More than four years in the making, Central Station's $955-million transformation is set to partially open later this year. To mark the first stages of the new station and platforms opening in late-2022, the NSW Government has provided some insight into what we can expect, including the installation of the Southern Hemisphere's largest escalators. There are a total of 42 sets of escalators currently being installed, amounting to 955-metres of new automated walkways for tired workers. Each set is made up of three 45-metre-long escalators forming 135-metre long structures. While three sets of escalators have been built inside the new Metro stations, the majority will be incorporated into the new Central Walk underground concourse. 19-metres wide and 80-metres long, the new Central Walk runs below platforms 16 to 23 of the station, connecting the new metro lines to existing train and light rail platforms. Other elements of the station's transformation include the aforementioned Metro platforms that will be incorporated into the new Sydney Metro City and Southwest Metro lines, and the bright 330-tonne Northern Concourse canopy which you can currently see if you make a trip to the inner-city transport hub. "This city-shaping work is an extraordinary engineering and construction accomplishment," NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said. "We're delivering this Metro rail station below the surface at Central while existing train services continue above." Unlike the NSW Government's last major public transport project, the Light Rail, Central Station's revamp is on track to open in line with the 2022 date proposed when construction began back in 2018. Following the opening of the first section, the Sydney Metro City and Southwest metro lines are on track to be operational in 2024. From 2024, the new train lines are expected to shorten travel time between Central and Martin Place to 4 minutes, Victoria Cross Station to 9 minutes and Chatswood Station to 15 minutes. Head to the NSW Government website to stay up-to-date with the Sydney Metro and Central Station renovations.
Throughout Sydneysiders' battle against the NSW government's restrictive lockout laws, Keep Sydney Open has been the biggest ally and loudest voice for the city's nightlife. It has held rally after rally, hosted suburb-wide parties and has gone head-to-head with politicians. Now, the nightlife lobby group is solidifying its legitimacy and taking its battle to state parliament — it's now officially registered as a political party, and will be running at next year's NSW state election, which will be held on Saturday, March 23, 2019. KSO announced its new status via a Facebook video on Tuesday, June 5, and released a statement on its website saying, "what started as a movement to protect Sydney's nightlife has morphed into something bigger — the lockouts were just one symptom of a broader sickness in NSW politics." While we can assume its stance on nightlife, the party's opinions on other state matters are yet to be revealed. These will be just as important to take into consideration in the lead-up to the election. To celebrate, the newly formed political party is — in true KSO-style — throwing a huge party on Saturday, June 30. The appropriately dubbed Party Party, which will be held across all six levels of the Kings Cross Hotel, will feature DJ sets from big-names Roland Tings and Basenji, as well as Triple J presenter Luen Jacobs and music collective Body Type DJs. A slew of local DJs and party crews are also slated to join the lineup. Tickets to the party cost $30, with all proceeds going to support Keep Sydney Open's political campaign, and can be purchased here. Image: Kimberley Low
Bondi's Middle Eastern diner Sefa Kitchen has undergone some changes. For one, it's appointed Egyptian head chef Mohamed Kharboush (ex-Kazbah), along with chef Bill Vuki (ex-Attica). And, thanks to Kharboush, the kitchen is now slinging meze-style weekend lunches, with bottomless spritzes to boot. These 'Lafay' lunches are on offer every Saturday and Sunday from 11.30am–3pm. The share menu features the likes of slow-cooked lamb and chicken, Israeli salad, Northern African dips, house pickles and mint-wrapped garden herbs — a popular Cairo street snack — all served with the restaurant's signature laffa flatbread. You can also nab bottomless spritzes for a limited time at $39 per person. Right now there's the pomegranate spritz ($15), which is fresh pomegranate, Campari, sparkling wine and soda. There's a daily cocktail special to look forward to as well. In general, Sefa's seasonal menu focuses on the ancient region of Levantine — which spans 400 years of Middle Eastern cooking tradition across Jordan, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Syria, Cyprus and southeast Turkey. It's a region where seasonality is a given, as is communal dining. Expect quality ingredients here, with all grass-fed, hormone-free meats sourced from local butchers; a vertical garden in which the team grows herbs for the food and cocktail offering; and a compost bin and worm farm out back. The restaurant is still open for dinner seven days a week, too. If you want to try a bit of everything, as we suggest you do, there's set menus available, spanning from $45–65 for the table. Eating with your hands is preferred here, so go ahead and tuck in.
Before the pandemic, when a new-release movie started playing in cinemas, audiences couldn't watch it on streaming, video on demand, DVD or blu-ray for a few months. But with the past few years forcing film industry to make quite a few changes — widespread movie theatre closures will do that, and so will plenty of people staying home because they aren't well — that's no longer always the case. Maybe you haven't had time to make it to your local cinema lately. Perhaps you've been under the weather. Given the hefty amount of titles now releasing each week, maybe you simply missed something. Film distributors have been fast-tracking some of their new releases from cinemas to streaming recently — movies that might still be playing in theatres in some parts of the country, too. In preparation for your next couch session, here are nine that you can watch right now at home. THE KILLER A methodical opening credits sequence that's all about the finer points, as seen in slivers and snippets, set to industrial strains that can only stem from Trent Reznor, with David Fincher and Andrew Kevin Walker's names adorning the frame, for a film about a murderer being chased. In 1995, Se7en began with that carefully and commandingly spliced-together mix — and magnificently. Fincher and Walker now reteam for the first time since for The Killer, another instantly gripping thriller that starts in the same fashion. It also unfurls as a cat-and-mouse game with a body count, while sporting an exceptional cast and splashing around (exactingly, of course) the full scope of Fincher's filmmaking mastery. This movie's protagonist is detail-obsessive to a calculating degree, and the director bringing him to cinematic life from Matz's graphic novels of the same name also keeps earning that description. The Fight Club, The Social Network and Mank helmer couldn't be more of a perfectionist about assembling The Killer just so, and the feature couldn't be more of a testament to his meticulousness. Fincher's love of crime and mysteries between Se7en and The Killer has gifted audiences The Game, Panic Room, Zodiac, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Gone Girl and Mindhunter, which have always felt like different books from a series rather than a director flipping through the same tome over and over. So it is with Michael Fassbender's long-awaited return to the screen after a four-year absence — X-Men: Dark Phoenix was has his last credit before this — which sees Fincher and his star aping each other in an array of ways. As well as being oh-so-drawn to minutiae, as the eponymous character reinforces in his wry narration, this duo of filmmaker and fictional assassin-for-hire are precise and compulsive about refashioning something new with favourite tools. For The Killer, it's fresh avenues to fulfill his deadly occupation until everything goes awry. For the man who kicked off his feature career with Alien³ and now collaborates with a Prometheus and Alien: Covenant alum, it's plying his own trade, too. The Killer is available to stream via Netflix. Read our full review. PAST LIVES Call it fate, call it destiny, call it deeply feeling like you were always meant to cross paths with someone: in Korean, that sensation is in-yeon. Partway through Past Lives, aspiring writer Nora (Greta Lee, Russian Doll) explains the concept to fellow scribe Arthur (John Magaro, The Many Saints of Newark) like she knows it deep in her bones, because both she and the audience are well-aware that she does. That's what writer/director Celine Song's sublime feature debut is about from its first frames to its last. With Arthur, Nora jokes that in-yeon is something that Koreans talk about when they're trying to seduce someone. There's truth to her words, because she'll end up married to him. But with her childhood crush Hae Sung (Teo Yoo, Decision to Leave), who she last saw at the age of 12 because her family then moved from Seoul to Toronto, in-yeon explains everything. It sums up their firm connection as kids, the instant spark that ignites when they reunite in their 20s via emails and Skype calls, and the complicated emotions that swell when they're finally in the same place together again after decades — even with Arthur in the picture as well. Song also emigrated to Canada with her parents as a pre-teen, but achieves that always-sought-after feat: making a movie that feels so intimately specific to its characters, and yet resonates so heartily and universally. Each time that Nora and Hae Sung slide back into each other's lives, it feels like no time has passed, but that doesn't smooth their way forward. Crafted to resemble slipping into a memory, complete with lingering looks and a transportingly evocative score, this feature knows every emotion that springs when you need someone and vice versa, but life has other plans. It feels the weight of the roads not taken, even when you're happy with the route you're on. It's a film about details — spying them everywhere, in Nora and Hae Sung's lives and their faces, while recognising how the best people in anyone's orbits spot them as well. Lee, Yoo and Magaro are each magnetic and magnificent, as is everything about this sensitive, blisteringly honest and intimately complex masterpiece. Past Lives is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. THE CREATOR Science fiction has never been afraid of unfurling its futuristic visions on the third rock from the sun, but the resulting films have rarely been as earthy as The Creator. Set from 2065 onwards, after the fiery destruction of Los Angeles that could've come straight out of Terminator 2: Judgment Day, this tale of humanity battling artificial intelligence is visibly awash with technology that doesn't currently exist — and yet the latest movie from Monsters, Godzilla and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story director Gareth Edwards couldn't look or feel more authentic and grounded. That isn't a minor feat. And, it doesn't simply stem from making a sci-fi flick with heart, which isn't a new move. Don't underestimate the epic yet intimate impact of seeing bold imaginings of what may come that have been lovingly and stunningly integrated with the planet's inherent splendour, engrained in everyday lives, and meticulously ensure that the line between what the camera can capture and special effects can create can't be spotted; The Creator hasn't. So, as undercover military operative Joshua (John David Washington, Amsterdam) is tasked with saving the world — that go-to science-fiction setup — robots walk and talk, spaceships hover, and everything from cars to guns are patently dissimilar to the planet's present state. Flesh-and-blood people aren't the only characters with emotional journeys and stakes, either, with AI everywhere. Even if The Creator didn't tell its viewers so, there's zero doubting that its events aren't taking place in the here and now. Edwards and cinematographers Greig Fraser (The Batman) and Oren Soffer (Fixation) know how to make this flight of fancy both appear and seem tangible, though. Indeed, The Creator earns a term that doesn't often come sci-fi's way when it comes to aesthetics: naturalistic. Also don't underestimate how gloriously and immersively that the film's striking and sprawling southeast Asian shooting locations not only gleam, but anchor the story. The Creator is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. FINGERNAILS In the world of Fingernails, 'Only You' isn't just a 1982 pop song that was made famous by Yazoo, is easy to get stuck in your head, and is now heard in this film in both French and English. It's also the philosophy that the first English-language feature by Apples filmmaker Christos Nikou has subscribed its characters to as it cooks up a sci-fi take on romance. In a setup somewhat reminiscent of Elizabeth Holmes' claims to have revolutionised blood testing (see: The Dropout), Fingernails proposes an alternative present where love can be scientifically diagnosed. All that's needed: an extracted plate of keratin, aka the titular digit-protecting covering. At organisations such as The Love Institute, couples willingly have their nails pulled out — one apiece — then popped into what resembles a toaster oven to receive their all-important score. Only three results are possible, with 100 percent the ultimate in swooning, 50 percent meaning that only one of the pair is head over heels and the unwanted zero a harbinger of heartbreak. When Fingernails begins, it's been three years since teacher Anna (Jessie Buckley, Women Talking) and her partner Ryan (Jeremy Allen White, The Bear) underwent the exam, with the long-term duo earning the best possible outcome — a score that's coveted but rare. Around them, negative results have led to breakups and divorces as society's faith is placed not in hearts and souls, but in a number, a gimmick and some tech gadgetry (one of the sales pitches, though, is that finding out before getting hitched will stop failed marriages). As their friends go the retesting route — satirising the need for certainty in affairs of the heart pumps firmly through this movie's veins — Anna hasn't been able to convince Ryan to attend The Love Institute as a client. She's soon spending her days there, however, feeding her intrigue with the whole scenario as an employee. When she takes a job counselling other pairs towards hopeful ever-after happiness, she keeps the career shift from her own significant other. Quickly, she has something else she can't tell Ryan: a blossoming bond with her colleague Amir (Riz Ahmed, Sound of Metal). Fingernails is available to stream via Apple TV+. Read our full review. FAIR PLAY Getting engaged isn't meant to be bloody, but that's how Fair Play starts: with joy, love, passion and bodily fluids. What is and isn't supposed to happen is a frequent theme in writer/director Chloe Domont's feature debut, an erotic thriller set both within the heady relationship between Emily (Phoebe Dynevor, Bridgerton) and Luke (Alden Ehrenreich, Oppenheimer), and also in the slick, fast-paced, high-stakes world of New York finance — familiar territory for its Billions alum filmmaker, who also has Suits and Ballers on her resume. The blood arrives via a bathroom tryst at Luke's brother's (Buck Braithwaite, Flowers in the Attic: The Origin) wedding. He pops under her dress, she has her period, he drops the ring that he was going to propose with, she says yes, and next they're betrothed and fleeing out the window to go home. Staged to feel woozily, authentically romantic, the occasion seems perfect to this head-over-heels pair anyway, even if it leaves their clothes stained. Yes, Domont is playing with symbolism from the outset. Lust isn't a problem for Emily and Luke, clearly, but they've become experts at keeping everything about being together away from work out of necessity. The duo each chases big dreams at the same hedge fund, which has a firm no-dating policy for its employees. So, when they wake up, dress and step out the door the next day, they go their separate ways to end up at the one place — and Emily's finger is glaringly bare. Then something that they've both been hoping would happen does: a portfolio manager sitting above their analyst positions is fired. Next comes a development that they've each felt was meant to occur, too, with the word spreading around the office that's led by the icy Campbell (Eddie Marsan, Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre) and his yes-man flunkey Paul (Rich Sommer, Minx) that Luke is in line for a promotion to fill the new vacancy. But when it turns out that it's Emily that's getting promoted instead, everything changes. Fair Play is available to stream via Netflix. Read our full review. PAIN HUSTLERS Emily Blunt (Oppenheimer) is Pain Hustlers best star. Chris Evans (Ghosted), Catherine O'Hara (Elemental), Andy Garcia (Expend4bles), Brian d'Arcy James (Love & Death) and Chloe Coleman (Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves) all leave an imprint as well in this pharma drama, but Blunt is the movie's knockout. She steps into the shoes of Liza Drake. Relentlessly adapting is the Floridian's normality; she's a single mother to teenager Phoebe (Coleman), who has epilepsy that requires surgical treatment that Liza can't afford, and also lives in her sister's garage while stringing together cash from whichever jobs she can find. It's at one such gig as an exotic dancer, where her talent for sizing up a scenario and making the most of it is rather handy, that Pete Brenner (Evans) crosses her path. He wants more than her barside banter, proposing that she comes to work for him. If he didn't want her to genuinely take it up, catapult his employer to success and have them in murky territory, he shouldn't have made the offer. Also apparent in Pain Hustlers: the latest on-screen takedown of the pharmaceutical industry and corresponding interrogation of the opioid crisis, aka one of pop culture's current topics du jour. Indeed, in only his second non-Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts film since 2007 (the other: The Legend of Tarzan), director David Yates happily relies upon the fact that this realm is common ire-inducing knowledge no matter whether you've read journalist Evan Hughes' coverage of Insys Therapeutics — including 'The Pain Hustlers', a New York Times Magazine article, then The Hard Sell: Crime and Punishment at an Opioid Startup, the non-fiction book that followed. First-time screenwriter Wells Tower draws upon both, but similarly knows that his fictionalisation rattles around a heavily populated domain. Stunning documentary All the Beauty and the Bloodshed earned an Oscar nomination, miniseries Dopesick picked up an Emmy, and both Painkiller and The Fall of the House of Usher have hit Netflix in 2023 — as will Pain Hustlers — while diving into the same subject. Pain Hustlers is available to stream via Netflix. Read our full review. IT LIVES INSIDE What's more terrifying than standing out at high school? It Lives Inside scares up an answer. Here, fitting in with the popular kids has haunting costs — literally — as Indian American teen Samidha (Megan Suri, Never Have I Ever) discovers. Her story starts as all memorable movies should: with a sight that's rarely seen on-screen. While beauty routines are familiar-enough film fodder, watching Sam shave her arms, then use skin tone-lightening filters on her photos, instantly demonstrates the lengths that she's going to for schoolyard approval. Among the white girls that she now calls friends, she also prefers to go by Sam. At home, she's increasingly hesitant to speak Hindi with her parents Inesh (Vik Sahay, Lodge 49) and Poorna (Neeru Bajwa, Criminal). And when it comes to preparing for and celebrating the Hindu ritual of puja, Sam would rather be elsewhere with Russ (Gage Marsh, Big Sky), the boy that she's keen on. It Lives Inside's frights don't spring from razors and social media, or from shortened names and superficial classmates; however, each one underscores how far that Sam is moving away from her heritage. Worse: they indicate how eagerly she's willing to leave her culture behind, too, a decision that's affected her childhood bond with Tamira (Mohana Krishnan, The Summer I Turned Pretty). As their school's only students with Indian backgrounds, they were once happily inseparable. Now Sam considers Tamira a walking reminder of everything that she's trying to scrub from her American identity. Keeping to herself — skulking around clutching a jar filled with a strange black substance, and virtually hiding behind her unbrushed hair — the latter has become the class outcast. So, when she asks Sam for help, of course no is the answer, a response that sparks consequences in this unease-dripping feature debut from writer/director Bishal Dutta. It Lives Inside is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies and iTunes. Read our full review. TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: MUTANT MAYHEM Before Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, Seth Rogen and his regular behind-the-camera collaborator Evan Goldberg had more than a few hands in Sausage Party. Lewd and crude isn't their approach with pop culture's pizza-eating, sewer-dwelling, bandana-wearing heroes in a half shell, however. Instead, the pair is in adoring throwback mode. They co-write and co-produce. Platonic's Rogen also lends his vocals — but to warthog Bebop, not to any of TMNT: MM's fab four. That casting move is telling; this isn't a raunched-up, star voice-driven take on family-friendly fare like Strays and Ted, even when it's gleefully irreverent. Rather, it's a loving reboot spearheaded by a couple of patent fans who were the exact right age when turtle power was the schoolyard's biggest late-80s and early-90s force, and want to do Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael and Michelangelo justice. Affection seeps through Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem as pivotally as ooze, the reason that there's even any adolescent marine reptiles that aren't at all like most of their species, and are also skilled in Japanese martial arts, within the franchise's narrative. Slime might visibly glow in this new animated TMNT movie, but the love with which the film has been made is equally as luminous. Indeed, the Spider-Verse-esque artwork makes that plain, openly following in the big-screen cartoon Spidey saga's footsteps. As it visually resembles lively high school notebook sketches under director Jeff Rowe (The Mitchells vs the Machines) and Kyler Spears' (Amphibia) guidance, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem feels exactly like the result of Rogen and Goldberg seeing Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, wondering how Leo and company would fare in a picture that aimed for the same visual flair, then making it happen. