Darling Harbour's stunning new 'W' hotel, hilltop Singapore resort among new entrants on luxury list of the best places to stay in Asia, Australia and beyond
It is one of a number of new hotels from Asia, Europe and Australia to make the hotel hot list this year.
Raffles Sentosa is Singapore's first all-villa hotel featuring 62 contemporary lodges, each with its own private pool.
It is an ideal place for a mini break for travellers making the arduous trip to and from Europe.
Or stay longer and settle into a resort style hotel with access to an award-winning golf club and Sentosa's Tanjong Beach.
Raffles Sentosa is set in 100,000 sq m of gardens.
It is a far cry from the original Raffles hotel built at 1 Beach Road in 1887 and named in honour of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, the British statesman and the father of modern Singapore.
It is steeped with history and nostalgia.
Rudyard Kipling edited his first draft of The Jungle Book there.
Elizabeth Taylor, Michael Jackson, W. Somerset Maugham, Noël Coward, and Ernest Hemingway also stayed there.
The hotel was refurbished in 2017.
The Raffles name also spread to 18 hotels including new properties in Cairo, Istanbul, London and Bali.
Raffles London at the OWO occupies a stately Grade II Edwardian Baroque building in Whitehall once the centre of British Government and the Old War Office.
It is close to St James's Park, Buckingham Palace, the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey and close to West End theatres.
Raffles Bali features 32 oceanfront villas, each with their own pool and garden.
Raffles Sentosa is noted for its culinary offerings starting with the Empire Grill, a modern Italian restaurant.
And of course there is a restaurant offering Cantonese cuisine.
Royal China is set in a dining room framed by floor-to-ceiling windows and surrounded by lush greenery.
And there is a Japanese omakase restaurant, Iyasaka by Hashida. Chef Kenjiro "Hatch" Hashida's aim is to make it the best Japanese restaurant outside his homeland.
Hilton, the global hotel colossus, already operates 8,600 hotels and resorts and is planning more. The new ones are being built in New York, Costa Rica, Athens and Osaka.
In London, The Emory at Belgravia in London seems to be top of the hit parade with the critics. It's the capital's first all-suite hotel and one of the last projects by the late Richard Rogers, one of England's most celebrated architects.
The Emory was built by the Maybourne hotel group which owns and runs the Berkeley next door as well as Claridge's and the Connaught.
In Sydney, the curvaceous W hotel at Darling Harbour reeks of glamour and sophistication and features weirdly wonderful mirror aluminium panels on the ceiling.
It is a grand edifice with 588 guestrooms and suites.
Josh and Julie Niland's boutique hotel Grand National in Paddington couldn't be more different.
It has 14 rooms and is a study in a restrained elegance.
It sits above their celebrated restaurant, Saint Peter, and is a drawcard for the culinary cognoscenti.
Their original restaurant, Saint Peter, opened around the corner in 2016, was the only Australian restaurant that made it to The World's Best Restaurant List in 2024.
The new Eve Hotel on the border of Surry Hills and Redfern in Sydney draws on the Australian landscape for its architectural inspiration.
Guests enter a calming lobby anchored by natural stone and bespoke glazed terracotta.
Architect Adam Haddow designed the hotel to wrap around a central courtyard allowing sight lines through to lush greenery.
The hotel's 102 guest rooms each offer a 'unique experience with an Australian inspired palette of either eucalyptus or red clay tones'.
Each room has a private balcony.
Haddow's groovy hotel is the centrepiece of the new Wunderlich Lane retail and hospitality precinct on Cleveland Street. TRAVELLERS' TIP
Singapore Airlines is offering competitive business class fares to Singapore.
A sampler: Sydney to Singapore return, from $6,108. Melbourne to Singapore return from $4,343. Adelaide to Singapore return from $4,448. Brisbane to Singapore return from $5,659.16.
