Modern Australian

REVIEW It’s a serious restaurant disguised in party clothes; a third-floor loft cloaking its pretensions with the frippery of a DJ, pool table and retro wallpaper. But once you’ve oohed over the vast warehouse space with arched windows looking over Smith Street, the menu reveals its surprises. A two-speed approach tacks from jazzed-up drinking food […]

REVIEW This likeable wine bar has been pleasing Novocastrians for a few years now, but things have stepped up in the food department with the arrival of Cory Campbell, a chef fresh from running the kitchen of the three-starred Vue de Monde in Melbourne. He has turned the bar menu on its head, the fried […]

REVIEW The cavernous, gorgeously restored Art Deco lobby of the Primus Hotel is an impressive setting for its signature restaurant. With an open kitchen, carpeted floors and blue and Burgundy banquettes, the dining space nails the grand hotel vibe, even if the well-meaning but slightly shaky service doesn’t. Chef Ryan Hong’s continent-hopping menu might be […]

REVIEW Schooners of Reschs, a pie-warmer, AC/DC blaring from the speakers and a pool table. The Unicorn’s new handlers, the guys from Mary’s and Porteño, aren’t out to modernise the classic Aussie pub so much as reboot it. Out go the poker machines, in comes a renovation sympathetic to the glories of the site’s timeless […]

REVIEW For decades this hallowed site was Claude’s, first French, then not French, then even less French again. Then it was something else. Now it’s St Claude’s, and if the name (and the offer of a twice-baked Gruyère soufflé) is intended as some sort of doff of the hat to the history of this two-storey […]

REVIEW Regatta not only pokes out onto the waters of Rose Bay, it’s also culturallyofRose Bay. Boats bob gently on the swell outside the glass of the pretty, gently maritime-leaning space, just as the room rustles with pressed linen and grown women address their fathers as “Daddy”. (Well, we assume that was her father.) Damien […]

REVIEW After being given the full Merivale treatment, overhauled, opened up and with plenty of built-in patina, The Paddington is abuzz again. It serves what is essentially a pub menu, albeit one conceived by Ben Greeno, a chef whose brilliance earned Momofuku Seiobo three stars from this guide. Almost every table is laden with the […]

REVIEW What’s a restaurant like you doing in a place like this? Not to besmirch the good name of Pakenham, but the Mill is an oasis of finely tuned restaurant values in a ‘hood where pizza joints and chicken shops rule the roost. The upmarket breakfast/brunch zone goes haute at night, when a menu from […]

REVIEW Is it a bar? Is it a bird? A restaurant? An aeroplane? The lighting, the volume of the ’80s pop, the focus on booze and indeed the name say bar, but the quality of the cooking, the attentive and intelligent table service  and the presence of one Analiese Gregory in the kitchen place it […]

REVIEW On a sunny day, the marquee blinds at the lakeside Terrace Restaurant roll all the way up, which can mean the odd leaf or six-legged visitor landing in your marsanne. No disaster – the smiling, attentive staff will crack a joke about cheeky swimmers before bringing a fresh glass. It’s the way the Terrace […]

REVIEW It might be a simple shack perched atop Port Willunga’s dramatic sandstone cliffs, but the Star of Greece offers more than just flash fish and chips against an idyllic coastal backdrop. Seafood is the core of the menu, with pan-fried calamari strips and beer-battered King George whiting fillets remaining longtime favourites. Barramundi fillet gets […]

REVIEW After negotiating lanes that wind through apple and cherry orchards, you’ll reach a simple-looking shed – inside there’s a handsome, rustic tasting room with jarrah floors and large picture windows. And the big reveal is outside: a steep vine-covered valley, flanked by several decks for dining. Beautiful in summer, the venue is equally enticing […]

REVIEW The ingredients on every one of Aløft’s dishes, Tasmanian treats spanning from woodear mushroom to koji beef, are expertly prepared and married with unexpected Asian flavours in skilful, delightful combinations. Tender sweetbreads are pitch perfect with a bright bouquet of Vietnamese herbs and fried shallot, sharpened by an intense Thai relish. Yellow fish curry […]

REVIEW Technically speaking, Post is a hotel restaurant. But when the hotel in question, Como The Treasury, is a recent Gourmet Traveller Hotel of The Year, expectations are suitably heightened. Post, thankfully, delivers. Based in the space that once housed Perth’s first general post office, this cool room of blond timber, white walls and black […]

REVIEW Meet Petition, a set of three licensed venues within the State Buildings that patrons are free to move between, beverage in hand. While drinkers will want to make camp at the prosaically named Beer Corner and Wine Bar and Merchant, diners are best served at Kitchen, an all-day diner patrolled by upbeat staff that […]

REVIEW In an old limestone building in Fremantle, Kenny McHardy is quietly yet confidently serving some of Perth’s most satisfying food. At the heart of the Manuka Woodfire Kitchen playbook: a fierce commitment to local produce and the use of a wood-fired oven to bring out the best in each ingredient. Roasted celeriac is served […]

With No 1 Bent Street, Mike McEnearney brings his grown-up, produce-driven food to the heart of the city, writes Pat Nourse.

From sold-out pop-up to permanent digs, Peter Gunn’s Collingwood restaurant has landed fully formed, writes Michael Harden.