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is available to stream via Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. A HAUNTING IN VENICE Poirot goes horror in A Haunting in Venice. As unsettling as it was in its pointlessness and indulgence, Death on the Nile's moustache origin story doesn't quite count as doing the same. With Kenneth Branagh (Belfast) back directing, producing and starring as the hirsute Belgian sleuth for the third time — 2017's Murder on the Orient Express came first — Agatha Christie's famous detective now gets steeped in gothic touches and also scores the best outing yet under his guidance. The source material: the acclaimed mystery writer's 1969 novel Hallowe'en Party. Returning screenwriter Michael Green (Jungle Cruise) has given the book more than a few twists, the canal-lined Italian setting being one. Venice makes an atmospheric locale, especially on October 31, in the post-World War II era and amid a dark storm. But perhaps the most important move that A Haunting in Venice makes is Branagh reining in the showboating that became so grating in his first two Poirot movies. In relocating to the sinking island city and withdrawing from the whodunnit game, his new status quo when the film begins, A Haunting in Venice's Poirot has already done his own toning down. It's 1947, a decade after the events seen in A Death on the Nile, and bodyguard Vitale Portfoglio (Riccardo Scamarcio, The Translators) helps keep life quiet by sending away everyone who seeks the sleuth's help. The exception: Ariadne Oliver (Tina Fey, Only Murders in the Building), a Christie surrogate who is not only also a celebrated author, but writes crime fiction based on Poirot (with Fey slipping into her shoes, she's a playful source of humour, too). When the scribe comes a-knocking, it's with an invite to a séance, where she's hoping that her pal will help her to discredit the medium, Joyce Reynolds (Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All At Once), who has the town talking. Then there's a death, pointed fingers and a need for Poirot's skills. A Haunting in Venice is available to stream via Disney+, Google Play, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Read our full review. Looking for more at-home viewing options? Take a look at our monthly streaming recommendations across new straight-to-digital films and TV shows — and fast-tracked highlights from January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September and October, too. You can also peruse our best new films, new TV shows, returning TV shows and straight-to-streaming movies of 2023 so far
Urban wineries are a popular facet of European and New Yorker lifestyles, but winemaker Alex Retief's new cellar door, Urban Winery Sydney, is the first of its kind in Australia — it's the only large-scale, working winery in Sydney's inner suburbs. Launching in St Peters, the urban winery then located to Moore Park in mid-2018. Retief has owned his label, A.Retief Wines, since 2008 and has seen much commercial success, especially with his 2013 – 2015 collaborations with Bourke Street Bakery. The born and bred Aussie spent the early 2000s in Bordeaux where much of his inspiration for an urban winery took root. "In France, everyone knows about wine — how it's made, where it's produced," he says. "They all have such a passion for their local wine that it's almost like the love of a futball team it's so ingrained in them." Retief hopes to bring a bit of this European culture to Sydney — his wines have a strong focus on locality, the vineyard and the origin and type of grape used for each wine. The A.Retief Shiraz is sourced from his parent's biodynamic vineyard in the Gundagai wine region just outside of Wagga Wagga. "I have a deep passion for NSW wines and want to bring that to Sydney," says Retief. "People want to see where things are made more and more and we're happy to be able to bring that to them," he adds. The space is housed in the Entertainment Quarter, with neighbours like El Camino Cantina, B Lucky and Sons and Brent Street dance studio. Heading east situates the winery considerably closer to the CBD and the SCG, and the EQ also offers a larger space for all that wine. The walls of French oak barrels are not just for show and are accompanied by shiny, shiny winemaking pumps, presses, syphons, filtration systems — all things you might get to understand a whole lot better with Reitef's planned future classes. "We really want people to get involved with the winemaking process — to get to come down and squash grapes, or blend their own wines and understand why they like what they like." The tasting bar is now open seven days a week, with the winery also doing tours, blending classes and the occasional chef's dinner. Updated November, 2019
Earlier this year, we were flocking to Neil Perry’s new less-than-$10 Burger Project, to find out how the many-hatted chef fares when it comes to feeding the people. And now, the exotic-yet-bargain-priced burger is taking on yet another incarnation with the opening of Burger Liquor Lobster. The chief drawcard is its seafood menu: lobster rolls, prawn rolls, crab burgers and popcorn lobster, all for $15 a piece. Popping up for the summer in both Paddington’s The London Hotel and Manly Wharf Hotel, the eatery and bar takes the space previously occupied by Chur. The affordable prices don't mean there's any skimping on the ingredients front. The lobster is of the salt and pepper variety, accompanied with lemon aioli, chives, red onion and lettuce, while the crab is crispy soft shell, spiced up with chilli Singapore sauce and cooled down by Asian slaw. As far as burgers go, they're all $10 and come in five editions: beef, chicken, pulled pork, lamb and vege. These traditional-sounding flavours are each delivered with a twist. The chicken, for example, is dressed up with mint, shallot, slaw, chilli and lime mayo, while the vege is comprised of chickpea and lentil fritter, beetroot yoghurt, kale and corn relish. Plus, if you're carb-conscious or GF, you can opt to have your mini-feast wrapped in lettuce rather than a bun, or order it as a salad. That'll leave you a few extra calories to spend on the cocktail list. It's all about fresh, summery concoctions, such as Lychee Passionpit (vodka, lychee, passionfruit sorbet, sparkling wine), My Tini Wini (gin, lemon juice, lavender syrup, watermelon, raspberries, crème de peche), and Rock Lobster (Bulldog Gin, St Germain elderflower liqueur, lemon juice, pineapple juice, yellow Chartreuse, orange blossom marmalade). They're all priced at $16. Both venues have taken on a playful, nautical fit-out. You’ll notice it most at The London, where glass buoys, ropes and crab pots are all part of the décor. Burger Liquor Lobster opens on Tuesday, November 11, at Manly Wharf Hotel, ((02) 9977 1266; East Esplanade, Manly) and upstairs at The London Hotel ((02) 9331 3200; 85 Underwood Street, Paddington). Opening hours are midday till late, seven days a week.
You've seen many a fresh, edgy theatre troupe present group-devised reflections on the insights wrangled from their recently shed adolescence. What you see less of are fresh, edgy theatre troupes reflecting on old age. We rarely get the chance to report back and make art about it once we're on the other side, and in the meantime, we prefer not to have to think about it. But given — as the clinical announcer reminds us at the start of the show — "our life is a gradual death", it may bear thinking about where we're headed, what gives meaning and dignity to the twilight years and what kind of treatment we want when we, or the people we love, get there, and Theatre Kantanka are the ones with whom you want to visit these ponderings' hotbed, the nursing home. Director Carlos Gomes and the ensemble have built Missing the Bus to David Jones out of extensive observation at aged care facilities and interviews with the residents, visitors and staff. The resulting vignettes unfold in bursts of achingly real dialogue and internal monologue, precisely executed physicality (from immobility to dancing to Parkinson's), evocative video projections, sound and symbols. On sparsely furnished lino leading to swinging doors and a wavering projection of what can only be the great beyond, the elderly characters play bingo, make a ballet of their walkers and dress in hats and hound's-tooth for a bus to David Jones and an excursion to the high life that isn't coming. "Where is my beautiful mother?" a man pleads at an incognisant woman. The things they do with nanna blankets will stir your soul. There's no narrative, but this is a remarkably thoughtful and cohesive patchwork. It's unavoidably sad, but empathetic humour; the traces of rich, past lives in fated elderly mannerisms; and the unexpected emergence of new motivations and, sometimes, pleasures is enough to offer respite to the young and honour to the ageing. It's a moving journey worth taking.
XS Espresso, whose first cafe is in Wetherill Park, first got famous via social media, where photos of its crazy shakes dominated many an account. In late 2016, owner Roky Gorgees decided to expand to North Parramatta, where he opened a second incarnation among a bunch of mega stores, just off Windsor Road. Splashed with greenery and warmed by pendant lights, this hideaway is a cosy relief from traffic and shopping. The shakes are as OTT as ever. Take The Volcano, for example — a towering sculpture of Nutella, coconut, Oreo, ice cream and warm chocolate soufflé. Dishes follow suit. Think buttermilk fried chicken stacked with cinnamon waffle, slaw, melted cheese and special sauce, or seared Atlantic salmon on a base of sweet potato mash and stir-fried chickpea, layered with kale, tomato, chilli and crispy sweet potato. Yep, whatever you order, you'll be getting big, rich flavours and enough food to power you through to the next day.
So, you read one of 2023's huge literary sensations. And, you engaged with one of TikTok's biggest memes. What comes next? Diving into them both at All About Women. Notching up 12 years when its 2024 edition takes place, this Sydney Opera House event enlists impressive talents to dig into gender, justice and equality, including by exploring the hits, trends and issues of the 12 months prior. Accordingly, naming Yellowface author Rebecca F Kuang and Roman Empire scholar Mary Beard for next year's one-day festival couldn't make more sense. Kuang will be heading to Sydney to chat about her satirical novel, which dives into cancel culture, cultural appropriation and diversity in the world of publishing, and has been a must-read since arriving on shelves in May. As for Beard, she's coming to the Harbour City fresh off the release of her latest book The Emperor of Rome, and will explore misogyny, power, murder and gossip in the ancient world — and its relevance to now. So, how often will All About Women think about the Roman Empire? At Beard's session, plenty. [caption id="attachment_929572" align="alignnone" width="1920"] John Packman[/caption] So far, Kuang and Beard are the first headliners on the 2024 event's program, with both getting talking in Australia for the first time. But they'll have company when the full lineup drops in January. All About Women brings together international and Australian artists, thinkers and storytellers to examine a broad variety of topics relevant to its main focus — so, to gender, justice and equality — via panels, conversations, workshops and performances. After expanding to two days in 2022 and then to three in 2023, Sydney Opera House's key feminist festival is running as a one-day event again in 2024. The date to mark in your diary: Sunday, March 10. Won't be in Sydney that day, because you'll be away or you live elsewhere? All About Women will also take place online again. "It will be such an honour to host both Rebecca F Kuang and Mary Beard on their first speaking tours in Australia. We look forward to announcing our fierce and fearless co-curators and the full lineup in the new year, and can't wait to welcome audiences back to the festival for its 12th year in March," said Sydney Opera House Head of Talks and Ideas Chip Rolley. 2024 marks the third year that the fest is enlisting a team of co-curators to put the program together. 2023's cohort gave audiences everyone from riot grrrl pioneers Bikini Kill to child actor-turned-I'm Glad My Mom Died author Jennette McCurdy. [caption id="attachment_837698" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Jacquie Manning[/caption] [caption id="attachment_844647" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Prudence Upton[/caption] [caption id="attachment_844646" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Jacquie Manning[/caption] All About Women 2024 will take place on Sunday, March 10 at the Sydney Opera House, and also stream online. The full program will release on Tuesday, January 16, 2023 — check back here then for further details. Tickets for the just-announced first sessions go on sale at 9am on Thursday, December 7, with pre sales from 9am on Tuesday, December 5. Top image: Jacquie Manning.
Just as not all movies are created equal, neither are all stints on screens. The big, in budget and attendance, stick around. The small, in audience awareness but not in artistry or effort, might not stay that long. Such a cinema environment sees many gems fall by the wayside in the battle for viewer hearts and minds – many that rank among the year’s best, too. So which 2014 films should you have perhaps taken a chance on instead of just seeing the latest shiny blockbuster? Here’s ten that local box office performance tells us you most likely missed, but really shouldn’t have. THE BABADOOK Jennifer Kent’s debut feature is one of the best among Australian efforts, horror films, and haunted house fright fests — both of this year, and of all others. Alas, in a nation that rarely embraces anything spooky on the big screen en masse, it came and went quickly, though what it lacked in local attention it is now making up for in international acclaim. Such recognition is mere window dressing for a movie that allows its equally touching and terrifying content to make its own statement as it charts a single mother’s troubles when her six-year-old son finds fear in a formidable figure that springs from the page into his bedroom. The style, the story and the scares can now continue off-screen, too, courtesy of a crowd-supported production run of the pop-up book at the centre of the chills. Read our full review. ALL THIS MAYHEM Great dramas are made of the same ingredients as this stunning homegrown true tale, a rise to fame, a fall from grace, seeking glory at all costs, and getting mixed up with the wrong things among them. In Eddie Martin’s documentary, all this and more is wrapped up in a roller-coaster ride that starts in the Melbourne suburbs, reaches the heights of the international skateboarding scene, and comes crashing towards its conclusion with the tragedy of what might have been in different circumstances. For those unfamiliar with the story of brothers Tas and Ben Pappas, the film offers the best account you’ll ever experience. For those aware of the details, devastation still emanates from a feature suitably straightforward in structure and shattering in sentiment. Read our full review. FORCE MAJEURE While audiences flocked to Gone Girl’s twisty take on marriage and masculinity, a Swedish couple holidaying in the French Alps with their kids spawned the same musings in just as cynical and striking a fashion. Force Majeure begins with a seemingly impending avalanche, in the face of which, a man runs away as his family looks on. Watching the aftermath as the central pair fight in public yet drift apart in private is not only astute but also amusing in its insights. Writer/director Ruben Östlund has crafted an acerbic comedy of discomfort that says everything about the most intimate of interpersonal relations, with a mastery of form to match the complexity of theme. Read our full review. MY SWEET PEPPER LAND One feminist western – A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, which also earns many other descriptors, too – is starting to appear at Australian festivals and in niche screening runs; however, this year also brought another to local screens. Writer/director Hiner Saleem and actress Golshifteh Farahani combine to chart a teacher’s fight for independence in male-dominated Kurdistan, both excelling with the material. Also fuelling the narrative is a policeman’s quest for a new existence free from his gun-slinging past. In this tale of two outsiders endeavouring to establish their own identities and exert power over their own dominion, all the tropes unravel amid a desolate landscape, and given the parallels with the nation’s sociopolitical climate, the film ranges beyond its adopted genre. Read our full review. THE MISSING PICTURE Wading through the past to get a grasp on his – and Cambodia’s – present, filmmaker Rithy Panh attempts to fill in the gaps in his own and well as the collective memory. With the assistance of sculptor Sarith Mang, he assembles figurines and dioramas of clay and wood to restage scenes from his childhood, the fleetingly beautiful and the inescapably brutal among them. The documentarian earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film for his efforts, his latest offering continuing his prolonged fascination with the state of his country. As modest as it is meticulous, and as moving and illuminating, too, this is a picture that shouldn’t be missed. Pun intended. THE DARK HORSE Stories similar to the real-life circumstances of Genesis Potini have been seen before on screen, steeped as they are in a relatable arc of redemption. What James Napier Robertson’s film perfects is the mindset of the troubled chess prodigy turned coach to marginalised youth, in every expressive image and atmospheric sound, and in a tone that never loses hope – just like its inspiration. Formula might seethe through the underdog story, but so does authenticity. The feature swept the recent New Zealand Film Awards for its earnest and emotional efforts, with acclaim rightfully thrown the way of star Cliff Curtis and supporting actor James Rolleston (worlds away from the work he is best known for, his titular role in the charming Boy). Read our full review. THESE FINAL HOURS When this Australian apocalyptic effort made its world premiere at the Melbourne International Film Festival in 2013, it set audiences ablaze with excitement for its fresh cinematic talent and its invigorating approach to the end of the world. Fast forward to a year later, and the flames spluttered when Zak Hilditch’s debut earned a general release, a response that doesn’t reflect the skill and style of the movie. Nathan Phillips plays against type in a story not of special deeds but of looking beyond a selfish, self-serving mindset. As his protagonist, James, journeys from nihilism to humanism upon a road trip through Perth’s suburban streets — motivated by the lost, lonely girl he decides to help — he evokes a quiet awakening not just for the character but for a new Australian classic. Read our full review. SON OF A GUN Not even the lure of Ewan McGregor enticed patrons into theatres for Julius Avery’s first feature, another film coming out of Western Australia. As a veteran criminal masterminding a jailbreak, then caught in a web of mobster manipulation, the Scottish actor rightfully commands attention — but so do his co-stars, Australia’s own Brenton Thwaites as the innocent immersed in underworld dealings, and Swedish actress Alicia Vikander as the obligatory love interest. Yes, there’s no escaping the film’s fondness for standard crime caper cliches as it navigates prison hierarchies, daring heists and dalliances with Russian gangsters, but its embrace of its genre exceeds what could’ve just been an ordinary assembly of average parts. Avery also shows a knack for set pieces and a confidence with pace and tone that keeps everything moving beyond the familiar. Read our full review. NYMPHOMANIAC Lars von Trier doesn’t make films to cater for all tastes, to be certain. Danish cinema’s enfant terrible earned the label after making many a feature considered unpalatable by broader audiences. Four hours of his work may be an endurance test for some (and that’s the short version of his latest effort); however, his frank dissection of female sexuality demands to be seen. Lust eclipses love as the driving mechanism in the experiences of Joe as she grows from a girl into a woman, ever-aware of her carnal impulses. Some chapters hit the mark better than others, just as some performances — from a cast that includes Stacy Martin and Charlotte Gainsbourg sharing the lead role, as well as Uma Thurman, Christian Slater, Shia LaBeouf and Jamie Bell — suffer the same fate, yet the end product is never anything less than engrossing. Read our full review. OUT OF THE FURNACE A blink-and-you’ll-miss-it run in Australian cinemas excuses many from failing to cross paths with the latest feature from Crazy Heart writer/director Scott Cooper. Though he again steeps his story in the struggles of those striving for something more but continually restrained by their circumstances, here he places his stumbling characters in the midst of small-town malaise, post-war apathy and generational inertia. Excellent work from Christian Bale, Casey Affleck and Woody Harrelson lies at the core of an intimate, intricate effort played out with a brooding look and feel from start to finish. Also strong is the sense of conviction that helps patch over thematic similarities with other films.
