete with casino chips, an illicit late night kebab and a bottle of Penfolds Grange that he assumedly bought before 10pm. It's smug as all hell. Not sure that Mike Baird will be able to shell out Marsh's high wall buffing fees to get the mural removed, but maybe he'll be willing to bargain with some policy. A photo posted by Danny Clayton (@dannyclayton) on Apr 17, 2016 at 4:09am PDT Top image: Danny Clayton via Instagram.
There's no doubting the difference a cool $8 million can make. Should you be wondering, get along to The Buena in Mosman, which has been revamped by The Public House Management Group. Teaming up with SJB Interiors and Tess Regan Designs, the group has added some serious grandeur to the pub's entrance, courtesy of a massive brass sign. Heading inside, you'll notice marble-covered bench tops, pressed-leather booths and stunning wooden panelling. In keeping with its new look, The Buena has made a return to the gastropub scene. Guillaume Brahimi has worked closely with the group's executive chef, Ben Varela, to come up with a bunch of classic dishes with contemporary twists, including wood-fired pizzas and share plates. Dining takes place in the pub's upstairs Vista Bar. Meanwhile, the group's mixologist, Kurtis Bosley, has been turning his powers to the cocktail list, so you can expect some summery creations coming up. Live entertainment, featuring local musos and DJs, happens from Thursday through til Sunday. "Public House Management Group recognises the historically broad appeal of The Buena," said Mitchell Waugh, Founder and Managing Director of Public House Management Group. "And like to think that, in this renovation, they have catered for everyone, from families and sport fanatics to groups looking for afternoons and evenings of entertainment." Find The Buena at at 76 Middle Head Road, Mosman, is open Monday to Saturday, 11am-midnight, and Sundays, 11am-10pm. Visit their website for further information.
Live performers, dancers, DJs, artists and chefs will all converge on Carriageworks on Thursday, September 13 for the opening party of Sydney Contemporary, Sydney's biggest contemporary art fair. For one glorious evening, immerse yourself in a world made entirely of art, music and food (is anything else even necessary?). So what can you expect from this special night? A collaboration between the Sydney Dance Company and visual artist Mel O'Callaghan will lead the program. O'Callaghan is a master weaver of film, video, performance, painting and installation, whose Ensemble, 2013, was recently acquired by the National Gallery of Victoria. Also on the agenda are pyrotechnic performances from Emily Parsons-Lord, music by Mazy and solo act Jaala and other surprise guests. Between performances, journey through the fair to discover a truly international extravaganza, featuring works by more than 300 artists representing over 30 nations and more than 80 galleries. Meanwhile, keeping you well fuelled and hydrated will be Eric Koh's (Mr Wong, Queen Chow) pop-up dim sum bar Work in Progress, a Handpicked Wines Art Bar and a Beluga Vodka Bar. Sydney Contemporary's Opening Night is one of the most popular arty parties on the city's calendar. And, if you're keen to kick on post-opening party, you'll want to check out the Nightcap event hosted by yours truly at The Royal Hotel Darlington. We've also secured a 20 per discount on both opening night and adult day tickets for Concrete Playground readers. Just be sure to use this link to book and do so quick — the offer expires at 11.30pm on Wednesday, September 12. Images: Jacquie Manning.
Dead Ringer has earned its place as one of Surry Hills' most legit cocktail bars, which is no surprise as it comes from the team behind one of our other favourite bars, Bulletin Place. Now, the restaurant and bar is taking their crown to the next level with a New York City-style bottomless weekend brunch. In a knowing nod to the New York brunch tradition, they're offering bottomless (yep, bottomless) mimosas for the full duration of your two-hour seating at $20 per person. As to be expected, they're not offering up a cheap mixture of orange juice and sparkling — instead, they'll be serving up cold-pressed orange juice with King Valley Prosecco and dashes of the bartender's special 'seasoning'. Apart from these classed-up mimosas, the brunch drinks menu will also include some of the best hangover-curing cocktails known to man; the requisite bloody mary is taken up a notch with a secret umami mix and their coffee cocktail, called the Mandatory, combines cold drip, bourbon, vanilla and cardamom. The a la carte brunch menu itself isn't very brunchy, in the usual sense of the word — but, then again, it doesn't necessarily have to be. The decision to steer away from usual brunch fare was evidently a conscious one, as the Dead Ringer team feels that avo smash and other typical Aussie breakfast items are already well covered by the neighbourhood's countless cafes. Instead, the brunch menu is broken into entrees, mains, sides and desserts. The kitchen hasn't gone light-on just because it's midday, with dishes like duck rillettes ($18), roasted lamb ribs ($22) and king prawns ($25) on offer. If you're looking to stay true to your breakfast sensibilities, go for the ricotta and tomato tart ($20) or the omelette with a generous serving of morcilla ($19). They have cold drip on-hand if you're in need of caffeine, or you can order an espresso to be delivered from one of the nearby cafes. Brunch will be offered every Saturday and Sunday from 11am to 3pm, with both reservations and walk-ins welcome. If you're still looking for an Easter brunch that will make the family bearable, they'll be open on Sunday, April 16 as well. Dead Ringer is the latest late-night establishment to open for brunch — Acme launched a Saturday brunch in February — and is set to become your new go-to for a boozy Sunday morning. Dead Ringer will be open for brunch on Saturdays and Sundays from 11am–3pm starting from this Saturday, April 1. For more info, visit deadringer.com.
3D printing: is there anything it can't do? Given that houses, office buildings, custom bikes, portable living pods, cupcakes, pizza, food in general, pot plants, toothbrushes, casts and prosthetic feet for ducks can all be printed these days, it doesn't seem like it. And while piling different flavours of chocolate on top of each other mightn't be the most revolutionary thing the technology has gifted us, it's certainly one of the tastiest. Two Sydney companies, design firm Universal Favourite and sweet treat wizards Bakedown Cakery, have joined forces to create Complements. They're staircase-shaped for the easiest possible stacking, and they come in flavours that give Japan's Kit Kats a run for their money. Fancy shortbread, fairy floss, watermelon, blackcurrent or matcha — or a combo of a couple? Single origin dark, vanilla, cookies and cream, cherry, strawberry, lemon and pistachio pieces are also available. Which ones go best together? Experimenting to find that out is the whole point. Universal and Bakedown said that they wanted "to create something outside the box that could be paired in endless combinations" — which sounds like a great reason to eat more choccies to us. Sadly, the bad news is the modular chocolate creations aren't actually for sale. Sorry. In better news, you can win a box of them from the Complements website — all you have to do is come up with your best new flavour pairing. Get dreaming.
Hanami and Japan go hand in hand, but what if you could indulge in the art of flower viewing (yes, that's what the term translates to in English) a bit closer to home? Well, that's where the Sydney Cherry Blossom Festival comes in. It's a celebration of everyone's favourite pink flora in Sydney's west. Between August 18 and 27, the Auburn Botanic Gardens will transform their Japanese Gardens into a beautiful, blooming wonderland. You'll be able to ramp up your appreciation of the fleeting natural phenomena that is cherry blossom season by attending a massive viewing party in the lead up to spring. Tis the season, after all. And taking in the spectacular scenery isn't the only thing you'll be doing. Over the two weekends of the festival (that is August 19-20 and 26-27), you'll be able to get your fill of Japanese entertainment by floating on over to two stages filled with sumo wrestling, J-pop performers and origami workshops. Then, eat your way through an array of Japanese food trucks doling out doses of bao, bento boxes, Japanese hot dogs, gyoza and okonomiyaki. This year there will also be a bar stocked with Asahi, sake and plum wine. If you've got a day off and want to skip the crowds, they'll also be opening up the gardens for three days during the week (August 21, 23 and 25). Entry will cost five bucks, and they'll also have a free shuttle from Auburn Station if you're coming in by public transport. Image: Kristina Paukshtite.
