If you are looking for a fine-dining experience in a relaxed and semi-suburban atmosphere, Bibo Wine Bar at Double Bay is the perfect restaurant for you.
Bibo Wine Bar opened in 2016 at the heart of Double Bay. It boasts delicious and contemporary offerings that are Mediterranean and Portuguese inspired. With head chef Jose Silva at the Bibo Wine Bar’s kitchen, guests will surely have dishes that are out of the ordinary- amazing set of dishes that are bursting with different flavours.
Photo credit: bibo/ Facebook
Apart from the restaurant’s cuisine, another worth noting feature is their outstanding and exceptional wine collection. Bibo Wine Bar’s Head Sommelier, Louella Matthews, has selected and curated different award-winning wines based on their terroir. And Bibo Wine Bar is proud to have these different selections of wines coming from the best sites here in Australia as well as all around the world.
Head Chef and Restaurateur: Jose Silva
Photo credit: bibo/ Facebook
Bibo Wine Bar’s menu is very much influenced by its Head Chef and Restaurateur, Jose Silva. Silva is a Portugal native who gained his fine dining experience as the Head Chef of Guillaume Brahimi’s 3-hat Opera House restaurant for 12 years.
In 2013, he decided to take a break from fine dining and dwell on baking Portuguese pastries. Hence, he opened the Sweet Belem, a Portuguese pastry boutique specialising in traditional and modern Portuguese tarts and pastries in Petersham. Tarts and other goodies from Sweet Belem are also available for purchase at the Bibo Wine Bar.
And in April of 2016, Jose Silva opened his first modern and elegant restaurant and wine bar- Bibo Wine Bar at Double Bay. According to Silva, he decided to open up the business in the eastern suburb since the dining industry in the area is currently at its peak.
One of Double Bay’s well-established local pubs, the Royal Oak Hotel, received noise complaints from its new neighbours.
In February 2019, Double Bay’s Royal Oak Hotel, as well as three other long-standing iconic pubs across NSW, namely The Moore Park View, The Marlborough, and The Kings Cross Hotel, received noise complaints from their recently arrived neighbours.
The Office of Liquor, Racing and Gaming is responsible for handling and managing the filed complaints. According to their imposed rule, noise coming from clubs, pubs, and beer gardens must not be heard inside any home from midnight until 7:00 a.m. on any night.
John Green, NSW Director of Liquor and Policing, also mentioned that before filing a noise complaint, the noise in itself needs to be offensive by the nature of its volume, the type of music, and the time when it was played.
Green further states how it has already been part of the local culture for a household to move next to a pub. Naturally, these newly arrived residents will complain about the noise. But a sad reality that is often all true is that the complaints passed by the neighbours actually have some success in changing long-standing establishments and even practices which may cause a big impact on many people of the community.
Renowned as one of the Eastern Suburbs’ most iconic local establishments, the 145-year-old Royal Oak in Double Bay is known for its great food, convenient location, multi-level venue, and friendly staff.
It is famous for Phil’s Rooftop, along with an extensive menu with a delicious selection including vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free options. Royal Oak also has a sports bar showing all major domestic and international sports, and a full tab of facilities that will ensure entertainment for all its customers each day.
Ever since its opening, the Royal Oak Hotel is indeed a local favourite by many. For years patrons of the Royal Oak have been able to eat and drink at the tables set outside on Bay Street until recently when noise complaints were made.
Photo credit: Royal Oak Hotel Double Bay/ Facebook
According to the Spokesperson of the Woollahra Council, numerous noise complaints were filed against the Royal Oak Hotel, specifically on their use of the footpath area at Bay Street.
The Council has already sought for the Royal Oak Hotel to comply with its existing planning consent. This states that the use of the footpath area at Bay Street will now be limited until 10:00 p.m. only every night.
Given this outcome, patrons of the Royal Oak Hotel were greatly displeased which is why they began on signing a petition in support of the pub. This petition has now reached several hundred signatures. Once they are able to finalise the petition, they will be forwarding it to the Council for reconsideration.
The Woollahra Council has revealed its five-year library strategic plan for the Woollahra Libraries in Double Day and its networks.
Following a consultation with the public, the Council is currently reviewing the plan before publishing the final report and recommendation in August 2019.
The library strategic plan should cover the evolving needs of the community and users of the Woollahra Libraries, located at New South Head Road, and its annexes on Watson Bay and Paddington. At least 55 per cent of residents from these suburbs, or about 32,162 members, use the libraries’ facilities on a regular basis.
Since the Woollahra Libraries opened in May 2016, the Council has strived to make this centre a major part of the community by building a vast collection of books, magazines, audiobooks, CDs and DVDs for loaning. It has also provided members access to downloadable eBooks, music, and audiobooks.
The library has a fast Internet connection, a number of computer networks, and play equipment that members can use for their learning and enjoyment. It also provides spacez for different events, workshops, or group meets.
Pamper yourself with a luxurious browcation at the newly opened Amy Jean Privée, located at The InterContinental Hotel Sydney Double Bay!
It takes a little work to achieve sophisticated and perfectly shaped brows. In fact, eyebrows today are considered to be more of an art form than just a simple add-on.
Luckily, Australia’s brow queen herself, Amy Jean, decided to open a salon at Double Bay that is ideal for her clientele who want to experience a luxurious ‘browcation’ without having the need to travel far away from the Eastern suburbs.
Amy Jean Privée Double Bay
The Amy Jean Privéesalon is placed inside a hyper-luxe private suite of a five-star hotel for an ultimate eyebrow couture experience. This discrete yet sophisticated beauty haven is exclusively tailored for Amy Jean’s VIP clientele.
