From beloved institutions to flash new openings, there’s never been a better time to dine in the coastal town.
Read full story →Food / Eating out (Mel)
Andrew McConnell’s Cote Basque sizzles on Crossley Street, Rosheen Kaul reopens her pop-up Chinese-ish bistro as a permanent restaurant, and we’ve found the best spanakopita in the city’s south-east.
By Helen Goh · Food / Recipes
Recipes Baking Bake Dad’s day with this cheesecake with dried fig and blood orange compote Helen Goh August 28, 2026 To brighten it for spring, I’ve paired it with dried figs steeped in sweet wine, along with slices of blood orange. Both the cheesecake and compote can be made ahead, making this an ideal dessert for a family lunch or relaxed gathering. ¼ tsp almond extract (or ½ tsp vanilla extract)
Food / Eating out (Syd)
From Balmain’s reborn leafy courtyard bistro to Marrickville’s new noodle house, catch up on all the hot, new and just-reviewed places around town.
By Ardyn Bernoth · Food / Tips & advice
The recipe writer, chef, former MasterChef champ and all-around superstar brings us along to Queen Victoria Market for her weekly shop – and shares her tips to finding bargains. Nat Thaipun is a regular at Melbourne’s Queen Victoria Market. Simon Schluter Save “I cook after work to relax; I play with ideas for new recipes. I call it procrasti-cooking,” Thaipun says. She also runs to relax – turning a brain wired for overwork into a state of calm. This is no casual jog, though; she is training for a 50-to-100-kilometre ultra-marathon.
By Andrea McGinniss · Food / Tips & advice
Get to know Good Food’s new star contributor a little more with this light and tender grilling. We threw some burning questions at her to give you a taste of what’s to come (and what she’s loving right now). Nat can’t wait to share her passion for produce and cooking with you. Simon Schluter What can Good Food readers look forward to? I want people to embrace the warmth of cooking for yourself, your mates, your family and even your neighbours, like (partner) Caleb and I do. Cooking connects us. It’s community; it’s one of the most important things for human connection. It’s sensory, it’s alive, and it’s forgiving. I also want Australians to recognise how good our food culture actually is. We’re always trying to “find” what Australian cuisine is, and I hate to break it to you, but this is it, and it is incredible! Stop questioning it and embrace it.
By Callan Boys · Food / Eating out (Syd)
The former Efendy site has been transformed, with a retractable roof, courtyard firepits and, now, a new menu from a former Kiln chef that’s built around the charcoal barbecue (plus one of the best cocktail lists on the peninsula). Thank goodness, it’s gone. “The croissant has gone!” I yelled to my wife from two rooms away the other week. “We can go to Elliott’s!” She had no idea what I was talking about. You see, I really wanted to like Elliott’s in Balmain, a self-described modern Australian bistro that opened a few blocks from my house last year. Nice bloke Michael Fegent (who also runs the impressive Mexican restaurant Esteban in the CBD) spent a motza renovating the former Efendy site, adding a retractable roof, courtyard firepits and the kind of modernist lines and artworks found in Palm Springs pool clubs. The cocktail list is one of the best on the peninsula, and recent government “vibrancy reforms” meant there could – and would – be live music outdoors. It seems I wasn’t the only local unconvinced by the merits of a burger made on laminated dough, and Elliott’s relaunched with a new chef in July. Brad Crowle leads the kitchen after a head role at one-hatted Kiln in Surry Hills, and he brings a good deal of open-fire cooking skill to Balmain.
By Emma Breheny · Food / Eating out (Mel)
Opposite the Tote, Mary’s sits on a memory-making corner for many Melburnians. Its friendly staff are ready to guide you as you try some “Nigerian-ish” taste sensations, including the non-negotiable, extra-nubbly jollof rice. Alligator pepper is a phrase to stop you in your tracks. Is it lethally hot? Spiky? Reading menus for a living, you see plenty of unfamiliar terms that lodge in your brain. (Sometimes they even help you win the Saturday morning quiz. ) Carta de musica: crunchy Italian crackers. Grenobloise: buttery French sauce with capers and parsley. But alligator pepper? In Melbourne? That’s an itch your brain wants to scratch – and you can, at Mary’s in Collingwood , the Nigerian-ish venue of Mary Akindele. “Nigerian-ish” because Akindele has tapped every part of her story in building Mary’s: her upbringing in Manchester, where her parents emigrated after leaving Ekiti in Nigeria’s south-west. Her trips to Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city. Coming to Australia 10 years ago as a backpacker, working in cafes, studying commercial cookery and running Nigerian supper clubs. Review The vibe is right at this eatery serving every type of jollof rice “I’m not trying to force this super-authentic Nigerian thing,” she says. “It sits where I am in my upbringing, and what I’ve learnt working in so many different venues and eating lots of very good food.”
By Quincy Malesovas · Food / Eating out (Mel)
There’s a tiny taqueria in a city laneway, steamy farmers’ market tamales and Cheetos-crusted birria balls. Tiny taqueria Super Taco on Crossley Street. Eddie Jim But an increasing number of regionally informed Mexican restaurants in Melbourne are raising the bar. Last year, Maiz y Cacao relocated to the CBD , introducing dishes from Oaxaca and the Yucatan Peninsula, while Chabela shone a light on huaraches , blue-corn masa discs piled with grilled meats. El Columpio, the Johnston Street favourite for tacos and pozole, expanded to St Kilda with a seafood-focused offering. Santito levelled up our tortilla game, nixtamalising and pressing them in-house, and Cumbe brought us torta de chilaquiles : sandwiches filled with saucy tortilla chips. Then there’s Torquay newcomer Mule , serving a flame-driven menu pairing local ingredients with Mexican technique. Angel Farias, owner of Tacos LA, also opened his business to fulfil a niche and broaden ideas of what the cuisine can be. He says customers have told him they “don’t like Mexican food”, only to change their minds after trying his cooking.
By Ardyn Bernoth · Food / Tips & advice
You can save up to $1600 a year by making your own truly good brew at home. The former barista shows how. “Roughly speaking, a 250g bag of good beans costs around $20 to $25 (even cheaper if you buy a 1kg bag). At 16 grams of coffee per cup, that’s about 15 cups a bag – call it $1.50 a cup once you add a filter paper. Compare that to $6 at a cafe and you’re saving around $4.50. Do that daily and you’re up almost $32 a week, which is more than $1600 a year.” At home Thaipun brews with a V60 – a cone-shaped pour-over device lined with a paper filter that draws out a clean, nuanced cup. The best recipes from Australia's leading chefs straight to your inbox.
By Adam Liaw · Food / Recipes
Recipes Quick & easy Adam Liaw’s avocado salad with lime and dill vinaigrette Adam Liaw August 27, 2026 juice of 1-2 limes, plus extra lime wedges to serve 1 head baby cos lettuce, cut into 3cm pieces Make the vinaigrette first by combining the mustard and lime juice in a large bowl and seasoning very well with salt and pepper, then whisk in the olive oil a little at a time until you have an emulsified dressing. Mix in the dill, then add the lettuce and avocado to the bowl and toss well to coat in the dressing. Transfer to a serving plate if you like, and season with more salt and pepper just before serving.
By Adam Liaw · Food / Recipes
Recipes Quick & easy Adam Liaw’s pan-fried whiting with orange butter sauce Adam Liaw August 27, 2026 Heat a frying pan over medium heat and add half the butter. Season the whiting fillets well with salt and pepper and fry for a minute or two on each side until cooked through. Remove from the pan. Return the pan to low-medium heat and add the white wine and orange juice. Bring to a simmer and add ¼ to ½ cup of water. Whisk in the remaining chilled butter to emulsify and thicken the liquid – you should have about ½ a cup of sauce with the consistency of pouring cream. Season the sauce with salt then pour over the fish. Garnish with a few orange segments. The best recipes from Australia's leading chefs straight to your inbox.
By Kevin Cheng · Food / Eating out (Syd)
Demand for ramen, Japan’s most famous noodle soup, is stronger than ever in Sydney —and it’s not just about pork-based tonkotsu ramen any more. Here are some of the essential ramen spots to nurture you through the final days of winter . This recent arrival from Japan’s Tochigi prefecture (just north of Tokyo) specialises in miso. Its signature tonkotsu miso ramen features a creamy, pork-laden broth with subtle flavours of smooth Japanese miso. The classic size comes with slices of tender, fatty pork belly chashu, but it’s worth upgrading to deluxe for the additional cube of soy-braised pork belly. The spicy tantanmen could be the spiciest (and most numbing) in Sydney, made with a blend of 10 spices that’s heavy on Sichuan peppercorn. Misolado’s thick bouncy noodles ensure the hearty broth clings onto every strand. Restaurant reviews, news and the hottest openings served to your inbox.
Food / Recipes
Plus, some beautiful new cakes and fun bakes to bookmark for the weekend.
By Max Veenhuyzen · Food / Eating out (Per)
Have I told you that we have initiatives such as the Colombo Plan – an anti-Communist ploy launched by Commonwealth nations in 1951 to boost social and economical development across Asia – to thank for the post-WWII influx of students and migrants from Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and other southeast nations to WA and the effect that this surge has had on the local food scene? Long Chim is one of many highlights in Perth’s Asian food scene. So why do we need to import a pop-up? Shot by Thom (Having said that, the Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie gold rushes in the late 1800s also helped shape our food culture; as did Australia taking over the administration of Cocos Keeling and Christmas Islands from Singapore in the 50s; ditto the Vietnamese civil war; plus the early, pre-First Fleet interactions between Malaysian seafarers and First Nations communities across the top of WA in the 1600s.) And have I told you that I love being able to eat splendid chicken rice , Asian-inspired baked goods , Taiwanese beef noodles and their ilk across P-Town? And to have options for the above? And to be able to have vigorous discussions with mates about where to find top-shelf versions of each? In short, when it comes to scratching Asian food itches, we have it very good out west.
By Scott Bolles · Food / Eating out (Syd)
The venue, which launched a Surry Hills branch in 2017, will bring its high-octane atmosphere and accessible South-East Asian-inspired dishes to Manly’s surfside next year. The powerhouse Melbourne restaurant, which launched a Sydney branch in Surry Hills in 2017, will land on Manly’s surfside near Cibaria, the Italian mega-venue operated by Alessandro and Anna Pavoni. The venue, which first opened in Melbourne in 2011, is known for its high-energy atmosphere and accessible South-East Asian-inspired dishes. Chin Chin executive chef Benjamin Cooper is working on a new menu for Manly. Jason Edwards “Manly and Bondi are two of the most iconic beaches in Australia,” Chin Chin owner, Chris Lucas of Lucas Collective, said. Manly has a reputation for day-trippers, but the local community – many of whom currently travel to the Surry Hills restaurant – was part of the pull for Lucas. “I really like the vibe, it’s a little more relaxed, a village feel about it.” With 100 seats, Chin Chin Manly is smaller than its sibling restaurants. “There’s a trend toward smaller, tighter premises where you can control the energy, and Chin Chin is all about energy,” Lucas said. “The exciting part for me is to adapt to something that’s not inner city.”
By Emily Holgate · Food / Eating out (Mel)
The quirky Fitzroy North pub is joining forces with other record collectors for an all-day vinyl sale. Plus, QT Japanese eatery Yamagen is doing an after-work cocktail special you won’t want to miss. Updated August 26, 2026 , first published May 2, 2025 Stay up to date with all the latest food news, recipes and reviews on the Good Food app, now available from the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store . Two-ingredient cherry-berry Carlo pudding (with optional cream on top). Jane de Graaff No Kingstons, no worries: An alternative two-ingredient recipe for this viral dessert Would you mix a packet of Kingston biscuits with a can of peaches and bake it just to see what happens? Former MasterChef contestant Ash Davey did just that on Instagram and a new viral recipe – and nationwide supermarket shortages of the retro Arnott’s biscuit – ensued. The “recipe” isn’t just two ingredients either; it’s also just two steps . Jane de Graaff has created her own spin on the dessert with this two-ingredient cherry-berry Carlo pudding (or Black Forest Delta pudding, depending on your biscuit of choice).
By Good Food · Food / Recipes
The singer-songwriter said she never met a spud she didn’t love, and we couldn’t agree more. Mash, fry or give it a jacket in tribute to the legend with the help of Ottolenghi, RecipeTin Eats, Adam Liaw and more.
By Erina Starkey · Food / Eating out (Syd)
“There’s no better guy” to help the booze brand take its whisky global, says the Sydney distillery’s founder. The Hollywood actor, best known for playing Thor in the Marvel movies, has joined founder Will Edwards as co-owner of Australian distillery Archie Rose. Hemsworth, who was born in Melbourne and grew up in the outback town of Bulman in the Northern Territory, owns an undisclosed stake in Australia’s most awarded distillery, and will play a central role in pushing the Australian-made spirits brand into global markets, beginning with the United States at the end of the year. Archie Rose co-owners Chris Hemsworth and Will Edwards. Timothy Ashton “I’ve been a fan of Archie Rose for a long time,” Hemsworth said in a statement. “Wherever I am in the world, tasting an Archie Rose whisky immediately transports me right back home, to that feeling of sitting around a campfire in the Australian bush with my mates.”
By Dani Valent · Food / Eating out (Mel)
Customers burst with nostalgia at husband-and-wife-run Oakleigh bakery Sweet Filosophy, serving Hellenic treats to the local community since 2021. Sure, Netflix is nice, but have you ever stood in front of the kitchen window at Sweet Filosophy and watched the team make baklava, bougatsa and biscuits? That’s the real action. Every day of the week, Kosta Patrino and his team are positioned in the small workroom in perfect pastry choreography. One person whips custard, another rolls filo, Patrino himself might be assembling ice-cream cakes. There’s the smell of caramel, toasted sesame, melted butter, walnuts; a show with freshly baked episodes rolling out every minute. Much of Melbourne’s Greek food culture taps into traditions imported with the major migrant wave of the 1960s, but there’s another strand that expresses a more contemporary version of Greece, particularly the taste-making trends of today’s Athens.
By Emily Holgate · Food / Eating out (Mel)
“Focusing only on the items you’re selling isn’t going to make you remarkable.” The Melbourne shops dealing with stiff competition by going the extra mile, not just on ingredients, but design. Later came the swish architect-designed interiors. Since that first shop, Hector’s has expanded to seven outposts across the city, including one on Lygon Street this year. Set foot in any of them, and the surrounds are a far cry from the delis and canteens where Australians used to buy their sandwiches. (Even the first Hector’s , a tiny 30-square-metre shop, feels relatively stripped back compared with its latest openings). Its Little Collins shop, which opened in late 2025 in the heritage-listed Normanby Chambers building, was designed by Adelaide architects Studio Gram and features stainless steel, pendant lighting and reeded glass. It’s common for the brand to engage other high-end architects and interior designers for its store fitouts. “Focusing only on the items you’re selling isn’t going to make you remarkable,” Steven Ballerini, director of popular Carlton spot Sangaweech , says.
From beloved institutions to flash new openings, there’s never been a better time to dine in the coastal town.
Few holiday towns in Australia boast a restaurant scene like Noosa. Sure, the pristine beaches draw the crowds, but food has long been high on the agenda for visitors and locals alike. The Noosa Food and Wine Festival is proof. Started in 2003, the festival put Noosa’s food and drink scene on the gastronomic map. International chefs would fly in just for the event, while domestic stars – spanning chefs, TV personalities and food writers – would converge. These days, the festival is under different management, but the events remain just as exciting. The 2026 program has just been released and features plenty of action across four jam-packed days. There are collaborative dining experiences – including Gourmet Traveller ‘s Queensland Restaurant of the Year, Essa , joining forces with Ricky’s River Bar & Restaurant for a six-course dinner – and signature events, such as Anyday Group co-founder and chef Ben Williamson cooking with Ben Cross ( Bar Vera , Bali) for a French bistro-inspired lunch on the beach. Then there’s the Festival Village , where you can watch cooking demonstrations from the likes of Ben Cooper ( Chin Chin ), Louis Tikaram ( Stanley ) and Jason Barrett ( Supernormal Brisbane ). Even if you can’t make it to Noosa during festival time, there are plenty of places to eat and drink. There’s a wonderful mix of beloved institutions, like Ricky’s River Bar & Restaurant and Bistro C, alongside recently opened gems such as Peli’s and Cibaria Noosa. Discover the restaurants picked by Gourmet Traveller ’s expert team as the very best in Noosa in 2026. Noosa and Spain’s Basque coast share a new point of connection: Bar Rosi . Opened in June beneath sister venue Doña Cocina Mexicana , the intimate wine bar draws on the relaxed rhythm of San Sebastián’s neighbourhood haunts, with terracotta tones, chrome accents and outdoor banquette seating creating a warm, laid back setting. The drinks list spans European and Australian wines, moving from prosecco and cava to Garnacha Blanca, Rioja and Monastrell, alongside spritzes, cocktails and local aperitifs including Saison Aperitifs ’ quince vermouth. To eat, the seasonal menu focuses on regionally inspired bites and share plates like croquetas, bocadillos and pintxos, before a sweet finale of Basque cheesecake.
