What's happening in Sydney
The best things to do this week
Sydney’s premiere fresh food and produce market pulls in the crowds
Solve your last minute Christmas crisis at this artist warehouse
Susie Youssef and Phil Spencer star in this sweet and riotously funny rom-com
Get acquainted with an 18-metre sperm whale, walk through the heart of a blue whale and follow the discovery trail with the kids
Dance under real snow at this ten-day Christmas extravaganza
[Sponsored] See Sydney through someone else’s eyes at this photography exhibition of everyday lives
The drawings of one of Sydney's most loved artists are celebrated in this exhibition
This exhibition features sculptures by Salvador Dalí alongside works from Australia's own Charles Billich
Latest news stories
Competitions and announcements
Sydney Festival 2019 is just around the corner
Help yourself to a cool stream of Prosecco while picnicking in the leafy laneway every weekend until the end of the year
The best of Sydney
Welcome to the Time Out EAT List, our handpicked ‘best of’ for Sydney's food scene.
Whether it's a reward after tackling one of Sydney's beautiful walks or a caffienated catch up or a hangover fixer.
Take a read and get cracking on that ultimate to-do list.
Whether it’s the brekky pho or racks of vintage threads that gets you out of bed in the morning.
Point your compass in the direction of one of these nearby towns, regions and bush walks.
We'll party on the roof, in the basement, by the pool, even once every few months in a suburban bowling club.
Let us be your guide to the sights you need to see and the ones you can wave to from an open-top bus.
It’s worth investing a little time into who and where you should get inked before making the decision to permanently commit.
Sydney is obsessed with high tea, and with good reason – we know how to bake a good scone.
While away an afternoon or simply catch a break at lunch time.
Sydney packs a punch when it comes to spectacular views and thrilling activities.
Time Out took the challenge of visiting all the escape rooms in the city.
Coastal walks, bush walks, historical walks and inner city ambles: there are many routes to choose from.
There are a few hotels whose hospitality is just as popular with locals as with those visiting town.
Sometimes there's nothing better than the sun on your back and a cool drink to keep things chill.
Neighbourhood guides
Our guide to casual dining in Sydney with American Express
Creative sushi chefs and excellent produce make Sydney a great place to explore the magical combination of rice, seaweed and protein. The fact that it makes for a swift, filling and inexpensive lunch makes sushi an irresistible siren song to busy workers and students, who flock to the hundreds of restaurants that fill every corner of the city. To make things even easier, at all these venues, you’ll be able to dine in confidence with the knowledge that these venues welcome American Express.
Plant eater or not, the thrill of landing a plate of crunchy, just-fried falafel is the stuff of every food nerd’s dreams. These deep-fried balls of goodness can look and taste slightly different depending on which country they come from. Syrian and Lebanese falafel tend to have a chickpea centre, while Egyptian ones are usually made of ground fava. Use our cheat sheet to track down your favourite version in Sydney, and pay in confidence with American Express at all of these venues.
Twirling spoons at the ready? We’ve scoured Sydney’s many Italian restaurants to find these Nonna-approved pasta dishes, from pillowy soft gnocchi to just-made tongues of ribbony linguine. We’ve also looked beyond the Boot to bring you to the best non-Italian interpretations of the flour-egg-water brief. At all these venues, you’ll be able to dine in confidence with the knowledge that these venues welcome American Express.
You can easily drop your week’s wages on dining out in Sydney but there’s no need. The city’s hot dining destinations have plenty of satisfying and scintillating stuff on their menus for less than a lobster. And when it comes to settling up you can use your American Express® Card with confidence. How about a complementary side dish with your meal? Check out the offers at Side with Amex.
Sydney is home to excellent Chinese restaurants that serve up dim sum with serious style. Whether you're after an elegant banquet, a hangover-soothing repast or some steaming hot dumplings, these restaurants have some seriously great dim sum dishes. At all these venues, you’ll be able to dine in confidence with the knowledge that they welcome American Express.
What's $20 worth in Sydney these days? If you're looking for a good feed at least, a humble $20 note will actually get you pretty far. From Bondi to Barangaroo, Sydney's sprawl is dotted with foodie gems that won't cost you the earth. Grab your wallet and your comfy pants and tuck into our must-try dishes for $20 or less. And when it comes to the bill, you can pay with confidence knowing these venues take American Express.
Antipasto plates may not always involve much cooking, but they have the potential to show off a chef’s ability for sourcing some of the best deli goods from across the world. They also demonstrate a knack for the age-old art of preserving, pickling and curing the best local produce around. Whether it’s neat folds of cold cut meats, wedges of moreish cheese or pots of sour pickled veggies you’re after, these are the top spots in Sydney to get your antipasto fix. Then, when it comes to getting the cheque, you can pay in confidence knowing these venues welcome American Express.
