Turning tables: top chefs anoint the hottest new culinary stars
Who will be the stars of the future? Our Culinary Masters series reveals the ones to watch, as chosen by the chefs in the know.
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They’re the rock stars of today’s food-mad world, with a string of greatest hits to their names. Mention ‘Neil’, ‘Pete’ or ‘Christine’ and most serious gourmands will know exactly which kitchen gods you’re talking about.
But who will be the first-name-only stars of the future? In an Australian-first iteration of Robb Report US’s annual Culinary Masters celebration, we reveal the ones to watch, as chosen by those who would know – Neil Perry, Peter Gilmore, Christine Manfield, Andrew McConnell, Philip Johnson and Duncan Welgemoed.
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- Want to join the stars of the present and the stars of the future for dinner as part of our exclusive Culinary Masters series during October? Seats are strictly limited for seatings in Melbourne, Hobart, Adelaide, Brisbane and Sydney. Click here to book and for more information.
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Neil Perry
Chef, restaurateur and now chief brand and culinary officer with Rockpool Dining Group
Neil Perry has been in the business since the ’80s. He can pick great talent when he sees it, with alumni including Kylie Kwong, Mike McEnearney (Kitchen by Mike, No. 1 Bent Street), Mat Lindsay at Sydney fave Ester, and more.
“We have a responsibility to turn people into great cooks,” says Perry. “We need to help grow them in their career and as people.”
So who does Perry pick as one to watch? He nominates 32-year-old Analiese Gregory, co-owner of a slip of a Darlinghurst wine bar in Sydney called Bar Brose (where her chicken in vin jaunewith foie gras butter is the stuff of dreams), but now also head chef at Hobart’s most acclaimed restaurant, Franklin.
“Her food is delicious, unique and quirky,” says Perry. “She has also worked with a lot of people with their heads screwed on. And she has great opportunities and a great career ahead of her. There’s no substitute for putting focus and energy into something if you want to succeed. And Analiese is doing just that.”
Analiese Gregory
Co-owner, Bar Brose, SydneyHead chef, Franklin, Hobart
“I went to an all-girls school [in New Zealand] and the only way I was allowed to leave, at 16, was to do a two-year diploma in professional cookery. I was in my delinquent teenage phase. Restaurant kitchens were like a family and you were allowed to smoke and drink and stay up late. I just loved it.”
And so began Analiese Gregory’s cooking career. (Her father, it must be said, is also a chef.) That was a whole 16 years ago. Since then she has worked with and for some of the world’s best – from the stellar Logan Brown in Wellington to the (now defunct) two-Michelin-starred The Capital in London, Quay in Sydney, then a stint in France with the much-revered Michel Bras (an icon for most contemporary chefs) and the equally acclaimed Mugaritz in Spain’s Basque Country.
Lessons along the way were many: “Logan Brown really cared about produce. But going to London really caned me every day and taught me how to cook. It was the first place I was told, ‘No, this isn’t okay. And you are doing it again, right now.’
“Quay with Pete [Gilmore] was definitely one of the first places that I worked where there was an emphasis on gardens, growing and vegetables. Always searching for new and different things. It was also where I learned to run a kitchen, basically.”
Gilmore has been a great mentor. But Gregory’s time in France added a whole new dimension and perspective. Chef Michel Bras is known for his almost Zen-like approach to ingredients. But the Zen extends to every aspect of working life. “He taught me about the way to live and work. To create a little mental space to go to. He would send us once a week into the woods to go foraging. Or to make wine. Or go hiking. I learned a lot about life there.”
Now on the brink of a new chapter, Gregory is still pondering her direction for Franklin, a wide-open, modern space with a huge wood-fired oven and wonderful use of sometimes unusual produce. “I will drive around, go to suppliers, and kind of base it off that. I’m also super-excited about the oven. And going out to collect wild produce. That makes me feel like a human.”
Andrew McConnell
Cumulus Inc., Cutler & Co., Supernormal, Ricky & Pinky (Builders Arms), Melbourne
With a portfolio that includes some of Melbourne’s best restaurants and with 330 employees across the group, Andrew McConnell has a strong sense of the importance of mentoring and training his staff and seeing those qualities come out in those who work for him. Like his senior sous and soon to be head chef, Tim Goegan.
