Category: CITIES

The new menu at Cafe Del Mar, Sydney offers a bit of Mediterranean magic

Group Executive Chef Damien Brassel Cafe Del Mar Sydney

Cafe Del Mar is one brand name known around the world for al fresco day parties, good eating and quality drinks and this season, alongside VIVID Sydney, their new menu at the Darling Harbour location is one to be more than well-received. The a la carte menu offers staples you’d expect from an oceanside venue with large-but-stylish interiors and a balcony with a view of one of the city of Sydney’s most frequented tourist venues. With a menu inspired by the local cuisines of the Mediterranean basin, coupled with refined techniques befitting a kitchen that can cater for hundreds in any one session, the new winter menu at Cafe Del Mar Sydney ticks all the boxes. It’s been developed by the executive chef, Damien Brassel, whose 20+ years’ experience has contributed to a stellar line-up of quality fare. Couple that with the man at the pass, head chef Peter Hutchinson and it’s over decades’ experience that adds to the renowned vibe of the waterside restaurant and bar. MEET THE CHEFS! We have an exciting new team of Chefs who have worked in some outstanding restaurants around the world, and are bringing their skills and creativity to the kitchen at Cafe del Mar Sydney! . Our Group Executive Chef Damien Brassel has created an exciting new food direction for Cafe del Mar, delivering premium casual dining with taste inspiration from around the Mediterranean basin. . Head Chef Peter Hutchinson is leading the pass, and brings his classical French training along with years of working in the… Read More

Sshh… Promise Bar is the High Street secret you need to know about

Promise Bar

Tucked behind a coffee shop on High Street in Prahran, and unidentifiable for anything but a neon blue arrow in the direction of the door, Promise Bar is there, waiting for you to discover it. The 7-month old project of Vaughan Marks, Promise Bar is aptly named so because it promises good times and quality drinks, always. It’s the kind of place only the who’s who of cocktail bartenders would want to work, with the lack of menu and wide range of spirits from all over the country and the world on offer. An exciting thought for the customer; a challenge for the man behind the bar whose skills are put to the test. With each newcomer to the land of Promise, the bartender’s mission – and he must accept it – is to create any style of cocktail that encompasses the drinker’s very own desires. Sweet or dry? Bitter or sour? Strong or mild? Dark or light? All these and more are options, open to the interpretation of the customer and the interpolation of the bartender whose skill means anything can be turned into a literal ‘box-ticking’ cocktail, worthy of seconds… or thirds. It’s prohibition bar themed, honing-in on the omission of alcohol from Australians’ needs (yeah, turns out it wasn’t only the Yanks who weren’t allowed a tipple) from around 1910 to 1928. After that, four referendums regarding the prohibition of alcohol were conducted in Western Australia, including one in each of the years 1911, 1921, 1925 and 1950. It obviously didn’t last. For those who’ve… Read More

Victorian Opera is producing the epic production, William Tell this July

Opera William Tell

In what is proving to be the largest production undertaken by the Victorian Opera to date, the Melbourne-based company will be producing the Rossini epic William Tell this July. On from 14 July at the Palais Theatre, St Kilda, the production will make history, marking the first time in over a century that the epic opera, with its unmistakably iconic overture, has been staged in Australia. Here’s the overture that you’ll recognise… Three performances will hit the Palais, appearing on 14, 17, 19 July, sure to be staged with grit and grandeur, the rarely performed opera will grip modern audiences with a dystopian costume design inspired by The Hunger Games and The Handmaid’s Tale. A set evoking the Swiss Alps forms the backdrop to the conflict between a technologically superior conquering force and a simple rural community. The opera focuses on the legendary tale of the sharp-shooting hero on a quest for freedom from tyrannical rule and the courage that victory demands. But it’s beyond the most famous piece of music from the story that will set-up this production by the Victorian Opera to be its largest and most thrilling yet. The opera contains thrilling arias and ensembles, musical scene painting, and vocal virtuosity that highlight Rossini’s extraordinary talents as a composer. Premiering in Paris in 1829, William Tell marked his final opera following earlier triumphs such as The Barber of Seville and La Cenerentola. The production even comes with a cast of international and Australian singers perform the epic opera, including the Australian debut of Paris-based Argentinian baritone Armando Noguera as William Tell. Armando’s long-standing history performing… Read More

