Category: event

Let’s do Brunch @ the Winston

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Are you keen for bottomless brunch in the Hills? Grab your friends and family and head to the Winston Hills hotel for an amazing 2 course meal, supplemented by bottomless Aurelia Prosecco or Mimosas for 2 hours. The Winston hotel is a great function space and really suits these sorts of events. We’ve enjoyed a few before such as the cocktail Masterclass and know they do host a good event!

Food on offer as part of this 2 course brunch includes the ever popular Smashed avocado with smoked salmon, poached egg, homemade hollandaise and pickled capers on toasted Rye.

The second course is a delectable Belgian waffle with honey whipped cream, fresh berries and fruit syrup. A mimosa is perfect to accompany this sweet dish.

The brunch service begins at 11.30am

Bookings are essential and available at a cost of $65 pp via http://bit.ly/thewinstonbrunch

The Winston Hotel
170 Caroline Chisholm Drive
Winston Hills, NSW 2153 Australia

 

Vividly Chandon @ love.fish Barangaroo

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Right down near the wharf at Barangaroo, it’s an area where it’s easy to catch a ferry, check out the Sydney nightlife and enjoy a meal at the waters edge.

love.fish is a seafood restaurant located at this Barangaroo precinct. It is a casual eatery and has a superb menu celebrating Australia’s quality seafood options. Simple food prepared extraordinarily well.

During the Vivid light display, love.fish have collaborated with Chandon to create an intimate pop-up bar to celebrate. Fitting with the light concept, they have created a range of cocktails, sparkling with bubbles and colour!

They have put together a couple of super interesting cocktails featuring Chandon, including:

GOLDEN WATTLE: Chandon Blanc de Blancs, marionette apricot brandy, castanga Bianca, cucumber and cardamom

LILY PILY: a cosmic royal blend of Chandon S bitter orange, marionette blackberry liquor, Seppeltsfield apera, and a splash of cranberry

DESERT ROSE: a delicious citrus bouquet, floral notes created with Chandon brut rose, marionette orange curaçao, maidenii, sweet vermouth, grapefruit lemon thyme

All the drinks feature a bright lit up swizzle stick in keeping with the VIVID theme.

You can grab a meal from love.fish, whether it be a bunch of snacks which the pop up bar serves or you can have food from the full menu too. We enjoyed oysters, tuna crudo on a betel leaf, salt and pepper calamari and wild red spot crispy whiting and chips over a few of the above mentioned drinks.

A great place to get quality food, refreshing drinks and check out the VIVID lights

We recommend arriving around to take in the sunset before the light show starts. We hope you enjoy!

LOVE.FISH

7/23 Barangaroo Ave

Wulugul Walk

Barangaroo NSW 2000

* images – pushplay media

Meatstock

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Meatstock is held annually around the country and pays homage to all things meat and BBQ. The Sydney event was held at Sydney Olympic Park, which was well suited to this epic meat and BBQ festival.

There were many purveyors of top produce, including meat, sauces, rubs and much more. There was also plenty of quality hardware on display, and for sale including BBQ’s, grills and utensils including some cool Viking inspired gear from the people at Mjolner.

More importantly, there was plenty of mouth-watering food to sample along with refreshments. There were also many demonstrations running throughout the day and also the BBQ competition too.We scored a ticket from the guys at the Whisky List, one of our favourite websites at the moment, check them out! This site helps you find the best priced whisky in Australia.

Anyway, we were lucky enough to have a pass that gained access to the awesome Buffalo Trace installation, complete with plenty of refreshing cocktails and mixers. The guys at buffalo trace also teamed up with Flaming mongrels BBQ who expertly prepared a whole hog on the spit. The hog was cooked to perfection doing circle work above the hot coals, the spit giving the impression it was being turned by the wheels of a ute; the crackling beautifully crisp, the meat succulent and juicy, a definite highlight of Meatstock.We will definitely be back next year, an event not to be missed, add this to your calendar.

Meatstock

VIVID inspiring the Chroma dinner @ Mode Kitchen and Bar

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With Vivid Sydney 2019 fast approaching, it is an exciting time of the year to be in Sydney. This gave us great pleasure to be a part of the launch of the Four Seasons Hotel Chroma Dinner Premiere.