Dial your Christmas spirit up a notch at this year's Sydney Living Museum's Christmas Fare. With over 40 of Sydney's best artisan food producers, this annual Christmas Fare will host some of the state's finest edible creations and provide plenty of inspiration for the looming Christmas lunch. Sample something sugary from Sweetness the Patisserie or Carlson’s Handcrafted Organic Fruit Cordials, take a bite of a freshly baked good from The Bread & Butter Project or Brooklyn Boy Bagels, and betray family tradition with a Christmas pudding from PUD Inc. Deli-food favourites Cornersmith, Hands Lane, Kitchen by Mike, The Jam Bandits, Steph’s Gourmet Foods and Pecora Dairy will all be on hand and the American-obsessed The Nighthawk Diner, Bar Pho and Feather and Bone will have stalls for a more substantial feed. To wash everything down, Young Henrys craft beer will be a-flowing as will the wine from Freemans Vineyard. Entry is by gold coin, which will also allow access inside the Hyde Park Barracks Museum. Eat, drink and be merry — the Christmas season has spoken.
Lady Gaga doesn't shy away from innovation. Ridiculous costumes and outrageous hairstyles aside, the 25-year old artist has harnessed the power of the interwebs to reach over 10 million Twitter followers, 35 million Facebook fans and 1 billion YouTube views. Teaming up with Google, Gaga and her little monsters have created a 90-second ad for Google's Chrome browser. The underlying message? The web is what you make of it. Gaga's not the first musician to endorse Google Chrome. Late last year Arcade Fire released an interactive video clip which made use of the brower's extensive capabilities. https://youtube.com/watch?v=sDPJ-o1leAw [Via Engadget]
Winter is almost upon us and, to welcome in the new season in culinary style, Carbòn — Bondi's hacienda-inspired Mexican restaurant — has a new menu to warm you up from the inside out. The new food offering will complement the chillier weather outside, featuring rich proteins, hearty vegetables and, being by the waterside, plenty of seafood, of course. And, to celebrate, we're giving you the opportunity to shout your entire crew to a lavish feast there. With a cool $400 to spend, you can impress your mates with the likes of mussels, chorizo and tomatillo, confit pork with amarillito mole and barbecue whole snapper with heirloom tomato and avocado salsa. Of course, it wouldn't be a night at Carbòn without some tacos — think lamb and barbacoa salsa, octopus with pesto chorizo and a veggie option of squash and black beans. And we don't expect you to choose between the desserts, so round it off with both the chocolate cake with coconut and lychee ice cream and the lemon curd with crunchy meringue and vanilla crumble. For a tasty night out with all your mates that won't cost you a dime, enter your details below for your chance to win. [competition]721359[/competition]
From reclining nudes of the Renaissance era to 20th-century punk feminism, the female body has had a long and turbulent history in art. In 1975, Carolee Schneemann reclaimed the body by pulling a scroll from her vagina and reciting a feminist speech. It’s rare to see something this radical nowadays. However, there’s no single story that binds women together. Dear Sylvia at the Australian Centre for Photography is a collection of works questioning the contemporary role of the female body. From documentary to conceptual photography, nine photomedia artists approach their subjects in different ways. Full of emotional and literal tangles, these distorted and displaced bodies resonate with the poetry of Sylvia Plath. It’s a sometimes bleak but important point of reference. Some of the most striking portraits come from British artist Alma Haser’s Cosmic Surgery, a series of Cubist-inspired photographs. She folds faces into delicate origami and repositions them onto her female subjects. Their fractured features become a strange combination of alien and beautiful. There’s a similar kind of manipulation at play in Julie Rrap’s video work, Castaway. Blending Marilyn Monroe and Gericault’s Raft of Medusa, it has an underlying sense of fatal femininity. As the figure lies tangled in a timber frame, still images slowly fade in and out like a watery cross-fade. There is a real sensitivity to Jessica Tremp’s work. Her soft photographs appear inspired by a more romantic affinity with nature. In each work, the surrounding environment seems to creep onto raw skin, whether it be glistening green wilderness, the grainy tone of rock or the hungry darkness of night. As is expected, the documentary photographs don’t have the same precise composition, but they contain more energy — the occasional blurriness captures a greater sense of urgency. A dynamic series from Flore-Ael Surun rallies together a group of activist women campaigning for peace in different corners of the globe. Entering the troubled world of Eastern Europe, Dana Popa presents Not Natasha, chronicling the sex trade in Romania. Many of these works have a coldness and a loneliness — a floral bedspread framed by pornography, a shelf full of religiously iconography, innocent teenagers and dejected women. Evoking familiar themes such as nature, sacrifice, objectification and self-identity, this exhibition is a physical and emotional examination of what it means to be a woman. And as tragic a tale as Plath’s is, it is that of the modern woman: to be awake to the spectrum of opportunities and potential failures. In The Bell Jar, Plath writes about the multiple branches of a fig tree and the inability to choose which one: “I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing the rest." Image: Marlous van der Sloot.
From writer and director Luc Besson (of The Professional and The Fifth Element fame), comes Lucy, a highly anticipated sci-fi thriller starring cinema legends Scarlett Johansson and Morgan Freeman. Johansson plays Lucy, who unwillingly becomes the centrepiece of an international drug trafficking scheme after a brutal kidnapping. After some drug residue leaks into her stomach, she is able to exploit the full potential of her brain capacity — surpassing the limited 10 percent urban legend tells us we usually have available to us. Suddenly, she has some pretty enviable superpowers: she can absorb information instantaneously, move objects with her mind and choose not to feel pain, among other handy skills. Lucy brings up ideas of cognitive enhancement, while exploring paradigms of mind versus body. The film is the epitome of an action thriller, complete with some pretty nifty special effects and a cargo pants-clad Johansson kicking some serious arse. Lucy (© 2014 Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved) is in cinemas on July 31, and thanks to Universal Pictures Australia, we have ten double in-season passes to give away. To be in the running, subscribe to the Concrete Playground newsletter (if you haven't already), then email us with your name and address. Sydney: win.sydney@concreteplayground.com.au Melbourne: win.melbourne@concreteplayground.com.au Brisbane: win.brisbane@concreteplayground.com.au Follow Lucy at facebook.com/universalpicturesau and www.lucymovie.com.au.
If you are looking to "wave you hands in the air like you just don't care" then forget this show. Dead Prez care big time. They have been churning out agitated political hip hop for nigh on 15 years, with lyrics that cover everything from veganism to socialism, always attempting to unify and educate African Americans first and foremost. They have occasionally drifted into the periphery of the main stream; first in 2000 with the single Hip Hop which had the snarling, booty crunching bass line with a chanting chorus of "it's bigger than hip hop, hip hop". This tune was used for the opening of Chappelle's Show and the comedian also championed the Dead Prez cause again when he featured the crew in Dave Chappelle's Block Party, even rapping a few verses of the the tune in his unmistakable twang. The duo are on our shores for The Big Day Out. I'm not sure if the masses will digest their message, but if all else fails you can all nod your heads to their rhymes at The Gaelic this week.
Meeting mates for Vivid this year and not sure where to begin? The Rook is inviting you to Vivid Liftoff. On Monday–Saturday evenings, the hidden rooftop bar in the CBD is peddling Vivid-themed cocktails and share plates. And they're all backdropped by pretty views of the Sydney skyline. Start with a Firefly Glow (gin, mango purée, passionfruit, lime) while snacking on crispy fried bread with whipped ricotta and house hot honey. Then move onto a Lunar Lagoon (vodka, blue curaçao, coconut syrup) alongside zucchini tempura with parmesan and hot honey drizzle. Or, if you're in the mood for bubbles, go for the Starlight Spritz (prosecco, elderflower liqueur, grapefruit) alongside squid fritti with paprika salt and tom yum mayo, or Southern-Style buffalo chicken with blue cheese mayo. Whatever you eat and drink, The Rook is a handily central spot to start your night. It's just a stone's throw from Darling Harbour, Town Hall and Martin Place.
