Designers Guide to Sydney – Easter Weekend

What can one do if they are in Sydney this weekend over Easter? This is the first Easter I can remember in a very long time that I haven’t battled the Thursday afternoon traffic to snail my way along the highway to some relaxing holiday destination, usually to get rained out and return a few days later in even worse traffic.
Instead, I have chosen to hang in my city and explore. So my favourite design and style guide weekend picks for those lingering in Sydney…

CarriageARTworks – one of my favourite venues with great markets (growers and artisan) and performance space, but this weekend a free art exhibition celebrating art from the city’s fringe.

Potter through Surry Hills and meander through some of the great stores… including the Surry Hills Neighbourhood market on Saturday 3rd April with all sorts of antiques and collectibles, international foods, plants, vintage clothing…
 
I quick wander through I Ran the Wrong Way store for some interesting ethical, sustainable and local goods:

Must have a quick stop at the Bourke Street Bakery cnr Bourke and Devonshire streets for the yummiest cakes, breads and pastries in town:

Try not to miss the Eliasson exhibition at the MCA in the Rocks – it ends April 11th and is a must see – imagine a circular room ten metres in diameter illuminated by a soft purple light or a two-storey moss covered wall, or a sparkling white metropolis made from Lego.

China Town Night market – open every Friday night:

Fringe Bar Markets – squashed into the Fringe Bar on a Saturday full of vintage, retro and hand made goods.
 
Dr Sketchy’s at the Arthouse Hotel – Burlesque drawing classes on Tuesday night – have a glass of wine and a scribble:

Madhatter’s Tea Party on Easter Sunday in the Victoria Rooms – a stunning venue in an old garage on Victoria Street Darlinghurst.

There’s lots to do this weekend – wander the streets, lots of markets, Bondi to Bronte walk, buy local produce for dinner with friends…. why go away at all!

Beresford Hotel - amazing what $30 million will buy!

Carolyn and I ventured out for a girlie chit chat dinner last night and we chose the Beresford Hotel because I'd heard it had a swanky facelift from the days that I remembered. Well, facelift is an understatement - this was a total reconstruction!!

On the outside it looks like any other Surry Hills pub and to be honest, the bar just looks like any other (though according to the indesignlive website, it is a one of a kind curved dovetail bar!!). All I know is that it was crowded and took ages to get a drink. However, its the little things that catch your eye (until you've had one glass of wine too many and it all just blurs into a noisy, dark hum). What I liked the most was the lamps in the restaurant over the dinner table that could be pulled and moved to point in different directions - like a pipe cleaner. You can kind of see them in the photo below:

We also scored a free bottle of wine from the drunken Beresford accountant who was friendly enough and chatted to us about the $30 million interior reconstruction that sent the original owners broke.

The food was pretty good - Italian fare. I was starving after my run and wolfed down my mulloway with record speed. Carolyn savored her twice cooked chicken maryland (go figure) which was absolutely delicious and falling off the bone - I couldn't resist poking her plate while she was talking.

All up I would recommend it - definitely from a design perspective as there are some really cool features like the bathrooms (communal sink area), beautiful break neck wooden staircase and huge outdoor courtyard, fabulous wooden floors, the lamps (which I have mentioned) and olive oil containers with this little lid with the salt on top.

Spend some time looking at the no expense spared detail as its first class, very cool and Thomas Jacobsen chic. Worth a night out venture. I can't believe its taken me so long to go there!