News

Anyone who has stayed at a DoubleTree by Hilton hotel before would be intimately familiar with the smell of freshly baked cookies. It’s a brand-wide signature, extending to DoubleTree’s extensive worldwide network and ensuring that each and every property (there may be exceptions, but I doubt it) has a daily-baked batch of chocolate chip cookies…

Surry Hills profit-for-purpose eatery Folonomo has made the big decision to close up their restaurant and transform the venue into an events space for parties and pop ups from some of Sydney’s top chefs. In doing so, it’s become the latest in a handful of Sydney venues able to host some exclusive takeovers, with legends…

The legendary Three Blue Ducks, which most recently jumped into the luxury hotel game as the resident restaurant for W Brisbane, is about to go tropical. Springing off their W connections, chefs Darren Robertson and Mark LaBrooy plan to take their concept overseas for a round of pop-up dinners across W properties in Bali and…

Sydney bar The Morrison and its much anticipated Oyster Festival has returned this month for its 7th year running, stretching out to the end of the month with a huge program of oyster-focused events, including a number of bespoke oyster dishes created by chef Sean Connolly. Chicken fried oyster sliders, grilled Pacifics ‘in shell’ with…

The Tasmanian Whisky and Spirits Association (TWSA) are bringing back their annual Tasmanian Whisky Week, opening up all the many highly regarded distilleries for a huge seven day celebration. With more than 20 events taking place across the island state between Monday 12th and Sunday 18th August, the hotly anticipated event will kick off at…

Over 3,200 of Australia’s best BYO restaurants are now being tracked by GPS thanks to a new smartphone App from wine retailer Cellarmasters. BYO Finder, which launches this week, is a free app created to assist wine and food lovers easily scope out which restaurants in their area allow for BYO, amongst other details including…

As Sydney’s great expansion of top restaurants out west continues, a new 550-seat food precinct has started rolling out in Rooty Hill. Titled Eat Street – part of the ongoing West HQ development – the stacked eat street has bought with it an exciting line-up to join already established outlets Chur Burger and Eat St….

Those discerning folk at Merivale have taken the celebrated wine retail experience at CBD hotspot Palings Lane and reimainged it as an online service simply dubbed The Bottle Shop. Pulling on the experience and curatorial knowhow of the group’s Master Sommeliers, this online shop will feature an exclusive range of wine, beer and spirits (with…

Looking for a way to beat back those winter blues and bring some warmth back to your soul, in the way only a piping-hot, brothy bowl of goodness can? From now until July 20th, Wednesday through Saturday, the discerning team at Japanese izakaya Osaka Trading Co. are performing a little takeover of Sydney’s historic Tramsheds,…

As part of the “Secret Menu” function on the KFC Smartphone app, the fast food giant has introduced what is being described as the biggest (non-customised) burger it has ever had. As always, Australia gets to be guinea pigs for this monstrous creation, which has now rolled out nationally. Dubbed The Triple Stacker, its a…

It looks like Splendour in the Grass are going ahead with their successful pop-up dining experience series, with the forthcoming 2019 iteration of the famous three-day festival set to welcome restaurateur Maurice Terzini and his iconic Icebergs Dining Room & Bar. The historic Sydney restaurant will follow in the footsteps of The Unicorn by offering…

James Squire have gone and pulled something very, very old from a shipwreck that dates back to 1797, the year in which merchant ship “Sydney Cove” went down just off Preservation Island north of Tasmania. The brewing team behind Squire have extracted a 220 year old bottle of beer recovered from the shipwreck and used…

After a successful venture into fried chicken sandwich territory in collaboration with Belle’s Hot Chicken, the team behind Malaysian chain PappaRich have announced a different kind of indulgent carb-loading treat to be introduced to their 29 Australian stores in July. It’s the triumphant return of their incredibly popular Nasi Lemak Burger, which first debuted in…

Across the entire 31-day stretch of August, New Zealand’s trendy capital of Wellington will once again host Visa Wellington on a Plate (VWOAP). The long-running food and wine festival, which touches everywhere from Wellington City to the Kāpiti Coast, picturesque Hutt Valley, and Wairarapa, is set to reach unprecedented levels in 2019, thanks to an…

The team behind the seductively playful QT Sydney have recently overhauled the hotel’s street-level diner and transformed it into the city’s newest Italian eatery, Parlour Cucina. Inspired by the café scene in Milan during the 1960’s, the space moves away from the beloved Parlour Lane Roasters and onto something entirely dedicated to traditional, uncomplicated Italian…

