Checho’s Cronulla is here, giving the beachside suburb a new spot for Mexican food, handbag cocktails and long lunches that lead into dinner. The group has opened its fifth venue in Cronulla’s recently revitalised town centre precinct, just moments from the beach. The new venue seats 85 guests inside and another 50 outdoors, with service running from lunch through to late-night and weekly DJs adding to the weekend energy. Led by Venue Manager Tia Couzins, Checho’s Cronulla has been designed for birthdays, long lunches and spontaneous catch-ups, with the group’s usual mix of colourful interiors, bold share plates and cocktails built for the table. The menu is made up of share friendly portions, with starters including spiced corn ribs with grated manchego, and tuna aguachile with ponzu, jalapeños, tajin and fresh lime. “Everything on our menu is flavour-forward and bold in presentation,” said Checho’s Group Head Chef John Edward Alea. “People eat with their eyes first. We want every dish to look incredible because that creates the expectation before you take the first bite. Then the flavour delivers on that.” Tacos are a big part of the offer too, with the best-selling slow-cooked beef brisket and crispy soft shell crab tacos available for $10 every day. For bigger tables and groups with a serious appetite, larger plates include sticky Mexican-style pork ribs with cola BBQ glaze and a 280g wagyu scotch fillet MB4+. On the side, there is a tajin watermelon salad with mint, jalapeño, red onion, cucumber, feta, tajin and hazelnut. For dessert, guests can expect classic comfort sweets like churros served with dulce de leche, cast iron baked cookie dough with vanilla ice-cream, and a house-made crème brûlée for those keen for a proper crack-into-custard moment. The drinks are where Checho’s has already earned plenty of online heat. Its handbag cocktails, designed to be shared, have become a social media hit across the group’s other venues and are now making their Cronulla debut. Five handbag cocktail flavours are available: spicy mango senorita, coconut kiss, tropical paradise, blue illusion and mojito. Classic cocktails and Checho’s signatures are also on the menu, including the Spicy Señorita with blanco tequila, Cointreau, Aperol, guava and jalapeño-infused agave, alongside rotating weekly flavours of frozen margaritas. On weekends, Checho’s Cronulla will even run a two-hour bottomless brunch for $89 per person, featuring handbag cocktails to share and a selection of the restaurant’s best-selling tacos. The brunch experience also keeps the photo roll fed, with high-energy music, weekly DJs and oversized Mexican hats in the mix. Talk about thinking of everything. Group Operations Manager of the Checho’s Group Angelo Gorgees said the brand’s appeal went beyond the menu. “We’re really proud of what we’ve built with Checho’s. People don’t just come for the food, they come for the atmosphere and the experience. People know Checho’s, and they love it,” said Gorgees. Checho’s Cronulla is the fifth venue for the Checho’s Group, with another two venues scheduled to open in 2026. “The demand for Checho’s continues to grow, and we’re constantly being asked where we’re opening next. We’re excited to keep expanding into high-growth communities and bring the Checho’s experience to even more people across Sydney,” said Gorgees. Source: Curated Agency Find more dining out updates on Crumb Wire.

