March by name, march by nature! This month has definitely flashed by, hasn’t it? It’s a shame that March has gone by so quickly – this is usually the best time to be in Sydney; days still warm, evenings slightly cooler, crowds are smaller, everyone’s back to work and school.
And as is my MO for habitually complaining about how fast each month has gone by, I’m once again going to blame it on so much happening.
We have friends in town from interstate, we’re visiting friends in other states, weddings down on the NSW border and even our own wedding anniversary celebrations. We’ve got tours of ocean liners, whisky judging panels, wine tastings, Elvis biopic premiers, cocktails, St Patrick’s Day, curries, comedians and even a sneak preview of a friend’s magnificent new travel book.
And it’s all happened in these 31 short days!
Hope you’re sitting comfortably.
Jim & Christina xx
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We kick off the month with a bit of indie music! Our good friend Nick Beswick is playing a gig at the Gasoline Pony in Marrickville.
The band he’s in – Lost In The Woods – has been going since the mid-2000s and always puts down brilliant sets. You can find out more about the band and any upcoming gigs here on their site and their albums are all available on Spotify here.
It’s great to see Nick, especially when his parents are in town. His mum is the only other person I’ve met with the same birthday as me!
This afternoon, we get to play tour guide to our lovely friends Steve and Heather Collins in town from Perth. We met Steve in 2019 on a media trip to South Africa and we’ve stayed in contact ever since.
Steve has worn many hats in his life including a radio and podcast broadcaster, a writer, a photographer and a travel correspondent. He’s also a standup comedian, so there are always plenty of healthy one-liners on hand to keep everyone smiling.
We take them round to see some of the sights of Balmain and pop into our favourite pub The Bald Rock Hotel in Rozelle for a spot of lunch. It’s been so good to spend time with these lovely people.
All too soon, they have to head back to where they’re staying in Manly, so we pop them on a ferry and wave goodbye. Hope to see them both again soon.
We’ve had a long-running love affair with the wine, food and hospitality from Orange, NSW. This town on the Central Tablelands has worked its way deep into our hearts with its friendly nature and the outstanding quality of its produce.
But in particular, the wine coming from this town is crazy. Over 80 wineries exist in the small designation that’s limited by altitude. The beauty of this is that there are still so many wineries that we haven’t yet discovered.
Owners of Angullong Wines – the Crossing family – have been crafting outstanding wines since the late 1990s. We have the opportunity to try a couple of their wines from the latest release of Angullong’s Fossil Hill range.
This range shows Angullong’s commitment to expanding and challenging the varietals and flavours that Orange is known for.
Within this release of six varieties is a Sangiovese and a Tempranillo.
Angullong’s bright, lively Sangiovese is packed with those delightful cherry and spice aromas that open up even more on the palate, ending in a rounded, long savoury finish with plenty of fine acidity and structured tannins.
The Tempranillo is also right on the money with raspberry, cedar and spice notes running through it. Light sweetness also comes through as its fine texture leads you to a moreish finish.
Both these wines are medium-bodied reds, which suggests the Australian wine palate is progressing nicely towards a more refined, lighter style of wine.
All wines in this range, which also includes a Barbera, a Montepulciano, a Shiraz and a Chardonnay, are available from Angullong’s beautiful cellar door or online here – RRP$30.00 each.
Another wine discovery from Orange, check out our review of the full recently released range from Cooks Lot Wines here.
This evening, Christina is at Balmain and Rozelle’s home of beer: Sydney Brewery! And she’s here to be part of the Women In Business that the Balmain Rozelle Chamber of Commerce runs on a regular basis.
Christina reports that it’s great to meet so many strong women working in the community, creating incredible opportunities and shaping the way that business is conducted in and around Sydney.
Titled the ‘Cider, Sip & Connect’ event, tonight’s networking festivities are combined with a tasting session of Sydney Brewery’s cider range, which I have to say is excellent.
The original apple cider, the Bat Currant and the Agave Ginger are delicious, but I must say the Lemon Twist is a winner. Dangerously easy to drink and very refreshing.
We’re so excited about this one!
Our wonderful friend Jane Lawson is almost ready to launch her latest (and possibly greatest) travel book Secret Japan!
Jane has worked, lived and travelled in Japan for over 40 years, and her incredible depth of knowledge is all out in the pages of this beautifully crafted book – and we’ve been given a bit of an advanced viewing of it!
