EAT > Pebble Beach, Qualia Hamilton Island QLD (18/20)

Set right on the sand at the northern tip of Hamilton Island, Pebble Beach is qualia’s beachfront dining room, and it remains the most relaxed serious meal in the Whitsundays. In our opinion, Pebble Beach is the best lunch (and probably the best meal) on Hamilton Island, full stop. There’s a specific pleasure in…

ByCrispinJuly 25, 20260Comments

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

EAT > Vue de Monde, Melbourne (19/20)

Twenty-five years On and 55 floors above the CBD, Vue de Monde remains the benchmark by which Melbourne fine dining measures itself: theatrical, meticulous, unapologetically expensive, and still capable of genuine surprise. In our opinion Vue de Monde is the most complete fine-dining experience in Melbourne, and arguably in the country. There is…

ByCrispinJuly 19, 20260Comments

STAY > AUSTRALIA STAY > QLD STAY > WHITSUNDAYS WHERE TO STAY >

STAY > QUALIA, Hamilton Island, Queensland (19/20)

Qualia on Hamilton Island remains the benchmark for barefoot Australian luxury, adults-only, 60-pavilion resort on the Great Barrier Reef where privacy, understated design and genuine sense of place outweigh any single showpiece amenity. AMBIENCE > Qualia occupies the secluded northern tip of Hamilton Island, set within roughly 30 acres of tropical gardens above the Coral…

ByCrispinJuly 12, 20260Comments

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

EAT > Marmelo, Melbourne (18/20)

Marmelo is a suave, wood‑fired love letter to Portugal that feels purpose‑built for Melbourne: ambitious but relaxed, visually dramatic yet quietly comforting, and already one of the CBD’s most compelling hotel dining rooms. In our opinion Marmelo is the best Portuguese restaurant (in Australia) There is something about Portugal that I find incredibly appealing,…

ByCrispinJune 14, 20260Comments

VISIT > AUSTRALIA Visit > Barossa Valley VISIT > SA

VISIT > Charles Melton Winery, Barossa Valley

Charles Melton is one of the Barossa’s most essential cellar doors: intimate, quietly confident and focused on serious, long-lived reds that reward attention as much as they reward time in the cellar. This is a visit for people who care about old vines, thoughtful blends and wines that have shaped the region’s modern identity. VISIT…

ByCrispinMay 30, 20260Comments

STAY > JAPAN STAY > TOKYO WHERE TO STAY >

STAY > Fairmont Hotel, Tokyo (18/20)

Fairmont Tokyo is a polished new arrival on Tokyo Bay: a vertical, glass‑wrapped refuge that delivers classic Fairmont theatre with a distinctly Japanese sense of restraint and ritual. It is also the brand’s long‑anticipated debut in Japan, perched high above Shibaura with big‑screen views of Tokyo Tower, Rainbow Bridge and the working harbour below. Tokyo…

ByCrispinMay 25, 20260Comments

DRINK > WINE DRINK > WINE > Pinot Noir

WINE > Wilimee Pinot Noir, 2024 (17/20)

There are Pinot Noirs that announce themselves loudly, and then there are wines that arrive with the quiet authority of deep soil and older vines. The Wilimee Pinot Noir 2024 is unequivocally the latter — a wine that carries the ancient weight of rare Cambrian and granite geology, shaped by cool altitude and a pair…

ByCrispinApril 26, 20260Comments

EAT > AUSTRALIA EAT > GC EAT > NOOSA EAT > SA EAT > SOUTHERN VALES WHERE TO EAT >

EAT > Victory Hotel, Sellicks Hill (16/20)

There are pubs that age badly, and there are pubs that age magnificently. The Victory Hotel, perched on the brow of Sellicks Hill with a panorama stretching across Aldinga Bay and the Fleurieu coast, belongs emphatically to the latter camp. This is one of Australia's great gastropubs — weathered, warm and quietly formidable, with a…

ByCrispinApril 26, 20260Comments

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

EAT > Blackbird, Melbourne (14/20)

Blackbird Melbourne is a three-level, moodily newcomer on Flinders Lane that feels built for long, steak lunches built around fire, flesh and a little theatre. It’s the Brisbane icon reimagined for Melbourne, with an open kitchen anchored by a Josper grill, a serious cellar and a cocktail bar that leans hard into nostalgia. Blackbird is…

ByCrispinApril 17, 20260Comments

VISIT > AUSTRALIA VISIT > McLaren Vale VISIT > SA

VISIT > Samuel’s Gorge, McLaren Vale SA

Samuel’s Gorge is one of McLaren Vale’s most atmospheric red-wine addresses, a rustic 1850s farm shed perched above the Onkaparinga gorge with views that feel painted into the label itself. This is a cellar door for people who like their Grenache wild‑haired and characterful, poured by a team who clearly live the wines they’re talking…

ByCrispinApril 14, 20260Comments