What's New in...
SYDNEY
by Lawrence Ferber
One of the world’s great gay capitals,
sunny and vibrant Sydney continues to evolve in the most
glorious manner. While February’s month-long
Mardi Gras festival (www.mardigras.org.au)
with its colorful climactic parade and all-night party/concert
continues to be a must-stop on the international LGBT
event calendar, Sydney’s first notable addition isn’t
even on the ground—it’s in the air. Virgin’s
V Australia (Tel: 800-444-0260. www.vaustralia.com)
has entered the long-haul fray with direct flights from
LAX. Three cabin classes—economy, premium economy,
and business—feature plenty of fresh touches and
practical details including lighting effects for each
stage of the flight (starry skies during “night”
and simulated sunrise for dawn), and an on-demand touch-screen
personal entertainment system with days’ worth of
uncut movies, TV shows, music, and more. In business class,
turndown service is offered—the adjustable sleeper
seats measure 6'2" long when fully flat. The cuisine,
by Aussie celeb chef Luke Mangan, traverses Mod-Oz and
international fare, with two meals and on-demand sandwiches
available throughout the flight.
The past five years have ushered in
a proliferation of new and renovated hotels, including
chic boutique properties. Hidden away in a CBD (Central
Business District) alleyway, the 33-room Establishment
Hotel (5 Bridge Lane. Tel: 61-2-9240-3110. www.merivale.com)
is one of Sydney’s most exclusive, stylish additions,
and sister business to a bevy of dress-to-impress hip
bars, clubs, and restaurants (including est and sush
e). While slickly, yet not overly designed, there are
a couple of drawbacks to Establishment’s rooms:
a lack of views except of an office building, and some
rooms feature an elevated bed area with a step that
isn’t very visible in the dark (I seriously banged
up a toe on it). On the plus side: a pair of decadent,
jumbo chocolate chip cookies arrives with turndown service.
For a room with a view, the five-star,
apartment-style Quay Grand Suites Hotel (61 Macquarie
Street, East Circular Quay. Tel: 61-2-9256-4000. www.mirvachotels.com)
features glass porches overlooking either the Inner
Harbour or, for greenery lovers, the Royal Botanic Gardens.
At night you can watch the flying foxes (Sydney’s
giant fruit bats) zip through the trees and sky.
Located in Kings Cross, once and perhaps
still Sydney’s seediest district and a magnet for
backpacking party seekers, the 76-room Diamant Hotel
(14 Kings Cross Rd., Potts Point. Tel: 61-2-9295-8888.
www.diamant.com.au)
earns high marks for its EDGE Interiors’ deco,
as well as modern amenities including 42” plasma
TV, DVD player, and iPod dock.
Unbeatable for its views of the Opera
House and Harbour Bridge, the Shangri-La (176
Cumberland St., The Rocks. Tel: 61-2-9250-6000. www.shangri-la.com)
unveiled a couple of upgrades and additions in 2009.
The Terrace is an indoor/outdoor lounge space for drinks
and relaxation and the hotel’s signature Himalayan-themed,
atmospheric CHI Spa are standouts. Four exclusive spa
treatments involving indigenous Australian ingredients
are offered, including a lemon myrtle and eucalyptus
polish, and bush honey and macadamia body wrap. Wi-Fi
is free throughout the hotel.
Recommendations for Sydney’s best
dining spots typically prove consistent, if not brand
new. In fact, some of the world’s top-ranked restaurants
are located here. Tetsuya’s, Quay (pronounced “key),
Sepia, and Bilson’s come up frequently. Degustation
menus are popular to say the least, and some venues
deal exclusively in set courses. It’s worth noting
that many restaurants are closed on Sunday nights.
Smaller, more intimate dining spots
seem to be a current trend, some with gay chefs and
restaurateurs at the helm. Out, lesbian Chef Christine
Manfield’s trendy Universal (Republic 2
Courtyard Palmer Street. Tel: 61-2-9331-0709. www.universalrestaurant.com)
fashions excitingly original fusion dishes: soy braised
Barossa chicken with seared liver, chili chicken dumpling
and turnip cake, and “Sticky Fingers” of spiced
quince, honey mousse, fresh curd, and blackcurrant jam
as examples. Ditto for her cocktail menu, which includes
creative concoctions like The Celestial (Plymouth gin,
kaffir lime, elderflower, lime, apple) and Paradigm
(Campari, Port, Pedro Ximenez, cacao). It’s akin
to globetrotting with the tongue.
Equally creative, the Star City Casino’s
Astral (80 Pyrmont St, Pyrmont. Tel: 800-700-700.
www.astralrestaurant.com.au)
adds a side order of theater with such visual/palate-dazzling
delights as Green Eggs and Ham, and a John Dory smoked
tableside in a glass cylinder. A few other venues that
amp up the clever, technique-driven factor are Bentley
Bar, Marque, and Oscillate Wildly.
Bondi Beach may be appetizing from a
sun worshipping and eye candy standpoint, but it’s
not exactly a gourmand’s heaven (beachfront seafood
venue Iceberg isn’t worth the hullabaloo or price).
The exception: Sean’s Panaroma (270 Campbell
Parade. Tel: 61-2-9365-4924. www.seanspanaroma.com.au).
Gay Chef Sean Moran doesn’t over-fuss, allowing
his sustainable, local ingredients’ flavors like
olive oil and lemon-blessed Barramundi fish, sliced
duck with currant grapes, and seared scallops in fennel
butter, to speak for themselves.
Café culture-wise, French macaroons
are currently in vogue, with many spots (including Baroque,
Black Star, The Rocks’ La Renaissance, and Beatrice
Levanti) serving both traditional and more creative
variations of the meringue-y confection (incidentally,
Oz’s national dessert is the Pavlova, another meringue-based
creation typically topped with fresh fruit and whipped
cream). Baker/confectioner Adriano Zumbo’s café
and patisserie (308 Darling St and 296 Darling St, respectively.
www.adrianozumbo.com)
are must-stops for sweets addicts, offering up truly
unique and unlikely macaroon creations including Mango
Sticky Rice, and, because this is Oz after all, Vegemite
(fans insist it’s sublime, the iconic product’s
yeasty sourness turned on low volume).
Sydney’s longtime gayborhood of
Darlinghurst and its main strip, Oxford Street, has
become more mixed of late, although it’s still
densely dotted with LGBT bars and cafés (local
secret: hidden just off Oxford Street, Pablo’s
Vice, Shop 3, 257 Crown Street, is a literal hole in
the wall for great coffee and a snack).
A number of venerable, even legendary
gay nightspots have shuttered their doors in recent
years. Last year saw the closure of the Newtown Hotel,
while other casualties include the Beecham Hotel and
Aubry Hotel.
All is not doom and gloom, however,
openings and upgradings have transpired as well. The
Imperial Hotel (www.theimperialhotel.
com.au), famously used as a location in the drag
queen road trip classic, Priscilla Queen of the Desert,
has been completely renovated. Opened in 2008, the Petersham
neighborhood’s The Clarence Hotel (corner of Parramatta
Rd. and Crystal Street) takes up the better part of
a block. In the front is a bar with plenty of seating
and two pool tables, and in the back is a disco and
stage. Daddies, bears, and their pals have a new space
to woof it up in Saddle Bar (85 Oxford St.), and Newtown’s
Courthouse Hotel (189 Oxford Street. Tel: 61-2-9360-4831.
www.courthousehotel.com.au)
is good for gastro-pub fare available 24/7.
Continued
|