A good stir-fry is all about the breath of the wok – that magical combination of heat, timing and squeaky-fresh produce that transports you straight to the backstreets of buzzy Asian cities. Whether it’s fiery kung pao chicken or a plate of Indomee Goreng with a twist, we’ve sought out the best stir fries in Sydney. Check out the diverse range of dishes that come alive in the wok, and pay in confidence knowing these venues welcome American Express.
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Once again we all blinked and a year passed. Now Christmas is on its way and following that, 2019. With it, comes the return of Luna Park’s New Year’s Eve Harbour Party. Located within a stone’s throw of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the Harbour Party is the perfect spot to soak up the fireworks as they glitter across the night sky. Get lost on the park grounds while you gorge on delicious food and unlimited free rides, and rock out to the night’s epic line-up of Australian and international artists. Among the entertainment will be the Veronicas, Nicole Millar, KLP, and Joyride, to name a few. The party will feature a variety of pop up bars to cater to your drinking desires, and if you’re feeling peckish then you can stop by the newly opened, Hungry Horse or Helter Skelter. Tickets range from general admission ($149) to Palais VIP ($579). All tickets will give you entry to the Big Top and Crystal Palace, but get exclusive access to the Deck, Sonar, and Palais with one of the VIP tickets, each of which include a selection of canapés, a carvery and a range of beverages from which to choose. Book your tickets on the Sydney Luna Park website here.
This summer, experience innovative leaps in the world of visual arts, theatre, music, dance, film and literature at the longest-running arts festival in Australia. For its 66th year, Perth Festival will invite the brightest and bravest creatives from around the world to present three weeks of performances, installations, exhibitions and events across the city. From February 8 to March 3, the 2019 program will take place – the fourth and final festival masterminded by beloved artistic director Wendy Martin. Of more than 80 exciting events on the bill, 26 will be exclusive to the summer festival in Perth. Selecting the top events on the program is a difficult task, but a few fantastic international and local ones do stand out. The 2017 festival favourite, Boorna Waanginy: The Trees Speak, will return this year, transforming Kings Park with the cultural and ecological knowledge of the Noongar people, who are the original owners of the land around Perth. This epic work will run over four nights, and includes light installations and audio-visual works that use the natural environment to share a message of sustainability and maintenance of the Indigenous landscape. Australian born theatrical genius Barrie Kosky brings his Komische Oper Berlin company to Australia for the first time with their production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute, accompanied by the West Australian Symphony Orchestra. The production drops Mozart’s famous opera into a melting pot of 1920s silent movies, Weimar c
Not only is Canberra home to some top-notch bars but they also ferment the good stuff right here in the region – from cool-climate shiraz to Australia’s only locally produced bourbon and craft beers worth travelling for. Enjoy them all at Canberra’s finest.
Whether you’re an enthusiastic producer looking to up-skill in the world of film, television and radio, or you’re a golden hearted film fanatic wanting to understand the craft behind the screen, the Australian Film Television and Radio School should become your home for creativity this summer. The leading screen and broadcast school, which is parked right beside Fox Studios in the Entertainment Quarter, is offering adult intensive courses for all interests and abilities. Film, TV and radio enthusiasts can choose from subjects like the filmmaking intensive, screenwriting intensive, the thought-provoking documentary production intensive, learn journalistic skills for TV and radio presenting, diverse digital production techniques, as well as intensives in prop-making and set creation. The school holidays program has something for kids from grades five and up, where they can create their own worlds with animation, learn about filmmaking, try their hand at gory movie make-up, control the story with video editing, and create the perfect soundtrack in a music for film and TV course. There are also two-day courses to give kids a flavour of Hollywood, or dedicated two-week programs like the Young Filmmakers Bootcamp that explore many aspects of media production. An industry professional or technical expert will be leading each class, so you can get experience-based insights into filmmaking whether you're participating in the summer course yourself or if you're enrolling the kids
Maybe it’s cold outside elsewhere, but here in Sydney the weather is just warming up, and that means it’s the perfect time of year to get out of the house and enjoy some Christmas lights. Now we’re not talking about the dodgy string of fairy lights your next-door neighbour has used to rim their veranda for the past six years—the one where every other bulb’s blown and half of the remaining ones flicker. No. We mean something a little more spectacular. Christmas will once again take over St Mary’s Cathedral’s façade with a show of music, dancing lights and projections. From Wednesday December 5 to Tuesday December 25 the cathedral will be alight with vivid Christmas projections. The display will start at 7:30pm and go on until midnight each night. The festivities will also feature a number of different choirs each evening, followed by the lights at 8.30pm. The show itself is separated into three segments: a Christmas-inspired, kaleidoscopic feast of light and colour, a story written and narrated by actor and writer Simon Pryce (AKA the Red Wiggle), and finally a collection of artworks of the Madonna and Child. Best of all it’s free! So pack a picnic or bring some money and enjoy the variety of delicious food available. There’ll be churros, coffee, gelato, and a range of great savoury options for you to nibble on while you take in the displays.Check out the Lights for Christmas website for a sneak peak of what's to come this year.
