tap into cru54

After a recent time-out for a bit of cosmetic surgery, Surry Hills’ Cru54 reopened last week, showing off a brand new interior at a night of cocktails, tapas and Spanish festivities.

Guests were greeted with the more polished and modern decor, complimented by Spanish artworks of deep red and orange. We also got the chance to taste the new menu, the result of changes in the kitchen as owner Catherine Andreo assumes the role of Executive Chef.

Along with tapas options (like the pictured Spanish-style anchovy on citrus tomato and avocado salsa toast), there are now additional ways to share your food, with tablas of cheeses or cured meats (try the 40-month-aged jamon iberico) and raciones of meatballs in spicy tomato sauce or classic seafood paella.

We thoroughly recommend checking out the new cocktail list too.

Cru54 can be found at 54 Foveaux Street, Surry Hills. Ph: 9281 1054

cru54, surry hills, restaurants, tapas

review: madame claude, berlin

Things have gotten dull, predictable, so normal these days. Sun rises, sun sets. Winter comes, spring follows. When did it all become so static?

Enter Madame Claude, the brothel-cum-bar and self-proclaimed ‘bar for common people’ with a difference. The difference is things here have been turned upside down here. Literally. Inspired by Twin Peaks, Madame Claude is designed to look like the inside of your art school friend’s small creative-district studio apartment - the one who had a penchant for classic literature and card games and was always able to make a fake flower jammed into the neck of an old medicine jar somehow look so super now - if you were to enter said apartment all Lionel Richie-esque, dancing on the ceiling. That’s where all the good stuff is here, stuck to the roof. Tables, chairs, rugs, bookstands and even the letterbox, they’re all up there.

It’s the attention to detail that makes Madame Claude, the brainchild of three French expats, especially muse-worthy. The ceiling-stuck items appear perfectly placed with pre-thought. The classics are book marked as if placed down mid-read, a deck of cards sits atop a table, dealt out and waiting to be played.More...

madame claude, twin peaks, lionel richie-esque, berlin, deutschland

the path to enlightenment via music

As part of the Melbourne Festival, the Forum Theatre will be transforming into Beck’s Festival Bar and playing the role of a house of worship (of sorts) from the October 9-23. With the theme of shamanism, cult bands and music as a religious experience, Beck’s will see such diverse acts gracing its stage as local heroes The Drones, US band Dead Meadow (pictured above) and Cambodian surf-pop band Dengue Fever. Sure to be an enlightening experience.

Beck's Festival Bar will be at the Forum Theatre, 154 Flinders st Melbourne, from October 9-23. $20 per night, over 18s only. Tickets through Ticketmaster.

melbourne festival, forum theatre, beck's festival bar the drones, dead meadow, dengue fever

reclaiming the (side) streets

Talk about wearing your heart on your sleeve. Up and coming Sydney creative Lisa Zhu has teamed up with Side Street Sydney, the unashamedly Sydney-loving blogazine dedicated to the streets of their city and the people who love them, for an upcoming exhibition based on the city they love. Showcasing Zhu’s work in a visual love letter to Sydney, the exhibition will reveal the disguised beauty of the harbour city’s side streets: the light, colours and hidden treasures we see everyday without noticing.

Zhu’s photographs are stirring, whimsical, romantic “forgotten scenes of daydreams”, and will remind us all of Sydney’s bewitching charms.

For those lucky enough to be on the guest list, the exhibition opens this Thursday. For the rest of us, it will be open for viewing until August 19.

ABSOLUT Stairwell Gallery @ Sugarmill
33 Darlinghurst rd, Downtown Kings Cross

side street sydney, lisa zhu, sugarmill

killer exhibition opening in melbourne

Emerging Melbourne artist, Nadine Mannering exhibits her first solo show at Off the Kerb Gallery and Studios from Friday, 2 July. Mask Of Sanity – Portrait of the Female Killer delves into psyche of female serial killers, an unexpected but fascinating theme for the artist. 

