Author: Chris Singh

Chris Singh is an Editor-At-Large at the AU review, loves writing about travel and hospitality, and is partial to a perfectly textured octopus. You can reach him on Instagram: @chrisdsingh.

Yagiz is South Yarra’s new refined Turkish restaurant (Melbourne)

Located on Toorak Road, Yagiz is a new modern Turkish restaurant from talented chef Murat Ovaz, who has moved on from Balaclava’s popular Tulum to head up his own venture. The restaurant, which features a stunning 22-seat brass communal table and is separated into both a casual walk-in bar and an expansive 60-seat dining space,…

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Here’s what’s on the menu for Melbourne’s Night Noodle Market this month

After it’s time popped up in Sydney’s Hyde Park last month, the famed Night Noodle Market is heading on down for Melbourne’s annual Good Food Month for a eighteen nights of curated Asian hawker-style dining. We all know how it works; each year, various stalls from some of the country’s best food vendors remain popped…

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Seven Melbourne chefs plan huge vegan feast inspired by The Jungle Book

A seven-course vegan feast is being planned by a group of seven Melbourne chefs, all of whom will join forces at The Vincent later this month to explore and highlight the potential of modern vegan cuisine. What’s more is that the whole feast has been designed around and inspired by the classic tale of The…

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Shangri-La Colombo opens in Sri Lanka this month on 10 acres of ocean-side land

Sri Lanka’s capital city, Colombo, will welcome a new luxury property this month with the opening of Shangri-La Hotel, Colombo, joining the high-end group’s Hambantota Golf Resort & Spa – which opened in 2016 – as one of the most prominent hotel launches in the country in nearly 30 years. Positioned along the ocean-side Galle…

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Tech Review: Sonos One is the most promising smart speaker out there

The official next step for speaker technology is upon us, ushered in with the advent of voice assistants like Amazon’s Alexa, Google’s Assistant, Apple’s Siri, Samsung’s Bixby and Window’s Cortana. We can now command our speakers to play music and give out all sorts of information thanks to robotic helpers ready and willing to serve,…

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Elderton Wines is the Barossa Valley’s newest cellar door experience (VIC)

Cameron and Allister Ashmead, co-directors of acclaimed family-owned winery Elderton Wines, have opened a stunning new cellar door on in their Nuriootpa vineyard, gifting the Barossa a warm and inviting addition to the region’s dynamic hospitality scene. What’s more is that the cellar door is fashioned as a Gentleman’s bungalow drawing from the First World…

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Bar Lourinha is putting on a one-off crab and sparkling wine dinner this month (Melbourne)

Matt McConnell, chef and co-owner of Melbourne’s popular Bar Lourinhã, is putting on something pretty damn special for locals who have a particular craving for crab. Drawing inspiration from his cultural homes of Portugal and Spain, Matt plans to host a one-off “Crab y Cava” party at the bar, set for Wednesday 22nd November with…

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Sarong Group opens steampunk-inspired Som Chai Bar & Restaurant in Seminyak (Bali)

Aussie visitors to restaurants like Mama San and Sarong already know what Bali’s renowned Sarong Group are capable of. So it should come as no surprised that the hospitality group’s latest venture is one of the island’s most anticipated openings of 2017. The restaurant, titled Som Chai, is a sophisticated Thai-influenced fine diner carved into…

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Sydney’s insta-famous Tella Balls Dessert Bar opens in Surfers Paradise (Gold Coast)

After a huge year of growth for Tella Balls Dessert Bar, which first made international headlines with their doughnut-topped milkshakes before opening in both Sydney’s Dulwich Hill and Concord, the self-proclaimed “King of Desserts” has finally gone interstate. Co-owners Aki Daikos and Simon Kappatos have now opened up a 54-seater cafe at the sun-soaked Surfers…

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Nike Australia to open Virgil Abloh “The Ten” pop-up store in Sydney this week

