I really don’t know where this year’s gone. It feels like about a week ago that January was just over, and now it’s November and we’re staring down the barrel of Christmas.
But we looked back at a few of our IG Editions over this last year and we realised that we’ve actually done quite a bit. 2017’s been a pretty good year for Mrs Romance and me. Even when it’s a busy work week like this week, we still manage to have fun. Here’s to an exciting run out for what’s left of the year.
We hope you enjoy this week’s IG Edition. We’ve got a great new recommendation for where to eat in Sydney and news about another Italian festival, plus one of our favourite shots from this year’s Halloween.
Jim & Christina xx
Tonight, Mrs Romance and I have come to try out a new restaurant. It’s in one of our old haunts: Paddington. In fact this place is about 100m away from where we first met all those years ago.
This is Fred’s, one of Merivale’s newest venues – and to our mind one of the best.
The food is superb, the service is exceptional and the wine list makes you want to cry each time you see it. They even have a specials list of rare wines they open to serve by the glass.
The only thing stopping us from coming back here more often than special occasions is the price. This place is a little dear, but that’s the cost of such a lovely dining experience.
Among all our dishes, this is one of the prettiest and tastiest: my main of pencil leeks wrapped in brik pastry on a bed of roasted veg and soft cheese and buttermilk. I’ve chosen wisely.
After dinner, we duck downstairs into Charlie Parker’s – a little speakeasy bar also owned by Merivale and also incredible. This bar is so perfectly stocked, staffed and styled it’s hard not to fall in love with this place. If you don’t feel like the sit-down of Fred’s upstairs, this place also serves amazing food. It looks like a sample of the full menu at Fred’s.
Our latest hotel review on the blog, we’re going through Sydney’s Four Seasons Hotel for our recent staycation.
But this is a hotel review with a bit of a difference: our experience at the Four Seasons wasn’t just about the hotel. In fact our room and the facilities had a small part to play here.
The restaurant Mode and the bar Grain are so good, we felt they both deserved more coverage.
Check out our review of the Four Seasons Hotel Sydney and its restaurant and bar here.
Today we’re out in Leichhardt – one of Sydney’s most Italian suburbs – to check out Norton Street Festa. It’s an amazing day today – a classic early summer day – and the crowds have filled the street.
One of the best hashtags we’ve seen for a while and inspiration for what we should eat. Got to love cannoli. We’re ricotta cannoli fans, but other people prefer the chocolate ones. What about you?
Love the atmosphere here at the Norton Street Festa. These guys are really looking and sounding the part as they play their way down Leichhardt’s main street.
There’s everything here from Italian food and wine stalls to clothes and crockery shops, and live music. This festival has really grown since the first time we were here a few years ago now.
Everyone’s really getting into the spirit of things today. These ladies are amazing, aren’t they? Even the heat hasn’t stopped them from getting really dressed up for it.
Australia is creating some amazing whisky at the moment. It’s one of the latest craft spirit movements to happen not only here but worldwide. And the whisky coming from Aus seems to be getting better and better every month that goes by.
We’ve put together three of our favourite Australian whisky distilleries to show you what’s out there.
If you’re looking for a Christmas present for your whisky-loving partner (or perhaps some gift inspiration to pass on to someone for yourself), check out these three awesome Aussie whiskies.
We leave you today with one of the funniest Halloween decorations we’ve seen this year. Got to love the dedication to detail here, haven’t you? What a great idea.
We really hope you’ve enjoyed this IG Edition. Speak to you again soon
Jim & Christina x
