Sydney's cocktail scene is about to heat up this winter as popular Spanish liqueur Licor 43 is partnering with five top South American and Spanish restaurants to introduce the Carajillo 43. This twist on the classic Carajillo (kah-rah-HEE-yoh) cocktail combines fresh espresso with Spanish liqueur, known for its sweet, citrusy flavours, which come from a secret blend of 43 ingredients. For a limited time, from July 19, the first 43 amigos to order a meal can score a complimentary Carajillo 43 when they mention this promotion at each venue. Keep reading to find out where and how you can join the fiesta.
If you're sick of buying tops that don't quite fit, you may want to consider investing in custom-made t-shirts. The sustainable basics label makes one thing and one thing only — really comfy, tailor-made men's and women's tees in every colour. And, best of all, you end up with ones that actually fit correctly and last longer. With a bricks-and-mortar shop in Haymarket's Steam Mill Lane, Citizen Wolf has a local and ethical approach to clothes-making. It exclusively uses local materials and manufacturing services, buying all of its fabric — cotton, organic cotton and Merino wool — from a series of ethically accredited mills in Melbourne and with every single garment made in a micro-factory in Darlinghurst. Plus, it makes every piece to order, meaning there's no unsold inventory going to landfill. So, you can pick up quality threads and feel good about it, too. In an era of fast fashion and temporary trends, Citizen Wolf is undeniably going against the grain — and its proving less certainly is more.
UPDATE MARCH 23, 2018: If you like smoked meats and good deals, you're going to like LP's latest offering. The Chippendale eatery has just launched a happy hour running from 5–6pm, Tuesday to Friday. The drinks on offer include the usual suspects — $10 glasses of wine, $5 Peroni Reds — and creative concoctions like the Lynchburg Lemonade ($10) made from PS40's smoked lemonade. For food, there's a rotating menu of $10 snacks. Expect smoked and cured delights such as 'nduja toast, Basque anchovies and croquettes stuffed with house-made jamon. Find more info here. If you're not addicted to smoking, then you haven't tried LP's Quality Meats, a European beer hall which carves up the city's best smoked and cured delicacies. Located in a leafy pocket of Chippendale lies LP's secret smokehouse, and you're bound to find it quicker by nose than sight. The venue still retains the charm of its former life as a mechanics — it's one expansive warehouse space with polished concrete floors, tiled walls and high ceilings. Communal tables create aisles across the room and the atmosphere just sings with happy patrons, intoxicated by the promising smells of smoky goodness. The LP in question stands for Luke Powell, the ex-Tetsuya's chef and mastermind behind Mary's famous burgers. He's joined by James Audas of Noma and Tetsuya fame as sommelier and front of house. Don't judge the waiters by their butcher-style tees; this casually clad team are a well-trained, knowledgeable bunch and professional from top to tail. The menu is short and sweet, and particularly short on the sweet items with just one dessert listed. The cured and cold cuts of bierwurst ($14), salami cotto ($14), and mortadella ($14) make a great charcuterie, served on a silver platter with mustard and house-made grissini. There are a host of main-sized menu items, including smoked chicken ($24/$42), lamb belly stuffed with merguez ($36), beef short rib ($48) and smoked sausage ($14), and they all rely on the same tried and true recipe of salt and smoke, a winning combination. At this point of the night even the Young Henrys cider tastes of smoke, but there's no complaining here. The bar has interesting brews on tap — including the Nomad Pale Ale and American Brown Ale BrewCult — and depending on where you sit, you get a great view of the open kitchen and the meat-slicer in motion. Does the single dessert stack up? The proof is in the pudding. While the sad-sounding pouding chômeur (or poor man's pudding) is made from day-old pancake batter, it's surprisingly top-notch. The delicious, crispy, pie-tin pancake soaked in a sticky, jammy sauce is an absolute sensation. With so many first-class elements, LP's Quality Meats is sure to rise to the top. You know what they say: where there's smoke...
Brisbane's Damian Griffiths is doubling down on his mission to put the entire population of Sydney — and indeed, Australia — into a diabetic coma. After giving us our first taste of his insanely popular Doughnut Time creations, the sugar-mad restaurateur is bringing his retro ice cream parlour, Mister Fitz, across the border. The first Mister Fitz opened in Fortitude Valley, Brisbane last December, followed quickly by a second location in South Bank. The Sydney move was first announced in April 2016, and while we're still waiting for a concrete opening date for the permanent store, Griffiths is kicking things off with a pop-up in Sydney's CBD, opening Friday, May 26. You will have to head into a shopping mall to find it though, as one half of Myer's winter Alpine Village activation beside a sibling Doughnut Time pop-up. Mister Fitz's pop-up menu is just four ice-cream sandwiches strong including the Gimme Macklemore (chocolate cookie sandwich, s'mores ice-cream and hot chocolate sauce), and the 24 Carat Magic with a slim shady doughnut sandwich, milk and cookies ice-cream and unicorn crumb), and warm offerings like the Sticky AF (sticky date pudding with vanilla ice cream topped with hot caramel sauce and unicorn crumb). The Mister Fitz and Doughnut Time Alpine Village is located on Level 6, Myer Sydney, 436 George Street, Sydney and will be open during Myer trading hours from May 26 to July 16. To celebrate the opening, both brands will be giving away free ice-cream sandwiches and doughnuts from 12-1pm on Friday, May 26.
After moving to Holt Street in December, the Porteño team have closed their OG HQ on Cleveland Street for events only — so they've decided to put on their own event. 'The Sweet Creeps and Outlaws Tour', featuring Henry Wagons, Jonny Fritz and Ruby Boots, is headed to Sydney this week and kicking off the Easter long weekend right — with a one-off show at Porteño's original digs on Thursday, April 13. Presented by Porteño Events and Love Police, the gig will mark the first in a series of live music nights being held at the revamped venue. It's a solid trio they've got lined up for this first event — from the enigmatic character that is Henry Wagons to the country lyricism of Jonny Fritz and the soulful swagger of Ruby Boots. The stage will also be graced by Fritz' fiddler and sidekick, Joshua Hedley. The trio will play their own songs, each others' songs and covers in a night filled with Americana, rock, folk and blues. Tickets are $73.45 a pop and include the show, two drinks and Argentinian snacks from the Porteño kitchen.
It's true every time that the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras announces its annual program: whether you're keen on the parade action, browsing stalls, partying in pools, hitting the dance floor, catching drag performances or plenty more, there's no shortage of options at the Harbour City's celebration of LGBTQIA+ pride and culture. For 2025, the just-revealed lineup spans the return of Fair Day, the festival's usual beloved splash-filled soirees, Honey Dijon and Romy from The xx headlining the Mardi Gras Party, plus Trixie Mattel — and that's just the beginning. In total, more than 80 LBGTQIA+ events will take over the Harbour City between Friday, February 14–Sunday, March 2, 2025. One highlight was first a Sydney WorldPride hit in 2023: the Blak & Deadly First Nations gala concert at City Recital Hall. The overarching theme in Mardi Gras' 47th year: "free to be", which nods to the fight for equality, while also championing individuality and the strength of community. "Each year, Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras brings people from all corners of the globe together for a celebration of community, visibility and progress. The 2025 festival embodies this spirit, reflecting the resilience, creativity and unity of our LGBTQIA+ communities," explains the event's CEO Gil Beckwith. "We are thrilled to welcome everyone to this year's festivities and look forward to continuing to champion the values of inclusivity and equality." Fair Day's comeback follows its cancellation in 2024 due to asbestos being found in Victoria Park's mulch. In 2025, it'll be at the same site with 200-plus stalls. The pool action comes courtesy of the Kaftana Pool Party and Paradiso Pool Party, which are just two more of Mardi Gras' signature events that are on the 2025 bill. Also in the same category: the parade and the Mardi Gras Party, of course, alongside the Sissy Ball and Laneway shindig. 2024's Ultra Violet is also back, again celebrating LGBTQIA+ women — as is trans and gender-diverse celebration Hot Trans Summer, which'll take over a floating venue, as well as opening ceremony First Nations First Light: A Festival Welcome at Bondi Beach. Among the new additions for 2025, Mardi Gras is teaming up with Qtopia Sydney on a suite of shows and exhibitions, such as the drag king-focused They Will Be Kings and the millennial pop culture-loving I Want It That Gay. Over at Sydney Opera House, Samuel Barnett's one-man show Feeling Afraid As If Something Terrible Is Going to Happen is another highlight. From there, The Kaye Hole, family-friendly Disco on the Green, Kate Bush tribute An Evening Without Kate Bush and a Pride in Sport Festival featuring everything from self-defence workshops to volleyball tournaments are fellow standouts. Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras 2025 will run from Friday, February 14–Sunday, March 2, 2025. For more information, or for tickets, head to the event's website. Images: Jordan Munns, Joseph Mayers, Ann-Marie Calilhanna, Vic Lentaigne, Ken Leanfore, Lexi Laphor, Jess Gleeson.
When Frozen the Musical opened in Sydney in December 2020, it was a very big deal. Sydney was not only the first stop on the stage production's international tour, but it was one of the only places in the world where people could see a Broadway show — and it still is today. So, if you've got your hands on one of those hot tickets, you should make the most of it. Luckily, a bunch of local venues have jumped on the bandwagon to celebrate this cultural phenomenon coming to town. If you've found yourself swept up in the magical story of Princesses Anna and Elsa — and you just can't get 'Let It Go' out of your head — make it last with these Frozen-themed treats. TREAT YOURSELF TO A WHIMSICAL BRUNCH Darling Square's Auvers Cafe has pulled out all the stops with its themed menu to celebrate Frozen the Musical. The menu is available throughout the production's Sydney run, giving you the perfect excuse to indulge in a decadent brunch before or after you see the show. For drinks, there's the Ice Palace Mocktail, the Warm Hug white hot chocolate and the Snow Queen cocktail. Sweet tooths can pair their drink with The Coronation Croissant (stuffed with creamy spirulina and blue caracao sugar flakes) or the North Mountain Pancake Stack (vibrant blue spirulina pancakes topped with lychee marscapone, vanilla ice cream and berries). After something savoury? Opt for the Arendelle Fjord (blue-eye cod with risotto, tempura oyster, spirulina fish broth and edamame) instead. [caption id="attachment_803745" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Jasper Avenue[/caption] GET A BRAIN FREEZE FROM THIS ICY BLUE DESSERT All Frozen fans know ice plays a crucial role in the story, so it should be a big part of your experience seeing the musical, too. Darling Square's Dopa Don and Milk Bar has just the thing. The Frozen Storm is Dopa's spin on kakigōri, a Japanese-style shaved ice dessert. Kakigōri is traditionally sweetened with condensed milk, but this limited-edition version incorporates blue pea flower, blue spirulina syrup and coconut and banana cream. And as you dig into the delightful domed dessert you'll come across purple potato, sago, coconut jelly and another surprise ingredient. ORDER THIS OTT CAKE MADE BY DESSERT ROYALTY When Elsa accidentally sets off an eternal winter in the Kingdom of Arendelle, it's, well, pretty bad. But Masterchef Australia alum Reynold Poernomo has once again proven his dessert king title with this Eternal Winter cake. Available through his popular dessert bar KOI, Eternal Winter features raspberry, vanilla, mint, chocolate brownie and strawberry marshmallow. Given how intricately decorated it is, this cake is only available for click-and-collect, which you can do here. KOI has also just announced a special Frozen-inspired Snowflake Egg, with white chocolate, vanilla and citrus, which will be available for click-and-collect from its Chippendale and Ryde stores between March 18 and April 1. SIP THIS COOL BLUE COSMO Whether you're a Sydney local or you've travelled from afar to see the award-winning show, one way to break the enchanting spell after the show is heading straight home. Instead, book a night at Novotel Sydney Darling Square, which is just around the corner from the Capitol Theatre, and take advantage of its proximity to some of Sydney's best restaurants and bars. One such spot, which is conveniently connected to the hotel, is Pumphouse. The heritage-listed bar is serving this brilliantly blue Frozen Cosmo, garnished with blueberries and mint, for $20 while the show is running. Keen to pair your cocktail with a feed? Pumphouse also runs a pre- and post-theatre dining special. All you have to do is flash your theatre ticket to score a main meal and drink for $25 per person. For the latest info on NSW border restrictions, head here. If travelling from Queensland or Victoria, check out Queensland Health and DHHS websites, respectively. Top image: 'Frozen the Musical', Lisa Tomasetti
Negronis go down well after a hard day at work. Espresso martinis go down well at a boozy weekend brunch. Aperol spritzes go down well... well, most of the time. But, shelling out for these, oft $20-plus, cocktails on the reg doesn't go down well for our wallets. Luckily, there's a slew of Sydney bars and pubs serving up these libations for a tenner — every day of the week. MONDAY CORRIDOR, NEWTOWN What's the deal? All cocktails are $10 between 5pm and 7pm, Monday to Thursday. This aptly-named small bar is brimming with more than its fair share of goodness. There's a private table at the front, stools along the wall, a space hidden under the stairs, a lounge room and the upstairs courtyard. And during the week, from 5–7pm, you can pick anything of its cocktail list for only $10. Sit back with a Hot Blooded (a spicy tequila creation), a maple-infused old fashioned or a mojito and be happy knowing your savings are safe for another evening. TUESDAY [caption id="attachment_594712" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] East Village Hotel[/caption] EAST VILLAGE HOTEL, DARLINGHURST What's the deal? $10 daily cocktails between 5pm and 7pm, Monday to Thursday. This three-tiered Darlinghurst bar, which had a facelift in late 2016, has some of the suburb's best rooftop views. It also has some standout midweek cocktail deals. Each day, from Monday to Thursday, the bar offers a different cocktail for $10. Fan of Tommys margaritas? Head in on a Monday. Like your drinks carbonated? There are spritzes on Tuesdays. Campari connoisseur? Negronis on Wednesdays. And when you make it to Thursday, you deserve a round (or two) or $10 espresso martinis. WEDNESDAY [caption id="attachment_547543" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] The Carrington[/caption] THE CARRINGTON, SURRY HILLS What's the deal? $10 negronis, Aperol spritzes, espresso martinis and margaritas between 9pm and 10pm, daily. Locals love the Carrington. It's in walking distance of the SCG, it's dog friendly and it has great nightly food deals (including meal deals for your dog). It's also one of the few bars offering late-night drink specials. Every day from 9–10pm the pub is serving up $10 negronis, Aperol Spritzes, espresso martinis and margaritas — so, even if you need to clock a few overtime hours at work, you can still bag a bargain. RESTAURANT HUBERT, CBD What's the deal? $10 negronis between 4pm and 6pm, daily. This basement French restaurant is better known for its luxe design and refined fare than it is for its bargains. But, this changed when it launched its aperitivo hour. Every day from 4–6pm you can knock back negronis for a tenner. If you're peckish, you can snack on $5 devilled eggs and $10 burgers, too. And that's just the start — you can read about the rest of the aperitivo hour deals here. THURSDAY [caption id="attachment_532433" align="aligncenter" width="1280"] Hotel Steyne[/caption] GLASSHOUSE, HOTEL STEYNE, MANLY What's the deal? $10 gin cocktails between 5pm and 7pm, Thursday and Friday. Perched on an eastern corner of the Manly Corso, the Hotel Steyne is just a stumble away from the beach. When it comes to dining and drinking at this multifaceted venue, you have a few options. And on Thursday and Friday afternoons, we suggest heading directly for the Glasshouse. This gin and tonic bar has an extensive list of botanical cocktails, charcuterie boards and between 5pm and 7pm it's offering up gin cocktails for only $10. FRIDAY [caption id="attachment_534073" align="aligncenter" width="1280"] Bellevue[/caption] BELLEVUE, PADDINGTON What's the deal? $10 espresso martinis between 6pm and 8pm, Friday. Nestled in the leafy back streets of Paddington, Bellevue (formerly The Bellevue Hotel) has been trading since 1880, but a few years ago it was renovated and reinvented. Its renovation included a host of daily specials (including 2-for-1 meals and $1 oysters) but our favourite by far is on Fridays — $10 espresso martinis. Congratulate yourself for surviving another working week with a round of drinks and a caffeine buzz. SATURDAY [caption id="attachment_648889" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Shady Pines Saloon[/caption] SHADY PINES SALOON, DARLINGHURST What's the deal? $10 margaritas and negronis between 4pm and 6pm, daily. The underground whiskey bar recently launched a new menu. And alongside it — lucky for us — it launched a daily happy hour. Between 4–6pm the peanut-shell filled bar is mixing and shaking $10 margaritas and negronis. If you've only got a pocket full of loose change, no stress. It's also slinging $3 house spirits and beers. SUNDAY [caption id="attachment_586723" align="aligncenter" width="1280"] Moya's Juniper Lounge[/caption] MOYA'S JUNIPER LOUNGE, REDFERN What's the deal? $10 negronis from 6pm, Sunday. Tackle the doom and gloom of Sunday's dying hours with a local dose of chilled-out jazz and a delightfully priced cocktail. Every Sunday in from 6pm, Moya's Juniper Lounge will host live jazz and $10 negronis — the perfect combination to help you forget about the looming Monday morning. CAN CAVA PINXTOS & WINE, BONDI BEACH What's the deal? $10 seasonal cocktails from 2pm, Sunday. Can Cava Pinxtos & Wine is giving Sydneysiders a reason to welcome the last licks of the weekend with Sunday Funday. The Bondi bar hosts a weekly party with live music, cheap-yet-fancy booze and Barcelona-style eats. All-day drink specials include $10 cocktails off the seasonal menu — think passionfruit martinis, grapefruit margaritas and daiquiris for summer. LL WINE AND DINE, POTTS POINT What's the deal? $10 bloody marys between 11am and 4pm, Sunday. If you wake up on Sunday feeling a bit dusty, LL Wine and Dine has a solution. Every Sunday from 11am the Potts Point eatery is serving up $10 bloody marys (the ultimate hangover cure) and all-you-can-eat yum cha for 30 bucks a head.
Good news, chicken lovers. El Jannah is spreading its wings east with the launch of a brand-new location in Randwick. To celebrate, the charcoal chicken fanatics have put together a grand opening celebration, with anyone named Charlie (or close enough) earning a special treat. Happening on Saturday, July 26, a charcoal chicken meal is on the house for the Charlottes, Charlenes and Charles of the world — you get the idea. But don't think the rest of us have been forgotten. El Jannah Randwick will serve quarter charcoal chicken meals to all-comers for $5. "Opening in Randwick is a milestone moment for us and a reflection of Sydney's ever-growing love for charcoal chicken," says Adam Issa, Head of Marketing at El Jannah. "What began as a single family-run store in Granville has grown by keeping true to our founding principles; serving honest food, made with care, and shared with community." The arrival of El Jannah Randwick has also thrown a wrench in the 'Red Rooster Line.' Emerging from the western suburbs, the cult-favourite chicken joint has ignored the buffer, finding a new home among Chargrill Charlie's territory. It only makes sense — juicy chicken and legendary garlic sauce know no boundaries.