A riot of spice, smoke and swagger.
When you eat a meal cooked by Khanh Nguyen, executive chef of Ashe, the Bentley Group’s new Southeast Asian grill in Sydney’s CBD, there’s one guarantee. Your palate will never get bored. Nguyen, who also oversees the menu at sibling venue (and 2024 Gourmet Traveller Best New Restaurant) King Clarence , layers flavours, textures and techniques like he’s composing a mad, magical rock opera. Any bite might involve makrut lime, fried dill, chilli and Geraldton wax. Hoisin, satay, Thai basil and saltbush. Restraint? Go find some well-behaved brasserie or farm-to-table place for that. Here, flavour is so in-your-face that the dishes practically leap into your mouth of their own volition. That might sound chaotic but Nguyen’s skill with flavour is anything but, especially backed by the steadying hand of chef and co-owner Brent Savage. Few Australian chefs know how to wrestle with so many big ideas at once and balance them into something this beautiful. Take the crispy rice. It riffs off three dishes from three cuisines: Vietnamese fried fish, and Malay- and Thai-style rice salads. Rice seasoned with coconut oil, shallots and spring onions. Showers of Vietnamese mint, dill, betel leaf, lemongrass and salmon roe and a dressing with an ingredient list the length of a family’s weekly shop. It’s a meal in itself as well as a rowdy team player with the rest of the menu. If you pile it onto your plate with a bit of kangaroo jerky papaya salad, a piece of torn wood-fired sesame flatbread topped with LP’s smoked mortadella, sticky chilli jam and big cloud-like layers of Laughing Cow cheese (a combo that triggers the same senses as a 1990s bowl of wedges, sweet chilli and sour cream but better) and maybe a scoop of cuttlefish and pipi curry, it’s a lot. But it’s also enormously fun, as is Nick Hildebrandt’s equally energetic, spice-friendly wine list.
There's something for everyone in this gastronomic wonderland.
Gone are the days when suits and symmetry defined Canberra. Today, our nation’s capital is a treasure trove for food and wine lovers, with dining options as varied as its topography. Whether you’re after a special-occasion fine dining experience or something more low key, Canberra’s culinary scene offers something for everyone — especially with this firecracker list of the best Canberra restaurants, which forms part of the 2026 Gourmet Traveller Restaurant Guide . Casual eateries rub shoulders with fine establishments, from discreet corner bars with hidden basements dishing up Asian-leaning plates to hilltop trattorias housed in landmark buildings serving flame-cooked meals; the city is a gastronomic wonderland. We’ve searched the capital for the best places to eat, drink and celebrate Canberra’s dynamic restaurant culture. There aren’t many better places to be on a cold Canberra night than warming your hands in front of the fireplace at Bar Rochford. Once those hands are suitably toasty, get a glass into them, stat: something left-of-field from Europe maybe, or a low-intervention local. To the food: start with wine-friendly snacks – a mosaic of beef carpaccio with Jerusalem artichoke and confit egg, perhaps, or a round of oysters with jalapeño vinaigrette. Then get into a comfortingly old-school chicken ballotine with polenta, or nubbins of orecchiette with pumpkin and ricotta. Add polished concrete flooring, heritage archways and well-chosen tunes and you have somewhere to sit out winter. Third-culture cooking is the most exciting way to eat in 2026 – not only in Australia but globally. Diaspora runs through every dish at 22-seat restaurant and wine bar Mínima, one of Canberra’s most intriguing openings in years. Maybe it’s a plate of char siu pork sausage with winter pickle salad and a fermented bean curd glaze, which could be described as Canberran Cantonese. Sweet and sour pulled short rib reads as Chinese, but squish it into a burger and you have a Western-style sloppy Joe. The drinks follow the same logic: small-scale, off-kilter wines and sake. This kind of food is borderless – and brilliant. Everything about Such and Such, the big-hearted, casual sibling to fine-diner Pilot, feels reassuringly, warmly human. The colour-blocked décor. The wholly unique dishes – where else are you eating pork belly with taco spice and wombok, or a green salad lifted out of the ordinary with roasted cashews and fermented celery? Even the website makes you feel at home, offering suggestions of what to do and where to stay in Canberra, and urging you to pick up the phone for a chat if you can’t find a booking time that suits. AI could never.
Gourmet Traveller's expert selections for the absolute best places to dine in Australia.
Following our 46th annual Restaurant Awards, we can reveal the 2026 Gourmet Traveller Restaurant Guide: the most trusted national dining guide, based on reviews from our team of expert food writers and state editors across Australia. This year, we overhauled our methodology to ensure the Restaurant Guide encompasses the widest variety of restaurants — as far as location, price and cuisine — as possible. Reviews are written independently, and reviewers visit unannounced and pay their bill in full to ensure their insights can be trusted. From fresh restaurant openings interpreting Indian cuisine their way in Melbourne to hot spots in small hinterland towns and unique gems all the way down in Tasmania, here are the very best restaurants in Australia to add to your dining hitlist in 2026. Restaurant of the Year: Bistro Livi , Murwillumbah
Intimate dégustations and inventive menus abound.
The Gourmet Traveller Annual Restaurant Guide is here, showcasing the 100 best restaurants in Australia for 2026. In Tasmania, our carefully considered list goes from state Restaurant of the Year Scholé, where Japanese-inspired dishes meet local ingredients in strikingly inventive ways, to riverside gem Stillwater Restaurant proving that 25+ years can still feel thrillingly alive. Without a doubt, Tasmania’s dining scene continues to impress with creativity, precision and world-class produce. Whether it’s intimate dégustations or vibrant, inventive menus, these restaurants showcase the island’s exceptional culinary talent. Our expert critics have explored Hobart and beyond to highlight the places defining Tasmania’s dining landscape. Every restaurant featured in this list is considered gold standard. From iconic favourites to must-visit destinations beyond the city, here’s our guide to Tasmania’s top restaurants. Chef Luke Burgess’s refined take on hyper-local ingredients and Japanese- and European-influenced dishes unfolds at a shared table for 10 in a timber-lined room that was once a lolly shop. Every course is a masterclass in flavour and technique. With a thoughtfully curated wine list, this intimate spot promises a dining experience that’s deeply considered — so much so, that it’s cemented itself as Tasmania’s Restaurant of the Year for 2026. Led by our 2026 Chef of the Year, Christian Ryan , this is one of Hobart’s standout dining experiences. The ever-changing nine-course tasting menu showcases exceptional Tasmanian produce with confident Asian influences. Every dish is beautifully executed, whether tender lamb ribs or southern bluefin tuna sashimi. With impeccable food, wine list, service and atmosphere, Aløft continues to set the standard for Tasmanian dining after 10 years on the scene.
These are the best restaurants in South Australia, as reviewed for our annual Restaurant Guide.
Renowned wineries, rolling coastline and exceptional produce are at the heart of South Australia’s thriving dining culture. In this carefully curated list, we’ve gathered restaurants from across the state — from Hackney, the upscale pocket of Adelaide where Esmay was crowned Gourmet Traveller ‘s 2026 South Australia Restaurant of the Year , to the beautiful Barossa and beyond. This guide is not limited to a single style of dining; every restaurant featured should be considered gold standard, and recommended by our expert food reviewers, including South Australia editor Katie Spain . The 13 venues in this list of top South Australian restaurants form part of the Gourmet Traveller Restaurant Guide , which names the 100 best restaurants in Australia annually. For top-tier cuisine at every turn and stunning regional spots that celebrate the best of the state, these are the South Australian restaurants worth booking. 2026 South Australia Restaurant of the Year Chef Alanna Sapwell elevates comfort cooking with finesse in a homely space full of natural sunlight and luminous chandeliers. Despite only opening at the tail end of 2025, the Rueben-like small emu pastrami doughnut is already an iconic menu staple, while desserts riff on nostalgia. Our 2026 South Australia Restaurant of the Year , Esmay is utterly charming and accessible to all. A long lunch in this atrium dining room overlooking estate vineyards and towering gums feels like a ritual. South African-born chef Kyle Johns steers the multi-course long lunch with gentle confidence, bookended by soul-warming buckwheat dashi and lemon thyme broth, and a bush tea finale. Rustic but polished at every step.
The best restaurants in WA, as reviewed for our 2026 Restaurant Guide.
Western Australia’s dining scene is as diverse as its landscape, from grand coastal dining rooms and polished Perth neighbourhood spots to wine-country destinations where the produce comes from just down the road. Northern Italian cooking, Greek flavours, Mexican influences and contemporary Australian cuisine all have a place at the table, with local produce a common thread. This year’s Western Australia Restaurant of the Year , De’sendent, exemplifies that produce-driven approach, joining a strong field of restaurants that put as much thought into their surroundings, hospitality and drinks as they do into what lands on the plate. Every restaurant featured in our guide is considered gold standard and recommended by our expert critics, including Western Australia state editor Max Veenhuyzen . The 11 venues in this guide form part of the Gourmet Traveller Restaurant Guide , which names the 100 best restaurants in Australia. From special-occasion restaurants by the sea to destination dining among the vines, these are the Western Australian restaurants worth knowing right now.
From underground fine-diners to coveted counters worth their place in the Gourmet Traveller Restaurant Guide.
It’s that time of year when we turn our gaze north to Queensland’s hottest tables, from Brisbane’s ever-evolving dining scene to breezy coastal destinations, with a wave of ambitious newcomers and long-standing favourites that continue to draw a crowd. Our selections span every kind of dining, from polished fine diners in Brisbane City to regional gems, including our Queensland Restaurant of the Year , The Woodshed in the Noosa hinterland. Every restaurant should be considered gold-standard and recommended by our expert critics, including our Queensland state editor Elliot Baker . All 15 of these top Queensland venues form part of the 2026 Gourmet Traveller Restaurant Guide , which names the 100 best restaurants in Australia. If impressive farm-led restaurants and intimate wine bars call your name, along with menus that lean a little playful and celebrate all things sun-kissed, you’re in the right place — these are Queensland’s best restaurants right now. At the Kin Kin Hotel, a regional fine-diner is putting this small hinterland town on the gastronomic map. It isn’t chef Oscar Holgado’s first time running a standout dining experience in the countryside – and you can tell. The menu uses an open fire, with pickling and curing extending the spoils of seasonal ingredients, which sing on every plate. The flames keep burning bright at Brisbane’s temple of fire, where culinary director Ben Williamson has returned Agnes to its core. Fire, coal and wood smoke drive a menu of inventive snacks and beautifully executed dishes, while confident wine service, a generous by-the-glass selection and the bar and terrace keep the experience lively.
From hotel restaurants to South East Asian diners.
From state-winning debut restaurants to an intimate neighbourhood jaunt from an architect-turned-chef , these top Victorian restaurants reflect the culinary capital’s diversity. Though they vary in style, each of them is consistent in the things that count: hospitable service, world-class cooking and stellar drops. Every restaurant featured is considered gold standard by our expert critics, including our Victoria state editor Michael Harden , who’ve searched far and wide for the best places to eat, drink and celebrate Victoria’s vibrant dining culture. The 28 restaurants in this guide form part of our 2026 Restaurant Guide , naming the best 100 restaurants in Australia. Whether you’re looking to indulge in an unforgettable dining experience in the heart of the city or make a weekend out of a destination diner in the Otways, dining out in Victoria has never been so full of possibilities — and the Gourmet Traveller Restaurant Guide is your north star. 2026 Victorian Restaurant of the Year and Australian Restaurant of the Year
From globally acclaimed Sydney restaurants to regional fine diners, NSW is covered in restaurants worth your next booking.
From polished fine-dining rooms in the heart of Sydney to destination restaurants worth the detour, the best New South Wales restaurants are as diverse as the state itself. This year, Murwillumbah’s Bistro Livi is our New South Wales Restaurant of the Year , proving that some of the country’s most exciting dining is happening well outside the city. Across Sydney, the coast and regions like the Hunter Valley and Northern Rivers, local produce, thoughtful cooking, excellent wine and warm hospitality are consistently at the fore in NSW restaurants. This guide spans the best of every style of dining, from glamorous Cantonese and elegant Italian to hyper-regional cooking and relaxed neighbourhood spots. The 22 restaurants in this guide to New South Wales form part of our 2026 Restaurant Guide , naming the best 100 restaurants in Australia. Each restaurant featured is considered gold standard and recommended by our expert critics, including our New South Wales state editor Alexandra Carlton , who’ve crisscrossed the state in search of the best places to eat, drink and celebrate NSW restaurant culture. Murwillumbah’s shining star hasn’t dimmed since opening in 2022. This cosy restaurant continues to champion the Northern Rivers’ finest produce, from Boon Luck Farm’s vibrant greens to Stokers Siding mushrooms and its signature Moreton Bay bug with curry leaf butter. House ferments, pickles and preserves add verve, while a thoughtful wine list champions small-scale producers.
Restaurants, bars and hospitality talent were recognised in our 46th annual awards.
Melbourne restaurant Zareh has been named Gourmet Traveller ’s 2026 Restaurant of the Year , capping a remarkable night of celebrations for Australia’s dining industry and the magazine’s 60th anniversary. The Collingwood restaurant, owned and operated by chef Tom Sarafian, took the top prize at the 46th annual Gourmet Traveller Restaurant Awards, held at Olympus Dining in Sydney. Zareh was praised for its exuberant approach to dining, bringing together Lebanese, Armenian and Egyptian influences in a lively restaurant where music, energetic service and a packed room are as integral to the experience as the food. The awards event, presented in partnership with Lexus, opened with a performance by four-time ARIA winner Ben Lee, and recognised restaurant and bar operators and hospitality figures from across the country. Several winners reflected the changing nature of Australian dining with a growing emphasis on the use of local ingredients and producers. Scholé, the intimate Hobart restaurant of chef Luke Burgess, was named Tasmania’s state winner . Housed in a former lolly shop, Scholé combines hyper-local Tasmanian ingredients with Japanese and European influences in a highly considered dining experience.
As the oldest continually running hospitality awards program in Australia, the Gourmet Traveller Restaurant Awards celebrate our country’s chefs, restaurateurs, front-of-house staff, beverage talent, food visionaries and more. In addition to awarding
As the oldest continually running hospitality awards program in Australia, the Gourmet Traveller Restaurant Awards celebrate our country’s chefs, restaurateurs, front-of-house staff, beverage talent, food visionaries and more. In addition to awarding Best New Talent , Best Destination Dining , Restaurant Personality of the Year , Best New Restaurant , Chef of the Year , Bar of the Year and Outstanding Contribution to Hospitality (as well as the reader-voted Enduring Excellence award ) we recognise a Restaurant of the Year in every state. From the pool of state winners, we then select Australia’s Restaurant of the Year . In 2026, these are our state Restaurants of the Year. Murwillumbah’s shining star hasn’t dimmed since it opened in 2022. This cosy little restaurant still champions the best produce the region has to offer such as flavour-packed salad greens from Boon Luck Farm, bouncy Stokers Siding mushrooms, and their incomparable curry leaf butter Moreton Bay bug. The kitchen, led by Danni Wilson and Ewen Crawford, layers it all with ferments, pickles and preserves, lending a verve that farm-to-table restaurants can sometimes lack. The wine list, too, always turns up something small-scale and interesting. It’s reason enough to detour inland next time you’re in the Northern Rivers.
The Collingwood restaurant with an electric identity is our 2026 Restaurant Awards winner.
It was worth the wait. The lengthy gestation of Tom Sarafian’s first standalone restaurant might have raised some will-they-won’t-they ripples among the chef’s fan base but when Zareh finally landed in August last year, the advantages of delay were made abundantly clear. Here was a restaurant that knew exactly who, why and what it was from the moment it opened its doors. At a time in restaurant culture when the cult of the rockstar chef is ceding to a more holistic approach, where the design details of the dining room are as important as what’s on the plate, Zareh has met that moment with a full-throated hell yeah. The shopfront space on Collingwood’s Smith Street is a triumph of atmosphere. Taking its cues from a menu influenced by Armenian, Egyptian and Lebanese cooking, the all-vinyl soundtrack pumps out lively jazz and funk by musicians from the same region. The closely packed room with its lengthy bar takes in the flash, dazzle and scent of the open kitchen’s wood-fired oven and charcoal grill and the exciting drinks program (a brilliant wine selection and on-theme cocktails like a magnificent arak-spiked Martini). It brings the party from the instant you walk through the door; it’s clear you’re in the right place even before the food arrives. It was never in doubt that Sarafian’s food was going to impress – he’d already proved this with his previous restaurant, pop-up and festival appearances and with the cult-like fervour his retail lines of hummus, toum and harissa attract. Still, the coherence and flex of Zareh’s menu exceeded those expectations.