Photo credit: Amy Jean Brow Agency/ Facebook
Upon entering the suite, you will surely notice its splendid interiors that exude an aura of both decadence and femininity. Fresh flowers and scented candles are placed in majority of the tables and nooks of the suite that enhance the room’s airy and light-filled mood. Two treatment beds in adjoining rooms are also found inside the spacious suite.
Photo credit: Amy Jean Brow Agency/ Facebook
Services offered in this luxurious salon include brow sculpt, henna brows, feather touch and mist brow tattoo, lash extensions, keratin brow and lash treatments, forever lash liner, lip tint tattoo, skin needling, and eye elevate plasma tightening.
Apart from these services, Amy Jean also offers her Amy Jean Privée Collection, a selection of brow products, on Net-a-Porter.
The Amy Jean Privée Double Bay is strictly by appointment only. Click here to know more about the salon’s one-of-a-kind Privée Experience.
Amy Jean started off with a single brow boutique in 2004 at Gold Coast, an area that does not have much salons that offer the same services as Amy Jean’s. Upon its opening, the boutique hit off easily given the highly rated reviews shared by its loyal customers.
Soon, word of her skills and expertise in eyes and brows spread. Amy Jean’s services became highly in demand.
She then found herself having a number of influential and wealthy clients coming from all over the world.
Photo credit: Amy Jean Brow Agency/ Facebook
At present, Amy Jean has three outlets in Sydney, and one in Brisbane, Melbourne, and Gold Coast. She also travels to London every eight weeks to service her eminent European clientele.
Gladswood House, also called Glenyarrah and Seaford House, is a two-storey Gothic Revival residential mansion located in 11 Gladswood Gardens at Double Bay. It’s a heritage-listed property which, today, houses multiple occupants.
The main house’s features include:
The building stands on a property that stretches to three acres of land with its original stone gate pillars entrance facing the New South Head Road. In 1927, however, the land was subdivided into 14 blocks with the original residence assigned on Lot 6.
an entry vestibule leading to several adjoining rooms
Additional renovations over the years extended the house to include more cloakrooms and bath, more verandahs and drawing rooms, a boudoir, a study, and the house manager’s flat.
This building was part of the Point Piper Estate owned by New South Wales Corps Captain John Piper in the 1820s. Faced with financial difficulties, Capt Piper sold the property to philanthropist and politician Daniel Cooper. Following his death, Mr Cooper bestowed the property to his nephew, also named Daniel.
The younger Copper leased the property for 99 years to Edwin Thomas Beilby in 1856. Two years later, Beilby sold his leasehold to Samuel Deane Gordon, who decided to build a mansion by the waterfront.
Building Glenyarrah
In 1862, Mr Gordon enlisted architect William Munro to build Gladswood House, then known as Glenyarrah. Newspaper records show that Mr Munro advertised the job for stonemasons for the site with The Sydney Morning Herald.
Construction of the two-storey sandstone structure took two years. The design of the house had a slate roof with Tudor chimneys and a fireplace reminiscent of 14th century England. The building also had two wings and a verandah with large window bays.
Gladswood House was originally named the Seaford House during construction. It was later changed to Glenyarrah when Mr Gordon and his family moved in.
Mr Gordon stayed at Gladswood House until 1882. His monogram is set on the panels of the stained glass windows that brighten the lobby of the main stairs. He left the property to his daughter Jessie Maria Gordon upon his death in 1882.
But since Ms Gordon lived in England with her husband, Gladswood House was leased to Francis Bothamley Lark, and later to Thomas Hussey Kelly of the Sydney Smelting Co. The latter would eventually buy the property from Ms Gordon and leave the house to his son, Sydney-born Thomas Herbert Kelly, upon his death.
From Glenyarrah to Glasswood
By 1913, however, the younger Kelly would sell the property to Melbourne local Mr John Spencer Brunton of the family that founded the Australian Flour Mills. It was he who changed the name of Glenyarrah to Gladswood House.
Mr John Spencer Brunton changed the name of Glenyarrah to Gladswood House. Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Aside from the name change, Brunton would also make drastic renovations and additions to Gladswood House by hiring architect Howard Joseland, who favoured the “Queen Anne Style” — characterized by wide porches, shadowed entrances and lobbies, and brickwork with softer finish — to Munson’s Gothic inspirations.
The words “Brunton” and Gladswood” were carved on the floors of the house’s main lobby entrance during this massive renovation.
Following the new developments, Gladswood House would then be a distinguished house in Double Bay, popular for its social events and parties, such as the wedding of Mr Brunton’s son to Mr Joseland’s daughter.
The guests during one of the parties at Gladswood House. Photo Credit: Arthur Wigram Allen/Wikimedia Commons
Upon Brunton’s death, Frederick Louis Perini, a builder from Rose Bay, took ownership of the house and turned it into a residential site for multiple occupancies in 1937. Gwendoline Jean Von Tidermann and later, Ray William Stafford and Hannah Maria Stafford, took a lease on the house and managed it as a guest house or private hotel until 1988.
In 1990, Coronet Investments, headed by Ian Joye, built three two-storey apartments with three bedrooms to the west of the original house.
In 1999, New South Wales government listed Gladswood House as a heritage site, one of the very few examples of the work of Mr Munro. It’s also a popular landmark in Double Bay and one of the oldest examples of a house with Gothic and colonial influences in NSW.
Another reason that it was listed as a heritage site was that it had many occupants of significant importance to the business, political and cultural history the region and Australia. Additionally, the renovations and alterations done to the house displayed the craftsmanship of noted Australian builders.
Have a perfect night under the stars with new releases and cult classics at Moonlight Cinema at the Centennial Park. The open-air amphitheatre offers a relaxed vibe, complete with delicious eats and drinks from a food truck and bar, plus BYO.
