EAT > Ten Minutes by Tractor, Main Ridge (19/20)
Ten Minutes by Tractor has always felt like the Mornington Peninsula restaurant that most confidently blurs the line between winery dining room and serious destination restaurant; under new head chef Craig Lunn and an evolved wine program led by head…
EAT > Geralds Bar, San Sebastian Spain (17/20)
Walk a few blocks back from La Zurriola beach and you’ll find Geralds Bar, a warmly lit corner of Gros that feels part Basque neighbourhood dining room, part Melbourne wine bar reunion. It’s the kind of room where vinyl spins…
EAT > Saint Peter, Paddington Sydney (20/20) – 2026
Saint Peter in Sydney is one of Australia’s (possibly the world’s) most compelling places to eat seafood right now, a restaurant that turns whole fish into high drama without ever losing sight of comfort, generosity, and genuine hospitality. Relocated to…
STAY > Grand Hotel Des Ètranges, Siracusa (17/20)
Grand Hotel Des Étrangers in Ortigia is Syracuse at its most cinematic: a freshly restored, 5‑star grande dame with Ionian light pouring in through neoclassical balconies and just enough contemporary polish to feel quietly current rather than stuffy.
AMBIENCE >
The hotel’s neoclassical façade dominates the Ortigia waterfront, looking straight over the Levant Sea with the Duomo and Fountain of Diana just a short stroll away. Inside, you move from marble-floored halls and stuccoed ceilings into a more contemporary Sicilian palette of soft neutrals, warm timber and tailored upholstery, echoing the recent top‑to‑toe restoration of the late‑nineteenth‑century palazzo. Public spaces lean into slow luxury: generous lounges, high ceilings and picture‑frame sea views that feel more like an old‑world club than a resort, while the overall scale (68 rooms and suites across four floors) keeps things intimate by Mediterranean grand‑hotel standards. Step outside and you are immediately in Ortigia’s…
EAT > Cape, Cape Schank (17/20)
Cape Restaurant at RACV Cape Schanck remains one of the Mornington Peninsula’s most compelling reasons to drive that extra stretch of highway after dark: dinner here still feels like an occasion, but an unusually relaxed and generous one.
AMBIENCE >
Cape’s room is still that familiar dusk-toned amphitheatre of glass, timber and bottle-light, only now it feels more sure of itself – the sort of space that can host a golf‑weekend table, a hotel date night and a Peninsula local anniversary without anyone feeling like the understudy. Sit along the bar for front‑row seats to the open kitchen and its quiet theatre, or take a booth that frames both the cellar and that long, low horizon rolling out to Bass Strait.
Lighting is moody but not sulky, the clink of stemware softened by upholstered curves and carpeting rather than concrete echo. On clear evenings, the last bands of daylight catch…
CAFE > Barbetta, Paddington (16/20)
In the 1980s and 1990s Oxford Street Paddington was alive with the smartest cafe’s, it was where the hip people went to congregate. Then the rents went up and…
SKI > Maiko Ski Resort, Yuzawa Niigata Japan
Maiko Snow Resort is one of Snow Country’s most versatile all‑rounders: a big, three‑area hill with true ski‑in/ski‑out lodging, a purpose‑built day‑trip gondola base and easy Joetsu Shinkansen access that…
SKI > GALA Yuzawa, Niigata Japan
GALA Yuzawa is one of Japan’s most convenient snow resorts, a purpose-built hub where the Shinkansen literally delivers you into the ski centre before you ride straight up into three…
SKI > Yuzawa Kogen Ski Resort, Yuzawa Niigata Japan
Yuzawa Kogen Ski Resort is a compact, ropeway-accessed mountain that fuses classic Echigo-Yuzawa onsen-town charm with big-mountain views, easy access and family-friendly terrain just minutes from the Shinkansen. The main…
SKI > RESORTS
Maiko Snow Resort is one of Snow Country’s most versatile all‑rounders: a big, three‑area hill with true ski‑in/ski‑out lodging, a purpose‑built day‑trip gondola base and easy Joetsu Shinkansen access that makes it a natural follow‑up (or contrast) to GALA, Kagura and Ishiuchi. For ALMANAK readers, it feels like a hybrid between…
GALA Yuzawa is one of Japan’s most convenient snow resorts, a purpose-built hub where the Shinkansen literally delivers you into the ski centre before you ride straight up into three compact, well-planned ski areas. It feels more like a vertical snow terminal than a village, but for Tokyo-based day trippers…