The older we get the more we are faced with the stark reality that with each passing year, our ability to handle an innocent drink declines… rapidly. Gone are the days of 3am tequila shots and dancing all night only to wake up fresh faced and carefree, ready to tackle the rest of your weekend. It can be said that even a few arvo beers at the pub or night of wine-fuelled deep conversation can pose a risk to a fresh head in the morning. And, if you've got a to-do list waiting the next day — or you simply want to avoid nausea, head aches and the dreaded Sunday Scaries —sticking to sobriety can be the most obvious choice. While going sans-booze is never a bad idea, it's not always ideal. Celebratory jugs of beer between mates, delicious drops, artful cocktails: dreamy. If you agree, we've got news for you. Tend-2 is your answer if you truly cannot risk feeling sad and sorry the next day. The product? Vitamin-laden capsules, for both pre- and post-drinking. Organic, natural and with the science to back the efficacy up, Tend-2 capsules are ARTG listed and your first purchase comes with a money-back guarantee. Pop two before you start drinking, making sure to party responsibly and hydrate regularly, then pop another two once you've had your last bev. Simple. And once you've sorted your next-day self out, what better than a standout morning meal to celebrate your win? Brunch is a staple in any city-slicker's weekend routine, so join the rest of the fresh-faced crowd. Whether you're in the mood for an expertly crafted classic or are looking for something a bit more out-there (like breakfast ramen), here are the spots you need to visit when you're feeling smug. BREAD & CIRCUS, ALEXANDRIA You can always count on Bread & Circus to deliver immaculate vibes and great food. An atmosphere that manages to be both bustling and calming, its signature pops of pink and a regular crowd of loyal locals: the ideal spot for your smug self. What to order? Keep it simple yet satisfying with summer on toast, which heroes seasonal tomatoes with a backdrop of goat's chevre and fresh herbs. There's a breakfast salad and a breakfast curry, if you want something deliciously different. Or, if you are thinking sweet, the bowl of "foxy porridge" is for you. Caramelised banana, blueberry, pistachio, mint and maple — heaven. Wash down your wholesome meal with a selection from their extensive fine tea menu, a coffee (using Padre beans) or a cold-pressed juice. Bread & Circus, 21 Fountain Street, Alexandria ST KAI, MORTDALE This Japanese-leaning cafe serves some seriously special eats, just the ticket if you're looking to mix up your usual brunch routine (or just know what's good for you). In the event of being smug and hangover free? You're primed with a stomach of steel to get experimental. Enjoy a fish and kimchi sausage roll served with housemade ketchup, or switch up your usual eggs on toast for a serve of silky smooth folded eggs with black-herring roe and lao gan ma (the holy grail of chilli oil) atop milk toast. Or, who said you couldn't have ramen for breakfast? Opt for the warming bowl pictured above for a morning umami bomb. At St Kai, there's drinks aplenty too: standout coffee, tea and matcha, plus plenty of room to explore. Ditch your regular latte for something a little more fun, like a bebop with coffee jelly, iced milk and strong espresso. St Kai, 38 Balmoral Road, Mortdale [caption id="attachment_888364" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Jonathan Gregson[/caption] BILL'S, BONDI It is only fair to give an honourable mention to the reliably lovely Bill's. With that beautiful, glowing, legging-clad Bondi crowd and an aura that screams 'I have my life together', this is not a place to try and bear with a hangover. However, if you're feeling fresh, soak in the beautiful ambiance and feast on the classics — you really can't go wrong. Try the now-iconic ricotta hotcakes with banana and honeycomb butter (a fluffy heavenly dream); or opt for another signature dish, the sweet corn fritters that come perfectly balanced with a citrusy avocado salsa (hot tip: add bacon). And, if you're looking to really try your luck, wash it down with a spiced bloody mary — start your day right. Bill's, 79 Hall Street, Bondi Beach MISC., PARRAMATTA Proving west is best, Parramatta's new Misc. is pairing an authentic neighbourhood feel with delicious eats that are great to feast on with company or solo. The extensive breakfast menu is curated to keep everyone happy. In the mood for classic-yet-elevated eggs? Hankering for a loaded mushroom toastie (complete with sage butter, gruyere, caramelised onion and pickles)? Hate deciding and looking to share lots of small plates? You're catered for here. There's cilbir (garlicky, yoghurt-y Turkish eggs), complete with a smoky-sweet Aleppo pepper oil and housemade focaccia (to soak up all that saucy goodness). Enjoy it all in this sleek 300-seat venue with plenty of room to settle in either inside or alfresco. Misc, Little Coogee, Byrnes Avenue, Parramatta NORMA'S DELI, MANLY Manly's hottest new venue is serving all the Med goodness you could need for a hangover-free morning meal. You can find the terrazzo-floored beauty on The Corso, complete with vibrant thrum of diners, a stunning tiled logo and — why you're here — a Greek-inspired breakfast. Think pink with the taramasalata toast served with soft boiled eggs, zested lemon, bottarga and chives. Or lean green with the viridescent shakshuka complete with a lashing of citrusy yoghurt. If you really can't decide, opt for the Norma's Platter (for one or two people) which'll have you devour eggs, a selection of fresh housemade bread, buffalo mozzarella, Sicilian olives, cucumber and deli meats — the menu item perfect for when you want to sample all the fresh and quality produce your heart desires. Norma's Deli, 74–78 The Corso, Manly SOULMATE, NEWTOWN For your classic Aussie-cafe vibe, you want to make a beeline for Soulmate. Its corner location (far from the bus-lined King Street and Enmore Road) and thrown-open doors make it the perfect spot to settle in on a sunny Sydney day (though prepare to wait if you weren't first out of bed). Sip on your Single O coffee with a Soulmate B&E (complete with sambal and cheese) or be brave with a black sausage sanga with herb aioli and plenty of kick. There's the tofu scramble for the meat-averse, or beans on toast (a super special plate of charred corn and borlotti beans on top of crunchy toast with pecorino and chilli oil). We're calling it: sans hangover, a classic cafe brekkie never tasted so good. Soulmate, Unit 12/39 Phillip Street, Newtown [caption id="attachment_887877" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Jack Fenby[/caption] A.P BAKERY, SURRY HILLS Head to the Paramount House Hotel rooftop and stealthily snag a seat at A.P House. The Cali-inspired venue is usually bustling, so it's best to save a visit for a hangover-free day so as not to overwhelm yourself. From 7.30am, Wednesday to Sunday, the team's serving some of the best pastries in the game. Among the lineup there's 'nduja-topped focaccia straight from the oven, buttery croissants with an infinity of layers, warrigal-greens pies and fruity tarts (all optimal for taking away after you've finished your choice from the regularly changing menu). Consider this your warning to come with a good appetite — we doubt you'll be able to decide on just one thing. A.P Bakery, 80 Commonwealth Street, Surry Hills If you're looking to dine smugly (sans hangover) and drink smarter, head to the website for more information. Top image: Misc.; Anson Smart, Bill's Bondi
Daniel Boyd is a re-maker of Australian history. Through artistic methods of satire and appropriation, he deconstructs narratives of British imperialism and confronts the dark undercurrents that whitewash our sense of national identity and culture. Drawing upon 18th and 19th century paintings, he subtly inverts heroic depictions of colonial conquest into portraits of invasion, rampant with buccaneers and profiteers. In a slight change of pace, Boyd’s current exhibition, Pineapples in the Pacific, revolves around Pentecost Island in the South Pacific, the birthplace of his paternal great great grandfather. Based on photographs taken during a series of Anglican Melansian missions in 1906, Boyd approaches these images with contemporary candour and an eye for satire, amplifying their residual flavours of exoticism and ‘otherness’. As well as stitching and unstitching the flexible fabric of history, Boyd also reworks the traditional aesthetic of Aboriginal dot painting, merging together abstraction and figuration. His series of untitled paintings are veiled by glossy, translucent dots of archival glue. These dots, whilst adding brilliant textural complexity, are allowed to converge like raindrops. They appear to function as miniature lenses that distort and magnify the content. This masking and manipulation of perspective means you have to dig deep to discern the details. Like subjective histories, Boyd is perhaps emphasising subjective modes of seeing. Upon entering the gallery space, a picturesque coastal landscape looms large. Coloured with luminous blues and greens, it teems with tropical allure. Whilst the work is a postcard perfect capturing of foreign beauty, with the elevated viewpoint and the historical context, there is a creeping sense that we are seeing through the possessive lust of the coloniser. Interesting also is Boyd’s curiously isolated pineapple. It is as if he is harnessing this well-worn icon of lush utopia and using it as an ironic statement, implying that it masks a set of derogatory racial and cultural assumptions. Boyd’s re-worked portraits are more obviously rooted in archival photography. In his shadowy representations of indigenous figures, an elder man is dressed in ceremonial garb and weaponry, whilst in another work, there is a faint echo of Gauguin’s Tahitian muse, summoning up the notion of ‘exotic beauty’. You get the feeling that the original photography was guided by the antiquated stock character of ‘the noble savage’; however, Boyd’s elusive and monochromatic reproduction of them suggests that this romantic notion is a blurry memory — that there is something intangible and out of reach about this identity. The locale may be different, but Boyd's magnified and reworked reproductions continue to be subtle provocations of Western colonialism and their shifting approaches to 'otherness'. It's one case where a pineapple is most definitely not just a pineapple.
Cleveland Street's Norfolk Hotel might not be Sydney's oldest pub, but it's got a case to make as the city's most consistently evolving. In just the past decade, the Redfern watering hole — which poured its first beer in 1921 — has passed through the hands of no less than three different hospo groups. And now, its latest iteration has been unveiled. After being taken over earlier this year by local hospo juggernaut Solotel (the group behind the likes of The Abercrombie, Chiswick and Oxford House), the new Norfolk is leaning into its long-held reputation as an easygoing, no-nonsense local, complete with trivia, spin the wheel and a badge draw. The opening follows a months-long restoration, which sees the century-old institution return with a new look and mission as it embarks on its next chapter. Helming this next chapter are GM Marcella Guilfoyle and Executive Chef Toby Wilson (pictured below), whose buzzy taqueria Ricos Tacos is still holding down the fort in the pub's courtyard, while the upstairs Club Ricos also remains intact. Wilson has also turned his attention to the Norfolk's new pub menu, which champions local suppliers — Good Ways Deli is both providing the focaccia and teaming up with Ciccone & Sons for a lamington ice cream sandwich — while showcasing pub classics with a thoroughly contemporary remix. On the menu, you'll find the likes of house-made pork and fennel sausage roll sold by the inch, beef and VB party pies, a roast chicken and sage roll with a side of dipping gravy, and those lamington ice cream sandwiches. "The new menu keeps it classic, but everything's made with heart," says Wilson. "It's a team effort to bring the best of the 'burb to the table." At the bar, you'll also find a bit of the surrounding 'burbs (and slightly further beyond) with boutique local wines available by the glass and a dark lager collab with Alexandria brewers Yulli's. There's also a selection of aperitivo-style cocktails, with some available on tap. "The Norfolk has always stood for good times, great food and that sense of belonging you only get from your local," says Guilfoyle. "We're proud to be back, collaborating with some of the neighbourhood's greatest success stories and creating a space where everyone's welcome." The Norfolk is now open at 305 Cleveland Street, Redfern. For more information, head to the venue's website. Images: Steven Woodburn.
Popular Sydney hospitality figure Reynold Poernomo has unveiled his flagship venue in Chippendale, with the opening of a new KOI Dessert Bar featuring three distinct areas. KOI has moved to Central Park Avenue after half a decade in Kensington Street, expanding to a larger more extravagant space two streets over which Poernomo has described as his "dream venue". Reynold initially opened the dessert bar with the help of his brothers Arnold and Ronald after winning fans over on MasterChef. "This is big for me, the team and the family, because as you all know, this is the first restaurant that my family and I had started over five years ago," Poernomo said. Tucked behind Central Park Mall next to the Chippendale Green, KOI Dessert Bar now invites sweet tooths to their choice of three dining experiences. The first section is your standard dessert bar reminiscent of the original Chippendale location. Here you'll find a stone and japanese tile benchtop presenting KOI's signature range of desserts for takeaway or eat-in. The daily cake selection changes, but you can expect creations like black truffle basque cheesecake or matcha, yuzu and pistachio slice, paired with St Dreux coffee and Tavalon tea. In the evening you'll enter through the second space — the revamped Monkey's Corner cocktail bar which has also moved across from Kensington Street. At the bar, the cakes are traded for noodles and coffee swapped for sake. Highlights from the food menu include chili crab egg noodles, trout tartare, torched wagyu strips and king prawns. There's also an affinity for truffle, with a black truffle and mushroom noodle dish a mainstay of the bar, and a seasonal truffle menu on offer during winter. The final — and possibly most exciting — element of the revamped venue is an intimate 12-seat restaurant. A chef's table of sorts, diners at KOI Experiential will have a front-row show as Poernomo creates a ten-course degustation spanning the sweet and the savory. The experience resembles that of Sydney's new wave of omakase restaurants, with the head chef taking patrons through that night's intricate and expertly crafted dishes. Seatings at the degustation are available at either 5.30pm or 8pm and will set you back $130pp. KOI Dessert Bar and Monkey's Corner are located at 6 Central Park Avenue, Chippendale. The dessert bar is open 11am–10pm Tuesday–Sunday, KOI Experiential is open from 5.30pm and 8pm Wednesday–Sunday and Moneky's Corner is open 5–10pm Tuesday–Sunday and midday–3pm Saturday and Sunday.
Five years after Sydney's lockout laws were introduced by Liberal Premier Barry O'Farrell, it could be a Liberal Government that finally winds them back. The Parliament of NSW has this morning released its extensive review of the city's nighttime economy — and it looks like it could be the final nail in the coffin for the lockout laws. The 126-page report makes 40 recommendations in total, most notably recommending that that the 2014 lockout laws be removed across the CBD, Darling Harbour, The Rocks, the top half of Surry Hills and Oxford Street with "appropriate urgency". The report says that the 1.30am lockout, bans on shots after midnight and the 3am closing time should all be lifted across licensed venues in this area. The Kings Cross precinct won't be as lucky, with the report citing that it "requires a specific, nuanced approach" as it's a high-density area with a "high risk" that violence would increase again if the laws are lifted. It does, however, recommend that the lockout laws be reviewed again in 12 months. The report also suggests that the sale of alcohol be extended until midnight Monday to Saturday (and 11pm on Sunday), extend the standard closing time of small bars until 2am a request for Transport for NSW look into 24-hour transport on weekends. [caption id="attachment_637655" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Frankies in the CBD, which would be affected by the lockout law change. Image: Katje Ford.[/caption] The parliamentary inquiry, which was first announced in May by Premier Gladys Berejiklian, was undertaken by a ten-member cross-party committee made up of politicians from both the upper and lower house, the NSW Government and cross-benchers. It considered close to 800 submissions from business owners and industry members including police, health, entertainment and live music stakeholders to make the reccommendations to the government. While they are all just recommendations at this stage, it looks likely that the legislative changes to the lockout laws will be entered into parliament by the NSW Government. Plans to scrap the lockout laws (in terms that seem to reflect this report) were announced earlier this month by the Premier herself, who told The Daily Telegraph that "Sydney is Australia's only global city and we need our night-life to reflect that." And if the Coalition is bringing the motion to relax the lockout laws, it's likely it will be successful — especially as the Shooters, Farmers and Fishers Party has already expressed its support for scrapping them. You can check out the major parties' views on live music and the lockouts in our pre-election wrap-up. The CBD's nightlife and live music scene has struggled under the stifling legislation — and has seen a reported 176 venues, including institutions like The Basement, close — the lifting of the lockout laws together with the City of Sydney's plans to introduce 24-hour trading to the CBD could mean big changes for the area. It won't change overnight, but the repeal of the lockout laws would allow Sydneysiders to head into CBD bars, pubs and nightclubs after 1.30am — and those same venues to remain open after 3am — while the City of Sydney is hoping to encourage the 24 hour trading of unlicensed CBD businesses. Now it's over to the NSW Government to make the next move. We'll update you when we have any new info. Top image: Kimberley Low.
In a normal year, the Sydney Film Festival doesn't just host the huge city-wide event that it's best known for, but also takes a touring program around the country via its Travelling Film Festival. We all know that there's little that's normal about 2020, of course, so the fest has been adapting accordingly — firstly, by going virtual for its big attraction; and now, by launching a new film event designed to encourage movie buffs to head back to the nation's independent cinemas. Running across November and December, My Cinema My Film Festival is a collaboration between SFF's Travelling Film Festival and Independent Cinemas Australia — and it's hitting up 19 picture palaces across New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and the ACT. Crucially, the event is heading to both cities and regional locations, with different programs and timeframes for each. So, whether you're a cinephile in Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra, Bunbury or Mt Gambier, you'll be able to head to the flicks and check out new indie and arthouse movies. When the mini film fest arrives in regional and rural cinemas from November 19–30, and then metropolitan cinemas from November 27–December 10, viewers will be able to check out Adam, a moving Casablanca-set drama about a pregnant woman and the single mother who helps her; documentary The Painter and the Thief, which picked up a prize at Sundance; and Descent, a doco about free diver Kiki Bosch. Max Richter's Sleep peeks behind the scenes of Richter's eight-hour Sleep performance, while drama Charlatan steps inside the Nazi Occupation of Czechoslovakia — and, in regional areas only, powerful Aussie western High Ground is also on the bill. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yJ4r7ON974 Across both legs of the event, 12 features will screen in total, as will five Australian short films. Announcing My Cinema My Film Festival, SFF CEO Leigh Small noted that "Australian cinemas everywhere have been struggling under the weight of COVID-19 factors such as lockdowns, reduced audience capacities, or access to films due to delayed and limited theatrical film releases globally". She continued, "this is one step we can take together to help bring audiences back to the cinemas responsibly, with outstanding films they are unlikely to see anywhere on streaming platforms". MY CINEMA MY FILM FESTIVAL LOCATIONS: New South Wales: Dendy Newtown, Forum Cinema Wagga, Scotty's Cinema Raymond Terrace, Picture Showman Merimbula, Forum 6 Cinema Tamworth, Odeon 5 Cinema Orange, Gala Cinema Warrawong Queensland: Dendy Coorparoo, Dendy Portside, Big Screen Cinemas Hervey Bay, Gympie Cinema, Gladstone Cinema Western Australia: Bunbury Grand Cinemas, Grand Cinemas Armadale, Grand Cinemas Joondalup South Australia: Oatmill Cinema Mt Gambier, Wallis Mt Barker, Wallis Mitcham ACT: Dendy Canberra My Cinema My Film Festival screens in regional and rural cinemas from November 19–30, and in metropolitan cinemas from November 27–December 10. Head to the festival website for further details, session times and to buy tickets.
When you wish upon a star, do you wish for all things Disney to be worked into your daily life? If so, then you'll be familiar with Sydney fine-dining institution NEL and its Once Upon a Time degustations. Since 2019, the Harbour City restaurant has been regularly plating up 11-course meals featuring dishes inspired by the Mouse House and its movies. In fact, it's done so four times so far. 2024's run will mark the enchanting dining experience's fifth chapter, then — and NEL's Executive Chef and namesake Nelly Robinson has new film-themed culinary creations in store. From Tuesday, April 16–Saturday, August 10, fans of top-notch meals and Disney alike can flutter into the Surry Hills eatery to enjoy courses that take their cues from Frozen, 101 Dalmatians, The Jungle Book and more. Both savoury and sweet dishes are on offer, with or without beverages — including cocktails — that also help tell a magical tale. For those who'll never be able to let their Mouse House obsession go, cured ocean trout Nordic-style — complete with a pickled onion snowflake, snow made out of cream cheese, and dustings of lemon and dill done at your table — is on the menu. Of course the Cruella de Vil-themed plate goes with a black-and-white colour scheme, featuring ricotta gnocchi, pan-seared mushroom and a celeriac velouté. And there'll be far more than the bare necessities tempting your tastebuds with the banana-shaped cream paired with roasted white chocolate and peanut butter brittle. Other courses include a nod to Peter Pan via a golden sweet pastry crumble, aka the Once Upon a Time degustation's version of pixie dust; saying "hi ho, hi ho" to a Snow White-inspired dish; and also paying edible tribute to Mulan, The Lion King, Bambi and The Nightmare Before Christmas. There's even NEL's version of a wand, aka a chicken and eggplant pastry that comes in a crisp tulle. "I am taking our diners on a journey of nostalgia. It is so much fun creating this menu. The films continue to inspire me. With the team at NEL, we have crafted the menu to ensure a moment of joy and wonder in every single dish," says Robinson about his fifth Once Upon a Time menu. NEL is known for its themed degustations, also spanning KFC-inspired dinners, Moulin Rouge!-themed and Christmas degustations, and heroing native Australian ingredients in the past. Unsurprisingly, the Once Upon a Time spread is especially popular — and because it serves up new and fresh dishes riffing on the Mouse House's favourites each time, it's always a different experience each year for locals and Disney-adoring visitors to Sydney. Price-wise, this childhood-inspired feast will require an adult salary, costing $185 per person, with beverages matched for an extra $165. Reserving a spot ASAP for dinner Tuesday–Saturday from 5.15pm, and for lunch from 12pm on Saturdays as well, is recommended — this always books out. NEL's Once Upon A Time (Chapter Five) degustation is on offer from Tuesday, April 16–Saturday, August 10, 2024 at 75 Wentworth Avenue, Sydney. For more information or to book, head to the NEL website.
