Italian pan handler to star at Dark Mofo Winter Feast

Star Italian chef Floriano Pellegrino will be the headline act at the Dark Mofo Winter Feast in Hobart.

The guest chef runs Michelin-starred restaurant Bros’ in Puglia with his partner Isabella Potì - a venue known for its avant-garde interpretation of Italian cuisine.

Pellegrino will collaborate with Roberto Mele of MAMA Hobart artisanal bakery to create five dishes, including a ricotta and pickled mulberry tart.

The Winter Feast will once again transform the Hobart waterfront with tens of thousands of people expected across both weekends of this year’s Dark Mofo.

The Winter Feast will feature over 70 stallholders - 40% of them new - from across Tasmania, along with crackling fires, music and community.

‘The Winter Feast is a candlelit haven from the cold weather," says Chris Twite, Dark Mofo’s artistic director.

"It’s where we refuel, nourished by the ritual of coming together around the fires, enjoying the incredible array of food and drink, and sharing stories of exploration and discovery among friends and strangers."

Hobart micro restaurant Scholé will makes its first appearance at the Feast, with Luke Burgess serving up a Japanese-inspired dish of crispy potato mochi.

Star local chefs will include David Moyle and Lilly Trewartha, along with Analiese Gregory, while Mona executive chef Vince Trim will be back, cooking with fire at the Heavy Metal Kitchen.

Beverages will include a refreshing Strawberry Bubble from Cygnet's Tasmaniac Distillers, a hot buttered whisky from Battery Point Distillery and a selection of cocktails from Local Absinthe.

"The generosity, abundance and creativity of Tasmania’s food culture is on full display once again this year, with tasty offerings from all around the island," says Winter Feast food curator Amanda Vallis.

The music program kicks off with The Gathering, a First Nations-led celebration of culture, connection and storytelling for the first night of the Feast. Curated by Dark Mofo’s Tasmanian Aboriginal cultural advisor Caleb Nichols-Mansell, the Gathering centres the ‘Matriarchs of Music’, presenting by artists like Emma Donovan, BADASSMUTHA, DENNI, Bumpy, Stiff Gins and Nidala Barker.

The Feast spreads across Salamanca Lawns and Princes Wharf Shed 1 and runs on both weekends of the festival: Thursday 11–Sunday 15 and Thursday 18–Sunday 21.

Season passes are still available at darkmofo.net.au/winter-feast.

As part of the Winter Feast’s commitment to reaching zero waste, all stallholders will stock reusable cups and compostable crockery and cutlery. The Winter Feast is a cash-free event.

How cooking can help feed social cohesion

Food innovator Gilava Pour shares a guest post on how food can help change attitudes.

The term “social cohesion” has been everywhere lately. It’s in the news, in opinion pieces, and across government conversations. Everyone agrees it matters, but no one seems to agree on what it actually looks like.

Most of the discussion sits at a high level. Policy, national identity, frameworks. But it feels like we’re overcomplicating something that actually happens in much simpler ways.

I run a food brand called Exotic Bazaar. We make Middle Eastern meal bases for people who want something different for dinner but don’t know where to start.

And what we’re seeing is straightforward.

A lot of our customers have never cooked Middle Eastern food before. For some of them, their only exposure to the region has been through the news. 

Now they’re cooking dishes from that same region at home. They’re eating it with their families, talking about it, and saving it as something they’ll cook again.

Not because they’re trying to learn about a culture. Not because they’re trying to be open minded. Just because it tasted good.

But that’s exactly where something shifts.

Because that’s not how we usually think about changing perceptions. We assume it happens through conversation, education, or big moments. From what I’m seeing, it’s much smaller than that. It’s repetition. It’s familiarity. It’s doing something enough times that it stops feeling foreign.

You don’t need to convince someone to be interested in a culture if they already enjoy it in their own life. That’s a very different starting point.

There’s a lot of talk right now about division, mistrust, and people feeling disconnected. Some of that is real. But at the same time, there are small, quiet moments happening every day that don’t get talked about.