Serving as a waterfront haven for post-work drinks and late-night shindigs since 2003, Darling Harbour icon Bungalow 8 has got a brand-new experience to light up the start of your weekend. Running every Friday night from 9pm, Keys Gone Wild is a piano-powered party, where the crowd leads the sing-along and the no-setlists-allowed approach makes each week a unique experience. Designed for unfiltered chaos, expect high-energy piano performances fused with your favourite party tracks and DJ beats to keep the rowdiness going into the early hours. Each week, guests jot down their song requests — classics and chart-toppers welcome — and drop them into the fishbowl. This way, the crowd shapes the night, leading to all-in anthems taking over the entire venue.
For more than two decades now, the sound of much in the science-fiction, fantasy and horror genres on-screen — small and big alike, and across not only TV and movies but also video games — has hailed from Bear McCreary. The show that kickstarted his career: Battlestar Galactica. In his mid-twenties, McCreary began living his score-composing dream when assisting on the 2004 miniseries led to a job on the 2004–09 TV series that followed. Next came Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, another entry on a resume that's now filled with bringing his own sonic spin to well-known realms again and again. With Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., McCreary stepped into Marvel's orbit, for instance. Before it was a television sensation, The Walking Dead came from graphic novels. Outlander stems from the books of the same name. Everything from the Snowpiercer TV series and Isaac Asimov adaptation Foundation through to prequel series The Lord of The Rings: The Rings of Power, streaming's Percy Jackson and the Olympians and Halo as a television show — plus movies Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Child's Play, and both 10 Cloverfield Lane and The Cloverfield Paradox — also fit. "I did the show for The Omen," McCreary notes to Concrete Playground, mentioning more. "I did a game in the Star Wars universe." "That's quite a list," he continues. "It's funny, now that you put it all together, it's like 'wow, maybe more often than I haven't, I've been'," McCreary says of his long lineup of projects based on recognisable titles so far. "But that really is a commentary on our industry today, which involves so much recycling of older IP." [caption id="attachment_1013960" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Timothy Norris/Getty Images for The Recording Academy[/caption] For God of War and God of War Ragnarök, McCreary has two BAFTA Games Awards. His three Grammy nominations in three successive years — 2023–25 — come from Call Of Duty: Vanguard, God of War Ragnarök again and the latter's DLC pack God of War Ragnarök: Valhalla. The Emmys have recognised his work on Human Target, Black Sails and Outlander with nominations, and on Da Vinci's Demons with a win for Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music. McCreary has also scored five films in a row for director Christopher Landon: Happy Death Day and its sequel Happy Death Day 2U, Freaky, We Have a Ghost and 2025's Drop. He's been reading scripts for the upcoming third season of The Rings of Power when we chat, and his efforts are now echoing from the third season of Foundation, too. But 2025 has also been about a first for him; although he's far from new to performing his music in concert, he's been embarking upon his first proper tour. After dates in Europe and North America across April and May, McCreary is playing four Australian dates between Wednesday, July 23–Monday, July 28: at The Forum in Melbourne, Sydney's Enmore Theatre, Eatons Hill Hotel in Brisbane and Perth's Astor Theatre. [caption id="attachment_1013953" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Ted Sun[/caption] When you primarily compose for the screen, what does it mean to be able to play your music live to an audience in concert? "There's a fundamental thing about making music that I love and crave. And when you write music for the screen, you get it in a weird way — and that is that audience feedback," McCreary advises. "You get it over time. You get it online, interacting with people out in the world that may figure out who you are — but for the most part, you don't experience your music with other people. You just sort of trust that it's out in the universe and people like it or they don't; they're having an experience." "So I wanted that visceral, immediate sense of community and interaction. And playing music live for an audience, it happens immediately. You can feel it. There's an electricity in the air. And I was craving that. I had performed a lot, maybe 15 years ago, when I had done Battlestar Galactica — I performed that music live with increasing frequency. And I sort of stepped away from that in order to solidify my career in film, television and video games. But it was time to get back to it. It was time to get back to my roots," he says. Australian audiences aren't just being treated to music from many of the above titles live when McCreary takes to the stage, however. In 2024, he also released The Singularity, his star-studded debut rock album. How did his big break on Battlestar Galactica help lead him to here — and before that, how did being self-described lifelong "soundtrack-collecting nerd" and "sci-fi/fantasy/horror nerd", too, as well as the type of kid who recorded the soundtrack to Back to the Future in the cinema as a six year old, set him on this path? We also spoke with McCreary about that, finding inspiration for his projects, the intimate relationship that audiences have with music for the screen, evolving the sound of a series, repeat collaborations, a future stage musical and much, much more. On Battlestar Galactica Becoming McCreary's Big Break "I really have to go back to when I was five. I was obsessed with film music, even when I was five or six years old. I started collecting soundtracks. I started trying to write my own music when I was like seven or eight. And by the time I was 13, I was writing music all day, every day — and bringing in everybody around me that I could. My friends in high school, I would force them to be in bands and come over to record. When I got to college, I started doing student films with increasingly large student orchestras. Anybody that I met that could make a movie or play an instrument, I tried to work with them. So by the time I was an assistant on Battlestar Galactica at the age of 21, 22, I'd put in my 10,000 hours a couple times. So as I recall, I had the opportunity to score one episode of the show while they were looking for a real composer — because no television series of that scale would hire an unproven 23-year-old child. Whether or not I'd worked on the miniseries, I mean, it just didn't matter, they were looking for somebody else. And I did the first episode of the show — I did work with Richard Gibbs [The Simpsons, 10 Things I Hate About You] on the miniseries and learned a lot during that experience, and contributed some to the sound of Battlestar Galactica. And then I had the chance to do one episode, and I guess the rest is history. I remember at the end of that episode, the producer sat me down and said 'well, why don't you come in tomorrow? Let's take a look at the next episode'. And there it was." On Why McCreary Was Drawn to Film Scores as a Child "When I was a baby, my mum would take me to movies. She took me to movies that you shouldn't take a baby to go see — dramas like The Natural and Gandhi. I saw The Empire Strikes Back when I was two. I was so small that I think I wasn't tall enough to see over the seat. My mum would set her purse down, because the flip seat would otherwise smash me. So I do think that for some of these movies, I sat there staring at the back of a chair, listening to the movie. And when I was six, a film called Back to the Future came out. And that one really caught my ears. And I asked my mom to take me a second night. So we went back the next night after I saw Back to the Future. This time, I snuck in a cassette recorder — my little Fisher-Price cassette recorder — and I held it up over my head and I recorded the movie so that I could hear the music, and fast forward past all that annoying dialogue and sound effects. So even at age six, I was trying to filter out the other sounds in a film so I could hear what was going on in the music. Why that is, I don't know. But you can easily imagine how you take a kid that's wired that way, and I'm definitely on path to become a soundtrack-collecting nerd, which I still am — if you combine that with the piano playing that I started learning at that time, it was almost like 'ohh, it's chocolate and peanut butter, let's put those together. I can use those skills to explore this passion'. So it really was something I knew that I wanted to do from a very young age." On Where McCreary's Inspiration Comes From, Especially When Working on Projects with Such Pivotal Source Material "I definitely feel very fortunate that I can take on projects that inspire me. And every once in a while somebody will call me about a project, and I will confess to them that I think their story is really solid and their vision is really clear, and I'm just not excited by what they want and that they deserve to have someone who's passionate about the kind of story they want to tell. That happens pretty rarely, because I started my career with Battlestar Galactica. And then I went to Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and then The Walking Dead and Outlander and Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. And I've worked with Godzilla and Star Wars and Lord of the Rings and God of War. I grew up a sci-fi/fantasy/horror nerd, so I very much planted my career in the orchard I wanted to grow in. So I'm very fortunate to be inspired by the material that I'm offered, but also I am inspired by going back to the music that I loved as a kid. I think there's some scientific truth that the ages 12 to 16 are where our brains form, and we form a bond with media at that age that is lifelong. And I do find myself returning to that material and even applying it to modern material. When I scored The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, I was inspired by Howard Shore's music for the films to a degree, but I was 21 when those came out. I was more inspired by James Horner [Titanic, Avatar], John Williams [Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park], Basil Poledouris [Conan the Barbarian, Starship Troopers], Jerry Goldsmith [Planet of the Apes, Star Trek], Ennio Morricone [The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Once Upon a Time in the West]. I think if you put my scores for Rings of Power up against those older scores from the 80s and 90s, there's a more obvious connection there. That's where my heart lies. So I want music to make you feel the way the music from my childhood made me feel." [caption id="attachment_794091" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Jackson Lee Davis/AMC[/caption] On Thinking — or Not — About the Intimate Relationship That Audiences Have with Music for the Screen "I try not to think about that, because it adds undue pressure. Ultimately, my job is I need to write that scene and make it work, and if I start thinking about writing something that transcends that, it just adds undue pressure. When I wrote The Walking Dead main title, if I had been thinking 'well, this needs to last 15 years — or more, the rest of your life. This little idea, is it good enough? Is it good enough to last forever?', I would freak myself out, right. 'No, it's not. It can't be that good.' No, I just needed to tell this 30-second story for The Walking Dead main title. And that 30 seconds arguably is the most-successful 30 seconds I've written in my entire career. So I try not to think about those things, but I am grateful for those transformative relationships, because I have those. So many of my favourite scores are for films that I have not seen as many times as I've listened to the scores. Or the scores transcend even the movies. The movies not might even be that good, but the scores become invaluable to me. And I try to have space in my heart for being grateful for that. If that happens, if I can write this scene, do my job, but also be open to the fact that maybe some six-year-old kid will hear that and want to record it and listen to it again — if I could be part of somebody else's journey the way that Alan Silvestri [Back to the Future, Predator] or Elmer Bernstein [The Magnificent Seven, Ghostbusters] inspired me — that's a pretty magical thing. And I try to be grateful for the possibility without applying pressure to myself that I have to do that." On the Sense of Responsibility That Comes with Working on Projects with Inbuilt Fanbases Attached Because They've Existed in Some Form Before "That definitely comes with, I don't want to say pressure, but a thing to be mindful of. And I always try to look at something through the lens of a fan and deliver what is most effective for the most-passionate fans, and yet will not be distracting or kitschy for someone who does not know that material. I think I was very successful in that in particular with Battlestar Galactica and Godzilla: King of the Monsters. Both had big, brassy fanfares that were — in one, the Godzilla march was written in the 50s by Akira Ifukube; Battlestar Galactica was written in the 70s by Stu Phillips, obviously as a response to Star Wars. And nothing could have been further from the trend in scoring when I did Battlestar or Godzilla than big brassy marches. But in both cases, I struggled and found ways to very earnestly and lovingly take that music and bring it into something that sounds very modern — that doesn't sound like a cameo or an homage, it just sounds like the score. And if you know, you know. And that's what, I guess, I pride myself on that. I try to be very respectful of the older material, and maybe part of it is karmic — eventually people will be doing new versions of all these things, right? I'm a steward of this material for a while, and I hope at some point in the future, when somebody does a remake or continuation of something I worked on, that I'll be afforded the same consideration." On the Thrill of Being Able to Add Your Voice to a Genre or Title That You've Always Loved, Like Fantasy and Lord of the Rings "It's pretty incredible. It's almost unlike anything else. Just earlier today, I was reading scripts from the new season. And I've had the same experience every time I read the scripts: 'I get to do that? I get to do that! Wait, I get to do that!'. I'm giddy. It's like a joyous experience. It fills me with joy. I've never really felt pressure, except in the second season, I think, when I wrote a song called 'Old Tom Bombadil' — I did feel the weight there. Tom Bombadil [played by Rory Kinnear, Toxic Town] appears in the show. He's a beloved character who goes very deep in the lore. If you loved these movies and you don't know who we're talking about, that's how deep it goes. He was not in the Peter Jackson films. Probably the most-glaring omission from those films. So for him to be in our show is a big deal — and he sings. When you read the book, like half his dialogue is in verse. And I realised that aside from writing a song for a television show, I was potentially codifying, in an official adaptation of Tolkien's material, a melody for Tom Bombadil that people would hear in their heads when they read Fellowship of the Ring. That is the first time that I've really felt that weight — of working outside the medium. I'm not even thinking about the show. He appears very briefly in the show. It's not really that big a deal. But the idea that if this melody is good, it might resonate with people the next time they read Fellowship of the Ring — and at that time I was writing it, I was reading it to my daughter. And so before the show even came out, I got to give it a test run. When we got to the Tom Bombadil pages and I caught myself going 'ohh, he started to sing. Should I? Should I try it? Should I try my melody? Here it goes'. And I just rolled those lyrics right off the tip of my tongue, using that melody, and it worked. And I was pretty happy. I was pretty happy with that." On Bringing a Sense of Weight, Urgency and Epicness to a Score, Such as Foundation "I am still looking to the masters that I grew up listening to. And in the case of Elmer Bernstein, I came of age with him as a mentor. I knew him personally. I think it's fascinating your question — because how does the Foundation main titles start? Sparkling flutes and clarinets. Cellist. Glockenspiel. This very light, delicate, sparkling cloud of particles. It's not heavy at all. And you get acclimated to that texture — and then halfway through, when the bottom drops and suddenly 'boom', now we're getting epic. It feels more epic, because I actually reacclimate your sense of frequencies. I sort of took those frequencies away for a while. So it's through that kind of contrast that I think you can achieve real dynamics and emotional impact. And with Foundation, that's the name of the game. We're telling a story that takes place over like a millennium, and asking the audience to keep track of characters spanning centuries. So I'm really trying to tread lightly where I can, so that I can come back in with devastating impact." On Evolving the Sound of a Series Across Multiple Episodes and Seasons "I have found I have to be very open-minded. Not evolving the sound is much harder for me than evolving it. Granted, I've never done like a Law & Order show that goes on for my entire life and is very similar every week, so I'm already taking on shows where the characters change a lot. And look, my first show was Battlestar Galactica, and I learned this real fast — I had a theme for Starbuck [Katee Sackhoff, Fight or Flight] and I really wasn't looking ahead. So she escapes from the planet in episode 104, big triumphant moment, and I've got this theme that I kind of decided 'oh, that's her theme'. And then in the eighth episode, she starts torturing this guy, Leoben [Callum Keith Rennie, Star Trek: Discovery]. And suddenly I'm realising the range that our show has, and we are creating complex characters. Just four episodes later, after her triumphant fanfare, I wanted to use that same theme but tell a very different story — and I had to really work because I hadn't prepared for that. I really wasn't looking ahead. So having learned from that, I am often looking ahead now. Knowing what's coming really helps, but also just being flexible. You don't always know what's coming. Certainly when I started the first episode of Walking Dead, no one would have been talking about season ten. No one would have been thinking 'in a dozen years'. We were just thinking 'we've got six episodes here, how can we we stretch this formula for six episodes? Here we go'. And I ended up doing 100, I don't even know — I've lost count. Many, more than 100." On Returning Collaborations with the Same Filmmaker, Such as Christopher Landon's Movies From Happy Death Day to Drop "I adore Chris Landon. I love that relationship. And so many of my favourite composers had these long-term relationships. And I've studied their scores. I think subconsciously, we all have. Spielberg-Williams. And George Lucas and John Williams. Hisaishi and Miyazaki on all the Studio Ghibli movies. Danny Elfman and Tim Burton. Fellini and Rota. There are so many more. And we start understanding that this director's style, this director's voice, is aided by this composer's sound. And with Chris, he is the feature film director with whom I have worked the most. We've currently done five films together in the span of not ten years. So I cherish that relationship. And I'm always trying to keep up with Chris. He is such a visionary. He's always combining different genres. It's a slasher and teen drama. Now we're going to throw in Back to the Future time travel. Now I'm going to do Freaky Friday meets Friday the 13th. And I'm just like 'okay, okay, hold on. Hold on, Chris. Give me a minute. Let me catch up. Let me catch up with you'. Drop was — maybe it was in some ways the easiest, and in some ways the hardest, because it completely shook up the rhythm. I read his script for Drop, and I called him and I said 'Chris, I think you're just making a movie — you're making a movie with one tone. I can't believe it. This is essentially a high-concept 90s thriller. That's it'. And he goes 'yeah, isn't it fun?'. So it really took me a minute to recalibrate and just do one genre with Chris Landon. That was a nice, welcome surprise. [caption id="attachment_1013961" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Jeremychanphotography/Getty Images[/caption] On the Ultimate New Composing Music Challenges for McCreary "I think to be completely honest with you, I am so grateful to have worked on all of the things that I already described. Any one of those is a dream project. I think it's why you can see me working in other mediums where I am not established — where I'm the very small fish in a big pond. I put out my first metal record last year, The Singularity. And on that I collaborated with Serj Tankian from System of a Down, Slash, Jens Kidman from Meshuggah, Kim Thayil from Soundgarden, Corey Taylor from Slipknot and all these people. And I learned so much about rock 'n' roll. And I've been working on a show, a musical intended for Broadway, working with some incredibly talented people for the last six, seven years. We're going into a number of readings over the next two years. And again, I'm learning on the job — and how to write a Broadway show. So in many ways, when it comes to being fundamentally challenged and pushed out of my comfort zone, I kind of am looking at records — and I made a graphic novel out of The Singularity — and just other mediums. Because as fun and thrilling and exhilarating as scoring film is, I've been doing it professionally for 20 years. And if you factor in all my childhood experiments with trying to do it, I mean it's 30 years, right? So if you give me footage and tell me what you want, I have a lot of experience, no matter what the footage is, in doing that. So I think also ultimately, that's why I'm going on the road — is it's another huge challenge, just suddenly bringing this music out on the road, bringing it to an audience and playing it for an audience that maybe isn't used to hearing this music live. That's really scary. I feel like I'm up on the tightrope there. So those are the kinds of projects I think you'll see me adding to my portfolio as time goes on. But I love I love scoring. It's like my happy place. I've been working on a movie all week for a director I've never worked with before who I admire greatly and it's just, it's the best feeling. So you know me, I'm just multitasking and juggling all this stuff all the time." Bear McCreary is touring Australia between Wednesday, July 23–Monday, July 28, 2025 — head to his website further details and the tour website for tickets.