Following a very exciting relaunch in 2023 as a part of the Cambridge Market family, The Cannery Markets have flourished. It's fair to say they know what they're doing, bringing over 45 high-end food, drink, homeware and other boutique retailers to Rosebery on the first weekend of every month. If you're wondering what to expect, there's a wide range of flavours and products to look forward to. A Tiny Bit Decadent is a specialist in all things chocolate; Shadow Baking appear regularly with legendary baked goods; Ola Lola never fails to bring Latin American flavours; Matcha and Forest have a range of green tea goodies; Meraki Lane offers lovely decorations for the home; and I Dream of Silver has all your jewellery needs sorted. The Cannery Market is open the first weekend of every month, from 9am to 3pm. For more information on The Cannery Markets or its vendors, visit the website.
Since winding up the breakfast show at Triple J last year, comedian Tom Ballard has not slowed down in the slightest. Sure, he might not have to get up so early every weekday morning, but in between nationally touring his stand-up comedy shows, writing op-eds and returning to radio for a six-week Chatback stint, Ballard is one busy lad. Now he's set to launch and host his own show on ABC TV called Reality Check, which will look exclusively at the bizarre world of reality TV. Before that all happens, we were lucky enough to pull him over for a quick chat about his stand-up comedy career, Dry July, Thorpie and RuPaul's Drag Race. Congrats on the new show. What made you want to explore the world of reality TV? Ahhh, the money? Since I left Triple J breakfast I'm destitute and living on the street, so having a regular paycheck is pretty good! But it's also a bonus that it's a really fascinating topic that we don't talk about enough, and I get to do it with CJZ [the merger of Cordell Jigsaw Productions and Zapruder's Other Films, independently responsible for shows such as The Gruen Transfer and Go Back to Where You Came From] and ABC who make pretty awesome TV together. There is a wealth of material that hasn't been mined yet, there's a shitload of really important, moving stuff, but there's obviously a ton of jokes as well. It's the perfect sweet spot for me. You'll be joined by previous reality TV 'stars' — I use that term very loosely! Who are you most excited to have on the panel? (Slyly giggles to himself) Well, I have to be a bit boring and tell you we're keeping that one close to our chest at the moment. We've had a bunch of producers whose names you may not know, but they're actually responsible for huge reality TV hits, as well as previous judges and contestants. We've spoken to some people who have been the voice of Big Brother, some people who have won a major series, and people who have worked in the UK and America who have batshit crazy shows so it's really fascinating talking to them. Every week there will be names who are very familiar to reality TV addicts but also people who only follow it on the periphery. We worked really hard on getting some good names who can give us a lot of insight on the shows and the issues we want to talk about. https://youtube.com/watch?v=RmfHMNkhtn8 What reality TV shows did you watch growing up? Or are there still some that you watch now? Australian Idol was huge for me. I watched the first series. I was a big MasterChef head as well. I love RuPaul's Drag Race as well, and that is a really funny show. Come Dine With Me, and just stupid shit like the Kardashians. For this show we've watched a shit-ton of stuff and looking at the crazy moments that have happened in other countries like Nigeria's Got Talent and China's Got Talent, Big Brother Houses in other countries, one which was full of short-statured people. There's a UK show called Tourettes: Let Me Entertain You, which was basically a talent search for young people with Tourettes, just insane shit like that. I'm really excited about bringing that to the fore and laughing and celebrating all that stuff we get to see. You have just wound up your return to Triple J with Chatback: What was it like being back? It was great. It was really lovely, I was starting to miss everyone quite a lot so I got to go in on Thursdays and say hello to everyone. It reminded me how much I love radio and all the cool and crazy stuff that station does. There were also a few of your famous friends calling in under aliases, did any of them give you a heads up about their characters, or did they just let you have it? Yeah, we workshopped them all, a lot of that stuff was pre-recorded. We went back and forth with a few ideas, and then characters that people really liked, like Rebecca or Dr Jangles, came back in later weeks. It was really fun to have a character on twice because people were really keen to hear more from them and find out how their lives are going. I just think radio like this is underutilised. At the BBC in the UK the amount of comedy radio out there is amazing and I'd love to see more of that in Australia, because there's just so much fun you can have on a very low budget. It's just messing with peoples minds. That's what Chatback was — it was funny how worked up people got who thought they were real people. You also wrote a great op-ed recently about Thorpie coming out and why that was so important. It's no secret you're an opinionated young man, but what has to happen for you to decide, right, I'm going to write an op-ed about this? Well, to be honest a friend of mine who works at Fairfax called me and they wanted a young gay person's perspective on the issue. But honestly I did think about it, because there were a million think pieces and even for the next two days everyone and his dog had an opinion on the whole situation. I felt like I had something to say that I hadn't seen in many other media outlets so I thought that was a good chance. I want to be a comedian, that's what I want people to think of me as so I don't want to get on my high horse too often, but it is something that's really important to me. I'm really passionate about the mental health of young queer kids, and I wanted to remind people that when someone comes out, we should be happy. Yes we can have our criticisms about it, but ultimately it's a good news story. Have you enjoyed having more time to focus on your stand-up comedy this year? Although to be fair, it looks like you've had a million other side projects going. The first six months of the year had a lot of touring, so I wasn't being very visible on other media. It was all about getting out there and doing a whole bunch of stand up which was really fun. The truth of the matter is if you want to make a living from being a stand-up comic in this country you do need to push your media profile to make sure people are aware of you from other areas. It's kind of a balancing act. I am really excited about this show, I think it's going to be super fun, but I'm also excited about the fact that hopefully more people will come see me live and laugh at my jokes in front of me. Finally, how did your Dry July go? [Tom was on a team called 'Alco-Hellllll No!' with Megan Washington, and Triple J staff including Zan Rowe and Kyran Wheatly] Hahaha! Ummm…. Bad? I've raised money and it's been great not drinking, I feel a bit healthier and it's for an awesome cause, but it's much tougher than I thought it would be! Reality Check premieres on ABC TV on Wednesday, August 13, at 9pm.
Among Sydney's extensive selection of breweries, from instant institutions like Marrickville's the Bob Hawke Beer & Leisure Centre to new additions like Chippendale's Flamin Galah outpost, there is always room for one more. And with Future Brewing's new joint, the Inner West has scored yet another indie winner. The relative newcomer to Sydney's drinking scene is now serving ice cold schooners at a spacious dog- and family-friendly taproom in relaxed St Peters digs. Future Brewing is brought to life by a team of three on eight legs. Owner and brewer of the joint, Brady Hannett, hails from a diverse (and prestigious) background in beer, having visited a few of the world's top-ranked breweries and logging experience in California at Alvarado Street Brewery following his completion of UC Davis' Master Brewer's program. Second-in-charge, Laura Howard, handles the business operations, while the duo's beloved Great Dane, Deon, serves as the brewery's semi-official mascot. From hazy and West Coast styles to small-batch sours, the aim of the venue is to serve up clean, well-balanced sips fit for casual drinking sessions where visitors can experiment. A rotating selection of beers across 12 taps keep things interesting from visit to visit. If you need a breather from beers, the team's got a tight range of juicy natural wines from P&V too. And if you're looking to pair your drink of choice with a bite, you can order in slices from Epic Pizza or turn up for appearances by Uncle Ay-Jay's tacos on select weekends. The Future Brewing crew has upcoming plans to team up with a range of renowned brewery talent including a collaboration with the UK's Track Brewing Co launching on Thursday, January 25, and a pop-up stall at the upcoming Juicy Beer Festival in Brisbane. You'll find Future Brewing open from 4pm to 9pm on Thursdays, 12pm to 10pm on Fridays and Saturdays, and 12pm to 8pm on Sundays at 82 May Street in St Peters.
After almost a decade in Paddington, Tequila Mockingbird has come to an end. But that doesn't mean the story is over. Housed in a heritage-listed, 19th-century terrace, the venue won countless fans throughout the years with its Latin American share plates and innovative cocktails. Plus, it offered one of the city's most comprehensive tequila and mezcal lists. Yet Michael Fegent, owner and Director of Atticus Hospitality, isn't one to rest on his laurels, delivering a dream concept that's been years in the making — tqm. Opening on Thursday, May 8, the old restaurant has undergone a full-scale refurbishment. Leading the culinary revolution is newly appointed Atticus Hospitality Executive Chef Jose Garcia — a Michelin-rated chef who last served as Executive Chef of Fogón Asado in Buenos Aires, which was ranked the 36th best steak restaurant in the world, according to the respected World's 101 Best Steak Restaurants list. With Fogón Asado also renowned for its theatrical flourishes, tqm guests can expect a similar playfulness on the menu. Garcia has placed several of his signature dishes on tqm's menu, including XO prawns rice, fried green plantain with smoked fish, and blood sausage croquette. Meanwhile, smaller dishes, like grilled haloumi and tomato salad, and sweet potato puree with nut dukkah, are long-standing recipes of the renowned chef. With each dish inspired by an aspect of Garcia's life — from road trips across Venezuela with his dad to his mum's love of seafood — an upbeat personality will ripple through tqm's food. "My inspiration comes from multiple past experiences, from my favourite chefs, and from my Latin and family roots. Every time I have the chance to highlight something my mum or grandmother taught me, I try to do it," says Garcia. "Since I was a kid, I've loved cooking, eating, and being in the kitchen. From the age of 13, I knew I wanted to be a chef. And when I started studying, one of my goals was to be part of the group of chefs who have worked to showcase and elevate Venezuelan cuisine and flavours around the world." With Tequila Mockingbird renowned for its cocktails, a host of new creations will carry on this legacy at tqm. For instance, the Grande Chartreuse Colada features green Chartreuse, Bacardi, pineapple and coconut, while the Caribbean Queen combines Plantation pineapple rum, Rhubi and Averna with fresh strawberry and pineapple. The new venue will also debut its first-ever collection of house wines, with red, white and rosé varieties made in collaboration with two distinct winemakers in the Hunter Valley and McLaren Vale. As for the refurbed decor, things are looking a little brighter. The facade now dazzles in bright yellow, speaking to the restaurant's Venezuelan connection. This golden hue is also used extensively across the bar, dining room and lush courtyard. For Fegent, it's all about bringing home the culinary passion he encountered in South America a decade ago. "Over the course of many trips, where I visited 30-plus local restaurants, Jose's restaurant Fogón Asado was the absolute standout… I can't wait to showcase his extraordinary, world-class cooking from our little part of Sydney and give our customers something truly unique and special." tqm will open Tuesday–Thursday from 4.30pm–late and Friday–Saturday from 12pm–late at 6 Heeley St, Paddington. Head to the website for more information.
If you prefer an art experience that extends beyond looking at works on a wall, prepare to be impressed by Melbourne's new immersive digital art gallery. Set to open in late 2020, The Lume will take the form of a $15-million 2000-square-metre gallery, decked out with 150 state-of-the-art projectors. Projections of some of the world's most celebrated works will be splashed across various surfaces, backed by powerful musical soundtracks and complemented by aromas. The project is the brainchild of Melbourne-based Grande Exhibitions, which, for the past 14 years, has hosted immersive exhibitions and gallery experiences in over 130 cities across the world. The company also owns and operates Rome's Museo Leonardo da Vinci. Known for celebrating art world greats like Vincent van Gogh and da Vinci through modern, multi-sensory technology, Grande Exhibitions will use a similar formula at The Lume. Instead of showcasing original works, the gallery will rely on a curation of music and moving image to create a tapestry of instantly recognisable artworks. At night, The Lume will transform into an events space, thanks to a collaboration with catering company Food & Desire. So, next Christmas party you could be sipping bubbles while looking at (and smelling) a Van Gogh. To get more of an idea of what to expect from The Lume when it opens later this year, check out this teaser: https://youtu.be/-nFtXTTXpWk The Lume will open in an unconfirmed Melbourne location in late 2020. We'll let you know when more details are announced. You can check out some of Grande Exhibitions' other gallery experiences over here. Updated March 2020
Next time that someone hands you a $100 note, you can be forgiven for thinking that it looks a little different — because a new range of the green-hued currency will be released into circulation from Thursday, October 29. Australia's banknotes have been getting a makeover since September 2016, when a different $5 note started doing the rounds. It was followed by a revamped $10 in 2017, a sparkling fresh $50 in 2018 and a brand new $20 in 2019. For the upgraded $100 note, the design still celebrates engineer, soldier and civic leader Sir John Monash, as well as internationally famed soprano Dame Nellie Melba. They're both recognised in several ways on the new notes, with not only their portraits displayed prominently, but with microprint featuring excerpts of a letter written by Monash, as well as text from Melba's autobiography Melodies and Memories. As well as changed artwork (albeit keeping the same colour scheme as old notes), the new $100 boasts the same improved security features as the revamped $5, $10, $20 and $50 notes, which are largely aimed to stop counterfeiting. A clear window running from top to bottom is the most obvious, and contains a number of features such as a reversing number and flying bird. As mentioned above, the note also includes microprint, plus a patch with rolling colour. And, in great news for the vision-impaired, the new series of legal tender has a tactile feature to help distinguish between different denominations. As happened with the other denominations, the rollout will happen gradually. The existing $100 banknotes are still considered legal tender, so you can still keep using them. Australia's new $100 notes will start circulating from Thursday, October 29. For more information about the banknotes, head to the Reserve Bank of Australia website. Images: Reserve Bank of Australia.
Everyone has heard about — or tried to eat their way through — KitKat's famed range of weird and wonderful Japanese flavours. A cough drop version once existed, and it really wasn't great. The sake version, a perennial favourite, is absolutely delicious. But if you're vegan, none of these varieties will have tempted your tastebuds. KitKats in general won't have either, actually. That changed back in 2021 for Aussies who follow a plant-based, dairy-free and cruelty free diet, and were also keen to sink their teeth into a KitKat. The brand launched a vegan-certified KitKat, as made with a rice-based milk alternative. The result: a KitKat covered in a smooth plant-based milk chocolate — not dark chocolate — which is then layered over the usual crisp wafers. The original run of plant-based KitKats was a limited-time deal; however, they're now back in Australian supermarkets again. This time, they've hit Coles stores — and only for a short period. That means that everyone can now have a break — and a KitKat — with KitKat Plant Based joining other plant-based alternatives among Nestle's products. So, if you'd like to crack open a few fingers while tucking into a glass of plant-based Milo, you'll be able to. The 41.5-gram bars cost $3 and, if you're super keen, they can also be ordered from the KitKat Chocolatory website. When your next sugar craving hits, add them to your list alongside vegan Natural Confectionery Co fruit lollies, vegan choc tops, and vegan Magnums, Cornettos and Weis Bars. KitKat Plant Based is available now at Coles stores around Australia — or you can them from the KitKat Chocolatory website.
Expect to see the human body pushed to its absolute limits, choreography that seems almost miraculous and a potent blending of music, poetry, costuming and design. In this exclusive Sydney season, Louder Than Words is bringing two of the most awe-inspiring dance works (ever!) to the Sydney Dance Company stage. And they're both world premieres. From SDC artistic director, Rafael Bonachela, there's Scattered Rhymes, which is a collaboration with Australian composer Nick Wales and Grammy-nominated British composer Tarik O'Regan. It's an exploration of love in all its incarnations — from the unrequited to the sensual to the divine. Then, from Greek choreographer Andonis Foniadakis, there's Parenthesis, which features an original score written by French composer Julien Tarride and costumes created by fashion designer-photographer Tassos Sofroniou. It's an intense, athletic journey into the duality contained within an intimate relationship. With only 11 shows in the season, you'll want to lock down your tickets early; this is one impressive double-bill. Image: Justin Ridler.
Another historic Sydney boozer has been given the makeover treatment. With more than 140 years under its belt, Surry Hills' Keg & Brew Hotel reopens its doors this week, launching into the sunny season with a brand-new look (and rooftop) courtesy of a $10 million revamp. At the hands of owners The Good Beer Company (who also own Paddo's Four In Hand Hotel, Randwick's Duke of Gloucester (DOG) Hotel and The Commodore Hotel on the lower north shore), the former Foveaux Street terrace house has copped a complete overhaul, however a few heritage touches and its historic facade kept intact. It's the second time the group has renovated the venue, having also given it a spruce when it took over the pub in 2014. Head in from today — Thursday, October 3 — and you'll be first met by the ground floor public bar, which still has a solid pub menu of burgers, parmas and steaks, and over 30 taps with rotating craft and mainstream beers. Another 20 beer taps feature throughout the rest of the pub. One level up, the former guest rooms have been transformed into a new 70-seat restaurant and second bar (which will open next month), while above that lies a series of function spaces with room for up to 120 punters. [caption id="attachment_744424" align="alignnone" width="1920"] The new rooftop.[/caption] But perhaps the biggest pull for the impending summer months is the Keg & Brew's new openair rooftop, which not only has its own bar and pizza oven, but some ripper city views, too. Surprisingly, Surry Hills doesn't have too many rooftop bars — save the ones at The Dolphin and The Horse — so we're sure this will become a go-to for cocktail jugs on balmy days and nights to come. This is the second The Keg & Brew is just the latest in a string of recent big-dollar pub revamps in Sydney. Lower north shore gem The Oaks is reopening this month following an ambitious top-to-bottom makeover and in Erskineville, the pub formerly known as The Swanson was recently reincarnated as The Kurrajong. The new-look Keg & Brew Hotel is now open at 26 Foveaux Street, Surry Hills from 10am each day.