The RSPCA has released a new higher welfare standard for meat chickens, giving Australian producers a certification pathway to meet the globally recognised Better Chicken Commitment for the first time. The new top-tier standard targets some of the biggest welfare concerns in chicken meat production, including rapid growth, live shackling, crowded sheds and limited access to natural light. It comes with major industry implications. More than 97 per cent of Australian meat chicken production is currently RSPCA Certified, while all large-scale production uses fast-growing breeds. Alliance Strategy Director Dr Bidda Jones said fast-growing breeds, crowded sheds and live shackling are still common across the Australian chicken industry. “Fast-growing breeds which suffer high rates of pain, injury and illness, birds crowded together unable to move freely, and live shackling prior to slaughter are prevalent throughout the Australian chicken industry, including in current RSPCA Certified supply chains,” said Dr Jones. “While the base RSPCA Standard will still allow these practices, the release of higher welfare requirements offers a practical pathway for chicken farming practices to match current science and community expectations for animal welfare.“ The Australian Alliance for Animals, one of 15 leading animal welfare organisations backing the Aus-NZ Better Chicken Commitment, says the new standard could improve the welfare of hundreds of millions of chickens farmed for meat in Australia each year. The Better Chicken Commitment is a global animal welfare initiative focused on reducing the biggest causes of suffering in chickens raised for meat. Its requirements include higher welfare, slower-growing chicken breeds, more space and natural light inside chicken sheds, and more humane and reliable slaughter methods. The RSPCA’s new higher welfare level also follows research commissioned by the Australian Alliance for Animals in February 2026, which found seven in ten Australians consider the current way chickens are bred, farmed and slaughtered unacceptable. The independent nationally representative survey looked at three key parts of meat chicken production. It found 78 per cent of Australians think selectively breeding chickens to reach market weight in 35 days, leading to difficulties with walking and standing, is unacceptable. Another 83 per cent said keeping tens of thousands of chickens inside sheds at high stocking densities with no access to daylight is unacceptable, while 74 per cent said suspending chickens upside down by their legs before stunning them in an electrified bath is unacceptable. “These results demonstrate that, despite the wide uptake of certification labels, the chicken industry is failing to meet public expectations for animal welfare,” said Dr Jones. “The good news is that there is an alternative. The Better Chicken Commitment requires higher welfare, slower growing chicken breeds, more space and natural light inside chicken sheds, and more humane and reliable slaughter methods.” According to the Australian Alliance for Animals, the new RSPCA standard creates a practical pathway for chicken farming practices to better align with current animal welfare science and community expectations. The release also puts pressure on food businesses that position themselves as animal welfare leaders, with more than 640 businesses globally already committing to the Better Chicken Commitment. Better Chicken Commitment Campaigner April Broadbent said the global shift was already underway. “With over 640 commitments from food businesses to date across the world, there is a clear trend away from fast-growing chicken breeds and towards the Better Chicken Commitment as the baseline for animal welfare,” said Broadbent. “Australians are horrified by current industry practices and want higher animal welfare standards. The RSPCA’s new higher level is the only certification standard that addresses the significant welfare problems associated with selecting chickens for extreme growth, a key step towards meeting consumer expectations for chicken welfare. “Food businesses that claim to be leaders in animal welfare now have a clear pathway to adopting the Better Chicken Commitment – if they don’t take up this opportunity, their customers will be asking why.” For consumers, the shift could also make welfare labels easier to read more critically. While RSPCA certification is already widely used across the Australian chicken industry, the new higher level is the first RSPCA certification standard in Australia to address the welfare issues linked to selecting chickens for extreme growth. Find more food and drink news on Crumb Wire.

For anyone who loves eating but hates the nightly admin of getting dinner on the table, HelloFresh has found a potential kitchen hack: put on the right playlist. New research from HelloFresh suggests music is helping Australians find their flow in the kitchen, with 31 per cent saying it helps them enter a “flow state” while cooking, where they feel more focused, confident and instinctive. The finding lands in the middle of a very real midweek dinner problem. More than half, 53 per cent, of young Australians see dinnertime as a chore rather than a chance to relax, while 58 per cent say the weeknight rush makes cooking harder to enjoy. For plenty of people, the hard part starts before a pan even hits the stove. Half of young Australians struggle to find time for meal planning, grocery shopping and recipe discovery, while 58 per cent struggle to come up with fresh dinner ideas. Psychologist Anastasia Hronis said that kind of fatigue can change the way people experience cooking, especially by midweek. “For many people, especially by midweek, fatigue and decision fatigue can make cooking feel like another task to get through rather than something to enjoy,” she said. “This is reflected in HelloFresh’s research, which found more than half (53%) of young Australians see dinnertime as a chore. “However, small changes can have a big impact. Emotional state influences how the brain perceives effort and reward, meaning something as simple as having meals pre-planned, having the ingredients to hand and putting