That thing you've been missing from your life, it's not just friends, family, pubs and live music — it's joy. It's taking an optimistic view of a grave situation. It's playfulness, lightness. It's relief. And there's something that can bring you the catharsis you need: art. Sydney's art galleries are now open to the public again, so you can get your fix in person. But if you don't really have time or the means to visit right now, there is another way. The Art Gallery of New South Wales has launched Together In Art, which is its way of connecting people through art, no matter where you are in the world. It has artist interviews, how-to videos, musical performances and pocket exhibitions. In partnership with the Art Gallery of NSW, we've picked out five of our favourite pocket exhibitions from the program — so you've got a direct link to explore the ones that speak to you most right now. [caption id="attachment_773097" align="alignnone" width="1920"] James Rosenquist, 'Spaghetti' (1970), Art Gallery of New South Wales, gift of Fred Genis 1991© James Rosenquist/VAGA. Licensed by Copyright Agency[/caption] 'LET'S CONFESS' It's time to face up to the person you've become, the one that you hide from your Instagram profile, the one you become behind closed doors. In this seven-artwork pocket exhibition by assistant curator of international art Anne Gérard-Austin, you might recognise your iso-self. But we should be clear, Gérard-Austin isn't here to judge. Instead, this collection of sculptures, photographs and 17th-century paintings is a humorous look at who we really are, and much like peering into a funhouse mirror, it's a little haunting. Recognise your lockdown comfort foods in a close-up of tinned spaghetti? Or your loneliness and longing in Salvatore Zofrea's Jealousy? Don't worry, we do too. Too scary? Try this uplifting pocket exhibition, Remember joy?. [caption id="attachment_773098" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Noel McKenna, 'Untitled' from the series 'Animals I have known' (2015-16), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Dobell Biennial Acquisition Fund 2016© Noel McKenna. Licensed by Copyright Agency[/caption] 'THE GREAT INDOORS' Not ready to leave the house? It's OK. Stay indoors instead, and spend a couple of minutes with this tribute to domesticity. The good life is right here, in the comfort of your own mess, the chaos of the kitchen table, and the romantic way the light hits your breakfast cereal. Compiled by the Gallery's head curator of international art, Justin Paton, this collection of mostly paintings celebrates the small joys of being in your own space. Enjoy it while you can. As the curator says, "This is your great indoors." More wholesomeness please? See: Working from home: a dog's perspective. [caption id="attachment_773099" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Max Dupain, 'Untitled (hands and watches)' from the album 'Volume of 21 photographs by Max Dupain' (1936-39),Art Gallery of New South Wales, gift of Diana Dupain 2003[/caption] 'THE MATTER AT HAND' If you've been truly isolated during these past months, you've likely yearned for another person's touch. Those who've been commuting, or moving in and out of their homes every day, are likely more aware of how often they're washing their hands. Isobel Parker Philip, senior curator of Australian contemporary art, feels your pain. In the intro to this pocket exhibition, she says, "I've never been more hyper-aware of my hands." Across nine photographic artworks, Parker Philip plays with our new relationship to our hands — from a seductive photo of bare arms with a pearl necklace to a reflective image of CSR employees in Pyrmont, captured in 1984. There's longing, there's tenderness and there's our new collective fetish: touch. Like Isobel Parker Philip's sense of humour? You might like In praise of care. [caption id="attachment_773188" align="alignnone" width="1920"] teamLab, 'Flowers and People - Gold' (2015), Interactive Digital Work, 8 channels, Endless, Sound: Hideaki Takahashi, Art Gallery of New South Wales, D G Wilson Bequest Fund and Asian Collection Benefactors' Fund 2015 © teamLab, courtesy Martin Browne Contemporary, Sydney[/caption] 'A WELCOME BOUQUET' In mid May, team leader Tracey Keogh, was starting to think about the moment when the Gallery would open its doors to the public again, and what came to mind was once again the idea of seeing the flowers that take pride of place on the Gallery's front desk. In this pocket exhibition, Keogh picks out seven artworks from artists who've been inspired by the beauty and symbolism of flowers over the years — from a still life by one of the pioneers of modern Australian painting, Roy de Maistre, to teamLab's digital wallscape Flowers and People – Gold. If you're in need of a little hope and optimism, this is the collection for you. Too much vitality? Take a look at desolate urban landscapes instead, in Silent city. [caption id="attachment_773100" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Julian Rosefeldt, 'Manifesto' (2014-15), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Mervyn Horton Bequest Fund 2013© Julian Rosefeldt/VG Bild-Kunst. Licensed by Copyright Agency[/caption] 'HOW TO BE AN ARTIST: PART 2' You've got to laugh or else you'll cry, right? Making a living as an artist right now means every day is like an episode of Survivor. Special exhibitions curator Jackie Dunn plays on the timeless struggle of a working artist in this pocket exhibition with whip-smart humour. From promoting yourself shamelessly to faking it till you make it, Dunn provides snippets of advice punctuated by each work of art — much like the art of your favourite, soul-crushing memes. Want more? Explore the equally amusing How to be an artist: part 1. Together In Art can be experienced through the Art Gallery of NSW's website, daily posts across Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and the Together In Art e-newsletter. Top image: Singer Sarah Belkner performs a vocal improvisation with herself in the exhibition 'Shadow catchers' at the Art Gallery of New South Wales as part of Together In Art. Photo: Matt McGuigan, Hospital Hill.
Every September and October, Germany erupts with brews, food and lederhosen-wearing revellers for its annual Oktoberfest celebrations. Come Saturday, October 26, The Domain will serve up the same kind of beer and bratwurst-fuelled shenanigans. If you're a Sydneysider with a hankering for doppelbock, schnitzel and dancing to polka, it's the next best thing to heading to Europe. This year's Oktoberfest in the Gardens will add an extra attraction, too — as well as serving a variety of pilsners, ciders, wine and non-alcoholic beverages, it'll construct the country's biggest beer hall to house the boozy merriment. Just how huge it'll be hasn't been revealed, but given that the festival usually attracts quite a crowd, expect it to be sizeable. When you're not raising a stein — or several — at the day-long event, you can tuck into pretzels and other traditional snacks at up to 30 food stalls, or check out the hefty array of entertainment. Live music, roving performers, markets and wood-chopping are all on the agenda, as is a silent disco, dodgeball, rides and a sideshow alley. Early bird tickets go on sale at 7am on Thursday, August 1 for $54.90, with full-price entry costing $69.90.
If you're keen to experience space-like gravity-defying action here on earth, get set for Heliosphere at Sydney Festival 2019. The ethereal performance will see an illuminated helium-filled sphere taking an aerialist 20 metres into the air. From a height that would ensure a sticky end if sudden re-entry were initiated, the airborne artist will perform a series of spins and twists in the moon-shaped contraption. In 1965, astronaut Ed White concluded the first American spacewalk by saying, "I'm coming back in...and it's the saddest moment of my life". Space is vast and dangerous, but Heliosphere is a reminder of the tremendous beauty that can result when risk is embraced. Heliosphere is part of Sydney Festival's dramatic and diverse 2019 program and will appear at Prince Alfred Square in Parramatta for Circus Comes to Town from January 11–13. Check out the full lineup here. UDPATE: DECEMBER 5, 2018 — This event was initially also meant to run at Barangaroo between January 16–27, but these performances have been cancelled. The Parramatta shows will still run as scheduled.
It's no secret that everyone loves a Chin Chin feast. Now, you can bring the exotic fusion of Asian and Australian flavours the eatery is known for to your own kitchen. Returning to the foodie scene this winter, Cooking With Cooper at Chin Chin Sydney will present a range of cooking classes, including the popular 'Throw a Dinner Party the Chin Chin Way'. At the class, you'll level up your culinary skills and learn from Chin Chin Executive Chef Benjamin Cooper. On Sunday, July 27, the acclaimed chef will host a hands-on cooking class where punters will learn how to cook dumplings, relishes and other Chin Chin favourites. Think pulled pork pancakes with slaw and plum sauce, and yellowfin tuna with pomelo, chilli, coconut and lime. [caption id="attachment_1010989" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Supplied[/caption] After all the hard work, enjoy the fruits of your labour with a post-class feast. Sit back in the bustling eatery while enjoying all the dishes you just cooked up, plus more. The classes run monthly, each with a different theme. Tickets are $145 per person and include the interactive class as well as a full sit-down meal. Spots are limited, so early booking is essential for this culinary extravaganza.
Australia keeps going dotty for Yayoi Kusama — and this time, one of the Japanese artist's dot-filled installations is sticking around on a permanent basis. Acquired by the National Gallery of Australia earlier this year, Kusama's pumpkin-focused infinity room The Spirits of the Pumpkins Descended into the Heavens is now on display at the Canberra gallery, opening today, Saturday, December 1. The piece was first exhibited in 2015 and last seen in Australia earlier this year, in Brisbane as part of the Gallery of Modern Art's Yayoi Kusama: Life Is the Heart of a Rainbow exhibition between October 2017 and February 2018. Comprised of a mirrored cube filled with yellow, dot-covered pumpkins, it's a quintessential Kusama work. Whether you're a devoted fan who considers visiting the artist's own Tokyo museum a bucket-list moment, or someone who has simply placed stickers around one of her obliteration rooms, you would've noticed that dots and the concept of infinity are crucial to her art — "our earth is only one polka dot among a million stars in the cosmos," she says. Inside the cube, the bulbous vegetables appear to create an endless field thanks to the shiny surface. On the outside of the cube, the structure's mirrored exterior reflects the yellow-and-black walls in the surrounding installation room — again, making it appear as though the pattern stretches on forever. The acquisition was made possible via a gift to the NGA from Andrew and Hiroko Gwinnett. "It has long-been my ambition to see a major contemporary Japanese artwork housed in Australia's national collection," said Andrew in a statement. "Kusama's playful installation is a legacy that will keep giving for generations to come." Find The Spirits of the Pumpkins Descended into the Heavens at the National Gallery of Australia, Parkes Place, Parkes, Canberra. Images: Yayoi Kusama, THE SPIRITS OF THE PUMPKINS DESCENDED INTO HEAVENS 2015 — Installation view at The Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Nusantara (Museum MACAN). © Yayoi Kusama. Courtesy of Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo/ Singapore/ Shanghai. / Courtesy of National Gallery of Australia, installation view.
How do you say goodbye to one of Australia's great music festivals? Bringing together as many local acts as possible, filling the event's stages with homegrown talents, is one excellent option. When Bluesfest bids farewell with its 2025 fest, it'll also have help from international artists, but so far the lineup is jam-packed with Aussie names. It's the end of an era, and it's going out with some impressive assistance. Come April 2025, Crowded House, Ocean Alley and Vance Joy will lead the roster of talent getting behind Bluesfest's microphones in Byron Bay for the last time, as already revealed back in August. The festival has now dropped its second lineup announcement, which adds everyone from Hilltop Hoods and Budjerah to Kasey Chambers and The Cat Empire to the bill — and there's more on the list now, and still more to come. [caption id="attachment_969986" align="alignnone" width="1920"] LD Somefx[/caption] On their return to Bluesfest, Hilltop Hoods will headline Sunday night lineup. Also no strangers to the event: Xavier Rudd and John Butler. From there, the bill also features Miss Kaninna, Velvet Trip, Melbourne Ska Orchestra, CW Stoneking, Lachy Doley Group, Ash Grunwald and Kim Churchill. The new additions will join Tones and I, Gary Clark Jr, Rag'n'Bone Man, RY X, Allison Russell, Christone 'Kingfish' Ingram and plenty others across Thursday, April 17–Sunday, April 20, 2025. Another announcement is on its way soon, which is when international artists will start hitting the roster. [caption id="attachment_969990" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Joseph Mayers[/caption] "While this lineup focuses on our homegrown talent, it's still a strong blues and roots announcement, staying true to the heart of what Bluesfest has always been about. I can't begin to tell you how many incredible artists have reached out, wanting to be part of our final festival," said Festival Director Peter Noble about the second Bluesfest 2025 lineup drop. "Scores of amazing talents from across the country have thrown their hats in the ring. It's a testament to how special this festival is to the Australian music community. As much as I would love to include everyone, there are only so many spots we can fit into one lineup." "That said, I'm thrilled to welcome back some of our all-time favourites. You can't say no to artists who have helped shape this festival over the years, including Hilltop Hoods returning after a 20 year gap — and how can we be doing a best of Bluesfest without Xavier Rudd, John Butler, The Cat Empire and the incredible Kasey Chambers, alongside some rising Australian stars who represent the future of our music scene? This mix of legendary performers and up-and-coming talent is what makes this announcement so special and uniquely ours." The festival has been showered with affection since news arrived, also back in August, that it was planning to wrap up after the 2025 event. An ePetition has been launched by New South Wales MP Tamara Smith, asking the NSW Government to put together a rescue package for Bluesfest — a petition that'll be debated in the state's parliament if it hits 20,000 signatures. "It's been truly humbling to see how much Bluesfest means to so many of you. While the future remains uncertain, I am encouraged by the petition that's been raised to keep the festival going by our state member of parliament. There's real hope that with your continued support, and the backing of our community, we might just keep the Bluesfest legacy alive for generations to come," advised Noble. Bluesfest 2025 Lineup: First announcement: Crowded House Vance Joy Ocean Alley Tones and I Gary Clark Jr Rag'n'Bone Man RY X Allison Russell Christone 'Kingfish' Ingram Brad Cox Here Come the Mummies The California Honeydrops Marc Broussard Pierce Brothers Taj Farrant Fanny Lumsden 19-Twenty WILSN Cimafunk Neal Francis Second announcement: Hilltop Hoods Xavier Rudd John Butler The Cat Empire Kasey Chambers Melbourne Ska Orchestra CW Stoneking Budjerah Lachy Doley Group Ash Grunwald Kim Churchill Miss Kaninna The Beards Velvet Trip FOOLS ROSHANI Sweet Talk The Memphis Three featuring Fiona Boyes, Jimi Hocking and Frank Sultana [caption id="attachment_969988" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Roger Cotgreave[/caption] [caption id="attachment_969989" align="alignnone" width="1920"] LD Somefx[/caption] [caption id="attachment_969987" align="alignnone" width="1920"] LD Somefx[/caption] [caption id="attachment_867504" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Kurt Petersen[/caption] Bluesfest 2025 will run from Thursday, April 17–Sunday, April 20 at Byron Events Farm, Tyagarah. Early-bird tickets are on sale now — for further information, head to the Bluesfest website.
