What's happening in Sydney
The best things to do this week
Judy Davis directs an all-star cast in this confused take on August Strindberg's classic
Catch the sights, sounds and tastes of Thailand as they light up the banks of Parramatta River
There are more giants than just the giraffes at Taronga Zoo these school holidays
Patrick White's surreal satirical masterpiece returns to Sydney Theatre Company with Sarah Peirse in the lead role
Meet Santa, get your gifts wrapped and pet a baby deer or two this November
This musical about Nelson Mandela is a bumpy ride but proves ultimately endearing
Latest news stories
Competitions and announcements
Join us between the sheets for Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again
This immersive theatre experience takes place in an abandoned Newtown warehouse
Find your style match with independent makers and designers at this three-day art, fashion and design festival
Bill Bailey, Ken Jeong and Iliza Shlesinger headline the eighth Sydney edition of this international comedy festival
The best of Sydney
Welcome to the Time Out EAT List, our handpicked ‘best of’ for Sydney's food scene.
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.
We got splendidly lost sprawling warehouses and unusual independent stores.
Whether you're softening the sharp edges on a nasty hangover or kicking off the day with a bang.
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.
Whether it's a reward after tackling one of Sydney's beautiful walks or a caffienated catch up or a hangover fixer.
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.
Point your compass in the direction of one of these nearby towns, regions and bush walks.
Whether it’s the brekky pho or racks of vintage threads that gets you out of bed in the morning.
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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The Sheraton Grand Sydney Hyde Park occupies an enviable position on Elizabeth Street, facing onto the green oasis of Hyde Park, near to the city's retail centre. Here, you have easy access to the Art Gallery, Darling Harbour, and an outstanding array of bars and restaurants. Check in and get exploring.
Everyone knows the best part of a hotel stay is the buffet breakfast the next day, and inarguably one of the most lavish in town is at Glass Brasserie in Hilton Sydney on George Street in the CBD. Well, now you can experience all the brekky trimmings, great coffee, and cheeky weekend brunch cocktails at their Saturday bottomless late breakfast without having to book a room. Available every Saturday, Glass Brasserie is offering their legendary buffet breakfast with some extra treats thrown in. From 10am-12.30pm you can enjoy the buffet plus unlimited barista coffee, bottomless Mimosas and Bloody Marys, all for just $49pp. So grab a tableload of your mates, book a surprise indulgence for your visiting relos, or just treat yourself to an exquisite solo feast – the late breakfast is the perfect way to kick off your weekend. Find out more about the Bottomless Late Breakfast in Glass Brasserie.
The most challenging part of the Sunrise Kayak and Coffee tour is getting up at 5am – but rising early gives you glassy waters and glorious photo opportunities that’ll make your hungover friends incredibly jealous on a Sunday morning. Instructor Laura Stone and husband Ben run weekly dawn tours that make the most of Sydney Harbour before most people turn and hit snooze. They set up single kayaks at Lavender Bay Boat Ramp ready for the 5.40am meeting time and while we’re learning the best way to hold our paddles, Laura is picking up everyone’s coffee orders from a local café. Each raft has a custom coffee holder, and the ceramic cups keep the brews warm until you’ve paddled under the Bridge. The harbour water is velvety smooth, and the kayaks are very stable so you don’t need to work hard to paddle around Luna Park and into position as the sunlight hits Sydney Opera House. Our fleet rafts up to enjoy the view, sipping flat whites through the salty silicone lids and snapping away with our phones. If you don’t want to risk dropping your own camera, there’s a photographer on each tour and you can purchase personal pics for $30. Though the kayaks have glass-bottom windows the water’s still too dark to reveal any sea life – however, we do spot a fur seal frolicking by Blues Point Reserve. After an hour or so of gentle paddling we glide over to Sawmillers Reserve to check out the shipwreck. The ferries don’t start until 8am, so there’s time to go slow. It’s one of the drie
You won’t find any Shake ‘n Bake at the Cake Bake and Sweets Show – this flour-covered expo only dishes out top tier sweet treats. There’s masterclasses, cake-decorating competitions, workshops and cooking demonstrations for home bakers, and plenty of taste-testing opportunities if dessert is your kryptonite. Over three days of baking events, you’ll get the chance to be tutored by international celebrity chefs and local baking stars. Pastry chef at Sydney’s Shangri-La Hotel Anna Polyviou will share her creative dessert skills, appearing alongside local Instagram dessert queen Katherine Sabbath and Benny Rivera from New York’s City Cakes. Throughout the show, learn how to temper couverture chocolate, whip together the smoothest buttercream, create sharp frosting edges and even construct a multi-tiered wedding cake. There will also be an exhibition space to taste the full carbtastic menu, explore new baking appliances and have cookbooks signed by your baking idols. Some savoury baked items will make the cut, and there’ll be an area dedicated to healthy baking, so you can go nuts on your cheat day without going into a sugar coma. You'll need to register for most classes and workshops, which are an additional cost on top of the entry ticket price.