Someone trying a dish they’ve never had before. A family adding it into their regular meals. A conversation that starts with “this is actually really good.”

That’s it.

Nothing dramatic, but it adds up.

I didn’t start Exotic Bazaar to play a role in social cohesion. I just wanted to make the food I grew up with easier for people to cook. But it’s made me realise that this is where a lot of real connection actually starts.

Not at a national level. At a personal one.

We can keep having big conversations about what kind of country we want to be. But it’s worth paying attention to what’s already happening in people’s homes.

Because that’s where unfamiliar cultures stop being “other” and start becoming part of everyday life.

* Gilava Pour spent over 15 years of working as an IT professional in the finance sector before founding Ballarat-based Exotic Bazaar to share Persian and Middle Eastern food culture. See https://www.exoticbazaar.com.au/

Maritime Museum lights up for Vivid Sydney

The National Maritime Museum in Sydney has launched a special program of events to coincide with the Vivid Sydney festival, celebrating Indigenous artforms and storytelling.

Right through Vivid until June 13, the museum will be championing the work of renowned Zenadth Kes (Torres Strait Island) artist Brian Robinson, with the precinct being illuminated after dark by Mythical Mashup: The Graphic Worlds of Brian Robinson.

Robinson’s work already is celebrated in his collaborative exhibition Ur Wayii (Incoming Tide) on show in the museum.

A centrepiece of the museum program will be a one-night event Sea Gathering on Tuesday, June 2

Sea Gathering: Myth and Modernity is a free immersive program which brings together light, music, creating, food, and storytelling in a shared harbourside setting. 

The program will combine contemporary visual art, live performance, digital play, hands-on workshops, and cultural storytelling. It operates as a hybrid between a night festival, exhibition activation, and community gathering, offering audiences a flexible and social experience.

Throughout the evening, Robinson will lead small groups to the Action Stations deck to view the large-scale projection, sharing insights into the stories, characters and creative process behind the animation. 

Floating Realm, meanwhile, will unfold across the harbour and Cape Bowling Green Lighthouse as a sculptural landscape of LED-lit forms, hovering on the water’s surface and suspended in the sky.

Immersive experiences of animation, illumination and storytelling will be visible at the museum nightly until June 13 from 6-11pm with optimal vantage points at Pyrmont Bridge or King Street Wharf as part of the Vivid Light Walk.

The Museum is also pleased to host Wonderverse by Patch Theatre and a Vivid Moonlight Sea Kayaking Experience by Sydney Harbour Kayas as part of Vivid. 

‘Vivid Sydney is a vital moment for the museum each year, giving us a powerful platform to connect audiences with art, culture and storytelling in unforgettable ways," says museum director and CEO Daryl Karp. 

"In 2026, we are especially proud to celebrate the extraordinary work of Brian Robinson, whose richly imaginative practice brings together ancestral knowledge and contemporary creativity."

For more info visit www.sea.museum/vividsydney

An alpine style winter escape, minus the mountains

Fancy an alpine-style winter experience in the Melbourne CBD? 

Fondue Chalet at Federation Square has partnered with DoubleTree by Hilton to offer a French style city break, with no flight to Europe needed.

So think a winter-decorated hotel room paired with some alpine taste treats (fondue or raclette) and mulled wine for dinner. 

The Fondue Chalet has returned with private wooden chalets, French-accented hospitality and the traditional feast of melted cheese on a winter's night. 

The experience is operated by a French team aiming to replicate genuine recipes, traditions and warmth from the mountains of France to the banks of the Yarra.

DoubleTree by Hilton Melbourne, meanwhile, is offering specially decorated winter rooms (below).

"Across France and the Alps, fondue and raclette bring millions of people together around the table every winter. It's what we simply call the joy of the table," says Vincent Hernandez, founder of Fondue Chalet. 

"In France they are not just meals, they are moments shared with family and friends. Seeing that same ritual happening here in Melbourne is incredibly special."

The DoubleTree by Hilton Melbourne winter room is available for bookings until August 31 on the hotel website. The winter package includes an overnight stay in a Winter Chalet Loft Room, a decadent free flowing hot chocolate station in the room, and breakfast in bed for two people.

