March by name, march by nature! This month has definitely flashed by, hasn’t it? It’s a shame that March has gone by so quickly – this is usually the best time to be in Sydney; days still warm, evenings slightly cooler, crowds are smaller, everyone’s back to work and school.

And as is my MO for habitually complaining about how fast each month has gone by, I’m once again going to blame it on so much happening.

We have friends in town from interstate, we’re visiting friends in other states, weddings down on the NSW border and even our own wedding anniversary celebrations. We’ve got tours of ocean liners, whisky judging panels, wine tastings, Elvis biopic premiers, cocktails, St Patrick’s Day, curries, comedians and even a sneak preview of a friend’s magnificent new travel book.

And it’s all happened in these 31 short days!

Hope you’re sitting comfortably.

Jim & Christina xx

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We kick off the month with a bit of indie music! Our good friend Nick Beswick is playing a gig at the Gasoline Pony in Marrickville.

The band he’s in – Lost In The Woods – has been going since the mid-2000s and always puts down brilliant sets. You can find out more about the band and any upcoming gigs here on their site and their albums are all available on Spotify here.

It’s great to see Nick, especially when his parents are in town. His mum is the only other person I’ve met with the same birthday as me!

This afternoon, we get to play tour guide to our lovely friends Steve and Heather Collins in town from Perth. We met Steve in 2019 on a media trip to South Africa and we’ve stayed in contact ever since.

Steve has worn many hats in his life including a radio and podcast broadcaster, a writer, a photographer and a travel correspondent. He’s also a standup comedian, so there are always plenty of healthy one-liners on hand to keep everyone smiling.

We take them round to see some of the sights of Balmain and pop into our favourite pub The Bald Rock Hotel in Rozelle for a spot of lunch. It’s been so good to spend time with these lovely people.

All too soon, they have to head back to where they’re staying in Manly, so we pop them on a ferry and wave goodbye. Hope to see them both again soon.

We’ve had a long-running love affair with the wine, food and hospitality from Orange, NSW. This town on the Central Tablelands has worked its way deep into our hearts with its friendly nature and the outstanding quality of its produce.

But in particular, the wine coming from this town is crazy. Over 80 wineries exist in the small designation that’s limited by altitude. The beauty of this is that there are still so many wineries that we haven’t yet discovered.

Owners of Angullong Wines – the Crossing family – have been crafting outstanding wines since the late 1990s. We have the opportunity to try a couple of their wines from the latest release of Angullong’s Fossil Hill range.

This range shows Angullong’s commitment to expanding and challenging the varietals and flavours that Orange is known for.

Within this release of six varieties is a Sangiovese and a Tempranillo.

Angullong’s bright, lively Sangiovese is packed with those delightful cherry and spice aromas that open up even more on the palate, ending in a rounded, long savoury finish with plenty of fine acidity and structured tannins.

The Tempranillo is also right on the money with raspberry, cedar and spice notes running through it. Light sweetness also comes through as its fine texture leads you to a moreish finish.

Both these wines are medium-bodied reds, which suggests the Australian wine palate is progressing nicely towards a more refined, lighter style of wine.

All wines in this range, which also includes a Barbera, a Montepulciano, a Shiraz and a Chardonnay, are available from Angullong’s beautiful cellar door or online here – RRP$30.00 each.

Another wine discovery from Orange, check out our review of the full recently released range from Cooks Lot Wines here.

This evening, Christina is at Balmain and Rozelle’s home of beer: Sydney Brewery! And she’s here to be part of the Women In Business that the Balmain Rozelle Chamber of Commerce runs on a regular basis.

Christina reports that it’s great to meet so many strong women working in the community, creating incredible opportunities and shaping the way that business is conducted in and around Sydney.

Titled the ‘Cider, Sip & Connect’ event, tonight’s networking festivities are combined with a tasting session of Sydney Brewery’s cider range, which I have to say is excellent.

The original apple cider, the Bat Currant and the Agave Ginger are delicious, but I must say the Lemon Twist is a winner. Dangerously easy to drink and very refreshing.

We’re so excited about this one!

Our wonderful friend Jane Lawson is almost ready to launch her latest (and possibly greatest) travel book Secret Japan!

Jane has worked, lived and travelled in Japan for over 40 years, and her incredible depth of knowledge is all out in the pages of this beautifully crafted book – and we’ve been given a bit of an advanced viewing of it!

I’m loath to call it a travel guide, because it’s so much more than that. Yes, it has some excellent travel advice, it guides you through all the different islands, regions and prefectures of Japan, and covers all the things you want to know about the country – from food to onsen etiquette.

But the way Jane has written this is more an insight into what Japan is, how and why it’s structured the way it is and what it feels like to experience this unique, fascinating destination.

We can’t wait for this book to come out in late April, and we’ll be able to share more information with you on it then too. But until then, you can get this on pre-order here.

This afternoon, I’m in our old stomping ground in Surry Hills to be part of a tasting panel for pioneering hospitality magazine National Liquor News.

Today’s target spirit is whisky – specifically Irish whiskey and Scotch. And with 70 different whiskies from over 30 distilleries across Ireland and Scotland, the group’s more than got our work cut out for us.

The setting is perfect though. We’re in the whisky room of the Clock Hotel on Crown Street, the most appropriate place to be tasting some of the best scotch and Irish whiskey on the market.

We’re on the road again!

This time, Christina and I are driving down to the borderlands for a wedding in Albury. But first, we get in a quick stopover with our awesome friends Carly and Ben who live in beautiful historic Beechworth.

It’s so much fun to hand out with them and to see their two rapidly growing kids. We wish we had more time to spend here, but all too soon we’re in the car again heading back across the river into NSW.

But it’s certainly worth it.

We’re at our friends’ Emily and Adam’s wedding in the impressive Murray Art Museum Albury (affectionately ‘MAMA‘). With over 2,400 pieces of photographic, sculptural and indigenous art, MAMA makes an amazing, unique venue for a wedding.

Christina and I are proud to have been given formal roles for the wedding: we’re the MCs for the night! Fortunately, the celebrant does most of the heavy lifting – even telling guests where the bathrooms are and not to touch any of the artworks. So we really don’t have to do that much.

The vast entrance is full of grand exhibits, but it’s also the main arena for celebrations – not to mention the bar and dance floor when all the formalities and food are over.

The party goes on long into the night – there might even be a spot of karaoke in one of the nearby night spots, but that’s for us to know…

Congratulations, Em and Adam. We hope you have most wonderful life together.

It’s our last day in Albury and also our wedding anniversary*! After hanging out with the newlyweds this afternoon, we head out for dinner at what everyone here considers to be the best place to eat in town.

We’re in Norma’s, a lovely little neighbourhood restaurant. We manage to score a table without a booking, which is a feat in itself, and work our way through the menu.

The menu, by the way, is an interesting thing. You mark off what you want to eat, take it up to the bar and hand it in. You’re almost placing your order with the open kitchen yourself. It’s at this point that you pay as well. It’s a fun way to do things, but I do worry the excellent staff and chefs here are doing themselves out of tips.

We order the calamari and ‘nduja, the pork cotoletta, tonnato sauce and crispy capers, smoked beef, kipfler potatoes and the most amazing caper crema, and the rich rigatoni with slow-cooked beef ragu, all washed down with an excellent Riesling from Darling Estate in King Valley.

Outstanding service, food and drink, and of course the very best company. Happy anniversary, Christina.

*By the way, special shout-out to my mum and dad, who’ll be celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary in a few days!

It’s time for us to leave Albury, but we’ll definitely be back – and not just because our lovely friends live here. This is a great little town with plenty to offer.

Before we head north, we drive up to the high point of the town for what everyone says are the best views of the area. They’re right – from the impressive Anzac War Memorial, you look out right across the town down to the distant hills.

This evening, Christina and I are at the cinema. Our friends from Memphis Tourism has invited us to a screening of Epic, the new Elvis biopic by Baz Luhrmann at the Gold Class screen at Event Cinema George Street.

We meet everyone at the bar – lots of friendly faces from the travel media industry here tonight – and head to our luxurious recliner seats for the show. Chris Ingham from Memphis Tourism talks us through the screening before the lights go down and the King takes the stage.

We weren’t sure what to expect from Epic. This is a kind of compilation of a whole load of b-roll and backstage video that was recently unearthed of Elvis’ seven-year residency in Las Vegas.

Luhrmann has created a kind of docu-concert with this, and although there’s no narration, no plot and it’s not even in any kind of chronological order, Epic is so compelling and so interesting. Seeing Elvis in rehearsals and on stage, hearing his voice and watching him in this never-before-seen footage is somehow so watchable.

We leave with a new appreciation for Presley. If nothing else, his work ethic was unimpeachable. In athe peak three-year period in Vegas, he ran other 1,100 shows, sometimes three concerts a day. And every time he went on stage, he said he’d perform like it was the first night of a tour. Impressive stuff.

After the film, Christina and I take advantage of being in the city and head to a bar we haven’t been to before. We find the hidden entry to The Press.

