Year: 2020

The sound of creaking hinges echoes around Sydney as restaurants reopen their doors to brunch starved patrons looking for a quality foodie experience once again. With new menus, weekday specials, live performances and scrumptious food, your grand debut back into society will have been worth the wait.  This should be obvious but if you do…

Restaurateur Maurice Terzini, best known for Icebergs and The Dolphin Hotel, is set to launch CicciaBella Trattoria + Bar’s second restaurant in the new Parramatta Square Precinct.  Following in the footsteps of Bondi’s venue, CicciaBella Parramatta will encapsulate the spirit of robust Italian cuisine and hospitality. The restaurant will focus on classic food inspired by traditional…

Aggressively blending real-time strategy and first-person shooter elements works, on paper. Disintegration is the latest title to hybridise the two genres, promising a new kind of gameplay that, while interesting, lacks the necessary depth to truly set it apart from novel sci-fi games of the past. Driving the hype behind this game is the involvement…

Keegan Calmes’ latest single “Broken Heart” is still lingering in our ears. Known for for his work with Vinyl Theatre and signed by Fueled by Ramen, the talented singer and songwriter has made a comeback as a solo artist. Growing up with inspiration from John Mayer, The Killers, & Two Door Cinema Club, Calmes has…

Neil Perry’s stalwart Spice Temple is back. After a few weeks of having Rockpool transform the basement venue, the popular Sydney restaurant has fired up the wok for diners to explore the wonders (and heat) of regional Chinese. And that, of course, means 10-dish Golden Banquets, lunchtime Yum Cha, and also signature dishes like Executive…

Sydney trio Key Out have released today Anthropomorphia, the follow-up to their debut LP, What (do) you see. This is a seriously beautiful album, with tender harmonies, pulsating walls of sound and lush layers of synth and guitars. Lovers of New Order, Joy Division and local legends, the Underground Lovers should find plenty to dig in this short…

Ten years ago this month, Sleigh Bells released their debut LP Treats – an album which I gave a perfect 10 out of 10 score. In a period where it felt like so many albums were feeling like carbon copies of things that had come before, Treats was a breath of fresh air. It was unapologetic fun,…

The ice cream lords of Ben & Jerry’s have teamed up with Sydney’s Bennett St Dairy to take their cookie dough to the next level with a new limited edition range. The popular Bondi bakers have been amplified through select B&J stores, supplying their Original Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough so Ben & Jerry fans can…

No, this isn’t a Throwback Thursday. Legendary Brit band The Psychedelic Furs are back and prepping their first album in almost three decades. Although they’ve been reformed and touring since the 2000’s, this marks the first new studio music released since the very early 90’s, which kicked off with the release of single “Don’t Believe”…

Singer-songwriter Tom West released his new album, Antarctica, on Friday. The album, produced by Allen Tate in Brooklyn, was written following the death of West’s father from motor neurone disease.  It is the culmination of a three year journey around America; touring, couch surfing, and playing as much as possible. That was until a Husky…

If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that homemade bars can be just as special as your favourite speakeasy, and a good beverage doesn’t need to be reserved for the pub or restaurant. Anyone is capable of creating and enhancing their mixology skills, whether it’s making a nice cocktail for virtual work drinks or whipping…

2020 has surely been a weird year, and you’d be forgiven for being a bit taken aback when we remind you that we’re halfway through it already. Since at least mid-March, many have largely been in lockdown, economies have threatened collapse, bushfires have devastated, systemic racism has been confronted head-on, and we have been rightfully…

On this week’s episode of Jetlag, we talk to radio presenter Nic Shields who has just returned to Australia after a stint living in the U.A.E. He takes us through the experience of passing through the airport in Dubai, what the flight was like, what it was like landing in Australia and what happened when…

With hotels now throwing their doors open for guests, we’ve made the very hard choices to narrow Sydney’s excellent spread of hotels down to ten we’d recommend for a post-iso staycation. From a luxurious restoration in the leafy suburb of Mosman and a Double Bay mansion, to the CBD’s best design-forward luxury hotels, book into…

The AU Review has always been about connecting readers with the best of arts, entertainment and culture. From music and books to travel and food, for more than a decade now the website has been dedicated entirely to discovery and re-discovery, celebrating the best experiences from around the world. To further that, we continue to…