Yuzawa Kogen Ski Resort is a compact, ropeway-accessed mountain that fuses classic Echigo-Yuzawa onsen-town charm with big-mountain views, easy access and family-friendly terrain just minutes from the Shinkansen. The main ropeway — is one of the world’s largest, carrying up to 166 passengers—climbing about 500 vertical metres in a 7‑minute…
Ishiuchi Maruyama is one of Niigata’s classic big-hill resorts: long, rolling fall-line runs, serious night skiing and a slick new lift and terrace scene that make it feel more polished than its old-school roots suggest. It is also one of the easiest major mountains to reach from Tokyo, which means…
STAY >
DRINK > BARS
DRINK > Death & Co, Melbourne (18/20)
Slip behind the velvet curtain on Flinders Lane and Melbourne falls away, replaced by a low-lit room that feels like an edit of the world’s great cocktail bars: a little East Village swagger, a lot of CBD polish, and a level of detail that rewards staying late. This is Death…
DRINK > Great Dane Brewing, Akiu, Sendai (15/20)
Set against Akiu’s pine-lined hills and onsen steam, Great Dane Brewing brings Midwestern brewpub heart to one of Tohoku’s most storied hot spring valleys—a Wisconsin-born, Sendai-brewed outpost where craft beer, wide-open views and a low-key road-trip energy converge. It feels less like a side-trip from the city and more like…
DRINK > Conte, Sydney (17/20)
Conte in Sydney’s CBD is grand, an unapologetically Italian, ode to the Negroni. Part bar, part ristorante, and all about drama, detail and la dolce vita energy. With more than 30 (and climbing toward 40) Negroni riffs, serious Italian wines and a full dining menu, it feels less like a…
DRINK > Gracie Melbourne, Hardware Lane (15/20)
Hardware Lane is a place that many Melburnians stay away from (largely given a bad reputation by the touts that stand outside the largely formulaic but popular tourist restaurants that fill most of the laneway). Gracie Melbourne is a stylish little venue in a part of the city…
DRINK > Brettos, Athens (17/20)
The oldest distillery in Athens, in the middle of the Plaka, selling cold drinks and snacks. What’s not to like? .
AMBIENCE >
Operating since 1909, Brettos has had time to produce and collect lots of bottles. Two walls are lined with coloured glass bottles, a kaleidoscope of colour and alcohol…
DRINK > Caves de l’Abbaye, Beaune, Burgundy (18/20)
Step from Beaune’s winding, cobbled heart into Caves de l’Abbaye, and you’re greeted by the cool hush of a centuries-old cellar—a true Burgundy hideaway shaped from vaulted stone. Beneath low arches, the glow is candle-soft, shadows flicker against wine-streaked walls, and every table feels like a private alcove ready for…
DRINK > WINEWine & Spirit Reviews
WINE > Elanto Pinot Noir, Balnaring (18/20)
Mornington Peninsula is home to many fine Pinot Noir wines but it has been quite a few years since the industry got quite so excited about a new vineyard. Elanto has only released two vintages of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir to date and they are already receiving outstanding reviews from…
WINE > Clarence House Estate Pinot Noir, 2024 (17/20)
Clarence House Estate Reserve Pinot Noir 2024 is a poised, cool-climate Tasmanian Pinot that trades in perfume, fine-boned structure and quiet confidence rather than sheer volume, rewarding both contemplation now and patient cellaring later.
APPEARANCE >
Pale to medium garnet in the glass, with a translucent core that hints at…
WINE > S.C Pannell Sunrise 99, 2022 (18/20)
There are Grenaches that charm, and then there are Grenaches that draw a line in the sand. S.C. Pannell’s Sunrise 99, from a century-old McLaren Vale vineyard, feels like the latter: a debut that arrives fully formed, pitched at the serious, ageworthy end of the spectrum while still humming with…
WINE > Domaine de Bellene Nuit Saint Georges, Vielles Vignes, 2022 (17/20)
There are wines that whisper history, and then there are bottles that speak in confident, measured tones—Domaine de Bellene’s Nuits Saint Georges Vieilles Vignes 2022 is unmistakably the latter. From the first pour, its deep ruby hue glimmers with an old-vine intensity, setting the stage for a wine that embodies…
WINE > Valli Bannockburn Pinot Noir, Central Otago NZ (2021)
There are Pinots that gently introduce themselves, and then there are Pinots that make the room go quiet for a moment: Valli’s Bannockburn sits firmly among the latter. Bannockburn, the original Central Otago subregion for Pinot Noir, is famed for clay-schist soils and sun drenched, cool-climate vines—and winemaker Grant Taylor’s…