This is a Merivale venue and, as it turns out, where fine-dining restaurant EST. once stood. It’s a beautiful bar, vaulted ceilings, grand pillars and a long bar that sits to one side. It has a kind of speakeasy feel mixed with a Budapest ruin bar.

Cocktails are superb, made with outstanding skill and served by well-trained staff. We sit up at the bar and end up chatting to Kristy, who turns out is from a little town called Great Dunmow not far from where I grew up in the UK. Such a small world.

This afternoon, Christina is aboard the world’s last ocean liner: the magnificent Queen Mary II is berthed at Circular Quay as part of her 2026 World Voyage.

The tour of the QM2 starts with champagne on the poop deck (don’t laugh) with iconic photos of the Cunard sign and the Harbour Bridge in the background. Then the group delves into the elegant interior of one of the biggest and most luxurious cruise ships.

She admires the grandeur of twin-balustrade atria, the artworks lining walls and many dining options throughout the ship.

The tour leads to the old English pub and its homely welcoming feel, then to the elegant bistro with its wide windows looking out over the water. There’s even a full theatre on board with a stage big enough for concerts and seating for over 1,100 patrons.

There’s also a cinema, 15 restaurants, 14 bars and lounges, a library with over 6,000 books and audio books, a fully equipped casino, spas, gyms and wellness centres, four pools, spaces for quoits, basketball, tennis, and even golf, shops, boutiques and galleries, and the 1,260 square foot Queens Room – the biggest ballroom at sea. It’s like a floating city.

This evening, we’re back at the State Theatre (we were here last month to see a celebrity chef) this time to see comedian Laura Ramoso. Christina first spotted her on TikTok with her hilarious impressions of her Italian father and German mum. Another character Laura developed, which has since gone viral, is the Italian airline clerk. You should check her out.

The show is very funny, though there’s far too much audience participation for my liking and it makes me feel unsettled throughout the whole show. We’re sitting far enough back that we probably won’t be picked, but even the thought of being dragged up there turns my blood to pork rind.

Slainte! Today is St Patrick’s Day so the lads and I are out for a Guinness or two. We’re at the Merton in Rozelle ostensibly for their excellent goat curry, but also to join in the Irish festivities.

There’s a band playing Irish folk songs, plenty of beer and even a raffle for some Irish goodies. We win a couple of them actually, taking home plenty of packets of Taytos and some less Irish things like mayonnaise and Minstrels. But it’s a worthy little hamper I’ll not be saying no to!

This evening, we’re out with our mates Jo, Paul and Anton. It’s been quite a while since we all hung out, so we know this one’s going to be a biggy.

We kick off with a couple of beers at the Red Lion in Rozelle, mostly because it’s close to dinner, which is – that’s right – back at the Merton! Twice in a week. People will start to talk. But the goat curry, in fact all the food here, is so good I’d be happy to come back five nights in a row.

After dinner, we hop in a taxi to check out the newly opened Nacara Bar in Balmain. This was once Wilhelmina’s, but closed down and has been empty for ages.

Only open a week, Nacara feels like it’s always been here. The cocktails are off the charts, and the knowledge and creativity of the bar staff here is well worth a seat at the bar to enjoy. Just ask them about their in-house fat wash spirits.

Christina and I have been invited to a lovely party this afternoon. Local law firm Morgan and English, some of whom we met at a Christmas party for the Balmain Rozelle Chamber of Commerce recently, are having a bit of a shindig at their offices at the Waterfront Workshops.

These brightly coloured buildings right on the harbour and the little marina are a real landmark of the peninsula and aren’t usually accessible to the public. It’s great to hang out with friends and colleagues from the area, but also pretty cool to see these iconic buildings up close.

It’s an excellent party with plenty of great conversations and laughs, and we also have the pleasure of meeting Will, the office greyhound.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this (really quite massive) March edition of Flavour of the Month. See you again in a few weeks!

Jim & Christina xx

The post A Southern Wedding, A Queen In Sydney and The King Returns appeared first on Mr and Mrs Romance.

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The neatly plated, bite-size city of Parma is home to some iconic Italian dishes and foods. Reggiano parmigiano and Parma di Prosciutto (world-famous parmesan cheese and Parma ham) both come from here.

And if you pull the camera back a little, the broader Emilia-Romagna region is where things like bolognese, balsamic vinegar, tagliatelle, tortellini, ragu and even mortadella all come from.

So it’s little wonder that Parma is full of bars and restaurants serving just the most delicious dishes.

Locals here know what good food and good produce means, and the high standards are set, met and respected everywhere you go in this gracious yet down-to-earth river city.

If you want to know exactly what to eat while you’re here, check out our story on 7 Things You Must Eat in Parma.

For the best activities and tours in the region, click here!

Find the best rates on accommodation in Parma here.

Our Top Picks on Where to Eat and Drink in Parma

Only a short train ride major travel hubs like Milan and Bologna, we’re surprised to find Parma quite unused to tourism. Locals are friendly enough, though they seem surprised to see visitors.

Once we’ve fulfilled our primary goal of visiting a parmesan factory and a prosciutto farm a little out of town (you have to do this tour by the way, it’s fascinating), we settle down to exploring the food offerings of the city.

Trattoria del Tribunale — authentic Parma-centric dishes in an old-school setting

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Just off the main food street of Luigi Carlo Farini, this immense, Tardis-like old-school restaurant is packed with the charm of proper Italian hospitality.

The menu is full of Parma classics served with relish and pride. I came to Parma with a list of things I wanted to eat here; I tick most of them off in here!

Everything we order here is superb, and the service and atmosphere are impeccable. Get here early though as queues for tables build up fast.

Trattoria Corrieri — where the locals go for atmosphere and great food

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A recommendation from another restaurant, Trattoria Corrieri snatched the crown from our favourite — Trattoria del Tribunale — on our very last night in Parma.

Down the side of the University of Parma, this wonderfully homely little trattoria is full of warmth and life. We walk into a dining room packed with laughter and happy voices, staff move with purpose and good manners, and the food is simply splendid.

Add to that the exposed brick, the gingham tablecloths, the waistcoated waiters and the ‘meat cellar’ full of prosciutto legs and all kinds of other salumi, and there’s nothing Corrieri doesn’t have.

Osteria Virgilio — a bright friendly lunch spot

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On the western side of the Parma River, in amongst the alleys and once working class neighbourhoods of the Oltretorrente, the little Osteria Virgilio serves well-made Parma classics with a sense of flare that matches its wine lists.

We stopped in here for a spot of lunch and were impressed. They also had one of the dishes I was seeking: the caval pist — horse tartare. But this is so finely minced that it has almost a pesto smoothness.

We’re so comfortable in this little osteria that we find it hard to leave, especially with so many tempting bottles of wine around us.

Tabaccheria Caffetteria Giulia — drinks and snacks for aperitivo hour

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On one of the main streets of the passeggiata through Parma, Giulia is a lively little cafe with street-side seating, a quick-serving bar and plenty of tempting snacks in the cabinet.

We stopped here for a couple of glasses of wine at aperitivo hour, where you can grab bites to eat with your drink at a nominal fee.

The service is friendly, the drinks are well-priced and the snacks are very tasty. Tick all those boxes!

Enoteca Tabarro — fantastic people-watching and pretty good wine too

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Close to where we were staying in Parma, this funny little wine bar likes to take itself a bit seriously, but if you can overlook the man-splaining, you can score some excellent people-watching.

Order quickly so the guy who works here can’t get settled and grab an outdoor seat at one of the giant wine barrel tables. The wine, which is great by the way, will taste all the better.

Honorable Mentions

We didn’t get round to eating in these last few places, but they’re worth checking out. We’ll definitely try them the next time we’re here.

Osteria dei Servi — for meat grilled over coals and handmade pasta

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At the edge of the markets by the river, this place was completely full when we were here (in winter), but they did recommend we go to Trattoria Corierri, so that deserves credit.

Focused on authentic, homely dishes from the region, this place specialises in house-made pasta and grilled meat that they cook on a huge round charcoal grill.

Da Pepen — for top-level panini

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There’s nothing quite like a freshly made panino from a deli in Italy, and these guys are well-known for theirs. They do things like fresh fig, prosciutto and gorgonzola panini, but also horse meatballs in a sandwich if you’re game.

Ciacco Gelateria — for Parma’s best gelato

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This is a big call — especially without having tried it — but this is apparently the best gelato in a town that knows good food. The website looks slick and the flavours on offer sound quite avant guard, but owner and food scientist Stefano Guizzetti seems to know what he’s doing. We’ll be back, Sefano.

The post Where to Eat and Drink in Parma, Italy appeared first on Mr and Mrs Romance.

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Orange, NSW has more than earned its reputation as a wine town. Its 80+ wineries have won countless awards, the 30-odd cellar doors in its realm are some of the finest, and festivals and events draw thirsty thousands here every year.

This little chunk of the Central Tablelands certainly punches above its wine weight class.