“Tim is a ripper young guy,” says McConnell. “He’s a country boy with a great nature and a great work ethic. He’s also a natural leader, which is really important. And he’s a good cook, which goes without saying.
“I was always self-motivated,” McConnell continues. “Looking for that next thing. But I’ve stayed in this business for the pleasure of cooking and working with good people. And Tim shares that. He doesn’t want to be a head chef rock star, just a good cook. He knows what he knows and that he has a lot more to learn.”
Such is McConnell’s confidence in Goegan that he has just named him as head chef for a second opening of his super-popular Supernormal modern Asian diner.
Tim Goegan
Head chef, Supernormal, St Kilda, Melbourne
It was 150 reheated casseroles that sent Tim Goegan into the kitchen at an early age. His mother, a nurse on night shift, had little time for cooking and, after one casserole dinner too many, Goegan decided to take on family-feeding duties. “The family loved it, so it went from there,” he relates. “I finished high school and pondered university but then settled on a life in the kitchen. Best decision yet!”
Working with chef-owner and “larger-than-life character” Steve Snow at the seafood-focused Fins, north of Byron, set Goegan on his professional path. “Steve would use predominantly local fruit and vegetables and had a personal relationship with the local fishermen in the area – guaranteeing us first rights to fresh line-caught, sustainably sourced fish, some of which would arrive just an hour before service! It was a humbling experience.”
He also has huge respect for his current employer. “Andrew always has time to ask how someone is, from kitchen hands to managers. The way he can create an extraordinary dish in the most simplistic way, then pass on his knowledge and share information with staff is amazing. Andrew is definitely someone I want to mould myself on.”
Excited by the new venture ahead – running a second Supernormal on the old Luxembourg restaurant site in St Kilda – Goegan often ponders where he will end up. So we’ll put him on the spot: what is the dream?
“I probably answer this question differently every time, depending on my mood,” he muses, “but I would love to have a self-contained, fully sustainable farm one day, where I can have my own livestock, bees, make my own cured meats and cheese, as well as growing my own fruit and vegetables. Between now and then, however, I’m just excited to be on this food journey and to see where it takes me, hopefully continuing to learn, grow and be respected among my peers.”
Christine Manfield
Chef, traveller, author, consultant and industry godmother
Christine Manfield has a clear view on what it takes to achieve success in the restaurant business. “Staying true to your own vision and not being compromised. That’s the advice I used to share with my team. And they have all gone on to do great things.”
Among the team at Universal, Manfield’s former two-hat restaurant in Sydney’s Darlinghurst, was a young Vietnamese-Australian trainee called Thi Le who came to Manfield’s kitchen through an industry mentoring program for young female chefs.
Le is now a rising star with her tiny Anchovy restaurant in Melbourne’s Richmond. “She’s definitely a talent,” says Manfield. “A fantastic cook and very inventive. She’s doing interesting, experimental, modern Asian stuff and it works.”
For Manfield, ultimate success comes with resilience and a clever business head. “Of all the people that I have employed over the years, only a small percentage stands apart from the pack. Good cooks and born leaders. You need to be both.”
Thi Le
Chef and co-owner, Anchovy, Richmond, Melbourne
Despite being a keen cook, Thi Le’s mum never wanted her daughter to be a chef. And when the-then interior design student suddenly set her sights on a culinary career, her mother was worried. “Why would you want to be a chef? There’s no career, no life prospects for a girl.”
Luckily, Thi’s training put her in touch with Christine Manfield. “And suddenly Mum thought, ‘Wow, here’s a lady who’s done well on her own and made a success’. And she backed off a lot.”
After completing her apprenticeship, Le moved south to work under McConnell, before opening Anchovy, which she describes as “modern Asian, modern Australian and a little bit in-between”. She laughs. “I grew up in [Sydney’s] Blacktown, which was just a mishmash of different cultures. My partner was working in the corporate world and wanted a cafe. But I didn’t want to do bacon and eggs!”