Attempting to give our exploits a facelift in winter can seem an insurmountable task. The challenge: the loud call of nights inside tucked under a blanket with something warm at hand. Here to help you overcome this seasonal hurdle is Pepe's Winter Beach Lodge, the red-hot event delivering an elevated winter experience from Friday, July 15 till Sunday, September 4. Courtesy of coastal digs Pepe's on the Beach and Fireball, the lodge will see you spend three sensational hours in magical surrounds, with photo ops, canapés and cinnamon-laced whisky aplenty. If you've got mates in The Gong hassling you to visit, or you just need to escape the city, now's the time to make the trip. The headlining attraction? Two luxe igloos — one decked out in all-white, the other pink — sitting pretty beachside, awaiting you and your crew. Think of the warm up you'll get sharing a fishbowl of Fire & Ice Sangria (or Fireball Pink Lemonade or Arctic Blue Passionfruit Mojito) with your pals and helping yourself to delicious morsels (like mushroom arancini and pork and fennel sausage rolls) from the confines of your private igloo. There's no stress if an icy abode isn't up your alley, joining the arctic fun is a lineup of Fireball-infused bites in Pepe's dining room. Slow-cooked beef ribs with Fireball barbecue glaze and chimichurri perhaps? Or maybe ruby tuna ceviche marinated in the sweet 'n' spicy spirit with salsa and tostadas alongside. Got a hens do? Birthday bash? Thursday night that needs enlivening? Grab some mates, book an igloo and heat up your winter exploits at Pepe's Winter Beach Lodge. Igloos are available seven days a week, are suitable for up to six guests and cost between $350–500 per session. Your booking includes three hours in a private igloo, six Fireball shots, two cocktail fishbowls, canapés and dessert. Head to the website for more information and to book your igloo.
The Rizzeria is an artists' cooperative and loves all things just a little bit old school. In their next workshop series you’ll be able to get your hands on the Riso RP3700 stencil press to create your own multicolour zines, posters, cards, or anything else you fancy getting your creative on with. What’s a Riso? It’s a printer that uses just one or two colours (from a choice of 9) at a time, giving it a bit of a unique, rough, DIY aethetic – almost like a comic book. It’s stencil printing, but using paints (not screen printing or offset printing). If you want a bit of a different finish to the usual digital print, and want to get a bit more hands on with your printing, Rizzeria might be your new hang out. Email workshop@rizzeria.com to book.
Gauchito Gil is Argentina's Robin Hood. As such, it seems fitting that Australia's own Malbec World Day has been borrowed from the South American country, where the majority of the world's Malbec comes from. If this day is a donation from the grape god, it's one we're happy to accept. After a successful debut in 2016, Gauchito Gil is bringing Malbec Day to Sydney for a third time with a five-hour wine bonanza at Carriageworks on Sunday, April 15. The event comes from the organisers of the Pinot Palooza and Game of Rhones, and mirrors the free-reign tasting set-up. Your $60 ticket will include a wine glass, and from there you'll be able to move around, sampling over 90 Australian, Argentinian and French malbec varietals. Other events have been known to get a little boozy, so to soak up all that wine there will be top-notch empanadas from Porteño, charcuterie from La Bastide and alfajores (soft shortbread-like cookies filled with dulce de leche) from Alfamores. It really doesn't matter if you know everything there is about Malbec or if you don't know much at all, because Malbec Day is about education and celebration of the Argentine grape. And what better way to celebrate than with an bottomless glass of wine?
As part of this years Sydney Design festival, see and hear "a panel of self-confessed tactility-freaks" talk about their taste for small-press publishing and creating books with the best design and production values and materials. The session emphasises the value of using all the senses in reading books as well as making them, and there will be a little library of examples to play with. The enthusiasts and the reading material are from Monster Children, Blood and Thunder publishing, Rainoff Books, The Red Room and Boccalatte, and to complete the evening, a glass of wine and a tasting plate will be provided by Berta. Aren't we clever for sniffing this one out?
Waking up to the smell of something delicious and fresh out of the oven is one of life's greatest little pleasures. Flour Market is the expert at giving Melbournians that fuzzy stomach feeling by curating selections of the finest bakers and pastry-makers for seasonal bake sales early on weekend mornings. Flour Market was born and raised in Melbourne, but now it's Sydney's chance to wake up to the wafts of all of the freshly baked goods lined up under the one convenient roof at Paramount House. Lines have been wrapped around street corners for previous Flour Markets, so if you want to stock up on some of Blackstar's watermelon and strawberry cake or Brewtown Newtown's delectable cronuts, or just have a nibble of Katherine Sabbath's mini cake donuts, you'll have to rise nice and early. Prepare for all things baked and delectable by Andy Bowd from Hartsyard, the Bourke St Bakery lads' Bread & Butter Project, Brickfields, Brooklyn Boy Bagels, Paramount Coffee and a heap more. Read more about the Flour Markets in our interview with mastermind Mark Free here.
Rich, magnificent and a little bit fancy are all things that come to mind when truffles are on the menu. But do we know anything about them, really? Long-time favourites of fine dining restaurants, truffles are now popping up on cafe menus too, having entire festivals thrown in their honour — they've even been added to beer, for goodness sake. In order to dispel the air of mystery surrounding truffles (and just so we can stop pretending we know what we're talking about), we've called upon truffle aficionado Bernadette Jenner from Madame Truffles to set us straight about where to find them, how to eat them, and what makes them so magical. What are truffles? Truffles are a type of fungi, and are part of the genus tuber. While there are many different types of truffles, only a few are edible; the white truffle (tuber magnatum) and the black Perigord truffle (tuber melanosporum) are the most highly sought after. Truffles range in size from as small as a marble to as big as your fist and retail for around $2,500 per kilogram. They're found underground surrounding the roots of a host tree, which is often either oak or hazelnut. Currently only the black Perigord truffles are harvested in Australia. Originally pigs were used to sniff out truffles; however, most farmers use dogs these days, as pigs were notorious for eating their discoveries. "Fighting a pig for a truffle is probably not worth your life," says Jenner, and we believe her. Interestingly, the truffle has a pheromone in it that smells like a male boar, so the female pigs are actually searching for a mate, rather than a fine-dining delicacy. "In pig world it's actually the smell of the male that speaks to its dominance. It's not about how pretty it is or how much money it earns; the better smelling the pig, the higher up in the pecking order he is." Weirdly enough, the pheromones in male pigs are actually similar to that found in male humans. Figure that one out. Where do they come from? Australia is actually the fourth largest black truffle producer in the world, following closely behind Italy, France and Spain. Black truffles can be found all over the country. So where can you get the best ones? "As a general rule, there's a great truffiere in Pemberton, WA," explains Jenner. "Truffles from Braidwood in NSW are smoky and gorgeous, and you can also get good truffles from Tassie." So how do our truffles compare? Jenner says that Australian truffles are strong competitors in relation to their European counterparts. "About 95 percent of the truffles from WA are exported to Italy and America, and they fill up the Michelin star restaurants." When are truffles in season? In Australia, peak truffle season is from the end of May through to the end of August. One great thing about truffles is their unpredictability and the variety you can have from one harvest, as Jenner explains. "Each harvest is different and even truffles from the same tree can taste and smell different." This is the fourth year Jenner has run her pop-up shop Madame Truffles during the peak season, and she has noticed a definite increase in interest in truffles. Bernie puts this down to two reasons: "The truffieres know much more about what they're doing so not only are they producing more truffles, but the quality is great." The second reason comes down to us: we're craving something new and special. "People are feeling more confident and adventurous with food," she says. How do you cook with truffles? The possibilities here are nearly endless. Truffles love heat, which make them lovely additions to pasta or risotto, where you can either mix it in while cooking, or shave some on top to add depth to your meal. Jenner's hot tip is to keep things simple. "The truffle is the diamond," she explains. "I love a decadent breakfast, so I love putting heaps of the truffle in scrambled eggs and pop a little bit on top when I serve it." A little bit goes a long way with truffles, and it’s important not to overcook as that can decrease their flavour. Where can you get them? Truffles are purchased by weight and are most often ordered online through various truffieres around Australia. Part of the thrill of buying truffles is inspecting them yourself, and most importantly, smelling them. That's what makes going to Madame Truffles such an experience. "The truffles that you buy here, you would have smelled them, we don’t sell it to you without smelling it first," explains Jenner. As well as buying truffles whole you can also by them as products such as truffle pasta, truffle butter, truffle ice cream, and Madame Truffles is even making truffle Monte Carlos for the adventurous sweet tooth. Where to enjoy truffles in Sydney Sydney is home to a raging truffle scene, not just limited to restaurants with French words splattered around the menu and a wine selection that would cost more than the average weekly rent. Devon cafe in Surry Hills is known for their inexpensive approach to the truffle — the ultimate toastie with egg, gruyere, mushroom and truffle has become a locals' favourite in winter months. Bishop Sessa in Surry Hills takes pride in their truffle offerings (so much so that once a year in June they organise an all-truffle menu), while Mr Wong in the CBD puts an intriguing Asian twist on the humble truffle with black truffle and wild mushroom dumplings and poached pork, prawn and black truffle dumplings (all under $15!). Want to play chef? You can take home some of that sweet, sweet fungus-y goodness from food markets like Pyrmont Growers Market (but remember that truffles are seasonally dependent). If you are searching for truffles all year round, grocery Gourmet Life in Darling Point imports them from Europe. By Hannah Valmadre with Natalie Freeland. Feature image courtesy of ulterior epicure via photopin and ultimate truffle sandwich via @nutellasum. Other images thanks to Madame Truffles.