We’ve been lucky enough to visit Orange many times and we love visiting new cellar doors, trying new wines we haven’t heard of before.

And we’re always finding new ones.

This happened recently when we were introduced to Cooks Lot Winery, owned by winemaker and ex-chef Duncan Cook.

We were surprised to find out that Duncan has been here since 2002. We wonder how our paths haven’t crossed before.

Establishing himself high on the slopes of the iconic Mount Canobolas (Gaanha-Bula), Duncan intended to make Cooks Lot an estate winery — that is growing the grapes and making the wine in one place — but quickly changed his mind.

He realised that there were lots of other growers across the region with superior grapes, and that he would be able to focus on the wine-making if he didn’t have to worry about viticulture and harvests.

Looking for accommodation in Orange? Check out our review of the Oriana Motel here!

If you want a quick tour, here’s our Essential Guide to Orange, NSW.

And if you want more ideas and great rates on where to stay in Orange, click here.

Cooks Lot Winery — six new wines from the mountain

Duncan has used his close connections with growers well, sourcing premium fruit from across the elevations. Shiraz and Cabernet grapes are from the lower foothills of the mountain, while Pinot, Riesling and Sauvignon come from the higher reaches.

The result is a range of cool-climate high-altitude wine with the full, broad vocabulary of the Orange region and at a very competitive price point.

Shop these wines directly from Cooks Lot here – all $25.00 RRP.

Cooks Lot ‘Allotment 666’ Pinot Gris 2025

This wine comes with quite the blush. I’ve seen rosés lighter than this.

Light on the nose, but surprisingly full-flavoured on the palate, especially for a Pinot Gris. Firm white peach/nectarine notes and a lovely creamy texture that turns crisp and dry at the end.

As the wine warms up, ripe pear flavours develop and that creamy body sits nicely with these rounder flavours.

Cooks Lot ‘Allotment 689’ Sauvignon Blanc 2025

This feels like it’s what Marlborough NZ Sauvignon Blancs were once famous for. Less typical tropical fruit on the nose, more strawberry lollies and pencil shavings, but still with a bit of passionfruit underlining it all.

Good structure, sweet, but not overly so, balanced and a clean refreshing dry finish. This is an Sauvignon Blanc that SB drinkers will love.

Cooks Lot ‘Allotment 333’ Riesling 2025

This is an incredibly pale Riesling — no colour to it at all.

Light citrus and crisp pear on the nose, and more lemon and tartness on the palate drive to a fine minerally finish. This is an endlessly drinkable Riesling that would match perfectly with light fish dishes and sushi.

Cooks Lot ‘Allotment 1111’ Pinot Noir 2025

A glowing ruby red colour with light berry aromas, I was expecting a light-medium Pinot.

But on the palate, this is quite big for a Pinot, especially from high-altitude Orange. A bold, rich texture with hints of dark choc at end — unlike most Pinots we’ve tried.

Cooks Lot ‘Allotment 1010’ Shiraz 2025

Lovely deep dark red colour with dark cherry aromas and a bright structure with somewhat grippy tannins.

This is a lighter bodied, easy-drinking Shiraz and a good expression of cool-climate altitude Shiraz from Orange. Especially at this price point, this is an excellent wine.

Cooks Lot ‘Allotment 8888’ Cabernet Sauvignon 2025

Soft, elegant and lighter-bodied than conventional big, brash SA cabs.

This wine is still full of the pepperiness, dark berries and rich plum you want in a Cabernet, but has more sophistication than many of the bolshy iterations to be found on the market.

We were gifted these wines as media, but our opinions and experiences remain our own.

The post Best-Kept Secrets of Orange, NSW — Cooks Lot Winery appeared first on Mr and Mrs Romance.

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Christina and I wake to the buzz of our alarm and push through the flap of our tent at Hintok River Camp into the already steamy pre-dawn air.

It’s too early for the birds, but too late for the night noises. Everything is silent and still.

Before long, we’re clambering down flights of steel steps by torchlight to the floor of a deep gully known as Konyu Cutting — better named Hellfire Pass.

We’re in western Thailand in Kanchanaburi Province, which pushes against the border of Myanmar.

Known for its thick verdant rainforests, sprawling thunderous waterfalls and broad, wild rivers, Kanchanaburi is also famous for the Thai-Burma Railway (better known as the Death Railway) and its deadly role in World War II.

Anzac Day at Hellfire Pass, Thailand

Today is 25th April — Anzac Day — and Hellfire Pass is one of the most venerable sites in the world for the Anzac Day Dawn Service. It commemorates all who have been lost to military endeavour, but in particular those who fell here as prisoners of war in the 1940s.

Hellfire Pass got its name from the appalling conditions the POWs had to endure, but also from how it looked from the top of the cutting.

In the 1940s, paraffin lamps lit the way for POWs forced to toil throughout the night. From above, the flames in the ravine looked like the very mouth of hell itself.

This morning, the path is lit with similar lamps, giving the cutting an eerie air. Shadows move and jump across the rock walls, and silent figures in full military dress march next to us and before us.

Looking back, we see the high, narrow walls of Hellfire Pass pinching in above our heads, the sky beyond still full of the night’s dying darkness.

The path is wide (it had to be wide enough to fit a train down) and brings us to the end of the cutting, where it opens out into a broad shallow bowl. On one side is grandstand seating, on the other, giant rock steps act as more tiered seating, and both are filling up fast.

More and more people pour in from the pass until there is almost nowhere to stand, but only a low murmur of voices comes from this great gathering.

In the centre of it all is the cenotaph, the black angular marble memorial to those that war has taken.

Dawn Service in Kanchanaburi

Soon, the first crisp navy shadows of dawn show through the blackness in the sky and the service begins.

The Catafalque Party — a ceremonial guard of four armed service personnel — marches down the steps of the cutting and stand watch at the compass points of the cenotaph, their heads bowed, their weapons inverted. The soldiers maintain such incredible stillness, which adds to the solemnity of the moment.

From the opening prayers to the haunting Last Post and the two minutes’ silence, and the final dismount and retire of the four soldiers in the Catafalque Party, the service is one of those things that stay inside you.

An indelible memory.

After the Dawn Service

The walk back through Hellfire Pass is no less significant or symbolic, but there seems to be less tension in the already hot morning air.

Groups of military stop along the cutting to get photos together, and the chatter of the crowd is lighter and louder than before. But messages and motifs lodged in the rock of loved ones and comrades lost to the war effort cast a grim light darker than the shadows from the looming walls.

At the top of the cutting and in front of the excellent Hellfire Pass Interpretive Centre, we find breakfast is in full flow.

Stalls are turning out sausage sizzles, meat pies and Anzac biscuits, but also some outstanding local fair. We tuck into a pot of rich spicy green curry as the crowd relaxes and the happier side of this important day takes form.

Soon, Two-Up rings form and the British Club Bangkok Pipe Band – a marching band of pipers in full kilt regalia full the air with music.

As we finish up breakfast, we’re aware that back home, Australia’s Anzac Day celebrations would be in full flow and lunch would just be about to begin.

We travelled to Kanchanaburi as media guests of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, but our experiences and opinions remain our own.

The post Dawn Service of Hellfire Pass – Anzac Day in Thailand appeared first on Mr and Mrs Romance.

So much for February being the short month of the year. It feels like these past 28 days have gone on forever. But now they’ve gone, I kinda miss them!

We certainly packed in a lot this month and even managed to squeeze in a little R&R trip up north for a few days.

As well as that, we worked out the cheeky ferry hack to the much-anticipated new Sydney Fish Markets, reviewed the brand new (and first in over 15 years) hotel in the Central Coast, learned how to make dumplings, discovered what could be the best martini (and burger) we’ve had and mixed it up in Australia’s biggest annual travel conference.

I wondered why March has crept up me so quickly!

Hope you enjoy this Flavour of the Month of Feb.

Cheers – Jim & Christina xx

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Love it or hate it – and I’ve met quite a few people with mixed opinions on this – the new Sydney Fish Markets opened for business in late January.

Many times the size of the old Fish Markets, which look quite sad and dilapidated across the bay, this $836m development is quite something. But one thing it’s lacking – and this is simply down to poor planning – is a direct ferry link and won’t be getting one for another couple of years.

But that’s not quite true.

There is a ferry to the Fish Markets that’s closer than either of the light rail stops and better than risking the site’s diminutive car park.

From Barangaroo, there’s a cute little hopper ferry, which does a loop via Pirrama Park in Pyrmont then under the Anzac Bridge to Blackwattle Bay. The trick is, don’t tap on at Barangaroo; tell the guard you’re going to Blackwattle Bay on the F10 ferry and they’ll let you through.

You pay on the boat using a credit card, then it’s a 17-minute cruise to Blackwattle Bay and it’s about a pleasant 10-minute walk round the cove to seafood heaven!

How about this for mindful travel?!

The iconic travel company Lonely Planet has released their first ever set of travel Tarot – 78 cards based on the classic Rider-Waite-Smith deck that emerged over 115 years ago, but with an eye on the horizon.

