ALMANAK VISIT > Torbreck Vitners, Barossa

VISIT > Torbreck Vintners, Barossa Valley

Torbreck is the Barossa at full volume: old, dry-grown vines, Rhône varieties handled with unapologetic ambition, and a portfolio that runs from a genuinely useful weekday Shiraz to some of the most expensive bottles in the country. This is a visit for anyone who wants to understand why the Barossa’s ancient vineyards are treated as…

ByLexi Plexity1 day ago0Comments

EAT > AUSTRALIA EAT > NSW EAT > SYDNEY WHERE TO EAT >

EAT > Grill Americano, Sydney (18/20)

Sydney is not short of a serious steak. There seems to be a grill on almost every corner of the CBD, so it takes a certain confidence to bring another one up the Hume. Grill Americano has been the Melbourne banker's favourite since it opened on Flinders Lane in 2022, and Chris Lucas has…

ByLexi Plexity2 days ago0Comments

DRINK > AUSTRALIA DRINK > BARS DRINK > SYDNEY

DRINK > Bar Tilda, Sydney (15/20)

Sydney has finally rediscovered the hotel bar, and Bar Tilda makes a persuasive case for why it matters. Just off Phillip Street, on the ground floor of the Sofitel Sydney Wentworth, it is a burgundy-walled, marble-topped, whisky-lined room that trades on 1960s jet-set nostalgia, a tableside Martini and one of the most serious Australian whisky…

ByCrispin2 days ago0Comments

DRINK > BARS DRINK > SYDNEY

DRINK > McRae Bar, Capella Sydney (16/20)

Sydney has no shortage of hotel bars, but few of them are named after the man who drew the building they sit in. McRae Bar, tucked into the north corner of the lobby at Capella Sydney, takes its name from George McRae, the Edinburgh-born architect behind the Queen Victoria Building and the grand sandstone Department…

ByCrispin2 days ago0Comments

EAT > AUSTRALIA EAT > MELBOURNE EAT > VICTORIA WHERE TO EAT >

EAT > Roma, Melbourne (16/20)

Melbourne lives and breathes Italian food, (Florentino, Grossi, Il Solito Posto, Il Bacaro, Distasio Cita, Trattoria Emilia, Tippo 00, Grill Americano and the list goes on) so it takes a certain nerve to open yet another Italian restaurant in the CBD and insist it is something different. Roma does exactly that. Tucked into the courtyard…

ByCrispin4 days ago0Comments

ALMANAK Magazine Review > IDLE Lakes Entrance (18/20)

STAY > AUSTRALIA STAY > GIPPSLAND STAY > VIC WHERE TO STAY >

STAY > Idle Lake House, Lakes Entrance Victoria (18/20)

A beautifully reimagined floating retreat on the Gippsland Lakes, Idle Lake House turns a night away into a proper change of pace: salt air, lake light, vintage design and nowhere at all to be in a hurry. a retro-californian floating stay where the lake becomes the landscape, soundtrack and reason to linger AMBIENCE >…

ByCrispinSeptember 26, 20260Comments

EAT > AUSTRALIA EAT > MELBOURNE EAT > VICTORIA WHERE TO EAT >

EAT > YIAGA, Melbourne (20/20)

Tucked inside the historic Fitzroy Gardens, in a pavilion that has served refreshments to Melburnians since 1908, Yiaga is the long-awaited solo debut of Hugh Allen — the chef who ran Vue de Monde's kitchen and became the first Australian to lead two three-hatted restaurants at once before turning 30. This is fine dining stripped…

ByCrispinSeptember 20, 20260Comments

DRINK > WINE DRINK > WINE > Pinot Noir

WINE > Burguet, Gevrey-Chambertin “Symphonie”, 2019 (18/20)

There are Gevrey-Chambertin producers who chase power for its own sake, and there are those who chase precision instead. Jean-Luc & Eric Burguet belong unmistakably to the second camp. The "Symphonie" is the domaine's village-level flagship, a blend drawn from several small parcels — including En Billard and La Justice — planted on clay-limestone soils…

ByCrispinSeptember 15, 20260Comments

DRINK > AUSTRALIA DRINK > BARS DRINK > MELBOURNE EAT > AUSTRALIA EAT > MELBOURNE EAT > VICTORIA WHERE TO EAT >

DRINK > Woods Yard, South Melbourne (16/20)

Translating the perfect European wine bar experience to Australia rarely works. Predominately because we have all had so many amazing experiences at perfect little local venues in Italy, Greece, Spain or France. But Woods Yard have nailed it with all the bits you love and retaining a little Australian edge. AMBIENCE > Woods Yard…

ByCrispinSeptember 15, 20260Comments

ALMANAK REVIEW > DELMONTE, Carlton 16/20

EAT > AUSTRALIA EAT > MELBOURNE EAT > VICTORIA WHERE TO EAT >

EAT > Delmonte, Carlton (16/20)

On the corner of Lygon and Faraday streets, in the ground-floor space that housed the beloved King & Godfree deli for more than a century, Delmonte has arrived: a glamorous Italian wine room built by hospitality entrepreneur Jamie Valmorbida on the bones of his own family's history. There's a particular kind of pressure that comes…

ByCrispinSeptember 15, 20260Comments