For a very limited time Nike are giving their excellent collaboration series with Off-White founder Virgil Abloh, “The Ten”, its own dedicated pop-up store in Sydney. The news follows the already announced raffle by pop-up partners Supply Store which allowed winners access to purchase both the Nike Blazer x Virgil Abloh ($200 AUD) or the…

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Matt Moran is delivering free boxes of hand-picked produce to Sydney homes this month

Matt Moran’s firing up his brand new retro Chiswick Veggie Van to deliver special complimentary veggie boxes to lucky Sydneysiders over the next few weeks, all containing seasonal produce hand-picked from his purpose-planted Chiswick gardens. Aimed at showcasing the new spring menus at his restaurants Chiswick Woollahra and Chiswick at the Gallery, the boxes highlight…

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Melbourne welcomes a new Art Series Hotel this month with “The Chen”

Melbourne-based artist Zhong Chen is the muse for The Chen, the latest property from the country’s unique Art Series Hotel Group which is renowned for its high-end hotels dedicated and built around the works of an individual Australian artist. The group’s eight art inspired hotel will open later this month on November 22nd in Melbourne’s…

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TV Review: The Walking Dead Season 8 Episode 3 “Monsters”

“Monsters” is very much a direct continuation from last week’s “The Damned”, and on the surface that is very wise choice for The Walking Dead, treating these as installments in a wider thread rather than thematically distinctive “episodes”. This week, we were dropped right back into the all-out assault against The Saviours, coming from Team…

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Jack Daniel’s pop-up Barrel House returns to Melbourne this month

Barbecue, whiskey and live music are on the cards when Jack Daniel’s bring their epic pop-up Barrel House back to Melbourne’s Crown Riverwalk this month to coincide with Melbourne Music Week. From Friday 17th November, the Barrel House will be hosting a wide array of over 40 Australian artists spanning various genres, putting their sounds…

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The Grounds of the City extends opening hours to include late-night sessions (Sydney)

Since it opened earlier this year, The Grounds of the City has quickly established itself as one of the go-to spots for communal dining in the CBD. Though a 5pm closing time coupled with high demand meant longer wait times and a big no to after-work sessions; luckily that’s all been fixed now (well except…

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Hanoi Hannah and Huxtaburger hook up for limited edition Banh Mi Burger (Melbourne)

Vietnamese favourite Hanoi Hannah has hooked up with Huxtaburger to offer a special limited edition Bánh Mi Burger, clashing two food staples together in what is no doubt going to be a huge hit. Huxtaburger’s Daniel Wilson and Hanoi Hannah’s Mathew Johns worked closely together to come up with the perfect east-meets-west fusion, ensuring that…

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KFC re-launches the Double Shell Zinger Taco in Australia

KFC Australia is on a revival binge at the moment, putting a few long-forgotten favourites back onto the menu, much to the delight of fast food fans across the country. Recently it was the deep-fried greatness of gravy mashies, now it’s the Double Shell Zinger Taco. It’s pretty self-explanatory for those who don’t remember the…

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Deliveroo expands to include breakfast delivery across Australia

Online food delivery service Deliveroo have finally expanded to include breakfast in their extensive network across Australia, offering customers a wide variety of quality options from over 250 of the country’s favourite restaurants. Introduced just last month, Deliveroo breakfast is set to bring in a tremendous variety of breakfast options to start the day, from…

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Team behind The Barber Shop opening “proper pub” The Duke of Clarence this month (Sydney)

Sydney’s about to get a vintage-minded English tavern with The Duke of Clarence, a new venture created and led by renowned bartender Mikey Enright and Julian Train who are best known as the team behind one of the city’s most awarded bars, The Barber Shop. With a 19th century aesthetic, the new venue will be…

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Batter up Walking Dead fans: Jeffrey Dean Morgan added to Sydney’s Walker Stalker Con

With Australia’s very first Walker Stalker Con, a pop convention dedicated entirely to The Walking Dead, a matter of months away, the line-up of special guests heading down under has seen a slight change. Lauren Cohen, who plays Maggie on the monstrously popular show, is sadly no longer able to make either the Sydney or…

