Big-name chef takes over at Sydney five-star hotel

Leading chef James Viles is making a huge step from a country restaurant to one of the busiest hotel kitchens in Sydney. 

Viles closed the doors of his acclaimed Biota Dining eatery in Bowral in 2020 after combined impact of bushfires and Covid pandemic.

Since then he has been consulting to Emirates One&Only Wolgan Valley and Canberra-based Harvac group, for whom he opened an Asian barbecue restaurant.

Now, however, he will be joining the team at Park Hyatt Sydney to oversee the hotel's culinary operation.

Viles has 20 years of kitchen experience including stints with Aman Resorts and Orient Express Hotels.

"James' addition to our team is the first exciting step in our plans to transform The Dining Room and all our culinary experiences at Park Hyatt Sydney," says hotel general manager Samuel Dabinett.

With a superb location on the very edge of Sydney Harbour, between the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge, Park Hyatt Sydney's signature restaurant The Dining Room will be reshaped by Viles.

One thing he might want to address is the insulting $12 charge for bread and butter.

For more information on The Dining Room visit www.diningroom.com.au

Celebrate New Zealand wine in three different cities

 

UPDATE: Winetopia Auckland event has now been postponed to 28-29 October, due to ongoing Government restrictions related to the Covid-19 pandemic

New Zealand wine lovers can enjoy the nation's biggest celebration of wine in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch this winter. 

 

Each Winetopia event will feature up to 60 leading wineries in each city and an all-star (and all-Kiwi) cast of presenters. 

 

Visitors will be given an opportunity to ‘tour’ each major wine region of the country and try a range of styles from Marlborough albarino to Central Otago pinot noir, Northland chardonnay to Hawkes Bay syrah. 

A limited number of ‘golden coins’ can be purchased in advance or at the event and these will afford the attendee a taste of one of the most prestigious wines from around the country. 

Now into its seventh year, Winetopia will take place at the following locations:  

• Auckland (May 20-21) at Shed 10, Queen’s Wharf 
• Wellington (July 1-2) at TSB Arena, 4 Queen’s Wharf, Wellington Central 
• Christchurch (August 26-27) at Te Pae Christchurch Convention and Exhibition Centre  

All Winetopia events will have food and a live music options.

Event founder Rob Eliott says: “More than anything, Winetopia is a fantastic community of wine lovers - some in the community make the wine and some simply enjoy it, but we’re all passionate about discovering the good stuff."

To view the wineries that will be attending the events and to book tickets visit www.winetopia.co.nz.

A valid My Vaccine Pass is required to attend all Winetopia events. If postponements due to Covid are necessary then tickets will be transferred to the new dates or refunds offered.

Meet the most expensive wines made in Victoria

 

Premium Yarra Valley wine producer Levantine Hill is always prepared to make a statement. 

Owners the Jreissati family and winemaker Paul Bridgeman strive for excellence - and know how to charge for it. 

Now welcome Optume, Levantine Hill Estate’s $800 celebrations of shiraz and cabernet sauvignon from the Yarra - the winery's most premium range yet and launched today. 

The 2017 Levantine Hill Optume Shiraz will have a limited release of 65 cases, and the 2017 Levantine Hill Optume Cabernet Sauvignon will have an even more limited release of 58 dozen bottles.

Levantine Hill winemaker Paul Bridgeman says he has aimed to craft wines expressing the heart and soul of the Yarra Valley. 

The wines use hand-sorted grapes sourced from several selected Yarra Valley sites, which Bridgeman says allows for more nuanced flavours and complexity. 

The bottles have been imported from France (another statement) and locally-crafted presentation boxes will hold each bottle, complete with their own individually numbered key to secure the contents. 

Levantine Hill managing director Samantha Jreissati says the release of the Optume label represents an important milestone in the company’s quest to produce Australia’s very best wines of uncompromising quality. 

“These wines are made from the best parcels of cabernet sauvignon and shiraz that we can find across the Yarra Valley from the 2017 vintage - so it is a true celebration of our entire region,’’ she said.

 “Optume was born following a chance discussion between Levantine Hill Estate’s founder Elias Jreissati and winemaker Paul Bridgeman (pictured above), who had a meeting of minds about what sort of wine could be created in the Yarra Valley if no effort or expense was spared and other premium wine growers were given the opportunity to submit grapes for inclusion in it. 

"Their shared vision is to create the optimum expression of a GI-specific, cool-climate wine - hence the name - from each suitable vintage, without regard to location, effort or cost. 

"We are very proud of the results." 

The $800 price tag is believed to make the Optume wines the most expensive in Victoria. 

“The rarity of these wines is due to the pulling together of the particular strengths as well as expressions of a small number of select single site grapes around Levantine Hill and the broader Yarra Valley, expressly targeted for predicted contributions they will have towards the final blend,’’ said Bridgeman. 

“In the end, the wine’s expression aims to be greater than the sum of all parts, which conveys a synergy and seamless balance across the palate, reflecting broader vintage conditions across the multitude of targeted vineyard sites.’’ 

Levantine Hill Optume is available to purchase online at levantinehill.com.au, or in person at the Levantine Hill Cellar Door, Armadale Cellars in Melbourne and Moncur Cellars in Sydney. 