This beautifully illustrated 78-card deck blends the art of divination with the spirit of exploration, enlightening you on what to expect and how to react to a new destination, and even hints on where to go next.

Each of the cards in the deck connects to a different destination around the globe, from natural wonders and sacred sites to bustling cities and dramatic coastlines, so you can even draw a card if you’re just looking for travel inspiration.

The deck also comes with a handy 96-page booklet on how to read the Tarot set.

We love this idea. It adds a different dimension (pun intended!) to travel planning and how you see the world when you’re out there amongst it.

You can find this Travel Tarot set here at Lonely Planet or any good book shop – RRP AU$42.99.

Today, we’re heading an hour north up to the Central Coast to have a look at something pretty special.

The region’s first new major hotel in 15 years, the voco Gosford by IHG is the first stone in an avalanche of change in this much over-looked waterfront city, so we’re excited to see how it matches up to the hype.

Our room – a beautiful suite – has some lovely details and features that you can learn more about here in our full review, but it’s the bars and restaurants of this double-tower 28-floor edifice that really make the difference.

Until the voco opened in late 2025, the couple of pubs in the area – and the enormous 24-hour Leagues Club – weren’t up to the task of service the local community, let alone bringing in visitors. Having said that, the lunch we have at the airy atrium of the Hotel Gosford was actually lovely.

But with no fewer than six venues spread around its floors, the voco covers all basis.

From casual pub and pizza vibes to steaks to elevated (literally) Japanese fair at the rooftop bar, there’s plenty to choose from here.

Check out our review of the voco Gosford here and also our video walkthrough of the hotel and its venues here.

After our lovely night’s stay at the voco Gosford, we grab a lunch stop at Terrigal to catch up with our excellent friends Jess and Ben Groundwater, and their two hilarious sons.

Then it’s a couple of hours further north to our final destination: Port Stephens. We’re here for a spot of relaxation and recuperation at Christina’s sister’s little holiday house in Corlette.

Unlike anywhere else we go, we’ve been to Port Stephens so many times, we don’t feel the pressure that we usually do when we’re away from home to record and publish every single thing we get up to.

Having said that, you can see our Essential Guide to Port Stephens here, but other than that…

It’s not all beach time while we’re in Port Stephens though. We find a couple of lovely coastal walks at Lemon Tree Passage and Mallabula that not only hug the shoreline, but also snake through mangroves, woodland and parks.

The first one – the Koala Reserve and Mangrove Boardwalk – follows a 500m stretch of eucalypts that lean out over the still waters of the bay.

Birdlife along this trail is excellent and the little lizard that pops its head up as we pass is unquestionably adorable.

The second little walk is in nearby Mallabula – the Tanilba Bay Boardwalk – and is a little more rugged. From the shoreline, it soon doubles back through dense bush and trees, and leads you to the Tilligerry Habitat.

Full of all kinds of wildlife and beautiful plants, there’s also a high chance of spotting koalas in the area.

This little break really is what the doctor orders. We’re both feeling so relaxed even though we both brought our computers with us. There’s something about doing a bit of work when you’re away but under no obligation to be anywhere that doesn’t make it feel as much like work!

One of our favourite things to do in the evening is have a little drink and play some backgammon, so we’ve brought our set from home and I batched up a bottle of negronis for just this opportunity!

The sun sets on our last night here in Port Stephens and one of the resident kookaburras poses for an iconic silhouette.

It’s been a lovely few days away. Now it’s back to Sydney and whatever the rest of the month may bring.

Images courtesy of Voyages Indigenous Tourism Australia

It’s hard to believe it, but the iconic installation at Uluru – the Field of Light – turns 15 years old this year! This beautiful artwork was only supposed to be a one-year deal, but it was so popular, it became a permanent fixture.

In a nod to the wildflowers that bloom here when conditions are right, light artist Bruce Munro set up 50,000 solar-powered stems across a space covering seven football fields in front of Uluru. The nightly display has attracted over three-quarters of a million visitors over the years.

To mark this important milestone, there are a number of activations in celebration of the installation’s 15th birthday.

There’s a mural of the Field of Light in Melbourne by Anangu artist Valerie Brumby (Corner Swan and Carroll St, Richmond), VIP evenings and free Q&A sessions with Bruce Munro at Uluru and Ayres Rock Resort throughout March, and new menus for Field of Light evening events.

Realising that the Field of Light has been going so long has reminded us that the incredible drone show Wintjiri Wiru, which rises from the desert floor in front of Uluru, has also been going for three years now.

It seems like last week that we were there watching this remarkable spectacle – the largest permanent drone show in the world.

This show happens twice-nightly (three times a night during certain periods) and is one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen.

Check out our full story of Wintjiri Wiru here.

It’s dumpling time at our place!

Christina’s jujitsu friend Rex has brought some of his buddies and all of his teaching skills to ours to show us how to make dumplings in preparation for Chinese New Year!

Creating these tasty little bundles of flavour is both simple and difficult at the same time – especially as the glasses of wine add up. By the end of the evening there are more than enough dumplings for us to eat (something I never thought I’d ever say) and everyone gets a pack to take home with them.

Great success! And new skill unlocked!

Okay, we need to be serious for a moment.

Christina and I are out in the city tonight, but more on that later. For now, we’ve taken this rare opportunity (we don’t come into the CBD that much anymore for some reason) to check out the Gidley.

Christina has wanted to bring me to this place for ages and I wish we’d come here sooner.

First of all, the doorway is tucked in down a basement level staircase, and you have to ring the bell and wait to be buzzed in. But once inside, this place opens out into exactly what I imagine a filmset speakeasy would be like – better in fact.

Martinis here are served on silver platters and have a make-your-own-adventure feel. On the tray is a glass with a ready-poured martini which you can add whatever garnish you like: the bar has circles of orange, lemon and grapefruit peel for you to try, enormous briny olives and sweet pickled onions, so you can even create your own gibson.

There’s also a blue glass pipette full of house-made brine mixed with Talisker scotch to make just about the best dirty martini known to man.

But best of all, in an ice-filled bowl sits a little carafe with another serve of martini ready for you to have another go! This is such a great experience, you’ve got to try it.

On top of that, we order the burgers here.

Even the staff say these are the best burgers in the world. I don’t know about that, but I should probably edit my top ten burgers list to include these guys. Double patty, plenty of cheese, soft fluffy buns and so much flavour – not bad considering this isn’t the reason we’re out tonight!

For the main event, we’re at the State Theatre to see An Evening With Yotam Ottolenghi – a very thoughtful Christmas gift from Christina’s mum.

The show’s interesting enough, with Ottolenghi telling us stories about how he came to cooking, mistakes he’s made, successes he’s cherished and also plenty of recipes. He cooks a few dishes on stage too, showing us some tricks he’s developed.

And he sells his books pretty hard!

At the end of the evening, he also gives us a QR code with all the recipes he’s talked about tonight, which is a generous touch. We’ll give them a crack at some point – especially his roast chicken and potatoes, and how he makes aromatic feta.

The venue itself is the real winner though. What a beautiful place the State Theatre is. I can’t believe I haven’t been in here before. Talk about old-world charm.

This evening, Christina and I are enjoying the excellent hospitality of our wonderful friends Peter Hook and his wife Fiona Smith. These guys are such great hosts, and they even break out one of Peter’s favourite recent discoveries: English Champagne* by Balfour Winery!

We play this sparkling from Kent against a bottle of Veuve Clicquot and I’ve must say, there wasn’t much in it. If anything, the French stuff was a little sweet. But you can see for yourself – Balfour’s 1503 Classic Cuvee is in Dan Murphy’s.

The rest of the evening is well-fuelled with more of Peter’s top picks from his cellar, impeccably matched with the trio of classics he and Fiona dish up for us: a deconstructed prawn cocktail, a sumptuous chicken cacciatore, and an apple and rhubarb crumble.

We also have the pleasure of making new friends over dinner. Nicole and Stuart Ford – who are also deeply connected with the travel industry (Nicole works for Spicers Retreats and Stuart’s grandfather started P&O!) and the six of us talk well into the wee hours.

In fact, I should make that number seven; Archie, Peter and Fiona’s adorable Brittany Spaniel keeps us all safe in exchange for pats.

*I know you’re not allowed to call it that, but who doesn’t love a bit of a wind-up. 

All the attention has exhausted Archie, so while we finish up the last drops of wine, he takes a nap on the couch. Above him you might notice one of Fiona’s extraordinary paintings. She has a passion for Australian native birdlife and manages to bring them to life in her wonderful paintings.

You can see more of Fiona’s work here.

This afternoon, we’re back in the city to have lunch with our friend and colleague Susie Westwood, and to meet Roxy Esagunde the PR and Marketing Executive for Walk Japan. The first to market in what is now a well-established travel product, Walk Japan has been offering guided and self-guided walking-focused tours of Japan for 35 years.

We’re extremely excited about the prospect of working with Roxy and Walk Japan, so watch this space for what I’m sure will be some of the most exciting travel stories from our time in the Land of the Rising Sun.