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The Advertiser
17 hours ago
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The cooking school where a dining table takes centre stage for the guests
In the name chosen for her business, Jen Nicita hoped to capture the essence of her work in its three simple words. Our Italian Table is the name of Jen's cooking school, where the skills learnt are only part of the experience, as the dining and conversations around the table during the meal are the hallmarks of its success. The school is located in Pokolbin on the family's 70-acre Nicita Estate and has wonderful views of the Brokenback Ranges and nearby vineyards. Even though it became fully operational just as the COVID lockdown occurred in 2020, the school has now welcomed its 7000th guest and is thriving. At the recent Hunter Valley Legends Awards, Our Italian Table won Tourist Operator of the Year. This is a credit to Jen and her staff's dedication in creating a destination where food, wine and conversations flourish. "The first time I visited my husband's family, it was the full Italian meal experience, so different to my own - no Italian heritage in my family," she said. "Beautiful food and wine, lots of co nversations at once, and everyone gathered around the family table. "That is what I wanted to create with my business in Pokolbin: a table, food, and conversations like one big Italian family. That is why I called it Our Italian Table." A career in the food industry alongside helping her husband, Vince Nicita, in his software business when her children were young would eventually lead the couple to buy their property at Pokolbin in 2017. "We lived on the North Shore and had easy access to the Hunter wineries, and I always had a passion to start a cooking school. So the property was ideal for the family getaway and my school," she said. In addition to the school, the property has a 12-acre vineyards which Scarbough Wines manage. "We love drinking the wines, but none of us is interested in making wines, so we leave it to the experts," Jen said. The school is noted for its pasta making lessons with the classes open to 10 people who may book singly, as a couple or in a group. "The mixed groups are lovely as people learn about pasta making at the same time as they chat to the other guests," Jen said. "We have such a variable guest list, so it's interesting for us and the guests." The classes last four hours, with three devoted to cooking before the guests move on to tasting their work. Jen bases the dishes where she can on local produce, but it must be seasonal, and all the ingredients must be easily procured. "If you want to buy special pasta flour, that's your call, but I want people to make their pasta with ingredients they can afford and that are available at a local supermarket," she said. Jen has noted since she started school how some people are hard on themselves when it comes to cooking. "If they took pottery classes, they could fail multiple times with their clay creations, but not when it comes to cooking, there is so much self-doubt, people are so self-critical of their cooking skills, which I hope to reverse while they are with us," she said. "We hope to instil self-confidence in our classes." The successful business now has two teachers and 10 other staff working alongside Jen, who loves that her little passion project has succeeded. "Five minutes before a class, I look around the room and think how lucky I am to be able to share my passion for food and the Italian table with others," she said. In the name chosen for her business, Jen Nicita hoped to capture the essence of her work in its three simple words. Our Italian Table is the name of Jen's cooking school, where the skills learnt are only part of the experience, as the dining and conversations around the table during the meal are the hallmarks of its success. The school is located in Pokolbin on the family's 70-acre Nicita Estate and has wonderful views of the Brokenback Ranges and nearby vineyards. Even though it became fully operational just as the COVID lockdown occurred in 2020, the school has now welcomed its 7000th guest and is thriving. At the recent Hunter Valley Legends Awards, Our Italian Table won Tourist Operator of the Year. This is a credit to Jen and her staff's dedication in creating a destination where food, wine and conversations flourish. "The first time I visited my husband's family, it was the full Italian meal experience, so different to my own - no Italian heritage in my family," she said. "Beautiful food and wine, lots of co nversations at once, and everyone gathered around the family table. "That is what I wanted to create with my business in Pokolbin: a table, food, and conversations like one big Italian family. That is why I called it Our Italian Table." A career in the food industry alongside helping her husband, Vince Nicita, in his software business when her children were young would eventually lead the couple to buy their property at Pokolbin in 2017. "We lived on the North Shore and had easy access to the Hunter wineries, and I always had a passion to start a cooking school. So the property was ideal for the family getaway and my school," she said. In addition to the school, the property has a 12-acre vineyards which Scarbough Wines manage. "We love drinking the wines, but none of us is interested in making wines, so we leave it to the experts," Jen said. The school is noted for its pasta making lessons with the classes open to 10 people who may book singly, as a couple or in a group. "The mixed groups are lovely as people learn about pasta making at the same time as they chat to the other guests," Jen said. "We have such a variable guest list, so it's interesting for us and the guests." The classes last four hours, with three devoted to cooking before the guests move on to tasting their work. Jen bases the dishes where she can on local produce, but it must be seasonal, and all the ingredients must be easily procured. "If you want to buy special pasta flour, that's your call, but I want people to make their pasta with ingredients they can afford and that are available at a local supermarket," she said. Jen has noted since she started school how some people are hard on themselves when it comes to cooking. "If they took pottery classes, they could fail multiple times with their clay creations, but not when it comes to cooking, there is so much self-doubt, people are so self-critical of their cooking skills, which I hope to reverse while they are with us," she said. "We hope to instil self-confidence in our classes." The successful business now has two teachers and 10 other staff working alongside Jen, who loves that her little passion project has succeeded. "Five minutes before a class, I look around the room and