I’m currently stepping into an elevator right off the middle of George St to be taken directly up into Glass Brassiere. I’m here tonight for the Cloudy Bay Wine Dinner – a 5 course dinner designed by Luke Mangan to showcase the upcoming wines from Cloudy Bay, one of New Zealand’s top wineries.

M took me here one night last year and I remember the atmosphere of the restaurant being really cosy and eating wonderfully delicious food that grabbed my attention despite how much of a sad sack I was that night. I also remember thinking, “I have to come back and blog about this one day… when I’m not so emo”.

We’ve heard quite a few friends singing their praises about the food at Guillaume at Bennelong, one of whom is a chef (I thought, if anything, that carries some weight). So on a total whim (despite having numerous of snow trips planned) we thought, “What the hey, why not try it out?”

it is definitely another excuse to stuff ourselves with food that would make us forget about the chilly temperature not at all helped with an equally chilly wind.

And that’s how we all came about to Löwenbräu Keller to taste-test their perfect-for-winter dishes.

Zeta Bar and it’s winter concept have drawn me out on a Friday night, it’s undeniably wintertime – it’s been drizzling all day and the skies are black by 5pm. The concept is inspired by the European style of celebrating winter – mulled wine, roasted chestnuts, hot toddies and even roasted marshmallows are all on offer.

Missing out on a veritable feast of all-you-can-eat ribs and whatnot at Cafe Ish made me terribly sad and somehow during my bemoaning of such misfortune, I ended up at an all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant in the CBD with Ffichiban and Ninja.

It’s great to have a team off site now and then. When we are on projects, we often lose sight of the importance of taking time out and getting to know a bit more about our team members. We are so fixated on getting our deliverables completed on time or fending off office politics, that we sometimes don’t even know what the guy sitting five levels down does.

Minh and I walked past this restaurant a while ago and was drawn to its decor that was complete with a tuk-tuk! We agreed that we had to try it out, especially since the space was previously occupied by the pretty decent I-San.

Chat Thai has been ruling for a while, but it’s got some competition coming up with the newly opened Sukjai. We’ve come pretty early in the night and are led straight to an empty table, looking around I’m immediately charmed by the mismatched chairs, crazy artwork and yes, the Airplane painted on the opposite wall.

If there’s one thing I know about wine it’s that there’s an entire world of wine knowledge out there that I have absolutely no idea of. We’ve been invited to a Celebration for Chardonnay at the Park Hyatt and I think it’s time I’ve broaden my horizons a little with a little wine variety.

I’ve only dined here once but Restaurant Arras is up there with my favourite restaurants right now. The food is inventive and creative but you can still see the traditional British influences. The restaurant is in a nice location away from the hustle and bustle of the city and it seems the Chef is quite passionate about his food and the aesthetics of his restaurant.

It’s a week of farewells as we’re waving off our Teresa before she heads off to the Big Apple, in true es&t style we take it in our stride and use it as an excuse to eat, drink and of course be merry! The first stop on our itinerary is Tomislav. We’re drawn here by the reputation of Tomislav Martinovic and by rumour of his Heston Blumenthal inspired cookery.