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The Four Seasons are getting into the Vivid festive spirit by providing a unique culinary experience at their Mode Kitchen & Bar. The Chroma dinner includes a four course meal, with each dish designed to awaken the senses, and to take you on a culinary journey of colour, scent, sound and light. Inspired by the colours red, blue, green, they have been created to enhance the dining experience.

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As guests enter a newly created white room, you are suddenly transformed into a world of colour and a sensorial awakening. Prior to arriving to this dinner, the evening for us started in the Presidential Suite of the Four Seasons Hotel, and we were greeted with three rooms illuminated with the colours red, blue and green. The highlight room was the blue room with the spa bath filled with bottles of champagne, and glasses surrounding the rim of the tub, and overlooking the iconic Sydney Opera House. A stunning hotel room with 360 degrees of the city, and we got to enjoy the room all whilst sipping wine and tasting some canapes.

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Following the walk around the Presidential suite, it was time for the dinner in the white room with the visual projections to enhance the food experience, by transporting guests into the middle of the jungle, under the reef or in a psychedelic world.

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The first course ‘fishing in the jungle’ (green) included the Hiramasa Kingfish with Aboriginal green ants, herbs chlorophyll and stracciatella. This came with a cocktail ‘green savannah jelly’

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The second course, the ‘reef promenade’ (blue), was served a spanner crab risotto, purple cabbage and scampi caviar. Brilliantly blue! Served with the Toji Junmai Ginjo cocktail

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The third course,  ‘The Devil’s Bath’ (red colour) included the ruby snapper with smoked strawberry gazpacho and radish. An absolutley delightful and beautifully presented dish, served with the ‘strawberry fields’ cocktail.

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Dessert, and certainly a highlight was the ‘sweet canvas’ –  this was white chocolate, vanilla and mandarin sphere served with blueberry, raspberry and pistachio which looked literally, like materials to create a work of art on the place, served with the ‘la vie’ cocktail.

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The chroma dining experience is available to try out during Vivid Sydney at the Mode Kitchen and Bar, from May 24th to June 15th at $145 per person

Blog written by contributor @where_do_i_eat_pete

Chroma Dinner

Mode Kitchen and Bar

Four Seasons Hotel Sydney

199 Georges Street, The Rocks

NSW 2000

Mode Kitchen & Bar Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Trail Hopper Hop on Hop off Tours, Adelaide

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Do you plan on visiting Adelaide and are you looking to do some wine tours? We thoroughly suggest you do!

The hop on hop off tours offered by Trail Hoppers is the way to go. They are a great way to see the different regions surrounding Adelaide including; The Barossa Valley, McLarenvale the Adelaide Hills along, with the ever popular Hahndorf.

They run their wine tours a little differently, but this makes them better. The tour has a number of stops, and for the most part, they allow you to choose and provide flexibility.

The crew at trail hopper will pick you up from a city location right in front of the Stamford hotel. All you have to worry about is getting there on time and picking the places you would like to visit. They do run a tight ship so make sure you are ready for pick up at the specified time.

The Adelaide Hills wine tour was a great day out, touring the wineries of the area, with some great wine on offer, particularly Chardonnay. Shaw and Smith, and Petaluma were both highlights.

You will also of course need to eat along the way, with many wineries offering tasty platters of local produce. The tasting platter at Petaluma was particularly good and generously portioned.

If you are all wined out, you can also stop in the scenic German influenced town of Hahndorf. A great spot to stroll the streets, browsing the boutiques, visiting the local artisans or you can pop into one of the German restaurants or bars for a meal and or a drink.

The Barossa tour was also excellent, also with an Adelaide city pick up and also a pick up from the information centre in Tanunda. This tour is also very flexible, allowing you to choose the places you would like to visit. There are so many great wineries producing excellent wine in this region, particularly red varieties. St Hallet was a highlight, the ladies doing the tastings were lovely and very insightful with their product knowledge and the region. The red here was top knotch and what you would expect from the Barossa, a strong offering of shiraz.