Last Friday, as you may well have heard, somebody set the Lansdowne Hotel on fire. Most Sydneysiders will be familiar with the Landsdowne. It’s the neon-lit three-storey art deco hotel on the corner of Broadway and City Road, overlooking Victoria Park, which is always open when everything else is closed. It's sleazy, and the clientele are scruffy, and it has been beloved of every University of Sydney student and every local criminal and eccentric for well over a hundred years. And there it was, burning down. If you've driven through Chippendale since Friday, you'll have realised it hasn't, in fact, burnt down. Rather, a fire started on the third floor, forcing the hotel guests to evacuate, closing City Road for most of the morning, and closing the pub until, well, further notice. But the spectre of the end of the Lansdowne upset not just me but also many people I know and many more I’ve never met. In a strange way it burrowed its way into our hearts over the years, and we realised for a few moments that we would feel lost without it. Conversations with friends that night revealed a particular pattern to individual histories of the Lansdowne. While they might have tried to put in a velvet lounge or two and introduce (very decent) band nights over the last couple of years, most of the stories of the Lansdowne I heard began or ended with heady, fuzzy alcohol-soaked staggers through the open doors in the wee hours of the morning. There were stories of arguing with the bartender over the price of beer, of people making out clumsily on the couches, of untidy break-ups, of punch-ups, and of impromptu dancing on tables. It's rarely a destination in and of itself. Rather, it is the beloved pub of last resort, eternally reliable in all its sleazy neon grandeur at the intersection of two busy roads. A little bit of research reveals the Lansdowne has probably always been that way. The current incarnation has been around since 1933, a stalwart of Chippendale well before anybody could even conceive of it being included in a list of Australia’s 'hippest' suburbs. For most of its existence, Chippendale has been a violent, drunken slum, home to criminals, gamblers, and prostitutes, and then, over the years, the equally questionable musicians, students, and communists. The people who lived there were overwhelmingly poor, and the combination of factory poisons, sewerage, and the reek of the brewery in the air made it a generally unpleasant place to live. The Lansdowne, true to the grimness of the neighbourhood, was nearly always sleazy. While the Temperance Unions won a small victory in the early 20th century with the introduction of six o'clock closing times (with the aim of sending men home to their families instead of the warm embrace of a bottle of whisky), it instead marked the beginning of Sydney's much-maligned binge drinking culture. The six o'clock swill saw men flood the Lansdowne to get as much drink into them before closing time as they were physically able. The Lansdowne became a kind of feeding trough between the hours of four and six, where the long bars had a trough at the base for the men to piss in as they stood. Tiled walls were also introduced. Not for any aesthetic appeal; rather, they were easier to hose the vomit off of. Like all inner-Sydney pubs, it was a place where men went to escape, and any woman who did walk into the Lansdowne wasn't somebody likely to be too worried about her reputation. It was somewhere bookmakers and standover men hassled 'sly-groggers', prostitutes, or anybody who looked at them in a 'funny' way. During the 1930s Kate Leigh, of Underbelly fame, had a slew of standover men who would frequent pubs, including the Lansdowne, to buy the booze she would sell on the sly. One of her men, Chow Hayes, finding he had been replaced while he'd been in prison, wandered into the Lansdowne one night to locate the man who'd replaced him. He invited him outside, and he shot him. The Lansdowne continued to be sleazy and rough well past the Razor Gangs, with one of Sydney's most renowned hit men Mr Rent-A-Kill, also a frequent patron. Yet it was also the occasional drinking hole of the Sydney Push, who had amongst their number Germaine Greer, Frank Moorehouse, and Lilian Roxon and were infamously described by Barry Humphries as "a fraternity of middle-class desperates, journalists, drop-out academics, gamblers and poets manques, and their doxies". In the '80s and '90s, the Lansdowne also became one of the first venues bands were likely to play in their early careers, hosting gigs by the likes of You Am I, Peabody, The Go-Betweens, and Died Pretty. When they renovated the Lansdowne a few years ago, they made the downstairs bar airier and brighter and got rid of the cheap meals to replace them with slightly less-cheap meals. Yet for all of that, it maintains the atmosphere of its many years of questionable history. It's probably fair to say that Sydney would in many ways be bereft without places like the Lansdowne, even though they don't necessarily make us look our glittering best. That’s where the attraction lies, and that's why we are very thankful that the Lansdowne did not, in the end, burn down last week.
From slabs of dirt that represent Sydney's landscape to evidence of complex rituals in neolithic times, there's a lot of history to unpack at the University of Sydney's new museum. Opened in 2020, bringing together objects and artworks from across three of its existing collections, the Chau Chak Wing Museum can entertain you for hours. And as it's free to explore, you can return to learn a little more about each item's storied past. To give you a slice of what you can find inside its cube-like structure, we asked Deputy Director of the Museum Paul Donnelly to tell us about five objects of enduring curiosity. PLASTERED SKULL FROM JERICHO It might seem a little morbid to start with a plastered skull, but this human cranium tells us a lot about our shared histories. "It's 9,500 years old," says Donnelly. "One of 11 found in Jericho in the 1950s by Dame Kathleen Kenyon, who is the doyenne of archaeology in the Middle East." Archaeology students will know her from the Wheeler-Kenyon method of excavation. And visitors of the British Museum will know its 'sibling' skull, found in the same place and time. Donnelly tells us it's the skull of an adult male, which they can tell from the sutures of the skull and shape of the brows. Its lower jaw was removed and it has been defleshed and covered in mud plaster, and if you look closely, you'll see marine shells in place of its eyes. Thanks to its condition, we can also tell its use. "Our interpretation is this was likely to be ancestor worship," says Donnelly. "We know from historical periods in that part of the world that there was a monthly ceremony in which they would dine with their dead ancestors. The elite would go into their relatives' tombs and have a feast with the long-dead relos. We're very fortunate to have an item like this at the Museum." FLOOR FRESCO FROM MARU-ATEN, EGYPT One of the benefits of opening a new museum has been the impetus to undergo complex conservation projects. One of those projects was rebuilding an ancient Egyptian floor fresco, from hundreds of little pieces found during excavations at Tell el-Amarna in the 1920s. "The new museum has provided lots of opportunities to display more material — we now have three times the material on display than before," says Donnelly. "Tell el-Amarna has held a fascination for people because it was the Canberra of ancient Egypt in the 1300s," he says. The ancient city was established in 1346 BC by Pharaoh Akhenaten as a new capital centred around a new, singular deity. "Akhenaten decided to abandon all the gods except for Aten, the sun god." It was a short lived tenure, and afterwards the culture returned to its pantheon of gods. "It's a fascinating period to have a pharaoh go down this bizarre monotheistic path. When I look at this pavement, I see all the connections to the individuals we have been fascinated with for millennia. In this particular fresco, it's from a royal temple made for the daughter of Nefertiti. It's possible to imagine that both Akhenaten and Nefertiti walked upon that very fresco." ACHEULEAN HAND AXE FROM EUROPE The oldest handmade item in the Chau Chak Wing Museum isn't immediately obvious, and it mightn't be what you'd expect. The 500,000-year-old object, on display in Object/Art/Specimen, resembles a significant moment for humanity. "The Acheulean hand axe is at least 500,000 years old," says Donnelly. "It's from the time of homo heidelbergensis, who were advanced enough to be using handmade stone tools." The axe was found by independent researcher Jacques Boucher de Perthes in the 1830s — and its discovery led to a lightbulb moment in a devout period of time. "He found them in the gravel pits of northern France in the same context as extinct megafauna, and even in the 1830s they knew these animals had long been extinct. So it was this lightbulb moment for him that suggested that we were older than what was proclaimed in the Bible." Boucher de Perthes published his theory in a book, which is on display next to the stone axe. AERODYNAMIC ANTI GRAVITY SUIT During the Second World War, the University of Sydney was home to a top-secret research project led by Professor Frank Cotton. His mission: to keep pilots from blacking out when they hit extreme speeds in fighter jets. "As fighter planes became more manoeuvrable and faster, they were hitting the kind of G-forces that would pull blood away from the head into the legs," says Donnelly. "And pilots were blacking out." All around the world, scientists were responding to the issue — and Australia's response was a rubber anti-gravity suit. "The rubber pants went up to the waist. When the pilot hit dangerous G-forces these air sacs would inflate and compress the legs, so there was nowhere for the blood to pool into." Though the rubber suit never saw combat, it was successful in its trials, explains Donnelly. On display in the museum are sections of the suit: rubber pants, boots and pipes that would have connected to the plane. They're just a selection of 170 bits and pieces discovered in the Anderson Stewart Medical Building at the University in the 1990s, 50 years since they were stored away in the human centrifuge built during the covert project. ALAN SONFIST, 'THE EARTH OF SYDNEY' (1981) The Chau Chak Wing Museum brings together items formerly housed in the Nicholson Museum, the Macleay Museum and the University's art collection. One of its early criticisms was that bringing art, objects of science and antiquities together "didn't fit", which is playfully honoured in the opening exhibition Art/Object/Specimen. It's where you'll find an artwork created for the Sydney Biennale 1982, featuring mounted squares of earth, sand and pebbles sourced from across the city. "To see soil and sand and rocks mounted as art, I thought that was fantastic," says Donnelly. The archaeologist was particularly drawn to Sonfist's work, which had been wrapped up for 30 years at the University. Now visitors can view it next to a portrait of Charles Perkins and measuring chains that were used to divide up and commodify land. "It's all about what people bring to the objects — and how they become different in relation to other things around them," he says. "One person's art is another person's object, is another person's specimen." The Chau Chak Wing Museum is free to attend. It's open from 10am–5pm on Monday–Wednesday; 10am–9pm on Thursday; and 12–4pm on weekends. The Museum will be closed from December 23–January 6. It will reopen on January 7, 2021. Top image: 'Love' by Robert Indiana (1912) and 'The Earth of Sydney' by Alan Sonfist (1981) courtesy of Chau Chak Wing Museum, University of Sydney.
A local Sydney gin distillery has placed itself right in the mix of the Marrickville brewery crawl with a colourful new bar. Unexpected Guest started as a passion project on the Northern Beaches and quickly picked up steam, building a cult fanbase for its vibrant orange Kombi that would operate as a portable bar at weddings and events. Now, the team has picked up and moved to the Inner West, opening a playful distillery bar just a couple hundred metres from The Bob Hawke Beer and Leisure Centre, Batch Brewing Company and Baba's Place. "We really played that waiting game because we wanted to be in Marrickville. We wanted to be amongst the breweries," says Communications Manager Carl McEvoy. "We want people to jump in, have a drink, learn about our gins and then move to another distillery, or move to a brewery, or go out for dinner. We love that culture." The new bar is decorated with Unexpected Guest's signature shade of orange and the four fun characters that appear on the front of the distillery's four varieties of gin. You'll also find the beloved Kombi parked down the back when it's not away at events. If you're lucky, you might even head in on a day when DJs have set up on its tow tray to provide the day's soundtrack. Alongside the splashes of colour around the bar, the bathroom has also been given a flashy makeover. "It was quite a feat, but we have made everything about those bathrooms hot pink," explains McEvoy. "This place was a mechanic workshop, and then it got turned into a gym, and now it's a distillery, but it was just like the most economical bathrooms, just for gym members. So turning them into fun bathrooms for a distillery was so much work." Catering to groups big and small, the distillery boasts a classic selection of drinks to showcase the crew's wares. There's a $20 tasting flight, a series of gin and tonics, and a standout cocktail to pair with each of the four gins on offer. The Young Tom's Bathtub Gin is paired with yuzushu and soda for a sleek take on a tom collins, for instance, while the Disco Flamingo's Pink Gin is transformed with Gelato Messina lemon sorbet and sparkling wine in the I Scream and Squawk cocktail. Gin-averse visitors who have wandered in with their spirit-loving friends can opt for Green Vineyards wine, Willie the Boatman beers or Strangelove non-alcoholic ginger beer. "We've had a really nice introduction to the breweries around us. And, when we chatted with them, we thought it was a little bit moot to sell their beer," continues McEvoy. "So, we talked to Willie the Boatman, who's sort of just out of our area, and they were really keen because it meant the people that were coming to us weren't necessarily going to go all the way over to them." Venture further down the menu, and you'll discover a refined list of bar snacks featuring gin nuts, olives, taramasalata and truffle salami. There's also a basque cheesecake sourced from A.P Bakery and paired with a raspberry gin coulis — perfect for a group nightcap where everyone leans in for a spoonful of dessert. Adding to the community energy of Unexpected Guest, the menu concludes with a suppliers list so you can source your own yuzushu or gelato, and a selection of beloved breweries, distilleries and restaurants nearby for anyone looking to kick on. Unexpected Guest is located at 12 Cadogan Street, Marrickville. The distillery bar is open 3–8pm Thursday–Friday, 12–8pm Saturday and 12–6pm Sunday. Images: Daniel Kukec.
Jaffles and toasties hold a very special nostalgic place in people's hearts. A new cafe in the shire is dedicated to serving up a healthy dose of childlike delight through its menu of creative savoury and sweet jaffles. Miss Jaffles Cafe opened last week on Gerrale Street in Cronulla, with an offering of premium coffee, a reserved brekkie menu and most importantly, piping-hot jaffles. The fifteen-strong list of jaffles includes everything from your classic baked bean or ham, cheese and tomato options, through to more inventive choices like smoked salmon with cream cheese and capers, shepherd's pie, or the Miss Chicky which packs in chicken, cheese, sundried tomatoes, red onion, sweet chilli sauce and mayo. There's also an unholy Miss Mary Mac mac and cheese jaffle with bacon bites. The savoury selections range from $7–12 and come on the option of white, wholemeal, Turkish or gluten free bread. Those with a sweet tooth can indulge their inner child and turn their attention to the dessert jaffles where they'll find creations like the Miss Biscoff jaffle stuffed with Caramilk chocolate, biscoff, strawberries and ice cream. Or try the Miss Berrilicious and you'll find a mixture of berries, white chocolate, maple syrup and ice cream inside. A standard cafe drinks menu is on hand with a range of hot and iced coffees all made with Miss Jaffle's own blend of coffee beans. The cafe is the first venture of friends Vass and Michelle who have been working in hospitality since they were 14-years-old. The pair are shire locals who decided to take the plunge and open a cafe despite the uncertainty of COVID-19. Located just a stone's throw from South Cronulla Beach, Miss Jaffle is still serving shire residents takeaway during Sydney's current lockdown and will open for seated dining as restrictions surrounding hospitality rollback. Miss Jaffles Cafe is located at Shop 9/20 Gerrale Street, Cronulla and is open 6am–3pm Monday–Sunday.
Lovers of high tea will tell you that it's just as much about aesthetic as taste: the outfits, the adorable tiny food and the unmatched setting looking over the glittering harbour. Shangri-La Hotel, Sydney's new offering, Blu Bar High Tea, offers all of the above in spades. With sweeping views over the water and beyond from level 36 and resident pastry chef Anna Polyviou (otherwise known as the 'punk princess of pastry') at the helm, you can be sure this will be a little different than the typical civilised high tea experience. And, the best bit — apart from that epic view — is that the high tea is buffet-style. You know what means? All the sandwiches and sweet treats you can manage. You can expect a bit of a twist on the usual cucumber and bubbly affair, starting with free-flowing teapot cocktails, filled with funky concoctions like Passion Tea-quila and Pink Panther. Traditional snack favourites like egg sandwiches and quiches will be on offer, and some not-so traditional desserts. Sweet treat flavours include piña colada (coconut, pineapple, lemongrass and Malibu), popping (caramel, popcorn and chocolate) and strawberries and crème (strawberry, mascarpone and vanilla). What forms these ingredients will take is anyone's guess given Polyviou's imaginative style. This quirky high tea takes place in the hotel's Blu Bar every Friday, Saturday and Sunday, from 11.30am–1.30pm and 1.45–3.45pm. It's priced at $75 per head on Friday and $95 per head on Saturday and Sunday and includes a glass of Champagne on arrival (Saturday and Sunday only) before you start on those free-flowing cocktails. What a civil weekend activity indeed.