The influential chef was among the first to transform the way Australians think about food at home.
For 60 years, Gourmet Traveller has chronicled the evolution of Australian food, celebrated the chefs who changed the way we dine, the producers who transformed our pantries and the restaurants that redefined excellence. Throughout that remarkable journey, one name has appeared time and again in the magazine, not simply because of what she cooked, but because of the enduring influence she had on the way Australians think about food. From the start, Stephanie Alexander championed an idea that feels almost revolutionary in its simplicity: that sharing good food, prepared with care and enjoyed together, has the power to enrich lives. It is a philosophy that has shaped restaurants, kitchens, classrooms and dinner tables across the country, making her one of the most influential figures in Australia’s food history. Alexander opened her first restaurant, Jamaica House, in 1966 on Melbourne’s Lygon Street. In 1976 she opened Stephanie’s Restaurant in Fitzroy, before relocating it to Hawthorn, which operated for 21 years and established her as one of our most respected culinary voices. Yet it’s perhaps as an author that her influence has reached its widest audience. Published in 1996, The Cook’s Companion quickly became more than a cookbook. Comprehensive, practical and deeply reassuring, it gave generations of home cooks the confidence to tackle unfamiliar ingredients and ambitious recipes with enthusiasm. For many Australians it remains the first cookbook reached for when seeking both inspiration and certainty, earning a permanent place on kitchen benches across the country. The book, now in its third edition and a whopping 1282 pages, has sold more than 550,000 copies. Alexander’s greatest legacy, however, may lie beyond the kitchen.
Ryan's generous leadership and deep care for his customers has helped propel Tasmania's dining scene.
Helming one acclaimed restaurant would be enough for most chefs. Christian Ryan has three. Between leading the kitchens at Aløft Restaurant and Restaurant Maria , running burger joint The Standard, and cooking for thousands at Dark Mofo’s Winter Feast, the Hobart chef has become one of the driving forces behind Tasmania’s remarkable dining evolution. When Ryan was growing up in suburban Hobart, Tasmania was known more for its rugged wilderness than as a culinary destination. That changed with MONA (Museum of Old and New Art), which transformed the cultural landscape and drew a new wave of travellers, eager to experience its food as well as its art. Ryan admits he “couldn’t boil water” when he left school early to begin his apprenticeship. But after sharpening his skills in Melbourne and London, he returned home determined to help redefine Tasmanian dining. The result was Aløft Restaurant – an intimate restaurant perched beneath the striking roofline of Brooke Street Pier, home to the MONA ferry terminal. “This world-class museum made Hobart a cool place to live and visit, and provided a real stimulus for the restaurant scene to grow and change,” says Ryan. Today, Aløft – which turned 10 last November – is one of Australia’s most exciting restaurants. Its bold nine-course tasting menu marries vibrant Asian flavours with impeccably sourced Tasmanian produce in a rooftop eyrie with Scandinavian vibes. It is confident, original cooking that has evolved alongside its creator. “The first five years were about survival, and I took on the different ideas of everyone around me. When we came back from Covid, I had more confidence in what I had always intended for the restaurant to be.” That confidence sparked a second act. Ryan and his business partners opened Restaurant Maria directly below Aløft, where Mediterranean flavours meet the island’s produce in dishes such as sumac-dusted Bruny Island wallaby tartare with macadamia hummus and charred West Coast octopus with romesco. Together, the two restaurants showcase both Ryan’s versatility and his unwavering commitment to Tasmania.
Melbourne takes the title for a second year running.
In a frenzied, fast-paced, digital-driven world, it can be hard for a restaurant to grab people’s attention unless it’s equally brash and bold. Big flavours, big personalities and big concepts tend to hog the headlines. That’s why Yiaga – so gentle, so deeply considered – is such a welcome balm. You feel it the moment you step inside the rippling custom curves of the entryway, made up of 13,000 individually handmade tiles designed by architect John Wardle. The space was once an old-fashioned tea room, bustling with clinking cups and chat; now it is soft and still. It’s in the quiet clusters of native flowers cupped by a wall vase above the open hearth, the tactile curves of the amber-coloured glassware designed by Alexandra Hirst, and the smudged Monet-meets-May Gibbs scenery of the heritage parklands outside. That sense of subtle beauty is especially evident on the plates, a languid, multi-course tasting menu of unusual refinement. Here, chef and co-owner Hugh Allen (also of Vue de Monde ) coaxes and conjures local ingredients into dishes that let each flavour speak on its own, while combining into magic together. It could be a dish of tiny school prawns with a lightning bolt of torch ginger. A lozenge of aged coral trout, served with crescents of mango and guajillo chilli. Retired Blackmore wagyu, kangaroo and venison, sauced richly. This is true Australian food, given the space and grace to show how elegant it can really be.
Young's approach has seen him open adored restaurants reinventing the neighbourhood gem in Sydney suburbs.
You can’t miss Sydney restaurateur “Big” Sam young. In person he’s larger than life – charging around the floor of his two restaurants, Young’s Palace in Potts Point and S’more in Castlecrag – like the boss he is, balancing plates of wagyu or Peking duck in one hand, fixing a wonky light fitting with the other. Online, he takes up just as much space, regularly posting social media content spruiking his restaurants’ luxury ingredients (the guy has never met a bottle of Pol Roger or a jar of caviar he didn’t like), and occasionally even taking sly digs at his rivals. He ruffles feathers, inspires admiration and scepticism in equal measure and is unapologetically himself. “Lots of people love my style, but there are also lots of people who hate it,” he wrote recently. But, he added: “If you are loved by everyone then you are definitely not doing something right.” His regular customers think he’s doing plenty right. There is no restaurant in Sydney quite like S’more, a curious little hideaway in a suburban strip mall featuring an amalgam of French and Chinese cuisines. Inside, the décor is so pared back you could be in someone’s university share house, but that’s a deliberate ploy to keep your focus on the food. Young modestly refers to the restaurant as “a local neighbourhood bistro” but in reality it’s a carrier vessel for the high-end ingredients he and his business and life partner Grace Chen love to serve, such as their famous lobster mafaldine and slabs of wagyu. The twist? It’s all – relatively – affordably priced. The concept works; the dining room is routinely filled with everyone from North Shore families to food influencers to grey nomads who’ve driven in from outside the city. Young’s Palace is largely the same arrangement, but focused entirely on Western-friendly Chinese classics – spring rolls, kung pao chicken, honey king prawns – with a bit of blinged-up energy in the optional pre-orders such as live rock lobster omelette, or prawn crackers with caviar.
Our readers have spoken, recognising the Sydney Italian restaurant’s decades-long legacy.
When you reserve a table at Beppi’s , as generations of Australians have done over the past 70 years, be sure to book a spot in the wine cellar. The low ceilings and crooked crossbeams have seen many things: visits from Mick Jagger, ABBA, Rihanna, Lauren Bacall, Russell Crowe, Billy Joel. Oh, and many highrolling heavyweights and politicians (occasionally needing to be carefully manoeuvred around the rooms to avoid their rivals). Generations of the same family, whether it’s guests who once napped under the tables in bassinets bringing their own children in today, or the Polese family themselves: Beppi and Norma who built the foundation, and son Marc continuing the tradition in 2026. Marc, now 64, is the consummate hospitality lifer: he grew up above the restaurant and still remembers a Darlinghurst that looked nothing like it does now. The walls of the cellar are lined with dusty Burgundies and Barolos, stored alongside heritage bottles of Grange and Henschke, valued as more than just wine but as markers of time. It’s unquestionably one of Australia’s most atmospheric dining rooms. You could be in Tuscany or Trieste. Founder Beppi Polese arrived in Australia in 1952, having survived internment during World War II and trained in the grand hotels of Venice, Milan and Rome. He introduced many Sydneysiders to their first taste of mussels (“Until us, people only used them for bait,” Marc Polese likes to remind people) along with asparagus and artichokes, earning him the nickname “the Godfather of Italian”.
The regional Queensland restaurant sources produce from its own farm and invites diners to stay the night.
The Woodshed is an apt name for the dégustation-only restaurant at the Kin Kin Hotel, in a small town in the Noosa hinterland. Housed in the 112-year-old pub’s former agricultural shed, there’s timber everywhere. At its centre is the open kitchen, fuelled entirely by wood-fire, while a handsome 2.75-metre camphor laurel table completes the picture. Yet that only scratches the surface. It’s Oscar Holgado’s cooking that transforms The Woodshed from a great concept into a great restaurant. Holgado arrived in Kin Kin from the UK via a stint in Western Australia. After training in Michelin-starred kitchens, it was his time alongside Tom Adams at Coombeshead Farm in the English countryside that had the greatest influence. Here at The Woodshed, together with owners David and Ellie Ezrine, Holgado has created a venue that reflects those same values: a connection to place, community and warm hospitality. Today, Holgado and the team manage the farm across the road, which supplies much of the restaurant’s produce. They also oversee the accommodation upstairs – nine heritage rooms – along with the pub’s casual food offering. It’s no small task, which is why the Kin Kin Hotel opens four days a week, with The Woodshed serving dinner Thursday to Saturday. Weather permitting, dinner begins with snacks on the lawn, beneath a century-old native fig tree. House-cured Wessex saddleback ham, goat’s curd gougères and duck and elderberry macarons might open proceedings before guests head inside. A picnic-style spread follows, perhaps featuring pork and pistachio pâté en croûte, jersey milk cheese with candied kumquat, and sourdough – the pub has its own bakery across the road.
Hidden beneath one of South Australia’s oldest towns, Tread Lightly takes the only dedicated bar title in our Restaurant Awards.
Sometimes a new venue feels so intrinsically linked to the regional community in which it is nestled, you wonder how locals ever lived without it. When Tread Lightly emerged below Willunga’s main street in February, it did so without fanfare, marked by the appearance of a simple A-frame. This is one of South Australia’s oldest rural towns and the entrance, tucked behind a former art gallery, leads the way down slate stairs, past an underground bar to a charming grotto. Rustic stone walls and exposed wooden beams tell a story of 19th century authenticity, and young couple William and Trina Kay-McPhail believe in their historical Fleurieu Peninsula backdrop so deeply they bought the building. The duo searched long and hard for a community that “gets” their sustainability-focused ethos. Trina is studying Honours in Marine and Wildlife Conservation, and her focus on minimal waste is unwavering. Will, meanwhile, hails from the UK and has more than a decade of hospitality, event and mixology experience behind him. His small but classic cocktail list is crafted from the ground up and the roster of all-South Australian wines by the glass leans into thoughtful Fleurieu Peninsula producers. By-the-bottle options span small batch Australian heroes and the occasional Chablis and Champagne. There’s no pressure to order food but it would be foolish not to, from snacks to small, large and share plates. Young local chef Georg Delago preps plump hibachi-kissed mussel skewers, camel ragù, and dishes championing the likes of wild shot rabbit and traditionally less desirable protein sources from the local butcher. The pig’s head terrine and beef heart skewers are a must. Some people pop in purely for sticky toffee pudding and a St Agnes Bartender’s Cut Brandy nightcap. Yes, Tread Lightly is a 45-minute drive south of Adelaide’s CBD, yes it accepts purely walk-ins, and yes, it’s open Thursday to Sunday but the warm welcome and small but deeply thoughtful offering is well worth the effort. There’s zero pretence, just Will and Trina working the space with the relaxed, familiar approach of old friends while regulars high-five each other and newcomers gasp at the old-world magic of it all. All this, while most passers-by are oblivious to the great times going on below. It is a reminder that good things come in wholesome packages – and feels like a secret almost too good to share.
The dynamic chefs behind one of Melbourne's hottest restaurants are rising stars.
One of the most exciting movements in Australian dining right now is the rise of regional Indian cooking and the ways it’s being cleverly fused with the local dining scene. Saadi , the first restaurant from cooking and life partners Saavni Krishnan and Aditya Suresh, is a lesson in just how thrilling it is when this fusion is created by people with explicit knowledge and experience from both sides of the equation. Krishnan and Suresh don’t target a specific region of India. They grew up with influences from all over the country – Krishnan lived in Mumbai with her northern-raised mother and her father who was from the south, while Suresh’s family lived in various parts of India. Their mission? To combine those diverse influences with knowledge garnered from cooking in Australian kitchens like Manzé , Fred’s and G e mini . Honing their craft through an increasingly renowned series of pop-ups in existing restaurants including Hope St Radio and Public Wine Shop , they set about testing their own culinary philosophy (“Indian food, our way – beyond curry”) and gauging the interest of the local crowd in what they were doing. Their consideration of seasons and interest in working with small producers – the use of ex-dairy goats from Meredith Dairy is a delicious standout – drew the attention of Adi Halim ( Windsor Hotel , Aru ) – who offered them the ex-Sunda space in Melbourne’s CBD, initially as a pop-up and then, from September last year, as a permanent home. Their food at Saadi combines a lovely playfulness mixed with deft spicing and clean-lined flavours. Sticky-textured fermented and steamed idli are topped with fire-grilled and spiced carrots while their take on salli boti, a western Indian meat curry, sees it reinterpreted as a beef-carpaccio-like dish with a curry-based, blackened lime dressing and crisp-fried potato straws. They might team a traditional fudge-like barfi with a just-sour buttermilk sorbet or spit-roasted fish with a sesame chutney.
The most exciting restaurants in Sydney right now.
With a unique restaurant culture that celebrates seasonality, our love for the outdoors and the wealth of produce available in Australia, the Sydney restaurant scene is constantly evolving and impressing us with quality, creativity and culinary variety. From a Japanese restaurant following up an Eastern Suburbs favourite to a Middle Eastern restaurant in a converted church and a modern Chinese restaurant by the team behind a bunch of CBD stars, exciting places to eat continue to enter the Sydney scene — so there’s always a new restaurant worth your next booking. Here are the best new restaurants in Sydney that we’ve tried and loved. Rose Bay’s culinary footprint continues to expand, with Riva bringing a touch of la dolce vita to the waterfront. Harbour views serve as a backdrop for handmade pastas, briny and bright raw seafood dishes and easy-drinking Italian wines and spritzes. Tuscan head chef Manuel Bellanti’s menu features all’aragosta, strands of spaghetti slicked in a rich WA rock lobster bisque; and tortellini filled with baccalà in a puttanesca sauce. There are also neat parcels of ravioli del plin filled with mortadella and served in a delicate prosciutto-powered broth. Beyond the pasta program, a squid-ink risotto with prawns, saffron and rainbow chard stuns. Cocktail-wise, the Med-inspired menu has been split into three: aperitivo (featuring classic serves like the Rose Bay Bellini), signatures (including a Ligurian Martini finished with a salty, house-distilled hydrosol) and dolce (with drinks drawing inspiration from classic Italian desserts). Sun-kissed interiors take cues from Italian wooden cruiser boats, with upholstered banquettes, warm timber panelling, cork tables, scalloped chairs and brushed nickel finishes. The second restaurant in Rose Bay by SRG Hospitality, with Ripples Rose Bay operating downstairs, Riva is open for lunch and dinner Wednesday to Sunday Bookings can be made online .
Experiential dining and multi-sensory seasonal encounters continue to deepen its connection to the arts and culture.
With a beige-is-banned approach to design and programming, detailed customer service and impressive dining options, W Brisbane goes beyond frames on the walls, embedding the arts and culture across its luxury lifestyle offering. A genuine connection to creativity runs throughout the central Brisbane hotel, with views over the river from every guest room to the city’s main cultural precinct (with The Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art, and Queensland Performing Arts Centre). W Brisbane was recently announced as the official hotel partner of Queensland Ballet, joining its commitment to bringing ballet to new audiences — on and off stage. To celebrate the arts of performance and hospitality, W Brisbane held a Chef Series dinner on 1 August bringing ballet to the dining room with a private staging of a sequence from Queensland Ballet’s recent production of Hamlet . Designed to offer multi-sensory, imaginative dining experiences, the ongoing Chef Series pairs the worlds of food, wine, performance and more in W Brisbane’s signature riverfront restaurant The Lex . Delivered by executive chef John Kennedy (ex-Qualia) and the creative team led by director of marketing and communications Hannah Park, the Chef Series features menus of never-repeated dishes and accompanying flourishes that go beyond live music and wine pairings. Past events in the Chef Series include Taste the Storm (an electric journey through a Queensland storm, with Perrier-Jouët Champagne) and The Underground Exchange, delving into the history and production of truffle in Australia with themes of symbiosis and the ancient environment.