On this tour you will also have the opportunity to visit Penfolds and can sample the famous grange for a fee, there is also a gin experience on site, and a craft beer pub, serving American style BBQ. The tour also allows the opportunity to visit Maggie Beer’s shop and sample her delights. A stroll around the heart of the Barossa, Tanunda is also available.

The hop on hop off tours are a great way to see the regions surrounding Adelaide. The flexibility of being able to select your itinerary sets trail hopper apart from the other tours. They have a good list of wineries to visit, with plenty of opportunity to have a nice meal along the way. As such, it is a highly recommended tour experience.
It is also super affordable at just $49 for a McLaren Vale or Adelaide Hills & Hahndorf tour, and $59 for our Barossa tour!

Book now!

Trail hopper

Dining and drinking – The Branksome

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The Branksome Hotel, only only 1km from the airport is a great hotel for travellers, families and corporates alike. See our blog here for more details.

If you’re staying here, chances are you’ll need to eat and drink – you do that all here too. You can enjoy a meal at the restaurant, alfresco or order room service if you’d prefer to stay in. They’ve also got a huge rooftop bar where you can go for a few bites to eat and a drink or two.

Restaurant

Th Branksome has a restaurant and bar onsite, “Nate’s: east meets west dining” where we had both the buffet breakfast and dinner here.

The decor is bistro style with marbled tables and some Art Deco influences furniture.

The buffet offered cold and hot options; from fruit, cereal and cold deli items to western hot breakfast options such as scrambled eggs and sausages. You can also make pancakes and try a few baked goodies.

There’s a huge variety of loose leaf tea, coffee and juices to accompany your meal.

For dinner, we tried the new menu. The name of the restaurant is apt, since there are both eastern and western options. The food is quality and nicely presented. We shared three dishes including a Riverina Sirloin steak, Cooked to order and nicely seasoned. It came with a lovely jus and presented with julienne carrots and toast and sweet potatoes. This was a decent portion.

The quail was also a great choice, the tender meat was also flavoured superbly and served with similar sides to the steak.

Miso cod is also a favourite and the one here is particularly good, served with Hainanese rice and edamame beans. We really enjoyed this fish and it’s delicious glaze.

We were pretty full by this stage, but dessert wise, the sticky date pudding or deconstructed cheesecake would be our pick.

They have a good range of drinks on offer st the bar, including craft beer on tap, an extensive wine list and cocktails. The drinks are well priced and there’s also an early weekend happy hour.

Rooftop bar

They also have a lovely rooftop bar and outdoor terrace, perfect for an afternoon drink and you can also order food up there. Catch a glimpse of the amazing sunset with an unobstructed view stretching from the airport to the city skyline.

We enjoyed a networking event, which they have time to time, with heaps of food, drinks and live music.

IMG_6702.JPGThe space is large, so it could certainly host a number of events from parties to weddings or even fashion shows; it has a cool little stone walkway and plenty of tables and lounges to relax.

The Branksome Hotel & Residences

60 Robey Street

Mascot, NSW 202

Nate's Restaurant and Bar - The Branksome Hotel & Residences Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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High Tea at Intercontinental, Double Bay

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Whether it be for Mother’s Day, or to celebrate a birthday or other special occasion, what a better treat than to take your loved ones to a sophisticated and luxurious high tea. We enjoyed a signature high tea at Intercontinental Hotel in Double Bay, located just 10 minutes from Sydney’s CBD. It is an upmarket hotel and it oozes class. This 5 star hotel pulls out all the stops to make for a wonderful experience.

Make your way upstairs to the lounge area of the stillery bar and you’ll find some high backed couches and an area reminiscent of an English tea room.

Afternoon teas and High teas are steeped in British tradition. History has it that ‘afternoon tea’ became the bridge between meals, since the real “tea” (or dinner), was not often eaten until late. This was often a light meal such as cake or scones and a cup of tea. This became fashionable by Anna the 7th, duchess of Bedford in the 19th century who invited friends over for the first ‘afternoon tea’. What we see here at the Intercontinental is an afternoon tea with a long history, and it has evolved into something that is still heritage based, but with some new additions like beautiful patisserie goods and even Martini’s.

Award-winning Pastry Chef, Chelsea Logan has curated sweet and savoury items to fill a three tiered stand for guests’ dining pleasure.