If the change in seasons has left your wardrobe looking a little lacklustre, this is an opportunity you ought to lock in. Australian masters of print, geometry and mixed materials Ginger & Smart are having a studio sale, including new season samples and past season discounts. Founded by Alexandra and Genevieve Smart in 2002, this boutique brand has been accredited by Ethical Clothing Australia, so you can feel reassured that you’re investing in highest quality attire. Rolling champagne and shopping into one evening, there will be a VIP party to kick off the sale on Thursday, March 19. Then two full days on Friday and Saturday should satisfy Sydney’s most passionate frockaholics. There will be up to 80% off pretty much everything — dresses, skirts, tops, accessories and more. If you want elegant designs at a bargain, you'd better be quick. Thursday, March 19, 5pm - 9pm Friday, March 20, 8am - 6pm Saturday, March 21, 10am - 5pm
Do you ever sit at work, staring out the window and wish that something would come to take you away from all this drudgery? Well, you may need a new job. But in the meantime, you can call the The Grounds of Alexandria to come and transport you and your colleagues to a better place — for the duration of your lunch break, at least. The aptly titled Express-O Bus (like when you groggily mispronounce 'espresso' in the morning) is a free shuttle service that will transport you between your office and The Grounds anytime between 10.30am and 3.30pm during the week. No longer will you have to settle for a soggy sandie or spend most of your lunch break walking to The Grounds instead of actually eating there. Instead, you'll be chaperoned in a funky green Kombi van to your guaranteed booking in either The Cafe or The Potting Shed for an Instagrammable lunch feast to make everyone who stayed in the office insanely jealous. The bus can accommodate four to seven people and is currently operating in the suburbs of Rosebery, Mascot and Alexandria, but will expand if the service proves popular. The bus will also pick up groups from private homes in the area if you're interested in dining in, but unfortunately this service doesn't extend to delivering take away coffees and avo on toast. Well, not yet anyway. The Express-O Bus is available from today, June 14. To book a ride, call 0459 GROUNDS. And for more info, visit their website.
'The mormons are coming', posters popping up all around Sydney started promising this week. Come February, they'll officially be here. If you thought you were going to have to head down to Melbourne to catch The Book of Mormon, think again, because Trey Parker and Matt Stone's hit musical is bringing its hilariously irreverent self to the Sydney Lyric Theatre. After playing most of the year down south, with the show's Victorian run due to end in November, the multi-award-winning production will settle in for a Sydney season from February 28, 2018. Tickets go on sale on September 5 for its second Australian stint, and given that all of its 250-plus performances have sold out in Melbourne, it's certain to prove a hot ticket. Written by South Park and Team America's notoriously puerile creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, together with Robert Lopez of genius grown-up muppet show Avenue Q, The Book of Mormon is probably one of the most lauded comedies ever to have centred on the Church of Latter Day Saints, African missions, AIDS, bum jokes and super ironic racism. If it wasn't so smart and so funny, few would forgive it. But since it is, The Book of Morman has picked up nine Tonys, four Olivier Awards, a Grammy and two Helpmanns since it debuted in 2011, and has been called "one of the most joyously acidic bundles Broadway has unwrapped in years". If you've been envious of the throngs seeing the musical in New York, Chicago or London, then you'll be plenty excited that you'll now get the chance to go learn all the idiosyncratic details of Mormonism, meet war criminal General Butt-Fucking Naked and know the true meaning of the hakuna matata-like saying 'Hasa Diga Eebowai'. The Book of Mormon plays the Sydney Lyric Theatre from February 28, 2018. Tickets go on sale on September 5, with the waitlist now open at BookOfMormonMusical.com.au. Image: Ryan Bondy, Zahra Newman, Nyk Bielak and company in The Book of Mormon, AUS 1411. (c) Jeff Busby. By Sarah Ward and Libby Curran.
One of Iceland's greatest exports is music, and this staggeringly young three-piece from Reykjavik is no exception. Comprising of vocals, electronic production and clarinet (yes, clarinet), they will be gracing our shores in January for Sydney Festival. Their unique, paranormal sound has been described as if the xx and Little Dragon eloped to the magical forest out of The Lord of the Rings. Samaris are turning heads globally with their atmospheric electronica and shamanistic vocals, laying down 19th-century Icelandic poetry on percussive beats. Simultaneously ancient and modern, their otherworldly soundscapes are bound to be unlike anything you've heard before. Though instrumentally eclectic, their sound is remarkably cohesive. In fact, on first listen, it is difficult to detect the tightly integrated clarinet. If dreamy electronica is your main game, Samaris's lush musical palette of elegant hymns and wandering basslines will leave you awestruck. Image by Fritz Berndsen/Fiona Cribben. https://youtube.com/watch?v=G3Tg_6pR060
Young Henrys' female brewers are in the spotlight this month as the Newtown brewery launches its newest beer. Free the NEIPA has been created by brewers Carla Daunton and Michelle Hanrahan — with the help of all the women at the brewery — and has launched just in time for International Women's Day, of course. The small-batch brew will be released on Friday, March 6 in venues and bottle shops all across Australia. In the spirit of IWD, ten percent of profits will be donated to Two Good Co — a Newtown charity that helps victims of domestic violence and homelessness through its buy-one, give-one lunch delivery model. Free the NEIPA has been created as part of the brewery's limited release B-Side Series. It's a hazy New England IPA that uses tropical hops and boasts notes of bergamot orange and other citrus, resulting in a juicy, yet sessionable, IPA. Other B-Side Series brews have included the coral sour, tiramisu white stout, and rum and raisin ale. Be quick if you want to get your hands on this brew — and do some good with your beer bucks — because it won't last long. You can Free the NEIPA at Young Henrys' Newtown brewery, at bars like The Unicorn Hotel and Mary's Newtown, or at bottle shops around town. [caption id="attachment_763908" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Michelle Hanrahan and Carla Daunton[/caption] Free the NEIPA is now available at bars and bottles shops across Sydney.
Decked out in full Bavarian beer hall splendour, Frenchies Bistro and Brewery invites you to don your finest dirndl dresses and lederhosen this weekend. So, prepare to party like you're backpacking through Germany at the award-winning microbrewery, housed in Rosebery's The Cannery this weekend. In honour of his German heritage, head brewer Vincent de Soyres has whipped up a limited-edition beer for the occasion. Sitting alongside the brewery's other German drops — the Buckeburger Pils and Hefeweizen — Frenchies' newest beer, Festbier, has been brewed using Bavarian ingredients and is sure to go down a treat with the food that'll be on offer at its Oktoberfeast this Saturday, October 19. For $20, you'll be rubbing elbows with fellow bier lovers while sitting on long tables, drinking a one-litre stein (included with entry) and tucking into a mean German feast. All your favourite Bavarian dishes will be on the menu, with Frenchies' chef Thomas Cauquil dishing up everything from pretzels to potato salad, smoky hendl (roast chicken) and a whole bunch of German sausages. For dessert, there'll be heavenly sweets like apple strudel, kaiserschmarrn (shredded pancakes) and gingerbread. The good times aren't just down to the food and booze, either. There'll be plenty of live tunes, games and competitions, including ping pong and stein races for the kidults and face painting and balloon animals for the kids (who get in for free). Oktoberfeast will kick off at noon and run until 9pm and will take over not only Frenchies, but also The Cannery, meaning you could be celebrating with up to 600 beer-loving punters. Tickets are $20 (or $25 on the door) and include a Frenchies one-litre take-home souvenir stein glass. Food can be purchased separately. Plus, Frenchies will be providing free buses to and from Green Square, so you can get home easy.
