Written by Paul Chai
Guillaume opens the cellar
Bistro Guillaume at Crown Melbourne opened La Cave Privée on 18 May, and some bottles are already gone. The limited cellar release runs until end of month – 26 Burgundies, eight poured by the glass via Coravin. On our visit, Jeremais walks us through the argon preservation before the tasting begins: the odourless, tasteless gas is inert and heavier than oxygen, sitting atop the wine as a barrier, keeping it fresh and its provenance intact.
Director of Wine Matt Brooke says the Coravin is what made it possible. “[It] allows us to open wines that would normally never be poured by the glass so we were able to be much more ambitious with the selection,” he says. “From there, it was about building a journey through Burgundy.” Prestige, however, wasn’t the only influence when it came to deciding the final list. “It’s about balance, drinkability and the way the wine enhances the experience.”
We start with the 2018 François Raveneau Chablis Butteaux Premier Cru and oysters, mignonette and house cold-smoked salmon with brioche and, what I initially take for parmesan shavings, horseradish. It’s Brooke’s favourite on the list, adding “You get that classic Chablis minerality, almost an oyster-shell character – it works beautifully with seafood.” Raveneau ferments in stainless steel, so there’s no oak, no stone fruit.
Next is the 2019 Domaine Leflaive Meursault Sous le Dos d’Âne Premier Cru. It’s wooded but becomes less so against the twice-baked Roquefort soufflé. The blue cheese draws the oak back and the wine opens up. Four plump scallops arrive in the shell, taking laps in café de Paris butter. It’s here I regret finishing my Baker Bleu sourdough a course earlier.
The confit duck comes with a 2018 Domaine Armand Rousseau Gevrey-Chambertin, cherry-forward and earthy. Served over meaty lardons, peas and tarragon sauce, the duck is rich, fatty and deeply savoury. No notes.
Before we leave, Jeremais hints that La Cave Privée will return in June – different grapes, different terroir, nothing confirmed yet. Watch this space.
La Cave Privée runs until 31 May 2026.
The White Lotus checks into Paris
HBO has confirmed that the Mandarin Oriental Lutetia on Paris‘s Left Bank will feature as a filming location for The White Lotus Season 4 — the show’s first move into France. Season 4 is set against a fictionalised version of the Cannes Film Festival, with production spread across the Côte d’Azur and Paris. The Lutetia, a 184-room property in Saint-Germain-des-Prés that opened in 1910, has previously hosted the likes of Charlie Chaplin, Hemingway and Picasso.
It’s the second time a Mandarin Oriental property has appeared in the series — the Bangkok flagship featured in Season 3. Production is expected to wrap in October, with a release date yet to be confirmed.
Sydney’s Coogee gets a new spa destination
InterContinental Sydney Coogee Beach has opened Èliva, a full day spa built around the idea that a wellness visit should feel less like a scheduled appointment and more like an afternoon you want. The entry point is a Herbal Ritual Bar, where guests blend their own oils and botanicals from an Australian-made range before moving through a wave-shaped corridor into the hydro circuit – expect warm pools, traditional and infrared saunas, cold plunges, a shaved-ice fountain and vitamin C showers.
The treatment menu leans clinical: LED light therapy, infrared PEMF mats, lymphatic compression and – a first for a hotel spa in Australia – a vibroacoustic bed that uses low-frequency sound to settle the nervous system. It’s also the first spa in the country to offer Omorovicza’s professional treatment range.
Signature treatments include the 90-minute Coogee First Light – a thalassotherapy sequence using Australian salts, honey and kelp – and Walk in Nature, which uses handcrafted eucalyptus and jarrah tools made by a local artisan. Locals can book as day visitors; there is also a weekly Pilates programme and monthly floating sound baths.
New private beachfront residents for Six Senses Fiji
Six Senses Fiji has opened three new private residences on Malolo Island in the Mamanuca archipelago, bringing its total to 16 – the largest inventory of luxury residences in Fiji. Residences 51, 52 and 53 sit along a secluded beachfront enclave, each with direct beach and marina access, a private pool, fully equipped kitchen and a dedicated Guest Experience Maker.