think how lucky I am to be able to share my passion for food and the Italian table with others," she said. In the name chosen for her business, Jen Nicita hoped to capture the essence of her work in its three simple words. Our Italian Table is the name of Jen's cooking school, where the skills learnt are only part of the experience, as the dining and conversations around the table during the meal are the hallmarks of its success. The school is located in Pokolbin on the family's 70-acre Nicita Estate and has wonderful views of the Brokenback Ranges and nearby vineyards. Even though it became fully operational just as the COVID lockdown occurred in 2020, the school has now welcomed its 7000th guest and is thriving. At the recent Hunter Valley Legends Awards, Our Italian Table won Tourist Operator of the Year. This is a credit to Jen and her staff's dedication in creating a destination where food, wine and conversations flourish. "The first time I visited my husband's family, it was the full Italian meal experience, so different to my own - no Italian heritage in my family," she said. "Beautiful food and wine, lots of co nversations at once, and everyone gathered around the family table. "That is what I wanted to create with my business in Pokolbin: a table, food, and conversations like one big Italian family. That is why I called it Our Italian Table." A career in the food industry alongside helping her husband, Vince Nicita, in his software business when her children were young would eventually lead the couple to buy their property at Pokolbin in 2017. "We lived on the North Shore and had easy access to the Hunter wineries, and I always had a passion to start a cooking school. So the property was ideal for the family getaway and my school," she said. In addition to the school, the property has a 12-acre vineyards which Scarbough Wines manage. "We love drinking the wines, but none of us is interested in making wines, so we leave it to the experts," Jen said. The school is noted for its pasta making lessons with the classes open to 10 people who may book singly, as a couple or in a group. "The mixed groups are lovely as people learn about pasta making at the same time as they chat to the other guests," Jen said. "We have such a variable guest list, so it's interesting for us and the guests." The classes last four hours, with three devoted to cooking before the guests move on to tasting their work. Jen bases the dishes where she can on local produce, but it must be seasonal, and all the ingredients must be easily procured. "If you want to buy special pasta flour, that's your call, but I want people to make their pasta with ingredients they can afford and that are available at a local supermarket," she said. Jen has noted since she started school how some people are hard on themselves when it comes to cooking. "If they took pottery classes, they could fail multiple times with their clay creations, but not when it comes to cooking, there is so much self-doubt, people are so self-critical of their cooking skills, which I hope to reverse while they are with us," she said. "We hope to instil self-confidence in our classes." The successful business now has two teachers and 10 other staff working alongside Jen, who loves that her little passion project has succeeded. "Five minutes before a class, I look around the room and think how lucky I am to be able to share my passion for food and the Italian table with others," she said. In the name chosen for her business, Jen Nicita hoped to capture the essence of her work in its three simple words. Our Italian Table is the name of Jen's cooking school, where the skills learnt are only part of the experience, as the dining and conversations around the table during the meal are the hallmarks of its success. The school is located in Pokolbin on the family's 70-acre Nicita Estate and has wonderful views of the Brokenback Ranges and nearby vineyards. Even though it became fully operational just as the COVID lockdown occurred in 2020, the school has now welcomed its 7000th guest and is thriving. At the recent Hunter Valley Legends Awards, Our Italian Table won Tourist Operator of the Year. This is a credit to Jen and her staff's dedication in creating a destination where food, wine and conversations flourish. "The first time I visited my husband's family, it was the full Italian meal experience, so different to my own - no Italian heritage in my family," she said. "Beautiful food and wine, lots of co nversations at once, and everyone gathered around the family table. "That is what I wanted to create with my business in Pokolbin: a table, food, and conversations like one big Italian family. That is why I called it Our Italian Table." A career in the food industry alongside helping her husband, Vince Nicita, in his software business when her children were young would eventually lead the couple to buy their property at Pokolbin in 2017. "We lived on the North Shore and had easy access to the Hunter wineries, and I always had a passion to start a cooking school. So the property was ideal for the family getaway and my school," she said. In addition to the school, the property has a 12-acre vineyards which Scarbough Wines manage. "We love drinking the wines, but none of us is interested in making wines, so we leave it to the experts," Jen said. The school is noted for its pasta making lessons with the classes open to 10 people who may book singly, as a couple or in a group. "The mixed groups are lovely as people learn about pasta making at the same time as they chat to the other guests," Jen said. "We have such a variable guest list, so it's interesting for us and the guests." The classes last four hours, with three devoted to cooking before the guests move on to tasting their work. Jen bases the dishes where she can on local produce, but it must be seasonal, and all the ingredients must be easily procured. "If you want to buy special pasta flour, that's your call, but I want people to make their pasta with ingredients they can afford and that are available at a local supermarket," she said. Jen has noted since she started school how some people are hard on themselves when it comes to cooking. "If they took pottery classes, they could fail multiple times with their clay creations, but not when it comes to cooking, there is so much self-doubt, people are so self-critical of their cooking skills, which I hope to reverse while they are with us," she said. "We hope to instil self-confidence in our classes." The successful business now has two teachers and 10 other staff working alongside Jen, who loves that her little passion project has succeeded. "Five minutes before a class, I look around the room and think how lucky I am to be able to share my passion for food and the Italian table with others," she said.