Susie has chosen the perfect spot for lunch too. We’re at King Clarence – a restaurant eponymous by location on the corner of King and Clarence Streets.

Food here is superb. A modern Asian menu that pairs well with our conversations about Japan, we enjoy dishes like wood-fired edamame with salt and vinegar togarashi, yellowfin tuna sashimi with shiso vinegar, smoked oyster cream and sesame leaf and 14-day aged duck with such a fine, crisp glaze that it crackles as you bite into it.

But the stand-out dish is surprising; the teriyaki sea perch with grilled sweetcorn, woodear mushroom and nori jam is delicate and rich at the same time, and the sauce is so good you want a jug of it to drink!

Tonight, Christina’s out with the girls! Dinner and drinks at Corner Bar in Rozelle.

This cute little bar does excellent cocktails and has a replete wine list, but its food is often overlooked. With a focus on Tex-Mex favourites, there’s a range of smashable tacos on the menu, including the all-important pulled beef birria tacos that comes with a side of beef jus dipping sauce. Well worth checking out – just make sure you go there hungry!

And so it begins; IMM by TravMedia – the biggest travel conference in Australia.

This two-day travel extravaganza starts with the Summit, the more conventional element of the conference. We’re here at the Sofitel Sydney Wentworth Ballroom filled with over 400 media and PRs to hear from a mesmerising range of industry elite.

To kick things off, Katrina Ell, Senior Economist from Mastercard somehow makes a speech on economics in travel highly entertaining. Her illustration of the Misery Index, which shows how unhappy the population is based on the combined efforts of unemployment rates and inflation, isn’t funny, but her delivery is excellent. And the good news is it doesn’t look like Australia is particularly ‘miserable’ at the moment, though there seems to be a bit of an uptick.

Having said that, according to Mastercard’s statistics, 14% of Australians are planning on spending at least one month travelling in 2026, while destinations are still trending towards the usual suspects: the USA, Europe, Japan and New Zealand. Going the other way, around 17% of visitors to Australia are coming from NZ!

There has been a slight downturn in Aussies visiting the US and UK (17% and 11% respectively) due to currency strength.

And no matter what, consumers will still prioritise travel quite heavily.

Here are some other highlights from this year’s Summit programme. We hear from a panel on the progress of wellness travel as a trend, the future of AI in travel journalism, a presentation on the State of the Industry, and TV personality and footballer Claudio Fabiano talking about British Columbia.

• Wellness Travel isn’t so much about retreats and spas anymore; it’s about what you get out of the destination.
• Wellness no longer a niche travel prospect with more people than ever looking for wellness to be a baseline when they travel. It’s gone from a luxury travel concept to more of a lifestyle category.
• A high percentage of travellers are looking for ways to restore and repair, though also acknowledging that travel shouldn’t be more of a recovery session than a holiday.

AI in tourism is still a developing prospect, though it’s growing fast. Keynote speaker Nick Abrahams (AI Pioneer and Business Futurist) makes the interesting point that “the Industrial Revolution had a 20% increase in productivity. GenAI gives 30-40%”. He also explains that while “Google is a tool, ChatGPT is a colleague” and that we should treat it as such.

I’m not so comfortable with that.

As for the State of the Industry review from TravMedia’s own Julie Ott, we learn about travel trends and where people are (and more importantly aren’t) happy to go at the moment. The top reasons for hesitation are: political environment (63%), crime rates (42%), expense (32%), health risks (30%) and bad experience – whatever that means (30%).

We also hear some very interesting data in terms of how digital is still growing, but also that print isn’t dead quite yet. There are challenges of course, but people haven’t stopped consuming traditional media.

And that publishers are greedy, writers are poor and editors have no time or patience.

L-R: Adam Schwab, Co-Founder of Luxury Escapes, Cameron Daddo | Chris Waite, Co-Founder of Powerhouse Comms, Anthony Dennis, Travel Editor of The Age & SMH, Ben Groundwater, freelancer and generally lovely bloke, Sarah Maree Cameron, Content Creator, Presenter & Journalist

After lunch, we have household name Cameron Daddo interviewing Adam Schwab, Co-Founder & CEO, Luxury Escapes. We’re not sure what the point of this one is, but it’s actually fascinating.

Luxury Escapes is enormous, currently turning over $1.4 billion per annum!

It’s a company that doesn’t just book your holiday for you, but looks for ways to help facilitate the whole experience. And these holidays aren’t just super-high end trips for the 1%, there are affordable options too.

There are bricks and mortar shops around too, and Schwab wants to create a kind of Apple Store experience. It seems to be working, with the flagship store in Chadstone VIC making $100m pa (other top travel agents do about $10m) and the Bondi store making headlines too.

Soon, Luxury Escapes are planning to bring out their credit cards, eSIMs and a full-time direct charter flight between Melbourne and the Maldives, making it an 11-hour flight.

The last session of the day is a lot of fun: it’s a panel on freelance writers with content creator Sarah Maree Cameron, our mate Ben Groundwater and his editor for The Age and SMH Anthony Dennis. It’s a bonding moment between the trio as they share their displeasure in the questions put to them by moderator and co-founder of Powerhouse Comms Chris Waite.

It’s not a complete tear-down though, and the messages are interesting, insightful and – importantly for this last moment of the conference when everyone’s hanging for a wine – entertaining.

The formalities of the conference over, we make our way to the Sofitel Wentworth’s rooftop bar for a drink. It’s absolutely pissing down, so the rooftop bar’s sadly a little redundant. We make the most of it – especially the rum daiquiri fountain – and enjoy a bit of social time with friends we haven’t seen in ages.

It’s always hard to get travel journos together; we’re famously on the move a lot.

Talking of which, getting home proves difficult. The almost 8cm of rain has caused chaos and it takes our taxi over 45 minutes and almost $80 to make the 7km drive home.

Welcome to IMM Sydney 2026. This is the important part of the conference where we get to meet travel providers and make plans for the rest of the year. Filling this vast room of the ICC are 177 tables each representing a different destination, experience, brand or RTO.

We get 15 minutes to talk to 22 of them. It’s a hectic day, but so productive.

There are all sorts of activations both with each provider (I have a crack at the VR goggles at the Travel Nevada desk) and with break-out areas.

Destination NSW has brought some tasty treats from IndigiEarth. Founded by Ngemba Weilwan woman Sharon Windsor, who has a lovely cafe in Mudgee, IndigiEarth focuses on using foraged Indigenous products in Western dishes to fuse the knowledge gap between the two. 

Her jams are so good – and you should see the food we had when we were in Mudgee – but these green ant lemon meringue tarts are sensational.

All too soon, the final meeting comes to an end and we make haste to get to the coaches; we’re going from the ICC all the way to Paddington for drinks at the all new 25Hours Hotel The Olympia.

On the site of an old movie theatre, this beautiful building has been fully restored with plenty of nods to its cinematic past, including a film library of VCRs you can borrow and play in your room!

We’re excited to see this place as our very first meeting of the day was with the lovely Comms manager for this hotel, so watch this space for a review of the Olympia.

How’s this for a before-and-after! We’re on the first coach to arrive (of course we are!) and the bar is blissfully quiet. But by the time some 350 thirsty travellers have descended, the bar is a crush and the balcony at gridlock.

It’s all a lot of fun though, and we’re all very grateful of the generous bar tab that washes away the fatigue of the day’s speed-meetings.

As far as after-after-parties go, this is pretty good. After the IMM drinks, Christina and I high-tail it to our friend’s house who is having drinks with his mates. It turns out he and his mates have very sophisticated wine cellars.

Check out the vino.

The 2013 Tulloch Chardonnay is ridiculously good and our old family friend Riccardo, who was from Tuscany, always talked about the wonders of a Brunello di Moltacino. Here’s one from 2012.

Thank you, Nim, for letting us gatecrash your party and drink all your wine!

We’ve decided to finish this strangely long February (it feels like these 28 days have gone on forever this year) with a tasty snack and wine at Cicci’s Food and Wine in Balmain.

Christina came here a little while ago with the WAGs, but this is my first time.

We score our favourite types seats: right up at the bar right in front of where the kitchen is cooking and plating, and enjoy a couple of dishes from a hugely tempting menu.

One of the specials is stracchino cheese, which is a marvellous creation. It’s a soft cheese – a bit like mozzarella – when it’s cold, but as it warms up, this stuff settles and spreads. This dish comes with pesto oil, crisp kale, caramelised onions and a few other bits.

We also spot mozzarella in carozza (basically a crispy crumbed deep-fried cheese sandwich with mortadella) on the menu. This is a little-known Italian snack that, if you ever see it on a menu, don’t miss the opportunity of ordering.

It’s the best toastie you’ll ever eat!

We hope you’ve enjoyed our highlights from February. Chat to you again soon.

Cheers – Jim & Christina xx

The post New Fish Market Tricks, New Central Coast Trips and the Greatest Martini Ever Made appeared first on Mr and Mrs Romance.