Good Food Month with Melbourne’s awesome Italian restaurant Tipo 00

Tipo pasta

It’s Melbourne Good Food Month this June, and if the likes of Mister Bianco and what they’re doing for it isn’t your flavour, then perhaps the likes of Tipo 00 will do the trick. Presented by Citi, the festival returns with favourites like Let’s Do Lunch, presented by Peter Lehmann Wines of the Barossa, and Friends of Good Food Month now added to the exciting event programme. This year, Melbourne Good Food Month features heaps of foodiful events, showcasing the very best of Australia’s restaurant industry over 30 delectable days. We spoke with Andrea Papadakis of Tipo 00 of Little Bourke Street in Melbourne, who this year is serving-up some quality activity for the month-long celebration. As for why Melbourne has something special to offer this Melbourne Good Food Month Andreas agrees Melbourne is where it’s at, saying, “Melbourne is home to a host of cultures and ethnicities, the product of waves and waves of immigration, especially in the post-war period. These communities have all made their own mark on Melbourne’s cultural and culinary landscape, which, combined with the unique layout of our city, has made for a wonderful mix of food offerings.” And Melburnians agree. With a penchant for pasta, their menu of a very generous variety of it – “done well, with love,” Andreas assures – means Tipo 00 is where it’s at this year. A post shared by Tipo 00 (@tipo_00) on Apr 19, 2018 at 7:00pm PDT A post shared by Tipo 00 (@tipo_00) on Nov 8, 2017 at 6:22pm PST “Melbourne Good Food Month allows restaurants like ours… Read More

Archibald artist Katherin Longhurst has a new exhibition with a sense of humour

Katherin Longhurst art

Her work is on display in this year’s Archibald at the Art Gallery of NSW, but artist Katherin Longhurst is busy working away at something else; her latest exhibition, Protagonist, on show at Nanda Hobbs gallery in Surry Hills. Kathrin Longhurst is a child of the Cold War. She grew up on the grey side of the Berlin Wall. Her childhood was in a society indoctrinated and controlled with totalitarian vigour through the rule of law and a virulent propaganda machine. The perceived glamour of the west filtered through to the artist as a girl via beaten up glossy magazines and word of mouth stories that one could only dream of. Longhurst’s childhood of counting missiles in school books and experiencing firsthand the results of a society where everything is watched, has left an indelible impression on her. Five decades after the Rosenquist’s  F1-11, Longhurst pointedly pushes at the outer edges of the ideological boundaries in our world. Protagonist is an exhibition that delivers its message in a playful way, yet, ideologically nuclear in its motherload of social commentary.  It is an exhibition that speaks to a world that struggles with identity—not only from the nationalist point of view—but with male/female ideology.  Yet, like all great artists, Longhurst can keep a sense of humour, albeit laced with the irony and lessons from history. Protagonist opens at Nanda\Hobbs on Thursday 14 June, 6-8pm. The exhibition runs to 30 June, 2018.

Three Williams cafe in Redfern is bringing back truffles this winter in a big way

Three Williams Mandarin & Honey crumpet (2)_preview

Three Williams has been around for a while since it burst onto the scene back in around 2013, and this winter, they’ve found a way to keep the lust alive with a bit of a an addition to their already wildly popular menu. Following on from last year’s successful ‘Celebrating Truffle’ menu, Three Williams cafe has now launched a new, extended truffle menu for the 2018 season, which features truffled waffle fries and two new truffled desserts. Head chef Jacquie Ektoros (formerly of Devon Cafe?, Guillaume at Bennelong) has created a menu of seven truffle dishes which includes five new dishes as well as tweaked versions of two of last year’s best sellers – roasted peking duck angel hair pasta and crispy truffle skin chicken breast. An avid truffle fan, Ektoros has been planning this truffle menu since last year, aiming to incorporate classic truffle flavour combinations as well as some inspired creative concoctions. He wanted this year’s menu to surpass last year’s way of being bigger, better and more innovative than the previous attempts, covering-off  breakfast, lunch and in-between with a breeze. Three Williams 613a Elizabeth Street, Redfern threewilliamscafe.com