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Romance Was Born has collaborated with Handpicked Wines on a limited edition rosé

Enormously popular Australia fashion label Romance Was Born was hooked up with the crew at Handpicked Wines for a collaborative limited edition Yarra Valley Rosé inspired by the fashion house’s latest collection “Electric Orchid”. Following a visit to the gorgeous Handpicked Cellar Door in Chippendale, designers Anna Plunkett and Luke Sales worked with Handpicked Wines…

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Bungalow 8 has reopened as a beachside villa (Sydney)

It’s not just the relaunch of Cargo Bar that has King Street Wharf buzzing right now. The area’s beloved Bungalow 8 has also been given a brand new lease on life, reopening from today with fresh new interiors shaped towards a beachside villa alongside a new program of entertainment, and new food & drink menus….

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Multi-sensory creative showcase “Singapore: Inside Out” takes over Kensington Street this weekend (Sydney)

This weekend Chippendale’s vibrant Kensington Street precinct will be hosting various works from a diverse group of artists, chefs, designers, filmmakers and photographers from Singapore. Singapore: Inside Out, a multi-sensory creative showcase which has seen enormous success in cities like New York and Tokyo, will be stretched across three days, kicking off tonight with a…

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Singaporean creatives have transformed Sydney’s Kensington Street into a mini art festival

This weekend Chippendale’s vibrant Kensington Street precinct will be hosting various works from a diverse group of artists, chefs, designers, filmmakers and photographers from Singapore. Singapore: Inside Out, a multi-sensory creative showcase which has seen enormous success in cities like New York and Tokyo, will be stretched across three days, kicking off tonight with a…

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Film Review: Jigsaw (USA, 2017) attempts to piece together the Saw franchise

Was rebooting the seven-film-deep Saw franchise seven years after the abysmal Saw 3D really necessary? No, not really. The gore-porn films have always been enormously successful despite a substantial drop in quality from the first two entries, so financially there’s little to lose, but the story of the “Jigsaw Killer” really has nothing left to…

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Deliveroo and Messina are bringing an immersive pop-up milk bar to Sydney and Melbourne

Delivery service Deliveroo and reigning dessert kings Messina are hooked up to bring a very interesting immersive pop-up to Sydney’s World Square this weekend and Melbourne’s Southbank the week after. Dubbed The Infinity Field, the one-day-only Messina store will be shaped into an interactive infinity mirrored cube which will be erected on-site, operating as a…

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Sydney’s new pop-up cafe is dedicated entirely to the humble avocado

After similar pop-ups in New York and Amsterdam, an avocado cafe has made Sydney it’s temporary home with designs to serve exclusively avocado creations for breakfast, lunch and dinner throughout November. Good Fat by Australian Avocados, which opens today on Crown Street in Surry Hills, is being fronted by Sydney chef Liam Crawley who has…

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Four Pillars teams up with Rockpool Dining Group for a new small-batch gin

Anyone heading along to Rockpool Dining Group’s premium restaurants anytime soon has the opportunity to get their palates around an exclusively created gin from the great Four Pillars, created just for the renowned hospitality group in a very limited run. The small-batch gin, titled Maker Session Gin, has been released in just 30 bottles, spread…

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A pop-up Bo’s Diner from Baby Driver has taken over The Soda Factory

Sydney’s renowned The Soda Factory in Surry Hills got a makeover earlier this week for the promotional home entertainment release of Baby Driver. To gear up for the film, which has just been released on DVD/Blu-Ray and Digital, the already popular American themed diner joint has transformed into the movie’s fictional Bo’s Diner. Bo’s Diner…

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Cargo Bar is relaunching with a huge party this weekend (Sydney)

It didn’t take long for Cargo Bar to announce its triumphant return, but for a few months Sydney was without one of its most renowned party spots due a major refurbishment. The makeover is complete now; Cargo Bar is officially relaunching, and with a characteristically high-profile party on Saturday 4th November. The space, which is…

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