Basement bars and chic wine rooms for your next drink in Sydney.
Beyond its excellent restaurant scene, Sydney is always welcoming new bars from CBD basements to scenic rooftops, historic sites and neighbourhood haunts. Celebrating a work win over wine, sampling the cocktail menu during a long-overdue catch-up with a friend, or kicking on after a lunch or dinner call for finding a bar worthy of the occasion — so these are Sydney’s newest bars that should be on your radar for your next drink. The trio behind Bar Copains , Bessie’s and Vin-Cenzo’s have arrived at their fourth site, with La Buvette opening on Challis Avenue. Nathan and Sali Sasi and Morgan McGlone’s Parisian hot spot is more wine bar than restaurant, but food is still executed with great care and flair. Parisian bistro standards underpin a tightly edited menu of just 15 dishes. A handmade duck neck and pork sausage showcases classic French technique, and comes served boldly alongside a duck head, beak and all. There’s also steak au poivre and moules a la Normande with cider and crème fraîche, both of which are prime for swiping with duck fat French fries. A nod to Nathan Sasi’s formative time at the seminal restaurant Tetsuya’s comes via a raw diced tuna and goat’s curd tart. Little bites of saucisson, gougères with Comté custard and oysters are ideal for sitting alongside multiple glasses of wine, of which there’s 23 options by the glass. There are just nine bookable seats inside, so expect intimate vibes, while outside there’s plenty of seats for walkins, prime for perusing the French-focused wine list and people watching. What we’d drink: Order the Yves Cuilleron Les Vignes d’à Côté syrah with notes of pepper and black olive; or a Martini which comes garnished with a cornichon.
Your 2026 calendar for food, wine and harvest events around Australia.
Australia’s cultural calendar is packed year-round. From outdoor art installations in the summertime to cosy food festivals and one-off chef collaborations that draw us out of the house during the cooler months, the well of things to do in our cities never runs dry. So much so that it can feel a little daunting to know what to prioritise. To help narrow the field, we’ve rounded up the best things to eat, drink, see and do around the country in 2026. Consider this your insider’s guide. Looking for something more hands-on than a simple wine tasting? CHANDON Australia’s stunning estate in Yarra Valley is hosting a playful food and wine experience for you and your loved ones. At $80 a pop, guests will receive three pairings of Chandon sparkling wine, a shared cheese fondue with seasonal goods – think saucisson, grilled pear, pickles and more – and your own bingo wheel for the table. Plus, winners get a prize, so make sure you’re in it to win it. This August, treat yourself to the ultra-luxe duo of Champagne and lobster club sandwiches (with a side of housemade crisps) for $40 at Matt Moran’s Solotel restaurants, including: Aria, Chiswick, North Bondi Fish, Chophouse and Brisbane’s Riverbar & Kitchen. Developed by Aria executive chef Tom Gorringe, the lobster club sandwich adds an indulgent touch to the classic format, layering meaty pieces of lobster, LP’s mortadella, pickled green tomato, lettuce and spicy mayonnaise on soft shokupan bread for the perfect bite.
The European grill ignites a new era of a 70-year-old restaurant site.
Opening on Friday 7 August, Andrew McConnell and Jo McGann’s latest Melbourne restaurant, Côte Basque , is the duo’s first opening in the city since 2020. The Melbourne CBD site of Côte Basque, which has operated as a restaurant for almost 70 years now has a wood-fired grill and wood oven at its heart: “The core of our menu, and the focus, revolves around the grill and cooking with fire,” McConnell told Gourmet Traveller. “Côte Basque has been particularly special to develop because of the site and its history, and we are doing something quite different to what we’ve done in our other restaurants,” he says. The history in question stretches back to the 1950s, when Pellegrini’s Tavola Freddo Cantina opened before Becco opened in 1996. “The inspiration for Côte Basque comes purely from how produce is handled and cooked in the Basque. There are subtle Basque references and nods on the menu, but the simplest way to put it is it’s a European grill,” McConnell says. For the Melbourne chef and restaurateur, his interest in Basque cuisine started decades ago: “The first time I went there was as a young chef in the ‘90s,” he recalls. “The cooking there is unique. It’s not Spanish, and it’s not French either. It’s very different.” At the Melbourne restaurant, the menu is divided into a selection of à la carte dishes, and a dedicated grill offering. Highlights include a txangurro crab tart; boudin toast with smoked tomato and royal red prawns; and roast duck with treviso, Madeira prunes and mustard cream. Head chef Allan Doert Eccles highlights the ttoro: a Basque fish soup he describes as “a pure expression of the sea.”
Final weeks of winter flavours and special wine, food, whisky and produce offers await.
Tasmania makes the most of the unique sensory offerings its incredible location allows in the cooler months, with warming whisky, truffle tastings, crackling fires, and seasonal produce galore. Venues across the state (including wineries, restaurants, farms, distilleries, tourism experiences and more) develop exclusive Off Season offers giving you inside looks, immersive tastings and hands-on workshops, available from May to August, that prove there’s so much more to enjoy about winter in Tasmania than Dark Mofo. The Off Season is also your invitation to get out of the city and explore the beauty and high-quality hospitality of Tasmania’s smaller towns and regions, including Flinders Island, Freycinet and the rugged coastlines in all directions. Here’s what to experience in the final weeks of Tasmania’s Off Season. Take in the stunning Coal River Valley scenery on an intimate tour for two (plus the winery’s two adorable dogs, Sasha and Biscuit) guided by Caledon Estate’s owner or vineyard manager. Going beyond the cellar door and rows, you’ll encounter scenery across the 11-hectare estate and hear what it takes to make its stellar cool-climate cabernet sauvignon. Then, head back to the beautiful cellar door and restaurant for a glass of wine and canapes by the fire. Our suggestion? Plan on staying for lunch.
All of Melbourne's latest restaurant openings to have on your radar.
Melbourne has had a steady influx of impressive new restaurants, cosy new wine bars and revamped pubs to while away cooler days and moody evenings. From new rooftop venues to glitzy restaurants in the Melbourne CBD, the hottest new spot for your next booking changes on any given day. So, to keep you updated on all the best new Melbourne restaurants, we’ve handpicked this list of noteworthy venue openings that you should have on your radar. Here are the best new restaurants in Melbourne to know about (and book, ASAP). Melbourne’s Italian restaurant renaissance continues. Reviving a Lygon Street corner into a new ode to Italian dining, Delmonte is the ground-floor offering of Jamie Valmorbida’s (Pidapipo, Johnny’s Green Room) King & Godfree project. Having traded under the same liquor licence since the 1870s (and acquired by Jamie’s grandfather, Carlo, in the ’50s), the corner site now has a wood-fired grill and oven, with long bar counters and creamy tiling evoking its history as a deli. The menu by King & Godfree culinary director Karen Martini, executive chef Mark Glenn and head chef Diana Desensi ( Daphne , Julie) was designed to be flexible and timeless. “We wanted a menu people could come back to again and again and always find something new, while still feeling completely at home,” said Martini. “It’s produce-led and built on classical technique, but every dish still needs to feel unmistakably Italian.” Highlights include three-cheese suppli; a salumi selection including culatta, mortadella and Wagyu bresaola; fresh pasta like mezze maniche alla carbonara; and ham and fontina-stuffed pork costoletta from Donati’s Fine Meats — another Lygon Street institution Valmorbida rescued earlier in the year. A dedicated dessert station offers theatrical servings of crepes al forno with ricotta, mandarin and grappa, gelati and tiramisù. The drinks list spotlights Italian, and particularly Piedmontese, wine alongside back vintages from the King & Godfree cellar, and the usual Italian cocktail suspects. A custom hi-fi system, record player built into the bar and considered acoustic engineering have local vinyl DJs topping things off at the reimaigined neighbourhood haunt.
The best new restaurants around Australia to have on your radar.
We get it — it’s hard to keep up with the volume of restaurant openings in Australia, and decide where to eat next. Between neighbourhood spots you can’t wait to get to and impressive new developments in far-flung places you’re desperate to visit, the list of new restaurants we want to visit never gets shorter. Thanks to Australia’s top-tier chefs, sommeliers, bartenders, front-of-house staff and producers, our restaurant scene provides endless wonder. Whether you want to try somewhere new, or are visiting a new city and want to know where to eat first, we keep track of the restaurant openings you should know about. For some cities, we have dedicated guides to their best new restaurants. For everywhere else, read on to choose your next memorable meal in beautiful small-town destinations, Canberra, the Gold Coast, Tasmania and the Northern Territory. Former Icebergs Dining Room and Bar culinary director Alex Prichard (and his wife, Angie) has unveiled Sara Dining on the NSW South Coast. It’s part of Peter and Nadia Yannopoulos’s Linnaeus Collection , a unique accommodation concept offering luxury private residences, farms and suites across Berry with the service and amenities you’d expect from a high-end hotel. With the goal of growing 80 per cent of the fruit, vegetables and herbs used in the restaurant in the two on-site gardens, Prichard wants the destination restaurant to feel closely connected to its setting. “We want Sara Dining to feel like an extension of the farm,” he says, “a place where people can come for a long lunch, wander the gardens, and leave with a real sense of where their meal came from.” Prepared in an open kitchen in the converted garage and workshop, and on an outdoor parrilla grill, the menu stars NSW seafood, meat and dairy alongside the farm’s own produce. Dishes might look like vodka-battered brassica leaf with Margra lamb merguez and salsa verde aioli; wood-fired, butterflied Shoalhaven flathead with café de Paris butter; nettle tortellini with sheep and goats curd, peas and koji; retired dairy cow rib-eye; and a pavlova dressed with fruits from the farm.
The California restaurant will operate in Sydney for four weeks this winter.
Lauded California restaurant SingleThread has commenced its residency at Sydney’s Bathers’ Pavilion , running until 23 August, 2026. Operated by husband-and-wife team Kyle Connaughton (chef) and Katina Connaughton (head farmer), SingleThread holds three Michelin stars and was named the joint number-one restaurant in the world by La Liste in 2026 (sharing the title with nine others). Its philosophy and cuisine are built around vegetables, fruit, herbs, flowers, and honey grown on its own 24-acre farm in Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma County, supplemented by premium proteins, including seafood from Japan. The cuisine of the Healdsburg restaurant (about 20 minutes’ drive from the farm) applies a Japanese and Korean lens to the tenderly produced ingredients, reflecting Kyle’s career which includes experience as the head chef of research and development at The Fat Duck under Heston Blumenthal, with noted French chef Michel Bras (also known for a love of dressing plates with flowers), and at traditional kaiseki restaurants. “SingleThread is about the dialogue between farm, kitchen and guest,” said Kyle Connaughton. “Coming to Sydney allows us to explore that philosophy through Australia’s extraordinary produce while maintaining the integrity of what defines us.” The Sydney residency is delivered in the same format as SingleThread’s Californian restaurant, following a 10-course tasting menu beginning with a hassun-style snack course of individual bites sharing the pinnacle of produce available that day, presented on a visually stunning bed of flowers. “The way florals are integrated into dishes and presentations is our way of bringing the outdoors in — showing what today feels like,” says Kyle. “We grow our own cut flowers and also use floral materials from the agricultural process — bolting asparagus, cabbage going to seed, tomato vines, peas on the vine — highlighting the beauty in farming. We’ll work on ways to tell that story in Sydney, combining a sense of place with a sense of California.”
Read later It’s hard to comprehend that Sydney could fit – and then support – another bakery. But when a newcomer arrives with an ex- Tetsuya’s chef at the helm, and two award-winning bakers captaining the oven, you know the city will simply squeeze another carby pitstop into the mix. Meet Little River, the 40 Res team’s new Surry Hills bakery. The bakery officially opens this week, in a space two doors up from the new-ish wine bar. On the front counter, you’ll find deep-brown croissants, danishes and topsy-turvy laminated cinnamon buns lined up on silver trays, with house-baked loaves lining the shelves behind. There are made-to-order sandwiches (including a baguette with nothing but house-made mustard butter and jamon made at Petersham’s Spanish Portuguese Butchery ) too, plus pies and sausage rolls. The bakery (and soon-to-be grocer) is something owners Josh Raine (ex-Tetsuya’s exec chef) and his wife Keliann Zellman had always planned – just not so soon. “When we came up with some limitations on the space itself, we thought ‘Right, well, we’ve already got [an idea of] what we want to do,” Zellman says of the space originally intended as 40 Res’s private dining room. “Let’s go now.” The kitchen is four times the size of 40 Res’s – a lucky streak that continued when ex-Tetsuya’s colleagues (and married couple) Hannah and Joe Gray reached out. The celebrated bakers – who recently closed Little Sugar , their bakery in Kent – were moving back. “They said, ‘Hey, we’re going to be in Sydney, do you know of anywhere we can bake?’ And Josh was like, ‘Yes I do’.”
Read later Kisa’s story is as romantic as its name. Couple (and long-time hospo workers) Sophia Richardson and Wez Smeda-Healy welcomed Sydney to their bar last week, in a heritage terrace on a corner in Glebe. The pair met working at a Melbourne cafe. Bartender Smeda-Healy had cut his teeth at local heavyweights like Bar Planet , Deadwax , The Waratah and Piccolo , and Melbourne’s Borsch, Vodka & Tears . Richardson was on the day shift, until she decided to jump into the evening scene – working at wine bars while they hunted for a spot to call their own. Now they have it, where pendant lights glow warmly above a room dressed with a happy jumble of second-hand furniture, and hand-painted tiles decorate the wall behind the bar. Smeda-Healy is behind said bar shaking up a considered list of cocktails – four alcoholic, one mocktail – and pouring a cheekily named shot called Polish Bitch, a heady mix of vodka, cherry syrup and chilli.
Read later There’s a new neighbourhood cafe overlooking the Georges River in Sydney’s south – and it’s here to add something new to the area. Meet Bakers Dozen, a new spot for pastries, brekkie and more. “We wanted to give people an experience,” says owner Alyssa Sarigiannis, of the spot just back from the Sans Souci waterfront. “You walk into the space, and you can see the pastry chefs making everything.” Leading that kitchen is Clement Bazin. The French pastry chef has been on chocolate duty at Laduree and Eric Kayser in Paris, as well as working as the head pastry chef at Zumbo in Sydney. In Singapore, he was the pastry sous at the Michelin-starred Joel Robuchon Restaurant and L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon, before returning to Sydney as the executive pastry chef at the Park Hyatt. Dine in at Bakers Dozen and you’ll catch Bazin preparing the next day’s baked goods through a window into the kitchen. Up front, these are fanned out across a burnt-orange marble countertop, forming a colourful mosaic of treats welcoming you in. There are danishes topped with pretty piles of fruit, and generously sized plaits crowned with berries. Classic croissants are in attendance too, plus sugar-coated serves topped with perfectly piped meringue or lemon curd. Their savoury siblings could be topped with sautéed mushrooms, gruyere, caramelised onions and confit garlic, or a medley of roasted veggies, olives and feta.
Read later In 2021, Kate and Cam Reid opened Moon on Fitzroy’s Rose Street. The idea was to bring some joy, in the form of crullers, to Melburnians coming in and out of lockdown. The deep-fried choux pastry rings crunch like a churro on the outside and yield like a soft canelé on the inside. The siblings began serving the crullers from a small room next to the office they also run Lune from. Little did we know, that was just a pop-up until a better space could be found. It took five years, but Moon has finally landed on Degraves Street. “We only ever wanted to move once, so we knew we had to take our time,” Kate says. “Degraves Street is iconic, it’s such an important part of Melbourne’s culture, so when this space became available, we knew it was the right one.” Moon’s menu is ever-changing and the move to the CBD comes with another refresh. As always, there are six crullers on rotation. The opening menu has cinnamon, passionfruit, vanilla, cappuccino, chocolate, and a Homer Simpson-esque strawberry sprinkle number. There’s also Ona coffee, Mork hot chocolate, and chai from Chai La Lai.