In the late 60s, a decade after first slinging slices in America's midwest, Pizza Hut started taking the second part of its name seriously. Thanks to a design by architect Richard D Burke, who agreed to a $100 fee for each location that opened — a hugely lucrative deal, it turned out — everyone knows the fast-food chain's famous silhouette. From 70s, 80s and 90s childhoods in particular, that angular roof instantly brings to mind family feasts, birthday parties and all-you-can-eat pizza specials that gave Sizzler a run for its money in Australia, dessert bar included. Brooklyn-based Aussie filmmakers Matthew Salleh and Rose Tucker, who previously made Barbecue and We Don't Deserve Dogs, are well-are of this history. In fact, they've made a documentary that's partly about it: Slice of Life: The American Dream. In Former Pizza Huts. They're equally cognisant of the nostalgic feeling that old Pizza Huts bring. "I kept thinking back to the soft-serve machine. As a kid, I was just drawn to that machine. I just wanted the soft serve with the sprinkles, the coloured sprinkles on top — my Pizza Hut dream was the soft-serve machine," Tucker tells Concrete Playground, chatting about the film that'll premiere at 2024's SXSW Sydney in October. Audiences will indeed remember their own experiences in Pizza Hut's distinctive buildings while watching Slice of Life. Craving pizza comes with the territory, too. Salleh and Tucker haven't tucked into Pizza Hut while making the movie, purely "because they're not in New York", Salleh advises, but they still understand the urge. "Occasionally we're editing and we'll see shots of pizzas, and I'll be like 'we need pizza'. Luckily, living in Brooklyn, you only have to walk about 150 metres to find some pretty awesome pizza. So if anything, it's just made me eat a lot more pizza in New York," he continues. Recalling times gone by for a global chain is just one of this doco's ingredients, however. Consider it a topping; at its heart, this film's main focus is right there in its title. While they weave in the Pizza Hut origin story, and that of those huts known around the planet, Salleh and Tucker are interested in how such immediately recognisable structures have lived on in new guises in the US once the brand left plenty of those buildings. Be it a Texan karaoke bar, a LGBTQIA+ church in Florida or a cannabis dispensary in Colorado, what made-over former Pizza Huts say about the pursuit of the American dream today is also as pivotal to their documentary as dough is to the world's most-beloved Italian dish. The pair boast a tried-and-tested approach, as their first two feature-length films also capitalised upon. Take one thing — barbecue cooking, canines, ex-Pizza Huts — then dive deep, building a portrait of what humanity's interaction with said subject explains about the world, people in general and/or a specific country. All three titles have also enjoyed a relationship with SXSW. Barbecue premiered at SXSW Austin in 2017, and was picked up by Netflix as a result. Then, We Don't Deserve Dogs was selected for the pandemic-affected US event in 2020. Now, after being one of the first films announced for this year's lineup, Slice of Life will bow at SXSW Sydney's second year. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Urtext Films (@urtext) If there's a spark of familiarity to Salleh and Tucker's latest concept, that's because the Used to Be a Pizza Hut blog has also been operating in this territory. It was a helpful resource for them, with its founder Mike Neilson among their interviewees. Wondering if the duo ever thought of expanding their remit beyond US Pizza Huts, as the site covers? They've dubbed their American focus "geographical discipline". Explains Salleh: "this is our documentary version of the great American road movie, I guess. We were tempted to to make this thing global, but then we knew we'd be probably making it for the next 20 years." Adds Tucker: "we really could, they built these things all over the place." What does having SXSW's support mean to the pair? "It's amazing. As an independent filmmaker, it's really, really tough to even get into a festival, so to do it with SXSW now three times is pretty special," says Tucker. "We're basically independent DIY, and so to be able to go to a festival that also has a little bit of a market and business side to it as well, and tries to bring those elements together is, I guess, what we try to do on a daily basis — bringing together the business of what we do and the creativity of what we do. So it's been a good fit over the years," advises Salleh. When you hone in on a specific topic per documentary, where does inspiration come from? Also, how do you know that you're onto a winner of an idea, and then get your subjects onboard? From the way that they handle to on-the-road projects to finding their former Pizza Huts and what they learned about America while making Slice of Life, we chatted through the details with Salleh and Tucker. On Where Salleh and Tucker Find Inspiration Rose: "I guess you could say we're just chronic people-watchers, and we're just interested in things that people get passionate about. So with Barbecue, that one's a fairly obvious one: people get really fired up about cooking and gathering with their family. There's a little bit of patriotism involved in that as well — everyone thinks they have the best barbecue — so it's a thing that gets people talking and gets people passionate. And similarly with dogs. People love their dogs and that's a global phenomenon." Matthew: "We have a scribble board of hundreds of ideas, and it's a survival of the fittest. It's when we can see that an idea will play out in a in a whole film, rather than be a short or something like that. I often say there's a taxi or Uber driver test, where an Uber driver will ask what you do for a living and you explain the film you're making, and they go 'ohh you have to go interview my best friend' — or if they know someone or if they can tell their passionate story. It was a similar thing with this new film, we would talk about it with people and they go 'ohh back in my town, the old Pizza Hut used to be ...'. There was either nostalgic remembrance of what it used to be or 'ohh now it's a mattress store', 'now it's a Hertz car rental' or any sort of interesting thing. So it seems to have really gotten people interested in talking passionately. And it's interesting as well, because there's a lot going around at the moment with people re-examining pop culture nostalgia and stuff like that. But then it just presented this amazing opportunity for us where we were actually able to go 'well, here's something pop culture and nostalgic, but it still exists in this strange way now'. So it was a way that we could combine the nostalgic memories of old Pizza Huts with this entrepreneurial spirit of people starting up businesses potentially in buildings they never thought they would, but making it work somehow." View this post on Instagram A post shared by Urtext Films (@urtext) Rose: "There's this idea of community that flows through these buildings. So when they're a Pizza Hut, they're a community hub. And it would be a really big deal if your small town got a Pizza Hut. It was a big, big deal. Then when they close down, that hub goes away. But now they're sprouting up again in these second, third, fourth, fifth lives, and those places are now similarly hubs for the community. They're the places that we were really focusing on trying to find — those places that still are that gathering point, or that third place that that people are drawn to and want to spend time with people in." Matthew: "And in a world where those sort of places are dying away, making this film coming out of the pandemic, where we had to eliminate that third place, those gathering places in the community‚ and even the fact that a lot of these businesses survived through some of those tougher times so that they can flourish now — that was very much part of our mind when we were making this. It's places where people can just get together, whether it's a church or whether it's a restaurant …" Rose: "Or a karaoke bar." Matthew: "… and just be part of their community." On Finding Slice of Life's Old Pizza Huts in Small Towns Across America Where Having the Chain in Town Was Originally a Source of Pride Rose: "We were actively seeking small towns. The most-rural town we visited is Walsenburg, Colorado — and that is in the middle of the country, small town, and it was a big deal. From memory, I think that the only other fast food they currently have is a Subway." Matthew: "Much less romantic." Rose: "But it was a huge deal to get this big building, this big Pizza Hut, that was right on the edge of town — it was a massive deal. And it was where all the sports teams would go on the weekend after finishing their game, it's where kids would go after their prom for their after party. Like, this was the place." View this post on Instagram A post shared by Urtext Films (@urtext) Matthew: "And I think it was this idea that the town over didn't get the Pizza Hut — we got the Pizza Hut. We're all very hip and cosmopolitan now, we might almost chuckle a little at a chain store having meaning, something important to a community — but back in the 60s, 70s and 80s, when towns, especially towns across America, were trying to grow and trying to be something, these were the test of having made it, as it were. So that seemed to be a big part of it. And then there's also a practical consideration, because we basically had to become world experts in these old Pizza Hut buildings — and they survive more in small towns, because I think the ones that were in big cities have just gotten levelled with the passage of time." Rose: "Or they were never built in the first place. This is a building that worked in suburbia and out on the highways. I don't think there were any traditional Pizza Hut buildings built within New York City, where we live at the moment. So you're not going to find one here. But you go out a little bit, you go down into Long Island, suddenly they start popping up." On Salleh and Tucker's Two-Person Approach to Filmmaking Matthew: "The main thing is the incredibly small footprint. It's basically just myself and Rose, and we do pretty much the whole movie. So I direct and Rose produces. I do the shoot. I do the cinematography. Rose does the sound. We both edit it. We do a surround-sound mix and picture work on the film in our one bedroom apartment." Rose: "In the room we're sitting at now." Matthew: "We just basically do the whole film from a technical point of view by ourselves. And, one, it makes it cheaper and more versatile — but the most-important thing is that versatility in that we don't need to have bosses that we get approval from when we come up with an idea, and we can just stay in a place until we get the story, and we can move around and be this very intimate film crew. When we film, it's not this giant truck with 20 people turning up. It's me and Rose and a backpack. And that familiarity that people have with us it just gives a gives our film something else, I hope." On How Having Such a Small Filmmaking Footprint Helps Get Subjects Onboard Rose: "We love the intimacy that we can create with it just being the two of us. The fact that we're a couple as well, I think a lot of the people we're working with, a lot of people running these businesses are little husband wife teams as well. So there's definitely a connection that we just have. We run our own business. We understand the challenges of running a small business, and we like to think we're quite entrepreneurial as well. I think we have a lot in common with the people who we are filming with." View this post on Instagram A post shared by Urtext Films (@urtext) Matthew: "When you run your own business, when you want to be sustainable and have your arts career that works as a business, you have to know as much about cinematography as you do about filing tax returns. We met with a lot of people that had a passionate thing they wanted. I think instantly of Ed running Big Ed's BBQ, who had this passion for barbecue and then instantly realised he was in over his head — and that very much resonated with me as a person that got way in over my head when I decided to start a film company however many years ago. That part of the storytelling also reminds me of my dad, who started his own business after working in government for many years. I think everyone that knows someone that's an entrepreneur, a sort of self-starter, it's a sort of crazy type of person. It was a lot of fun to hear those stories." Rose: "But we definitely had to win people over. And we'd always have a few conversations over the phone before we turn up with cameras and really explain what we were trying to do. I think particularly in this day and age, people can be a little hesitant with documentary, like 'ohh, are you making fun of me or is this a hit piece?'. And we would have to assure people that was not the case." Matthew: "Something we weren't sure about: people operate their businesses and lives out of these former Pizza Huts, and it's kind of a humorous concept. I'm like 'do they think it's humorous as well?'. And they certainly did. I remember our first phone call with everybody from the church in Boynton Beach that we filmed, and the first thing they wanted to tell us is that they'd given themselves a nickname of the Church of the Pepperoni. They think it's very funny as well. There's something about that sense of humour, it's a little wry smile when they know that they run out of an old Pizza Hut. But then you go beneath that and you go look through the window, effectively, and there's these amazing lives, and these really powerful and interesting people. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Urtext Films (@urtext) I would say that with a lot of pop culture and nostalgia, people try to remember the old thing. But for us to be able to actually go into those buildings, it was fascinating that you have a really diverse set of people — and America's an incredibly diverse country — and all of these people had one thing in common: the floor plan of their businesses were exactly the same. And it was kind of odd. A few months into filming, we'd be walking into like the fifth Pizza Hut and there'd be this weird déjà vu that would kick in — and I'd be like 'ohh, in Colorado, they put the door over that side, but I see you guys put it over here'. And there's this one bit where some of the old Pizza Huts, they always leak in the same spot — and they all go 'oh yeah, the leak'. Maybe there's something comforting in knowing that people around the world might have a common experience with you, even though you will never meet them. So that was very powerful for us." On the Research Process and Criteria for Picking the Former Pizza Huts Featured Matthew: "There were a couple that we'd heard about. You start Googling, and lots of people have documented a lot of these old buildings. But only the building. It was hard to know anything more about it. So we'd start with that process — it just started with conversations." Rose: "I would dive in and take a look at a business. You can tell a lot from their social media and things like that. You can tell when a place is a community hub, and they were the places we were looking for. And honestly, I would just shoot them a message or an email, and get on the phone and chat. I remember we called the owner of the Bud Hut in Colorado, and we talked to her for I think two hours. She was just so clearly so passionate and cared so much about her community, and we were like, 'well, that's an instant yes'." Matthew: "This is something that we've always believed as a core part of the films we make, that everyone's got an interesting story to tell. So in a way, I wasn't even really worried, because I'm like 'well, everyone's got an interesting story to tell'. Our job is to listen and find those stories. We try not to have too many preconceptions. We had ideas — as soon as we heard that there was a church down in Florida, we're like 'well that sounds amazing'. So there's ones like that. One of the interesting ones was Taco Jesús, a Taco restaurant in in Lynchburg, Virgina — not necessarily a place known for its Mexican cuisine. But funnily, that restaurant didn't even exist when we started shooting the movie. We only shot that a few months ago because we were looking back over some notes, and one of them was something that was closed down." View this post on Instagram A post shared by Urtext Films (@urtext) Rose: "I have a list of addresses and every few months I would sweep through them just to see if a new place had popped up. I was looking at this place in Lynchburg, Virginia, which, after it was a Pizza Hut, it was a another pizza restaurant — and I noticed they were permanently closed. And I was like 'that's interesting, I wonder who's going in there?'. I did a little online research and realised it was going to be this brand-new taco restaurant, and it looked beautiful." Matthew: "I think we saw a story that Jesús and his father-in-law were running it together, and I'm like 'there's a story that'. Then just your journalistic instincts kick in and you go 'oh, there's something interesting there'. I think, to be honest, as we spoke to people, it confirmed more than anything that all these are really fascinating stories that we have to capture." Rose: "There'll always be a few on the wishlist that we didn't get to, mainly just because we felt like we had a complete film. But there's always be the long list of places that maybe we could have visited — like there is a funeral home in Texas which would have been pretty interesting." Matthew: "There's actually two." Rose: "We could've kept filming forever." View this post on Instagram A post shared by Urtext Films (@urtext) Matthew: "It's interesting when we talk about when you're completely independent and you've got to do it yourself, how do you get started — but how do you finish? That's almost as much the challenging question and it's usually, with us, through exhaustion. Usually it's desperately editing into the night. I remember with We Don't Deserve Dogs and a little bit with this film, you just stop eventually and go 'I think the movie is finished'. And you almost don't want to admit it's finished, because then you've got to work out what to do next. You've got to distribute and market the film, and all the rest of it. But this one was definitely one where we had a lot of the film down, and then we took a bit of a break. Then we went and filmed with Taco Jesús, and we just slotted that in." Rose: "It was the missing thing." Matthew: "It was the different side of the story that brought it all together. So it's nice, it's been a lot of fun, because at the moment we're doing all the technical stuff, the sound and the music and all of that, and it's really lovely to be able polish up this thing that we've been putting together for a few years now." On What You Learn About the US Today on a Cross-Country Road Trip That Examines How an Incredibly Nostalgic Symbol Has Been Reborn Rose: "I think we managed to capture a pretty hopeful version of humanity. I'd like to think that. I think you realise that if you watch the news a lot …" Matthew: "Which we all do." Rose: "… which everybody does, there's maybe an impression of America and what middle America is like, and I think we wanted to challenge that expectation a little bit. There definitely are, I think, more good people than bad everywhere we went. We were met with open arms in communities of all shapes and sizes and political persuasions." View this post on Instagram A post shared by Urtext Films (@urtext) Matthew: "And we're just a bunch of hipsters from New York, so they should be very guarded. But no, to be serious, I think it's this thing where we came in to listen and hear their story, and so we didn't come in with this ulterior motive of 'we want to set up the story'. That's been a really important thing about the films we do. We film with multiple subjects, multiple locations and people, and we don't have this scribbled-out script that we want to fit. We go where the story takes us. If the story revealed a much angrier America, then we would have gone 'okay, well, what is that story?'. But for us, everyone was quite hopeful, quite proud — quite proud of being American, quite proud of their entrepreneurial side — which, by focusing just on that, was really interesting. We had this criteria for this movie: we want to meet people from all across America, but they have to be operating out of an old Pizza Hut restaurant. That limits you a little bit, and yet we found such diversity, such different people, different opinions, different lives, different stories. So it was nice, even with such limitations on your sample size, you can still find a very diverse America." View this post on Instagram A post shared by Urtext Films (@urtext) Rose: "I think Mark from the Yupp's Karaoke in Fort Worth, Texas, puts it best: 'our diversity is our strength'. And this is coming from a bartender in Fort Worth, Texas. It's pretty beautiful stuff. " Matthew: "I must admit that Yupp's Karaoke Bar was a lot of fun to film." Rose: "It was raging on a Tuesday night. It was just packed. And from what I understand, they now have lines on Saturdays — you can't get in. They are going absolute gangbusters." Slice of Life: The American Dream. In Former Pizza Huts. premieres at SXSW Sydney 2024, which runs from Monday, October 14–Sunday, October 20 at various Sydney venues. Head to the SXSW Sydney website for further details.
If Swillhouse can nail anything, it's a city-best moody underground venue — and the hospo crew's impressive CBD bar The Caterpillar Club is just that. From the team behind beloved subterranean standouts Frankie's (RIP), Restaurant Hubert and Shady Pines (plus Le Foote and Alberto's Lounge) the inner-city haunt is serving up sultry tunes, exceptional service and incredible cocktails right by Martin Place. Discover the venue's hidden entryway tucked away among office buildings and convenience stores on Pitt Street, then descend down the stairwell to find the expansive new walk-in-only record bar in all of its glory. On arrival you'll find an ultra-long bar backed by shelves filled with more than 10,00 records — one of the biggest private collections in the country. At the end of the bar, there's a DJ spinning selections from the collection, before the space opens up into a lounge area with larger tables, romantic red booths and a stage for live bands. Every time you head in, you can expect either one of the city's top tastemakers on the decks or a tight-knit band jamming out. A genre-less list of performers is known to pop up with an emphasis on jazzier sounds. Leading the kitchen is culinary superstar Isobel Little (ex-LP's Quality Meats), who's crafted a casual but sophisticated selection. The cheeseburger is one of Sydney's best, standing tall while remaining perfectly soft and juicy. There's also a tuna melt perfect for a late-night feed and bite-sized lettuce leaves topped with crab and avocado. The bartenders here are happy to whip up your favourite standard, but there are a few delightful Caterpillar Club creations to dive into. The cherry Manhattan is a particular highlight — so good you'll struggle to savour it for longer than a few sips. The final element of The Caterpillar Club is the hidden speakeasy. Found through a discrete door out the back, The Bamboo Room serves as a secret cocktail den for those in the know, reviving memories of Frankie's famous Fun Room. And, in Frankie's and Shady Pines style, the specialty here is freshly squeezed grapefruit juice paired with vodka or gin and a salt rim. The venue not only serves as another exciting place to get a drink and listen to good music in Sydney, but also adds to the growing number of venues reviving the city's status as a late-night destination. Licensed until 5am, The Caterpillar Club keeps the martinis flowing, vinyl spinning and kitchen open all the way until 3am Sunday–Thursday, and 4am Friday–Saturday. Images: Andrea Veltom
Located in Sydney's food capital of Haymarket, Porkfat stands out as an elegant alternative to Sydney's often hectic and dressed-down Thai dining scene. The food here is served in delicately hand-painted ceramics from Wiang Galon, an ancient city famous for its religious history and artistic legacy. The flavours come from the owner's hometown of Saraburi in central Thailand, and the dishes are traditional but at the same time unique, with some surprising offerings hidden amongst the classics. The papaya salad with salted duck egg, dried prawn, fish sauce and lime is the perfect light dish to kick off your dining experience, while the baked Queensland tiger prawn with vermicelli, pork fat, oyster sauce, Chinese wine, ginger and celery is a unique mix of flavours you won't find elsewhere. There's the option to add extra prawns to this and we highly recommend you do. The Porkfat specials include a deepfried whole barramundi with three flavour sauce, crispy garlic, deep fried makrut leaves and Thai basil — it is the perfect dish to share. The grilled pork chop is a signature dish and comes with smoked chilli nam jim, roasted rice, fish sauce and tamarind. Cap off your experience with its homemade coconut ice cream served with roasted peanuts and candied pumpkin. There is also a set menu for groups of six or more which includes all the favourites as well as Porkfat's popular lamb with smoked chilli, sawtooth, mint and iceberg lettuce. Images: Leigh Griffiths
Much-loved North Shore bistro Loulou has landed across the harbour with a stylish new outpost set above Martin Place Metro. The latest opening from fast-growing hospitality group Etymon (The Charles, Poetica) exudes the same relaxed elegance as the Milsons Point original, this time tailored to the pace and polish of a CBD crowd. Spread across two levels with seating for 175, the expansive new venue — located next door to grab-and-go sibling Petit Loulou — balances classic bistro charm with modern polish. Think: smartly upholstered banquettes, stone, timber and cork textures, and a shimmering silver ceiling downstairs that nods to the slicker pace of the city. Designed by Darlinghurst studio Tom Mark Henry, the space easily transitions from a breezy, sun-washed dining room by day to a moody boîte by night across three distinct areas: an upstairs oyster and wine bar anchored by a striking marble bar, a more intimate dining room below, and streetside tables perfect for people-watching with a glass of wine in hand. [caption id="attachment_1014834" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Steven Woodburn[/caption] The all-day menu stays true to Loulou's brand of refined yet approachable French fare. The CBD spot opens from 7am on weekdays, meaning early risers can drop in for the likes of caramelised brioche with berries and fromage blanc or sourdough crumpet topped with chèvre and avocado — ideal for a bloody mary-backed breakfast meeting. Lunch and dinner are centred around bistro staples and Loulou favourites like fruits de mer, John Dory in sauce champagne and steak frites with a three-day pepper sauce. A new addition, the Sandwich Américain — a steak frites baguette served exclusively at lunch — takes care of any cravings on the go. The drinks program is equally sharp. Alongside a tight cocktail list — which includes lesser-seen classics like the grasshopper and ramos gin fizz — there's a 350-strong wine list with a strong French focus that straddles the fence between adventurous and accessible, with a nice spread available by the glass and a handful by the half-bottle, too. The after-work crowd is looked after with a dedicated happy hour, L'Apéro, from 4–7pm. Stop by for $2 oysters and escargots, mini martinis and Loulou's signature kir royale for $13 and $18 cheeseburgers with frites. [caption id="attachment_1014828" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Steven Woodburn[/caption] Top images: Steven Woodburn.
Anyone who's visited the bright lights of Burwood Chinatown will know it's as much a feast for the eyes as it is for the belly. That same neon-powered, eye-popping, multi-coloured aesthetic is also on display at Spicetown Leichhardt, the new multi-cultural dining destination by the Burwood Chinatown team in the Inner West. While the suburb has long been known as Sydney's unofficial Little Italy, Leichhardt will now be a major drawcard for diners with a more pan-global palate, thanks to this hawker-style food court that has reinvigorated the long-dormant Leichhardt Hotel on Norton Street. More than 20 vendors are serving up tasty bites from around the world, from Turkish kebabs to freshly steamed dumplings, Afghani appetisers to Japanese desserts. The former pub, which had been abandoned for more than a decade, is now unrecognisable, thanks to Spicetown's vibrant signature look, also on display at its pop-up market cousin, Spicetown Sefton. A feature unique to Leichhardt's Spicetown, however, is the Cosmos Bar, a mezzanine drinking den overlooking the hustle and bustle of the food court below. With Norton Street already under consideration to become one of Sydney's new Special Entertainment Precincts, the arrival of Spicetown Leichhardt, which operates until 11pm Thursday–Sunday, is a shot in the arm for the area's nightlife as well as its dining scene.
There's no need to choose between frozen yoghurt or gelato when FREO is within reach. Luckily, this premium purveyor has just launched a new flagship shop in Darling Square, making it even easier to get your hands on a refreshing treat. Now with three stores spread across Sydney, the latest spot makes your in-store visit better than ever, with even more options to craft your dream combination of Asian-inspired flavours, sauces and toppings. Launched by a quartet of industry veterans, including two-hatted chef Federico Zanellato (LuMi Dining, Lode Pies & Pastries), FREO's Darling Square locale features indoor and outdoor seating for up to 30 people. Decked out in the brand's soft purple theme, you'll feel comfortable preparing a sweet treat to-go before catching up with friends and exploring the heart of the city. "Darling Square is the perfect location for FREO – a place we've always dreamed of having the flagship store," says Zanellato. "It's a vibrant, interactive environment where you can create something truly unique and enjoy it with friends and family. We're excited to share this new chapter with our community in such an exciting and dynamic location." With more than enough room to spread out, this larger space has also allowed FREO to expand its range of flavours and toppings. With 10 flavours pouring every day, some of the must-taste creations include Japanese strawberry, mango and passionfruit, and taro. Made fresh daily using 100% pot-set yoghurt, FREO's use of premium ingredients results in a super creamy, tangy base primed for sweet accoutrements. Casting your gaze over the DIY topping bar, it's easy to get lost in the 45 add-ons. Ranging from decadent to healthy, sauces like Callebaut chocolate, melted Lotus Biscoff and Nutella on tap are some of your richer options. Also available is a selection of mochi, fresh fruit, seasonal items and even FREO's exclusive baked goods. Discovering the best combinations is all part of the fun. Yet FREO offers more than just froyo. Guests can opt for silky smooth express gelato, featuring flavours like Sicilian pistachio with sea salt, Rindo matcha, Japanese black sesame with bamboo charcoal, and caffe latte and kuromitsu sugar syrup. For plant-based pals, choice treats like Belgian dark chocolate, watermelon and yuzu, and premium açaí ensure loading up an unforgettable cup is made simple. FREO is open Sunday–Thursday from 11am–10.30pm and Friday–Saturday from 11am–11pm at 5 Little Hay Street, Haymarket. Head to their Instagram for more information. Images: Kera Wong.
