7 Things You Didn’t Know You Could Do In Sydney

The annual Vivid Sydney festival is an outdoor lights extravaganza that fills the entire city with light installations after dark (read: finally, something to do after the shops close at the very Aussie time of 5pm). This year’s festival included a free silent disco zone — where you slip on a pair of headphones with three switchable channels, each playing different genres of music, and just dance — at Central Park in Chippendale. So no worries if you’re a too-cool-for-school electronic dance music fan while your pals’ jam of choice is Taylor Swift. We did overhear some revelers screaming “shake it hard, shake it hard!” along to Tay-Tay’s ‘Shake It Off’. That’s okay. Everyone else was probably plugged into their headphones and couldn’t hear you going off-script.

When the sun goes down, our appetites rear their heads. Tear into freshly smoked meats at the sexy, dimly-lit LP’s Quality Meats, owned by tattooed hipster chef Luke Powell. We ordered a platter of tasty smoked beef short ribs, lamb belly and barbecued chicken, hoisted by a young server dressed like a dead ringer for Rosie the Riveter. Chefs, hair slicked back with pomade, bustle about in the open kitchen looking too cool (and serious) to pose for our camera. LP’s Quality Meats (lpsqualitymeats.com) is at Suite 1, 16 Chippen St, Chippendale, Sydney.

After dinner, walk over to Koi Dessert Bar, the sleek double-storey dessert joint opened by MasterChef Australia 2015 finalist Reynold Poernomo (who was hailed as the Dessert King in the competition). The menu reads like a fine-dining meal set, and the desserts beautiful works of art. One of the highlights is the Moss — which Poernomo made for a challenge on the show — a hollow chocolate ball cracks to reveal pistachio mousse cut with green apple sorbet. Koi Dessert Bar (koidessertbar.com.au) is at 42-44 Kensington St, Chippendale, Sydney.

A two-hour drive from central Sydney, the scenic and serene Hunter Valley, is Australia’s oldest wine-growing region. It’s dotted with generations-old winemakers like Keith Tulloch Wine, where you can book a wine-tasting session. Want to look like a wine pro? Fifth-generation grower Alisdair Tulloch, 24, tells us “never to wear a white shirt” for wine-tasting. He deadpans, “There are photos on Instagram calling out wine-tasters who wore white shirts to taste wine. Wine stains are almost impossible to get out of clothes. I’m wearing red pants today, but how do you know they’re not just completely drenched in Cabernet Sauvignon?” If beer is more your thing, amble over to craft brewery Hunter Beer Co, where brewer Jarryd Green (pictured) pours us a beer from over 12 different types available on tap. Just don’t be uncool and ask for amateur stuff like vintage beer (“unlike wine grapes, we can’t say things like ‘this is a good year for barley’ for our beer,” shares Jarryd), or beer without a foam ‘head’. Jarryd adds, “A 1.5cm-thick head is ideal. It has no effect on the taste, but it makes the beer look prettier.. But I’ve had people asking me to pour beers without heads just to get that bit more beer!” Keith Tulloch Wine (keithtullochwine.com.au) is at Hermitage Rd, Pokolbin NSW 2320; Hunter Beer Co, (hunterbeerco.com) is at Wine Country Dr & Fleming St, Nulkaba NSW 2325.

There are over 70 stalls at this indoor farmers’ market which happens every Saturday at Carriageworks (where the annual Australian Fashion Week runway shows are also held). If you think ‘farmers’ and images of grubby, sweaty dudes float to mind, well, think again. Here, you can find young, spiffily-dressed vendors like brothers Charlie and George Margin, who hawk mushrooms for their family-owned farm Margin’s Mushrooms. Customers are encouraged to chat with the farmers about the produce or even get cooking tips. Hungry? Get your paws on a freshly-grilled Black Angus Beef Truffle Burger from the Moobi Valley stall, which also supplies premium Australian beef. For more info, go to carriageworks.com.au.

The Korean-owned Blacksmith cafe in hip Surry Hills, as its name implies, is a dramatic steampunk-inspired establishment, offering hearty brunch picks such as sausages cooked with kimchi and Spanish baked eggs, all served on deliberately-tarnished copper crockery. But the highlight here is the edgy ambience, where you can browse leather and metal-bound menus, sip tea poured from a copper kettle, and get ice water from a metal dispenser that Mad Max: Fury Road’s Immortan Joe would approve of. Blacksmith (blacksmithcafe.com.au) is at 116 Chalmers St, Surry Hills NSW 2010.

This trip was made possible by Destination New South Wales and Qantas.