The bottom tier has the iconic and historic feature of high tea; freshly baked scones, both plain and fruit filled. Served with home made jam and cream, these scones were delightful. On this tier were also warm quiche with goats cheese and caramelised onion.

The second tier contains an assortment savoury bites including; fresh sandwiches of sage lemon poached chicken and watercress, as well as wild mushroom bruschetta with grilled leek and pecorino. Rounded out with blini’s topped with cold smoked trout with ricotta and black caviar. We always love a few savoury options with our high tea.

The piece de resistence or sweets level on the top was a plate full of delights. We all loved the Lemon Myrtle cheesecake with wattleseed crumble and Meyer lemon curd as well as an other tasty bites.

There was a special treat – a specially crafted macaron, that was designed like a work of art, sitting on an easel and a “chocolate” made canvas. The Mascarpone mousse and crab apple in a patisserie style piece was so cleverly crafted. There was a surprise inside – one was champagne infused, and the other caramel.

This experience was enjoyed with a glass of Champagne on arrival and later with your high tea, you can also order your preferred LDMT loose leaf tea or Vittoria coffee.

If you’re up for something a little different, you can have a martini high tea matching experience or even try the Oriental High Tea.

The Intercontinental also does a lovely peach blossom tea for something different.

High Tea is $69 per person with Champagne, $79 per person with three mini martinis and $59 per person with coffee and tea. 

Staff are attentive and absolutely delightful. This is a wonderful experience all round.

Available 11:00am – 4:00pm daily.

Intercontinental Double Bay

33 Cross St

Double Bay NSW, 2028

Stillery - Intercontinental Sydney Double Bay Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Spring Street Social‘s new Asian Tapas Menu

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Spring Street Social is an awesome speakers type venue, hidden underground on Spring Street in Bondi Junction. Enter down the rabbit hole via the staircase, into this basement entertainment space, with a fully stocked bar and a kitchen pumping out some enticing bites. The kitchen is headed by new chef Kago Fong with his inspired asian tapas menu.

Whilst enjoying the entertainment on offer including live music and comedy shows you can savour some delicious snacks including; deep fried prawn and pork dumplings with black bean vinegar, seared wagyu beef tataki with a teriyaki and sesame chimichurri, mini pork sliders with 5 spice mayo and steamed XO scallops to name a few.

Image – @eatwithmyfoodsafari

There are also larger meals on offer and the truffle fried rice was certainly a tasty option. There are some creative treats with cream cheese dumplings with a dark chocolate ganache dipping sauce and Chinese doughnuts with matcha peanut butter. Who wouldn’t want to give this a go!

Image – @eatwithmyfoodsafari

The bar has a good range of beer on tap, wine and list of cocktails to tempt you. A bunch of classic cocktails are on offer with the Spring Street Social touch. There is even a dessert cocktail list, with the naughty nutella or choccy doughnut.

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Spring Street Social provides the whole package, with a cool venue, great food and drinks too. It’s always great to visit another live entertainment venue in Sydney, and especially when they’re opening up in places that have been missing interesting spots like this until now.

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We’d like to thank the venue for their hospitality.

Spring Street Social

Underground, 110 Spring St, Bondi Junction NSW 2022

(02) 8667 5395

Irish Whiskey Rumble @Soultrap

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Soultrap is a cool bar located in Surry Hills. With a widely stocked bar, they have a great range of cocktails too. If you’re hungry, there’s plenty of charcuterie boards to select from. We visited Soul trap on this occasion for their Whiskey event. This kicked off their first of many whiskey events to come. We visited their Irish Whiskey Rumble hosted by Whisky Enlightenment. This was a whiskey event like no other, including an appearance by Connor McGregor, through his whiskey label Proper 12. The event was a battle to determine which whiskey would reign supreme. Certainly an enlightening experience for those new to whiskey or not; with information on each of the eight different bottles and the distilleries that produce them.

Irish whiskies are known for the subtle flavours associated with the spirit, being triple distilled and blending creating complexity. All whiskies being different, with many elements factoring in to make each whiskey unique, whether it be the cask or casks the whiskey is aged in, the way the liquid is distilled, the age of the whiskey, the temperature, water source, age of the whiskey and much more.