A clarion call to whiskey lovers far and wide, Glenfiddich just last week has celebrated the launch of the venerable Glenfiddich Whisky Wanderer. “What on Earth is the Whiskey Wanderer?!” you ask? It’s an original 1972 vintage Leyland double-decker bus cum mobile whiskey lounge. More than ten meters long and four meters wide, this magnificent…

In response to a recent survey that found 88% of Australians preferred having their coffee with milk, Nespresso have readied a new range of five blends for their Original and Vertuo machines, each designed especially for that creamy shot of dairy (or soy, of course). The range comes from six years of Nespresso experts exploring…

No matter which way you look it – a free pair of Volleys when purchasing a 10 pack of 375ml Southern Comfort and Cola or a free 10 pack of Southern Comfort when purchasing a pair of Volleys; Southern Comfort and Volleys have a pretty cool collaboration going until June 30th 2019. When entering a…

Often cited as one of the best Italian restaurants in Sydney, Machiavelli Ristorante Italiano has edged forward with something the institution has never before done. After three decades of serving high flying corporates, visiting celebrities, and most famously Australia’s political elite, the Italian restaurant is now extending trading hours to include Saturday nights. Historically, the…

Starting today, McDonald’s outlets across Australia will be the first across the globe to introduce some subtle improvements to the burgers that have made Maccas the dominant chain it is today. The classics, which include the Big Mac, Quarter Pounder and Cheeseburger, are said to have undergone a number of careful improvements to the way…

From cronuts to freakshakes, most of Sydney’s zany dessert trends involve doughnuts in some capacity. The latest: the Zippoli. The traditional Italian version of the classic doughnut has been officially put forth as Sydney’s next deep-fried food obsession thanks to restauranteur Anthony Furfaro, who has opened a new dessert bar in the South-West suburb of…

After a very successful debut last year, Sydney hospitality juggernaut Merivale have decided to once again toast to the start of winter by shaving 49% off the top of all drink prices across their many venues. All bars and pubs falling under the Merivale banner, including Bar Topa, Bert’s Bar, Coogee Pavillion bar, ivy Pool…

In a nod to how much effort it takes to switch and open new tabs in internet browsers nowadays, Pizza Hut Australia has announced an industry-first ordering platform via Facebook Messenger. The social media messenger app can now be used on mobile devices to access “Pizza Hut Instant Ordering”, overseen by a customised bot with…

While in Australia for a nation-wide tour, chart king Past Malone has lifted the lid on a brand new collaboration with none other than Crocs. Helping the divisive shoe ascend from the murky depths of fashion hell, the “Wow” singer has finessed what is his third drop of the successful footwear collaboration, which has been…

David Rayner has teamed up with Luke Mangan for the next instalment of Luke & Friends at Hilton Sydney’s glass Brasserie. The culinary dream team has worked together on a new autumn menu which will be available until 31 July of this year, featuring three seasonal seafood dishes that highlight produce sourced fresh from across…

Mother’s Day is coming up on Sunday 12th May, and as always that means some of Sydney’s finest restaurants will be putting together special menus, packages and events to help families celebrate. But sometimes it’s just best to keep it simple: great company, excellent food, and a whole lot of love. Amongst its elegant brown…

Melbourne is about to welcome a new city precinct with ELLA (where Elizabeth meets La Trobe), rolling out a whole heap of new cafes including an off-shoot of South Yarra’s beloved hatted restaurant Atlas. Promised as an ambitious 2500-square-metre food and lifestyle space, it will embrace numerous aspects of everyday Melbourne life while also channelling…

As word spreads that KFC has introduced Australia’s “first ever Secret Menu”, the not-so-secret-anymore list of Kentucky fried hacks has just edged forth with a new item. In a nod to the country’s love of Halal Snack Packs, the fast food giant is now serving up “The Kentucky Snack Pack”. KSP, a serving of salted…

Sydney institution Carriageworks is doubling down on their incredibly popular food program this year, announcing a number of events and a special conversations series that will address current issues in the industry. Central to this program will, of course, be the Carriageworks Farmers Market which returns in July for a winter theme, but there will…

Sydney favourite Alpha has opened up a tiny new cocktail and meze bar named Baraki, carved into the ground floor of 240 Castlereagh Street with just 8 seats. The smaller-than-small bar will extend Executive Chef Peter Conistis’ vision beyond Alpha and upstairs cocktail bar Beta, channelling the Athens neighbourhood of Plaka with two backlit walls…