With Anchovy co-owner Jia-yen Lee running the floor, accolades for their original yet easily appealing style are pouring in. “I think when I was doing my apprenticeship, I knew I wanted to open something eventually. I think it’s just the mindset of having Asian parents, to do something for yourself.”
Manfield’s words also rang in her head. “I asked [Christine] once what made her just jump into something of her own? And she said there was a point when she realised she could cook and make food that’s more delicious than the other restaurants out there and she took the dive.”
Le’s dream was her own place by the time she hit 35. She’s 32 this year. “I beat my goal by five years! And it’s going great. I feel really blessed.”
Philip Johnson
e’cco bistro and Madame Rouge, Brisbane
A true veteran and well-respected chef across Australia, Phil Johnson has been a leading light on the Brisbane fine-dining scene for the best part of 30 years. Firstly with his fine-diner, e’cco, and now also with the classic French bistro, Madame Rouge.
When asked to choose someone he believes has a bright future ahead, Johnson immediately thought of his current head chef, Simon Palmer. “He’s gifted way beyond his years. At 26, he’s doing way more than I was at that age. In just a couple of years with us, he’s grown and grown and he is clever at what he does. And always looking to improve.”
Johnson has seen a lot of good chefs come through his doors. And he is philosophical about their need to move on in their careers. “It’s nice that they have had a start with you but that they are able to go on.” But with this one, you get the feeling he’d rather like him to stay. “For most young chefs, the big drama is doing their own thing. So you have to give them enough rope. And that’s what I do with Simon. He pretty much leads the menu.” Time to pass on the baton, perhaps?
Simon Palmer
Head chef, e’cco bistro, Brisbane
Ask Simon Palmer to describe one of his dishes and you’ll get every detail. “We wanted a simple pork and apple dish,” he begins. “So we bone out a suckling pig from a great local producer, Schultz Family Farms in Ipswich. And cook it really slowly. Then we compress some apples in advieh – it’s a Persian spice mix with things like rose, black lime, cinnamon and nutmeg – and fry them. We make a potato foam with lots of butter. Nice and aerated. And a black lime ash with the apple skins – nice apple flavour, but with floral notes. More like a perfume. And then we do an apple gastrique …”
Work at some big name Brisbane restaurants – contemporary fine-dining restaurant Urbane and the hugely popular, modern Middle-Eastern influenced Gerards – has given Palmer a firm philosophy. “Keep the key flavours,” he says. “Don’t over-complicate everything. But look for layers, don’t be one-dimensional. And get the customer thinking a bit.”
A Newcastle, NSW boy originally, Palmer’s early years were at an inventive, modern restaurant called Bacchus, set in an old theatre, where the food was as dramatic as the setting. Alongside him in the kitchen were two other gifted young beginners, Aaron Ward and Rhys Connell. Both are now head chefs at two of Sydney’s top restaurants, Sixpenny and Sepia, respectively. An impressive trio.
Palmer says his focus now is “to do the right thing by Phil and [his partner] Mary and really build and make e’cco successful. They’ve given me the reins, which has been great. It’s about making something your own. And I’m hoping to do that here.”
Duncan Welgemoed
Africola, Adelaide
He’s the life and soul of Adelaide’s colourful, lively and downright delicious Africa-inspired Africola. That’s when he’s not running festivals and travelling for dinners and charity events. So Duncan Welgemoed needs a reliable hand in the kitchen. “It frees me up to gallivant,” he grins.
Enter Imogen Czulowski. The young South Australian with an impressive pedigree – Dinner by Heston Blumenthal in London, Seppeltsfield in the Barossa – joined Welgemoed’s team at a crucial time, right on the brink of Australia’s hosting of The World’s 50 Best Restaurants awards in April. Within minutes she was on the road with Welgemoed for a series of star chef collaborations around the country.
“She’s had that baptism by fire,” he says admiringly. “Meeting all the global and national chefs. She had to learn not to be overwhelmed by all that and just get straight in and do the job.”