Asian nations rapidly reopening their doors

Asia is opening its doors to vaccinated travellers with good news this week for anyone wanting to visit Hong Kong, South Korea or Malaysia. 

Hong Kong will lift its flight ban on nine countries next week, signalling a major switch from its ‘zero Covid’ policy, Business Traveller reports.

Fully vaccinated Hong Kong residents from the UK, Australia, Canada, France, India, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines and the US will be allowed to board flights to Hong Kong from April 1 provided that they have proof of a negative PCR test.

Travellers will still need to quarantine in a hotel upon arrival in Hong Kong, but this will be cut to seven days from 14.

The city’s leader Carrie Lam announced the news at a press conference, saying the flight ban was causing distress to Hong Kong people stranded overseas and is also having an impact on the city’s businesses.

She also announced that restrictions on social gatherings, mask-wearing and business and venue operations will begin to ease in three phases from April 20.

Malaysia and South Korea plan to reopen to fully vaccinated travellers from April 1 and those two countries will not require quarantine upon entry.

Visitors to Malaysia will have to take a pre-departure PCR test and antigen test upon arrival, while travellers to South Korea who have received two doses of the vaccine, or a booster jab, will be free from quarantine requirements from April 1. 

Can you guess which city has just been named the best cultural destination in Europe?

Looking for a cultural destination in Europe? 

Hoping to go beyond The Vatican, The Albert Hall and The Louvre? 

Well the people at USwitch, a mortgage company no less, say that they have done your homework for you, and decided that Prague (above), in the Czech Republic, is the best European destination for culture vultures.

USwitch notes that "Europe has always been renowned for its deep artistic roots, but with an abundance of attractions and limited time, culture lovers will inevitably have to make some tough choices when deciding which locations to prioritise".

So it undertook a survey based on the total number of theatres, museums, landmarks and cultural tours across each city in Europe to calculate a cultural score. 

The study then considered additional factors such as reviews and population size, to determine the most cultural cities in Europe.

Which is fine in theory. 

But any listing that does not include Paris among the the top 10 cultural destinations in Europe has to be hugely suspect. Flawed methodology or weighting, perhaps. 

Just think. The Louvre, the Pompidou Centre, the Musée des Arts et Métiers, the Musée du Quai Branly, the Musee d'Orsay, the Musée Rodin, the Paris Opera and the Opera Bastille. And I have barely started. 

So, with a big question mark, I can advise that this survey says that with a cultural score of 9.85 out of a possible 10, Prague is the most cultured city in Europe. 

It apparently has has 14.46 landmarks for every 100,000 residents and the most monuments of any city in Europe. It also benefits from having the most theatres (1.89 per 100,000), 28.6% more than the number of theatres in London. 

Prague is a delightful city, certainly, with great history and immense allure. It has a delightful location on the River Danube and attractions including Prague Castle, the Astronomical Clock and the Charles Bridge among others. But...

With cultural hotspots such as the Rijkmuseum, Amsterdam (9.81/10) has the most museums per 100,000 people in Europe (7.66), and is the second most-cultured city in the continent, the survey says. Maybe they have been bonging on.  

Dublin is the third most cultural city in Europe, with a score of 9.48/10, apparently boosted by the Irish Whiskey Museum. 

Stop laughing out loud at the back! 

Then come Rome, Munich, Copenhagen, Budapest, London and Berlin in equal eighth, then Milan and Vienna. Poor Paris must be mortified.     

For full details of the survey visit https://www.uswitch.com/mortgages/guides/most-cultured-spots-Europe/

Global conglomerate heads for the African bush

 

Global hotel conglomerates and African safari lodges would seem to be unlikely bedfellows but ...

Marriott International has just signed an agreement with Baraka Lodges Ltd to enter the Africa safari lodge segment.

JW Marriott Masai Mara Lodge will be the company’s first safari lodge, located within the Masai Mara National Reserve in Kenya.

The retreat expects to welcome guests from 2023.

The new-build lodge will feature 20 private tents, including one presidential canvas-topped pavilion and two interconnecting canopied suites.

Shared spaces will include a restaurant, lounge bar, spa, and a large outdoor terrace with fire pits that will play host to traditional Masai dance performances in the evening (ugh!).

“We cannot think of a more perfect retreat than the Masai Mara National Reserve in Kenya,” said Bruce Rohr, vice president and brand leader for JW Marriott, Marriott International.

“JW Marriott Masai Mara Lodge will offer guests a luxurious backdrop as they connect with nature and wildlife as never before," he said. 

"We are thrilled that the JW Marriott brand will be welcoming adventure travellers, including families, to this breath-taking part of the world.”

Masai Mara is home to lions, leopards, buffalos, rhinoceros and elephants. Between June and September, the reserve is also host to the annual great wildebeest migration, when more than 10 million animals travel a distance of 1,800 miles from the Serengeti in neighbouring Tanzania.

Marriott International currently operates more than 120 properties in Africa across its portfolio.

I suspect nervous American tourists might feel more comfortable visiting the jungle when they stay with a familiar name.