Like the crackle of a flickering candle, Josh Kroehn‘s aching “Never Found” is the perfect companion on a slow-moving winters night. That’s why we’re proud to bring you the exclusive premiere of this new music video today, showcasing the talent this Adelaide songwriter has for capturing the heady themes of self-acceptance and change both through…

Renowned for his work at Sydney favourites like Mr Wong, Lotus, El Loco and Ms. G’s, Merivale’s Dan Hong enjoys a reputation like very few culinary masterminds in Australia. Here, the acclaimed chef supplies us with one of his childhood recipes. The local Chinese dish formally known as Shephard’s purse dumplings has been passed down…

I’m sure someone famous and philosophical once said that your 20’s are a time for self discovery, growth and acceptance. Irrespective of your own self confidence, you spend a lot of this period working out who you are and what you want to be. It’s a time for learning, love, adventure and discovery. For Gordi,…

To big up their partnership with Deliveroo, burger chain Grill’d has today confirmed an exclusive secret menu item only available via the delivery service. Buried amongst the typical Grill’d menu on the Deliveroo app is a ridiculously tempting, limited edition Brisket Cheeseburger. And it sounds more than worth the effort of digging through the stacked…

A question that has dogged Marvel’s Avengers since it’s rocky unveiling at E3 2018 has been: What the hell is it exactly? During today’s Avengers War Table broadcast, developer Crystal Dynamics finally began to answer that question in detail. Earth’s Mightiest Heroes The short version? Its Spider-Man meets Destiny. If that sounds like an odd…

Melbourne’s three-store Goldeluck’s bakeshop has been caking itself in e-commerce for a few months now, delivering “survival boxes” with pastries and doughnuts around the areas of Lakeview, Eastland and Croydon. Now, the bakery has made an ambitious online jump to nationwide deliveries, with a limited menu that includes dessert boxes packed with loaded brownies and…

Melbourne artist Joel James, who is becoming increasingly known for his cathartic live performances, has released a sentimental new power ballad by the name of “Movie Kind of Timing”, striking close to the high-flying emotive pop of bands like Imagine Dragons. A soft silky piano melody pulled out to reveal a bleeding, achingly vulnerable chorus…

After the successful launch of restaurants in Camperdown and Melbourne, the Acre Group is expanding even further by launching its third venue in Sydney’s lower north shore. Situated in Artarmon, the urban farm-inspired space will include bakeries, cafes, restaurants, bars, a kitchen garden and a greenhouse-style function space, aligning with the already existing Acre venues. The…

After an enormously successful launch in the United States and Canada, Acorn TV has arrived in Australia and New Zealand.  A predominantly British-centric service that showcases the best drama the UK has to offer, one of the instantly accessible series on the “Netflix for Anglophiles” is Dead Still.  Set in 1880’s Ireland, the comedically macabre…

It’s always worth paying attention to what Sydney’s now legendary BL Burgers are doing each week. They pretty much pioneered the now widespread trend of gourmet burger joints touting inventive, and often ridiculous, themed weekly specials. Some of them have become deeply embedded in the passionate burger culture built in Sydney over the past few…

Brayden Sibbald, songwriter and producer from Dunsborough, WA, is releasing today his latest EP, We Can Only Move Forward. This follows on from Float, which was released in 2018. One of the singles from this EP, “Thin Air” has already racked up over 100,000 streams. We can Only Move Forward is signature Sibbald. His voice…

Comedian and YouTube sensation Nat’s What I Reckon has built up quite the profile based off his hilarious, straight-shooting, shit-pasta-sauce-hating cooking videos. As iso upped the demand for cooking videos, his blunt approach and cuss-heavy humour quickly positioned him as one of 2020’s brightest stars. Now, that star is hitting the road. Though Nat had…

You haven’t really visited San Francisco until you head on down to the waterfront, order up a piping hot clam chowder, and dive right in. The heart-warming, soul-stirring signature is a hit for anyone who heads on over the Bay Area, and we’re here today to let you know how to recreate it at home….

In a nod to the return of national travel, Webjet has now launched a 72-hour sale for Aussie travellers with prices for domestic packages slashed by 20%. It follows a massive flight sale over the weekend by Qantas Group, which saw tens of thousands of flights sold for as little as $19. Now, people have…

British band Everything Everything have been treating us to a pile of new tracks over the course of the Covid pandemic, which has truly proven a welcome respite from all the madness. The first two singles off their forthcoming record RE-ANIMATOR, “Arch Enemy” and “In Birdsong“, have both been excellent teasers for the full product;…