Already in 2024, one huge Australian music festival that calls Byron Bay home has shut up shop, hopefully only temporarily. After Splendour in the Grass announced its dates for this year, then its lineup, only to swiftly cancel mere weeks later, another event that's synonymous with the coastal New South Wales spot is now also taking itself off the town's calendar. Bluesfest is bidding farewell — and its plans to say goodbye are definitely permanent — but it will host a final hurrah in 2025 on its way out. So, the sad news: once Thursday, April 17–Sunday, April 20, 2025 passes, Bluesfest will be no more. The silver lining is that last fest, a four-day event that'll mark the Easter long-weekend mainstay's 36th year. [caption id="attachment_969990" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Joseph Mayers[/caption] "After more than 50 years in the music business, Bluesfest has been a labour of love, a celebration of music, community and the resilient spirit of our fans. But after the 2025 festival, as much as it pains me to say this, it's time to close this chapter," advised Festival Director Peter Noble in a statement. "As I said earlier this year at Bluesfest 2024, next year's festival will be happening and it definitely is, but it will be our last," Noble continued. "To my dear Bluesfest family, I want to make it the most unforgettable experience yet. If you've been thinking about it, now is your last chance to experience our beloved festival." [caption id="attachment_969986" align="alignnone" width="1920"] LD Somefx[/caption] There's no word yet on who'll be gracing the stages at Bluesfest's swansong, following on from 2024 headliners Tom Jones and Elvis Costello. Since 1990, everyone from Bob Dylan, BB King, Mavis Staples, Robert Plant, Paul Simon, Bonnie Rait and Santana to Kendrick Lamar, Lauryn Hill, Erykah Badu, Mary J Blige, Beck, Midnight Oil and Crowded House have played the fest. And even if you've only ever been to one Bluesfest, you've likely seen Jack Johnson and/or Ben Harper on the bill. The last few years have been tumultuous for the Byron Bay event. 2023's fest lost a number of acts, including King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard and Sampa the Great, after Sticky Fingers were added to the bill. Bluesfest ultimately dropped the controversial band. And while the fest went ahead in 2022 after two years of pandemic cancellations (and a thwarted temporary move to October for the same reason), it showcased a primarily Australian and New Zealand lineup. [caption id="attachment_969988" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Roger Cotgreave[/caption] Bluesfest calling time follows Mona Foma doing the same after its 2024 event — plus a lengthy list of festivals beyond Splendour that've ditched their plans this year, sometimes also without announcing their intentions for the future. Just two years after debuting, Adelaide's Harvest Rock has scrapped its 2024 fest as well. Spilt Milk cancelled its 2024 festivals, while Groovin the Moo did the same after announcing its lineup. Summergrounds Music Festival, which was meant to debut at Sydney Festival 2024, also pulled the plug. As announced in 2023, Dark Mofo took a breather in 2024. Yours and Owls has postponed its next fest until 2025, too, but is hosting a pre-party in October this year. [caption id="attachment_969989" align="alignnone" width="1920"] LD Somefx[/caption] [caption id="attachment_969987" align="alignnone" width="1920"] LD Somefx[/caption] [caption id="attachment_867504" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Kurt Petersen[/caption] Bluesfest 2025 will run from Thursday, April 17–Sunday, April 20 at Byron Events Farm, Tyagarah. Early-bird tickets are on sale now — for further information, head to the Bluesfest website.
Sydney's sunny season is in full swing — and, if you like celebrating warm weather, adorable animation and mini golf all at once, the part-tee is just about to begin at Darling Harbour. Everyone's favourite Pixar characters are popping up in Sydney at a putt-putt course inspired by the Disney-owned studio's loveable films. Yes, Pixar Putt is returning, with the kidult-friendly course heading to the Pier St Underpass from Friday, December 16–Sunday, February 5. Designed to challenge both eight-year olds and adults, Pixar Putt features nine- and 18-hole courses that take you past childhood heroes like Buzz Lightyear, Sheriff Woody and Elastigirl. Flicks such as Monsters Inc, Onward, Finding Nemo, Up, A Bug's Life, Wall-E, Inside Out and Soul all get some putting love, too. Clearly, there's no need for a trip to Disneyland — and this year's course features new holes inspired by Pixar's recent Turning Red and Lightyear. So, if you don't think you'll beat your cousin at backyard cricket over the summer, challenge them to a match here. All you need is your hat and A-game (and no pressure if you remain defeated, there's always the nineteenth hole nearby). Pixar Putt is also open for after-dark sessions every Thursday–Saturday night — and they're only for adults. Operating from 7–10pm, the late-night putt-putt hours are perfect for those date nights when you want to do more than just have dinner and see a movie. Otherwise, head along from 10am–8pm Sunday–Wednesday, and be prepared to have littlies for company.
Keen to ring in the New Year along the harbour foreshore but not with inevitable hordes of people? Easy — just take a short ferry ride to Cockatoo Island to completely surround yourself with water and cop some second-to-none views. This year, the island is throwing a party so you can celebrate without elbowing your way through the crowds. It's got a plethora of live music, gourmet eats, films, games and guided tours lined up. And your NYE 2019 Experience ticket covers them all. The epic music program includes live tunes by Kate Wadey, Darryl Beaton, Evie J Willie and DJ Kate Monroe, who'll be bringing the dance-worthy beats as the clock ticks over to 2020. Meanwhile, if you're keen to start your year on a competitive note, you can get stuck into a spot of giant chess, table tennis, basketball or handball. Or catch a film on the big screen or plunge into 19th-century history on a tour — be it a journey through crooked characters or an exploration of escape attempts. Keeping you well fuelled between adventures will be a selection of pop-up bars and food stalls. Whatever your beverage of choice — be it a cocktail, craft beer or glass of vino — you'll find it, alongside some top-notch food. Better yet, you'll be staying the night, so you don't have to worry about getting home. Whether you book into a luxe waterfront camping spot that's already set up for you or pitch your own tent, you'll be spoilt by extraordinary panoramas of Sydney's firework displays. To see the full range of accomodation options and to book yourself a spot, head here.
Maybe you've tried mixing flour, salt, a little red wine and a dollop of tomato sauce. Perhaps you can't look at the last month of the year on a calendar without hearing Paul Kelly crooning "it's the 21st of December" in your head. As a song, 'How to Make Gravy' has been an Australian classic since 1996. It's one of the tunes that the great Aussie singer-songwriter will forever be known for. As a movie, How to Make Gravy is the nation's latest festive film, after musician Meg Washington and writer/director Nick Waterman first revealed back in 2022 that they were adapting Kelly's track for the screen. The song does indeed tell listeners how to make gravy. It also unfurls a story that explores what that sauce, plus the act of sharing it with loved ones over the festive season, means to the tune's protagonist. Kelly crafts the track as a letter from Joe to Dan, reflecting on all of the things that he'll be missing that Christmas due to being in prison. "And give my love to Angus, and to Frank and Dolly — tell 'em all I'm sorry, I screwed up this time," the song advises. "And look after Rita, I'll be thinking of her early Christmas morning when I'm standing in line," it continues. "Tell 'em all I'm sorry, and kiss the sleepy children for me. You know one of these days, I'll be making gravy. I'll be making plenty, I'm gonna pay 'em all back," the tune concludes. How do you make a movie out of 'How to Make Gravy'? For the feature now streaming via Binge since Sunday, December 1, 2024, arriving wth perfect end-of-year timing, Washington and Waterman have spun a tale based around all of the folks that Kelly mentions. The brothers driving down from Queensland, Stella, Mary and Roger: they all pop up, too. The duo has also enlisted an impressive list of actors to bring those figures and new characters to life, such as Kate Mulvany (The Clearing), Damon Herriman (Better Man), Brenton Thwaites (Titans), Kieran Darcy-Smith (Mr Inbetween) and Kym Gyngell (The Artful Dodger), plus French actor Agathe Rousselle from Titane making her first English-language film. Two of its biggest names — and two of Australia's best screen talents — sit at the picture's centre. Daniel Henshall (RFDS) is Joe, author of the pivotal message. Hugo Weaving (Slow Horses) plays Noel, who isn't mentioned in the song. For Weaving, "the song 'How to Make Gravy' means someone wants to be making gravy with their family, so it means someone wants to be at home with their family and they're not," he tells Concrete Playground. "But the promise of the gravy is that when I am back at home with you, I will make lots and lots of gravy. So I'll make up for time lost, and I value my family, I value you and I want to gift you this thing that I can do. And I'm sorry that I've stuffed up so badly that I'm not with you. So that's what both the film and the song mean." Henshall agrees; to him, Kelly's track is about "wanting to be home and not being able to be to" and "missing the people that you love". More than four decades since his first-ever screen credit back in 1980, Weaving's career has taken him everywhere from touring the outback in drag in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (a sequel to which is on the way) to enforcing a robot-dominated world order in The Matrix franchise and playing a half-elven leader in The Lord of the Rings saga. He's starred in Marvel and Transformers movies, too, alongside a wealth of excellent homegrown fare (see: Proof, Babe, Little Fish, Mystery Road, Healing, The Dressmaker, Hearts and Bones, The Rooster and TV's Love Me). Henshall made a chilling imprint in Snowtown, then added fellow exceptional Australian flicks These Final Hours, The Babadook and Acute Misfortune to his resume. On TV, American efforts Turn and Defending Jacob are on his filmography, as are the Aussie likes of Bloom, Lambs of God, Mystery Road: Origin and Savage River. And then there's two Bong Joon-ho movies: Okja and 2025 release Mickey 17. [caption id="attachment_983111" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Ben Symons[/caption] How to Make Gravy isn't Weaving and Henshall's first on-screen collaboration. In 2023, The Royal Hotel also brought them together. Before that, 2019's Measure for Measure did the same. With The Royal Hotel and their current team-up especially, they're spending their shared time exploring the complexities of masculinity — in Kitty Green's (The Assistant) film as two of the menacing men at an outback pub, and in How to Make Gravy as inmates. After perpetrating toxic attitudes the last time that they co-starred together, they're now attempting to break free of harmful behaviours. Joe is angry before he starts serving an 18-month sentence. That fury and pain has played a considerable part in sparking his incarceration, in fact. A veteran lifer, Noel has been in similar shoes, but now both oversees the prison kitchen and runs a men's group to help his fellow detainees get in touch with their emotions. The movie version of How to Make Gravy also hops between the events that led to Joe being behind bars and the aftermath the following Christmas — and also between his stint inside and how his family, including Rousselle as his wife Rita, Thwaites as his brother Dan, Mulvaney as his sister Stella, Herriman as her husband Roger, and Jonah Wren Phillips (Sweet Tooth) as Joe and Rita's son Angus, are coping. We also chatted with Weaving and Henshall about their first thoughts when they first heard about the project, its many layers, starring in a movie with such beloved source material, how their paths keep crossing on-screen and digging into the feature's themes. On the Reaction When a Movie Based on an Iconic Paul Kelly Song Comes Your Way Hugo: "Brilliant idea, really excited. Read the script — fantastic version, adaptation, realisation of the source material. And thrilling character for me. So I was all in straight away." Daniel: "Yeah, the idea of being a part of something that means so much to so many was very exciting. And then meeting Nick and Megan and reading their script just made it even more palpable. It was such a visceral script. And what they had done with that, how they moved away from the song, and how they had paid respect to the song and how they'd fleshed out these characters, and how they're dealing with a lot of issues underneath everything without explicitly saying that, I think it was incredibly clever. Much like Paul's music, it's so simple in its structure, but it's so effective. And every time you come to it, you see or feel a bit more. I hope that's what this film does for people as well. I think, for me, having seen it a couple of times now, every time I see a bit more and feel a bit more." Hugo: "The mark of a good film, actually, that. I thought 'oh, is this a different edit?' — and they go 'no, it's the same film that you saw like two months ago'. I said 'I'm sure, didn't you cut that out or put that in?'. 'No, it's the same thing.'" Daniel: "You get a different thing each time." Hugo: "I think it's one of those films where when you see it, you'll see a lot each time". On Whether There's a Sense of Responsibility When You're Starring in a Film That Stems From Such Treasured Source Material Daniel: "Absolutely. And I think that's the initial fear — are you going to ruin someone else's experience of this much-beloved property, this song? But this is an adaptation, and you cross over into understanding that this isn't an imitation, it's an adaptation. So they've taken it and run with it, and now we're focused on making this work from that. We're not going to disrespect the original, but we're going to make this different version inspired by this. So you can focus on that. So the responsibility is now on the film, not to not respect the song, but not being worried about changing someone else's opinion or experience of this song. We're now focused on the film, which is a different thing. It's a fully fleshed idea that's taken from a form in its origin, and now it's in a two-hour format on the screen in real life." Hugo: "Lovely for Paul, too, because he had such a great reaction to it." Daniel: "He did." Hugo: "And I think he feels like his original, didn't he say that 'where it's moved from when I wrote it to now is so great'? And for him that's a liberation, I think. So it's great to get seal of approval from Paul Kelly …" Daniel: "From the originator." Hugo: "… with regard this version of the song. Good to hear. Good to hear." Daniel: "He was very moved, which was really beautiful to see." [caption id="attachment_983112" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Ben Symons[/caption] On Weaving and Henshall's Shared On-Screen History, and How That Helped While Collaborating on How to Make Gravy Daniel: "It's brilliant because, I mean, I'm very fond of Hugo, and so I've learned that that gives me a shorthand in communication, in familiarity, in trust, in friendship. So when we go to do something on the screen, I'm innately more open to it and I'm innately more free to play, and feel comfortable to play and not to fail. And so what a wonderful place to start off, even before we start talking about the work. If you're already coming from that, all of that work that you can only do through experiencing somebody. It's like becoming a friend with somebody. The deeper you go with them, the more the friendship grows. And that's true of the work, too. We become more familiar with each other." [caption id="attachment_983113" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Ben Symons[/caption] Hugo: "It's nice, too, being excited by the prospect of working with Dan — having seen Acute Misfortune, for example, which was just such an extraordinary performance, and then getting the opportunity to work with that actor. So you go 'well, I really like what this guy does, and so I hope I'm going to enjoy working with him'. So it's been a really good journey, from Measure for Measure, tiny little scenes we had, to being in each other's orbit on The Royal Hotel — but again, prosecuting intensely toxic male psyches together and talking about that world, the world of The Royal Hotel, and then being able to progress from that toxic world into a another, a world about a more-balanced idea of what family is, and looking at how men can heal themselves. It's been a great journey, actually." Daniel: "Yeah, yeah, yeah, it has." Hugo: "A pleasure." On What Weaving and Henshall Drew Upon to Dig Into Masculinity's Complexities Hugo: "Well, the script initially, and then what that throws up for you, what work you need to do to understand that. So for me it was like 'well, if Noel's done all this work, what work have I done on myself? What sort of psychological pathways have I gone down to understand where I'm at? And what sort of work has this character done? What sort of men's-group work does he have to do?'. So there's all this prosecution of a character that you do before any film. And you can never do enough and then, of course, at some point you've got to just jump in and do it. But always do as much as you can to make that character as complex and as human as possible." Daniel: "For me, it starts with the conversation with the director, and their understanding of the character — and why the character does these things. And then through that conversation, I can state where I'm coming from or what it does for me, or how I respond to that. And I think there's always a thing where at least I try to connect something that's happened to me in my life to something that's happened to the character in their life. And once I understand what that kernel of emotional history is, then you can start to flesh out those very real responses and start to understand them without judgment. I think there's a lot to mine in this character. It's so richly written, so it does begin with the script, obviously. But there's so much more under the surface which, again, was explored through conversation and then personal experience." Hugo: "There's massive backstory …" Daniel: "For all the characters." Hugo: "… for all the characters, actually. And they're just touched on. You get a very strong sense of the father having suicided some years ago, when Joe is a kid. You get a sense of Red's [a fellow inmate] background. You get a sense of Noel's background. You get a sense of Agathe's character's background and mother." Daniel: "Just with that one conversation." Hugo: "So all of these characters, the lives are just hinted at. So you need to find the truth of all of that, and you need to create those stories." Daniel: "That's most of the work, isn't it?" Hugo: "Yeah, it is. And then that brings about 'well, this character thinks in a certain way' or there's an inner monologue happening for them which is very slow or very fast. Every character has an internal world that's significantly different from others, and it's slowly finding that, tapping into that. That's when it starts to get exciting, I think, when you start thinking like that person." Daniel: "Yes." Hugo: "And instinctively feeling like that person." How to Make Gravy streams via Binge. Film images: Jasin Boland.
UPDATE: MARCH 19, 2019 — Castlecrag's newest Cantonese offering has just gotten even better. Canton Kitchen has launched a new bottomless yum cha offering, available every Friday, Saturday and Sunday lunch from 11am. For just $38 you can eat endless bowls of scallop and prawn shumai, pork xiao long bao, fried rice, chow mein and hot and numbing chicken wings (the list goes on). And for dessert (yes, that price includes dessert), you can eat as many yuzu custard buns and steamed Malay sponge cakes as you please. The sound of all that food making you a little thirsty? Pay an extra $27 ($65 in total) and you can drink unlimited wines, beers and soft drinks, too. The lower north shore has a new go-to for Asian eats thanks to former Queen Chow head chef Jason Chan, who opened Canton Kitchen earlier this month. The Cantonese restaurant joins Chinese barbecue joint Holy Duck! and Vietnamese eatery Bistro Mekong in Castlecrag's Quadrangle Shopping Village — all the result of a $25 million investment by Kensington Street developer Dr. Stanley Quek. Chan, who's also worked in the kitchen at Merivale's Papi Chulo and El Loco, is turning out a menu of traditional share plates using a variety of Aussie meats. Signature dishes include locally sourced duck served Peking-style with steamed pancakes ($26), sticky Mongolian lamb ribs with herb salad ($32) and a luxe take on mapo tofu made with lobster and Alaskan crab ($38). Vegetarian creations include the silken tofu with vegetarian XO sauce topped with soy bean floss and crispy wonton skins ($14). Chilli lovers will find much spice in the kung pao chicken — a dish hailing from China's Sichuan Province that's heavy on the Sichuan peppers — and the Singaporean-style chilli prawns with sambal. A range of fried rice dishes are up for grabs, too, including the 'typhoon shelter'-style Alaskan crab ($26) and the house special — with prawns, char siu barbecued pork, corn and mustard leaf ($18). If you're headed in with a group, there are two private rooms available, as well as ten-course banquet menus for tables of four or more.