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Imagine Sydney Harbour, but instead of water lapping at its stony shores, picture it full of rice. Right up to the high tide mark. Over it in fact. That’s what 540 million tonnes of rice looks like. That’s how much rice we humans grow and consume every year.

But where does it come from? How is it grown?

While we were in Laos recently, Christina and I had a crash course in working a real life rice paddy. We went through each of the stages of the process, from seeding to consumption (yes, there were snacks at the end), and we were surprised at how complex and laborious rice farming is.

But it wasn’t just a lesson in agriculture.

We got a glimpse of the cultural connection that Laos has with rice — especially sticky rice — the role paddy fields play in Laos and in Asia more broadly.

Check out our other stories on Laos here, including where to stay in Luang Prabang.

Click here for other exciting and cultural activities in beautiful Luang Prabang.

And for more great deals of hotels in Luang Prabang, click here.

Rice Farming with Living Land Experience, Luang Prabang

Not far outside the ancient city of Luang Prabang, we find ourselves at Living Land Farm, an organic rice farm that still uses traditional and ancient agricultural methods to grow rice.

They offer visitors a hands-on experience that goes through the 13 stages of traditional, organic rice farming.

Our young guide, Mr Johnny, is a rice farmer of many generations, but who is also excellent at taking us through the various stages, his dry wit and affable manner making the experience even more enjoyable.

13 Stages of Rice Farming

I won’t go through each of the stages — I wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise.

The farm is split into the various stages of the rice harvest with paddies at all the significant steps of the crop.

The tour begins with planting the rice seeds saved from last year’s harvest. We learn how to separate the good grains from the empty ‘ghost’ grains using saline water.

Then we clamber into the mud of the paddy fields, sowing the grain, harvesting new seeds and tilling the earth.

These days, farmers use tractors (or as locals call them ‘Chinese buffalo’), but for our demonstration, we get to drive a hand plough behind a real water buffalo. It’s not an easy task; the sucking mud is thick and sticky, and the buffalo is determined and brutally strong.

We learn about the growth stages of rice, how long it takes for the crop to develop and the clever irrigation systems of the paddy fields. At its different growth stages, rice needs more or less water.

Once the plant has reached the panicle stage, when the grains have developed at the top of the stalk, the farmer drains all of the water out of the paddy by cutting into the surrounding bank. This allows the rice to mature ready for harvesting.

We have a go harvesting with a sickle that’s so sharp it cuts through the tough rice stalks like butter.

This experience was part of our trip to Laos with InsideAsia Tours, a travel company that does all the hard work for you and lets you enjoy the experiences that the destination offers. 

We were really impressed with this company. They thought of everything, but at the same time weren’t intrusive on our own plans or time. And their itineraries find you things to do and places to go that you’d probably miss if you were doing it all yourself. 

Highly recommended.

Back at The Homestead

After the harvest (and when we’ve washed the mud off our legs and feet), we move back to the homestead for the rest of the tour.

Here, we learn about how the farmers thresh the rice grains, remove all the chaff, polish the grains and cook the rice.

We also see what other things the community get up to after the growing season has finished.

There’s a forge and smithy for making tools, there’s a sugar cane ‘juicer’ — a massive timber cog and hand-wheel system — and also a cottage industry of weaving.

The older farmers who can no longer work the fields turn their hands to making hats, fish traps, tools, furniture and ornaments from bamboo and rice grass.

Finally, we sit down to enjoy the fruits of our labours. Kind of. An assortment of rice-based snacks — including Laos’ number one passion: sticky rice.

This cultural experience is a great thing to do while you’re in Luang Prabang — it makes you appreciate rice a lot more too!

We visited Living Land with Inside Asia Tours, but our experiences and opinions remain our own.

The post That Time We Worked On A Rice Paddy appeared first on Mr and Mrs Romance.

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From the Südtirol to Sardinia, from Palermo to Polignano a Mare, Italy’s food map is a patchwork of gastronomic endeavours.

To Italy, geography is food.

Every step you take here brings you to another dish, another local speciality, another unique morsel that owes its existence to the plates of that place. Some have just one food that equates to that region.

And then there’s Parma.

Ninety minutes south of Milan, the town of Parma and its broader region of Emilia-Romagna is the origin story of many of Italy’s keystone foods.

From Parmesan cheese (parmigiano reggiano) and Parma ham (prosciutto di Parma) to balsamic vinegar, mortadella, bolognese and even lasagne, they all come from here.

Check out our Naples food safari, where we find a dozen tasty things native to Napoli

We did this tour of a proscuito and a parmigiano factory in Parma – it was awesome!

Find the best rates for hotels in Parma here

7 Things You Must Eat In Parma, Italy

– Tortelli – (a.k.a tortelli d’erbetta) is a stuffed pasta usually with chard, spinach and ricotta. This is a popular dish in restaurants, but we found this one in a food truck at the markets in Piazza Ghiaia.

You can also find sweet tortelli, filled with crushed grapes and mustard served with butter cheese sauce. This is still considered a savoury dish and is served as an entree or main. It’s also handy to remember that tortelli is vegetarian while ravioli is the same shape pasta, but is usually meat-filled.

– Torta fritta – is often served with entrees of cheese and meats, these delightful crispy crunchy bread squares are fried so they puff up into pillows.

In Bologna these are called crescentina and in Modena they’re gnocco fritto, but they’re the same thing.

– Coppa – refers to ‘single-muscle’ cured meat. In this case, we’re talking about the precious culatello di Zibello. Taken from a particular part of the prosciutto pork leg, this rare and highly-prized cut is known as the ‘king of salumi’. 

– Anolini – is a little ‘bellybutton’ filled egg pasta stuffed with beef stew and cooked in a beef or capon broth. This is a hearty, satisfying dish.

– Caval pist – is a controversial dish. It’s tartare — therefore finely chopped or minced raw meat — but made with horse. It’s so finely minced, the consistency is like pesto. This dish is also sometimes called ‘pesto di cavallo’.

I’d never tried horse before and was expecting the meat to have quite a strong gamey flavour, but it was incredibly mild, almost bland. A touch of salt and lemon lifts the flavour, but it’s the fine texture that’s most impressive.

– Culatello tagliolini – uses prosciutto di parma crisped in sage butter and covered in parmesan cheese to sauce and flavour the tagliolini thin ribbon pasta. As you can imagine, this is a superb dish. I could eat this every day and never get bored of it.

– Mostarda di mele – apple mustard is a typical northern Italian condiment, but it commonly comes with prosciutto di parma and parmigiano reggiano as an entree.

The sweet, warming spiciness of the mustard is the perfect accompaniment to Parma’s two greatest creations!

Bonus – Rosa di Parma – the Rose of Parma

This is quite a dish. It consists of a veal fillet rolled up with prosciutto di parma and parmigiano reggiano so that, when it’s sliced, it looks like a rose. The middle must be rare. We never found this one, but you can see a photo of it here.

Aperitivo Hour

Although Parma is in a different region to Milan, aperitivo hour is strong in this town. At around 6pm, so many places around Parma have plates and plates of different types of food – from sandwiches to salumi to pastries.

All you need to do is find a seat, order a drink and pick your plates. Some places have this as a free snack with your drink, others offer it as an inexpensive pre-dinner bite and everyone gets involved!

The post 7 Things You Must Eat In Parma, Italy appeared first on Mr and Mrs Romance.

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You might have noticed this interesting little gin subset, but wine-infused gin is a fairly new concept and one that Australia has made its speciality.

Combining the refreshing herbal and citrus flavours of gin with the rounded softness and spice we enjoy from red wine, these wine-infused gins are the perfect solution — in more ways than one.

Different types of wine-infused gin

Shiraz is the most popular option for wine-infused gin, though there is a multitude of other examples out there — even white wine, fortifieds and other fruit like sloe berries.

But red wine adds a beautiful dark red colour to the gin as well as plenty of berry, spice and gentle oak flavours.

Here are some of our favourite examples:

Tread Softly Pinot Noir Gin

Rich with the aromas and flavours we associate with Pinot Noir — cherries, strawberries and a little spice — this beautiful bright red gin has plenty of fresh juniper, summer flowers and grassy notes that blend with the Pinot notes.

Tread Softly is focused on sustainability. Bottles are made from 100% recycled glass and the brand has a tree-planting programme that is so far up to almost 1.5million Australian natives.

Buy Tread Softly Pinot Noir Gin here.

Otter Craft Distillery Mary Street Shiraz Gin

This deep purple gin speaks of the robust power of the Shiraz wine used here. And although the Shiraz makes itself at home in this spirit, packing plenty of rich dark fruit and chocolate notes, this gin still holds up its end of the bargain by exhibiting its own flavour profile.

Hand-made in Lilyfield, NSW by Eduard Otter and served with aplomb at Bar 26, the distillery’s speakeasy next door.

Buy OCD Mary St Shiraz Gin here.