Read later Influenced by Malay, Chinese, Indian and Peranakan cuisines, Singaporean food is remarkably diverse. But few dishes encapsulate the country’s culinary identity quite like Hainanese chicken rice. Adapted from dishes brought by Hainanese immigrants from China, it has become one of Singapore’s unofficial national dishes, spawning countless hawker stalls and even an entire restaurant chain dedicated to it: Wee Nam Kee. Now, more than three decades after opening in 1989, the brand has arrived in Melbourne CBD, with a soft launch last Friday, August 14. It has outlets across Singapore, Indonesia, Japan and the Philippines, but this is its first Australian location. The franchise has been introduced by JC Hospitality Group, which also operates Japanese chain Nana’s Green Tea . Director Andy Indra used to live 15 minutes’ walk from a Wee Nam Kee in Singapore and became a regular customer long before bringing the brand to Australia. “So far in Melbourne, no one is really serving authentic Singapore chicken rice,” he says.
Read later When warm weather hits, few south-side beer gardens pump like the Windsor Castle’s. The pub got into financial trouble at the end of 2024 and landed in the hands of new operator Liam Ganley in March 2025, who brought a vision for refreshing the 155-year-old pub. Ganley, who also runs Carlton Club , Angus & Bon and others, has been locked in a back-and-forth with Stonnington council for most of this year. He wanted to spend several million dollars renovating. Phase one was to install a sound-blocking brick wall in the beer garden, which involved removing a Bhutan cypress tree on the property’s boundary (not to be confused with the large fig tree that dominates the beer garden). The council initially denied the building request, then agreed on the premise that a replacement tree was planted. Negotiations stalled after Ganley said there wasn’t room on the property to replant. Eventually, the parties agreed that the Bhutan cypress could be removed if Ganley planted some replacement trees elsewhere. “It was a bit of a drawn-out process, but thankfully we’ve got it all resolved now,” Ganley says. “Works on the pub are underway and we’re doing some planting in a nearby local park.”
Read later The French-trained pastry chef Arthur Carré is the creative mind behind the desserts and treats across Anyday’s stable of restaurants including The French Exit , Golden Avenue and Agnes . His CV includes time spent leading pastry teams in luxury hotels like Sydney’s Capella . When he’s not in the kitchen, these are the Brisbane venues he’s frequenting and the dishes he’s ordering. Your favourite dish at an Anyday venue “The hazelnut profiteroles at The French Exit . I couldn’t decide whether to create something closer to a classic profiterole or a Paris-Brest, and my partner, Taylor, had the idea of combining both into one dish. The result came together so well.” Best thing you’ve eaten in Brisbane this year (so far) “The Silent Garden cake from Mountain River Patisserie. It was amazing. I thought the flavours might be too different at first, but the combination was just incredible. Everything worked so beautifully together. It had genmaicha almond cake, yuzu cream, black sesame chiffon, black sesame cream, genmaicha cream, matcha biscuits, and black sesame biscuits.” A local gem you think deserves more hype “ Biang Biang Fresh Noodle . It’s such a comforting meal, the flavours are great, and the people are lovely. I always enjoy being there.”
Read later Since arriving in Brisbane a decade ago, Indonesian chef Alfan “Alfie” Musthafa has had a big impact on the city’s Southeast Asian food scene. He helmed the kitchen at Luckies and Pawpaw , and helped found South Brisbane’s Ma Pa Me – a homage to his grandparents’ farm in West Java, where he learnt to cook – before opening Warisan in 2024, an exploration of regional Indonesian cuisine. Now, he’s dipping into homestyle Burmese cooking at Sorai, his new restaurant in Carina. The venture was inspired by a visit to the Global Food Markets in Woodridge with his Myanmar-born sous-chef Laga “Bosco” Htoi. “He took me to the markets and introduced me to Burmese food at his auntie’s stall,” Musthafa told us in July. “I thought, ‘This is so good, why are there no Burmese restaurants in Brisbane?’” The pair teamed up with Htoi’s friends Min Hein Kyaw and Su Sabai Zaw to address the deficit, landing on a modern Southeast Asian menu that’s about 50 per cent Burmese. We asked the prolific chef and restaurateur for his latest Brisbane dining picks, plus tips for cooking at home. “My all-time favourite dish on the menu is the Rendang Mamah Uun. It is my mum’s beef rendang recipe. It’s not just a delicious dish, but it has an emotional story behind it too: the memories of her, the love she puts into it when she cooks, and the effort she made to create such amazing food for her family. All of these reasons add value to the dish. It’s not just a dish, it’s a story I want to share with our customers.”
Read later We blinked, and suddenly it was June. It’s been a busy year for Brisbane and, although summer packed a bigger punch with 10 new openings , autumn still served up some serious new openings, including a neo-Nordic bistro, a Sydney transplant and a new late-night bar. Here – in alphabetical order – are six new spots we loved, plus two pivots. It’s been a big year for the Snug team. Jane’s Deli opened its doors in summer and Bar Cooper’s joined the fray in March to complete the trilogy of neighbouring venues. Much of the menu is based around the central woodfired oven. Fed with ironbark, it can reach 500 degrees Celsius and churns out dishes like woodfired oysters with chicken velouté and tarragon, flatbread with green garlic butter and parmesan, wood-roasted fish with jalapeno and coriander sauce, and a dry-aged Wagyu cheeseburger. The wine list leans European, in contrast to Snug’s Australian-only selection, but the fit-out echoes the team’s characteristic restraint with timber, bronze tiles and dark tones.
This little neighbourhood restaurant run by a wife-and-husband team is as delightful – and as seasonal – as it gets.
French flavours meet open flames at this smart, lively bistro in Newcastle’s steel heart.
Hit up Bistro 1828 at the Fortune of War for pub grub and affordable drinks in the heart of The Rocks.
This Potts Point wine bar has a new chef, $19 pasta and wine nights and Banana Espresso Martinis (yes, please).
This beautful spot is a natural wine haven – with punchy snacks and a banging bottomless brunch to match.
Sydney’s self-professed “Home of the Negroni”, Frankie Cadillac’s is loud and brash – but behind the attitude, the drinks go down dangerously smooth.
Photograph: Supplied | Cabana Bar Leave the humdrum of city streets behind and follow the neon signs up to Cabana Bar. The tropical bar is decked out with beachy touches like rattan furniture, festoon lighting and a garden brimming with tropical plants. The highlight? A sprawling outdoor terrace overlooking Martin Place. Thanks to a recent expansion, the terrace now fits up to 200 people and features its very own bar, so there’s no need to venture inside for a refill. With summer practically in full swing, it’s the perfect pitstop after a day of Christmas shopping or an early mark. Whether you’re settling in for a long lunch or rounding out the day with knock-off drinks, Cabana Bar is a small slice of paradise in the heart of the city. Just don’t wait too long to visit, the extended terrace is only here until the end of the year.
Come down to Heaps Normal’s Health Club for non-alc drinks, dancing and good times.
Come for plant-based cinnamon buns and bagels, pastries and pies, celebration cakes and all-day brunch.
From the Bar Copains team, La Buvette brings big French energy to Challis Avenue – and come early to get a seat.
Full details of the five major exhibitions have now been released – and four out of five will be completely free.
Atura Oran Park hotel will open 20 minutes from Western Sydney Airport, with an opening date still to be confirmed.
Sydney Summertime will pop up in Centennial this summer – brought to life by the people behind major Australian music events.
This month's full moon in Pisces is bringing big karmic energy – here's what you need to know about seeing it from NSW.
There’s still plenty of fun to be had at Perisher – consider this your sign to squeeze in one last trip.
We've rounded up the six best spots in NSW to see gorgeous seasonal flowers this spring, all within easy reach of Sydney
Australian Vintage Limited (AVL) has delivered its first positive underlying free cash flow since FY22, and has laid "a solid foundation for FY27 and beyond".
Australian Vintage Limited (AVL) has delivered its first positive underlying free cash flow since FY22, as the wine producer’s inventory reset and investment in new brands helped establish what it described as “a solid foundation for FY27 and beyond”. In the 2026 financial year AVL generated underlying free cash flow of $2m, excluding $16m in one-off growth investments and restructuring costs. That represented a $15m improvement on FY25 and a $35m turnaround from the negative $33m recorded in FY23. Operating cash flow improved by $12m to $4m, while second-half cash generation reached $21m, which was $23m ahead of the prior corresponding period. AVL said in its results report that cash generation was part of the strategi plan outlined by the company.
The Australian wine industry is mourning the death of Mick Morris OAM, the revered Morris of Rutherglen winemaker.
The Australian wine industry is mourning the death of Mick Morris OAM, the revered Morris of Rutherglen winemaker whose knowledge, generosity and dedication to his craft influenced generations of Australian winemakers. Morris, whose full name was Charles Henry Morris, recently celebrated his 98th birthday surrounded by family. He was a much-loved husband, father and grandfather, as well as a respected mentor and one of the most important figures in Rutherglen’s winemaking history. Announcing his passing, David and Madden Morris said Mick’s contribution extended well beyond the renowned family winery and the Rutherglen region. “Mick was so important to Australian wine on so many levels. Over a lifetime dedicated to his craft, he made an enduring contribution to the evolution and success of the Australian wine industry,” the family said.
Hickson House has appointed Fesq & Company as its national sales and distribution partner, to expand its presence across Australia.
Hickson House has appointed Fesq & Company as its national sales and distribution partner, as the Sydney spirits brand looks to expand its presence across Australia’s on- and off-premise channels. Founded by hospitality professionals Mikey Enright and Julian Train, Hickson House will join Fesq & Company’s growing spirits portfolio, with the distributor taking responsibility for the brand’s Australian sales and distribution. Fesq & Company Managing Director Harriet Fesq said the partnership would focus on increasing Hickson House’s presence with venues and retailers around the country. “Hickson House brings genuine hospitality credibility and a distinctive and versatile gin range. We’re thrilled to welcome Hickson House to the Fesq portfolio and build its presence behind bars and on shelves across Australia,” she said.
The free webinar will be presented by the ABAC Chief Adjudicator, Professor Michael Lavarch AO and will look at insights, trends and standards.
Presented by the ABAC Chief Adjudicator, Professor Michael Lavarch AO, the webinar will also include will also allow participants to test their knowledge of Code standards and engage in a Q&A. All registrants will be provided with a link to the webinar and password prior to the event. ABAC has reminded industry marketers that it provides a pre-vetting service that significantly reduces the risk of a panel breach and supports responsibility in alcohol marketing. More information about the pre-vetting service is available through the ABAC website . Registration for the webinar is essential, you can register here .
Kirin Hyoketsu is continuing to build momentum in 2026, with two exciting […]
Kirin Hyoketsu is continuing to build momentum in 2026, with two exciting flavour launches bringing more choice for shoppers: the return of fan-favourite Mandarin and the arrival of Mango in a brand new 440ml can. After an incredibly successful limited-edition run in 2025, Kirin Hyoketsu Mandarin is officially back by popular demand, this time joining the brand’s core range. Made with vodka, soda and natural mandarin juice, Kirin Hyoketsu Mandarin comes in at 6% ABV and with less than 1g of sugar, using the brand’s signature Hyoten Toketsu technology to lock in the freshness and intensity of the natural fruit flavour. The result is a crisp balance of slightly sweet and sour mandarin notes, with a clean, refreshing finish, without any lingering aftertaste. Alongside this iconic comeback, consumers will love the launch of something refreshingly new – Kirin Hyoketsu Mango. The first of the brand to launch in a larger 440ml can, Kirin Hyoketsu Mango helps retailers tap into more impulse opportunities, micro-occasions and convenience shopper missions, especially at check-out. A single, larger chilled can is a great basket builder, giving consumers an easy ready-to-go option.
Thirty-three live music venues in NSW will receive government funding for upgrades to reduce costs, improve facilities and attract customers.
Thirty-three live music venues across NSW will share $3.8m in State Government funding for upgrades aimed at helping operators reduce costs, improve their facilities and attract more customers. The latest round of Venue Upgrade Grants will support metropolitan and regional venues with projects including soundproofing, audio-visual equipment, staging and energy-efficiency improvements. A new funding stream will also support screens and lighting as venues look to strengthen their live entertainment offering. The funding comes as hospitality and live music operators continue to contend with rising operating costs and pressure on revenues, with Minister for Arts, Music and the Night-time Economy John Graham pointing to the recent closure of several Sydney venues. “In the last few months we’ve lost more than five venues in Sydney including Mary’s Underground and Moshpit Bar. These are venues that constantly staged and championed live music, which shows how much pressure our venues are under,” Graham said.
While the Coles Group delivered solid FY26 growth, Coles Liquor was a clear weak point with lower revenue and a decline in profit, prompting a multi-year liquor repositioning.
The Coles Group has delivered its full 2026 financial year results, which showed strong earnings growth driven by supermarkets, but a decline in liquor sales revenue has prompted multi-year program to reposition the liquor division. Liquor sales revenue declined 3.3 per cent to $3.55bn in the 52 weeks to 28 June, while comparable sales fell 3.4 per cent. EBITDA was down 19.1 per cent to $199m and EBIT dropped 47.8 per cent, from $113m to $59m. The result contrasted with the wider Coles business, where group sales increased 2.8 per cent to $45.58bn and EBIT excluding significant items rose 9.9 per cent to $2.32bn. Supermarkets sales grew 3.7 per cent to $41.47bn, while supermarket EBIT increased 12.2 per cent to $2.37bn. Coles Group Managing Director and CEO Leah Weckert said: “We know what matters most to our customers – delivering great value, quality and convenience every time they shop with us. We have made significant progress over the last three years, and have a strong plan for the year ahead to keep improving the customer offer, strengthen the business and support sustainable long term growth.”
Wine Communicators of Australia has named Peter Bourne, widely known as The Wine Man, as the 2026 NSW Legend of the Vine.
Wine Communicators of Australia (WCA) has named Peter Bourne, widely known as The Wine Man, as the 2026 NSW Legend of the Vine, recognising his five decades of contribution to Australian wine. Bourne received the honour at the 2026 Sydney Royal Wine Awards Lunch on Friday, 21 August, joining a group of industry figures recognised for their contribution to the wine sector and excellence in wine communication. Presenting the award, WCA NSW Chapter Committee Chair Brian Chase Olson said Bourne’s career reflected the qualities at the heart of the Legend of the Vine accolade. “This honour recognises someone of exceptional character; someone held in deep regard by their peers; and someone who has made an outstanding contribution to the Australian wine industry. And, because this award is created by us – Wine Communicators of Australia – the recipient must also embody excellence in how they write, speak, and share the stories of wine.”
Australia's young grape and wine professional network Rootlings has appointed new State Champions for Queensland and Tasmania.
Australia’s young grape and wine professional network Rootlings has appointed new State Champions for Queensland and Tasmania as membership of the program grows to more than 700 people nationally. Launched in 2024, Rootlings is a peer-to-peer support network for grape and wine professionals aged under 35, designed to foster industry connections, professional development and collaboration. The Wine Australia-funded program, administered by the Australian Society of Viticulture and Oenology (ASVO), has now grown to 723 members. The network has appointed Dan Sowinski, a Brisbane-based sales representative at The Wine Tradition, as its first Queensland State Champion, while House of Arras and Handpicked Wines winemaker Peter Macauley has been named State Champion for Tasmania. Rootlings National Project Officer Jenna Vaughan said the State Champions would play an important role in building connections between young wine professionals at a regional level.
Thirty-three live music venues in NSW will receive government funding for upgrades to reduce costs, improve facilities and attract customers.
Thirty-three live music venues across NSW will share $3.8m in State Government funding for upgrades aimed at helping operators reduce costs, improve their facilities and attract more customers. The latest round of Venue Upgrade Grants will support metropolitan and regional venues with projects including soundproofing, audio-visual equipment, staging and energy-efficiency improvements. A new funding stream will also support screens and lighting as venues look to strengthen their live entertainment offering. The funding comes as hospitality and live music operators continue to contend with rising operating costs and pressure on revenues, with Minister for Arts, Music and the Night-time Economy John Graham pointing to the recent closure of several Sydney venues. “In the last few months we’ve lost more than five venues in Sydney including Mary’s Underground and Moshpit Bar. These are venues that constantly staged and championed live music, which shows how much pressure our venues are under,” Graham said.
The Australian superstar will become the global face of Archie Rose with a view to taking the brand, and Australian spirits, around the world.
Chris Hemsworth has joined Will Edwards as co-owner of Archie Rose Distilling Co, with a view to taking the award-winning whisky and spirits company into the United States for the first time, followed by further global expansion into New Zealand, Asia, the EU and the UK. Hemsworth said he has admired Archie Rose for a long time and that he is excited to be part of this next stage of growth for both the brand and Australian spirits in general. “I’ve been a fan of Archie Rose for a long time,” he said. “Wherever I am in the world, tasting an Archie Rose whisky immediately transports me right back home, to that feeling of sitting around a campfire in the Australian bush with my mates. “Their ethos of only using Australian grown malts to produce flavour packed whiskies at their Sydney distillery is truly awesome. They’re a brilliant example of what Australia does best and I can’t wait to share that with the world.”