9 News
21 hours ago
- 9 News
British monarchy will receive around $180 million in government funding, annual report shows
Your web browser is no longer supported. To improve your experience update it here The British Royal Household released its financial statement on Monday, revealing that the annual lump sum from the government remained at £86.3 million ($AU180 million). The sum, called the Sovereign Grant, pays for the upkeep of royal palaces and the royals' official duties and is funded by British taxpayer money. In return, the monarch hands over all profits from the Crown Estate — which includes vast swathes of central London property, the Ascot Racecourse and the seabed around England, Wales and Northern Ireland — to the government, in an arrangement dating back to 1760. The sum, called the Sovereign Grant, pays for the upkeep of royal palaces and the royals' official duties and is funded by British taxpayer money. (Getty) The Sovereign Grant functions like an expense account for the monarch and their representatives, covering the costs of their public duties, including travel, staff, and upkeep of historic properties. Notably, it excludes funding for security, which also incurs a high cost given the royals' numerous public engagements and events. Royal family members undertook more than "1,900 public engagements in the UK and overseas, while more than 93,000 guests attended 828 events at Official Royal Palaces," the annual Sovereign Grant Report said. The total grant of £86.3 million ($180 million), which by law remains the same as the three previous financial years, is comprised of a £51.8 million ($108 million), core grant and £34.5 million ($72.6 million) to fund the refurbishment of Buckingham Palace. Buckingham Palace is undergoing a major modernisation project that will see upgrades to cabling and accessible bathrooms. (Getty) Buckingham Palace, a top tourist attraction in central London, is undergoing a major modernisation project that will see upgrades to electric cabling, pipework, elevators and accessible bathrooms. The royal family will decommission the royal train "following a thorough review into its use and value for money," according to the accounts report. The monarchy has been using its own rail travel since Queen Victoria first boarded a specially built carriage from Slough, England, to London Paddington Station in 1842. The report also said the Royal Household will increase its use of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and continue the electrification of its fleet of vehicles. Last year, the Royal Household announced it aimed to transition to an "almost fully electric" fleet of vehicles, without providing a target date. Britain's PA Media reported that the King's two Bentleys would be modified to run on biofuel. The level of funding for the British royal family has long fueled criticism. (Getty) The royal family's three main sources of income are the Sovereign Grant, the Duchy of Lancaster and Duchy of Cornwall estates and their personal property and investments. The level of funding for the British royal family has long fueled criticism, with one anti-monarchy group calling for the Sovereign Grant to be abolished and for the British public to keep all the profits of the Crown Estate. "The grant system is mad. Funding goes up not because of any need for extra money, but because the grant is linked to government profits from land managed by the Crown Estate," Graham Smith, a campaigner for the group Republic, said in a statement earlier this year. "The palace has recycled the excuse of needing the money for refurbishment of Buckingham Palace, an excuse used to double the grant ten years ago." "It's time that half a billion pounds was put to good use, that there was proper accounting for the cost of the monarchy and for that cost to be slashed to just a few million pounds," Smith added. The Keeper of the Privy Purse, James Chalmers, said in a statement on Monday as the report was released: "Soft power is hard to measure but its value is, I believe, now firmly understood at home and abroad, as the core themes of the new reign have come into even sharper focus, and the Royal Family have continued in their service to the nation, Realms and Commonwealth." World UK Royal Family Europe CONTACT US