Naught Distilling Sangiovese Gin

Less common other varietals, Sangiovese as a gin infusion is actually a great option. Harnessing the bright, stone fruit, citrus and herbs of the wine, Naught Distillery’s Sangiovese Gin creates quite an earthy, savoury base bolstered by a bold, fruit-forward mid-palate.

Distiller (and ex-basketballer) Chris Cameron recommends using this beauty in an adapted French 75.

Buy your Naught Sangiovese Gin here.

Tempus Two Copper Shiraz Gin

Better known as a Hunter Valley winery, Tempus Two’s Shiraz Gin from their Copper Series of beverages takes a slightly different tangent on wine-infused gin than most. Using their own Shiraz wine to create a base spirit, the distillers double down on the varietal, adding in extra Shiraz as a botanical.

The result is a herbaceous, rich gin with a dark, plummy Christmas cake profile. This drinks well in cocktails, but also as it is over ice.

Buy your Tempus Two Copper Shiraz Gin here.

How to drink wine-infused gin

Although they’re not quite as versatile as regular gin, the added richness and flavour from wine-infused gins means they can lift a few regular cocktails to new heights.

On the Rocks

Unless you’re a hardened gin soak, you’re not drinking straight gin like it’s whisky. But with its added flavours from the wine, this style works well just with a big ice cube and a twist of lemon.

Enriched Negroni

If you want to fancy-up your regular negroni, using wine-infused gin creates another layer of depth to the drink. Play with the qualities a little until you’re happy — just like regular gins, win-infused gin will give you different flavours that you can balance (or unbalance) with your mix.

We also love using other types of gin to negronis like barrel-aged gin or sloe gin.

Gin Highball

Highballs are becoming more and more popular, but what is a highball? Simply, it’s just your spirit of choice in a tall glass and ice topped up with soda. Ordinarily, this would water gin down, but the added wine flavours make this a refreshing yet very simple cocktail.

If you want a bit more flavour, try your wine-infused gin with a splash of tonic as well.

The post Sip Happens — The Wine-Infused Gin Trend You Need to Try appeared first on Mr and Mrs Romance.

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I’ve often wondered why the Central Coast doesn’t hold bigger sway among domestic and international visitors. But with the first major hotel opening in the region for 15 years, I can finally rest easy and worry about something else!

Heralding what’s sure to be some major changes to the region’s profile, the voco Gosford by IHG opened its doors to guests in late 2025.

But it’s not just the 130 rooms across 11 storeys that spell this cultural epiphany for the Central Coast. It’s the rest of the building too.

The voco Gosford sits within the brand new Archibald Precinct, which brings six dining and hospitality options, including an elegant rooftop cocktail bar on the 28th floor with panoramic vistas across the landscape and over Brisbane Waters.

voco Gosford by IHG

As the winding Central Coast Highway twists us down to sea level, our attention moves from the sparkling waters of the bay to the impressive twin towers of the voco Gosford, its distinctive black and white sculpted walls standing taller than any other building in the area.

For now.

Evidence of major construction is poking up all over town, another sign that things here are changing.

The lobby

We’ve timed our drive north to Gosford poorly. We were hoping to pick up a pie from the legendary Shhmoakesy’s Gourmet Pies on the way in, but they run out by lunchtime. Instead, we see if our room’s ready for check-in. Two hours early.

The warmly lit and pleasantly scented lobby is also home to the welcoming Lobby Bar, which doubles up as a cafe during the day. At least we can spend an easy hour there if our room’s not ready.

But we’re in luck; the room’s ready and the friendly reception staff check us in and send us on our happy way. From the lobby, you can also take the stairs at the back to the main dining areas of the precinct. But that’s for later.

The room

Our room is up on the 11th floor, technically the top floor of the hotel. Above that, from 12 to 27, are high-end residential apartments.

The room is also right on the corner of the floor.

And it’s a king suite!

From the front door, a short passageway leads to the enormous bed with a chase and small dining table nearby. The bar fridge and tea caddy is in a cabinet that’s been made to look like a little drinks cart, which is fun.

The TV is tucked into another piece of custom furniture and is — like the bed — huge.

While I’m inspecting the TV and the curtains that cover the windows running the length of the wall, I notice chairs on the narrow balcony outside. I can’t see a door anywhere and jump to the conclusion that this must be a communal balcony. I’m initially outraged.

Then Christina finds the door.

Sliding behind the TV unit, the door opens to a full private balcony that wraps around the corner giving us wonderful views of the town below, the wooded hills and bushland around, and then all the way out to the bay and its coruscating waters.

As we peer down, we can also see the hotel’s rooftop pool and swim-up bar. This is down on the 5th floor — the top of the connecting building between the two towers.

The chairs I spotted — by the way — are ours.

Back in the room, we discover the bathroom behind a door we initially thought was one of those doors that connect to adjoining rooms. This is perhaps the best part of the room, with tactful lighting, a large vanity and luxurious amenities from Apotheke.

And then we see the giant, deep-fill bath tub and the striped tiling that mirrors the exterior walls of this hotel. The tiling continues into the roomy shower with its rippled glass art deco door that glides along on industrial style mechanism of polished brass.

The detail makes the difference

But it’s the details of the suite that give it that comfortable yet elegant edge.

It’s the brass finishes in the bathroom, it’s the (surprisingly satisfying) cyclonic directional flush of the WC, it’s the lush deep pile of the carpet, and best of all it’s the labels on the light switches and the USBs by the bed.

Too many times in too many hotels have we struggled to find the correct light switch, being left either blinded or broken-toed in the middle of the night. The multitude of illumination options here though are clearly signed, removing the guesswork.

If we had any negative points to make, they would be so minor: there are only two bath towels in the room (an easy fix) and the tap is a bit far from the sink, making it awkward to wash your hands and leaving a lot of drips on the vanity (an impossible fix).

Other than that, this room hits all the sweet spots.

The dining options

We’ve mentioned the Lobby Bar and the swim-up Pool Bar but that still leaves four other venues.

The pool bar, by the way, has complicated hours. On paper, its a 10am-8pm option, but in reality, staffing and weather can play a problematic part, so bear that in mind.

Behind the Pool Bar and on dry land, however, is Saltfire. This broad space is — for the moment — only open for breakfast, though this may change in the future. Breakfast is a buffet affair and one that offers the crispiest hash browns on earth. The bacon, though it might not look like it, is the tastiest I’ve had at a hotel buffet.

A big statement, but I’ll stand by it.

Downstairs on the ground floor is Archie’s. Once the Union Hotel, this is now set up to be ‘Gosford’s new local’, and it’s got everything you need for a good old pub and has a big, friendly family vibe.

It also operates as the bar for the two dining options here: Paolo’s Pizzeria and Ironbark.

We find our table at Ironbark and prowl through the menu, all the time glancing over at the dry-ageing cabinet stocked with huge slabs of beef. We’ve heard the tomahawk is excellent here.

The only problem is there are lots of other things catching our eye as we peruse the options. We even debate the pub classics for a while, but in the end settle on a couple of entrees and steaks.

In a way, I wish we’d gone for the burgers or parmies.

Sadly, the steak tartare didn’t really hit the spot for us. It was covered in a strange mayonnaise dressing and — rather than bread or crisps, the kitchen had taken pains to make their own potato sticks that didn’t stay crispy for long enough and weren’t the best vehicle for the tartare.

The steaks came out a bit under-done, which is usually fine by me, but the fat hadn’t rendered properly and the result was quite a sickly scotch fillet.

On the plus side, the portions are enormous. Both our steaks have us beat and we try to finish the side of broccolini, but fail there too. The wine list here also deserves a mention with plenty of NSW options, which we always enjoy seeing.

The glass of Robert Stein Shiraz — a Mudgee favourite of ours — goes down well with all the meat!

The nightcap

Our favourite part of the voco Gosford comes at the end of the night when we step out of the lift on level 28.

Astra, the hotel’s rooftop bar and restaurant, is lovely.

With views almost right around the area through windows that have been thrown open to allow the cool evening sea breeze in, Astra is part cocktail bar, part izakaya, offering excellently crafted drinks and carefully sculpted Japanese dishes in a refined, city-style setting.

We’re more than full from dinner, so we skip the menus and find a spot at the long bar. Andy behind the jump mixes us two superb martinis and we chat about the various virtues of gin for a while.

It’s the perfect end to the day and once back in our palatial room, we settle into the ecstatic comfort of our soft bed in deep contentment.

We stayed and dined as guests of voco Gosford by IHG and Archibald Precinct, but our experiences and opinions remain our own.

The post Going Voco Loco — a new luxe staycation in the Central Coast, NSW appeared first on Mr and Mrs Romance.

January’s a funny month, isn’t it. Even more so in Australia.

It never feels like you can get that much done in January. I mean, the first week or so is a write-off with the new year still to build up its callouses. Even by week two, everyone’s still in Christmas holiday mode – or legitimately still on holiday.

Week three is chopped into by the Australia Day public holiday and the imminent threat of school zones coming back into action.

Then it’s a steep downhill slippery dip to the start of Feb. Craziness. 