UPDATE: March 6, 2020 — Burwood Chinatown have announced an additional 500 free scoops and two extra flavours, strawberry sorbet and salted caramel with white chocolate. Chinese eateries and precincts have been doing it tough of late, with some restaurants reporting an 80 percent drop in customers due to fears surrounding the coranavirus. To encourage people to head back to the area and support small local businesses, Burwood Chinatown is giving away scoops of Gelato Messina on Saturday, March 7. The inner west precinct, which cancelled its Lunar New Year celebrations earlier this year because of community health concerns, will be handing out a whopping 1000 free scoops from 4–7pm (or until it's all gone). You can choose from four flavours, including pandan and coconut, milk chocolate with choc peanut fudge, boysenberry, and cookies and cream, and not pay a cent. Dietary requirements are accounted for, too, with vegan and gluten free options available. Of course, it wouldn't be a party without decorations and activities, so there's also going to be a bouncy castle, balloons and face painting. Burwood also has a heap of bubble tea shops, restaurants, bars and cafes, so make sure you swing by one of those and support a struggling business while you're there. Free Messina Ice Cream Party will run from 4–7pm.
The ABC’s upcoming series Redfern Now looks like a pretty sweet deal. Its cast includes heavy-hitting actors like Deborah Mailman and Leah Purcell, the Sapphires’ Wayne Blair on direction and story production from the British writer of Cracker and the Street, Jimmy McGovern. Redfern Now, like the Street, tells the story of six people across six episodes, each neighbours in the same small neighbourhood — in this case, Redfern. McGovern says “there are certain stories that belong only to Aboriginal Australia.” These are some of those stories. In recognition of Redfern's central role in the series, and in the urban life of Aboriginal Sydney, the ABC is premiering Redfern Now on the Block a day before it hits Australian TV screens, with Casey Donovan and Marcus Corowa taking to the stage an hour before the 7.30 screening. So take a rug, grab a (non-alcoholic) drink and prepare to be proud of something fundamentally home grown. Refreshments will be provided, but this is a booze-free event.
Artist Lee Mingwei wants to fix you up as part of his artwork the Mending Project. He'll lurk in the MCA's lighted corners waiting for you to bring in over- or under-loved garments in need of repair and fix it while you wait. Part of the bargain is that you pay Lee with talk (or by being teased) while he stitches your pieces anew. Resurrected clothes will hang on the cavernous walls on MCA level one until the end of the Biennale. Leaving it probably best to bring your summer threads along to hang out in public until September. Lee will be providing his services on a drop in basis during the Biennale. The MCA also suggests you arrive early in the day for Lee's performance, in case he runs out of thread. Image: The Mending Project by Lee Mingwei. Courtesy the artist and Lombard-Freid Projects, New York. Photograph by Anita Kan. Read the rest of Concrete Playground's Top Ten Things to See and Do at the 2012 Sydney Biennale.
There's no denying that Sydney Beer Week will be a boozy, debaucherous ten days for many, so why not start things off right with a little inner peace and mindfulness? Four Points by Sheraton Sydney is offering a very on-trend relaxation experience with its yoga and bottomless beer brunch on the Chippendale Green to ease you into the week. Starting at 10am, the one-hour vinyasa class will take place on the greens of Central Park, and participants get a free mat, towel and drink bottle, too. This invigorating hour-long morning session will help you work up one hell of a thirst, which will be quenched by bottomless local brews from the recently opened Malt Bar. You'll enjoy these up in the hotel's terrace with brunch from Central Quarter restaurant. This will all set you back $70, but if you'd like to just eat and drink (and not downward dog) you can buy a ticket to the two-hour bottomless brunch for $59.
Over the past year, the MCA has hosted a number of powerhouse women. We've had Yoko Ono, Tabaimo and now Annette Messager. Spanning four decades, this major retrospective is a text-heavy universe bouncing between playful and sinister. Messager is a difficult artist to categorise and deliberately so. She pushes against categorisation, skating between the peripheral and the mainstream art world. Motion/Emotion is a conglomeration of different things. There are threads of French conceptualism and a touch of surrealism. There are homages paid to both Outsider Art and kinetic sculpture. But mostly, there's a preoccupation with the body — from the protective layering of clothing to internal organs. Messager also unravels gender codes, breaking down binaries and turning man and woman into a jumble of ubiquitous body parts. The combination of childlike innocence and morbidity can be seen in works such as The Gloves-Grimace, consisting of individual gloves hanging from the gallery walls. The fingertips are pierced by brightly coloured pencils. Plucked from the primary school pencil case, these sharp tools turn the gloves into claws. Perhaps punning on the idea of little monsters, this is an example of how Messager’s human fragments can become animalistic. The large-scale installations are where the kinetic aspects of her practice are in full swing. The show-stealer is perhaps Casino, which won Messager the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale in 2005. This Pinocchio-inspired installation features dangling marionettes, a little city of lights, and waves of sumptuous red silk that gradually ripple and build to a billowing climax. It’s like being the wooden puppet inside the whale’s mouth. But it also feels like a cavernous womb, communicating notions of rebirth and becoming human. Another wonderful work resembles a gothic toy town or something Tim Burton might dream up. It’s full of conical shapes and motorised movement. A projection of Giacometti’s man paces around the room and fabric globes gently inhale and exhale. In fact, many of Messager’s kinetic works appear to be guided by the pattern of human breath, making them feel like sleeping creatures. The lack of colour here is also quite significant. More recently, Messager’s practice has undergone a kind of blackening, as if signalling a depressing or dangerous state of affairs. There’s a lot of pleasure to be had here. Both enchanting and demonic, Messager’s practice is broadly appealing. She reclaims devalued arts such as embroidery and ‘women’s work’ as well as Outsider Art, which she admires for its timelessness and simplicity of media. Parts of her practice resonate with the likes of Cindy Sherman and Francis Picabia. However, Messager casts a wide net in terms of theme and media; she is always looking for new boundaries to test and new tools to work with.
Sydney's humming pop-up culture is breathing new life into our city's arts and nightlife scene. Often focused on showcasing emerging talent in unconventional spaces, the pop-up has evolved into a place for social engagement and a celebration of the 'new'. Beautiful Strange pop-up art bar is Sydney's latest offering, bringing together artists, their art and the essential stable of booze. Brainchild of Jac Taylor, Beautiful Strange is designed to prove that pop-ups have a viable place in enhancing Sydney's cultural landscapes as standalone events. Taylor's vision has been realised with the help of many creative parties. Design and theatre students from Randwick and Enmore TAFEs have collaborated on the bar's interior and exterior and guests should expect a surreal wonderland comprising an indoor light forest, lampshades taking penguins for walks and other out-of-this-world delights. Entertainment will be provided by contemporary performance artists Christopher Hawkins, Matte Rochford and Bella Louche to name but a few who will concoct a lethal mix of circus acts, demonstration art and burlesque. Tipple wise, look forward to an original cocktail list and the prized Alhambra Sour, a combination of sweet, sour and spiced served with a side of Middle Eastern almonds. As far as pop-ups go, we're pretty sure Beautiful Strange is going to be the real deal: art, booze and an evening's good time. Check Beautiful Strange's Facebook page for more details on the venues from September 20.