I’m loath to call it a travel guide, because it’s so much more than that. Yes, it has some excellent travel advice, it guides you through all the different islands, regions and prefectures of Japan, and covers all the things you want to know about the country – from food to onsen etiquette.
But the way Jane has written this is more an insight into what Japan is, how and why it’s structured the way it is and what it feels like to experience this unique, fascinating destination.
We can’t wait for this book to come out in late April, and we’ll be able to share more information with you on it then too. But until then, you can get this on pre-order here.
This afternoon, I’m in our old stomping ground in Surry Hills to be part of a tasting panel for pioneering hospitality magazine National Liquor News.
Today’s target spirit is whisky – specifically Irish whiskey and Scotch. And with 70 different whiskies from over 30 distilleries across Ireland and Scotland, the group’s more than got our work cut out for us.
The setting is perfect though. We’re in the whisky room of the Clock Hotel on Crown Street, the most appropriate place to be tasting some of the best scotch and Irish whiskey on the market.
We’re on the road again!
This time, Christina and I are driving down to the borderlands for a wedding in Albury. But first, we get in a quick stopover with our awesome friends Carly and Ben who live in beautiful historic Beechworth.
It’s so much fun to hand out with them and to see their two rapidly growing kids. We wish we had more time to spend here, but all too soon we’re in the car again heading back across the river into NSW.
But it’s certainly worth it.
We’re at our friends’ Emily and Adam’s wedding in the impressive Murray Art Museum Albury (affectionately ‘MAMA‘). With over 2,400 pieces of photographic, sculptural and indigenous art, MAMA makes an amazing, unique venue for a wedding.
Christina and I are proud to have been given formal roles for the wedding: we’re the MCs for the night! Fortunately, the celebrant does most of the heavy lifting – even telling guests where the bathrooms are and not to touch any of the artworks. So we really don’t have to do that much.
The vast entrance is full of grand exhibits, but it’s also the main arena for celebrations – not to mention the bar and dance floor when all the formalities and food are over.
The party goes on long into the night – there might even be a spot of karaoke in one of the nearby night spots, but that’s for us to know…
Congratulations, Em and Adam. We hope you have most wonderful life together.
It’s our last day in Albury and also our wedding anniversary*! After hanging out with the newlyweds this afternoon, we head out for dinner at what everyone here considers to be the best place to eat in town.
We’re in Norma’s, a lovely little neighbourhood restaurant. We manage to score a table without a booking, which is a feat in itself, and work our way through the menu.
The menu, by the way, is an interesting thing. You mark off what you want to eat, take it up to the bar and hand it in. You’re almost placing your order with the open kitchen yourself. It’s at this point that you pay as well. It’s a fun way to do things, but I do worry the excellent staff and chefs here are doing themselves out of tips.
We order the calamari and ‘nduja, the pork cotoletta, tonnato sauce and crispy capers, smoked beef, kipfler potatoes and the most amazing caper crema, and the rich rigatoni with slow-cooked beef ragu, all washed down with an excellent Riesling from Darling Estate in King Valley.
Outstanding service, food and drink, and of course the very best company. Happy anniversary, Christina.
*By the way, special shout-out to my mum and dad, who’ll be celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary in a few days!
It’s time for us to leave Albury, but we’ll definitely be back – and not just because our lovely friends live here. This is a great little town with plenty to offer.
Before we head north, we drive up to the high point of the town for what everyone says are the best views of the area. They’re right – from the impressive Anzac War Memorial, you look out right across the town down to the distant hills.
This evening, Christina and I are at the cinema. Our friends from Memphis Tourism has invited us to a screening of Epic, the new Elvis biopic by Baz Luhrmann at the Gold Class screen at Event Cinema George Street.
We meet everyone at the bar – lots of friendly faces from the travel media industry here tonight – and head to our luxurious recliner seats for the show. Chris Ingham from Memphis Tourism talks us through the screening before the lights go down and the King takes the stage.
We weren’t sure what to expect from Epic. This is a kind of compilation of a whole load of b-roll and backstage video that was recently unearthed of Elvis’ seven-year residency in Las Vegas.
Luhrmann has created a kind of docu-concert with this, and although there’s no narration, no plot and it’s not even in any kind of chronological order, Epic is so compelling and so interesting. Seeing Elvis in rehearsals and on stage, hearing his voice and watching him in this never-before-seen footage is somehow so watchable.