Jameson is hosting a blockbuster festival called JJ's Place filled with live music, exclusive beer and whiskey tastings and delicious snacks for one day only at Commune in Waterloo. The best part? It's free entry, with your first round on the house for you and a mate, if you register on the site. JJ's Place promises a packed and exciting day with your pals, especially if your crew are music lovers. The festival will be raging with sets from Gooch Palms, the Delta Riggs, Sloan Peterson and Display Homes. The tunes will be flowing the entire event with FBi DJs spinning faves between live sets. The festival also boasts the launch of Jameson Caskmates IPA editions, a blended Irish whiskey finished in IPA beer barrels. The hoppy, smooth whiskey will be served up the way it is best enjoyed, with fresh lemon and tonic. There'll also be other delicious selections from the Jameson Caskmates family to try: the stout with soda and orange; the hard shandy; and a limited edition Young Henrys Irish pale ale boilermaker. Alongside whiskey tastings, you'll also get the chance to watch a live barrel charring with the Jameson master distiller and Master cooper. JJ's Place has also got great snacks to pair with all that delicious whiskey and beer, teaming up with two local legends to bring you custom plates and cocktails. Frankie's Pizza will be transporting their beloved pinball machines, serving up fresh slices, and flinging fresh apple and whiskey cocktails. Newtown gem Continental Deli
Beloved pub Four in Hand in Paddington has stood for more than 140 years. Recently it was under threat of becoming a residential development, but 12,000 people gathered to fight back. The passionate local support prevailed and Good Beer Company stepped in to buy the beloved Four in Hand and keep it running. After a style revamp, it's reopened and it's stronger than ever. Gone are the days of fine dining: the restaurant has been replaced with a plush, rustic bistro serving up classic pub meals. Inside the building’s new interior the old has been preserved in the polished wooden features and sporting hall of fame, then blended with the new for a light and airy refresh. There are 13 TVs peppered throughout the pub’s rooms, and an enormous 90-inch screen dedicated to airing sports, so you never miss a goal. With cricket season on its way it couldn’t come soon enough. Stop in for a Monday night parma at just $12.50 a pop, or try Fridays with their two-for-one steak special. Happy hour runs seven days per week, with craft beer and wine on offer for just $5 from 5-7pm. Tuesdays are trivia night, with $12.50 rump steaks and plenty of fun to be had. Or if you’re interested in cocktails, check out their weekend specials, with $12.50 Espresso Martinis on Fridays, Margaritas on Saturdays, and Bloody Marys on Sundays.For more on Four in Hand, check out their website here.