This tasting was entertaining and refreshing, as they did not follow the normal rules of a tasting. A whiskey tasting is usually progressive starting with subtle flavours moving to stronger flavours. This experience was a battle pitting different whiskies against each other, everyone participating with a vote which contributes to find the ultimate winner.

Round one kicked off with Bushmills 10 year old vs Writers tears copper pot. McGregor’s Proper Twelve KOing Irish heavy weight Jamisons. Then followed by Ireland’s only peated whiskey smoking Teeling small batch. To finish the round was Slane Irish whiskey vs Paddy Irish Whiskey.

After the first round we had a break with some tasty pulled pork sliders and some banter. We are back into the nex round wittled down to four whiskies. The rumble is on again. The votes are in again and we were down to the final two. But before the final battle, some games and giveaways.

The finale pitted two very different whiskies against each other. The bourbon like flavours of the Slane Irish Whiskey and the peated Connemara with the event finishing in a bit of a haze; Connemara finishes on top!

Great value for an afternoon out, at $40 per person for drinks, entertainment and canapés, keep an eye out for further events to come.

Soultrap Bar

70-72 Campbell Street, Surry Hills

Soultrap Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Afternoon Tea with Wedgewood, The Tale of Mr Rabbit at the Langham

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The Langham Hotel on Kent Street Sydney is a beautifully sophisticated hotel with a sandstone facade greeting you on approach, as do the impeccably uniformed doormen. Flow through the entrance past the lobby and the suave looking bar, and make your way to the tea room for the high tea. The staff will run you through the details of the afternoon.

The tea room overlooks the harbour with views out to Balmain and beyond. The tables perfectly set with white linen and beautifully intricate Wedgwood china tea sets, silverware and tea pots. Looking around the room, a very traditional afternoon tea is on the cards. Alas, there is a flash of a white rabbit, the Easter Bunny bouncing around the room fancifully and happy to provide joy to the children in the room and add whimsical fun to the experience.

The theme of Easter is not only present with the Easter Bunny, it also makes a very visual appearance at an enchanted feature table in the centre of the room. The table full of sweets; chocolate easter eggs and assorted lollies, the display further decorated for Easter with an assortment of rabbit ornaments, flowers and a touch of theatrics with a fog cleverly created with dry ice, slowly cascaded to blanket the table.

The service begins with a formal greeting from the waitstaff and a glass of bubbles, Perrier in this instance. They are also happy to cater to special dietry requirements. We are left to peruse the menus, the food, drinks menu and most importantly the selection of tea. Do we go with a traditional tea, English breakfast or Earlygray or perhaps a masala chai or peach oolong? Feeling a little adventurous, the peach oolong nicely accompanies the tasty delights on offer.

The three tier selection of afternoon treats made its way to our table. Where to start? Is it with the savoury plate containing a delicious mix of tasty pastries and sandwiches or sweets? We went for savoury first and tried the smallest item; the mushroom and gruyere cheese puff. It is quickly lifted from the plate by an index finger and thumb pincer and disappears like a chocolate Easter egg on easter Sunday. This is followed by the beef and potato pie, the tuna and creme fresh tartlet, then the sandwiches; chicken tarragon and the old staple – curried egg. Then was our favourite bite, the kingfish tartare, lime, and corriander served in a little charcoal cone.

It wouldn’t be much of an afternoon Tea without scones and vanilla scones at this afternoon tea, along with the carrot cake were a real treat. Perfectly prepared and served with homemade jam and cream.

Already a good amount of food consumed, there were the dainty easter sweets on top of the serving platter. Cute as a button and very creative; there was a mini easter scene displayed on the plate with easter bunny heading down the hole on top of the Mr Rabbit tartlet, the tasty carrot and ginger garden bed complete with a mini carrot and cherry decoration top, the cream egg split in two and the scrumptious hot cross bun macarons.

This was a great cultured experience, good to share with the children and well curated with a visit from Mr Rabbit and the enchanted sweets table. Well worth a visit for their yummy afternoon tea and they are open all days, including public holidays until April 28.

We’d like to thank the Langham for the invitation to dine, and the hospitality provided on the day.

The Langham