Welgemoed has firm views about what it takes to make it. “Generosity and hospitality is first and foremost. You need to be humble. I think it’s always having in your mind’s eye that this is about something bigger. In the end it’s all about building and maintaining community.”
Imogen Czulowski
Head chef, Africola, Adelaide
Described by Duncan Welgemoed as “very ambitious, very driven and very methodical but with an exceptional lightness of touch”, Czulowski knew she wanted to be a chef the moment she realised her education wouldn’t qualify her to be a brain surgeon. “So I did the next best thing,” she says, only half joking.
From an apprenticeship in her native McLaren Vale, she learned a humble approach to food. “From there,” she continues, “I did what every young, hungry chef does: I travelled, and in that travel I staged at [former world number one restaurant] Noma [in Copenhagen]. It was an ethos I was familiar with, but a style that gave me another perspective to the way we approach produce.”
London came next. “It was fast, it was fun and it was gritty. I learned how to move quickly and drink tequila to the wee hours. Then I worked at Dinner by Heston, where I gained a completely new set of skills.”
Her working life is guided by some firm mottos. “Always take orders with a smile. There is a reason for tradition. Leave your tears at the door, no one has time to mop that up. Never compromise – either your food, yourself or your values.”
And challenges? “The biggest is the constant struggle to stay on top of your game. There is always someone younger, faster, better, stronger, but this breeds innovation and drive into the industry and chefs feed off this. In fact, I think Daft Punk wrote a song about it!”
Peter Gilmore
Quay, Sydney
His spectacular restaurant overlooking Sydney Opera House is the epitome of destination dining. His delicate, textured, postcard-pretty dishes have won him the country’s top accolades. But as Gilmore himself will tell you, “Success as a chef is more than food. It’s how you deal with people.”
As his former sous chef Analiese Gregory will attest, Gilmore is a modest and generous leader. And supportive of talents like Sarah Knights – formerly of Quay, but now head chef at cult favourite, Automata, part of the Old Clare Hotel complex in Sydney’s Chippendale.
Quay is a busy and complex working environment where precision and calm are crucial. As head sous chef, Knights was responsible for up to 20 chefs at a time, says Gilmore.
“Sarah led by example,” he says. “She’s a hard worker. Very calm and confident. And she’s just a really good natural teacher, passing information to younger chefs in such a supportive way. It’s hard when you lose someone like this, but you can’t hold people back. She has a great future.”
Sarah Knights
Head chef, Automata, Chippendale, Sydney
“I started my apprenticeship at the age of 15 and the minute I turned 18, I packed my things and made the journey to Sydney,” says Jervis Bay (NSW) girl Sarah Knights. “So that makes it 17, nearly 18 years of hanging out in kitchens.”
It was working under Peter Doyle at Est. that Sarah realised this would be her career. “I decided to throw myself hard and fast into one of Sydney’s best restaurants, and it wasn’t easy. But it gave me a purpose and a place to express my passion for perfection.”
From private chef on superyachts to overseeing all those chefs at Quay, Sarah has had several career highlights under some inspiring mentors – Gilmore, Doyle and Bennelong head chef Rob Kabboord among them.
“But worth more than any award or accolade,” she says, “is the respect that you earn in a kitchen from working hard.”
The head chef at Automata will change things up yet again. “I really like the style of the food, the style of the kitchen and how it is run. I feel that I’ve been really honoured to have this incredible opportunity.”
There are hurdles ahead, of course. “One of the biggest I believe I will personally face is finding the perfect work-life balance when and if I decide to have a family,” she says candidly. “But I do believe I can find it.” Knights also worries about the industry’s future. “It is very hard to find dedicated, hard-working, professional chefs,” she says. “It’s up to people like me to be nurturing the chefs we have and helping them sustain careers.”
Meeting this next generation of kitchen leaders, however, it’s probably safe to say the future is in very good hands.
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How the Most Rare and Valuable Watches Are Traded Among Elite Collectors
Some of the world’s most interesting watches spend decades being traded privately before we learn about them.
Before social media became the lingua franca of the watch world, there were forums. And on those forums, collectors—especially collectors of vintage Rolex—often traded timepieces amongst each other.
