Travel & Lifestyle

When the teams behind mainstays like Saigon Sally and Tokyo Tina, and Pastuso and San Telmo come together to open up an ambitious new modern wine bar it’s safe to say expectations sit at the top end of the spectrum. Neptune, recently opened in Windsor, stretches across High Street with a wide reach of food,…

Brisbane Times will once again be putting on their Good Food Month in Brisbane this July, spreading a number of curated dining experiences across the month including returning staples like Brisbane’s Young Chefs Lunch and a twist on old festival favourite, Hats Off Dinner, now known as Hat Swap; new events will include Laneway! Streetfood!…

Luke Mangan has a lot on his plate right now. In addition to bringing an al-fresco dining experience to P&O’s new Pacific Explorer later this month, the respected chef has just announced an expansion for his recently launched Chicken Confidential brand. After debuting in Sydney’s Chifley Plaza earlier this year, the organic chicken burger joint…

The Australian Financial Review Australia has announced their 3rd annual peer-voted top 100 restaurants list, celebrating excellence across the nation. Going through and rounding down this country’s exceptional dining scene to a top 100, a challenge by any means, was once again done by a panel of insiders, positioning the list as a unique ranking…

It’s the speedy evolution of fast food this generation has always dreamed of. Australia has been left behind as the rest of the world introduces delivery services for the most well-known chains and frankly it’s left us a bit bitter. KFC Australia seemed to have realised this, hence the recent announcement that the chicken empire…

James Squire have opened up a new dedicated Brewhouse over in Frankston to bring Melbourne a fresh take on their awarded brews. Named The Cheeky Squire the just-opened pub serves as a substantial makeover to the former Davey’s Bar & Restaurant, which has long been a fixture on the famed “pub corner” that sits at…

Restaurateur and British-born chef Paul Wilson has now added Brasserie to the series of eateries he plans to roll out under his Wilson & Market stable. The new restaurant joins the busy scene at Prahran Market, bringing at 250-seater that promises lively stretches of lunch and dinner put together by a team which includes Wilson…

Sydney’s stunning open-air Zephyr Sky Bar are making the most of their first ever winter season, introducing a fresh new cocktail menu that includes a few innovative surprises for both guests of the Hyatt Regency and the general public. At the forefront is a gravity-defying Fig Leaf Sour, a levitating cocktail hovering over a magnetic…

After selling out their Sydney and Melbourne events in less than five minutes, the team behind the UK’s popular Bongo’s Bingo have decided to bring their quirky rave-bingo to Brisbane. For one night only, Fortitude Valley institution The Tivoli will host this unique spin on bingo on Friday 30th June, joining Sydney’s Paddington Town Hall…

I’d never visited Los Angeles before this week. After 17 hours in the air, a turbulent Auckland-Los Angeles leg and with the jetlag still in that quiet moment before your body realises everything is wrong, I was ready for a moment of quiet. Thankfully, quiet is exactly what the Hotel Palomar in Beverly Hills gave…

Sydney Seaplanes with its fleet of five planes has recently completed the construction of a new upscale terminal at Rose Bay, featuring a lounge, restaurant, discreet VIP space, function area, and flying boat museum. A Sydney Seaplanes Flight to Palm Beach The Sydney Secrets 30-minute scenic flight ($285 per person, minimum 2 adults) tours around the Harbour…

Yes you heard right, as if New South Wales wasn’t Nutella crazed enough, as if we already didn’t have enough Nutella cafes or Tella bars or chocolate festivals where Nutella is uber prominent in everything or infamous donuts filled with chocolatey hazelnut goodness (I’m looking at you Krispy Kreme). Those sexy evil geniuses at Nutella…

Canadian Club are running a string of “bad winter jumper” themed events across Sydney over the coming weeks in the bid to warm up your cold, winter evenings. Happening at venues Greenwood, The Bucket List and Casablanca, guests can expect the venues to be transformed into winter wonderlands with unique DJ line ups and giveaways…

Following the recent launch of its new Vanilla flavour, Pepsi Max are bringing a pretty damn sweet pop-up dining concept to Sydney for three days later this month, rounding up a talented bunch to offer cheap-as-chips $30 set menus. That talented bunch consists of Mitch Orr (ACME), Jimmy Hurlston (Guilty, Easey’s), Andy Bowdy (Saga) and…