Perched on the shore of Watson's Bay is Dunbar House. Take one look at the website, and you'll think I'm preaching the union with a loved one in holy matrimony. If you're anything like us, however, with no plans of getting hitched anytime soon, Dunbar House shouldn't be dismissed entirely. On offer in summer will be an indulgent yet affordable dining extravaganza. Summer Nights at Dunbar House will see the iconic venue open for three evenings in January to host a dining series with a side of harbour view. Head Chef Keith Murray has created an a la carte dinner menu to be enjoyed either inside or on the terrace. To get you salivating, entrees include: seared scallops and a salad of Corella pear, blue cheese and witlof salad with a hazlenut and truffle dressing or carpaccio of jamon iberico with sherry roasted baby beetroot. Mains include: potato gnocchi with pork belly and crushed peas, salmon fillet with an apple, walnut and fennel salad. For dessert you'll indulge a passionfruit crème brulee paired with a shortbread finger or a warm chocolate pot with berries and vanilla. Yes please. Summer Nights at Dunbar House will be hosted on 9, 17 and 23 January from 6pm. Bookings: 02 9337 1226 or info@dunbarhouse.com.au
Rose Revolution is a celebration of textural rose wine and will engage a number of events in capital cities and regional areas around Australia. The launch of Rose Revolution will involve tastings and gatherings to bring rose lovers together to share hearty discussion and tasting notes. On 14 November, the Winery will host a laneway tasting and buzzing launch party with canapés. You'll mingle with winemakers, chefs and industry personalities who openly declare their love of the variety and gear up for the hotter months ahead with your deepened knowledge of rose. Bookings: 9331 0833 or info@thewinerysurryhills.com.au
With Sydney set to reopen, it's time to start booking in catch-ups with friends — and what better way to start than with a bottomless brunch. If you're looking to clink a glass to the return of Sydney's hospitality scene, Harbourfront Seafood Restaurant is providing waterfront views with free-flowing seafood and champagne. There are two options for bottomless brunch. The main attraction is a 90-minute session with a flight of oysters and as much Moët as you want. This option will set you back $85 per person and is available from 11.30am–2.30pm on Saturdays and Sundays kicking off from Saturday, October 16. Option number two is two hours of bottomless sparkling wine, as well as whites, reds, rosé and beer, and a spectacular seafood platter. While you're sipping your way through the bottomless booze, sample kingfish and salmon crudo, baked scallops, grilled king prawns with XO butter, parmesan truffle fries and of course, Sydney rock oysters. The seafood spread is available for groups of four or more from 11.30am–2.30pm Thursday–Sunday starting from Thursday, October 14 and costs $110 per person. Harbourfront Seafood Restaurant offers an idyllic location for your first catch-up post-lockdown, located right on the harbour in Circular Quay with views of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House. Bookings for both bottomless deals are now open. Images: Steven Woodburn
Drew Carey's first love was comedy. Despite long stints on sitcoms and hosting the US Price Is Right, stand-up and improvisational comedy were the things that really grabbed him. Carey's most enduring success is probably US import Whose Line Is It Anyway?, originally borrowed from a British TV show which made stars out of Wayne Brady and Greg Proops. Both recently made treks down under, leaving it to Carey to take his own turn on Australian shores as part of this year's Just for Laughs. Carey is bringing this expertise at wrangling comedians en masse to the Opera House at the festival's All-Star Comedy Gala, with a lineup of local and overseas comics set to take over the stage under his watchful eye. Carey's collection includes brash US star Bill Burr, Aussies like The Project's Charlie Pickering, and the Spiritual Journey-ed Judith Lucy (whose stylistic mix of the abrasive and the vulnerable should be a good fit to Carey's own mix of the same). More star power will be announced as the date draws nearer. And given Carey's comic-herding background, it should be interesting to see what the he does with an evening, comedians, and a willing audience. The Gala will run two shows on October 20, one at 7pm, the second at 9pm.
It took 45 years as an actress and 122 credits on her resume for Isabelle Huppert to receive an Oscar nomination, earning the long-overdue nod for her work in the rape-revenge thriller Elle. But the French star is just as deserving of awards and acclaim for her turn in the intimate drama Things to Come. The same matter-of-fact determination shines through in both performances, and yet you'd never mistake one for the other. Part of Huppert's genius is the way every character she plays feels united by a shared humanity, but still utterly distinctive in their traits, and in the way she brings them to life. That's Things to Come's Nathalie Chazeaux in a nutshell. Huppert's protagonist may well make you think of your mother — in fact, writer-director Mia Hansen-Løve wrote the role for Huppert with her own mum loosely in mind. Still, for every aspect that's recognisable, just as many remain unique. A philosophy professor, she's wading through a spate of familiar situations as the years pass by. Her husband decides to leave after a quarter of a century together; her mother requires more of her attention while her kids need less; a cat she doesn't want scampers around; and her professional dealings don't always go as planned. Even if you've never been a just-past-middle-age woman dealing with all of the above, Huppert will ensure you forget that for 102 minutes. Hers is such a fine-tuned and thoughtful performance, one that so effortlessly brings the film's universal themes to the fore, that you'll soon be doing just what her character is doing. No, you won't be quoting renowned thinkers and imparting wisdom to students. Rather, you'll be facing a stark truth about the future: it keeps coming, whether things are changing drastically, or seem to be staying the same. Hansen-Løve isn't one for big revelations and realisations, however. She gets to the heart of what it means to be happy and successful, or to try to be, without filling Things to Come with the kinds of huge moments, altercations and declarations that often find a place on screen. It's the same feat that she achieved with her last film, the Paris-set, electronic music-infused Eden. Daft Punk doesn't show up this time, but both movies convey more than you might expect about navigating the ups and downs of everyday existence by focusing on the minutiae that we all wade through. Indeed, the writer-director's sensitive observational style lends itself to lingering on the details — to building a picture from the smallest elements, rather than the broadest strokes. It's what makes Huppert such a perfect fit, and it's also what makes the filmmaker's patient approach so rewarding. Every close-up of Huppert's face tells a story. Every handheld camera movement does as well. They're small, unobtrusive and delicate ways of painting an involving portrait of life going on, and of all the things that will come.
If you've ever looked askance at your cookbook collection and thought "this does not speak to me on an emotional level," you're not alone. New York-based artist Automne Zingg feels ya — so much so that the artist, musician, and illustrator has recently published two cookbooks inspired by the thick, syrupy sadness of Morrissey and Nick Cave. 'Defensive Eating with Morrissey' and 'Comfort Eating with Nick Cave' are full of gems like "Boy with the corn in his side" and "Peas let me get what I want". Which, yes, are two great recipes for corn and peas. Oh, and if you hadn't guessed, the cookbooks are vegan. Zingg has provided the illustrations of sad Morrissey and Cave eating food, with Joshua Ploeg, of The Touring Vegan Chef, responsible for the recipes. But it's not all corn and peas, thankfully. Ploeg has unveiled some pretty sick vegan treat recipes like ice cream, cookies and cheesecake. Morrissey and Nick Cave were both almost involved, but in the end declined for different reasons. Of course, don't let that stop you from enjoying the below kind of sexy picture of Morrissey eating corn. We said kind of, remember.
Winter's rolling in, but if you're not ready to let the warm days slip away just yet, a summery whisky cocktail could be your answer. Normally, the belly-warming properties of whisky call for a cosier setting. See: dimly lit bars, roaring fires, snuggle sessions. But this season, that's all changing. Ardbeg, makers of one of the world's smokiest whiskies, is getting ready to release a summer carnival-inspired drop, Ardbeg Drum. This special blend has been created by taking the traditional Ardbeg drop from ex-bourbon casks and then resting it in rum casks, adding a uniquely Carribean note to the already complex favourite. This limited-edition drop will be released in stores on Saturday, June 1, coinciding with the brand's annual party, known as Ardbeg Day. Yep, it seems that Ardbeg — and whisky fans — have a lot to celebrate. So, in the lead-up to this big day, Ardbeg has teamed up with a bunch of Sydney bars to keep the warm weather vibes going. Across the entire month of May, the bars will be slinging the salty, smoky tones of Ardbeg 10 Years Old in a selection of cocktails. From the zingy hit of tropical fruits to the richness of mole sauce, here are seven ways bars will infuse the spirit of Caribbean summer into their menus.
