Food & Drink

After a successful debut week in Sydney, Saké Jr, the so fresh, so clean spin-off of Saké Restaurant & Bar, will open in Melbourne at 555 Bourke Street today (Wednesday 14th September). Fashioned as a Korean influenced little sister to the famed Japanese restaurant brand, this health-focused venture will be driven by build-your-own rice, noodle,…

Just when you thought Sydney getting a bar dedicated to espresso martinis was the peak of Australia’s obsession with caffeinated cocktails, Mr Black Spirits Co have revealed that they are bringing the world’s first espresso martini festival at Melbourne’s Meat Market come November. The Mr Black Festival of the Espresso Martini will be taking over…

NZ-based burger chain BurgerFuel have always kept it consistent when it comes quality quick-service burgers. Somehow the brand has always managed to escape the chain-shaming that burger fiends around Australia regularly partake in, and that’s largely due to these burgers actually being really f’n good (scoff down a American Muscle burger with some spud fries…

It wasn’t hard to guess that the team behind Lobo Plantation would give Sydney one of it’s very best openings of 2016 – and that’s saying a lot, it’s been a huge year for food and drink around town – but what is surprising is the loose theme surrounding this new venture, Kittyhawk. The bar…

Following the recent wrap-up of winners and new hatted restaurants from the Sydney ceremony, Melbourne’s 37th The Age Good Food Guide Awards has tonight announced the 2017 results as well as the complete list of restaurants that have gained or maintained a chef’s hat. With 14 now being the lowest a restaurant can score before…

Following his much anticipated takeover of the dining room at The Four in Hand, Guillaume Brahimi has now unveiled his latest Sydney venture, an all-day dining experience titled Bistro Guillaume which includes the acclaimed French-born chef’s very first patisserie. The glamorous 130-seat restaurant joins Guillaume’s Melbourne and Perth bistros on his impressive portfolio, bringing casual…

Merivale’s rooftop Italian restaurant Uccello has gone through some big changes now that new Head Chef Ben Sitton has taken the lead at the pool-side kitchen. The result is a brand new menu, sticking with the Mediterranean elegance that has come to define to popular dining destination, Sitton expanding the kitchen’s inspiration to include various…

Bar Luca has become best known for their epic Blame Canada burger, but their penchant for creating unique, interesting limited edition specials is also a huge reason why the business – which now has three locations across Sydney – won’t stop booming anytime soon. Following the tragic passing of beloved actor Gene Wilder, who is…

The team behind highly sought after gourmet Italian providore Salt Meats Cheese has officially added Bondi Junction to a long list of recent expansions, gifting one of Sydney’s most famous suburbs access to an array of fine Italian fare and Mediterranean delicacies. They’ve partnered with the Harris family to open the store inside Harris Farm…

Earlier this year Arnott’s did something very, very bad and ill-advised, inexplicably announcing that they’ll be taking the “if it ain’t broke, break it” approach by changing the recipe for their Shapes range. This unsurprisingly led to frustration and outrage, being that one of the country’s most loved snacks had been completely flipped upside down…

Solotel’s legendary gastro pub The Paddington Inn is the latest in long-standing local favourites to benefit from Sydney’s string of renovations, this week unveiling an extensive makeover in collaboration with Sydney designer George Livissianis (who also recently refreshed The Dolphin) along with a new dining room and bar, and a kitchen team headed by ex-Rockpool,…

It seems like Sydney’s turn to host Good Food Month this October will bring the annual event’s most ambitious program to date, turning it up a notch with some of the city’s top chefs who have come together for exclusive collaborative events highlighting some of the best in town. From midnight feasts to whole hog…

For the past 16 months Sydney-based Grumpy Donuts have been one of the most dominant online delivery food businesses on the scene. They’ve been called Sydney’s finest donuts by numerous critics, whenever they host pop ups you can expect queues rivaling the likes of Burgers by Josh and Uncle Tetsu, and they are regular staples…

Those mornings spent waking up early to watch Ryan and Jade of Cheez TV introduce some of the best damn television ever made need not be a distant memory with an event like this. Just over a week away, the annual Sydney Underground Film Festival will make it’s triumphant return to celebrate 10 years of…

Sometimes dreams become a reality. Streets Ice Cream have a good history of actually listening to their consumers and actually paying attention to creative requests and unique ideas. One such idea is to create the love child of the brand’s beloved Golden Gaytime and Cornetto, appropriately named the Golden Gaynetto. It was a piece of…

