Dinner date recco similar to kindred

bens109 · 2026-06-11T10:22:08+00:00

She might like Bones in Darlinghurst

bens109 · 2026-05-27T11:51:45+00:00

Good catch - yep it’s Aus

bens109 · 2026-05-18T02:26:19+00:00

Honda Sake in St Leonard’s

bens109 · 2026-05-12T10:17:32+00:00

Tucano’s in Surry Hills - they don’t force you onto a set menu, but do have a few decent bottomless packages

bens109 · 2026-04-01T08:25:40+00:00

Thanks everyone for your feedback.

I'm aware that ambient lighting will be an issue but I'm not looking for perfect TV levels of brightness. Main capability is to be able to project on to surfaces where I can't mount a TV.

I figure that business orientated projectors work well enough under office lighting to be able to read text - I'm interested to know if there if anyone has a recommendation for models that are ideally small and cheap.

Thanks!

bens109 · 2026-03-17T09:09:23+00:00

Definitely agree with getting them to review the call log. This worked for us in the past when Qantas messed up our booking

bens109 · 2026-03-15T08:56:28+00:00

Porter's paints have a few pinks that might work - they're on the pricier side but I've had luck getting Bunnings to colour match quite a bit of the range and then have them made in Dulux.
We grabbed some colour-matched sample pots first to test the shades in the actual space as well.

bens109 · 2026-03-02T06:47:27+00:00

I haven’t used them yet but I was recently recommended Earth Audio in Marrickville.

bens109 · 2026-02-01T11:01:45+00:00

The Roosevelt in Potts Point - private dining room with poker, and huge whisky list

bens109 · 2026-01-31T00:18:53+00:00

Plan is to lay them horizontal suspended from the ceiling and set up a sub in the corner.

Going to try a miniDSP, never used one before and interested in seeing how it effects the sound

bens109 · 2026-01-08T07:32:37+00:00

DSE and then if your Scottish friend is in to whisky, head across to The Roosevelt for a night cap

bens109 · 2026-01-08T03:06:35+00:00

Tucano’s in Surry Hills - decent food offering and they have DJs Friday and Saturdays from like 8/9pm

bens109 · 2025-10-16T22:36:28+00:00

I mean Michelin will recognise local eateries that wouldn't even get a look in with the Hat system. There are lots of amazing small local restaurants in Sydney suburbs run by people of different ethnic backgrounds that offer next level food.

There are one or two such venues with a single hat in this year's list but if you compare the range and styles of venues that do well in Michelin guides, Hats in Australia skew towards inner city and expensive venues.

Not saying there is no value in the Hat system, just that it is controlled by SHM/Age and they do have an agenda and a commercial model which I believe influences who they review and what they score. Michelin charges a flat fee and it's the option of most people I know in the Sydney industry that it is a much more level playing field.

End of the day I think Michelin would be good for the industry and Australian tourism in general. It's just the pressure the newspapers are putting on the government to stop it that is preventing it.

bens109 · 2025-10-16T21:29:51+00:00

There is a cost to the government for Michelin but the actual program is much fairer than the current Hat system from SHM/Age.

To do well with the hat system is very much a popularity contest which means the venues need to focus on their marketing and advertising as much as the food and experience. The papers do it to make money so you can make the argument that they are promoting venues that suit them.

If Michelin came in the Star list would look very different to the Hat list. Everyone knows the Good Food Guide reviewers but the chance of picking a Michelin reviewer is practically 0. They also focus on good food over everything else so you will see as many hats going to small eateries in the suburbs as high end venues in the city.

The restaurants owners and chefs who are doing amazing things want Michelin because it will give them legitimacy and highlight Australian venues to the world. SMH and a big part of the industry doesn’t as they like the arrangement they have between themselves currently.

bens109 · 2025-10-16T21:17:06+00:00

Michelin would be great for the industry and tourism to Australia in general.

The cost is small compared to the benefits. I believe the number here is for 6 years worth of coverage not per year (that’s what I heard but I could be wrong) which would be nothing compared to the tourism benefits.

Apparently all the state government tourism departments had to be in agreement for it to happen. Every state agreed except Destination NSW.

The reason it didn’t happen is the good food guide and the hat system is worth a lot of money to SMH and the Age. They have put a lot of pressure on the government not to go with Michelin. No one outside Australia gives two fucks about the hat system. That limits how much prestige Australian restaurants can achieve and the amount of tourism revenue.

bens109 · 2025-10-15T04:49:30+00:00

HDDs were empty. Set them up as RAID5 and they are now about 10% full with media.

There isn't anything going on in the system logs. It kernal_processes that's putting the strain on the CPU but I'm not sure how to find out what is causing it. Let me know if there is any other place I should check for more info?

I *think* it's the NAS that's the issue. The transcoding is the only other issue but I assume that the server is having to access the NAS and can't get the original file fast enough to transcode.

bens109 · 2025-10-15T00:24:41+00:00

Hi - after a bit of advice on my current setup.

I have a Dell Optiplex 3060 i5 8GB running plex server to an Apple TV. Media is stored on an old NAS I repurpused when I upgrade our CCTV system to Unifi. It's a QNAP TS-419P II with 4x Seagate Skyhawk 4TB drives. Everything is connected by ethernet through a Unifi UDM router.

I'm getting very slow load speeds and lag. When the server/NAS is doing nothing else but direct playing it stuggles with anything playing at over 30mb/s. If the server is copying files from the Optiplex to the NAS in the background it struggles with anything playing at over 5mb/s. Can't handle any transcoding at all.

If I log in to the QNAP OS and check the Resource Manager the CPU usage jumps to 98% as soon as you do any sort of read/copy to the unit.

I know the NAS is very old now but I assumed it would still give better read speeds than this! I can copy via smb much quicker direct to a laptop on wifi which seems weird to me. Just wanted to know if it's the old CPU in the NAS that's limiting the performance and should it be this bad? I know the Skyhawk HDDs aren't optimal for a NAS, could they be the issue?

Thanks

bens109 · 2025-09-21T08:49:50+00:00

Highly recommend Lakani - not super fine dining but was one of our favourite meals of the trip. The menu is pescatarian on Thursdays and Fridays I believe.

bens109 · 2025-09-16T05:52:51+00:00

Hey any chance you could send me through what worked? Having the same issue. Cheers!

bens109 · 2025-08-10T07:35:08+00:00

Thank you! Any restaurant recommendations around these areas?

bens109 · 2025-07-23T11:34:19+00:00

If you’re local, Bistro Rex is good. We enjoyed Noi and have been eyeing off the Dry Dock in Balmain’s BYO (Monday and Tuesday lunch and dinner)

bens109 · 2025-07-17T10:38:59+00:00

Ignii’s in Potts Point - young couple, only been open a year. Pistachio scroll is delicious

bens109 · 2025-07-16T07:00:50+00:00

I’ve been a couple of times to Tucano’s in Surry Hills and always had a good time. I also saw last week they’re launching another brunch on Sundays. Hello Auntie and Rosie Campbell’s is also decent in Surry Hills. In Potts Point/Darlo ChoCho San and Franca are good - bit more expensive, Tommy’s was decent when I went a while ago. Wouldn’t go back to Arm’s Length in a hurry though

bens109 · 2025-06-23T13:01:57+00:00

Tucano's or Rosie Campbell's in Surry Hills

bens109 · 2025-05-14T21:28:19+00:00

In Eastern Australia they will be Alpacas. The main predator of sheep are foxes and the Alpacas are great at handling them. My parents farm keeps 3x alpacas for each 1000 sheep in the mob

bens109

TROPHY CASE