We leave with a new appreciation for Presley. If nothing else, his work ethic was unimpeachable. In athe peak three-year period in Vegas, he ran other 1,100 shows, sometimes three concerts a day. And every time he went on stage, he said he’d perform like it was the first night of a tour. Impressive stuff.
After the film, Christina and I take advantage of being in the city and head to a bar we haven’t been to before. We find the hidden entry to The Press.
This is a Merivale venue and, as it turns out, where fine-dining restaurant EST. once stood. It’s a beautiful bar, vaulted ceilings, grand pillars and a long bar that sits to one side. It has a kind of speakeasy feel mixed with a Budapest ruin bar.
Cocktails are superb, made with outstanding skill and served by well-trained staff. We sit up at the bar and end up chatting to Kristy, who turns out is from a little town called Great Dunmow not far from where I grew up in the UK. Such a small world.
This afternoon, Christina is aboard the world’s last ocean liner: the magnificent Queen Mary II is berthed at Circular Quay as part of her 2026 World Voyage.
The tour of the QM2 starts with champagne on the poop deck (don’t laugh) with iconic photos of the Cunard sign and the Harbour Bridge in the background. Then the group delves into the elegant interior of one of the biggest and most luxurious cruise ships.
She admires the grandeur of twin-balustrade atria, the artworks lining walls and many dining options throughout the ship.
The tour leads to the old English pub and its homely welcoming feel, then to the elegant bistro with its wide windows looking out over the water. There’s even a full theatre on board with a stage big enough for concerts and seating for over 1,100 patrons.
There’s also a cinema, 15 restaurants, 14 bars and lounges, a library with over 6,000 books and audio books, a fully equipped casino, spas, gyms and wellness centres, four pools, spaces for quoits, basketball, tennis, and even golf, shops, boutiques and galleries, and the 1,260 square foot Queens Room – the biggest ballroom at sea. It’s like a floating city.
This evening, we’re back at the State Theatre (we were here last month to see a celebrity chef) this time to see comedian Laura Ramoso. Christina first spotted her on TikTok with her hilarious impressions of her Italian father and German mum. Another character Laura developed, which has since gone viral, is the Italian airline clerk. You should check her out.
The show is very funny, though there’s far too much audience participation for my liking and it makes me feel unsettled throughout the whole show. We’re sitting far enough back that we probably won’t be picked, but even the thought of being dragged up there turns my blood to pork rind.
Slainte! Today is St Patrick’s Day so the lads and I are out for a Guinness or two. We’re at the Merton in Rozelle ostensibly for their excellent goat curry, but also to join in the Irish festivities.
There’s a band playing Irish folk songs, plenty of beer and even a raffle for some Irish goodies. We win a couple of them actually, taking home plenty of packets of Taytos and some less Irish things like mayonnaise and Minstrels. But it’s a worthy little hamper I’ll not be saying no to!
This evening, we’re out with our mates Jo, Paul and Anton. It’s been quite a while since we all hung out, so we know this one’s going to be a biggy.
We kick off with a couple of beers at the Red Lion in Rozelle, mostly because it’s close to dinner, which is – that’s right – back at the Merton! Twice in a week. People will start to talk. But the goat curry, in fact all the food here, is so good I’d be happy to come back five nights in a row.
After dinner, we hop in a taxi to check out the newly opened Nacara Bar in Balmain. This was once Wilhelmina’s, but closed down and has been empty for ages.
Only open a week, Nacara feels like it’s always been here. The cocktails are off the charts, and the knowledge and creativity of the bar staff here is well worth a seat at the bar to enjoy. Just ask them about their in-house fat wash spirits.
Christina and I have been invited to a lovely party this afternoon. Local law firm Morgan and English, some of whom we met at a Christmas party for the Balmain Rozelle Chamber of Commerce recently, are having a bit of a shindig at their offices at the Waterfront Workshops.
These brightly coloured buildings right on the harbour and the little marina are a real landmark of the peninsula and aren’t usually accessible to the public. It’s great to hang out with friends and colleagues from the area, but also pretty cool to see these iconic buildings up close.
It’s an excellent party with plenty of great conversations and laughs, and we also have the pleasure of meeting Will, the office greyhound.
We hope you’ve enjoyed this (really quite massive) March edition of Flavour of the Month. See you again in a few weeks!
Jim & Christina xx