At first glance, the building – an old business furniture showroom situated between a rubbish-truck rental and a hipster coffee shop on the outskirts of Newtown – seems an unlikely place for a show. But when you step inside, hand over your valuables and sign a safety waiver, it’s clear that A Midnight Visit is no ordinary show. This is an experience. An Undertaker greets you and escorts you into this new, mystical world. You are warned that the residents you’ll encounter are strange and perhaps dangerous. You’ll be handed a surgical mask (no talking allowed). You might be separated from your friends – but you’ll find them again soon enough. Now it’s time to pass over. Based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe and populated with characters and scenarios you might recognise from this old-school goth (yes, there’s a Raven, and he and Poe have some serious sexual tension), A Midnight Visit is an exploratory playing space. Over two levels, through winding corridors, secret passageways, and once through a magical, Narnia-style closet, you’ll be able to follow these characters through a world that’s a little bit horror movie with a dash of fun (an example: there’s a creepy church – but inside is a ball pit). A Midnight Visit owes a great deal to Sleep No More, the immersive, abandoned-warehouse theatre experience whose take on Macbeth transferred from London to New York in 2011, where it has remained open and inspires a fanbase of dedicated, triple-digit repeat viewings. A Mid
Wedged between Christmas and New Year, the Woodford Folk Festival is a mainstay of the Aussie festival calendar. The six-day jamboree pulls more than 2,000 musicians and artists in front of a crowd of well over 100,000 people, and come festival time, the dedicated event site, Woodfordia, becomes a thriving village. Woodford includes concerts, film, comedy, social dialogues, environmental debates, circus workshops, cabaret and a children’s festival. While the original iterations dating back to the 1980s had an anything-goes, hippie vibe, the festival has developed a more mainstream flavour. That said, its audience is as varied as its offering, with people of many orientations, nationalities and ages fronting up for an all-round good time. The best way to experience Woodford is to bag a campsite, or you can step up your comfort by checking in to the tent motel known as Tent City. Off-site options are also available. If you don’t want to commit to the full program there are day tickets available. Campfires aren’t allowed, but the organisers make up for it by creating an enormous bonfire sculpture each year that ties in to a professionally directed show of music and theatre.
During summer in Queensland it’s all systems go on fun and frivolities. The southeast corner in particular becomes a flurry of activity, including sporting tournaments, music festivals, art exhibitions and much more. As 2018 ticks over to 2019, you can watch all the tennis action in Brisbane, let your hair down at one of the country’s biggest folk festivals, and enjoy a spot of polo by the beach. Culture buffs can peruse international works of contemporary art, while sports nuts sit it out for three days at the Gabba with eyes fixed on a cricket ball. In between the formalities there are plenty of other places to chill/explore (depending on your energy levels), including Brisbane’s inner-city beach at South Bank, which makes even locals feel like they’re on holidays; the hill with a view, Mt Coot-tha; and wine trails through the Granite Belt. You can also head offshore to Stradbroke, Moreton and Fraser Islands, the latter being the world’s largest sand island, or get lost in the hinterlands behind the Gold or Sunshine Coasts. Of course, the coasts are also ripe for beachy stuff, so bring your towel and a surfboard.
Christmas in the City parades a whole program of free Christmasy events around the city in the lead up to the big day, kicking off one month before you'll open pressies. There’s 30 days on this advent calendar, where you’ll have the chance to see choirs of carolers, family-friendly concerts, visit festive food pop-ups and catch a glimpse of Saint Nick as he zooms through the city. The celebration starts at 6.30 on November 24, when the city centre will get a sparkly makeover and host a Christmas party with roaming entertainers, stage shows, late-night shopping and a banquet of food stalls. On King St, you’ll find popcorn carts, mobile cafés and food trucks serving everything from Yum Cha to pastas, burgers and gelato under a canopy of 94,000 twinkling lights. You can catch more fun between George Street and Martin Place for the rest of the countdown to Christmas. There’s choirs performing on Pitt Street Mall every Thursday and on weekends, and the fabulous Christmas tree and decorations are there to marvel at day and night. There’s a family-friendly concert series happening across Alexandria (Dec 7), Rushcutters Bay (Dec 8) and Rosebery (Dec 9), while Green Square hosts its own Christmas wonderland on December 2. Throughout the festivities, there’ll be great kids’ activities like gingerbread icing and Christmas craft, as well as appearances by popular childrens’ performers like Jimmy Giggle, Justine Clarke and Sam Moran.