The advent of Instagram in the early 2010s, coupled with the explosion in interest in vintage timepieces, drew attention to this corner of the watch world, and with that attention came increased competition for the finest examples. In the case of six- and seven-figure watches, high-end dealers, like James Lamdin, founder and vice president of vintage and pre-owned watches at Analog:Shift, became trusted intermediaries, negotiating sales for pieces not once or twice but often multiple times as they made the rounds of the collector community.
“There are watches out there that may not be massively rare by reference, but are by example,” Lamdin tells Robb Report. “Tropical patina, ghosted bezel, or celebrity provenance—it’s that watch. When those watches go into a collection, usually it’s with the implicit understanding that they’re valuable and people will want them from you and will make you a profit when you sell them.”
The best dealers have built relationships with collectors around the world and often have first right of refusal when those pieces come back to market. But even still, the most coveted models can still slip through their fingers.
Eric Wind, of Wind Vintage in Palm Beach, Fla., has lost and found some of the world’s most storied watches. In 2015, when he was vice president, senior specialist at Christie’s in New York, Wind came across a “super rare” 1957 Audemars Piguet Ref. 5516 perpetual calendar that had languished in rural Florida until the nephew of the original owner consigned it to Christie’s. The first perpetual calendar wristwatch to feature a leap-year indicator, the piece was one of just nine made by Audemars Piguet in the 1950s. Wind considers it “the one in the best condition.”
He showed it to one of Christie’s better-known clients, Patrick Getreid, owner of the OAK Collection, who purchased it in 2015 for $545,000. In 2023, Getreid consigned it to Christie’s in Hong Kong. That’s when Wind decided to give the piece another shot.
“I had registered to bid on it but at the last minute, I got cold feet,” Wind continues. “It was starting kind of high compared with what Getreide had paid for it. I was bidding remotely from Florida, but when no one else is bidding, you’re kind of wondering if you’re a genius or a fool. Is there something everyone else knows that I don’t? The question was about market value. The watch ended up passing and I purchased it via private sale—or private treaty, as it’s known—after the sale. I had two clients who really wanted it. I offered it to both, but one was more ready to pull the trigger and he got it. It never saw the light of day.” That Audemars Piguet perpetual calendar, Wind says, “remains one of my top five watches on the planet.”
As he reflected on the piece’s winding journey, Wind considered his own role in its comings and goings. “It was fun to be part of the lifecycle of that watch, from when it was discovered in rural Florida and consigned to Christie’s, and then sold to a great collector, who sold it again,” he says. “I imagine it will come back to me at some point. I don’t know if it will be two years from now or 40 years.”
Another grail watch that Wind helped shepherd to a client was an exceptional Paul Newman Rolex Daytona Panda reference 2623 with a full set and a tropical dial that was sold by a small Swedish auction house just under a decade ago. “Another dealer got it,” Wind explains. “I was still at Christie’s, and I fell in love with the watch. This dealer who had it for a year then sold it to an Italian dealer, who then sold it to a collector in Asia. I was tracking the watch on Instagram and saw the collector post it. By that time, I had become a dealer.
“I made an offer to the collector to purchase it on behalf of my client,” he adds. “It had been owned by a Swedish boat captain and had been given to him by the family he worked for, the equivalent of the Rockefellers in Sweden. We had to arrange shipment to the U.S. by Malca-Amit armored transport. Whenever these high-value watches move around, you have to deal with armored shipments, customs, proper transportation, and a lot of paperwork. It takes some time but it’s well worth it.”
Both the AP perpetual calendar and Daytona were original and unpolished—“the kind of watches I look for,” Wind says. “It’s funny how watches circle around. Within the high-end watch world, we’re not talking about thousands and thousands of watches. We’re talking about a relatively small amount of great watches.”
Eric Ku, a high-end vintage dealer in Northern California, certainly knows the drill.
About 15 years ago, he was offered a first-of-its-kind 1996 Rolex Cosmograph Daytona “Rainbow” reference 16599 in white gold on a leather strap.