Your life is about to be filled with hand-knitted wine bags, minimalist bean bags and slick storage options. Japanese design and homewares retailer MUJI has opened its very first flagship store in New South Wales — the third MUJI in Australia. Opening at 500 George Street, the huge 1344sqm corner space is located on level one of The Galeries (where the old Freedom Furniture was) — counting Kinokuniya, Incu and Sushi Hotaru as friendly neighbours. If you're a bit vague on MUJI, they're a Japanese brand all up in simple, elegant homewares and consumer goods with an eco-friendly aim to reduce packaging. The company's Japanese name, 'Mujirushi Ryohin' means 'no brand quality goods', so we're talking no-name, minimal packaging products — everything from apparel and accessories, to furniture and homewares, stationery and skincare products, bedding and travel goods. Yep, they're into covering all bases with a stripped back simplicity similar to IKEA. This is the first NSW MUJI, following Australia's first at Chadstone Shopping Centre in November 2013 and Emporium Melbourne's store opening in April last year. MUJI plan to open more Australian stores, with the promise of an online store in the near future. But MUJI are no spring chickens, having started in 1980 as a private offshoot of SEIYU (one of Japan's bigwig retailers) and growing to a total 703 stores worldwide.
We all know that fast fashion is gross. And yet, we're all familiar with the need to something cheap and quick in a time crunch — often overwhelming our need to not pollute the planet beyond repair. We really don't do well by Mother Earth here in Australia. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, every year 500,000 tonnes of fashion ends up in landfill and each Aussie consumes 27 kilograms of textiles. Rhianna Knight believes we can do better, so she started an apparel business that won't leave you feeling shamefaced. The result is Mister Timbuktu and, after a successful crowdfunding campaign earlier this year, it's kicking ass — with its debut collection now available. Mister Timbuktu's outdoor apparel is made from recycled plastics and discarded fishing nets. At the moment, the range is all about quality leggings, raincoats and crop tops, but they'll soon branch into all things outdoorsy, including tents, sleeping bags and puffer jackets. The designs are gorgeous and bright because outdoor activities don't have to be completed in drab natural colours (apologies, Kathmandu, you serve a purpose but there's a new queen on the block). According to Knight, eleven plastic bottles are recycled in each pair of leggings they create. How in the name of activewear is that possible? Well, recycled plastics are collected, shredded into chips, washed, melted into liquid form and then spun into thread that goes on to become your new favourite comfy pants. Science, bitches! The company also puts 20 percent of profits back into helping the planet in other ways: by partnering with both a mental health charity (Waves of Wellness) and the Foundation for National Parks and Wildlife. But wait, there's more. Okay, we probably shouldn't get so excited about this part because the rest of the initiative is so phenomenal, but check out the leggings: they have a pocket in the waistband which is the best and most practical thing ever. Thank you for listening to our secret wishes and delivering. For more information, visit Mister Timbuktu's website.
Set a few streets back from Manly's iconic Corso, Bo Hinzack's new joint is providing beach dwellers and visitors alike a new destination to get their caffeine fix. Don't let the name and the mission fool you, though, as Hinzack, along with kitchen-smith Alex Rispoli, have crafted an intricate and intriguing menu for the shop, taking on bold flavours and maintaining a health-conscious approach. Entering the shop is like stepping into a rich bachelor's pad in San Francisco in the '60s. The walls are roughly graded concrete with curved iron bars adorning the high roof. The furniture is simple, with all the steel-topped tables appearing to have been lifted from a school cafeteria, and the mismatched chairs coming along with them. It's a cosy vibe where nothing's pretentious, and everything about the shop welcomes you in for a relaxing cup of joe and a tasty meal. The menu appears limiting at a first glance, given that there aren't really any familiar faces on there, excluding staples like granola. Everything is a little new, a little different, and it can be a little intimidating. But, once perused carefully, the dishes become objects of intrigue clamouring to be tasted, in particular the pikelets. They come served with coconut and carrot, drizzled in a beautiful honeycomb and walnut syrup. Carrot, you say? Yes, carrot. The savoury twist in the otherwise sweet dish adds a whole new element, and it works. Alternatively, ask for a slice of each type of bruschetta with extra prosciutto. Hinzack's been brewing up black gold for 13 years now, and Showbox is his second foray into coffee shop ownership. After selling on his debut, the Penny Royal in Mosman, Hinzack is aiming to capture that chilled out feel that we all crave while throwing back long blacks with gay abandon. The first step to this is providing coffee made with love and integrity, which is something he absolutely nails at Showbox. The waitstaff (traditionally tattooed and clad in white tees) are more than happy to serve as guides through the coffee options, whether it be towards Reuben Hills filter roast or Mecca's single origin espresso, and the product is sensational. The milk is stretched to perfection, the extraction is rich with a full crema, and it's all bought together with a practiced hand to produce a premium product. It's surprising how often we take good coffee for granted, but Bo's brew is one that reminds us that it's takes time, effort and a generous portion of passion. With the stripped-back digs, topnotch menu and the most chilled of vibes, Showbox brings its A game to Manly for a real keeper of a cafe.
Chippendale's newest concert venue Phoenix Central Park has just announced its latest series of intimate gigs. The stunning performing arts centre — named Best New Space in our 2021 awards — will host a season of ten concerts throughout February and March as part of its Season III program, all of which will only be accessible if you win free tickets through the venue's ballot system. Phoenix Central Park is the vision of philanthropist Judith Neilson AM, founder of the White Rabbit Gallery. The hidden Sydney space sprung up at the beginning of 2021 hosting a series of shows with upcoming talents and playing host to multiple video series that displayed the breathtaking nature of the building. Following a tricky past twelve months for concert venues across Sydney, Phoenix Central Park is finally flinging its door back open to the public, or at least those lucky enough to win tickets. Leading the lineup of contemporary and traditional musicians who will be popping up as part of Season III is Tweed Heads rapper JK-47 coming off an Album of the Year win at the National Indigenous Music Awards and a stunning Like a Version on Triple J. Also appearing: Korean-Australian rap collective 1300, neo-soul wonder Kye, the Australian Chamber Orchestra Quartet, and Novocastrian folk-star e4444e. Rounding out the lineup is the latest project from Cloud Control's Alister Wright called Goddess911, violinist and dancer Eric Avery, harpist Alice Giles and an improvised piano set from Adrian Lim-Klumpes, Chris Abrahams and Novak Manojlovic. "We have programmed ten acts who each connect with distinct audiences and will bring a completely new group of people to come through our doors with every performance," Phoenix Central Park Creative Director Beau Neilson says. "Not only are we intent on giving our audiences something to look forward to in trying times, but we also believe it's essential to be resolute in our mission to support artists and provide a solid and beautiful platform for the presentation of their work." The full capacity of Phoenix Central Park is 120 people per performance, so you'll have to cross your fingers and toes that your ballot entry is one of the lucky ones. To enter the ballot, head to Phoenix Central Park's website and choose the gigs you're interested in. Phoenix Central Park's Season III will run from Thursday, February 2 until Tuesday, March 9.
Colourful, quirky and diverse — the Berry Reserve Markets are held on the third Sunday of every month in Narrabeen. Here, you'll find arts and crafts, plants, jewellery, clothing and trinkets — much of which is locally made and handcrafted, too. If you work up an appetite, there are plenty of food stalls selling delicious dishes as well as places to get coffee and cool drinks. Berry Reserve Markets is the place to visit to find rare treasures and interesting gifts for the people you love. It's also ideal for a Sunday stroll in the sunshine before hitting the surf. And if you would like to have a stall yourself, download the application form on the website.
There's nothing like a big, warm welcome to make you feel instantly at home, whether you're wining and dining out or enjoying a hard-earned weekend escape. At some places, it might be a traditional greeting, called cheerfully when you walk through a restaurant's front door, for others, a thoughtful gesture that's steeped in culture. Then, there are the greeting rituals that'll please your taste buds as well as give you the warm and fuzzies — like DoubleTree by Hilton's signature 'cookie welcome', which sees all of its guests gifted with a freshly baked, warm chocolate chip cookie on arrival. Keen to feel at home away from home? We've scouted out some of Melbourne's best global eateries dishing up warm welcomes of their own. BHANG, BRUNSWICK At contemporary Brunswick spot Bhang, Indian street food gets a freshen-up with classic flavours married to modern techniques and served up in a funky, new-school setting. Here, a lot of thought goes into making visitors feel welcome, with gestures both traditional and not. If you're digging the vibe, it could be because the figure of Hindu deity Ganesha is given fresh flowers at the start of each service, as a way of increasing the positive energies and inviting health and prosperity. You'll also catch welcoming wafts of incense throughout the restaurant and enjoy complimentary house-made pappadums to kick-start your meal. 1/2A Mitchell Street, Brunswick. DOC, CARLTON Enter through the doors of Carlton's legendary DOC and you'll be welcomed with the scent of baking pizza dough, as well as a cheery chorus of ciao, Italy's well-known greeting. Here, crisp-based traditional pizzas are the stars of the show, but to start things off right, let the friendly staff invite you aboard the aperitivo train. An alcoholic sip designed to help fire up the appetite, consider this the proper Italian welcome to any hearty meal. At DOC, fuel up with a glass of prosecco or a spritz, and you'll know you've been invited to enjoy some serious feasting. 295 Drummond Street, Carlton. AKACHOCHIN, SOUTH WHARF For fresh, honest Japanese fare served with a side of warm hospitality, you'll find it hard to beat a visit to South Wharf's Akachochin. Named after the red paper lanterns you'll often spy strung up outside a Japanese izakaya, this waterfront spot plays to tradition — from the serious knife skills on display in the open kitchen to the menu of sushi, sashimi and tried-and-true classics. Of course, you'll find it hard not to get swept up in tradition yourself, when you're greeted with a cheerful staff chorus of irasshaimase — Japan's customary call of 'welcome' or 'come on in'. 33 S Wharf Promenade, South Wharf. MOVIDA, CBD Spain's renowned tapas culture is about much more than just chowing down on tasty small food — it's about sharing a meal and wine with friends and celebrating social interactions. And when you partake in the tradition, it's hard not to feel like you're part of some big Spanish eating club. Here in Melbourne, Frank Camorra's famed MoVida is one of the best spots to get your authentic tapas fix — all funky tunes, moody lighting and a menu filled with top-notch small bites, like mini beef tartares and pressed pork tostadas. 1 Hosier Lane, Melbourne. PASTUSO, CBD Dining at ACDC Lane restaurant Pastuso is a bit like embarking on a journey through the many flavours of Peru, from the lively seafood dishes of the dedicated ceviche bar to the charry, meaty offerings coming hot off the traditional grill. And of course, the proper welcome to any authentic Peruvian adventure comes in the form of a fresh, tangy pisco sour — Peru's widely celebrated national cocktail, made from a grape-based spirit. To have you dining like a true Peruvian, the staff here are always eager to steer you towards an expertly crafted concoction from the pisco bar. 19 ACDC Lane, Melbourne. BON AP', FITZROY This cosy Fitzroy gem is like a little slice of provincial France, with fare as charming and authentic as the staff's French accents. The aim here is to replicate the familiarity of a quaint village bistro from back home, so expect a hearty bonjour upon entering, a warm bon appétit and an easygoing energy for as long as you stay. It's an inviting spot for breakfast, lunch or dinner — settle in with some charcuterie, a serve of mussels and a few glasses of great French wine and you'll find it pretty hard to say goodbye. 193 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy. LOS HERMANOS, BRUNSWICK At cosy Brunswick haunt Los Hermanos, bank on being greeted by authentic Mexican eats, a festive vibe and a serious collection of Mexico's national drink, tequila. But for all the choice, you won't be left daunted, with staff always keen to help hook you up with your ultimate agave match — their way of welcoming you into the fray. For full effect, pair your chosen drop with a few of the kitchen's drool-worthy tacos, featuring fillings like beer-battered fish, slow-cooked lamb leg and bold chipotle chicken. 339 Victoria Street, Brunswick. SON IN LAW, COLLINGWOOD Rooted in tradition, yet unafraid to unleash its creativity, Collingwood's Son In Law is one of Melbourne's best-loved Thai joints. Named after the dish of deep fried eggs that's said to be served up to misbehaving Thai sons-in-law, it's a colourful spot that's guaranteed to charm. Owner Piyawut Tony Rungpradit says his aim is to welcome diners to an authentically Thai dining experience by offering this namesake dish, as well as traditional share plates like the rich green curry and pad see ew noodles. Expect a sunny Aussie welcome to make you feel at home while you tuck into a proper Thai feast. 56 Johnston Street, Collingwood. DIN TAI FUNG, CBD Famed for its signature dumplings and boasting venues across the globe, Din Tai Fung sure knows how to pull the crowds. But no matter how busy the Melbourne Emporium restaurant might get, you'll always be met with a friendly call of ni hao — a Mandarin version of 'hi' or 'how are you' that's commonly used in China and Taiwan. It's just a kind little reminder of the Taiwanese deliciousness that awaits — drunken chicken, fragrant wonton soup and, of course, a parade of juicy, perfectly-crafted dumplings. Emporium, 287 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne. HOFBRAUHAUS, CBD In Germany, one of the world's largest consumers of beer, the heartiest welcome you'll find comes in the form of a nice, cold stein. For centuries it's been part of the social fabric, bringing people together and creating homes away from homes. And you'll experience exactly this with a visit to Market Lane's historic German restaurant, Hofbrauhaus. Here, staff sport classic Bavarian outfits, live German tunes set a cheerful tone and generous serves of pork knuckle are primed for feasting sessions. A range of traditionally brewed biers rounds out the whole lively experience. 18–28 Market Lane, Melbourne. Discover the many ways to feel welcome in Melbourne — from an authentic aperitivo hour to a chorus of 'irasshaimase' to the warm, freshly baked cookies waiting to welcome you to your home away from home at DoubleTree by Hilton on Flinders Street.
If you're a fan of watching smart, rewarding, deep-thinking science fiction, then you're probably a fan of Alex Garland's. Originally an author, he initially came to fame as the writer of 90s bestseller The Beach, before moving into screenwriting with the script for 28 Days Later. More screenplays followed, including Sunshine, Never Let Me Go and Dredd — but it was his 2014 directorial debut Ex Machina that showed the extent of his filmmaking prowess. Annihilation proved a highly worthy addition to his resume in 2018, too, even after it was shuffled onto Netflix rather than screening in cinemas in much of the world. Given his track record so far, any new project by Garland is cause for excitement. In 2020, direct your enthusiasm towards new eight-part series Devs. The writer/director is making the leap to television with a cast led by Nick Offerman — and with Ex Machina's Sonoya Mizuno, Love's Karl Glusman, American Horror Story's Alison Pill and Bad Times at the El Royale's Cailee Spaeny also featuring. Due to start streaming in the US in March — with availability Down Under yet to be confirmed — Devs begins with a premise that doesn't sound all that different from Ex Machina. At a quantum computing company called by Amaya, which is run by an unnerving CEO called Forest (Offerman), things don't seem quite right. That especially seems the case to computer engineer Lily Chan (Mizuno), who believes that Amaya is responsible for the disappearance of her boyfriend. The more she investigates, the stranger and more sinister it all appears, as seen in the show's first trailer. Expect conspiracies, futuristic tech thrills, dark yet vivid images and Offerman sporting a long-locked hairstyle that Ron Swanson surely wouldn't approve of — plus, as the series' sneak peek demonstrates, killer set design. Naturally, the bulk of Devs' mysteries are being kept close to Garland's chest until the show premieres, but the initial teaser still paints an immensely intriguing picture. Check out the trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8klax373ds Devs starts streaming in the US on March 5 via Hulu, with the series' air date Down Under yet to be revealed. Image: Miya Mizuno, FX Networks.