Opening night kicks off tonight at 6.30 pm and the exhibition runs until July 23. Stop watching Dexter reruns and check it out.

exhibition, Melbourne, Nadine Mannering, artist, Off the Kerb

there's a chair in there

If you go down to the garden today - the Gazebo Wine Garden that is - you're sure of a big surprise: seven individually artworked Eames chairs are suspended from the ceiling until the end of June. 

Showcasing the work of Sibella Court, Mary Shackman, Daimon Downey, Arnie Arnold, Ben Frost, Brett Chan and Sarrita King, Art In The Garden is also functioning as a fundraiser for the Ted Noffs Foundation. If a particular chair takes your fancy, join the silent auction for your chance to take home a sweet piece - and help support people living with drug and alcohol abuse problems.

gazebo wine garden, sydney

all aboard at stanley street station

Just in time for the chilly winter weather, the streets of East Sydney have revealed another cosy hidey-hole for enjoying warming lunches and post-dinner drinks.

Stanley Street Station, which sits on the corner of Stanley and Crown Streets in East Sydney, launched last week with a bang – a night of music, food and cocktails. As we sipped our Moore Club cocktails (a tart pink tribute to Lord Mayor Clover Moore), DJ Money Man and the burlesque-looking songstress Anikiko made sure we were entertained. Food came in the form of mini-mes from the full menu: sautéed school prawns with aioli, beef cheek and shitake pies and lemon tarts.

We snuck back in the next day to see what Stanley Street Station looked like without the roaring crowd, and found a bright, airy dining space, with a couch corner perfect for canoodling. The lunch/dinner menu is a small, but comprehensive, list of larger dishes, plus a good selection of “smalls”, perfect for bar snacking or sharing with a group.

Keep your eyes peeled for the specials too. We nabbed a totally rockin’ smoked salmon and grilled vegetable sandwich on rye for a measly $8.50. If that’s not awesome value, we don’t know what is.

Stanley Street Station can be found on the corner of Stanley and Crown Streets, East Sydney.
You can get lunch and dinner Mon-Sat from noon-midnight and Sundays noon-11pm.
Breakfast is served Sat-Sun 8am-2pm.

stanley street staiton, bars

Sydney's Top 6 Winter Drinking Holes

As the temperature drops, a soul-warming bar and a glass of wine are exactly what the doctor ordered. So to reduce hours spent trawling the streets of Sydney on a cold winters’ night, we asked readers about their favourite bars and here it is: Our Top 6 Winter Drinking Holes.

1. Corner House

This Bondi restaurant/bar is divided up into three spaces, which really makes it feel like dropping into a friends’ place for a drink. Head upstairs to the ‘Living Room’ balcony cocktail bar, which is like walking into a Cuban watering hole.

2. The Cricketers Arms

A long-time favourite with the city fringe scene. With a fireplace and delicious Winter Sunday roasts, this Surry Hills pub is the perfect place to warm up both inside and out. The tapas is a great affordable option to share. 

3. Corridor

With a separate lounge upstairs, Newtown’s Corridor provides us booze-hounds with a home away from home. Stretch out on the chesterfields with your loved one as candles flicker around the room. Don’t forget to try the wagyu burgers – they’re big enough for two.

4. Sticky Bar

What better way to flee the rain than to hibernate in Surry Hill’s Sticky Bar, sipping on an Italian red from their comprehensive wine collection. Michael Fantuz (of Table for 20 fame) has brought the sharing-is-caring vibe to this bar.

5.  Yulli's

With a beer list consisting of more than 30 microbrewery beers from NSW, the homely feel of Yullis keeps Sydneysiders coming back every time. The back room is a favourite for locals and is a truly unique place to pass those winter afternoons that linger into nights. Front of house, architect Joe Snell has worked his magic with a roof of red thread, the visual treat creates a wonderful effect that complements the fairy lights, astroturf and milk crates.