Somehow, entirely inexplicably, we're already into the second half of the year; soon we'll be thinking about Christmas. This year, skip the typical department stores and instead pick out unique gifts for your family and friends at The Big Design Market. Coming to Sydney for the second time this November, the three-day independent designer extravaganza features over 230 stallholders selling furniture, fashion, homewares, textiles, and much more. With such a wide range of products, you're sure to find something for even the pickiest people on your list. The Big Design Market also offers a series of creative workshops (learn about indoor plants with The Plant Society and how to do your own nails with Kester Black and Trophy Wife), a beautifully-designed outback-themed kids play area, and a smorgasbord of food options from local favourites like Fishbowl, Gelato Messina, Welcome Dose Specialty Coffee, Archie Rose, Mary's, Porteño, Shortstop and Smoking Gun Bagels. You'll also have the chance to catch a specially-commissioned floral installation of five-metre-high flowers in giant gold vases by designer and illustrator Pete Cromer. Each year the market also puts together a showbag of goodies from some of Melbourne and Sydney's best designers, including Georgia Perry, Champ Co., Leif, Kester Black, Kleins Perfumery and Little Veggie Patch Co. A limited number will be available to purchase for $15 ($95 value). So prepare your bank account, and get ready to have your Christmas shopping done earlier than you ever have before. The market will be open from 10am till 8pm on Friday, 10am till 7pm on Saturday and 10am till 5pm on Sunday.
If all the edgy theatre and dance shows are making your head spin a little, give your brain a break with a few hours at the Village Sideshow. This freaky fun park at the Meriton Festival Village is packed with a variety of wild and wonderful experiences that will make your festival experience even more magical. Delights include dancing to your favourite song in a transparent, glitter-filled cube, swimming in a shipping container pool, and even getting up on stage with the Sydney Dance Company in their ground-breaking virtual reality film Stuck in the Middle With You. Open 4.30pm until late, closed Mondays. Images: Prudence Upton and Jamie Williams.
When a French store slashed the price of Nutella a couple of years ago, customers went wild. Brawling and rioting was reported. So, yes, it's safe to say the chocolate hazelnut spread has more than a few fans. Here in Australia, we've had a Nutella food truck, a Nutella festival and a Nutella dessert bar. And, from Friday, April 10 to Sunday, April 12, a dedicated Nutella menu at Salt Meats Cheese as well. Available for delivery from the chain's Drummoyne and Cronulla stores in NSW, and Surfers Paradise and Newstead stores in Queensland, the seven Nutella-filled items are here just in time for the Easter long weekend (which most of us will be spending predominantly indoors eating Nutella, it seems). Fancy a Nutella calzone, in both peanut butter ($14) and Oreo ($18) varieties? Nutella and banana-topped pizza? Nutella panna cotta ($14)? Nutella Toblerone cocktails? A half-litre ($30) of Nutella espresso martini? Of course you do. To order, you'll need to download Salt Meats Cheese's new app and pray you're in the delivery zone. The Nutella menu is available for delivery from Salt Meats Cheese stores in Cronulla and Drummoyne in NSW, and Surfers Paradise and Newstead in Queensland.
Artists Gunter Christmann, Hossein Ghaemi, Clare Milledge and Oscar Perry star in Crusted Heat, the new group exhibition opening at The Commercial on July 1. The show's title is a nod to the featured rare 'sprankle' painting by Christmann from 1970 — a piece in which acrylic paint was "dropped like rain from nearly six feet out in space" onto an unstretched canvas on the floor, the colourful result seriously startling in its ability to convey the sensation of heat. In contrast to this gravity-dependent technique, in her hinterglasmalerei paintings Clare Milledge presses oil paint with a brush onto a surface of luscious clear glass that will be turned away from the viewer, in a way, working backwards. The smeared, dense greys of Oscar Perry's An impresario and a small turtle gamble in the moonlight/ does sitting count as waiting? will intrigue, and Hossein Ghaemi has two drawing/paintings on board. Crusted Heat actually marks the first time in a while that Ghaemi has worked outside the medium of performance — curiosity is piqued. Image: Clare Milledge, 'Rice Ambient Liquid Lens Soap' (2016).
Celebrating a white Christmas is at the top of many people's bucket lists — and now you can cross it off with the German International School Sydney's annual Christmas Market. Held on August 17–18, the market brings festive cheer to Sydney's northern beaches with a host of open-air market stalls, traditional German food, fairy lights and music. Before you explore, grab a mug of warm and spicy mulled wine from the Glühwein Hut. The market will be overflowing with traditional German cuisine, including favourites such as bratwurst, sauerkraut, pancakes and pretzels. Styled like a classic European Christmas market, the array of stalls will be covered in charming fairy lights with many offering a range of high quality local produce, festive decorations, homewares, jewellery and more. There will also be a giant inflatable 'snow globe' with fake snow that you can step inside, a bonfire that'll keep you thawed and some marshmallows going around that could use some light toasting on the flames. The German Christmas Market will run from 5–9pm on Friday, August 17, and 4–9pm on Saturday, August 18.
It's time to get your boogie on (again) — because the Archie Party is returning for its second instalment. Following the success of last year's red-hot debut, the Art Gallery of NSW and Vyva Entertainment have teamed up to bring back the huge night dedicated to local artists and producers — and 2023's version of the event will shine a spotlight on talent from Western Sydney. Come Friday July 14, you'll be able to celebrate the best of contemporary art, music and food at the Art Gallery of NSW with live performances, interactive installations and some of Sydney's best DJs spinning tracks to take care of the event's tunes. This year, you can look forward to a night with exhilarating performances from Haiku Hands, hip hop mainstay A.Girl alongside her full band, and rapper MRVZ, plus electrifying DJ sets from Diola and DJ D. There will also be a bunch of interactive art experiences from local artists (and this year's Archibald Prize finalists) Laura Jones, Billy Bain and Jason Phu. Plus, tickets to the Archie Party also includes exclusive all-night access to the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes for 2023. You'll also be able to enjoy a massive feast at this year's bash. Expect to see the likes of Fishbowl, Chatkazz, Miss Pearl and Tacos Muchachos filling out the savoury selection, while the dessert range will include but is not limited to Messina, Sweet Belem and Butter Boy. Plus, there will be pop-up bars serving up drinks to accompany the array of treats on the menu. This exclusive after-dark winter party is around for one night only — and will have limited capacity — so be sure to secure your spot with tickets from the event's page. The night will start at 7pm, running til late, and is an 18+ event. Prices for members sits at $36, while non-member tickets are $45, and students or those with concessions can score tickets at $40.
If you missed out on The Jungle Collective's previous two warehouse plant sales, be sure to clear this Saturday and Sunday immediately. Because there's another one on its way. The Jungle Collective is a Melbourne nursery that stocks all kinds of weird and wonderful species. After holding its first wildly successful Sydney market in February and another this month, it's gathering the leftover plants, tracking down new ones and throwing a two-day indoor plant party. While we don't know what plants will be available this time, previous sales have had everything from hanging pot plants to palms for the garden to a giant Bird of Paradise. Have a reputation for killing your cacti? Overwatering your ferns? Don't worry — there'll be horticulturalists on site on the night to give you advice and chat through any questions you might have. This one will be held in a St Peters warehouse, and will run from 10am till 4pm on Saturday with ticketed sessions. Sunday won't have scheduled slots though — you can just rock up between 10am and 2pm. We'd still suggest getting there early though. Images: Mooikin.
Vegan NSW will be taking over Sydney Olympic Park with a market full of vegan and plant-based eats this October. The monthly plant-based market will return with stores ranging from vegan Greek eats to ethically-sourced artisan good from the likes of The Vegan Wog, Koshari Korner and Green Gourmet. New stallholders arriving in time for the market's October leg include Auntie M's Filipino Street Food and Crave Desserts. Entry to the markets is free and you can bring your pooch as it will be a dog-friendly affair. Vegan musicians will be setting the mood with performances throughout the day, and it's encouraged you bring your own picnic rug to set up in the Cathy Freeman Park, as well as your own cup, container and cutlery in line with the market's environmentally sustainable ethos.
