Things to do in Melbourne
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EDITOR'S PICK
Queen Victoria Market
Chaotic, friendly, multicultural – the Queen Victoria Market is one of the largest open-air markets in the southern hemisphere and the grand dame of all Melbourne markets. Over 600 traders hock their wares here and it’s been pushing trade for more than 125 years. You’ll find everything from perfectly ripe brie to perfectly rank moccasins. An organic corridor in the fruit and vegetable section is stocked with fresh produce grown without a hint of chemicals or pesticides. The bustling night market runs between late November and mid-February.
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- All things to do
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Albert Park Lake
Elegant black swans give their inimitable bottoms-up salute as you circumnavigate the 5km perimeter of this artificial lake. Jogging, cycling, walking or clamouring over play equipment is the appropriate human equivalent. Lakeside Dr was used as an international motor-racing circuit in the 1950s, and since 1996 the revamped track has been the venue for the Australian Formula One Grand Prix each March.
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Birrarung Marr
Featuring grassy knolls, river promenades and a thoughtful planting of indigenous flora, Birrarung Marr is a welcome addition to Melbourne's patchwork of parks and gardens. It houses the sculptural and musical Federation Bells, which ring according to a varying schedule.
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Johnston Collection
The collection of sharp-eyed antique dealer William Johnston is on show in this characteristic East Melbourne mansion. Rooms are decorated in an English country-house style, and also highlight specific interior-decorating fashions from last century – almost as fascinating as the pieces themselves. Visits come with a sense of mystique; for privacy reasons, you need to book a tour and be picked up from the nearby Hilton on the Park rather than just rocking up to the door. Tours depart three times daily; phone to reserve a place.
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Bar Lourinhã
Matt McConnell's wonderful northern Spanish-Portuguese specialities have the swagger and honesty of an Iberian shepherd, but with a cluey, metropolitan touch. Start light with the melting, zingy kingfish pancetta and finish with the hearty house-made chorizo or baked morcilla (blood sausage).
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Melbourne Museum
This confident postmodern exhibition space mixes old-style object displays with themed interactive display areas. The museum's reach is almost too broad to be cohesive, but it provides a grand sweep of Victoria's natural and cultural histories. Walk through the reconstructed laneway lives of the 1800s or become immersed in the legend of champion racehorse Phar Lap. Bunjilaka, on the ground floor, presents Indigenous stories and history told through objects and Aboriginal voices. There's also an open-air forest atrium featuring Victorian plants and animals and an Imax cinema next door.
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Taxi
It takes a space this big to accommodate the reputation of head chef Michael Lambie. He creates audacious Asian-inspired dishes that have earned him a loyal following. The sushi menu is one of the city’s finest. All glass, steel and concrete, the hangar-sized dining room looks over the river and Flinders Street Station. It’s stagy, or as some Melburnians might mumble, a little bit ‘Sydney’. After dinner, sip a digestif at Transit and watch the lights sparkle.
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Giuseppe, Arnaldo and Sons
Prodigal (and preternaturally talented) Maurizio Terzini sold Melbourne’s café e cucina concept to Sydney and now he’s brought North Bondi Italian back south. It’s a splendid space – with the drama of a marble bar hung with small goods and a spot-lit bread station – and but be prepared for some noise and bustle. Food is enticing, stunningly fresh and exciting, while retaining a produce-driven simplicity. The menu is flexible and great for sharing.
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Journal Canteen
Journal Canteen, tucked away up an obscure flight of stairs off the CAE building foyer, is no secret. It’s packed to the rafters each lunchtime with diners lapping up Rosa Mitchell’s sensational Sicilian-style antipasto plates, pastas, roasts and ragus. Be spared the agony of choice: Rosa bases her few offerings on what is fresh and seasonal on any given day. There’s a $30 degustation deal, which comes with a complimentary caffitere -brewed coffee.
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Deco
Why is it that journalists always open the best bars? Here the adventurous and considered wine list is well respected by connoisseurs, but still Deco manages to avoid any inkling of pretension. In the darkness you'll find locals ensconced in couches drinking red wines and eating delicious cheeses, while sports writers nurse Belgian beers and talk football at the bar.
On Friday and Saturday nights the cocktail crowds descend for the driest martinis this side of the Yarra.
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Old Melbourne Gaol
This forbidding monument to 19th-century justice is now a museum. It was built of bluestone in 1841, and was a prison until 1929. The tiny, bleak cells display plaster casts of some of the 130-plus people who were hanged here, a chilling 'by-product' of the era's obsession with phrenology. The last sound that legendary bushranger Ned Kelly heard was the clang of the trap here in 1880. His death mask, armour and history are on display. Book through Ticketekto join a Ghost Seekers Tour or go on the Hangman's Night Tour. Evening events are not recommended for children under 12.
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Montague Foodstore
This sunlit café is the friendly, corner store gone gourmet. The Montague serves a range of breakfasts and lunches, incorporating its own breads, jams and relishes. The croque-monsieur (French-style toasted ham and cheese sandwich) will keep you going for days, or, if you insist on a healthier option, the wattle-seed granola is really good. Filled baguettes, salads, cakes and daily specials round out the selection.