And let’s not forget this is pretty much the heart of summer when everyone slows down a bit.

Having said that, we’ve still managed to fit plenty in since the starter’s gun went off for 2026. Here’s the low-down.

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What a way to kick-start the year! Dinner with some excellent friends from the travel industry. It’s a pretty close-knit realm that pretty much everyone knows everyone, and we’re so glad to be part of it. Especially when our wonderful friend sets the table for such a great group of people. 

This Ashes Series has been so strange, but it’s pretty cool that I’ve managed to book-end the whole thing. I was at the first (ill-fated) test in Perth and here I am again at the last test in Sydney.

Perth was over in two days and Sydney’s a dead rubber with the Aussies winning three of the first four tests.

Much like the test in WA, things start with a beer. I start with a few breakfast beers (as in 8am) in the Maddison Hotel in Surry Hills with my mates Nim and Brett before finding my seat with my other mates Anton, Paul and Woody.

They’re good seats, but right in the sun and we cook through the sessions before lunch.

Not long after the teams come out though, the clouds close over and the rain begins, followed by some pretty impressive lightning. Needless to say, Day One of the Sydney test is cut short. Probably just as well. I don’t think I could last much longer in the boiling heat.

Today, we’re down in beautiful Bundeena. This little out-of-the-way town at the edge of the Royal National Park is a real gem.

We’re lucky to have multiple groups of friends connected to Bundeena, which is pretty unusual. This afternoon, we’re visiting one of Christina’s oldest friends, who she’s known since school. She lives a fascinating life partly in London, partly in Macau, but she’s back in Aus for Christmas and her sister’s got a place here.

We spend the afternoon with our feet in the sand catching up and laughing. Very wholesome stuff. But it does remind us how much we miss these guys.

Today has been a bit of a drama, but it seems to have worked out ok.

Christina’s birthday is in December – a week before Christmas – and she’s decided to have a belated birthday party at our place in our garden. The only problem is the wind, rain and storms have been incessant.

A last-minute change of plan sees us tucked up in the Balmain Bowls Club. It’s not a bad venue (and the beer and food are cheap) but it would be lovely to have it at ours. Christina says ‘leave it with me’, which always makes me nervous! 

(See below for more on how that transpired)

Thank you to everyone who made it to this party though. Absolute legends. And how about that cake from Christina’s sister?!

This afternoon, Christina and I are bumming a lift off our amazing friends Brownie and Louise. We’re heading south for the Australia Day weekend. Ordinarily – like last year – we’d stop off at a couple of pie shops along the way. Hayden’s, I’m looking at you!

But because of our late start, we decide a cheeky burger is in order. 

We stop in at the iconic Paul’s Famous Hamburgers in Sylvania just the other side of the Tom Uglys Bridge. 

These are classic milk bar style burgers. No messing around, no skimping on anything. And they’re delicious. And it’s cash only here by the way. 

We arrive at our destination – Tuross Head – at around 8.30 in the evening and I think it’s all worked out for us. Almost everyone’s still up and about, and the Champagne soon starts flowing. Our friends even have a bit of dinner ready for us. The perfect landing.

We kick on into the night, chatting at the dinner table and preparing ourselves for the days to come!

It’s a slow start for most of us this morning. But as soon as lunchtime comes, we all leap into action.

We’re all at The River, a lovely little waterside restaurant in the nearby town of Moruya. This casual dining spot is a local favourite and one that Christina has been to already. 

This afternoon, there’s enough of us to go for the set menu, which is amazing value I must say. With three options for each of the three courses, this is $90 well spent.

For entree, Christina has the prawn cocktail, which comes in scallop shells with compressed watermelon, avocado and lettuce (a far cry from the cocktail glass full of thousand island of my youth!) and I have the octopus skewer with taramasalata and salsa verde. The octopus is so incredibly tender, I could happily eat a big plate of that and nothing else!

But mains come out and we know we’ve both chosen wisely. 

The beef eye fillet (cooked rare) is superb and perfectly cooked, and the crisp finger of potato gratin is more than 1:1 butter, which means delicious!

Desserts are almost too much for us to deal with. 

My chocolate hazelnut tart is so wonderfully rich that I can’t finish it all. Christina’s spiced rum pudding – not something I’d expect her to order – is surprisingly light and satisfying. It comes with a coconut gelato and a dark rum, coconut and pineapple caramel sauce. Tremendous stuff!

Everyone has been assigned tasks for food for the big Australia Day weekend feast, so after the wonderful lunch at The River, Christina cracks on with the pavlova she’ll be serving tomorrow.

She has a little help making it of course, and I think you’ll agree the results are pretty impressive.

The big day arrives and Christina’s up early enough to see the sun come up over the ocean. 

I am not, so I’m glad she’s here to show me what I missed. No, not what I missed, what I didn’t see. I think my move to stay in bed is exactly the right thing to do!

Soon, food prep and cooking begin in earnest. Not only are there two pork rolls crackling away on the coals (as well as some inappropriate physical contact going on), there’s a spit loaded with picana (rump cap) on the other rotisserie. Meanwhile, in the oven, there’s a whole lamb shoulder and slabs of pork belly cooking away.

Not to mention salads, veggies, cheese platters and so on.

I hope everyone’s hungry!

And of course, the drinks bucket is in a constant state of refuelling!

It’s been an amazing long weekend down in the beautiful Far South Coast, but all too soon, it’s time to head back home. 

Once again, we’re scabbing a life off of Brownie and Louise, and we take it easy, first stopping at Tuross Boat Shed and Cafe for a quick coffee. This rustic little spot – popular with locals – hangs over the water and is a must if you’re ever in this part of the world.

We decide to drive inland via Goulburn to get home, hopefully avoiding most of the seaside holiday traffic. 

We were hoping to hit up Bryant’s for a road pie, but the place is closed! Instead, we head to Trappers Bakery right next to the iconic Big Merino. It’s not as good as Bryant’s but it’ll do. From there it’s a pretty straightforward drive back to the city. 

Another outstanding time with our friends.

One of the best ways we know that the year has officially started is when we get an invitation to our excellent friend Peter Hook’s Visit Sunshine Coast media soiree. Always a luncheon, but one we rarely leave before 4pm, Peter’s parties are not one to miss.

This year, we’re at Fix Wine Wine Bar and Restaurant on Elizabeth Street in the city. The food is outstanding – the veal schnitzel and rump steak are excellent, as are the cripsy kataifi-wrapped jumbo prawns and the immense salumi platters – and the wines on offer have inspired a new love. 

If you’ve never heard of Picpoul wine before, get used to it. This French variety is perfect for growing in Australian conditions and delivers an almost savagely sharp minerality. If you like dry white wine, this is your lucky day!

But what about the Sunny Coast?

With the Olympic and Paralympic Games coming to Brisbane in 2032, everything in southern QLD is on hyperdrive. The Sunshine Coast is seeing huge developments in its infrastructure and tourism offerings, including – drum roll – the first major hotel here in almost 38 years!

Opening in April 2026, the 180-key 12-storey Avani Mooloolaba Beach Hotel will bring a host of offerings to the area, including the rooftop pool and bar. This will also be Avani’s debut property in Australia, which is exciting.

The Avani is just one of eight new hotels coming to the Sunny Coast. Highlights include the rebranding from the old Sofitel Noosa (née the Sheraton Resort and Spa) to Elysium Noosa Resort the coming of Calile Noosa. If this last one is any where near as good as the Calile in Brisbane (our review), this will be an exception property.

There are also a host new or revitalised activities and events coming the Sunny Coast. Saltwater Eco Tours, whose excellent cultural Indigenous cruise we did a while back, is bringing a new canoe tour to its inventory. This tour even has pioneering equipment to make this a fully accessible experience, which is awesome.

And of course, let’s not forget the food and drink festivals up in the Sunshine Coast. The Curated Plate is back this year (24 July – 2 August) for more Sunny Coast-focused morsels, and the Noosa Food and Wine Festival is also set to do its thing on 11-14 June, so mark these dates in your calendar!

Thank you – as always – to Peter Hook and Maddy Schilg from Visit Sunshine Coast, and Tourism Noosa’s Susan Ewington for an excellent afternoon.

This afternoon, we’re geared up for a do-over do-over party for Christina’s birthday. As I mentioned earlier, Christina’s ‘leave it with me’ echoed all the way through the very last day of January when we finally put our full trust in the mercurial Sydney weather.

Today looks like it should stay warm, dry and reasonably calm wind-wise, so Christina’s setting up the pool for the afternoon’s fun.

And fun it most certainly is! 

From daring swims to multiple sabraged Champagne bottles and kids that refuse refuse to get out of the pool, it’s an excellent day.

We’re also very keen to give our new 6m long pergola a run out and it’s doing a great job. 

And for a bit of extra entertainment, we even manage to organise a cruise ship to depart right in front of the party!

We hope you’ve enjoyed this Flavour of the Month of Jan ’26 and the the start of the year has treated you well.

Cheers – Jim & Christina xx

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