Endeavour Group has reported a sharp fall in profit for the 2026 financial year, as investment in lower liquor prices, cost inflation and expenses associated with its transformation strategy weighed on earnings.
Endeavour Group has reported a sharp fall in profit for the 2026 financial year, as investment in lower liquor prices, cost inflation and expenses associated with its transformation strategy weighed on earnings. Group sales increased 1.3 per cent to $12.21bn, but underlying earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) fell 8.7 per cent to $845m. Underlying net profit after tax declined 14.8 per cent to $363m, while statutory profit fell 87.8 per cent to $52m following $311m in after-tax significant items. Endeavour Group Managing Director and CEO Jayne Hrdlicka said: “The F26 full year result reflects a period where the group started to implement the actions required to execute its strategy and realise the potential of our portfolio of retail and hotel assets. “We have made good progress in executing the initial phase of our strategy. Sales momentum in Retail is building, with customers responding positively to our renewed focus on value and price leadership. Following the introduction of lower shelf prices in Dan Murphys at the end of Q1 F26, and the decision to lift our promotional competitiveness and value orientation across both Dan Murphy’s and BWS, our retail business is consistently gaining share, delivering 10 consecutive months of sales growth.”
The 2026 Australian Women in Wine National Symposium will examine leadership, workforce development and building a more resilient industry.
The 2026 Australian Women in Wine National Symposium will bring together leaders from across the grape and wine sector in Melbourne next month to examine leadership, workforce development and building a more resilient industry. Taking place at Lakeside Pavilion, Albert Park on Tuesday, 15 September, the Symposium will be held under the theme ‘Rising Together – Shaping What Comes Next’, with wine leaders, growers, winemakers, researchers, business owners and emerging professionals taking part. The event comes as the Australian wine sector faces significant structural and market challenges. The 2026 national winegrape crush fell 19 per cent to 1.27 million tonnes , its smallest in more than 25 years, while export value declined eight per cent to $2.34bn in the 12 months to December 2025. Australian Women in Wine Chair Rachel Triggs said addressing workforce diversity and inclusion should form part of the industry’s response to those broader challenges.
The winners of the 2026 Sydney Royal Wine Show have been announced marking a milestone year for the Royal Agricultural Society of NSW.
The Royal Agricultural Society (RAS) of NSW has celebrated the winners of its 2026 Sydney Royal Wine Show – a milestone year, marking 200 years since wine was first included in the 1826 Agricultural Society of NSW Show. Critiqued by an experienced and diverse judging panel, over 1,500 wines were assessed blindly over a week to determine the best of the best. In 2026, Sydney Royal Wine Show presented 105 gold medals to winemakers from across Australia, with around 58.5 per cent of all wines entered being recognised with a gold, silver, or bronze medal. Sydney Royal medals are awarded only to products that meet or exceed rigorous benchmarks serving as a trusted mark of quality.
Melbourne’s hospitality trade is invited to Spirited Locals, a free trade tasting and panel event showcasing nine Victorian distilleries.
Melbourne’s hospitality trade is invited to Spirited Locals, a free trade tasting and panel event showcasing nine Victorian distilleries . Motivating venues to champion Victorian spirits behind the bar, the event will highlight the breadth and versatility of what Victorian distillers are producing with a format that gives attendees the opportunity to meet with each maker. Hosted by Vic Distilled and the Spirits Victoria Association, Spirited Locals will be held at Brogan’s Way Distillery in Richmond on Monday 31 August. The event is free to attend for bartenders, venue managers, operators and owners. The event begins with a welcome reception where cocktails will showcase a selection of Victorian spirits, before Vic Distilled Ambassador Tayla Kendall hosts a panel discussion with the distillers. The conversation will highlight the commercial case for using locally made spirits – from operational benefits to shifting consumer sentiment and the sheer variety of spirits available from the state’s 188 distilleries.
The new education prize is offering emerging on- and off-premise wine professionals the opportunity to win a week-long immersive trip to the Champagne region.
Champagne Bureau Australia has launched a new national professional development initiative offering emerging sommeliers, hospitality and fine wine professionals the opportunity to travel to Champagne and experience the region firsthand. The Champagne Education Prize is open to Australian hospitality and fine wine retail professionals aged under 35, with two successful candidates to receive a one-week educational visit to Champagne in May 2027. Champagne Bureau Australia Director John Noble said the initiative recognises the role hospitality and retail professionals play in communicating Champagne to Australian consumers. “Every bottle of Champagne has a story, but its Australia’s sommeliers, fine-wine retailers and hospitality professionals who bring that story to life for their customers every day.
Paramount Liquor is starting to distribute Lion's full keg and packaged beverage portfolio across Tasmania from 31 August.
Paramount Liquor is starting to distribute Lion’s full keg and packaged beverage portfolio across Tasmania from 31 August. The agreement comes four months after Paramount launched in Tasmania and will see Lion products distributed to hospitality venues through Paramount’s newly established warehouse and delivery network in the state. Orders will be fulfilled from Paramount’s Moonah warehouse by its in-house operations team and delivered by locally based drivers, with empty keg collection also included as part of the service. Paramount Liquor’s Tasmania General Manager Chris Brown said the company’s experience managing Lion’s distribution in South Australia would help support the Tasmanian transition.
As the English Premier League prepares to kick off another exciting season, venues across Australia are ready to show all the action through Stan Sport.
As the English Premier League (EPL) prepares to kick off another exciting season, venues across Australia are ready to show all the action through Stan Sport. After several seasons knocking at the champions’ door, Arsenal finally broke through last year to claim its first title in 22 years. The Gunners had finished second in each of the previous three seasons, and now Mikel Arteta’s men face the new challenge of proving they can do it again. Arsenal’s cause could be helped by several of their leading challengers entering new eras. Enzo Maresca has replaced Pep Guardiola at Manchester City, Andoni Iraola has taken charge of Liverpool, Xabi Alonso is beginning his Chelsea rebuild and Roberto De Zerbi has arrived at Tottenham. One venue excited to welcome the new season is Pig ‘N’ Whistle, which has been renowned as the home of football for more than 25 years and is ready to build on an exciting summer of football.
After eight years with the organisation, including four as its CEO, Lee McLean has announced he is leaving Australian Grape & Wine.
After eight years with the organisation, including four as its CEO, Lee McLean has announced he is leaving Australian Grape & Wine (AGW) at the end of September. McLean said it had been a great privilege to serve Australia’s grape growers and winemakers. “I’ve given this role everything I have, and I know it’s the right time to step away and allow space for fresh thinking and leadership. “I am eternally grateful for the support of my wonderful team, past and present, who have worked so hard for the industry during my time as CEO.”
Jemmeson was the second women featured through Collabor8women’s partnership with Joval Wines, designed to highlight female leadership in winemaking.
Professional networking collective Collabor8Women hosted its second ever Gold Access Member event, spotlighting Joval Wine’s Callie Jemmeson. Founder and Winemaker of boutique Yarra Valley label Pachamama, Jemmeson has been named a finalist in both the Australian Women in Wine Awards and the Young Gun of Wine Awards. Held at the Coco Republic Showroom in Alexandria, the invitation-only event welcomed Jemmeson for a Q&A, discussing her wine, inspiration and creative experiences. Throughout the evening members tasted four of Pachamama’s wines from its 2025 vintage.
Lucas says the opening is the culmination of years of demand from diners that live in the Northern Beaches.
Restaurateur Chris Lucas will open a second Sydney Chin Chin in Manly next year, marking the restaurant’s fourth iteration. The 100-seat Manly restaurant on Raglan Street joins the original Flinders Lane restaurant in Melbourne, Surry Hills in Sydney, and Club Chin Chin at GMHBA Stadium in Geelong. The opening will be led by founding Chef Benjamin Cooper and Chin Chin Sydney Executive Chef Matthew MacLeod, who has led the Surry Hills kitchen its inception. Designed around an open kitchen and bar, the Manly restaurant will serve Chin Chin favourites including kingfish sashimi; crispy barramundi and green apple salad with caramelised pork; and massaman curry; alongside a selection of new dishes created exclusively for the location by Cooper and MacLeod.
The menu will highlight dishes from current and past chefs including Roy Ner, Ben Williamson, Paul Farag, and Ibrahim Kasif.
Middle Eastern restaurant Nour is bringing back the dishes that have shaped the restaurant over the past decade to mark its 10 year anniversary. The “Decade of Dishes” menu will include signature dishes from four chefs who have shaped the Surry Hills kitchen, including Roy Ner (2018), Ben Williamson (2019), Paul Farag (2019-2024), and Ibrahim Kasif (2024-2026). Since opening in 2016, Nour has showcased modern Middle Eastern cuisine reimagined through an Australian lens – centered on wood-fired cooking, share-style mezze, and fresh local produce. Esca Group Co-Founder and Creative Director Ibby Moubadder says 10 years ago, they opened Nour with the simple idea: to create Middle Eastern food that honours tradition, but pushes boundaries.
Wine lovers can enjoy Chablis and Sydney Rock Oysters at venues around Sydney from 31 August to 13 September.
In 2024, Australia became the 10th largest market for Chablis – the renowned French region known for its eponymous cool-climate wines made solely using chardonnay grapes. In recognition of Australia’s love of the wine and to celebrate the region Chablis Wines and Merivale are reuniting for the second edition of Chablis Week from 31 August to 13 Septemeber. Chablis’ terroir is made up of marine-based limestone soils. The region’s Kimmeridgian soil imparts a distinct minerality due to the presence of small oyster fossils from the Jurassic geological era when a warm, shallow sea covered the region. Portlandian soil, which is found on higher slopes and plateaus, is limestone-rich and used to grow Petit Chablis wines, often characterised by a lighter, flesher style with notes of citrus and less minerality.
The group's Gold Coast debut will feature a conversation between WCR Founder Laura Goldberg and hospitality expert Simone Tunbridge.
Women in Cafes and Restaurants (WCR) has announced a special Gold Coast event on 23 September. WCR was created to connect, support and elevate women working across hospitality, from owners and operators to chefs, managers, suppliers, and emerging leaders. “Over the past year we’ve hosted events in Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane, and bringing the community to the Gold Coast felt like a really important next step,” WCR Founder Laura Goldberg tells Hospitality . “The Gold Coast has such a strong and growing hospitality scene, with some incredible women driving venues, teams, and businesses, yet there are still relatively few spaces where women across the industry can come together, have honest conversations, and build genuine connections outside their own venues.
The bakery sits adjacent to 40Res and offers somewhere to pick up fresh bread, pastries, and coffee.
The team behind restaurant and wine bar 40Res has expanded its offering with the opening of Little River, a bakery and provisions store. The new opening at 44 Reservoir Street from Josh Raine and Keliann Zellman was born from a desire to create a place that feels part of the everyday rhythm of Surry Hills. While their first venue, 40Res, focusses on produce-led cooking and boutique wines, Little River offers somewhere to pick up fresh bread, pastries, and to grab a coffee. The Little River venue, which is named after the couple’s son, River, neighbours 40Res and was originally considered as a private dining space for the restaurant. However, a bakery was something Raine and Zellman say they have talked about doing for years.
The Nestlé Golden Chef’s Hat Award has announced the finalists for the 61st edition of the competition.
The Nestlé Golden Chef’s Hat Award has announced the finalists for the 61st edition of the competition. The award is Australia’s longest-running culinary competition for young chefs. It aims to shape future foodservice leaders through hands-on experience and industry recognition, opening doors to unique, career-making opportunities. Previous alumni include Tom Hitchcock , Shane Middleton , Telina Menzies , Jake Kellie , Richard Ousby , Matthew Wynn , Massimo Mele , and Bethany Neumann . Now entering its seventh decade, the competition promises to be a special one in 2026. In this series, Hospitality introduces the finalists selected from across Australia and New Zealand for the coveted 12 spots in the 2026 Nestlé Golden Chef’s Hat Award Grand Final. Nestlé Professional Commercial Advisory Chef Karl Seidel said that the award continues to provide meaningful career pathways for young talent.
The NSW Government this week announced the inaugural Sydney Summertime, set to take place at Centennial Park next February and March.
A new concert series coming to Sydney next February and March is promising to celebrate the “best” of New South Wales food and drink. The NSW Government this week announced the inaugural Sydney Summertime, which is expected to bring thousands of music fans to Sydney, supporting local businesses and the visitor economy. The Centennial Park event, which will feature major international and Australian artists, will also include artisan markets with Sydney restaurants, bars, food trucks, and cellar doors. According to the NSW government, the event is expected to generate an estimated $8 million in visitor expenditure, providing a boost to accommodation providers, hospitality businesses, retailers, and other businesses across the state.
The extended trading hours means hospitality businesses can open early without having to apply for permission.
Hospitality businesses along the Sydney Marathon route can open early for the race this weekend without having to apply for permission. The extended trading hours are available under the New South Wales’ vibrancy reforms, which reduces red tape and allows local councils to declare special events and approve temporary extended trading hours. The City of Sydney says businesses in the city centre, Pyrmont, Darlinghurst, Surry Hills, and Paddington can trade from 4am on Sunday 30 August. The event is expected to attracts more than 50,000 participants and thousands of spectators, according to the City of Sydney.
The pair were allegedly involved in underpaying two former workers.
The Fair Work Ombudsman has commenced legal action against the operator and a manager of a regional Queensland cafe after being approached for assistance by two former workers. Carol Wheatley, the operator of The Beacon Cafe in Gumpie, and Peta Wheatley, the café’s manager, are facing court. Two former part-time workers sought assistance from the FWO which led to the regulator investigating the cafe. One of those workers was employed as a cook between June and December 2022, and one as a kitchen attendant between July 2022 and January 2023. Wheatley was issued a compliance notice by Fair Work in May 2023 after an inspector formed a belief she had underpaid the workers’ minimum hourly rates and annual leave entitlements, and had underpaid one of the worker’s Saturday penalty rates.
"Our food is all about community and shared experience, and we want Zanobia to be a celebration of that."
Zanobia opens at The Streets of Barangaroo this week, bringing a new Middle Eastern restaurant and bar to the waterfront precinct. The opening represents a long-held vision of Founder Jorge Ballas and his wife Jo-Anne, who operated sister venues Zanobia in Leichardt and North Strathfield. Ballas, who is also the founder and director of Beirut Street Food, spent his childhood in Iraq, Dubai, Syria, and Lebanon where he learnt to cook alongside his mother. Those influences, including food serving as a centrepiece for family gatherings, will continue to shape Zanobia’s menu and approach to hospitality. The menu celebrates traditional flavours and cooking techniques, spanning hot and cold mezze, salads, and meats cooked over the restaurant’s charcoal grill. The beef, lamb, and chicken, which is all certified 100 per cent halal, is marinated for up to 48 hours in house spice blends.
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","item":{"@id":"https://www.afr.com/life-and-luxury","name":"Life & Luxury"},"position":1},{"@type":"ListItem","item":{"@id":"https://www.afr.com/life-and-luxury/food-and-wine","name":"Food & Wine"},"position":2}]} Jill Dupleix Life & Luxury Food & Wine Another Italian restaurant? This one is worth a visit The food is fine, but it’s the warm hug of nostalgia that will keep you coming back to Roma in Collins Street. The moody dining room at Roma. Dylan McDade For centuries, nostalgia was classified as a serious illness, but try telling that to a Victorian restaurateur. The legacy of Melbourne’s great European restaurants of Tsindos, Society, The Latin and Mietta’s is leaned on today in Gimlet, Grill Americano, Florentino, Maison Bâtard – and now Roma, which opened in the shadows of 120 Collins Street in May. It’s restaurateur Con Christopoulos ’ way of bringing back what he calls the glory days of Melbourne dining. “The traditions of service were celebrated then, and old-school values were part of the comfort of dining,” he says. “We want to bring that back to the city.”
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","item":{"@id":"https://www.afr.com/life-and-luxury","name":"Life & Luxury"},"position":1},{"@type":"ListItem","item":{"@id":"https://www.afr.com/life-and-luxury/food-and-wine","name":"Food & Wine"},"position":2}]} Life & Luxury Food & Wine Ageing gracefully or past its prime: A health check for your wines Sydney is the first city in the world to host Coravin’s Aged Wine Clinic, where connoisseurs can test the shelf life of their cellared wines. Master of Wine Andrea Pritzker and Dom Coulton, Coravin’s national account manager. Esteban La Tessa For several centuries, mankind has devoted an extraordinary amount of human capital to one apparently simple task: getting a cork out of a wine bottle. There have been corkscrews, levers, springs, gears, blades, bell-shaped contraptions and devices that look as though they were designed by someone who has never actually seen a bottle of wine. The Screwpull, from the mind of American engineer Herbert Allen in 1979, made the process of extracting a cork absurdly effortless.