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Sarti Restaurant Bar
There’s a lot of ciao bella schmooze going on, but the menu doesn’t just flirt – it delivers. A joyful mix of the knowingly modern and rustically nostalgic: wild harvested venison is prettily parsed with pickled beetroot, celeriac puree and crispy beets or a perfect pistachio panna cotta is embellished with salted popcorn. Or a plate of pasta ($24) on the terrace makes for a soothing city lunch.
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Isthmus Of Kra
This is where the local business community 'does lunch'. Specialising in Thai and Nonya cuisines, the Isthmus of Kra is a chance for business execs to show the clients they take to lunch how cosmopolitan their tastes are. The blue dumplings (dyed with butterfly-pea flowers) are sure to impress. In the evening, take some friends and choose from one of three banquet options. It's a good idea to book.
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Ian Potter Foundation Children’s Garden
This whimsical and child-scaled place invites kids and their parents to explore, discover and imagine. The various mini-environments are often directed by the seasons and many plants have been chosen to delight kids with their intrinsic weirdness or strong colours. Programs run in the school holidays; see website for details and book ahead. Note that it is closed for two months each winter.
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Eureka Tower
The new-in-2006 Eureka Tower epitomises Melbourne's push to live in apartments by becoming the world's tallest apartment building. It's enough to make anyone who's read JG Ballard's Highrise wide-eyed and nervous. But, the tower is good news for visitors who can scoot to the 88th-storey observation tower (compared to the Rialto's 55th) for wild views of the city and its surrounds.
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Añada
Dishes such as mackerel with orange-blossom and pistachio or veal meatballs and braised cuttlefish are alive with hearty Spanish and Muslim Mediterranean flavours. It’s unpretentious, passionate cooking and the place fills up most nights. There’s the usual arrangement of big and little plates plus a good selection of Iberian wines. Book ahead or try to nab a table at the bar or outside.
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Royal Botanic Gardens
The RBG is one of Melbourne's most glorious attractions. Sprawling beside the Yarra River, the beautifully designed gardens feature a global selection of plantings as well as specific Australian gardens. Along with the abundance of plant species, there's a surprising amount of wildlife, including waterfowl, ducks, swans and child-scaring eels in and around the ornamental lake, as well as cockatoos and possums. There's also the excellent, nature-based Ian Potter Children's Garden.
The gardens are encircled by the Tan, a 4km-long former horse-exercising track, now used to exercise joggers. During the summer months, the gardens play host to the Moonlight Cinema and theatre…
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Degraves Espresso Bar
The rickety cinema seating and fashionable gloom make Degraves a quintessential Melbourne laneway experience. If you've overindulged in that other Melbourne laneway experience, the hip little bar with no signage, beat your hangover with poached eggs or French toast with maple syrup from the all-day breakfast menu. Or just pull up a pew for an always-good coffee.
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National Gallery of Victoria International
Beyond the water wall you'll find international art that runs from the ancient to the contemporary. Completed in 1967, the original NGV building – Roy Grounds' 'cranky icon' – was one of Australia's most controversial but ultimately respected Modernist masterpieces. Interior remodelling was undertaken from 1996 to 2003, overseen by Mario Bellini. Don't miss a gaze up at the Great Hall's stained-glass ceiling.
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Gravy Train
You wouldn't chug across town to get here, but you'd certainly pull in for a bite or coffee if in the area. Gravy Train is the coalface of Yarravillagers: students, workers and pram-pushers all converge on the bright dining room or roofless courtyard. Some artful savoury dishes accompany staple café fare, and there's a good selection of sweet things too.
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Builders Arms Hotel
A completely re-imagined bad old boozer that’s retained its charm despite theatrical new threads. Come for a pot by all means, but there’s also decent wine by the glass, a blackboard cocktail list and big Middle-Eastern flavours at the bar or in the dining room. Picnic style tables on the footpath outside are perfect for taking in Gertrude St.
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Flower Drum
The Flower Drum continues to be Melbourne's most celebrated Chinese restaurant. The finest, freshest produce prepared with absolute attention to detail keeps this Chinatown institution booked out for weeks in advance. The sumptuous but ostensibly simple Cantonese food is delivered with the slick service you'd expect in such elegant surrounds.
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Hopetoun Tea Rooms
For five generations, ladies and 'nice' families have been nibbling pinwheel sandwiches here, taking tea (pinkies raised) and delicately polishing off a lamington. Hopetoun's venerable status, arcade location and pursed-lip air make afternoon or morning tea here refreshing indeed - the antithesis of Melbourne's constant coffee-taken-in-hip-laneways shtick.
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Cafe Fidama
With so many world flavours available, Fidama has thrown open the food-group classification to include influences from the Mediterranean, Middle East and Asia. Dexterous dishes are served up in sleek surrounds - all dark wood, banquettes and bentwood chairs. Locals love it here, so if you find yourself in the 'hood, it's best to book ahead.
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O'Connell's
This posh pub is a long-time leader in the gastropub stakes. Forget about fronting up for a plate of cheap food cooked until it's colourless. O'Connell's is fancy down to the glassware, though good value. Choose to dine in the casual front room, or take yourself off out the back to the formal dining room - the same hearty menu's on offer.
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