Buckets of lilac hydrangeas, peach colombian roses and tubs of aromatic rosemary stand proud outside this Glebe Point Road store, which grabs your attention from across the street. This local florist has 25 years of experience serving passersby with freshly cut flowers to take back to their homes, or a potted plant to brighten up an office desk. The store is brimming with such reasonably priced blooms that if you're there to pick up a gift, it's likely you'll add a cluster of lavender or a single protea to your order especially for you. [caption id="attachment_776151" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Cassandra Hannagan[/caption] Head right into the back of the store for a shelf of nonliving gifts, such as soaps and candles from the French brand Sea Salt or hand creams from Panier Des Sens. There's a wall of greeting cards with Aussie themed fauna, which make for a quick add-on purchase when you're shopping for colleagues or last-minute thank yous. And if you can't make it to the store, they're more than happy to arrange for local deliveries.
Put on your toques and gather your loonies — the Stuffed Beaver is serving up classic Canadian fare on bustling Bondi Road. Vancouver-born Brody Petersen has been dishing up his 'Dam Menu' since 2011. There's wooden booths reminiscent of a wintery ski lodge, vintage Canadian memorabilia on the walls, a game of football on the TV plus a perfectly cheesy poutine — any expat will feel right at home and us locals will feel just like we've visited. When you think of North American food, you think of burgers, fries, hot-dogs and deep-fried everything. The Stuffed Beaver delivers all of the above, with a Canadian spin of course. The classic poutine (fries with gravy and melted cheese curds) is as authentic as those French-Canadians make it and just as indulgently satisfying ($14.99). The beef burgers are made fresh every day with Black Angus beef served on a soft brioche bun. Try the Dam Beaver burger ($10.99), beef stuffed with melted blue cheese, or the John Candy combo ($15.99), crispy fried jack cheese, bacon and pickles. The Burgenhausen ($12.99), sweet pulled pork, candied apple and sour cream, is a definite hole-filler. No matter what main you get, you've gotta try the deep-fried pickles ($6.99). Beer battered pickle spears that are deep fried for that crunchy, greasy taste that only North American food can deliver. Canadians like to drink, so it's fair to say the bar is well stocked. If you're a Bloody Mary fan, the Bloody Caesar is the Canadian version ($16.99), the addition of Clamato juice (Clam and tomato juice) and a briny pickle spear gives it its North American authenticity. And whatever you do, don't leave until you've had a shot of Fireball whisky. Super sweet cinnamon whisky that'll warm the cockles of any sceptic's heart. The Stuffed Beaver's name isn't just a nod to its northern icons but a prophetic glimpse as to how you'll feel after a fun night eating and drink here. The North American food is heavy but oh-so-satisfying and with its affordability, cool Bondi location and friendly, relaxed staff, it's the perfect place to get stuffed, eh?
Something delightful has been happening in cinemas in some parts of the country. After numerous periods spent empty during the pandemic, with projectors silent, theatres bare and the smell of popcorn fading, picture palaces in many Australian regions are back in business — including both big chains and smaller independent sites in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. During COVID-19 lockdowns, no one was short on things to watch, of course. In fact, you probably feel like you've streamed every movie ever made, including new releases, Studio Ghibli's animated fare and Nicolas Cage-starring flicks. But, even if you've spent all your time of late glued to your small screen, we're betting you just can't wait to sit in a darkened room and soak up the splendour of the bigger version. Thankfully, plenty of new films are hitting cinemas so that you can do just that — and we've rounded up, watched and reviewed everything on offer this week. GOOD LUCK TO YOU, LEO GRANDE People have orgasms every day, but for decades spent closing her eyes and thinking of England in a sexually perfunctory marriage, Good Luck to You, Leo Grande's lead character wasn't among them. Forget la petite mort, the French term for climaxing; Nancy Stokes' (Emma Thompson, Cruella) big wrestling match with mortality, the one we all undertake, has long been devoid of erotic pleasure. Moments that feel like a little death? Unheard of. That's where this wonderfully candid, intimate, generous and joyous sex comedy starts, although not literally. Flashbacks to Nancy enduring getting it over with beneath her now-deceased spouse, missionary style, aren't Australian filmmaker Sophie Hyde (Animals) or British comedian-turned-screenwriter Katy Brand's (Glued) concern. Instead, their film begins with the religious education teacher waiting in a hotel room, about to take the biggest gamble of her life: meeting the eponymous sex worker (Daryl McCormack, Peaky Blinders). For anyone well-versed in Thompson's prolific on-screen history, and of Brand's work before the camera as well, Good Luck to You, Leo Grande inspires an easy wish: if only Nancy had a different job. Back in 2010, the pair co-starred in Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang, a title that'd also fit their latest collaboration if its protagonist cared for kids rather than taught them. Jokes aside, the instantly charming Leo is used to hearing that sentiment about his own professional choices. Indeed, Nancy expresses it during their pre- and post-coital discussions, enquiring about the events that might've led him to his career. "Maybe you're an orphan!" she says. "Perhaps you grew up in care, and you've got very low self-esteem," she offers. "You could have been trafficked against your will — you can't tell just by looking at somebody!" she continues. There are plenty of "if only" thoughts and feelings pulsating through Good Luck to You, Leo Grande, a film where its namesake's tongue couldn't be more important — yes, in that way, and also because talk is as crucial as sex here. If only Nancy hadn't spent half of her existence in a pleasure-free marriage. If only a lifetime of being middle class and socially conservative, and of internalising Britain's stereotypical 'keep calm and carry on' mentality, hadn't left her adrift from her desires. If only being a woman in her mid-50s wasn't seen as a libidinous void by society at large, a mindset that's as much a part of Nancy as the wrinkles and ageing body parts she can barely look at in the mirror. If only prioritising her sensual needs wasn't virtually taboo, too, especially in her mind — even after, two years since being widowed, she's booked an expensive rendezvous with Leo. Good Luck to You, Leo Grande unpacks those if onlys — not the Nanny McPhee one, obviously, but the idea that Nancy's life is immovably stuck in the same rut it has always been. As played by Thompson at the height of her acting powers, at her absolute splintery, finicky yet vulnerable best even with Last Christmas, Years and Years, Late Night and The Children Act on her recent resume, she's nervous, anxious, uncertain and always on the cusp of cancelling, including once Leo strolls into the room, beams his easy magnetism her way and starts talking about what she wants like it's the most natural thing in the world. Slipping into the sheets and knowing what excites you is the most natural thing in the world, of course, but not to Nancy. As her four appointments with Leo progress, she comes up with a lineup of carnal acts she'd like to experience — and she may as well be reading from her grocery list. But getting her to shed her inhibitions is as much his focus as shedding her clothes, and the twentysomething won't let Nancy keep getting in the way of herself. Read our full review. CRIMES OF THE FUTURE It takes a brave filmmaker to see cancer and climate change, and think of art, evolution and eroticism in a possible future. It takes a bold director to have a character proclaim that "surgery is the new sex", too. David Cronenberg has always been that kind of visionary, even before doing all of the above in his sublime latest release — and having the Scanners, Videodrome and The Fly helmer back on his body-horror bent for the first time in more than two decades is exactly the wild and weird dream that cinephiles want it to be. The Canadian auteur makes his first movie at all since 2014's Maps to the Stars, in fact, and this tale of pleasure and pain is as Cronenbergian as anything can be. He borrows Crimes of the Future's title from his second-ever feature dating back 50-plus years, brings all of his corporeal fascinations to the fore, and moulds a viscerally and cerebrally mesmerising film that it feels like he's always been working towards. Long live the new flesh, again. Long live the old Cronenberg as well. In this portrait of a potential time to come, the human body has undergone two significant changes. Three, perhaps, as glimpsed in a disquieting opening where an eight-year-old called Brecken (debutant Sotiris Siozos) snacks on a plastic bin, and is then murdered by his mother Djuna (Lihi Kornowski, Ballistic). That incident isn't unimportant, but Crimes of the Future has other departures from today's status quo to carve into — and they're equally absorbing. Physical agony has disappeared, creating a trade in "desktop surgery" as performance art. Also, a condition dubbed Accelerated Evolution Syndrome causes some folks, such as artist Saul Tenser (Viggo Mortensen, Thirteen Lives), to grow abnormal organs. These tumours are removed and tattooed in avant-garde shows by his doctor/lover Caprice (Léa Seydoux, No Time to Die), then catalogued by the National Organ Register's Wippit (Don McKellar, reteaming with Cronenberg after eXistenZ) and Timlin (Kristen Stewart, Spencer). When Crimes of the Future stages one of Saul and Caprice's gigs, it drips not with blood but spectacle and seduction. Indeed, it's no wonder that a curious Timlin utters that catchy observation about medical slicing and intimate arousal shortly afterwards. Alluring, eerie, grotesque and enthralling — and the epitome of the feature's sparse yet entrancing look and mood in the process — it's a powerhouse of a scene, with a self-autopsy pod at its centre. Saul lies still, Caprice uses an eXistenZ-esque fleshy video-game controller to get the contraption cutting, and an enraptured audience hang on every incision. Saul and Caprice do, too, although their visibly aroused reactions have nothing on their time later in the suite alone. (Cronenberg does love eschewing traditional ideas about what titillates; see also: his 1996 film Crash, about characters excited by car crashes. It's a clear precursor to this, and the movie that purred so that 2021 Palme d'Or winner Titane, by filmmaker Julia Ducournau, could rev.) Crimes of the Future's scalpel-equipped coffin is just one of Saul and Caprice's Lifeform Ware gadgets; if eXistenZ, Naked Lunch and Dead Ringers procreated, these are the devices the three flicks would spawn. HR Giger could've conjured them up as well, and thinking of the biomechanical artist's contribution to Alien, which saw him share an Oscar for visual effects, is as natural as feeling spellbound and perturbed by Cronenberg's movie in unison. This is a grimy world where a bed covered with skin and tentacles floats in Saul's home, calibrated to cater to his "designer cancer"-riddled body's needs as it slumbers — and where a chair that looks like a skeleton reassembled as furniture contorts Saul as he's eating, something he is having increasing trouble with otherwise. In other words, it's a world where the old flesh isn't doing what it always has, new flesh is sprouting in a changing and devastated reality, and technology fills in the gaps as it is always designed to. Read our full review. BOSCH & ROCKIT Remember the name Rasmus King. Based on 2022's slate of Australian films and television shows, that shouldn't be hard. The Byron Bay-born newcomer hadn't graced a screen, large or small, before this year — and now he has no fewer than four projects pushing him into the spotlight before 2023 arrives. Most, including surfing TV drama Barons, capitalise upon the fact that he's a pro on the waves IRL. Two, 6 Festivals and the upcoming sci-fi featurette What If The Future Never Happened?, get his long blonde locks whipping through the Australian music scene. The latter is based on Daniel Johns' teenage years, actually, and has King playing that pivotal part. If he's half as impressive in the role as he is in father-son drama Bosch & Rockit, Silverchair fans will have plenty to look to forward to. When writer/director Tyler Atkins opens his debut feature, it's in the late 90s, along Australia's east coast, and with King as eager surfer Rockit — son to weed farmer Bosch (Luke Hemsworth, Westworld). Sometimes, the titular pair hit the surf together, which sees Rockit's eyes light up; however, Bosch is usually happy tending to his illicit business, making questionable decisions, and coping with splitting from his son's mother Elizabeth (Leeanna Walsman, Eden) with the help of other women. Then a couple of unfortunate twists of fate upend Rockit's existence, all stemming from his father. Begrudgingly, Bosch is pushed into stepping outside his drug-growing comfort zone by an old friend-turned-cop (Michael Sheasby, The Nightingale) and his corrupt partner (Martin Sacks, Buckley's Chance). When a bushfire sweeps through the region shortly afterwards, he's forced to go on the run to stay alive. Bosch & Rockit approaches Bosch's absconding from Rockit's perspective, adopting the line that the former gives his boy: that they're going to Byron for an extended holiday. Atkins doesn't feed the same idea to its audience, but ensures that viewers understand why a bright-eyed teenager would take his dad at his word — not just because he doesn't know what Bosch does for a living, which he doesn't; or he's naïve, which he is; but also because he's eager to hang onto his biggest dream. There's sorrow in King's spirited performance, with Rockit more affected by his parents' split, bullying at school and the isolation that comes with finding solace in the sea, usually alone, than Bosch has the shrewdness to spot. There's earnestness as well, because what struggling kid who's desperate for the kind of love that genuine attention signifies, as Rockit visibly is, won't blindly believe whatever fantasy their dad or mum sells them for as long as possible? King does a magnetic job of conveying Rockit's inner turmoil, and expressing his uncertainty, too. There's an effortlessness to his portrayal, whether Rockit is lapping up Bosch's presence like a plant swaying towards the sunlight, listlessly left to his own devices when his dad decides he'd rather chase Byron local Deb (Isabel Lucas, That's Not Me), or finding a kindred spirit in Ash (Savannah La Rain, Surviving Summer), another restless and yearning teen vacationing under less-than-ideal circumstances and feeling like she's alone in the world. Avoiding formulaic plotting isn't Bosch & Rockit's strong suit, however, as the film makes plain at every turn. That's evident in both of its namesakes' trajectories, for starters — with Bosch a small-time crim falling afoul of the wrong people, with help from bad luck, then trying to start anew; and Rockit an innocent kid stuck with subpar parents, forced to grow up faster than he should, but hanging onto whatever he can. Read our full review. If you're wondering what else is currently screening in Australian cinemas — or has been lately — check out our rundown of new films released in Australia on May 5, May 12, May 19 and May 26; June 2, June 9, June 16, June 23 and June 30; and July 7, July 14, July 21 and July 28, and August 4 and August 11. You can also read our full reviews of a heap of recent movies, such as Petite Maman, The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Firestarter, Operation Mincemeat, To Chiara, This Much I Know to Be True, The Innocents, Top Gun: Maverick, The Bob's Burgers Movie, Ablaze, Hatching, Mothering Sunday, Jurassic World Dominion, A Hero, Benediction, Lightyear, Men, Elvis, Lost Illusions, Nude Tuesday, Ali & Ava, Thor: Love and Thunder, Compartment No. 6, Sundown, The Gray Man, The Phantom of the Open, The Black Phone, Where the Crawdads Sing, Official Competition, The Forgiven, Full Time, Murder Party, Bullet Train, Nope, The Princess and 6 Festivals.