“I’ve been hunting jeweled Rolexes for a really long time, before it was a cool thing,” Ku, cofounder of the online auction site Loupe This, says. “The watch first surfaced to me around 15 years ago. It was offered to me by a dealer in the Middle East and was coming from, allegedly, a member of a royal family. At the time, the pricing was completely different than it is today. After going back and forth, I offered $130,500 and the seller wanted $136,462. I lost the watch. I was gutted. I’d been stalking the watch. But at the time, relative to the market, it didn’t make sense for me. It was a really tough time, might have been around the financial crisis. I felt confident it would come back to me, but it didn’t.
“Then, in 2012, Rolex introduced its new rainbow Daytona,” Ku says. “I had no doubt about the authenticity of the watch I’d lost out on, but seeing the new rainbow Daytona completely validated me and erased any scintilla of a doubt that I had about the watch. Fast forward a couple years: The watch was offered to me again privately, by a different person in the Middle East at a significant multiple of the original offering—let’s say in the mid six-figures. I bought it.”
In 2017, Ku sold the watch to an important collector based overseas, “a person of very high taste and connoisseurship who appreciated the rarity of that watch,” he says. The collector, by Ku’s reckoning, also appreciated the story of its journey. “Dealers and old collectors always like trading war stories,” he says. “What’s the one thing that got away and then it came back? The collector got sold on the story.”
Now, the watch is coming back to market on Nov. 8 at Phillips Geneva, where it’s being offered in a sale dedicated to neo-vintage timepieces (Reloaded: The Rebirth of Mechanical Watchmaking 1980-1999) and is estimated to fetch in excess of $5.93 million.
“It’s probably the sexiest watch of the season,” Ku says.
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Simply the Best: Jewel Private Residences
The Gold Coast’s most acclaimed new architectural offering is unrivalled for luxurious beachfront living.
The Jewel Private Residences in Surfer’s paradise are an adventure in style. Located steps from the ocean, between the prime coastal locations of Surfer’s Paradise and Broadbeach, these fully complete apartments with access to five-star resort living on absolute beachfront have been attracting prestige property buyers, bon vivants and design aficionados since they went on the market.
So much so that the 100 apartments released to the market in three stages have been snapped up for a cool $200 million; the 30 apartments in Stage Three that were released last month have totalled $60 million in sales.
It’s not hard to see why. Located in a $1.5 billion three-tower landmark district encompassing two towers dedicated to the Jewel Private Residences, as well as the five-star hotel tower The Langham, Gold Coast, these stunning apartments with their distinctive glass curtain walling system, present a unique opportunity for savvy buyers. In fact, the precinct offers the first prestige international hotel and towers with unfettered beachfront access to be built on the Gold Coast in 30 years.
Says Total Property Group managing director Adrian Parsons, “Jewel steps straight off the sand into The Langham Gold Coast’s luxurious five-star amenities, including the Lagoon Pool with swim-up bar, 26 & Sunny Café, restaurant Akoya and T’ang Court, lobby bar, and wellness facilities.”
Not that there is much reason to leave these life-style-envy-inducing homes. In addition to the unrivalled views, the residences contain state-of-the-art gourmet kitchens with stone benchtops with 60mm edges (some with large island benches and waterfall edges), stone splashbacks and top-of-the-line Miele appliances. Premium residences feature sumptuous bathrooms appointed with stone-top vanities, black glass framed walls and free-standing baths.
The building, the result of a collaboration between Oppenheim Architects and DBI, employs sophisticated facade technologies to ensure shading from sun and shelter from the wind, delivering a 5-star green star building, that is as handsome as it is sustainable. Put simply, it represents the pinnacle of luxury living on the Gold Coast—the best of the best.
A perfect fit for Robb Report, in other words. Which is why we are thrilled to be partnering with Jewel Private Residences on our Car of the Year 2024 event (COTY) being held on the Gold Coast next week. As one of our marquee events of the year, COTY is a 2-day adventure, celebrating excellence in automative design and engineering, bolstered by an exciting program of activations featuring not only the world’s top motoring marques but also some of the world’s leading luxury brands. An experience not to be missed and simply the best.