Surry Hills Sydney is getting a new Basque restaurant: Ortzi

Ortzi food

From the people behind Sagra in Darlinghurst, Ortzi has opened in Surry Hills this month, serving-up the best of Basque in a flash new venue. On Hunt Street in Surry Hills, chef and co-owner Michael Otto is behind the menu with the support of fellow co-owner and chef, Edward Saxton, together bringing a wonderful blend of traditional and Basque-inspired pintxos lead a shared-concept dinner menu that reflects the flavours of the Basque region. They’re all about dishes that adapt, changing the menu throughout the week to cater to every element of the whole beasts butchered on site so no part is wasted. “My aim is to let the ingredients shine and ensure that each dish is more than just a sum of its parts. For us to adapt the menu on almost a daily basis, we must be intuitive cooks. We’re fostering a creative environment for the chefs to take what is available in front of them in terms of a beast, seafood and vegetables, and create something that not only does the produce justice but is also is reflective of the Basque region”, says Otto. Find them at: Ortzi 6 Hunt Street, Surry Hills ortzi.com.au Monday to Saturday: 12pm – 3pm Monday to Wednesday: 6pm – 10pm Thursday to Saturday: 6pm – 12pm

MoMA comes to the NGV this winter: 130 years of modern and contemporary art

NGV gallery

The NGV is throwing it back this winter with 130 years of modern and contemporary art at their latest, major exhibition. Straight from the New York iconic museum that is the Museum of Modern Art, or MoMA, the new exhibition opens on 9 June at NGV International in Melbourne. Co-organised by the NGV and MoMA, the exhibition features more than 200 works – many of which have never been seen in Australia – from a line-up of seminal nineteenth and twentieth-century artists, including Vincent van Gogh, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Marcel Duchamp, Salvador Dali?, Frida Kahlo, Georgia O’Keeffe, Edward Hopper, Louise Bourgeois, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Diane Arbus, Agnes Martin and Andy Warhol. Bringing the exhibition up to the present are works by many significant twenty-first century artists including Jeff Koons, Cindy Sherman, Olafur Eliasson, Andreas Gursky, El Anatsui, Rineke Dijkstra, Kara Walker, Mona Hatoum and Camille Henrot. Basically, there’s a lot. It will be the largest instalment of the Melbourne Winter Masterpieces exhibition series to date, for the first time encompassing the entire ground floor of NGV International. MoMA at NGV will explore the emergence and development of major art movements, and represent more than 130 years of radical artistic innovation. The exhibition will also reflect the wider technological, social and political developments that transformed society during this period, from late nineteenth century urban and industrial transformation, through to the digital and global present. Head to the NGV website ad sort out your tickets here.

Where to get bottomless rose this Queen’s Birthday long weekend in Sydney

Watsons Bay Boutique Hotel Sydney view 2

God save the Queen. As long as our supreme regal overlord keeps churning out birthdays, we’ll keep churning out annual long weekends and nobody’s mad about it. Especially when you consider things like this Queen’s Birthday long weekend bottomless rose at the Watson’s Bay Boutique Hotel in Sydney’s east, turning it out on 9 and 10 June for the whole day. After a sell out for October Long Weekend’s brunch, they are back with more Rosé, a delicious menu, DJ’s all afternoon and the Watsons famous frosé and Rosé sangria is also included. As you sit in Watsons Bay’s Hamptons style Sunset Room with tables made to fit up to fourteen, this is the perfect change to get your favourite group of girls and boys together to wine, dine and get boozy. Details here… What: WBBH Bottomless Rose Brunch When: June 9th and 10th Ticket: $89.00 Sort it out: watsonsbayhotel.com.au/love-rose-brunch

Get cheap drinks at Gin Lane for World Gin Day this Saturday

Gin Lane light bulb moment cocktail

If there was ever a bar any drinker – let alone a gin drinker – needs to go to, it’s Gin Lane on Kensington Street in Chippendale. Not only is it the ideal destination for any flatteringly mood-lit date night, but in honour of World Gin Day this week, it’s serving-up some cheap bevs for everything for a specially extended 7-hour ‘happy hour’ from 12-7pm this Saturday. Gin Lane Classic G&T’s – The Cucumber G&T and Spiced G&T will be on offer for half the going rate (at $7 each) to celebrate. Additionally, they will be launching a brand new show-stopping drink, The Lightbulb Moment (pic above) served in a light bulb and charged with prosecco and liquid nitrogen, a secret they’ve been working on especially. Check out more over here.