Counting and Cracking is an epic new play that will have its premiere as part of Sydney Festival, bringing together 16 actors from five countries to tell a story of Australia today. Belvoir is moving out from its Surry Hills home for January to take over Sydney Town Hall, transforming it into a Sri Lankan town hall. The show begins with a Sri Lankan meal, and a cricket scoreboard will help you navigate the continents and histories the play traverses. “I don’t know that there’s ever been a story about Australia as a migrant nation put on a mainstage of this scale before,” says Eamon Flack, Belvoir’s artistic director. “There’s been a lot of discussion recently about how much the country has changed. The population of the country is 5 million bigger than it was a generation ago, and that’s largely been driven by migration.” The play is penned by S. Shakthidharan, an Australian artist with Sri Lankan heritage who has been working with migrant communities across Sydney for more than a decade. The play is predominately set in Sydney but tells the story of one family across four generations, stretching across the world to Colombo. Flack will direct a cast that includes: Rarriwuy Hick, Nicholas Brown, Shiv Palekar and Hazem Shammas. Read our interview with Flack and Shakthidharan and check out our top 20 picks of the 2019 Sydney Festival program.
Choosing where you'll spend the final hours of the year can be stressful. You want excellent views with minimal crowds and the chance to celebrate the countdown to 2019 in style. Well, Cruise Bar has just that, with three levels of fun bang-on Circular Quay, excellent food and drinks, and a pumping dancefloor to boogie on led by DJs, the Stafford Brothers. Lock in your revelries with Cruise Bar's New Year countdown party. General admission will get you a glass of sparkling wine on arrival (before 9pm), food and drink stands with menus curated by executive chef Patrick Haney, and access to the harbour views on levels one and two until 2am for only $99pp. Or, if you really want to ring in the New Year with gusto, get your hands on a VIP ticket from $349pp, which gives you three hours of free-flowing Pol Roger NV Champagne, beer and wine, with roaming canapés and stellar views of the fireworks on all three levels. You're sure to dance your way into 2019, as the Stafford Brothers will be joined by a huge line-up of DJs, who will be pumping out the good-time tunes well past midnight. Find out more and nab your tickets to New Years at Cruise Bar.
If your little roadrunners have a fascination with the concrete jungle around them, you can blow their minds with architectural and urban design facts at How Cities Work. This exhibition at the Museum of Sydney will showcase everything from the city's green spaces to the secret underground world of sewers in the belly of the city. It’s the world premiere of this family-friendly exhibit, which is based on the popular Lonely Planet children's book of the same name, written by Jen Feroze and illustrated by James Gulliver Hancock, who’s collaborated with Sydney Living Museums to create this exciting exhibition. This is one exhibition where you're allowed to, and are even encouraged to, touch the exhibits. Kids can take what they’ve learnt off the pages and get to know the city even better through a series of interactive, tactile experiences. They’ll be poking through buildings, wandering around city streets like Godzilla among the skyscaper miniatures and exploring the underground without leaving the museum. This thriving metropolis will be on show from December 15, 2018 until July 21, 2019. Entry is free for Sydney Living Museums members and kids under the age of five.
Escape into a world of mystique and masquerade this New Year's, and indulge in a night of fine dining and free-flowing beverages. The Ternary is throwing a party, but think not of the thumping base and blaring club tunes. This is something a little more upscale. Step into the restaurant’s transformed interior and be greeted with your choice of cocktail or Champagne. You’ll be drawn into an evening of live music, interactive food stations and drinks as you enjoy the best of that the Ternary has to offer. Indulge in the seafood buffet and watch the restaurant’s talented chefs prepare everything from vegetable samosas and spiced lamb naan bread to blow torched salmon and mini Ternary cheeseburgers in the open kitchens peppered throughout the venue. Fancy feasts and masquerades don’t cut it if you can’t bring in the year with sparkle. You’ll be able to soak up every spark of the fireworks over Darling Harbour with views of the city skyline through the Ternary’s floor-to-ceiling windows. The night comes with a cool $319 per person price tag and includes a five-hour food and drinks package. The dress code is cocktail, black tie and masquerade, and is of course exclusively for those 18 and over. Book your tickets at the Ternary website here.
Wander through Sydney’s street photography history at the Museum of Sydney’s new exhibition. With more than 250 snaps exploring the city through time, you’ll get a glimpse into the everyday lives of its people through the years. See the city as it was in the 1930s-60s with a huge collection of black and white photographs. The photographs unravel the story of Sydney during the Great Depression, World War II, and beyond. Each piece is a fleeting moment, captured forever with ink and paper. Acclaimed photo-media artist, Anne Zahalka contributed to the project to recreate nine of the original images, working with the descendants of those featured to reimagine the scenes that took place so long ago. The results are a beautiful mix of the old and new, set on the page for all to see. The exhibition runs from Saturday December 8 to Sunday July 21 in 2019 and features pictures sourced from private family albums and public collections alike. Tickets are $15 for adults, $12 for concession card holders, or $38 for a family, and free for Sydney Living Museum members. Find out more at the Sydney Living Museums website.