Something delightful has been happening in cinemas across the country. After months spent empty, with projectors silent, theatres bare and the smell of popcorn fading, Australian picture palaces are back in business — spanning both big chains and smaller independent sites in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. During COVID-19 lockdowns, no one was short on things to watch, of course. In fact, you probably feel like you've streamed every movie ever made, including new releases, comedies, music documentaries, Studio Ghibli's animated fare and Nicolas Cage-starring flicks. But, even if you've spent all your time of late glued to your small screen, we're betting you just can't wait to sit in a darkened room and soak up the splendour of the bigger version. Thankfully, plenty of new films are hitting cinemas so that you can do just that — and we've rounded up, watched and reviewed everything on offer this week. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngy7grwzFTw NOBODY As both a comedian and a dramatic actor, Bob Odenkirk has earned a lifetime's worth of well-deserved praise. Writing for Saturday Night Live and starring in Mr Show with Bob and David each sit on his resume, as does his pivotal part in Breaking Bad and lead role in the exceptional Better Call Saul. But in Nobody, Odenkirk highlights a facet of his work that's easy to overlook. Jumping into a new genre, he makes viewers realise a truth that cuts to the heart of his talents. Every actor wants to be the person that can't be replaced, and to turn in the type of performances that no one can emulate; however, only the very best, including Odenkirk, manage exactly that. A movie so forged from the John Wick mould that it's penned by the same screenwriter — and boasts the first film's co-director David Leitch (Atomic Blonde) as a producer, too — Nobody could've featured any existing action go-to. It could've been an easy knockoff of well-known hit, joining the swathe of direct-to-video and -streaming titles that use that very template. It could've given Bruce Willis his next role to sleepwalk through, added yet another Taken-style thriller to Liam Neeson's resume or proven one of Nicolas Cage's more straightforward vehicles of late. Thankfully, though, Nobody is all about the ever-watchable Odenkirk and his peerless and compelling ability to play slippery characters. When Nobody begins, Hutch Mansell's (Odenkirk) life has become such a routine that his weeks all unfurl in the same fashion. Plodding through a sexless marriage to real estate agent Becca (Connie Nielsen, Wonder Woman 1984), and barely paid any notice by his teenage son Blake (Gage Munroe, Guest of Honour) and younger daughter Abby (debutant Paisley Cadorath), he catches public transport to his manufacturing company job every weekday, always puts the bins out too late for the garbage truck on Tuesday mornings, and usually earns little more than polite smiles from his family while he's cooking them breakfast that they fail to eat. Then, the Mansells' suburban home is randomly burgled. Hutch confronts the thieves in the act, has a chance to swing a golf club their way, yet holds back. But when Abby notices that her beloved cat bracelet is missing in the aftermath, he decides to take action — a choice that leads him to an unrelated bus filled with obnoxious guys hassling a female passenger, and eventually sees unhinged Russian mobster Yulian Kuznetsov (Aleksey Serebryakov, Leviathan) threatening everything that Hutch holds dear. Read our full review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0ox9ExOA1M&feature=youtu.be THE FATHER Forgetting, fixating, flailing, fraying: that's The Father. Anthony's (Anthony Hopkins, Westworld) life is unravelling, with his daughter Anne (Olivia Colman, The Crown) springing the sudden news that she's about to move to Paris, and now insistent that he needs a new carer to replace the last home helper he's just scared off. He also can't find his watch, and time seems to jump suddenly. On some days, he has just trundled out of bed to greet the morning when Anne advises that dinner, not breakfast, is being served. When he brings up her French relocation again, she frostily and dismissively denies any knowledge. Sometimes another man (Mark Gatiss, Dracula) stalks around Anthony's London apartment, calling himself Anne's husband. Sometimes the flat isn't his own at all and, on occasion, both Anne (Olivia Williams, Victoria and Abdul) and her partner (Rufus Sewell, Judy) look completely different. Intermittently, Anthony either charms or spits cruel words at Laura (Imogen Poots, Black Christmas), the latest aide hired to oversee his days. She reminds him of another daughter, one he's sure he had — and preferred — but hasn't heard from for years. When he mentions his other offspring, however, everyone else goes silent. More than once, Anthony suspects that someone has pilfered his beloved timepiece, which just keeps disappearing. Largely, The Father remains housebound. For the bulk of its 97 minutes, it focuses on the cardigan-wearing Anthony as he roams around the space he calls home. But this is a chaotic film, despite its visual polish, and that mess, confusion and upheaval is entirely by design. All the shifting and changing — big and small details alike, and faces and places, too — speak to the reason Anne keeps telling Anthony they need another set of hands around the house. His memory isn't what it used to be. In fact, it's getting much worse than that. Anthony knows that there's something funny going on, which is how he describes it when his sense of what's happening twists and morphs without warning, and The Father's audience are being immersed in that truth. Anthony has dementia, with conveying precisely how that feels for him the main aim of this six-time Oscar-nominated stage-to-screen adaptation. As overwhelming as The Father can be as it wades through Anthony and Anne's lives, its unflinching and unsparing approach is anchored in kindness and compassion, which novelist and playwright turned first-time director Florian Zeller has brought to the screen in a stunning fashion from Le Père, his own play. Read our full review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Bb2d6DVY28 THE COURIER In 1960, in the thick of the Cold War, British businessman Greville Wynne was recruited by MI6. Chosen because he frequently travelled to Eastern Europe for work — and also because he wouldn't stand out in general — he was asked to visit Moscow numerous times, then return with information about the Soviet nuclear program as supplied by a contact within the Russian government. That's the true tale that The Courier explores, and it's an intriguinng one. Working together until around the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962, Wynne and Oleg Penkovsky, his source, helped change the course of history. And yet, in a film that looks backwards not just for its content but also in its old-school style, director Dominic Cooke (On Chesil Beach) and screenwriter Tom O'Connor (The Hitman's Bodyguard) seem to have taken the wrong cue from the story they're telling. As everything from years of Bond flicks to Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and Bridge of Spies have shown, Cold War spy movies have comprised their own genre for decades. The Courier knows this, and remains happy to blend in among its peers. It's solid but straightforward, always proving just engaging and rousing enough. It also boasts an excellent performance from Benedict Cumberbatch in his latest historical drama (see also: The Imitation Game and The Current War), but this espionage thriller still has less of an impact than it should. Indeed, Cumberbatch's efforts as an ordinary man in an extraordinary situation rank among The Courier's biggest highlights, alongside the real-life details it delves into. He's calm, flattered and even a little perplexed in early scenes, as Wynne is asked by the CIA's Emily Donovan (Rachel Brosnahan, I'm Your Woman) and MI6's Dickie Franks (Angus Wright, Official Secrets) to do his country and the world a favour. Soon, Cumberbatch is both confident and jumpy as Wynne travels back and forth, strikes up a genuine friendship with Penkovsky (Merab Ninidze, Homeland) and tries to keep the reality of his trips from his increasingly suspicious wife Sheila (Jessie Buckley, Misbehaviour). And, later, he's vulnerable but still determined. He takes the feature's biggest theme — loyalty — firmly to heart, and ensures that it seeps from his pores whether Wynne is in an easy, tricky or brutal scenario. It's still impossible not to notice how standard and risk-averse almost everything around Cumberbatch is, though; however, The Courier is never plodding. Still, there's a difference between skewing classic to do a narrative justice and boxing a true story into a template, with this film frequently leaning more towards the latter than the former. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kP9TfCWaQT4 TOM & JERRY Before Itchy and Scratchy started terrorising each other well beyond the bounds of normal cat and mouse antagonism, another feline and rodent pair got there first. Of course, The Simpsons' adversarial four-legged critters were designed to parody the characters created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera more than 80 years ago, but they've long since supplanted Tom and Jerry as popular culture's go-to fighting animal duo. Perhaps the new Tom & Jerry movie is an attempt to push its titular creatures back to prominence. Perhaps it's just the latest effort to cash in on nostalgia while hoping that a new generation of children will be interested enough to warrant more big-screen outings, and therefore more chances to make some cash. Watching this all-ages-friendly hybrid of cartoon and live-action, it doesn't seem as if anyone involved knows quite why the film exists — not director Tom Story (Ride Along and Ride Along 2), who cares more about stressing the feature's hip hop soundtrack than paying much attention to its eponymous figures; not screenwriter Kevin Costello (Brigsby Bear), who pens a dull and derivative script about celebrity wedding chaos; and definitely not a cast that spans Chloë Grace Moretz (Shadow in the Cloud), Michael Peña (Fantasy Island), Rob Delaney (Catastrophe), Ken Jeong (Boss Level), Colin Jost (Saturday Night Live) and Pallavi Sharda (Retrograde), all of whom will forever have this misfire on their resumes. The animated animal action starts with Tom's latest vendetta against his long-time rival Jerry, after the latter destroys the former's keyboard and his music stardom dreams along with it. In his quest for revenge, the cat follows the house-hunting mouse to his newest abode at Manhattan's upmarket Royal Gate hotel, where the pair soon wreak havoc. Story and Costello prefer to focus on the resourceful and human Kayla (Moretz) at almost every turn, though. After talking her way into a job onsite, she's soon given two important tasks. The first: help ensure that the nuptials of two nondescript celebs (Jost and Sharda) go smoothly, which of course doesn't happen. The second: track down Jerry, which involves hiring Tom to assist. Somehow, Tom & Jerry is both lazy and overcomplicated. It does the bare minimum with its flesh-and-blood and pixel characters alike, all while completely forgetting that viewers have always loved Tom and Jerry for its fast, smart and entertaining slapstick antics (and definitely not because one day the duo might become bit-players in yet another flick about bland wedding dramas). When the film starts with pigeons rapping A Tribe Called Quest's 'Can I Kick It?' in its entirety, it begs an obvious question: who is this for? No one that's brought this movie to fruition seems to know the answer there, either — and they certainly haven't expended any energy on trying to make the feature funny, because laughs are absent from start to finish. If you're wondering what else is currently screening in cinemas — or has been lately — check out our rundown of new films released in Australia on January 1, January 7, January 14, January 21 and January 28; February 4, February 11, February 18 and February 25; and March 4, March 11, March 18 and March 25. You can also read our full reviews of a heap of recent movies, such as Nomadland, Pieces of a Woman, The Dry, Promising Young Woman, Summerland, Ammonite, The Dig, The White Tiger, Only the Animals, Malcolm & Marie, News of the World, High Ground, Earwig and the Witch, The Nest, Assassins, Synchronic, Another Round, Minari, Firestarter — The Story of Bangarra, The Truffle Hunters, The Little Things, Chaos Walking, Raya and the Last Dragon, Max Richter's Sleep, Judas and the Black Messiah, Girls Can't Surf, French Exit, Saint Maud, Godzilla vs Kong and The Painter and the Thief.
When the ABC announced that Spicks and Specks would return in 2024 after sitting 2023 out, it was big news, as anything to do with the hit Australian take on the UK's Never Mind the Buzzcocks always is. IRL, here's something just as exciting: the Brisbane-born and -based Not On Your Rider is also back for this year, although it didn't take a year off. On the agenda: playing a music quiz show filled with well-known faces live — and yes, the audience gets to play, too, including in Sydney in May. You'll be peering at a stage, rather than a screen. You'll be answering questions, of course. And if it has you thinking about pub trivia nights, they don't include The Creases' Aimon Clark — who is also behind Isolation Trivia — hosting, or Patience Hodgson from The Grates and Jeremy Neale from Velociraptor captaining the two teams, let alone a heap of entertainment-industry guests. At past events, guests have included Murray Cook from The Wiggles, Broden Kelly and Mark Samual Bonanno from Aunty Donna, Boy Swallows Universe author Trent Dalton, Agro, Cal Wilson, Ben Lee, Steven Bradbury, Kate Miller-Heidke, Robert Irwin, Ranger Stacey, Craig Lowndes and Tim Rogers. Among the other musicians who've featured, Powderfinger, Dune Rats, DZ Deathrays, Ruby Fields, Ball Park Music, The Jungle Giants and The Go-Betweens have all had members take to the stage. Sydneysiders can join in on one 2024 date: Sunday, May 5 at Factory Theatre. The event is coming to town for the Sydney Comedy Festival. Here's how it works: Not On Your Rider takes something that everyone loves — showing off their music trivia knowledge — and dials it up a few notches. While the two on-stage teams are always filled with musos, comedians, drag queens and other guests, anyone can buy a ticket, sit at a table and answer questions along with them. The quiz element is accompanied by chats about the music industry, plus other mini games involving attendees. Images: Dave Kan / Bianca Holderness.
They say home is where the heart is, but sometimes the task of transforming a basic rental into a place you truly love can be a battle. You can't jazz it up with wallpaper or a lick of paint or tear up that hideous lino — it's a far cry from your wildest Grand Designs dreams. The good news is that even the blandest of apartments can become an inspiring canvas for your interior stylings — think feature pieces and flourishes, beautiful embellishments and stylish upgrades to elevate your basics. All these little touches come together to make a rental house a home. We've teamed up with American Express to give you a head start, curating the perfect collection of items to upgrade your pad.
Surfers may flock to Sydney's sandy suburbs while leaf-lovers stick to the city's best parks, but locals wanting the best of both worlds will head to Randwick. This easy-breezy 'burb is perfectly positioned between Centennial Park and the eastern suburbs' fantastic stretch of coastline for residents and visitors to enjoy the best of the city in one spot. At its heart is the long-standing Ritz Cinema and its impressive art deco facade, and a clutch of well-kept cafes, restaurants, bars and specialised shops. In partnership with American Express, we've found a Randwick spot that'll hit the mark on every occasion, whether you're catching up with a group of old mates or refurbishing your pad.
School's back — and so is the escalating battle between humans and folks with superpowers, no shortage of chaos and gore, and nothing being quite what it seems at Godolkin University. Also returning at the centre of all of the above, as seen in the just-dropped full trailer for Gen V season two: the blood-bending Marie Moreau (Jaz Sinclair, Please Baby Please), her size-changing roomate Emma Meyer (Lizze Broadway, Kinda Pregnant), gender-shifting Jordan Li (Never Have I Ever's London Thor and Shining Vale's Derek Luh), the persuasive Cate Dunlap (Maddie Phillips, Overcompensating), super-strong Sam Riordan (Asa Germann, Monsters) and superhero Polarity (Sean Patrick Thomas, High Potential). This college-set spinoff from The Boys — which takes the latter's caped-crusader satirising to the next generation — first debuted in 2023 and was quickly renewed for a second run. Season four of The Boys arrived in 2024, and now it's time for Gen V's comeback from Wednesday, September 17, 2025, ahead of the Vought Cinematic Universe's OG series wrapping up with its upcoming fifth and final season. What if dealing with possessing superpowers turned higher learning into absolute mayhem? That's one of the concepts at the heart of Gen V — although the impact of part of the population having extraordinary abilities has always been at the core of the entire franchise. As the VCU's characters cope with the fallout from Homelander's (Antony Starr, G20) actions in The Boys, what if the Godolkin gang could rival him in strength? That's where Gen V is heading, too, the new sneak peek teases. As also seen in an earlier teaser for season two, there's a new uni head, Cipher (Hamish Linklater, Nickel Boys), on the scene with a far-from-trustworthy vibe. Indeed, he wants his pupils to be more powerful than ever. Marie's stint at the Elmira Adult Rehabilitation Centre, her home since the events of season one — and for some of her friends, too — comes to an end as well; however, going back to class isn't the same as it once was, including in a "Make America Super Again" world. Then there's the discovery of a secret program dating back to God U's founding. For those who missed Gen V 's initial season, Godolkin University is the college for superheroes that's meant to help prepare the best of the best for caped-crusader life — until exploding classmates, creepy secret facilities and unnerving professors complicate matters, that is. Season one spent its time with Marie, who knows that attending God U is a pivotal opportunity. After a traumatic experience when her powers kicked in, this is her chance to completely change her life, as well as achieve her dream of becoming the first Black woman in The Seven. Then, nothing turns out as planned. Also, things on campus (and underneath it) get shady, fast. The pair of glimpses at season two so far also dive into how the show is addressing an off-screen tragedy, after season-one talent Chance Perdomo (After Everything), who portrayed the magnetic Andre Anderson, passed away in 2024. Familiar faces from across the franchise feature in the new footage as well, alongside Ethan Slater (Wicked) joining the cast as Thomas Godolkin. Check out the full trailer for Gen V season two below: Gen V streams via Prime Video, with season two releasing from Wednesday, September 17, 2025. Read our review of season one.
MasterChef Australia may have finished for another season, but culinary inspiration can hit at any moment. When you get the urge to throw an apron and make a mess in the kitchen, the first thing to do is stock up on ingredients. Unfortunately, not all food shops are created equal — a truth that becomes increasingly apparent when you're wandering the aisles of a major supermarket searching in vain for some obscure spice or cut of meat. Fortunately for you, Sydney has a collection of boutique food stores that will have you cooking up a storm in no time. In celebration of Shop Small, we've teamed up with American Express to track down the neighbourhood stores that'll help you impress at your next dinner party or casual picnic. These seven shops stock everything you'll need: artisanal French cheeses, smoked Spanish deli ham, Italian olives, sourdough and fruit and veg fresh from Australian farms. Even better, they all accept American Express Cards so, on top of supporting local businesses, you'll also reap the rewards of being a Card Member.
Parramatta locals have scored a brand-new Japanese joint — and it's harbouring major culinary talent. Inside the suburb's long-standing Heritage Lounge precinct you'll now find an elegant Japanese restaurant called Oribu. This sleek addition to Church Street aims to redefine perceptions of Japanese cuisine in the area by offering a lavish dining experience. It also boasts top-notch hospitality talent with Head Chef Harry Cho (ex-Nobu) leading the charge. Chef Cho brings his Korean and Japanese roots, decades of expertise and technical precision to an impressive food offering. Peruse the menu and you'll find highlights like popcorn prawns paired with creamy spicy sauce and a splash of yuzu juice; lamb cutlets with saikyo miso, custard crumbs and grilled cherry tomatoes; and a selection of premium caviar if you're ready to splurge. Each dish is plated with the thought and detail of a minor work of art. "Shaped by the precision and discipline instilled during my military years, Oribu is more than a culinary venture; it's a testament to my story of service to the delicate artistry of cuisine," said Chef Cho. "It's also an opportunity to create something truly special that the community can proudly call its own." Oribu's sophisticated fit-out features black interiors with flashes of greenery, including a humble tree situated at the centre of its dining area. Its moody ambience creates an atmosphere fit for a celebratory dinner or an intimate date night. You'll find Oribu at 215 Church St in Parramatta, open from 5pm–10pm Wednesday–Sunday. Head to the Heritage Lounge website to make a booking.
Strap yourself in for a creative feast of fusion flavours at Darlinghurst's modern Asian eatery Restaurant Moon. Like its contemporaries, Chin Chin and Long Chim, Restaurant Moon has moved beyond the cheap and cheerful format to create a more refined offering. In this case, it's European meets Thai with a moon dust sprinkling of molecular gastronomy. For an entree, start of with a serving of house smoked ocean trout pate with duck fat and crispy breads or cooked scallops on cows cows perl with nori, mushroom, garlic chips and Thai kom kha veloute. The crab fried rice with shallots and bean sprouts and pickled chilli sauce is the perfect complement. If you thought that dish was daring, wait until you try the Surf and Turf — a sirloin and confit baby octopus stir-fry. Like a ring around a planet, the dish sees a soft fried egg surrounded by a halo of beef strips and tender tentacles, topped with crispy holy basil leaves. Puncture the yolk and fold all the lusciousness together. A cross between a chilli basil stir-fry and a steak tartare, the flavours and textures actually come together nicely. The diamond clams are another must have, with siracha cream, raw amaebi prawns and salmon roe. Desserts are inventive and visually stunning. For a refreshing finish, go the matcha mousse with vanilla cream and chocolate and passion fruit sorbet, which is light, sweet and cooling to the palette. It may not be what you're used to, but an exploratory mission to Restaurant Moon is sure to be rewarded.