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","item":{"@id":"https://www.afr.com/life-and-luxury","name":"Life & Luxury"},"position":1},{"@type":"ListItem","item":{"@id":"https://www.afr.com/life-and-luxury/food-and-wine","name":"Food & Wine"},"position":2}]} Life & Luxury Food & Wine Australia’s oldest wine competition is a little different this year The results are in for the Sydney Royal Wine Show, which is celebrating its 200th birthday this year. A judge applies his nose to one of the many reds at the wine show. A phalanx of winemakers, sommeliers, writers and retailers descended on the Sydney Showground in late July to judge the Sydney Royal Wine Show, Australia’s oldest wine competition, celebrating its 200th anniversary this year. As per longstanding tradition, one of those judges was an expert flown in from the other side of the world to both bring an international perspective to proceedings and to spread the word on their return about the quality of wines encountered Down Under.
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","item":{"@id":"https://www.afr.com/life-and-luxury","name":"Life & Luxury"},"position":1},{"@type":"ListItem","item":{"@id":"https://www.afr.com/life-and-luxury/food-and-wine","name":"Food & Wine"},"position":2}]} Life & Luxury Food & Wine Bushfire nearly killed their business – now it’s their best year After losing almost everything when the Harcourt Cool Store burnt in January, Maidenii has just won international gold for its vermouth. Vermouth makers Shaun Byrne and Gilles Lapalus, the founders of Maidenii. Wayne Taylor If you were to ask vermouth makers Shaun Byrne and Gilles Lapalus today, they’d probably tell you 2026 will be a year to remember. Had you asked them seven months ago, however, they would almost certainly have declared it a year they would rather forget. In January, bushfires tore through central Victoria, incinerating the Harcourt Co-operative Cool Stores, a facility holding stock and equipment for some 20 wineries. The blaze destroyed an estimated 250,000 bottles of wine, along with goods and materials from another 80 businesses connected to the site. But few were hit harder than Maidenii, the craft vermouth house founded in 2012 by Burgundian-born winemaker Lapalus and Byrne, a bartender.
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","item":{"@id":"https://www.afr.com/life-and-luxury","name":"Life & Luxury"},"position":1},{"@type":"ListItem","item":{"@id":"https://www.afr.com/life-and-luxury/food-and-wine","name":"Food & Wine"},"position":2}]} Life & Luxury Food & Wine The rosé our drinks editor will be drinking this summer Can this much-maligned tipple be a serious wine? Industry leaders say the pink drink is set for a new dawn. 2025 L.A.S. Vino Albino PNO. Ryan Murphy Fun, frivolous, fresh, fruity. That’s how most of us think about rosé: a wine best drunk on a warm day, without much thought, when it’s young, a year or so after vintage. Winemaker Marcell Kustos thinks differently. “Of course there’s a place for cheap’n’cheerful rosés,” he says. “But I believe there’s also room for serious, complex rosés that deserve to be at the table in the finest of restaurants.” Kustos started making small batches of wine under the LVDO label in 2018, a “passion project” alongside his day jobs, first as a sommelier, then food and wine lecturer, now a partner in David Ridge Wines, a renowned Adelaide wine importer.
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","item":{"@id":"https://www.afr.com/life-and-luxury","name":"Life & Luxury"},"position":1},{"@type":"ListItem","item":{"@id":"https://www.afr.com/life-and-luxury/food-and-wine","name":"Food & Wine"},"position":2}]} Life & Luxury Food & Wine The world’s most famous restaurant is back – minus controversial chef Noma’s Rene Redzepi left the kitchen amidst a scandal. Now, the legendary Copenhagen restaurant has reopened to the same fanfare. Herbs and Goldenrod being prepared by an army of line chefs on Noma opening day, as executive chef Pablo Soto (right of frame) looks on. Klaus Holsting Who would have thought it? After a raging controversy surrounding René Redzepi, the chef-owner of the world’s most awarded restaurant, here I am: seated at Noma’s reopening night in Copenhagen. A team of 50-odd employees is making its debut menu of 22 fantastical courses a reality. As servers duck pumpkin vines and tomato plants dangling from the dining room ceiling, a chorus of line chefs in the open kitchen hollers “Yes!” back to new executive head chef Pablo Sato as he calls out orders.
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","item":{"@id":"https://www.afr.com/life-and-luxury","name":"Life & Luxury"},"position":1},{"@type":"ListItem","item":{"@id":"https://www.afr.com/life-and-luxury/food-and-wine","name":"Food & Wine"},"position":2}]} Drinks with Max Allen Life & Luxury Food & Wine From $38 steals to cellar gems – five pinot noirs worth pouring Calling all oenophiles: these terroir-driven reds make for perfect drinking now (or in 10 years’ time). No time for pithy introductions this week. I’ve been tasting a lot of pinot noirs recently and there are just so many good wines to tell you about. So, let’s get straight into it. Email LinkedIn Twitter Facebook Copy link Max Allen Drinks columnist Max Allen is The Australian Financial Review's drinks columnist. He is an award-winning journalist and author who has written about wine and drinks for close to 25 years. Connect with Max on Twitter . Email Max at max@maxallen.com.au Latest In Food & wine Fetching latest articles
Simon Evans Senior reporter Aug 7, 2026 – 9.15pm Indonesia’s sovereign wealth fund will pay $US2.5 billion ($3.6 billion) for a 25 per cent stake in the local operations of JBS, the meat processing giant behind Primo smallgoods, Huon Aquaculture and Rivalea pork brands. JBS, which is listed in New York and Sao Paolo, has made a string of acquisitions in Australia over the past two decades to become the biggest player in its sector. Email LinkedIn Twitter Facebook Copy link Food Brazil Latest In Food & wine Fetching latest articles
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","item":{"@id":"https://www.afr.com/life-and-luxury","name":"Life & Luxury"},"position":1},{"@type":"ListItem","item":{"@id":"https://www.afr.com/life-and-luxury/food-and-wine","name":"Food & Wine"},"position":2}]} Drinks with Max Allen Life & Luxury Food & Wine Why now is the best time to eat oysters – and what to drink with them The cold waters of winter deliver a bounty of bivalves – here are the best beers, wines and spirits to wash them down. Winter is the best time to be eating oysters. Whether it’s the rich, rugged charm of the Sydney rock, the pristine freshness of the Pacific or the bold, briny intensity of the rare native Angasi, all the varieties of oyster farmed and harvested in Australia’s southern waters are at their plumpest and most delicious when the ocean is at its coldest. Winter is also a great time to be drinking wines, beers and spirits with a bit more oomph than the crisp, refreshing wines, spirits and beers you enjoy in the summer: sparkling wine with plenty of yeasty lees age; white wine with toasty bottle age; botanical-laden gin; dark, brooding stout. Email LinkedIn Twitter Facebook Copy link
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","item":{"@id":"https://www.afr.com/life-and-luxury","name":"Life & Luxury"},"position":1},{"@type":"ListItem","item":{"@id":"https://www.afr.com/life-and-luxury/food-and-wine","name":"Food & Wine"},"position":2}]} Life & Luxury Food & Wine He’s one of the country’s best chefs. Now you can own his tools Lennox Hastie, chef and owner of Firedoor in Sydney, has collaborated on the design and production of a limited-edition Dutch oven by Ironclad Co. From the upcoming August issue out on July 31. Lennox Hastie, chef and owner of Firedoor in Sydney, and Kate Slavin, of Ironclad. It steams, it sears, it smokes, it bakes – but wait, there’s more. The Collector’s Edition Ironclad Co. Fire Set by Lennox Hastie is also a thing of beauty, designed to be handed down for three generations. “It’s just the right balance of performance and aesthetics,” says Hastie, chef and owner of the wood-fuelled Firedoor in Sydney, who has made it his mission to cook with fire, smoke and glowing coals. “Usually you find that beautiful things aren’t practical.” Fundamental to both good looks and versatility is the premium grade cast iron, designed and tested in New Zealand, renowned for its unparallelled heat retention. Hastie and Auckland-based Ironclad Co. collaborated on the design and production of the 3.6-litre capacity Universal Dutch Oven.
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","item":{"@id":"https://www.afr.com/life-and-luxury","name":"Life & Luxury"},"position":1},{"@type":"ListItem","item":{"@id":"https://www.afr.com/life-and-luxury/food-and-wine","name":"Food & Wine"},"position":2}]} Life & Luxury Food & Wine What happens when two culinary heavyweights join forces? Seafood savant Josh Niland and Michelin-starred American Wylie Dufresne merge minds for a one-of-a-kind dinner. Chefs Josh Niland and Wylie Dufresne collaborated for a special dinner to mark Saint Peter’s 10th anniversary. Peter Rae It’s 2pm, exactly 3½ hours before the first guests are due to arrive for a once-in-a-lifetime dinner, and chefs Josh Niland and Wylie Dufresne have plonked what they hope is a finished dish on a table near a window so they can see it in the clearest possible light. Niland, world-renowned Australian fish pioneer, squints as he snaps a photo on his iPhone. Dufresne, American master of molecular gastronomy, leans forward and examines it from beneath the blue baseball cap that rarely leaves his head.
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","item":{"@id":"https://www.afr.com/life-and-luxury","name":"Life & Luxury"},"position":1},{"@type":"ListItem","item":{"@id":"https://www.afr.com/life-and-luxury/food-and-wine","name":"Food & Wine"},"position":2}]} Life & Luxury Food & Wine The nameless ‘wine alternative’ feted by the world’s top chefs A booming class of botanical drinks are being poured at a global roll call of famed restaurants, but their makers still can’t agree what to call the stuff. Nick Cozens (left) and Aaron Trotman of Non. Hugh Davison “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet,” wrote Shakespeare, but then he never had to devise a marketing strategy or brief a distributor. The Bard might have hedged his words had he met the innovators behind Australia’s most confounding drinks category: grown-up, zero-alcohol beverages designed to steal wine’s spot on the dining table. The conundrum is more than a matter of branding; these are not merely de-alcoholised wines. Concocted using a range of ingredients – from freeze-dried fruits and exotic teas to obscure spices and native flora – they have the complexity and depth a vineyard can produce, without spending a second in a wine barrel.
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","item":{"@id":"https://www.afr.com/life-and-luxury","name":"Life & Luxury"},"position":1},{"@type":"ListItem","item":{"@id":"https://www.afr.com/life-and-luxury/food-and-wine","name":"Food & Wine"},"position":2}]} Life & Luxury Food & Wine Marky Mark’s new favourite restaurant’s one of Sydney’s hottest debuts Grappa, an old Italian favourite, has hit the big time with a new $7 million space in The Rocks. From the upcoming August issue out on July 31. Pizza chef Alessandro Penna at Grappa. Steven Woodburn There is nothing complicated about this buzzy new Italian restaurant in The Rocks. No effort is required to understand pasta, pizza, wood-fired grills, gelato, or aperitivi, wine, grappa, coffee. Charlie Colosi and his father, Antonio, opened the original Grappa in Sydney’s inner west 27 years ago, and loyal regulars now span three generations. But that’s no guarantee of success in a self-conscious CBD such as Sydney, where the punters rely on some kind of cool factor for validation. So it was a big leap for Charlie and his wife, Virginie, to open a second Grappa , in the former home of the original Rockpool.
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","item":{"@id":"https://www.afr.com/life-and-luxury","name":"Life & Luxury"},"position":1},{"@type":"ListItem","item":{"@id":"https://www.afr.com/life-and-luxury/food-and-wine","name":"Food & Wine"},"position":2}]} Life & Luxury Food & Wine The new beer cans throwing it back to the 1970s When it comes to their product labels, top drinks makers are looking to the past for design inspiration. From the upcoming August issue out on July 31. With its bold red can, its blocky, rounded font and its horse logo, Love Shack Red Ale looks like it’s come straight out of a pub in the 1970s. When the Henschke wine family were thinking about marking the 70th vintage of their famous Mount Edelstone shiraz earlier this year, they decided it was worth a special commemorative label. But rather than commission a modern take on their familiar black and silver livery, they decided to look to the past, to the maroon, cream and turquoise colour scheme of the wine’s first labels in the mid-1950s. “That was the look my dad chose for the inaugural vintage, the 1952,” says winemaker Stephen Henschke . “And it had that label for the first few years. I was just a little baby when Dad made those wines; I remember as a kid being with my grandpa when they were pruning the vines in Mount Edelstone, they had the old vine burner pulled up through the rows with the horses. It’s always been a part of my life, really.”
London | Coffee drinkers are buying “less but better” as prices soar, according to Italian roaster Lavazza, fuelling demand for whole beans and bean-to-cup machines. Giuseppe Lavazza , chairman of the family-owned company, said a move towards whole beans was the sector’s “most important trend”. Email LinkedIn Twitter Facebook Copy link Coffee Food & drink UK USA France Germany Italy Brazil Vietnam Latest In Food & wine Fetching latest articles
Zoe Samios Business reporter Jul 20, 2026 – 5.00pm Acclaimed Swedish chef Björn Frantzén will open two new restaurants at Crown Resorts venues as the Blackstone-owned casino giant pursues long-term investments designed to attract culinary enthusiasts. Frantzén, a one-time footballer for AIK Stockholm, is the only chef to hold three Michelin stars across three restaurants at once. The venues – in Stockholm, Singapore and Dubai – integrate Nordic produce with Japanese and French techniques. Email LinkedIn Twitter Facebook Copy link Crown Resorts Latest In Food & wine Fetching latest articles
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","item":{"@id":"https://www.afr.com/life-and-luxury","name":"Life & Luxury"},"position":1},{"@type":"ListItem","item":{"@id":"https://www.afr.com/life-and-luxury/food-and-wine","name":"Food & Wine"},"position":2}]} Life & Luxury Food & Wine Mining exec turns her hand to wine – with a cause Torres Strait-born Florence Drummond has joined a cohort of First Nations winemakers who are enriching Australia’s viticulture. Florence Drummond of Mitu Wines Ovis Creative When Florence Drummond moved to Margaret River in Western Australia three years ago, the idea of setting up her own wine label began to take root in her mind. Nothing unusual about that: it’s all too easy to be seduced by the wine culture that infuses this most beautiful of viticultural regions. But Drummond wanted her label to be more than just another wine business: as a First Nations woman, she wanted it to tell a story about connection to Country, and regeneration.
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","item":{"@id":"https://www.afr.com/life-and-luxury","name":"Life & Luxury"},"position":1},{"@type":"ListItem","item":{"@id":"https://www.afr.com/life-and-luxury/food-and-wine","name":"Food & Wine"},"position":2}]} Life & Luxury Food & Wine These five destination distilleries are more than worth the trip Blend your own single malt in a sandstone village, distil your own gin with hand-picked botanicals, and taste the vodka officially crowned the world’s best. Republic fo Fremantle Distillery’s gin masterclass. Jarrad Seng Australia’s distillers don’t just want you to find them on the bottle-shop shelf. Across the country, still sheds and barrel rooms have flung open their doors, offering fascinating tours, guided masterclasses and premium experiences (including a once-in-a-lifetime fishing trip) that are reason enough to pack a bag. And once the tasting paddle runs dry, our pick of nearby regional stays provides the perfect excuse to linger longer. Email LinkedIn Twitter Facebook Copy link
In restaurants and wine bars in Bordeaux, plenty of other wines are open, but few bottles of the local product. Why? Wine from leading Bordeaux regions like Saint-Emilion is hard to find in the capital of French wine. The bustling streets in the elegant city of Bordeaux are full of casual restaurants and wine bars. Bottles are open on most tables, and almost everybody is sipping wine with their meals – not surprising in a world-renowned wine capital. Yet one thing seems odd: Nobody in Bordeaux is drinking Bordeaux.
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","item":{"@id":"https://www.afr.com/life-and-luxury","name":"Life & Luxury"},"position":1},{"@type":"ListItem","item":{"@id":"https://www.afr.com/life-and-luxury/food-and-wine","name":"Food & Wine"},"position":2}]} Drinks with Max Allen Life & Luxury Food & Wine The South Australian winemakers plucking victory from the jaws of defeat Exotic grape varieties, interesting blends and approachability – a revised approach is helping Riverland vineyards buck $100 million in lost income a year. Arthur (standing) and Jim Markeas under the pump at Mallee Estate Matt Wilson A few years ago, winemaker Jim Markeas placed an ad in Neos Kosmos , the newspaper of the Greek-Australian community, asking if any readers had grape vines growing in their backyards that originally came from their homeland. “About nine months later I got a call,” says Markeas. “This guy said he had a vine he called ‘Santorinio’ and was happy to let me take cuttings. That name intrigued me: the island of Santorini is where they grow the famous assyrtiko grape . So, we got some cuttings, had it tested, and it turned out it was indeed assyrtiko. And now we have it growing in our own vineyard in the Riverland.”