After leaving Hartsyard and starting his own online cake shop, Andy Bowdy has emerged as one of the foremost dessert kings in Australia, constantly pumping out high quality cakes and pastries to meet a feverish demand which has remained high since the solo business kicked off over a year ago. Now Andy is ready to…

Touted as the ultimate celebration of all things Italo, Italo Dining & Disco Club makes its return on Thursday, 13th October. To be held at the Icebergs Dining Room and Bar in Bondi Beach, the one night only event is the brainchild of Maurice Terzini and Giovanni Paradiso, who have run the successful party series…

While it’s no surprise that Peter Gilmore’s Quay has once again been named “Vittoria Coffee Restaurant of the Year” at the authoritative The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide 2017 Awards, the comprehensive annual award ceremony did herald a lot of newcomers, as the next generation of Sydney’s top restaurants came to stand toe-to-toe with…

The Speakeasy Group aren’t ones to mess around when it comes to bars; they own and operate Eau De Vie in both Sydney and Melbourne, as well as Boilermaker House in Melbourne, and The Roosevelt in Sydney. All four of these venues are treasured gems in Australia’s bar scene, consistently awarded and always packed. It’s…

Maison Ferrand, Neat Spirits, Mancino Vermouths, and Plantation Rum are teaming up to bring 28 Hongkong Street, which was voted Asia’s Best Bar, to town for Sydney Bar Week this month, following which it will pop up in Melbourne for two days. The very welcome news is part of a much larger program which will…

“It’s official. We did it. Our own beer. Introducing HUXTABREW!!!,” announced the Huxtaburger team via social media just a few weeks ago, heralding a big step for the loved Melbourne burger chain. The brand has long been a go-to for Melbourne burger fiends, and a sharper focus on their alcoholic offerings can only strengthen that…

Much has been said about the burger scenes in Sydney and Melbourne, but anyone who has been up coast would find it hard to overlook Brisbane when considering Australia’s finest. We’ve tasted some pretty incredible burgers and now we’re delivering to you our five favourites, in no particular order. Not all of them are cheeseburgers,…

September 5th 2016 is National Cheese Pizza Day. Yeah it’s a thing, and yeah it’s cause to celebrate with perhaps the cheesiest pizza known to mankind, the 99 Cheese Pizza, which was famously created in 2014 by 400 Gradi owner and World Pizza Champion Johnny Di Francesco. Since then petitions have been made begging Di…

Applejack Hospitality are mashing up two of their most popular bars for a month-long pop up this September. Their wildly popular over-the-bridge Neutral Bay bar SoCal will be scraping together all their Mexican and Cali inspired share plates, tacos, quesadillas, ceviches, mezcals, and tequilas and heading east, unloading it all at the equally busy Bondi…

Some of Melbourne’s top bars are forming an Old Fashioned trail for the next eight days (2nd to 10th September) to celebrate Maker’s Mark Old Fashioned Week, looking to follow Melbourne Spring Fashion Week with a different kind of style. After success earlier this year in Sydney, the classic Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whisky will spread…

Now that Spring is officially here, it’s time for Sydney’s big, beautiful rooftop pools to come out of hibernation and start preparing for an influx of sun-soaking Sydneysiders. InterContinental Sydney Double Bay are able to take that a step further thanks to their luxurious pool-side The Rooftop bar, which is home to a stunning, spacious…

Father’s Day is this Sunday 4th September and a man’s got to eat, right? If nothing else, the day is a chance to celebrate all your main man does throughout the year, and there are few ways to do that then by treating him to a good old fashioned feast, whether it be a sunny…

One of Sydney’s all-time favourite casual dining spots, Devon Café, will be expanding from the flagship in Surry Hills this October to open a new venue at Barangaroo. The very welcome news does come with a heartbreaking announcement though: the hugely popular Devon on Danks in Waterloo will be closing its doors in a couple…

There’s a scene in Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris, when Gil, played by Owen Wilson, is reminiscing about a time he never lived in; “Imagine this town in the ’20s,” he said of Paris. There was something forlorn about it, a regret that he was living now instead of then. Though Allen portrays this romanticisation…

If you’ve visited Broadway Shopping Centre in Ultimo within the past week you may have noticed quite a few changes going on. The historic retail and dining hub has just completed a $55 million redevelopment to it’s second and third levels, an overdue refresh that has brought in new brands such as H&M, Sunglass Hut,…