Something delightful has been happening in cinemas in some parts of the country. After numerous periods spent empty during the pandemic, with projectors silent, theatres bare and the smell of popcorn fading, picture palaces in many Australian regions are back in business — including both big chains and smaller independent sites in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. During COVID-19 lockdowns, no one was short on things to watch, of course. In fact, you probably feel like you've streamed every movie ever made, including new releases, Studio Ghibli's animated fare and Nicolas Cage-starring flicks. But, even if you've spent all your time of late glued to your small screen, we're betting you just can't wait to sit in a darkened room and soak up the splendour of the bigger version. Thankfully, plenty of new films are hitting cinemas so that you can do just that — and we've rounded up, watched and reviewed everything on offer this week. DRIVE MY CAR More than four decades have passed since Haruki Murakami's debut novel reached shelves, and since the first film adaptation of his work followed, too; however, the two best page-to-screen versions of the author's prose have arrived in the past four years. It's easy to think about South Korean drama Burning while watching Drive My Car, because the two features — one Oscar-shortlisted, the other now the first Japanese movie to be nominated for Best Picture — spin the writer's words into astonishing, intricately observed portraits of human relationships. Both films are also exceptional. In the pair, Murakami's text is only a starting point, with his tales hitting the screen filtered through each picture's respective director. For Drive My Car, Japanese filmmaker Ryûsuke Hamaguchi does the honours, taking audiences riding through another of the Happy Hour, Asako I & II and with Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy helmer's layered, thoughtful and probing reflections on connection. Using Murakami's short story from 2014 collection Men Without Women as its basis, Drive My Car's setup is simple. Yes, the film's title is descriptive. Two years after a personal tragedy, actor/director Yūsuke Kafuku (Hidetoshi Nishijima, Silent Tokyo) agrees to bring Chekhov's Uncle Vanya to the stage in Hiroshima, and the company behind it insists on giving him a chauffeur for his stay. He declines— he'd asked to stay an hour away from the theatre so he could listen to recorded tapes of the play on his drive — yet his new employers contend that it's mandatory for insurance and liability reasons. Enter 23-year-old Misaki Watari (Tôko Miura, Spaghetti Code Love), who becomes a regular part of Yūsuke's working stint in the city. Drive My Car doesn't hurry to its narrative destination, clocking in at a minute shy of three hours. It doesn't rush to get to its basic premise, either. Before the film's opening credits arrive 40 minutes in, it steps through Yūsuke's existence back when he was appearing in a version of Uncle Vanya himself, married to television scriptwriter Oto (Reika Kirishima, Japanese TV's Sherlock) and grappling with an earlier heartbreak. His wife is also sleeping with younger actor Takatsuki (Masaki Okada, Arc), which Yūsuke discovers, says nothing about but works towards discussing until fate intervenes. Then, when he sits in his red 1987 Saab 900 Turbo just as the movie's titles finally display, he's a man still wracked by grief. It's also swiftly clear that he's using his two-month Hiroshima residency as a distraction, even while knowing that this exact play — and Oto's voice on the tapes he keeps listening to — will always be deeply tied to his life-shattering loss. This prologue does more than set the scene; there's a reason that Hamaguchi, who co-wrote the screenplay with Takamasa Oe (The Naked Director), directs so much time its way. Where tales of tragedy and mourning often plunge into happy lives suddenly unsettled by something catastrophic or the process of picking up the pieces in the aftermath — typically making a concerted choice between one or the other — Drive My Car sees the two as the forever-linked halves of a complicated journey, as they are. The film isn't interested in the events that've forever altered the plot of Yūsuke's life, but in who he is, how he copes, and what ripples that inescapable hurt causes. It's just as fascinated with another fact: that so many of us have these stories. Just as losing someone and soldiering on afterwards are unshakeably connected, so are we all by sharing these cruel constants of life. Read our full review. BENEDETTA What do two nuns in the throes of sexual ecstasy gasp? "My god" and "sweet Jesus", of course. No other filmmaker could've made those divine orgasmic exclamations work quite like Paul Verhoeven does in Benedetta, with the Dutch filmmaker adding another lusty, steamy, go-for-broke picture to his resume three decades after Basic Instinct and more than a quarter-century since Showgirls. His latest erotic romp has something that his 90s dives into plentiful on-screen sex didn't, however: a true tale, courtesy of the life of the movie's 17th-century namesake, whose story the writer/director and his co-scribe David Birke (Slender Man) adapt from Judith Brown's 1986 non-fiction book Immodest Acts: The Life of a Lesbian Nun in Renaissance Italy. For anyone that's ever wondered how a religious biopic and nunsploitation might combine, this is the answer you've been praying for. Frequently a playful filmmaker — the theories that Showgirls is in on its own joke keep bubbling for a reason — Verhoeven starts his first film since 2016's Elle with that feature's more serious tone. The screen is back, the words "inspired by real events" appear and the score is gloomy. When Benedetta's titular figure appears as a girl (played by Elena Plonka, Don't Worry About the Kids), she's the picture of youth and innocence, and she's also so devoted to her faith that she's overjoyed about joining a convent in the Tuscan village of Pescia. But then villains interrupt her trip, and this pious child demonstrates her favour with the almighty by seemingly getting a bird to shit in a man's eye. It isn't quite as marvellous as turning water into wine, but it's its own kind of miracle. As an adult (Virginie Efira, Bye Bye Morons), she'll talk to strapping hallucinations of Jesus (Jonathan Couzinié, Heroes Don't Die), too, and use her beloved childhood statuette of the Virgin Mary as a dildo. There is no line between the sacred and the profane in Benedetta: things can be both here, and frequently are. Case in point: on her first night at the convent, after a bartering session between her father (David Clavel, French Dolls) and the abbess (Charlotte Rampling, Dune) over the girl's dowry for becoming a bride of christ, a statue of the Virgin Mary collapses upon Benedetta, and she shows her sanctity by licking the sculpture's exposed breast. So, 18 years later, when she's both seeing Jesus and attracted to abused newcomer Sister Bartolomea (Daphné Patakia, Versailles), they're the most natural things that could happen. To Benedetta, they're gifts from god, too. She does try to deny her chemistry with the convent's fresh novice at first, but the lord wants what he wants for her. Unsurprisingly, not everyone in the convent — the abbess' daughter Sister Christina (Louise Chevillotte, Synonyms) chief among them — agrees, approves or in believes in her visions. Verhoeven puts his own faith in crafting a witty, sexy, no-holds-barred satire. That said, he doesn't ever play Benedetta as a one-note, over-the-top joke that's outrageous for the sake of it. His protagonist believes, he just-as-devoutly believes in her — whether she's a prophet, a heretic or both, he doesn't especially care — and he also trusts her faith in her primal desires. His allegiance is always with Benedetta, but that doesn't mean that he can't find ample humour in the film or firm targets to skewer. The hypocrisy of religion — "a convent is not a place of charity, child; you must pay to come here," the abbess advises — gets his full comic attention. Having the always-great Rampling on-hand to personify the Catholic Church at its most judgemental and least benevolent (at its money-hungry worst, too) helps considerably. Indeed, what the veteran English actor can do with a withering glare and snarky delivery is a movie miracle. Read our full review. DEATH ON THE NILE Some folks just know how to rock a moustache. When Kenneth Branagh (Tenet) stepped into super-sleuth Hercule Poirot's shoes in 2017's Murder on the Orient Express, he clearly considered himself to be one of them. The actor and filmmaker didn't simply play Agatha Christie's famously moustachioed Belgian detective, but also directed the movie — and he didn't miss a chance to showcase his own performance, as well as that hair adorning his top lip. You don't need to be a world-renowned investigator to deduce that Branagh was always going to repeat the same tricks with sequel Death on the Nile, or to pick that stressing the character's distinctive look and accompanying bundle of personality quirks would again take centre stage. But giving Poirot's 'stache its own black-and-white origin story to start the new movie truly is the height of indulgence. Branagh has previously covered a superhero's beginnings in the initial Thor flick, and also stepped into his own childhood in Belfast, so explaining why Poirot sports his elaborately styled mo — how it came to be, and what it means to him emotionally, too — is just another example of the director doing something he obviously loves. That early hirsute focus sets the tone for Death on the Nile, though, and not as Branagh and returning screenwriter Michael Green (Jungle Cruise) must've intended. Viewers are supposed to get a glimpse at what lies beneath Poirot's smarts and deductive savvy by literally peering beneath his brush-like under-nostril bristles, but all that emerges is routine and formulaic filler. That's the film from its hairy opening to its entire trip through Egypt. At least the moustache looks more convincing than the sets and CGI that are passed off as the pyramids, Abu Simbel and cruising the titular waterway. It's 1937, three years after the events of Murder on the Orient Express, and Poirot is holidaying in Egypt. While drinking tea with a vantage out over the country's unconvincingly computer-generated towering wonders, he chances across his old pal Bouc (Tom Bateman, Behind Her Eyes) and his mother Euphemia (Annette Bening, Hope Gap), who invite him to join their own trip — which doubles as a honeymoon for just-married heiress Linnet Ridgeway (Gal Gadot, Red Notice) and her new husband Simon Doyle (Armie Hammer, Crisis). Poirot obliges, but he's also surprised by the happy couple. Six weeks earlier, he saw them get introduced by Linnet's now-former friend and Simon's now ex-fiancée Jacqueline de Bellefort (Emma Mackey, Sex Education). That awkward history isn't easily forgotten by the central duo, either, given that Jackie has followed them with a view to winning Simon back. Boating down the Nile is initially an escape plan, whisking the newlyweds away from their obsessive stalker. But even as the group — which includes jazz singer Salome Otterbourne (Sophie Okonedo, Wild Rose), her niece and Linnet's school friend Rosalie (Letitia Wright, Black Panther), the bride's own ex-fiancé Linus Windlesham (Russell Brand, Four Kids and It), her lawyer Andrew Katchadourian (Ali Fazal, Victoria and Abdul), her assistant Louise Bourget (Rose Leslie, Game of Thrones), her godmother Marie Van Schuyler (Jennifer Saunders, Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie) and the latter's nurse Mrs Bowers (Dawn French, The Vicar of Dibley) — adjust to the change of schedule, two things were always going to happen. The pouty Jacqueline can't be thwarted that easily, of course. Also, the fact that there'll soon be a murder for Poirot to solve is right there in the movie's moniker. Read our full review. MARRY ME Romantic comedies are all about timing. Whoever pairs up in whichever film, they share moments: meeting-cute at just the right time, going on life-changing dates, coming to big realisations in tandem and such. Marry Me lives for those kinds of incidents, but the film's timing itself is also unfortunate. Based on Bobby Crosby's webcomic and subsequent graphic novel of the same name — with the former dating back to 2006 — it arrives on the big screen at a time when Starstruck has already delightfully riffed on Notting Hill's tale about an everyday person falling for someone super famous, and when reality TV's Married at First Sight has been making people who've just met get hitched since 2013 (and in versions made in multiple countries), too. If Marry Me managed to transcend its Starstruck/Notting Hill-meets-MAFS premise, it could reach cinemas whenever and it wouldn't matter; however, even Jennifer Lopez and Owen Wilson's charms can't make that happen. Releasing a rom-com starring Lopez and Wilson in 2022 does toy with time a little, though. Its source material doesn't date back 25 years, to when its stars were both in Anaconda, but its broad strokes could've still fuelled a late-90s addition to the romantic-comedy genre. That's how creaky it feels; of course, that timing would've meant spinning a story without livestreamed concerts — and livestreamed lives, outside of films such as The Truman Show and EdTV — but it also would've rid the movie of one of its biggest crutches. Marry Me finds it too easy to blame too many character choices on the always-online, always-performing, always-oversharing mentality that's now the status quo. It too lazily uses the divide between constantly broadcasting one's every move via social media and happily living life offline to fuel its opposites-attract setup as well. It's no wonder that the movie always feels shallow, even for an obvious fairytale, and even as the script attempts to layer in knowing nods to how women like its central popstar are treated by the world whether or not they record and share every moment they're awake. That singing celebrity is Kat Valdez, aka Lopez playing a part that could've easily been originally penned with her in mind. Kat is a global superstar who, to her dismay, is known as much for her hits as for her personal life. That said, she also willingly combines the two in the track 'Marry Me', a duet with her fiancé Bastian (Colombian singer Maluma) that the pair plan to get married to during a show livestreamed to 20 million people. But moments before Kat ascends to the on-stage altar, news that Bastian has been unfaithful spreads across the internet. Sick of being unlucky in love — and just as fed up with being publicly ridiculed for her romantic misfortunes — she picks out Owen's middle-school maths teacher Charlie Gilbert from the crowd and weds him instead. He's just holding a banner with the movie's title on it for his pal and fellow educator Parker Debbs (Sarah Silverman, Don't Look Up), and he's accompanied by his daughter Lou (Claudia Coleman, Gunpowder Milkshake), but he still says yes. Director Kat Coiro (A Case of You) knows the kind of glossy, crowd-pleasing, comfort-viewing fare she's making and has a feel for that exact niche, but no one is served well by John Rogers (The Librarians), Tami Sagher (Inside Amy Schumer) and Harper Dill's (The Mick) paper-thin script. Worlds away from their last respective big-screen roles in Hustlers and The French Dispatch, Lopez and Wilson do what they can with the fluffy, frothy material, but make viewers wish they had something better to work with. Charismatic casting can keep formulaic rom-coms afloat, and this pairing frequently does, but it can't hide Marry Me's surface-level skimming of anything that could've given it depth. What's expected of women, especially in the public eye; the struggle to keep believing in love when past relationships have silenced your hope; the chasm between the dream of fame and the reality: fleshed out, they all could've helped make Marry Me sing something more than the same old romantic-comedy tune. SIMPLE PASSION To watch Laetitia Dosch in Simple Passion is to watch a woman flipped and flung about by the forces of love and lust, sometimes literally, while proving steadfastly willing to flail and even flounder in the pursuit of her desires. After appearing in films such as 4 Days in France, Gaspard at the Wedding and Of Love and Lies, the French Swiss actor plays Hélène Auguste, a Parisian university lecturer caught in the throes of her most profound sexual relationship yet. Alas, Russian diplomat Aleksandr Svitsin (ballet star Sergei Polunin, The White Crow), the man she can't get enough, has a wife and another life in a different country. He also alternates between showing up unannounced for marathon lovemaking sessions, ghosting her texts and standing Hélène up on hotel rendezvous, a dynamic that leaves her as tussled and tumbled as their rumbles between the sheets. Passion is the perfect word for what she feels, as the movie's moniker proclaims — but the other term in its title couldn't be more loaded. Hélène's attraction to and obsession with Aleksandr is simple in its most primal form. Whenever the couple are in bed — or on whatever other surface fits the task in her sunny home, as writer/director Danielle Arbid (Parisienne) eagerly depicts — everything just clicks. But when more than flesh against flesh is involved, it isn't merely complicated; the infatuated Hélène may as well be an errant rose petal caught in a gusty breeze on a glorious day. The passion that she holds so dear, that makes her feel like something other than a single mother with a straightforward life, and that seems so perfect when coloured by post-coital bliss, is also a whirlwind that can thrust her in any direction at any time without notice. She wants to bask in the glow that her affair with Aleksandr ignites, not just internally and emotionally but in the way it makes everything about her existence seem brighter, and yet that happiness is always at his mercy. Arbid adapts Annie Ernaux's novel of the same name with a key, calm and clear-eyed aim: steeping her film deep within Hélène's mindset so that every frame reflects her longing and desire, and her passion at its most simple and complex alike. As its lengthy sex scenes linger on Polunin's body, the feature firmly sports a female gaze — the yearning that Hélène feels for Aleksandr filters through every image, whether the couple is getting physical, she's peering at the stoic face that so infrequently betrays what he's thinking, or she's taking her time cataloguing his tattooed torso. Simple Passion is explicit, and often, including with Hélène's ecstatic moans as its soundtrack. It's sensual, soulful and emotional, though, traits that equally apply in the dead space between the dates that its protagonist anticipates breathlessly. Indeed, Arbid and cinematographer Pascale Granel (The Wild Boys) capture the way that she stares around her house as she keenly awaits any sign from Aleksandr with the same intimacy and delicacy. That's a pivotal touch; stylistically, Hélène is never defined by Aleksandr, but by her own feelings. Dosch is remarkable as Hélène, turning in a rich and subtle performance that's both physically expressive and deeply internalised, and usually at the same time. Her body speaks its own language when she's with Aleksandr, while her face coveys everything that bubbles inside — sometimes hope and joy, sometimes despair and listlessness — whether she's revelling in his presence or rueing his absence. In fact, she so sensational that she helps the film patch over easy choices that, in hands less meticulous and careful than Arbid's, would threaten to put Simple Passion in the 50 Shades of Grey and After franchises' company. Of course Hélène is a literature professor, because female-focused features about thorny affairs that spring from the page to the screen love the field. Of course the movie's pop-music cues are heavy-handed. Of course Polunin operates in one register, even if his off-screen infamy lends more texture to his character. Nonetheless, when Simple Passion rises to its seductive and astute peaks, it showers the screen in sparks. WYRMWOOD: APOCALYPSE Add The Castle to the list of influences flavouring Australian zombie franchise Wyrmwood: here, as in the beloved homegrown comedy, it's the vibe of the thing. Starting with 2014's low-budget labour of love Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead and now continuing with Wyrmwood: Apocalypse, this bushland-set saga has atmosphere to spare. Free-flowing gore, a crash-and-bash urgency and a can-do attitude splatter across the screen in abundance, too. They're key factors in all movies about a dystopian future ravaged by the undead, but filmmaking siblings Kiah and Tristan Roache-Turner ask that mood and tone to do much of their series' heavy lifting. The Wyrmwood films blast away with affection for all of the zombie flicks that've preceded them, and all of the outback thrillers, Ozploitation fare and mad scientist-fuelled tales as well — and they couldn't be more blatant about it — but, even with that teeming passion and prominent energy, they still prove less than the sum of their evident sources of inspiration. As its predecessor did, Wyrmwood: Apocalypse nonetheless makes a smart move or two within its sea of well-worn concepts and overt nods. The strongest and savviest here: casting Shantae Barnes-Cowan and Tasia Zalar, and pointing the camera at them at every chance possible. The former takes on the shuffling, brain-munching masses fresh from battling vampires in the outback in Aussie TV series Firebite, and turns in another fierce and formidable performance. The latter arrives with The Straits, Mystery Road and Streamline on her resume and, while playing a character who needs rescuing — a half-human, half-zombie at that — she could never be described as a damsel in distress. Indeed, Barnes-Cowan and Zalar help set this sequel's ferocious tone as much as the gritty, go-for-broke aesthetics that the Roache-Turner brothers and their returning cinematographer Tim Nagle gleefully and eagerly covet. Writer/director/editor Kiah and writer/producer Tristan still stick with the most obvious protagonist, however: Rhys (Luke McKenzie, Wentworth), a special forces soldier who also happens to be the twin of a crucial figure from the prior film. He weathers dystopian life by holing up in a fenced-in compound where he uses a pen full of zombies to his advantage — aided by various contraptions, plenty of chains and shackles, plus blood-dripping carcasses as incentives — and by driving a Mad Max-style vehicle to round up undead test subjects for The Surgeon (Nicholas Boshier, The Moth Effect). In fact, after crossing paths with Zalar's Grace, he delivers her for military-approved experiments, but Barnes-Cowan's Maxi soon demands that he help set her free. Rhys has been operating under the assumption that The Surgeon and his armed pals had humanity's best interests in mind, despite all glaring appearances otherwise, a misguided belief that Maxi quickly vanquishes. Wyrmwood: Apocalypse also weaves in ex-mechanic Barry (Jay Gallagher, Nekrotronic) and his sister Brooke (Bianca Bradey, The Pet Killer), survivors of the first film, and toys with zombies controlled by virtual reality, too. Just like its heaving pile of influences, Wyrmwood: Apocalypse doesn't lack in moving parts — although that isn't the same as telling an engaging story, which the sequel doesn't ever muster up. Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead already echoed too loudly with been-there, done-that touches; this follow-up positively screams, especially for fans of both horror and science fiction who've seen all the same movies that the Roache-Turners clearly have. Unsurprisingly, while Bosher steals scenes by pure force in his attempt to one-up even the craziest of past on-screen mad scientists, everything around Barnes-Cowan and Zalar — McKenzie's supremely standard leading role included — frequently feels like filler in an familiar wasteland. BLACKLIGHT In most movies, Liam Neeson's Blacklight character wouldn't be the protagonist. Secret FBI fixer Travis Block likely wouldn't even be given a name. Instead, he'd merely be a brief presence who popped up to help other on-screen figures — the federal agents he gets out of tricky situations, for instance — as they went about their business and connected the script's necessary plot points. Turning someone who'd usually be seen as disposable into its lead is this action-thriller's one good idea, but the flattened henchman scene in Austin Powers gave the notion more thought than the entirety of Blacklight demonstrates. There's a difference between thrusting a character to the fore and fleshing them out, especially when a film is happy to define them solely by the actor in their shoes. Here, Travis Block is another prosaic entry on Neeson's action resume first and foremost. When Blacklight begins, Block has spent his career doing whatever FBI Director Gabriel Robinson (Aidan Quinn, Elementary) has asked. Typically, that's assisting on-the-books operatives struggling with off-the-books missions — and Block is great at his job. But when he's tasked with aiding the suddenly erratic Dusty Crane (Taylor John Smith, Shadow in the Cloud), he begins to see more in the rogue agent's story than his old Vietnam War pal Robinson wants to share. Crane has quite the wild tale to tell, tied to the assassination of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez-style politician Sofia Flores (Mel Jarnson, Mortal Kombat) and filled with dark government secrets, and he's eager to share it with scoop-chasing reporter Mira Jones (Emmy Raver-Lampman, The Umbrella Academy). That's exactly what Block is supposed to stop, with his new crisis of conscience putting his daughter Amanda (Claire van der Bloom, Palm Beach) and granddaughter Natalie (debutant Gabriella Sengos) in peril. Spotting similarities between Blacklight and Neeson's other recent work isn't just a sign of spending too much time watching the Irish actor's features of late. His latest release shares a filmmaker with Honest Thief, which reached cinemas less than 18 months ago — and writer/director Mark Williams doesn't stretch himself or his star in their second collaboration. Another flick that's solely about getting Neeson to deploy the no-longer-special set of action skills he's been trotting out since the Taken films became such hits, Blacklight is dispiritingly bland and by the numbers, even within the growing pile of movies that fit the same description (see also: The Marksman and The Ice Road in the past year). It isn't just that first-time co-scribe Nick May's formulaic script ticks every expected box, and that Williams' every directorial choice sticks to the easy and obvious as well. Flatter than the weary gaze emanating from Neeson at every turn, the film persistently suffers from a lack of life and energy. Melbourne dubiously stands in for Washington DC, and the conspiracy-fuelled action that takes over its streets and buildings is even less convincing; whether tracking foot chases or crashing along roadways, the movie's set pieces are perfunctory at best. And while the subplot involving Travis' yearning to spend more time with Amanda and Natalie is meant to add depth amid the routine blows, it's as flimsy and implausible as everything else in the narrative (especially when Amanda can't fathom why her dad, whose personality is solely defined by his work, family and having OCD, has a paranoia problem). The twists surrounding Robinson prove just as laboured, and Neeson and Quinn's long-standing on-screen rapport — dating back to 1986's The Mission — can't bolster the dialogue or the dynamic between their. Indeed, when Neeson utters resigned lines about making poor career choices, it rings with truth for all of the wrong reasons. If you're wondering what else is currently screening in Australian cinemas — or has been lately — check out our rundown of new films released in Australia on October 7, October 14, October 21 and October 28; November 4, November 11, November 18 and November 25; December 2, December 9, December 16 and December 26; January 1, January 6, January 13, January 20 and January 27; and February 3. You can also read our full reviews of a heap of recent movies, such as The Alpinist, A Fire Inside, Lamb, The Last Duel, Malignant, The Harder They Fall, Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain, Halloween Kills, Passing, Eternals, The Many Saints of Newark, Julia, No Time to Die, The Power of the Dog, Tick, Tick... Boom!, Zola, Last Night in Soho, Blue Bayou, The Rescue, Titane, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn, Dune, Encanto, The Card Counter, The Lost Leonardo, The French Dispatch, Don't Look Up, Dear Evan Hansen, Spider-Man: No Way Home, The Lost Daughter, The Scary of Sixty-First, West Side Story, Licorice Pizza, The Matrix Resurrections, The Tragedy of Macbeth, The Worst Person in the World, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, House of Gucci, The King's Man, Red Rocket, Scream, The 355, Gold, King Richard, Limbo, Spencer, Nightmare Alley, Belle, Parallel Mothers, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Belfast, Here Out West and Jackass Forever.