Palm tree-lined beaches and World Heritage-listed rainforests aren't all that Tropical North Queensland has in abundance — there's an array of tasty treats to experience, too. From tropical twists on classics to award-winning cuisine, there is truly something for every culinary craving in this picturesque holiday destination. To help you curate your must-do dining destinations, we've uncovered ten places in the far north that the locals love. So whether you want a First Nations-led cultural experience, to peel piles of prawns on the back of a docked boat or to discover the delicious tropical fruits, bookmark this for all your food and drink needs in Tropical North Queensland. [caption id="attachment_829657" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Tourism and Events Queensland[/caption] LEARN ABOUT NATIVE INGREDIENTS WITH FIRST NATIONS PEOPLES Walkabout Cultural Adventures is a 100-percent First Nations-owned and operated cultural tour company based on Kuku Yalanji Country, also known as Port Douglas and the Daintree. Owner Juan Walker has been working in the region for nearly two decades and prides himself on offering informative and personalised tours to all guests. Under Juan's expert guidance, you'll discover the wonders of Kuku Yalanji Country, including where two World Heritage-listed sites — the Daintree Rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef — meet. The half- or full-day tours will give you the opportunity to learn about food and medicines grown in the region and how Kuku Yalanji people have managed the land and its natural resources for millennia. You'll also get to sample bush foods, collect shellfish and try your luck at catching delicious mud crab. [caption id="attachment_829896" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Tourism Tropical North Queensland[/caption] TAKE YOUR PALATE TO PALM COVE FOR LUXE BEACHFRONT DINING If you're looking for beachfront dining while in Tropical North Queensland (and why wouldn't you be?), Palm Cove's Nu Nu Restaurant is a must. With stunning views of the Coral Sea and picture-perfect palm trees framing your vista, this beachfront restaurant will satisfy both your visual senses and your tastebuds. Open daily for breakfast, lunch and dinner, the menu boasts a great selection of dishes that embrace locally grown produce. For brekkie, try the crab omelette with a zingy ginger caramel and white pepper broth or Nu Nu's take on bircher featuring pineapple and coconut cream-soaked muesli topped with mango, tropical fruit and toasted coconut. If you stop by for lunch or dinner we recommend starting with a tropical cocktail like the vanilla ginger mojito with Daintree vanilla sugar and a starter of Pacific oysters with finger lime. Then, follow it up with sake-poached octopus with pickled shiitake and spring onion oil or sugarcane-smoked duck with barbecued cabbage and rhubarb. [caption id="attachment_829658" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Tourism Tropical North Queensland / Tourism and Events Queensland[/caption] LOAD UP ON FRESH PRODUCE AT THE LOCAL FARMERS' MARKETS A trip to the tropics isn't complete without a wander through Rusty's Markets in Cairns. Open every Friday, Saturday and Sunday, at Rusty's you'll find everything from exotic fruits, tropical tasting plates, freshly baked bread and more. With over 45 years of trade under its belt and more than 180 stalls to visit, there are plenty of reasons locals love to load up on fresh food at this bustling marketplace. The top-tier produce found at Rusty's also attracts many of Tropical North Queensland's finest chefs who can often be spotted roaming the stalls as they source the best locally grown ingredients for their restaurants. Make sure you stock up on fresh fruit for your day exploring the local waterfalls — there's nothing quite like devouring your favourite fruit on a boulder before cooling off at a freshwater swimming hole. [caption id="attachment_829660" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Tourism and Events Queensland[/caption] TASTE TROPICAL TWISTS ON AUSTRALIAN CLASSICS AT OCHRE Native ingredients take centre stage at Ochre, a Cairns institution that has been impressing diners with its creative cuisine for almost 30 years. It's a feast for the eyes, too, as its waterfront location on the Harbour Lights boardwalk offers picturesque views of the adjacent inlet and lush mountains beyond, serving as a reminder of the region's rich and abundant food sources. Take it all in as you tuck into signature dishes like salt and native pepper leaf prawn and crocodile with Vietnamese pickle and lemon aspen sambal; char-grilled kangaroo sirloin with sweet potato fritter, bok choy and a quandong and chilli sauce; and wattleseed pavlova with davidson plum sorbet and macadamia biscotti. The dedication to local is also showcased via the drinks offering, which includes an exclusively Australian wine list with over 30 available by the glass, as well as an impressive selection of Australian spirits. [caption id="attachment_829662" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Tourism and Events Queensland[/caption] PIG OUT ON PRAWNS ON BOARD A PARKED FISHING TRAWLER If a tropical holiday gets you prawny for seafood, then push Prawn Star to the top of your culinary list when visiting Tropical North Queensland this summer. Serving fresh, locally sourced seafood right off the back of a repurposed fishing trawler, this fleet of four floating restaurants is an experience that reflects Cairns' laidback lifestyle. The succinct menu showcases the best seafood that Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef has to offer, and includes platters of prawns, bugs, crayfish and oysters that are best enjoyed with simple condiments or juicy chunks of fresh lime. Head to Prawn Star for lunch or dinner from 11am any day of the week and pair your seafood feast with its very own tap Prawn Beer or Prawn Cider available for $7 all day long. [caption id="attachment_829894" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Tourism Tropical North Queensland[/caption] DIG INTO DAIRY IN THE ATHERTON TABLELANDS The Mungalli Creek Dairy farm in the Atherton Tablelands is much more than cows and pasture — it's one big living organism. With over 30 years of organic biodynamic farming practices under its belt, this family-run farm has mastered the art of cultivating delicious dairy products for decades. At the heart of the property, you'll find The Farmhouse Cafe, which was once the house that owners and brothers Rob and Danny Watson grew up in. Take a seat on the cafe's verandah overlooking the Johnston River Gorge, World Heritage-listed rainforest and Bartle Frere — Queensland's highest mountain — and enjoy a meal loaded with the farm's biodynamic dairy products and locally sourced organic produce. The cafe is also BYO, so take a bottle of tropical wine to pair with one of its cheese platters. Hot tip: make sure you leave room for the crepes — they're a family recipe and are served with Mungalli's luxurious lactose- and gluten-free Broken Nose vanilla ice cream. TRY TROPICAL TREATS AT CHARLEY'S CHOCOLATE FACTORY Charley's name may invoke a well-known chocolatey tale, but the Mt Edna property is as unique as they come — it's home to Australia's only cocoa tree to chocolate bar experience. The concept of showcasing the full chocolate journey at Charley's is the brainchild of Chris and Lynn Jahnke, the husband and wife team who, a decade after uprooting themselves from Melbourne to farm cattle near Mission Beach, planted their first cocoa seeds in 2012. Since then, the pair have crafted a tour at Charley's that is hands-on, hugely informative and most importantly, includes tasting the delicious chocolatey treats. Charley's core products are single-origin 70 percent dark chocolates and milk chocolates with rare Tropical North Queensland flavour combinations like the davidson plum dark chocolate, lemon myrtle milk chocolate, tropical pineapple milk chocolate and beach coconut dark chocolate. [caption id="attachment_829659" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Tourism and Events Queensland[/caption] SIP COCKTAILS BY THE SEA AT SALT HOUSE Salt House is a popular waterfront watering hole for locals seeking delicious cocktails by the sea. Marrying inspiration from a custom-built Argentinian wood-fired grill with fresh seafood and local fare, Salt House's menu aims to champion local produce and the exciting flavours of Tropical North Queensland. Sip on a refreshing rainforest sour packed with davidson plum jam before ordering a dozen fresh oysters, followed by mains like gnocchi with woodfired vegetables, ratatouille sauce, blistered tomatoes, coconut feta and pine nuts. If a seaside seafood feast is what you're craving, try the generous seafood sharing platter or the yellow curry loaded with mussels, local tiger prawns and wild barramundi. DINE IN DECADENCE AT TAMARIND If you're craving decadence after a day on the water, Tamarind Restaurant will put a fresh wind in your sails. The multi-award-winning restaurant combines Australian cuisine, local produce and exceptional service for dinner between Tuesday–Saturday. Start with the market fish ceviche and follow it up with the slow-braised duck curry loaded with lychee, caramel pumpkin and spiced peanuts or the abalone ravioli with roasted scallop, lemongrass and ginger. If making decisions is something you like to leave behind while on holiday, opt for the five-course tasting menu to take the work out of it. Want to extend your summer with a trip to the tropics? Time to book a holiday to Tropical North Queensland. For more information and to book your autumn getaway, visit the website. Top images: Tourism Tropical North Queensland
A beloved staple of the meeting point between Marrickville, Enmore and St Peters in Sydney's Inner West, West Juliett shut its doors earlier in 2023. Luckily for all of the fans of this corner cafe, the original founders have opened Agnes just a five-minute drive away. John and Kathryn Stavropoulos have remained in Marrickville, swinging open the doors to their latest venture on Meeks Road just off Marrickville Road. The duo has enlisted an all-star team for their new opening, with Agnes team members boasting experience from across Flour and Stone, Black Star Pastry and Cross Eatery. Housed in a classic graffiti-laden red-brick terrace that had been left dormant, the cafe offers White Horse coffee, plenty of baked treats, and a hefty breakfast and lunch menu which can be taken away, enjoyed inside or paired with some Vitamin D out on the pair of al fresco tables. Pastry chef Etta Napier's focaccia features heavily throughout the menu. For breakfast, you can order it with a simple spread, stacked with avocado and feta, or as the basis for a loaded breakfast sandwich. Come 11am, there are five sandwiches on offer, all piled high atop the focaccia. Veggie lovers can opt for charred miso eggplant with crunchy slaw and pickled red onion, or you can keep it classic with a classic crumbed chicken sambo partnered with nori and fermented chilli mayo. Following your savoury selection, it's only right to treat yourself to a little something sweet. Expect blueberry, lime and cheesecake tarts, plus West Juliett's famous pink salt chocolate-chip cookies. The Agnes team is also committed to keeping things local and in-house, with the honey, jams, pickles and milkshake syrups all made right there at the cafe, or at John and Kathryn's apiary. Even the bacon is smoked locally. "Agnes is more than just a cafe — it's a place where people can come together, enjoy delicious food, connect with friends and create lasting memories," says Kathryn Stavropoulos. Find Agnes at 69 Meeks Road, Marrickville. It's currently open 7am–3pm Monday–Friday and is considering expanding its opening hours to Saturdays.
Looking for an excuse to catch up with friends on a Monday night? Perched high above York Street's peak-hour traffic rush, The Rook invites you to join its monthly Monday rooftop cinema sessions, that will take place from January to April. And what's an outdoor cinema without a few cocktails? Tickets are $30, and include a complimentary cocktail on arrival. This rooftop cinema boasts a different perspective of the city, as well as a retractable roof and a casual vibe suitable for the start of the week. To kick start the cinema sessions, Cocktail featuring Tom Cruise will be screened at 8.30pm on Monday, January 29. Be sure to utilise the cocktail flare demonstrations, movie-themed drinks list, popcorn and, of course, the bar food offering, which specialises in burgers. Gather a group or come solo but be sure to get to one — or all three — cinema sessions this summer. Image: The Rook/Facebook.
Film fans, your spider-senses should be tingling: there's a new batch of Spider-Man-adjacent characters swinging onto the big screen. Get ready to meet Dakota Johnson (Cha Cha Real Smooth) as Madame Web, aka clairvoyant paramedic Cassandra Webb. Get ready, too, for Sydney Sweeney (Reality) as Julia Carpenter, who has a stint as Spider-Woman in her story in the comic books. Johnson and Sweeney lead Madame Web, the fourth film in Sony's Spider-Man Universe. That's the name for the studio's franchise of flicks that have been spun off from its Spider-Man movies — so from Spider-Man: Homecoming, Spider-Man: Far From Home and Spider-Man: No Way Home — but aren't part of the the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Hitting cinemas on Wednesday, February 14, 2024, it slings in alongside Venom, Venom: Let There Be Carnage and Morbius, plus the delayed Kraven the Hunter when it arrives later the same year, to spread another web of superhero-related pictures. Given its name, there's no chance of thinking that Madame Web would be subtle about its Spidey links. The just-dropped first trailer for the film makes that plain not just in multiple Spider-Woman sightings, but in an explanatory line from Johnson designed to drop some backstory: "he was in the Amazon with my mum when she was researching spiders right before she died". In the first SSU movie with a female lead, the man that Webb is talking about is Ezekiel Sims (Tahar Rahim, Extrapolations), a character who also hails from the page. He factors into a narrative that has Webb almost drowning, then discovering that she can see the future, with not just Sims but Carpenter linked to her fortunes. Also, would this be a Spider-Man-related movie, or a comic book movie in general, if a complicated past didn't also play a part? Also featuring on-screen in Madame Web: Celeste O'Connor (Ghostbusters: Afterlife), Isabela Merced (Rosaline), Mike Epps (I'm a Virgo), Emma Roberts (American Horror Story) and Adam Scott (Party Down). Veteran TV helmer SJ Clarkson (Succession, Vinyl, Jessica Jones) directs, and also co-wrote the script with producer Claire Parker (Life on Mars). Check out the trailer for Madame Web below: Madame Web opens in cinemas Down Under on Wednesday, February 14, 2024.
Moving from sandwiches, dessert and flowers to smoked meats, the team behind Woolloomooloo sandwich joint John Montagu and Sydney chocolatier, patissier and florist Petal Met Sugar have rolled the dice on a completely new venture — Chinese cuisine. Yan, their new Chinese smokehouse restaurant, opened up in the often gastronomically neglected suburb of Wolli Creek a couple of weeks ago, and has been quietly dishing up incredible smoked Chinese food (yan is a Chinese word for smoke). Although Chinese food usually champions barbecued meats more ferociously than smoked, the trend that's swept meat vendors Australia-wide has sunk its delicious claws into Yan. Although the owners are more familiar with the sweet side of the palate, they've taken a deft hand to Chinese food, creating a simplistic menu that's designed for sharing and maintains strong elements of traditional cooking, despite the intriguing addition of house-smoked meats. Think smoked lamb rib with a cumin dry rub and Asian chimichurri, or smoked mussels with house-made chilli sauce and bao. And olive rice. Wolli Creek isn't often considered a culinary cornerstone, but the southern suburb is picking up some of that gentrified urban sprawl — the recently launched Discovery Markets are testament to the area's growing foodie focus. To be sure, there's nosh here that's worth changing trains for. Yan is situated at 19 Arncliffe Street, Wolli Creek, and is open 5.30pm to 9.30pm, Wednesday to Sunday.
The Odd Culture Group (The Old Fitz, The Duke of Enmore, The Oxford Tavern) is bringing its love for odd and interesting food and drink to its latest Inner West venue through a series of extravagant meals. The group's much-hyped King Street wine bar and restaurant Odd Culture will host an event series dedicated to tastes and culinary techniques from off the beaten track. Oddity is kicking off on Thursday, October 20 with its inaugural event featuring a five-course dinner centred around drinks from French natural wine haven Loire Valley. Your guide for the night will be Loire Valley's Paul Hervy of Brix Fine Wines, taking you through some of his favourite drops from the region. Just some of the culinary delights on the menu include Sydney rock oysters, pork terrine, confit pork, fromage frais, fish dumplings in lobster sauce, aged roast duck and artichoke with foie gras — all carefully paired with wines from the likes of Julien Courtois' Clos de la Bruyere and Clos de l'Elu. There are 40 seats available for the night, with an all-inclusive booking setting you back $150 per person. There are more iterations of Oddity planned for the future, with Odd Culture promising no two events will be the same. [caption id="attachment_868444" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Nikki To[/caption]
History has been made! Following Australia's 1–0 defeat of Denmark, the 2022 Socceroos are the most successful FIFA World Cup team to ever come out of this country, advancing to the Round of 16 for just the second time ever with two wins in the group stage. Next up: Argentina. This momentous match will be going down at 6am AEDT on Sunday, December 4. To mark the occasion, the New South Wales Government will be lighting the Sydney Opera House's sails green and gold from 8pm Saturday till dawn Sunday, making all public transport free from 4am–midday on Sunday and setting up an official live site to watch the match. While this early-morning viewing time means you may opt to stay in and watch the match from the comfort of your couch, there are a range of spots around Sydney that you can head to if you want to catch a screening of the must-win showdown side-by-side with your fellow countrypeople. To help you plan your Sunday morning, we've compiled a list of all the spots around Sydney that have currently confirmed they will be showing the game. [caption id="attachment_739368" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Jason Tong via Flickr[/caption] OFFICIAL LIVE SITES The NSW Government's official live site will be at set up at Darling Harbour's Tumbalong Park. A sizeable screen ready to accommodate large crowds will grace the venue, showing the game for free, and neighbouring Darling Harbour retailers have been encouraged to open their doors early in order to keep the football fans well-fed and well-caffeinated. In southwest Sydney, there will be a couple of viewing zones. The City of Canterbury Bankstown has earmarked Earlwood to host a showing of the match. Socceroos fans in Sydney's southwest can head down to Beaman Park from 5.30am, where there will be a viewing party with a barbecue breakfast. And, Liverpool City Council has arranged for the match to be broadcast live from Macquarie Mall, opening from 5am. If you're in the Inner West, you're also in luck. Following a successful live site in Summer Hill for the Australia vs. Tunisia game, the Inner West Council will again be activating an official viewing zone. This time, the game will be shown at Enmore Park. [caption id="attachment_880855" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Steven Woodburn[/caption] PUBS AND CLUBS While plenty of pubs and clubs had events for the Australia–Tunisia game due to its 9pm start time, 6am is less conducive to your local opening up. Despite this, there are a few that have already announced viewing parties. Following a shoutout from Australian coach Graham Arnold himself, The Sackville Hotel has renamed itself The Sacky-Roo for the remainder of the Socceroos' campaign and will be showing the match on Sunday. Elsewhere, The Star Casino's 24/7 Sports Bar will live up to its name and have the game playing live (as well as the Netherlands vs USA game beforehand), and Bankstown Sports will be hosting viewing parties of the Messi–Leckie showdown across the multi-level mega-venue. There are sure to be more venues announcing special opening hours to facilitate the game, so keep an eye on your favourite spot's social feeds. [caption id="attachment_622123" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Kimberly Low[/caption] CINEMAS If you want a unique viewing experience of the World Cup, head to The Ritz Cinema in Randwick. The lush east-Sydney theatre isn't one to shy away from unique screenings, especially sporting-related ones. It's previously hosted showings of the NRL and AFL Grand Finals, State of Origin and previous World Cup matches. Come Sunday morning, you can get comfy in a cinema chair and watch the clash. Tickets are $10. AT HOME If you haven't been tuning into this year's FIFA World Cup, but this run of success from our national team has now piqued your interest, the simplest way to tune in is from home. SBS is the official broadcaster of all games here in Australia. The network is showing all games of the tournament live and free, both on its free-to-air TV channel and on SBS On Demand. And if you sleep in, you can always catch up on the replay on the latter afterwards. Australia take on Argentina at 6am AEDT on Sunday, December 4. For more information about the 2022 FIFA World Cup, head the tournament's website. Top image: Doozeydouche via Wikimedia Commons.