Guests can enjoy 15% off their Fondue Chalet experience. Tickets cost from $79 per person (chalets seat six). Children under six dine free.

See www.fonduechalet.com.au and https://www.hilton.com/en/attend-my-event/melfsdi-gwint-0b248d82-0539-4578-b9d9-94bcbf45503f/

Discover new small group wine experiences in France

Calling vinophiles keen on an immersive experience in French wine regions. 

Tauck has opened bookings for its 2027 European land itineraries, including a new eight-day journey through France's Champagne and Alsace regions, and a new exploration of Bordeaux and south-western France.

A Week In… Champagne & Alsace is a new eight-day itinerary averaging 24 guests beginning in the village of Kaysersberg, Alsace, with a three-night stay at Le Chambard Hotel & Spa. Guests explore the nearby wine villages of Ribeauvillé and Colmar, visit a Munster cheese dairy in the countryside and enjoy a private dinner at a chef's home overlooking the Obernai Valley.

The journey continues to the Champagne capital of Reims for three nights at La Caserne Chanzy, a restored 18th-century military barracks. Highlights include a tour and tasting at a renowned Champagne house, an afternoon exploring the vineyards of Épernay by vintage car with a picnic lunch among the vines and an exclusive dinner at Moët & Chandon (above). 

The itinerary concludes with a visit to the Château de Chantilly and a farewell dinner at Château Mont Royal. Departures will run in April, May, June, September and October (from $12,190 per person, double occupancy, plus airfare).

Tauck has also reimagined its popular Bordeaux, the Dordogne & Biarritz tour. Refined from 14 days to a more focused 10-day journey, the itinerary is centred on south-western France's most interesting regions. 

Beginning with three nights at the very central InterContinental Bordeaux, highlights include a visit to the Cité du Vin wine museum and a château dinner in the Médoc. 

Guests then spend three nights at Hôtel les Glycines in the Dordogne, with a stop in the medieval wine village of St-Émilion, a private visit to Lascaux with dinner, and an exploration of Sarlat's excellent open-air market. 

The journey concludes with three nights at the Hôtel du Palais in Biarritz (above), with excursions to Basque country and the historic fishing village of St-Jean-de-Luz and additional free time to explore the coast. From $14,390 per person, double occupancy, plus airfare).

See www.tauck.com.au.

Parramatta accommodation options grow with new One Global property

 A new boutique hotel opening will further strengthen the accommodation choices in booming Parramatta. 

Following the opening of the new Sebel hotel, One Global Capital (OGC) has announced a new boutique hotel offering comprising 36 premium serviced apartment-style units. 

The moves is an expansion of OGC’s hospitality portfolio under its OGR brand, following in the footsteps of One Global Resorts Green Square inner Sydney. 

It sees OGR reposition a selection of larger-format residences within the building formerly known as SKYE Parramatta, marking the second hospitality asset under the One Global Resorts banner.

It showcases the group’s upmarket boutique hotel concept, "focused on design-led, experience-driven accommodation in key urban locations".

The Parramatta portfolio offers a flexible accommodation model suited to both short and extended stays. It is located a five-minute walk from both Parramatta Station and Parramatta Square. 

Iwan Sunito, chairman and group CEO of One Global Capital, said: “Parramatta is a suburb on the move and a critical part of Sydney’s future. Having delivered more than 750 apartments in the area in the past, with a value approaching half a billion dollars, we have a strong connection to this market and a clear understanding of its potential.” 

The development features a foyer designed by Koichi Takada (top image), who also led the interiors across the guest rooms. 

As part of the transition, One Global Resorts will introduce automated check-in technology. 

Looking ahead, Sunito will lead a program of progressive upgrades to both the building and interiors, further refining the 36 units. 

“We’ve selected the larger-format apartments within the building, as they align closely with our brand standards and the experience we aim to deliver,” Sunito said. 

“Our focus has been on securing the right product rather than scale, ensuring a high-quality, consistent offering as we continue to grow our portfolio.”

For more info see oneresortsparramatta.com.au