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When it comes to drinks, James Bond may be best associated with a martini—shaken, not stirred, of course. But the secret agent has been known to enjoy a glass or two of bubbly as well.
Champagne Bollinger has long been the Champagne of choice for Bond, and now the house is honouring that relationship with a special-edition bottle that commemorates the 60th anniversary of Goldfinger.
Whether you’re a Bond fan or a Champagne connoisseur, the $5,950 Champagne Bollinger 007 Goldfinger Limited Edition package is meant to appeal to both sensibilities.
The star of the show is the Champagne, of course: Here, Champagne Bollinger is offering a 2007 vintage Magnum, made from hand-picked grapes and aged 17 years in the house’s cellars. Spicy aromas on the nose are contrasted with notes of fruit, brioche, and honey. The Champagne has been packaged in a bespoke Globe-Trotter Air Cabin Case and comes with four Champagne Bollinger 007 glasses in which to enjoy the bubbly. Limited to just 200 individually numbered pieces, it’s a true collector’s item.
Champagne Bollinger has enjoyed a lengthy relationship with the James Bond franchise, dating back to when Roger Moore popped the first bottle in 1973’s Live and Let Die. Since then, the two have become almost inseparable, and Champagne Bollinger is proudly being served at the very first official James Bond bar, which just opened in London. If you can’t snag the limited-edition set for yourself, you can at least imbibe in a glass of the good stuff at the 007 at Burlington Arcade.
That bar and the special Champagne Bollinger package are all part of the festivities celebrating 1964’s Goldfinger. The film and Bond’s ensuing legacy have established him as one of the biggest (fictional) names in the luxury world, with his love of expensive watches, fast cars, and fine spirits.
While it’s unlikely that many of us can channel the special agent when it comes to his escapades and hijinks, we should delight in the fact that we can embrace our inner Bond by sidling up to the 007 bar or throwing back a glass of the Champagne Bollinger 007 Goldfinger Limited Edition. It’s exactly how our favorite M16 agent would want us to honour him.
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Golden Touch
Discretion is the better part of glamour at the glittering Maybourne Beverly Hills.
Los Angeles does not want for star wattage, but for years now, the city’s hotel scene has been a little lacklustre. So news that the beloved Montage hotel has been completely redone under the Maybourne brand (the British powerhouse that operates Claridge’s, The Connaught, and Berkeley Hotels in London, and the recently opened Maybourne Riviera on the Côte d’Azur) should come as a boon to Australians looking for a new Tinseltown bolthole.
Situated within Beverly Hills’ famous Golden Triangle, just north of Wilshire Boulevard and Four Season’s Beverly Wilshire, and one block from the world-renowned luxury retailers, restaurants and celeb-spotting of Rodeo Drive, The Maybourne Beverly Hills offers a chic retreat from the designer flexing at its doorstep; a rare escape in the heart of this storied enclave that flies under the radar like a cap-wearing celeb dodging the paparazzi.
Set amid the manicured, Mediterranean-style Beverly Cañon Gardens plaza, which unfolds from the hotel’s west entrance, the new incarnation of Montage Beverly Hills (55 suites and 20 private residences, each with a balcony or patio with a courtyard or city view) still evokes the grand estates of Old Hollywood while feeling like you’re in a European mainstay.
Revealing a restrained new guestroom and suite design by Bryan O’Sullivan, a blue-chip art collection and some of the most solicitous staff in town, the Maybourne speaks in a laid-back Californian accent but still holds true to the luxury touchpoints of five-star service for which one of the world’s most exclusive neighbourhoods—and hotel brands—is known.
“It’s reassuringly British when it comes to service—it’s a culture of yes,” says Linden Pride, the Australian restaurant and bar owner behind the award-winning Caffe Dante in New York and Bobbie’s, the new speakeasy opening this month below Neil Perry’s new Song Bird restaurant in Sydney’s Double Bay (page 40). Pride should know; he lived at the Maybourne for almost a year while he and his partner, Nathalie Hudson, set up Dante, the stunning new restaurant and bar on the hotel’s ninth-floor rooftop. “Looking out from the roof onto lemon and olive trees, it’s easy to forget that you’re in Southern California, not Europe.”