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","item":{"@id":"https://www.afr.com/life-and-luxury","name":"Life & Luxury"},"position":1},{"@type":"ListItem","item":{"@id":"https://www.afr.com/life-and-luxury/food-and-wine","name":"Food & Wine"},"position":2}]} Life & Luxury Food & Wine The 6 best new restaurants and dining experiences to book this July Success in Australia’s dining scene can often be a case of survival of the tastiest. Here are this month’s top tables. Steak is the main event at Manzo Bisteccheria in Sydney. Guy Davis Everything old is new again. In a hospitality ecosystem that has proven even the most beloved stalwarts are not immune to the cost-of-living crisis (RIP Quay, Tetsuya’s, Lucky Kwong etc), reinvigorating tired concepts can be the difference between survival and collapse. It’s little wonder then that some of the most compelling dining in Australia right now comes from established venues that have thrown out the old to usher in a new era, with fresh menus, marquee head chefs and seasonal fare that is of the moment, for the moment. Email LinkedIn Twitter Facebook Copy link
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","item":{"@id":"https://www.afr.com/life-and-luxury","name":"Life & Luxury"},"position":1},{"@type":"ListItem","item":{"@id":"https://www.afr.com/life-and-luxury/food-and-wine","name":"Food & Wine"},"position":2}]} Life & Luxury Food & Wine Fire destroyed their businesses – this is how they bounced back After several independent winemakers lost everything in the Harcourt bushfires in January, vineyards from around the country rallied round. Fifty four homes were lost in the fires in Harcourt and the surrounding area. Justin McManus When wildfire tore through the central Victorian town of Harcourt in January this year, one of the many buildings destroyed was the century-old cooperative cool store. As I wrote at the time , more than 30 local businesses – winemakers, breweries, cidermakers, spirits makers – used the co-op to store their stock; more than half a million bottles were burned. Winemaker Gilles Lapalus not only stored his bottled wine at the co-op – and the tinctures for the Maidenii brand of vermouth he co-owns with bartender Shaun Byrne – but also made his Maison Lapalus and Bertrand Bespoke wines there. All of it – presses, barrels, bottles – was lost.
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","item":{"@id":"https://www.afr.com/life-and-luxury","name":"Life & Luxury"},"position":1},{"@type":"ListItem","item":{"@id":"https://www.afr.com/life-and-luxury/food-and-wine","name":"Food & Wine"},"position":2}]} Life & Luxury Food & Wine Why you should swap your martini for a mushroom cocktail The healing power of fungi – including reishi, lion’s mane and cordyceps – has been known for centuries. Now, they’re serving up guilt-free drinking. A lion’s mane mushroom, one of the most popular functional ingredients in mushroom-based alcohol alternatives. Oliver Edwards Sharper focus, deeper calm and steadier energy – these are the promised perks of mushroom supplements. Containing ingredients that have been used in Japanese, Chinese and Malaysian medicine for centuries, these powders and tinctures can be stirred into morning coffees, smoothies and protein shakes to pep you up or chill you out. For decades, they have occupied a rather niche corner of the wellness industry, but their popularity has grown in recent years, and with this uptick in interest, a new recreational frontier for fungi is gaining momentum. The same varieties marketed as cure-alls for everything from brain fog to burnout are increasingly finding their way into alcohol alternatives that mimic the experience of drinking – minus the hangover.
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","item":{"@id":"https://www.afr.com/life-and-luxury","name":"Life & Luxury"},"position":1},{"@type":"ListItem","item":{"@id":"https://www.afr.com/life-and-luxury/food-and-wine","name":"Food & Wine"},"position":2}]} Life & Luxury Food & Wine Australia’s top chef is planning a new restaurant – in Hobart After 24 years at the pinnacle of Sydney’s dining scene, Peter Gilmore is trading harbour views for a piece of rich Tasmanian dirt. Peter Gilmore inspects a tromboncino flower. “If I want lettuce, I just get it from the garden.” Remi Chauvin In the event of an apocalypse, flee to Tasmania. As a small island with clean air, a guaranteed water supply, 100 per cent renewable energy and legions of great food and wine producers, our southernmost state is a model of self-sufficiency. Besides, the deal-maker just landed. As of July 1, Tasmania now has Peter Gilmore. Since the closure of Quay restaurant on Sydney’s Circular Quay in February, Australia’s top chef has been preparing a sea-and-tree change, moving to a small farm in southern Tasmania. To do what? Completely unfounded rumours (the best kind) flew through the hospitality industry. Would he join the arty crowd at Hobart’s MONA, throwing whole beasts onto open coals and running naked into the sea at pagan festivals? Or would he shun the world, cease cooking at a professional level and just potter around the garden?
Australian Vintage has successfully redirected its business into a positive underlying cashflow for the first time in four years, reaching a free cash flow of $2 million and operating cash flow of $4 million. The milestone was reported in the ASX-listed company’s fiscal year 2026 results and excludes one-off growth investments of $16 million and restructuring costs. Revenue was slightly up year-on-year at $258 million, while one-off adjustments such as a $27 million inventory impairment and $6 million restructuring contributed to a net loss of $64 million. The improved balance sheet was led by innovation, strategic acquisitions and range expansion, which offset declines in commercial red wine markets.
Lark Distilling Co has won four trophies at the inaugural Royal Tasmanian Whisky & Spirits Awards, including the coveted Best Overall Whisky in Show, for Wilderness Collection: Sea 08 - Antarctica Edge. The single malt beat 160 total whisky entries to claim almost half of the nine trophies awarded by the competition and all but one of the trophies open to whisky, with Best Other Whisky awarded to Hellyers Road Distillery Peated 7 Year Old. Turner Stillhouse took home both Best Gin and Best Tasmanian Gin with Three Cuts Distiller's Release, while McHenry Distillery Puer was named Best Vodka, and Captain Bligh’s Bristol Fashion, a Tasmanian cool-climate rum, Best Other Spirit. The trophy results marked a fitting debut for the new Royal Agricultural Society of Tasmania awards, which received 248 entries in total and were supported by Lark’s founder Bill Lark as Patron of Judges .
Asahi Beverages beer brand Carlton Dry has become the latest official drinks partner of the NFL ahead of the sport’s historic arrival in Melbourne on Friday 11 September. The partnership builds upon Carlton Dry’s deep roots in both NRL and AFL and will be supported by a new edition of its It’s Still Footy campaign, this time reviving fictional AFL player Strauchanie as he transitions into the NFL. The tongue-in-cheek campaign will document Strauchanie’s journey as he attempts to master the new sport. It will culminate in the clash between the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers, the NFL’s historic first regular season game in Australia. Asahi Beverages will be activating with the Carlton Dry Pub activation in Yarra Park outside the MCG, giving fans heading to the game a distinctly Australian place to come together from 7am onwards.
Peter Bourne has been named 2026 NSW ‘Legend of the Vine’ by Wine Communicators of Australia. The honour is the first of three state-based Legends of the Vine awards to be presented in 2026, with Victorian and South Australian Legends to follow. It was presented to Bourne, also known as The Wine Man, at the 2026 Sydney Royal Wine Awards Lunch last Friday. Chair of the WCA NSW Chapter Committee, Brian Chase Olson, said: “This honour recognises someone of exceptional character; someone held in deep regard by their peers; and someone who has made an outstanding contribution to the Australian wine industry. And, because this award is created by us — Wine Communicators of Australia — the recipient must also embody excellence in how they write, speak, and share the stories of wine.”
Australian actor Chris Hemsworth has acquired a stake in Archie Rose Distilling Co. as co-owner alongside founder Will Edwards. His involvement comes as the independent spirits producer prepares to enter the US market for the first time later in 2026. A long-time admirer of the brand, Hemsworth, who is Australia's highest-grossing actor, shares Archie Rose’s belief in its craftsmanship and the potential of Australia’s spirits industry. "I’ve been a fan of Archie Rose for a long time,” Hemsworth said. “Wherever I am in the world, tasting an Archie Rose whisky immediately transports me right back home, to that feeling of sitting around a campfire in the Australian bush with my mates. Their ethos of only using Australian-grown malts to produce flavour-packed whiskies at their Sydney distillery is truly awesome. They’re a brilliant example of what Australia does best and I can’t wait to share that with the world.”
Devil’s Corner has signed a new long-term deal as the Tasmania Devils Football Club’s inaugural wine partner ahead of its AFL and AFLW entry in 2028. The partnership is a natural fit for the leading Tasmanian winery and new AFL squad, uniting two 'Devils' each with Tasmania at the centre of their story. "It really was a match made in heaven," said Cameron MacFarlane, CEO of Brown Family Wine Group, which owns Devil's Corner. “For Devil’s Corner, this is much bigger than putting our name alongside a football club – it’s an opportunity to back an important new chapter for Tasmania and, together, share more of the people, produce, communities and extraordinary places that make this island what it is.”
Archie Rose Distilling Co has launched Triple Smoked Single Malt Whisky, a boldly Australian expression of smoke, crafted by harnessing native stringybark timber in place of Scottish peat to create an evocative smoke character that is distinctly and unmistakably Australian. Taking an unconventional approach to smoky whisky production, this release is crafted using smoked malt, smoked casks, and smoked water and embraces the unique character of Australia through the use of native stringybark. The result is a whisky with an intensely bold smoke profile that feels unmistakably Australian, inspired by campfires, wood smoke, and the Australian landscape. Read insights from master distiller Dave Withers
Charles Henry ‘Mick’ Morris OAM has died aged 98. The much-loved husband, father, grandfather, mentor and winemaker was one of the most respected figures in the Australian wine industry, working his first official vintage as winemaker in 1953. Over a lifetime dedicated to his craft, Mick made an enduring contribution to the evolution and success of Morris, the Rutherglen region and Australian wine as a whole, both domestically and around the world. His service to the Australian wine industry and the Howlong community was officially recognised in the 2012 Queen's Birthday Honours, where he was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM).
Pooley Wines' Syrah 2024 has taken top honours from 1,537 entries at the 2026 Sydney Royal Wine Show as the show celebrates 200 years since wine was first included in the Agricultural Society of NSW Show in 1826. The cool-climate shiraz was also named Best Red and Best Shiraz, making it the first Tasmanian wine to claim both trophies in categories traditionally dominated by the Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale. Chair of Judges Mike De Iuliis said cool-climate shiraz wines, such as the Pooley Wines Syrah, were the highlight of this year’s show, with an impressive range of regions and producers represented. “Shiraz is such a versatile variety – it was wonderful to see such fine examples across so many growing regions, from South Australia and Victoria to Western Australia and Tasmania”, said De Iuliis, owner and winemaker at De Iuliis Wines.
Sydney-based gin brand Hickson House is looking to expand its national reach through new domestic distribution partner Fesq & Company. The partnership brings together two Sydney businesses with deep roots in Australian drinks culture. Hickson House was founded in 2021 by Mikey Enright and Julian Train, hospitality heavyweights with a combined 50 years of experience, and Fesq & Company has been operating since 1848, making it Australia’s oldest fine wine wholesaler. Fesq & Company will lead Australian sales and distribution for the Hickson House gin portfolio, with a focus on long-term partnerships and bartender advocacy, while generating growth across independent and national retail channels and the on-premise. Harriet Fesq, Managing Director and sixth-generation steward of Fesq & Company, said: “Hickson House brings genuine hospitality credibility and a distinctive and versatile gin range. We’re thrilled to welcome Hickson House to the Fesq portfolio and build its presence behind bars and on shelves across Australia.”
The inaugural release in Wild Turkey’s new Austin Nichols Archives Collection, Gold Foil Edition, is now available in Australia. Inspired by Wild Turkey’s ‘Cheesy Gold Foil’ bottles of the 1980s, now some of the most revered and sought-after bottles in the distillery’s history, the release marks the debut of a collection conceived by Bruce Russell more than a decade ago as a way to honour some of Wild Turkey's most iconic releases to a modern whiskey audience. "Austin Nichols Archives has been a labour of love, and I'm excited to finally share it with bourbon lovers everywhere," said Wild Turkey’s Associate Master Blender. "Gold Foil Edition was the perfect bourbon to launch the collection. Inspired by a personal favourite of mine and of many Wild Turkey fans, I drew on everything I've learned from my father and grandfather to create a whiskey that honours the Wild Turkey legacy."
Good Drinks Australia has unveiled the latest addition to the Matso’s Crush RTD range: Rasp Pine Crush. The launch builds upon recent momentum behind the range, with Pash Pine Crush taking home Best New RTD Innovation at the 2026 Australian Drinks Awards and its Broome facility being crowned Champion Distillery at the 2026 Perth Royal Distilled Spirits Awards a few weeks later. Crafted for consumers looking for flavour and refreshment, Rasp Pine Crush is designed to sit alongside Pash Pine Crush, delivering a bright and fun tropical-inspired taste and Matso’s distinctive brand personality. The range also includes Lemon Lime Crush, which was the first to launch in 2024 .
Punt Road Wines and Richmond Football Club have launched The Home Ground, a limited-release 2025 Cabernet Shiraz and the first wine in a new collector series created by the two partners. The series celebrates the shared Punt Road roots of the winery and the AFL club, with Punt Road Wines taking its name from the original Airlie Bank vineyard planted on Punt Road in the 1850s, near the ground Richmond would later call home. Today, the Napoleone family grows and makes wine on its Coldstream estate in the Yarra Valley, which the family has farmed since 1948. The inaugural series release – The Home Ground 2025 Cabernet Shiraz – comes from the Napoleone Vineyard in Coldstream and is a 67-33 blend of cabernet sauvignon and shiraz.
After announcing the news of what is believed to be Australia’s first bottled non-alcoholic stout earlier this month , the Drinks Trade Tasting Panel was sent a sample to review: “Aroma delivers what you want from a stout, with layers of fresh coffee beans, toasty malt, and caramel, with loads of depth. Palate falls a little thin vs alcoholic stouts, but still ticks all the boxes it needs to – a great-valued and dependable expression of a style that is super hard to nail in non-alcoholic format for the same reason wine is (as in, the rich smooth mouthfeel and deep body that comes from the alcohol is essential for the style).” Modus Brewery’s Nort Stout is available nationwide now in 330ml bottles, in 6-packs for $20 or cases of 24 for $60.
Caffie Energy Water will launch nationally on 1 September, introducing a new sparkling spring water with caffeine category to the Australian beverage market. Created by hospitality veteran Hugh Brown after decades of owning restaurants, bars, festivals and entertainment venues, Caffie was born from a simple observation: a gap in the market for a premium energy option for hospitality venues in Australia. "Guests could order still water, sparkling water, soft drinks, coffee or an energy drink, but there wasn't a premium option that combined clean refreshment with functional energy,” Hugh Brown said. "We weren't trying to reinvent water or replace coffee. We wanted to create a completely new category that naturally belongs on a table alongside great food or as a premium mixer, while giving consumers another choice."
Archie Rose Distilling Co. proudly introduces Triple Smoked Single Malt Whisky, a boldly Australian expression of smoke, crafted by harnessing native stringybark timber in place of Scottish peat to create an evocative smoke character that is distinctly and unmistakably Australian. Taking an unconventional approach to smoky whisky production, this release is crafted using smoked malt, smoked casks, and smoked water. Rather than following the well-worn path of traditional Scottish whisky, where smoke only touches the grain, the Triple Smoked Single Malt embraces the unique character of this land through native Australian stringybark. The result is a whisky with an intensely bold smoke profile that feels unmistakably Australian, inspired by campfires, wood smoke, and the Australian landscape. “This whisky is a culmination of endless experimentation and an untamed interest in defying conventions,” says Dave Withers, Master Distiller at Archie Rose. “Rather than following the well-worn path of traditional Scottish whisky, Triple Smoked Single Malt embraces the unique character of this land through native Australian stringybark smoked malt, smoked casks and smoked water. The result is a whisky with an intensely bold smoke profile that feels unmistakably Australian”. On the palate, the whisky delivers robust and layered notes of smoked charcuterie meats, bonfire embers, golden syrup-drizzled damper, roasted macadamia, and charred lemon.