Stephen Seckold, best known for his excellent work at Pyrmont’s Flying Fish and Surry Hills’ Salaryman, is making his way to Parramatta this July with the opening of Husk & Vine. The new kitchen and bar hopes to add greatly to the west’s ever-changing dining scene, paying homage to the Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cultural…

The Pullman luxury hotel chain has been a strong leader in Australia’s hospitality sector, with highlights in the last couple of years including the opening of their new location at Sydney airport and a sleek refurbishment of Pullman Quay Grand’s Quadrant restaurant now dubbed Q Dining.  Led by Executive Chef Stefan Brademann (Bennelong, The Fat…

The Paddington Inn affectionately dubbed ‘Paddo Inn’ by locals is reigniting an old friendship with renown chef Matt Moran who began his illustrious career there over two decades ago. The Inn which is operated by Solotel gave Moran his first leg up in the industry and was the catalyst for a very prosperous partnership between…

Very few words can describe just how exciting the dining scene in Japan really is. It’s almost dizzying to think just what kind of journey your palate will be taken through on a trip to the famously unique country, presenting you with everything from the standards like ramen, sushi and yakiniku through to the likes…

James Squire have just released a new limited edition Indian Pale Ale going by the name of Cabin Fever, a brew which presents a modern take on more the traditional style, when IPAs contained a higher alcohol content and extra hops in order to survive long sea journeys from London to colonial India. Cabin Fever…

You’re going to want to be there when iconic pub and live music venue The Lansdowne makes its victorious return. There’s no question about that, especially now that the institution has been lovingly restored and reshaped by Jake Smyth and Kenny Graham, the genius minds behind award-winning pub The Unicorn and Mary’s Newtown. It’s not…

And the latest fast-growing Asian-based food chain to make its way to Australia is 4Fingers. The super-popular, Singaporean-born fried chicken brand is just about ready to enter the local market with their very first down under store opening this week in Melbourne CBD, a move that will be quickly followed by two locations in Brisbane….

Coke Zero is no more. Well at least it won’t be when Coca-Cola rebrand and reformulate after years of research in their ongoing efforts to offer the best sugar-free Coke possible. Now the big ticket alternative to sugar-full Coke will be Coca-Cola No Sugar, just in case you didn’t get the message the first time….

One of the biggest openings to hit Bondi as of late is finally here. Darren Robertson, most famous for Three Blue Ducks, as well as partners Cam Northway and Ian Clark have just opened up the long-awaited Rocker on Campbell Parade, gifting the iconic Sydney suburb an intimate neighbourhood eatery that’s split between a coffee…

Today we fly from Oregon on the West Coast of the USA, back towards Australia as we touch down in Honolulu. You can choose to stick around the Hawaiian capital, or continue on to Australia; and for this trip we certainly stuck around Hawaii for a week. But we had to fly there first. Here’s…

Fresh off the back of a whirlwind tour of the UK, Olympia is already on the road back home in Australia, playing with Paul Dempsey as he hits venues dotted around the place.  We were lucky to have seen Olympia and her fantastic band perform a few times while out in Brighton for The Great Escape, though…

Across two days in breezy July, Brisbane which will once again host the long-running Regional Flavours, a free food and drink festival showcasing the best Queensland produce as illustrated by some of the country’s top culinary talent. Hosted in South Bank Parklands on 15th and 16th July, the festival will see over 30 cooks and…

Tasmanian group Heart Beach have been spending a lot of time in Canada of late – appearing earlier this year at the iconic Canadian Music Week festival as they toured the country with fellow Tasmanians Quivers (read our interview with Heart Beach during that tour HERE). And now they’re back on the road in the…

You can’t get more regal than sitting down for a spot of afternoon tea with a man famous for his work with the Royal Family. Paul Burrell will be paying a rare visit to Australia to help Gold Coast’s luscious Palazzo Versace host a one day only Royal Afternoon Tea event, described as a grand…

Bondi institution Icebergs Dining Room and Bar is planning a very special Assaggini di Pasta menu for offer before this month is through, presenting guests with a six-course pasta tasting feast that promises a stroll through the many regions of Italy, with paired wines from natural wine producers. Given Monty Koludrovic and his kitchen team…

Haven’t heard of Chrissy’s Cuts? It’s that stall that sets up at some of Sydney’s finest events and ends up with some of the day’s longest queues, pumping out fat, juicy sausages that take gourmet to a whole new level. Well the brains behind it, Chrissy Flanagan and her partner Jim, are finally opening up…