The Cambridge Markets team behind the Ryde Wharf Markets and the Entertainment Quarter Markets is introducing a newcomer to their happy family of fresh produce providers – in the CBD, no less. Just a stone's throw from the Circular Quay ferry terminal and train station, the Quay Quarter Lanes will be adding this new Market to their already expansive dining precinct (of two city blocks and a 49-storey tower), opening for the first time on Wednesday, November 9. You might be familiar with the Customs House/Quay Quarter precinct as a food festival venue (the Bastille day market in particular), but this is the debut of a fresh produce market in Sydney's CBD. The recently-renovated Loftus Lane creates a buzzy enclosed setting where you can get up close and personal with the markets' 40 stalls and vendors. Speaking of vendors, look for Quay Quarter locals like Zini Gelato, Adora Chocolates, Grana and Bubble Nini Teas; joined by market mainstays such as Farmer and Son produce, Berliner Bakery, Stephen Hodges Fish, Savannah Estate Winery, Brother Mountain Macadamias, Le Saucier pasta sauces and Bacca cured meats. Plus, calorie-intensive delights from Jeery's Tacos and Thicc Cookies. Starting on Wednesday, November 9, the Quay Quarter Lanes Market will take place outside Customs House and stretch out and back to Loftus Lane on the second Wednesday of every month. See the website for more information.
As the community of Kings Cross tries in vain to hang onto its bohemian legacy with memorial plaques on the foothpaths (often more a walk of shame than a walk of fame), the other side of town will be reveling this weekend in their ongoing state of creativity. Newtown, that beloved (to many) spot on Sydney's map where one can procure an African hair braid, trade zines, eat delicious Vietnamese and get a salty margerita all on the one strip.It's the kind of suburb that fosters a new creative community with each annual influx of students at the local universities, while maintaining its history of artistic freedom and general doggone good vibes. It's exactly this sense of real community that has inspired the 2042: Art on the Street event this weekend. This year, 2042 promises to be a giant colouring-in book, having invited those who dwell in the suburb and its admirers to take part for the first time in its two-decade history. Festival co-curator Edith Moss wanted this year's event to be "art that everyone can be a part of", and the blank canvas that starts off 2042 provides exactly that. Bring along a picture of your favourite spot on Kings Street, a spot personal to you (mine would surely be Gould's Books where I could — and have — spent whole days sifting through piles, of dusty, deranged books). Event assistants will be on hand to arrange your image into a growing collage of the suburb, a mural that everyone can help colour by painting, collaging, drawing, anything that takes your fancy. If you haven't visited since The Hub was well-known for pushing film censorship boundaries with its on-stage debauchery, clearly it's time to revisit postcode 2042 again and experience the community that has built up around it. Art on the Street runs from 10am-4pm on Saturday 24th and 10am-9pm, Sunday 25th October. The meeting point is Newtown Square.Image: Jodie Barker
UPDATE: JULY 3, 2018 — Since the announcement that the pub was to be sold, the Woollahra Council agreed to assess the heritage significance of the Four in Hand in a council meeting on May 21. If the pub is given heritage status, it may be saved from becoming residential. There is currently also a Change.org petition to stop the development of the pub. Just two years after its last revamp, Paddington's Four in Hand is set for another change — and it won't involve welcoming punters in for a few pints. As reported by Domain, the Sutherland Street pub has been listed for sale; however owners Public House Management Group are offloading the property as a residence rather than a watering hole. Last sold in 2015 for $8 million, it's now on offer for $6 million, with PHMG planning to transfer its pokie and liquor licence to another venue. Anyone with a fat stack of spare cash can nab themselves a space that's currently home to a bar, restaurant and private dining rooms, all boasting interiors designed by Amandine Odouard, who also worked on the company's Bar Moncur and Bistro Moncur. The bar itself still includes its original tiling and heritage fireplace, with timber also featuring heavily. At present, the Four in Hand continues to trade as normal, with the bar open seven days a week, and the eatery serving up lunch from Friday to Sunday and dinner from Tuesday to Saturday. Via Domain.
In what's proving to be a huge year for new places to stay in Brisbane, Fortitude Valley has just welcomed its next addition: The Calile Hotel. Two years in the making — as anyone that spotted the constant construction site on James Street will know — the seven-storey, 175-room spot is calling itself 'Australia's first urban resort'. Yes, that means that going for a splash in the central pool, lazing around in cabanas or on a sun lounge, and eating on the hotel's outdoor deck are all on the agenda. So is hanging out at the spa, which is also open to the general public, and just making the most of Brissie's climate. The white brick design, by architects Richards and Spence, certainly highlights the tropical side of things. Think open-air spaces and breezeways, natural ventilation and plants aplenty, as well as a cool, soothing colour scheme. Inside the rooms, guests will find oak furniture, cork floors and sisal matting in the bathrooms, day beds for afternoon naps, linen robes and a mini bar stocked from local suppliers. Recognising how sunny the city gets, every room is also fitted with motorised blackout blinds. If you need to escape the glow, the in-suite Chromecast and sound bar will help as well. Rooms start from just over $200, with The Calile also featuring nine suites and two premier suites, complete with poolside and terrace-style balconies as well as two private rooftop terraces — for when you're feeling like splashing some cash around. Operated by TFE Hotels Collection, other drawcards include the all-day Lobby Bar, the opening of Hellenika's first Brisbane digs — bringing the Gold Coast's favourite Greek eats to town — and meeting and function rooms that can cater for up to 500 people, including an outdoor amphitheatre. The Calile joins W Hotel Brisbane, the Ovolo Inchcolm Hotel in Spring Hill, the Novotel in South Bank, the new Emporium (also in South Bank) and the revamped Ovolo in Fortitude Valley among the fresh staycation spots opening their doors across the city in 2018. It will boast one unique highlight, too — Ada Lane, a micro-precinct filled with five bars and eateries, that's set to open later this year. Find The Calile Hotel at 48 James Street, Fortitude Valley. Images: Sean Fennessy.
As if Australia Street couldn't get any more vibrant, the team behind Continental Deli is opening not one, not two, but three new venues on the beloved Newtown thoroughfare. Flora, Mister Grotto and Osteria Mucca will all sit side-by-side with Continental when they open between 206 and 212 Australia Street later this year. The rough open date for the trio of venues is October 2024, and the announcement also comes with the promise of three boutique apartments to be rented out on top of the three venues. That's right, any travellers looking for a Sydney-to-the-core experience will be able to stay on top of one of the restaurants right in the hustle and bustle of Newtown. The ambitious project has been multiple years in the making for the Porteño Group, the crew behind Porteño, Continental, Bastardo and Bar Louise. "Three years ago it went to council," Porteño Group Founder Elvis Abrahanowicz told Concrete Playground. "It's been an actual nightmare to get anything done. We should have been open like two years ago... so, we're just happy we're just going to be opening this year." So, what do the three venues have in store for us? Abrahanowicz says Flora is expected to be the first to open its doors. Dreamt up in collaboration with the crew from the beloved now-closed Australia Street cafe 212 Blu, the multi-faceted spot will be open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, spotlighting the best of local produce through a plant-based menu. Supporting the eats at Flora will be coffee during the day, and a playful drinks list at night with a focus on local Australian wines and spirits. Mister Grotto will be a small 30-seat seafood bar. Expect an ever-changing menu based on what's fresh and available, with plenty of raw delights on offer. Drop in for a couple of oysters and a sake before heading out to Newtown or stick around for clams and a drop from the daily wine menu. The final piece to the puzzle is Osteria Mucca, the biggest venue of the lot. For this spot, the team is taking an old butcher shop and transforming it into an Italian restaurant. Keeping the bones of its former occupant, Abrahanowicz says Mucca will be a "homage to the cow" with plenty of cheese and steak Fiorentina available alongside hearty bowls of pasta. The three new Australia Street openings will make the stretch of road between King and Lennox Street one of the highest-density spots for standout eats in Sydney — joining a slew of beloved venues including Tokyo Lamington, Westwood Pizza and The Courthouse Hotel, all within one block. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Continental Deli Bar Bistro (@continentaldeli) Flora, Mister Grotto and Osteria Mucca will open at 206, 208 and 212 Australia Street in October 2024. Follow along with the venues' progress at the Continental Deli Instagram.
If you haven’t been to the glittering celebration of diversity, local art and DJ talent known as Heaps Gay before, then good news everybody, this all-inclusive fun-time party for all is turning one and they’re pulling out some seriously awesome stops for the big bash. Since its sweaty beginnings almost a year ago, this monthly party thrown every third Saturday at the Gladstone Hotel in Chippendale is taking over the entirety of The Oxford Hotel to ensure the world and his wife/husband/significant other can party on down. In conjunction with this once-off venue change comes a whole bunch of talent too, including live and hot from Berlin, the onesie-styling wonders of 80s ballad belter, Peter Baecker, as well as Kato, Levins, Shantan Wantan Ichiban, Wild Sunset, Cunningpants and a load more. Oh and did we mention the twerking workshop? Come for the welcoming vibe, stay for the cheap booze and also shed a tear because it might be happy birthday to Heaps Gay, but it’s also the last for the year.
Since opening in 2016, Restaurant Hubert has been a citywide favourite for Sydneysiders looking for a high-quality French meal or a fine dining experience in the CBD. But with everyone stuck in their homes, for the time being, fine dining is often traded for trackies and a Big Mac. Hubert is looking to change that, bringing the Restaurant Hubert experience into your home with its new takeaway menu Hubert À La Maison. Available for delivery across NSW and ACT Thursday–Sunday, the takeaway menu features selections from the Restaurant Hubert menu a la carte and accompanying French wines and beers. There are also two banquet menus. The first Le Petit Banquet for two includes pork terrine wrapped in pastry, roasted snails with XO butter, chicken fricassée, confit mushroom with peppercorn sauce, sautéed greens and creme caramel for dessert. The second vegetarian option swaps out the pork, chicken and snails for gnocchi and shitake in parmesan cream, Gruyere souffle and kimchi gratin. Both banquets require some work to heat them so you can enjoy them warm and fresh, but come with detailed instructions on everything you need to do to recreate the Restaurant Hubert experience. Browse the menu here.
Finally, here's a place to direct your writing skills, firsthand research on Sydney's small bar scene and excessive feelpinions on that latest play or movie. Concrete Playground is looking for interns. You'll be able to put your knowledge to use while learning the real ins and outs of producing arts, culture, food and lifestyle editorial in a fun and fast-paced online environment. Interns will work within our Redfern office one day per week for a set period of time. Working with the editorial team, you will be exposed to tasks such as writing, subediting, content production, photography and using social media. To apply for the role, you will need to demonstrate excellent writing skills as well as a love of and engagement with Sydney's cultural life. Expressions of interest should be addressed to editor Rima Sabina Aouf at contribute@concreteplayground.com.au. Include a short bio, CV and 2-3 samples of your written work. Image from Girls. Does not resemble real life, where you won't be kept in limbo for two years but will probably go on to a life of freelancing for us and radness.
Remember those good old days when you could buy a ticket to the movies and get change from a $10 note? It feels like something that died with Y2K... But you'd be wrong. If you're someone who isn't so keen on spending a whole week's wages on a movie ticket and a small popcorn, you're in luck. At Campbelltown's Dumaresq Cinemas, you can buy tickets to all the latest films for $7.50, which means enough change to buy one of those fancy choc tops. The old-school budget cinema prides itself on being a theatre you can take the whole family without having to remortgage your house. To clarify, the anachronistic rate of $7.50 per ticket is available all day everyday.
Saddle up, folks: Ghost Donkey, the Big Apple's beloved mezcal and Mexican bar, is set to gallop into Australia. The New York-born watering hole will open at Crown Melbourne on Friday, October 20, presenting the city with a rather lovely conundrum: how much mezcal is too much mezcal? Following expansions in Las Vegas, Denver, Phoenix and even across the ditch in New Zealand, Melbourne is the latest outpost for the popular bar. When its doors swing open, expect more than 35 kinds of mezcals and tequilas, served in either handmade copitas (and in generous pours) or shot glasses. Accompanying them will be the sort of fresh seasonal fruit and salts that'll make you wonder why you ever sipped the agave spirit any other way. As for food, expect Mexican but with a Ghost Donkey twist. Think: Baja kingfish tacos with a dash of ponzu and sambal, or perhaps nachos topped with wild mushroom and poblano salsa. And let's not forget the cocktails, because what's a bar without its signature drink? Ghost Donkey will serve its namesake cocktail, aka El Burro Fantasma, in a ceramic donkey cup (yes, really), topped with a zesty mix of fresh flowers — and featuring a blend of Pelotón de la Muerte mezcal and Aperol, plus agave, lime, pink grapefruit and chilli. Ghost Donkey isn't just a catchy name. It's an homage to the actual donkeys of mezcal production. In traditional processes, they lug heavy stones over agave hearts, crushing them pre-fermentation. So the bar isn't just a novelty — it's a celebration of Mexican heritage and tradition, splashed with an unapologetically electric design sure to enthral Melburnians and tourists alike. Whether you're a mezcal fiend, a taco enthusiast or simply looking to dip your hooves into something new, Ghost Donkey promises a dash of New York flair, a generous pour of Mexican tradition and a straight-up good time — all in a Yarraside location. Lovely. Ghost Donkey will open at Riverside at Crown (near Clarendon Street), 8 Whiteman Street, Southbank, on Friday, October 20.
If it involves design and creativity — whether as graphics and illustration, via filmmaking and animation, in photography and visual data, through writing and publishing, in products and advertising, or as part of spatial and motion design — odds are that you'll find it at Semi Permanent. The southern hemisphere's biggest and longest-running festival dedicated to all of the above, it brings together the brightest minds it can find to unpack its chosen topics. And, in 2023, it'll do just that in Sydney again. This fest has spanned more than 50 events in 13 cities with 800-plus speakers and over 300,000 attendees over its past two decades, and it's back this year as part of Vivid Sydney's lineup. Don't just wander around the Harbour City soaking in the lit-up gardens, gigs and Vivid's first-ever food fest come May and June — hit up Semi Permanent to ponder what goes into making Vivid so stunning, as well as the latest trends and themes in design and creativity overall. Taking place at Sydney's Carriageworks for three days between Wednesday, May 31–Friday, June 2, Semi Permanent 2023 features a stacked lineup of speakers, including Irish writer, academic and disability activist Sinéad Burke, who'll explore accessibility — and filmmaker and architect Liam Young, who focuses on the blurring boundaries between film, fiction, design, and storytelling, especially when it comes to musing on what cities will look like in the future. Plus, journalist, writer, artist and producer Mona Chalabi will dive into how data helps us understand the world, while Iranian American designer FISK founder Bijan Berahim is known for highlighting culture, community and commerce via art and design. Also on the bill: Vogue India's Head of Editorial Content Megha Kapoor, Indigital founder Mikaela Jade, Indigenous artist and poet Jazz Money, and artist, illustrator and animator Chris Yee. Film and TV designer and director Filipe Carvalho joins the international contingent, with the Australian Centre for Moving Image's Seb Chan, Gold Coast artist and screenwriter Samuel Leighton-Dore, motion graphics artist's Mikaela Stafford and photographer and performer Wani Toaishara helping fill out the local crew alongside artist and illustrator Jordy van den Nieuwendijk, designer and artist Evi. O and Semi Permanent 2023's host Namila Benson. That packed roster of talent will examine the theme of 'reformation', a particularly topical subject given the events of the past few years. "We thought the world would seek to build itself back as it was, but it's increasingly clear that our collective future cannot—nor should not—look anything like its past," notes Semi Permanent's Global Creative Director Mitchell Oakley Smith. "We live amidst a once-in-a-generation chance to write past wrongs, reform seemingly immutable practices, and redesign the world in a shape we'd like to see." As always, Semi Permanent will span keynote talks, panels, Q&As and workshops, as well as exhibitions, demonstrations and installations. This year, expect those sessions to touch upon futurism, feminism, First Nations culture and accessibility alongside sustainability, diversity, equity and inclusion, all while examining Web3's borderless promises, how remote work helps employees claim back their time, and the dismantling of industrial hierarchies and traditions. "In its place, something new is beginning to emerge: new creative languages, new ways to communicate, to create, organise, disrupt, rebuild. New ways to speak, hear, interpret, understand, and connect. Less barriers to entry, and more possibility for brilliance. With all the chips seemingly thrown in the air — which of these do we catch, and which do we let go?," says Oakley Smith. Semi Permanent 2023 will run from Wednesday, May 31–Friday, June 2 at Carriageworks, 245 Wilson Street, Eveleigh, Sydney. For more information or to buy tickets, head to the Semi Permanent website.