Not every cyclist dreams of climbing L’Alpe d’Huez with Lance and Cadel. Many spend their time daydreaming of weaving through traffic, the veritable wind rushing through their hair — more often than not they are not wearing a helmet. A few years ago a skid might have been something found in the dirty laundry basket, now it is an oft-encountered manoeuvre on suburban streets the world over. One that has thankfully resulted in more than one innocent pedestrian avoiding a broken leg. I hesitate to draw a comparison between skateboarding and riding a track bike, but it is difficult to disguise the similarities; one being the close link with art. Legions of young riders have extended their two-wheel hobby to photography, graffiti, and filmmaking. Fixed Up is an exhibition detailing the burgeoning fixed-gear scene in Sydney. One exponent seems to be the Sydney Sunday Sessions group whose attendances have flourished from 20 to over 200 riders at their weekly get-togethers. Sydney probably isn’t the best city in the world for riding a bike that has no gears, but heck, why not? Fixed geared bikes are hella fun, and they are proving to be a great tool to bring people together. The exhibition catalogues the main protagonists in the Sydney fixie scene; how they got started and even what is so unique about their machines, whose dangling presence represents the major visual element of the exhibition. A window display at the Men's Incu store contains two Jim Bundy rigs and some old photos of his handmade bikes in action on the velodrome track where fixed gear bikes have continued their existence from the first bikes ever ridden. But is this exhibition another example of cultural appropriation? After all, despite the word "gallery" appearing in the name of the location, one cannot confuse the fact that this exhibition resides in a shopping mall. The bikes are dangling outside the Freedom store — geez! Perhaps this is another rejection of the norm (that's a defining element of a subculture right?); or perhaps, as another commercial gimmick, fixed geared bikes' gestation period was pronouncedly shorter than that of the skateboard. Either way, the exhibition is free and there are two bikes customised by tattoo-great Mike Giant to be won.
Speaking prior to the screening of his movie in Sydney, director Christopher Miller explained: "Our one, enduring rule for this film was that it had to be story focused. It could never be permitted to descend into a 90 minute toy commercial". For he and co-director Phil Lord, then, The LEGO Movie is mission accomplished. Set entirely within a world of those clickable bricks and yellow-faced characters, LEGO tells the story of Emmet Brickowski (Chris Pratt), an eternally optimistic construction worker whose pep is matched only by his extraordinary genericism. Emmet is the epitome of commercial dronery: a franchise-coffee-drinking, pop-music-listening nobody who always follows the instructions. That all changes, however, when he stumbles upon the 'Piece of Resistance' and becomes entangled in a power struggle between the ruthless President Business (Will Ferrell), his enforcer 'Bad Cop/Good Cop' (Liam Neeson) and the resistance agent 'WyldStyle' (Elizabeth Banks). It's...a little hard to describe the sensation of watching this film. Yes, it's computer generated, but what those computers generated were Lego pieces. So, if there's an explosion, that explosion is made up of thousands of tiny red, yellow and white lego circles — not CGI fire. The effect is mesmerising. The digital design team (Australia's Animal Logic), wholly adopted the 'rules and grammar' of Lego, meaning characters could only bend at the waist and all vehicles moved as they would if being controlled by a human hand. That device alone lends itself to dozens of jokes, and in terms of laughs, The LEGO Movie delivers in spades. This is, after all, the team behind both 22 Jump Street and the sublime Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs — two films that wield pop-culture references and drop cameos like nobody's business. Where other movies in this genre can often lapse into brand promotion or smulch, The LEGO Movie retains an acute self-awareness that never permits itself to take anything too seriously. As such, the in-jokes are amongst the strongest and nostalgia is used almost exclusively as a source of comedy rather than to pull on the heart strings. That's not to say the film is without a point. Its jabs at corporatisation land more heavily than one might expect for a 'kids movie', and its determination to encourage imagination and exploration 'beyond the instructions' is at times so concerted it borders on pro-anarchism. In the end, this is a family-friendly movie in every sense, yet the truth is, adults will derive more pleasure from the viewing than their children. LEGO is a wry, playful and intelligent piece of filmmaking that, like Toy Story before it, rises far above its station and offers up a truly enjoyable experience. https://youtube.com/watch?v=fZ_JOBCLF-I
UPDATE, May 1, 2021: I Am Greta is available to stream via Stan, Docplay, Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. If a single image can sum up the current crucial battle against climate change, it's a picture — any picture — of Greta Thunberg. Since deciding to skip school to protest outside Sweden's parliament back in August 2018, the braid-wearing teen has become the face of a movement. She isn't the first person to sound an alarm about the dire state of the planet, to vehemently speak truth to power or to gain widespread attention, but her determined, no-nonsense approach really isn't easily forgotten. Sometimes, it's directed at ordinary Stockholm residents going about their days while she strikes. As she has garnered increasing attention, Thunberg has trained her stare on crowded United Nations' conferences, too, and at attendees with the capacity but not necessarily the inclination to make a difference. She has also met face to face with world leaders, but she knows that politicians usually only share her gaze for a photo opportunity. Demonstrating patiently, speaking passionately, shaking hands for the cameras: all of these moments are captured by documentary I Am Greta, which surveys Thunberg's ascension from everyday Swedish 15-year-old to one of the best-known figures fighting to save the earth. The film acts as a chronicle, starting with her activism on her home soil, following her efforts as she's thrust to fame, and culminating in her trip across the Atlantic Ocean via yacht to present at 2019's UN Climate Action Summit, where she gave her iconic "how dare you" speech. But as the title indicates, this doco is just as concerned with Thunberg's home life as her public impact. Accordingly, while filmmaker Nathan Grossman has an array of recognisable footage at his disposal in this slickly packaged affair — packed protests, widely seen speeches, British parliament addresses, meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron — he interweaves it with quieter, intimate and unguarded moments. Including material preceding her present status as a household name, I Am Greta watches Thunberg prepare for big events, spend time with her beloved dogs and horses, eat meals with her family, and get escorted around the world by bus, train and boat by her father Svante. These snippets help paint a picture of the teenager behind the activism, and much of it is highly relatable. She adores her pets, finding their presence soothing. She obsesses over every detail of every speech, even when her dad is reminding her to rest and eat. She happily calls herself a nerd, explains the helpful side of her Asperger syndrome diagnosis ("it might be good if everyone had a tiny bit of Asperger's, at least about the climate," she shares), talks through details of past episodes of selective mutism and notes that being bullied isn't a new part of her life. Viewers looking for something more revealing in Thunberg's daily existence will be disappointed, as will anyone eager to discover details that haven't been covered in many a profile, or keen for in-depth facts and figures. But by purposefully and repeatedly stressing that its subject is simply a young woman who feels passionate about doing everything she can to raise awareness about climate change, and to motivate the world's powers-that-be to act before it's too late, I Am Greta makes an immensely potent statement. It's one that Thunberg has vocalised on many occasions with words as direct as her glare, and it resonates just as strongly here. It shouldn't take a teen skipping school and inspiring millions more around the world to follow in her footsteps to get people talking, thinking and enacting solutions to counteract the earth's warming. Thunberg shouldn't need to be a leader in this space. At the beginning of the film, during her time spent sitting outside Swedish parliament, she acknowledges that she likely knows far more about climate change than the overwhelming bulk of Sweden's politicians — and that firmly shouldn't be the case. Also cutting through astutely is Thunberg's continued recognition of how, as her fame increases, the global response by naysayers encapsulates so much about the status quo and the lack of government action. She calls out politicians who chat and get snapped in pictures but do nothing to follow through, with Grossman letting viewers see the pageantry alongside Thunberg's perceptive observations. She reads trolling comments, too — and I Am Greta says plenty when it shows figures such as Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison either attacking Thunberg, childishly insulting her, discounting her message or saying that the planet's younger generations should stick to studying instead of fighting for their futures. It isn't ever explicitly said, but I Am Greta also makes another pivotal point, and it applies not only to its central figure but to the rousing film itself. In addition to emphasising that the steadfast eco-warrior is a teen tackling a topic that so many of her elders have happily ignored for decades, this documentary understands that its audience already knows how they feel about Thunberg. It also recognises that its viewers are just as aware of which side they fall on when it comes to combating climate change. As a result, this movie isn't going to convert skeptics and Thunberg's critics, or alter her fans' thinking, and it isn't trying to. It'd rather show the work to effect change in action, and let that speak volumes. Indeed, what echoes here is that simply doing the right thing — doing something, in fact — is essential regardless of any obstacles and opposition, whether urged by Al Gore, David Attenborough, Aussie doco 2040, your best mate, your neighbour, a stranger or Thunberg. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mwk10YGPFiM