Complimentary nanny service up to eight hours daily is included across all three. The residences sleep between eight and ten guests and are pitched at families and groups. Residence 51 is a five-bedroom with a garden courtyard and outdoor fire pit; Residence 52 is a six-bedroom with a kids’ pool and bunk suite; Residence 53 is a four-bedroom that converts to five, set in a quieter corner of the resort.
All three are built using natural materials and local craftsmanship in keeping with the Six Senses sustainability philosophy, and guests have access to reef restoration, cultural village visits and wellness programming.
Bump it up: all caviar menu at La Madonna is perfectly indulgent
Executive chef of La Madonna restaurant, Jacopo Degli Esposti, thinks caviar gets a bad rap in the food world, considered only as something expensive you put on a blini. But his new five-course Caviar After Dark tasting menu is designed to show how versatile and elegant fish roe can be.
It sounds like a concept so over the top you could get gout just thinking about five iterations of caviar on a plate, but Esposti is a master of balance and we finish the night actually thinking we could have another bump or two.
The star dish is a point of contention amongst our table with three dishes vying for top honours: the tuna tartare topped with Anna Dutch Baeri Caviar; the spaghetti dish with Anna Dutch Baeri Caviar and a lemon butter; and the plump piece of marron served simply with caviar and a Champagne sauce.
The menu was shaped in collaboration with caviar expert Glenn De Leonardo, whose deep understanding of provenance, sustainability and flavour has informed the selection and presentation of the Anna Dutch range throughout the degustation.
“Caviar is a product where quality and traceability genuinely matter,” De Leonardo said. “Working with one of the world’s best producers in Anna Dutch Caviar, and seeing the time, technique and origin story of the caviar translated into a menu like this, where caviar is truly the hero across every course, is something very special.” Located on level three of Next Hotel Melbourne in the city’s Paris end, La Madonna is a modern French-influenced Italian restaurant that blends refined technique with the simplicity of quality produce.
Caviar After Dark will be available 5:30pm-9:30pm Tuesday-Saturday from 12 May until 31 July, 2026, for $220 per person, with optional wine pairing for $110 per person.
Snow business: take a BMW for a spin in icy Queenstown
The BMW M Snow & Ice Experience is returning to Queenstown this August. This is an adrenaline-fuelled day out where drivers get behind the wheel of BMW’s latest M models on snow and ice tracks in New Zealand, supervised by expert instructors.
Set at the Southern Hemisphere Proving Ground, guests will take part in precision drifting, motorkhana, braking challenges, and high-adrenaline drag sprints. It’s an immersive experience designed not only to teach control on icy terrain, but also to unlock confidence and performance behind the wheel.
A Premium package ($4,900pp) sees guests have a full-day experience, catering, 4WD transfers from Millbrook Resort and BMW M jacket. The Luxury package ($7,600pp) contains all of the above plus 2 nights at Millbrook Resort, hosted functions, airport transfers and a helicopter return from the mountain.
Time travel: HX Expeditions debuts its historically accurate 1896 Cabin
There is a romanticism to the early day of expedition travel, when not every corner of the world had been discovered.
HX Expeditions, the world’s longest-running expedition cruise company, is seeking to tap into that nostalgia with the launch of its 1896 Cabin an immersive overnight experience inspired by a 19th-century expedition cabin, designed to recreate the atmosphere of early exploration at sea. The experience is now available aboard MS Fridtjof Nansen, HX Expeditions’ first hybrid-battery powered expedition ship.
On 8 July this year, HX Expeditions marks 130 years since it pioneered the world’s first expedition cruise. Operating a fleet of five vessels, the company takes guests to some of the most remote regions on earth, among them the Arctic, Antarctic, and the Galápagos Islands. In celebration of this legacy, the 1896 Cabin has been created as a limited-edition experience, inviting guests to step back into 1896, the year the company pioneered the world’s first expedition cruise, and to experience its founding spirit of exploration.
“This cabin was always meant to honour our origins, and what our teams and partners have delivered is extraordinary” said Gebhard Rainer, CEO of HX Expeditions. “The 1896 Cabin has surpassed everything we first envisioned. We hope it gives guests a real sense of what life at sea was like 130 years ago. History, after all, is best remembered when lived.”