6. Manly Wine by Gazebo

Pink flamingos, intimate lighting, taxidermied peacocks, Gazebo has it all. The curved ceiling shows old prints of bronzed bods tanning on the sand and candle wax drips lazily. With themed nights everyday of the week, don’t miss out on 2 for 1 mussel night on Mondays, wine tasting on Wednesdays, pitchers of Pimms and Sangria on the weekends.

winter bars, top sydney bars

the riverview hotel, balmain

Looking for a bite to eat on one of the few cold days that Sydney has had during this unseasonably warm April, we went out in search of a suitably warming dinner. Balmain’s Riverview Hotel (where chef Brad Sloane has recently taken over the kitchen) presented us with the solution. Heading upstairs to the dining room, nearly every table we passed in the bar was topped with nice looking pizzas. A timely bit of eavesdropping told us that it was 2-for-1 pizza night – perhaps something for the next visit.

Of course having tasty bar food on offer means the Riverview has wiggle room for a proper restaurant upstairs. And it is a dining destination in itself, not simply a bistro with overblown prices. Though there is some reflection of the location in the food, with a modern English slant to the menu. More...

riverview hotel, balmain, restaurants, pubs

at sydney's darlo bar good things come in sevens

Sydney’s Darlo Bar has long been a sanctuary for up & coming artists. On April 15th from 7-10pm, the popular establishment will be transformed into a live photo studio for the event 'Seven Hundred Photos', a concept created by the now LA-based Jesse Willesee.

Seven artists and seven designers will be let loose on - yes, you guessed it - seven of the hotel's guest rooms. The creative septuplet will include Antochrist, Casio Ono, Shayli Harrison, FTW, Saint Augustine Academy, Bella Kay and We Were Warriors by Kalindy Millions.

The call is going out to Sydneysiders to pack up your Nikons, Canons, Fish-Eye lens and take on the role of photographer as you go from room to transformed room participating in the live photoshoots.

Darlo Bar has created its very own drop of wine, aptly titled ‘The Thirsty Artist’. Creatives around the area are invited to send in pictures of their artworks. Every few months the staff riffle through the entries to select their favourite. The wining artist scores a case of the wine with their artwork on the label. 

In keeping with this wonderful project, the winning public-snapped pic from 'Seven Hundred Photos' will feature on labels of Thirsty Artist wine. 

This is not Jesses' first creative partnership with Darlo Bar. He was also responsible for Painting in Hotel Rooms at the Darlo Bar in 2009.

darlo bar, thirsty artist, enid sligh, florence broadhurst, saint augustine academy, art

the diamond, vancouver

Vacationing in Vancouver recently, this Klusterette was introduced to The Diamond: a cocktail bar and restaurant nestled in Maple Tree Square, slap bang in the heart of historic Gastown. Hidden on level two, this chandelier lit gem is owned by Mark Brand, Josh Pape and Sophie Taverner (hailing from our home town Sydney). With serious cocktail and food credentials between them, we knew we were in for a ride.

In an impressive room with hardwood floorboards, full-length arch windows and exposed brick archways, we were seated at long communal tables to peruse the well-priced menu of Asian-style sharing dishes ($3-$13 per plate). We started with aromatic pork gyoza dumplings, surrounded with sesame and spring onion sauce, moving onto Moorish and fresh lightly salted edamame beans with prawn, cabbage and roe betel leaves. The pickled beats, quail egg salad and duck sub were extraordinary. Don’t let the small prices deceive you - the portions are well rounded. More...

the diamond, vancouver, restaurants, bars, cocktails

slide into 2010

Sydney’s home of all things cabaret, Slide, recently launched their program of events for 2010 with a spectacular showcase, and Kluster was there to check out what’s on offer.

Hosted by Yumi Stynes (of Channel 10’s The Circle), the VIP evening featured tantalising tastes of the Slide line-up, with a new 15-minute performance every 45 minutes. As we quaffed signature Slide cocktails and grazed on canapés, we heard from the original Neighbours crooner Barry Crocker, sang along to Motown tribute the Super Supremes and stood awestruck at the death defying aerial acts of El Circo. Unexpected highlight of the night was chef Manu Fieldel busting out some impromptu moves on the dancefoor.

For all the details of what’s on, check out the Slide website.

slide, barry crocker, cabaret, el circo