N2 Extreme Gelato will be heading to Tokyo, Japan over winter to start N2 Brunch Club. The first original store located in Haymarket will be closed over winter, with June 10th as its last trading day. Meanwhile, N2 Brunch Club will be opening in September and is a new project headed together by N2’s Founder, Min Chai, and Black Star’s ex Business Development Manager and Savoury Master Mind, Eddie Stewart. The café will be bringing some of Australia’s most iconic brunch dishes over to the Japanese dining scene, using N2 Extreme Gelato’s signature nitrogen in the process. Based on a seasonally rotating menu, a large bulk of ingredients will be sourced from Australian businesses in order to support local businesses as well.

Made purely from natural Queensland fruit, Bear Essentials Fruit Sliders are the only product of their kind in Australia. They’re all natural with no preservatives, no added cane sugar and no added sulphites. Available in mandarin and pineapple flavours, with more to come in the future.

To mark yesterday’s World Gin Day, Stillery Bar & Dining is holding a Four Pillars Gin dinner, hosted by the gin’s co-founder Stuart Gregor, on 20 June. Four courses and four cocktails, $110.

The North Shore gains another new venue with the opening of Apera in Castlecrag. Chefs Jenny Shaw and Ryan Blagrove have crafted an Australian-forward menu showcasing native ingredients

Four leading chefs including Joel Bickford of Aria and Mitch Orr of Acme (pictured) will battle to create the best classic dish with a twist on 18 June at the Hunter Culinary Association’s Food Fight.

Toast the Queen today with a right royal brunch at The Boatbuilders Yard at South Wharf featuring the likes of Coronation chicken sliders and cucumber sandwiches with bottomless Pimms and bubbles; $60.

To honour the winter solstice, the Yarra Valley will hold the Shortest Lunch festival on June 23-24 with a dozen of the region’s smaller wineries offering entrée-sized meals, live music and, of course, tasty drops.

Coburg’s aptly named new pizza joint, Stretched, bucks tradition with bases loaded with flavours of pho, cheeseburger and lamb kebab, as well as more traditional combos.

Chefs Guy Firth and Phil Lethbridge are bringing the simple and fresh cuisine that made them favourites in the Australian film industry for decades to Sydney homes this winter. Phil & Guy’s Wholesome Food is an affordable high-end ‘home-made’ meal service delivered fresh and ready to heat and eat. They are proving popular with parents who are so busy that they have added healthy meals to a growing list of parenting tasks being outsourced. Phil & Guy’s Wholesome Food menu features classics like Italian-style braised lamb shoulder and French coq au vin to quality family favourites like Black Angus meat balls and Black Angus lasagne. Firth says the portions are designed to be generous but affordable, with the lasagne, for example, starting at $12 for a small serve that feeds 1-2 people and $24 for a family of four.

A seasonal take on an espresso martini with a touch of gastronomic gold, Stokehouse in St Kilda have released a Truffled Martini. A great accompaniment to a meal in the Stokehouse dining room, or as a standalone to enjoy in the adjoining Stokebar, unwind with a Truffled Martini and take in unparalleled views across Port Phillip Bay and St Kilda’s palm-lined promenade.

Dessert brand PAFU sells only one menu item, a Japanese puff pastry filled with sweet fuji apple and vanilla custard, and has had lines out the door ever since it opened its first store in QV. Following the success of their first store, PAFU has now opened its second store at Southern Cross Station last Tuesday, June 5th.

The first ever Australian Callebaut Chocolate Heroes have been announced. Chocolate Heroes is a concept developed by Callebaut – creators of some of the finest Belgian chocolate – to pay tribute to dedicated pastry chefs and chocolatiers around the world. Selecting a truly fitting group of artisans, the Callebaut team are excited to announce Darren Purchese of Purchase Sweet Studio, Jodie Van Der Velden (pictured) from Josophan’s Fine Chocolate, along with John Ralley and Steve Anderson of Textbook Boulangerie Patisserie as the first Callebaut Chocolate Heroes in Australia.

Chiswick Woollahra are set to kick off winter with free wine tastings every Tuesday from 19th June. The series will run weekly, through to 24th July from 6-7pm, with a focus on local NSW wine-makers including Larkhill Wine, Helm Wines, and McWilliams Wine. The pre-dinner experience will allow guests to enjoy complimentary wine tastings and canapés whilst educating their palate on some of the state’s best drops. Please see upcoming winemakers schedule below: Ken Helm – Helm Wines, NSW – June 19, Matt Stafford – Craggy Range, NZ – June 26, Bryan Martin – Ravensworth Wines, NSW – July 3, Vanya Cullen – Cullen Wines, WA – July 10, Chris Carpenter – Lark Hill Wines, NSW – July 17 & Adrian Sparks – McWilliams Wines, NSW – July 24

This winter, Jerry Mai is firing up Annam‘s signature charcoal grill to create a number of grilled and smoked dishes, with the entire menu being redesigned to help combat the Melbourne chill with heat and depth, all influenced by regional Vietnamese cuisine. In addition to a new winter menu, June sees the launch of Annam’s Hot Pot Mondays, where diners can choose from three different hot pot options containing broths in the traditional flavours of Northern, Central and Southern Vietnam. You can choose from a selection of meats and/or vegetables to plunge into the hot broth, but as the name suggests, only on Monday nights.

Talisker Single Malt Scotch Whisky, made on the shores of one of the most remote and rugged landscapes in Scotland, will bring back the hugely popular Talisker Dark Bar to Hobart’s Dark Mofo festival this month. The Talisker Dark Bar will be a feature destination for festival-goers in the free entry Dark Park precinct, transforming part of the industrial space at Macquarie Point into a warm and inviting whisky bar for guests during Dark Mofo’s wintry nights. Patrons at Tasmania’s winter solstice arts festival can enjoy Talisker’s twist on the Hot Toddy winter cocktail classic with its Talisker Spiced Hot Toddy. Created especially for the festival, the cocktail is made with Talisker 10 Year Old, honey, lemon, mead, and is topped with gum leaves for a uniquely Australian twist. This midwinter libation will be paired with a Tasmanian blue cheese jaffle and pickles, and served up in the Talisker Dark Bar’s sophisticated surrounds.