Opened last year, Dante has quickly become one of the hottest reservations in town, luring in celebrities from Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin to the entire Real Madrid soccer team. Like its sister outposts in New York (besides the Greenwich Village original, a West Village location opened in 2020), the focus here is on non-threatening antipasti and aperitivi in a produce-driven menu of fresh familiar stalwarts, with the addition of wood-fired dishes from a giant pizza oven at the heart of the room. Just as it does in New York, a negroni cart does the rounds, and each afternoon is welcomed with a martini happy hour.
It’s all fittingly Cali-chill. The only drama in the place is a striking ceiling fresco by Los Angeles artist Abel Macias, which dominates the 146-seat room. “Nathalie and I had just been to Europe when we decided to open up here,” Pride recalls, “and the Sistine Chapel blew us away. When we saw the domed ceiling in this room it was a no-brainer.”
Dante joins a string of newcomers in the area, including New York transplants Café Boulud, Marea and Cipriani. Don’t look now, but with arrivals like the Maybourne and Dante, one of the world’s stuffiest cities—yes, Beverly Hills is its own 14.8 km² metropolis—might just be entering a new golden age.
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Hibiki 40 Year Old Resets the Bar for One of Whisky’s Most Exalted Names
The legendary blender reasserts itself in the industry’s uppermost pantheon with its oldest and rarest blended release ever.
Over the last decade, whiskies from Suntory’s famed Hibiki stable have gone from a top-shelf staple to the new byword for luxury in the increasingly rarefied world of Japanese whisky. As stocks of its famed age statement blends drew ever lower, the air of exclusivity around the distillery grew and grew – something that has stuck around even as the brand’s new flagship blend, Harmony, became more readily available once more.
It’s becoming clearer, however, that Hibiki still has a few exceptional tricks up its sleeves. Twenty-one and 30-year-old age statement whiskies have released in the past few years to critical acclaim, confirming that Suntory still has some particularly rarefied output yet to unveil. Now, in the brand’s boldest move yet, a 40-year-old blend is set to hit the market in extremely limited quantities, taking Hibiki’s already lofty benchmarks of rarity and lineage to new heights.
As with Hibiki’s other blends, Suntory’s Chief Blender, Shinji Fukuyo, has spent years perfecting a blend that brings some of Japan’s oldest and finest spirits into perfect harmony – achieving a smoothness and complexity that takes the brand’s hallmark qualities to a new plane. Single malts from Yamazaki, Hakushu, and Chita all feature, having been individually aged for four decades to form a true expression of the place they were made, before making their way into the final blend.
Truly a multi-generational blend, Hibiki 40 Year Old is designed not just as an expression of the skills and expertise passed down through generations of individual distillers, but that of Fukuyo’s forebears, legendary Suntory blenders Shingo and Shinjiro Torii.
The result is a final liquid rich with sweet fresh fruit, light citrus zest, and spice, supported by a luxurious undercurrent of acacia honey and dried fruit. Each crystal bottle is adorned with a mother-of-pearl inlay and decorated with a handcrafted label from Japanese washi artist Eriko Horiki.
While age statement single malts in the four- and five-decade category have become increasingly the vogue in recent years, never before has a blended whisky been attempted with such old stock—a unique challenge for its maker.
“Behind the elegance and bloom that is typical of Hibiki, there is a sense of subduedness,
like that of an old temple, and a wabi-sabi patina due to the long aging process,” says Fukuyo. “I would like people to enjoy the pure and pure aroma that has been sharpened over the years; the tranquility of old temples and storehouses and the nostalgic warm feeling that accompanies them.”
Limited to just 400 bottles, Hibiki 40 Year Old will release on October 4th, with bottles retailing at $75,000.
Australian fans of the brand will have the unique opportunity to immerse themselves in the Hibiki 40 Year Old experience, including a taste of the exalted liquid, at an exclusive event at Clare Smyth’s Oncore on October 24th, 2025. Tickets are available for $1,800 per person.