on the right music can make cooking feel more enjoyable. “In fact, 76 per cent of Australians aged 25–34 say music transforms cooking from a chore into an enjoyable activity.” Dinner dread, but make it a soundtrack To help Australians get into that headspace, HelloFresh has developed three Spotify playlists to match its menu, each designed to mirror recent food trends and make dinner feel a little less like another box to tick. The idea is not that a playlist magically solves the mental load of dinner. It is more that music can act as a cue to switch gears, helping the brain move out of workday chaos and into something slower, more sensory and more enjoyable. For younger Australians, that shift already seems to be happening. HelloFresh’s research found 76 per cent of 25–34-year-olds and 69 per cent of 18–24-year-olds say music makes cooking more enjoyable. More than half of Australians say music helps them feel creative and energised while cooking, while 44 per cent say it creates a sense of calm in the kitchen. Among 25–34-year-olds, 61 per cent say music also makes them feel more confident when cooking. Hronis suggested reducing the decisions around dinner can free up more energy for the cooking itself. “This might mean planning meals in advance, using a service such as HelloFresh to remove some of the decisions around recipes and ingredients, or simply deciding on the week’s dinners before the week begins,” she said. “Music can also help regulate mood quickly, while reducing decision-making lightens the mental load carried in from the day.” In other words, fewer decisions, fewer missing ingredients, and a playlist that fits the mood can make dinner feel less like survival mode. The kitchen has a genre preference The research also suggests Australians are starting to think of music as part of the meal itself. Half of Australians aged 18 to 24 believe certain meals deserve the right soundtrack. Pop is the go-to cooking genre for 40 per cent of Australians, followed by rock at 29 per cent, R&B and soul at 18 per cent, country at 15 per cent and classical music at 15 per cent. That is where HelloFresh’s Wok & Pop playlist comes in, with the brand using music to help turn dinner dread into dinner flow. Hronis said music can help create the right conditions for a flow state by influencing mood, energy levels and expectations. “Choosing a playlist that complements the cuisine you’re cooking and enjoying, whether that’s upbeat K-pop for Korean-inspired dishes or laid-back acoustic tracks for a comforting meal, can help create a stronger sense of occasion and make cooking feel more immersive and enjoyable,” she said. She also said paying attention to the sounds, smells, textures and flavours involved in cooking can help anchor people in the present moment. “Flow happens when we’re fully engaged in the present moment,” said Hronis. “HelloFresh’s research shows more than half of Australians feel creative and energised when listening to music while cooking, making it a useful tool for bringing more attention and enjoyment to the task.” The research was commissioned by HelloFresh in conjunction with Pureprofile and conducted online in June 2026, based on a nationally representative sample of more than 1,000 Australians. Source: We Are Different Find more food and drink features on Crumb Wire.

Melbourne-born chef Curtis Stone is coming home with a very big hotel restaurant brief, taking shape inside the country’s first Waldorf Astoria property. The hotel brand that put apple salads on the map has announced Stone will launch his first restaurant in Australia at the hotel, while also leading the culinary vision across two original dining experiences created exclusively for the upcoming harbourfront address. “Coming to Australia to create something of this scale is incredibly meaningful for me. These dining experiences are deeply personal projects, inspired by the producers, seasons, and hospitality culture I grew up with,” said Stone. “To partner with Waldorf Astoria Sydney and bring these ideas to life overlooking one of the world’s most spectacular harbours is both an honour and a milestone in my career.” The move adds a major dining hook to Australia’s first Waldorf Astoria, which is owned and developed by Fiveight and will bring the luxury hotel brand to one of Sydney’s most sought-after harbourfront locations. The hotel’s dining program will be developed around Australian produce, culture and hospitality, giving Waldorf Astoria’s global legacy a distinctly local expression. Marlene Poynder, general manager of Waldorf Astoria Sydney, said the hotel represented a defining moment for the brand in Australia. “To work with a chef of Curtis’ calibre makes this especially meaningful. Together, we’re creating a destination where exceptional hospitality, world-class dining, and perhaps one of the world’s most remarkable harbourfront settings come together to deliver an unforgettable guest experience,” said Poynder. Food has always been a major part of the Waldorf story. Its New York flagship is tied to more than a century of hotel dining history, including 24-hour room service and classics such as the Waldorf Salad, Eggs Benedict, Red Velvet Cake, Thousand Island Dressing and the Rob Roy cocktail from Peacock Alley. The Sydney opening gives that legacy an Australian setting, with Stone’s restaurants expected to draw on local producers, seasons and the hospitality culture that shaped the chef before his international career. “Culinary excellence has always been integral to Waldorf Astoria, bringing together exceptional talent, iconic destinations, and a deep sense of place,” said Candice D’Cruz, vice president, Luxury Brands, Asia Pacific, Hilton. “Working closely with our owners, we curate collaborations that connect guests to each destination. Partnering with a globally renowned Australian chef like Curtis Stone for our Australian debut reflects our commitment to creating unforgettable dining experiences that are unmistakably Waldorf Astoria.” Waldorf Astoria Sydney marks the luxury brand’s Australian debut and will introduce the hotel to a landmark harbourfront location in the city. Find more dining out updates on Crumb Wire.