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HOT: Pope Joan, 77-79 Nicholson Street, Brunswick East
Blog: MEL: Hot or Not - 11 October 2011
At last count, there were 19 blog reviews of Pope Joan on Urbanspoon. So I’m far behind with my visit and now I’m not sure why I’ve waited so long. Pope Joan is the kind of neighbourhood cafe for which you’d be willing to travel. Which is why it has found success despite being located [...]
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The Unpublished 11: St Kilda by the Bay
Blog: Aerohaveno: A Travel Blog - 10 October 2011
I just stumbled across a trial guidebook entry about the Melbourne suburb of St Kilda, which I wrote in 2005. It was created as part of my application to be included in Lonely Planet's pool of authors; ultimately successful therefore, but never published.
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Giveaway: Environmental Film Festival Melbourne 2011
Blog: MEL: Hot or Not - 6 October 2011
The Environmental Film Festival Melbourne is back again this year with more environmental themed films screening from 11-16 October at Kino Cinemas, 45 Collins St, Melbourne. The aim of the festival is to increase awareness of key environmental issues by bringing together film-makers, experts, policy makers, politicians and the wider community in an open conversation about [...]
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HOT: Cafe Vue at Heide, Heide Museum of Modern Art, 7 Templestowe Rd, Bulleen
Blog: MEL: Hot or Not - 5 October 2011
It’s been a while since my last visit to Cafe Vue at Heide and this time we decided to try the a la carte menu rather than the Menu du Jour set menu. On a sunny weekend the cafe is a real drawcard for visitors to Heide Museum of Modern Art. There’s often a queue [...]
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HOT: High Tea at Lobby Lounge, The Westin, 205 Collins St, Melbourne
Blog: MEL: Hot or Not - 4 October 2011
I can think of no better way to spend a cold, rainy afternoon than in front of an open fireplace drinking tea. Better still, drinking tea, eating cakes and lounging around reading an Evelyn Waugh novel. I recently indulged in my perfect rainy-day afternoon scenario with High Tea at the Lobby Lounge of The Westin [...]
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Into the Hills on Puffing Billy
Blog: Aerohaveno: A Travel Blog - 4 October 2011
In all my travel writing about Melbourne and its environs, I've rarely written about the iconic Puffing Billy steam train (except for entries in my two iPhone/iPad apps, Melbourne Historical and Melbourne Getaways).
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HOT: Mitte, 76 Michael Street (cnr Rowe Street), North Fitzroy
Blog: MEL: Hot or Not - 2 October 2011
I’m not sure whether Mitte is named after the district in Berlin and the German word for ‘middle’ but let’s just say at the outset that there are no German references in the menu, decor or service of this neighbourhood cafe. It’s in a little hideaway location on the corner of two residential streets in [...]
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HOT: The Wine Bar Restaurant, Yering Station, 38 Melba Hwy, Yarra Glen
Blog: MEL: Hot or Not - 29 September 2011
Fancy a day out in the country? In just 45 minutes from the city you can be out in the vineyards of the Yarra Valley. One of the most popular wineries in the Yarra Valley is Yering Station. It’s the first winery established in Victoria and is definitely worth a stop for the cellar door/art [...]
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HOT: The Commoner, 122 Johnston St, Fitzroy
Blog: MEL: Hot or Not - 28 September 2011
The Commoner is one of my local favourites – great food, reasonable prices, friendly service and lots of different spaces depending on your dining needs, from intimate couples tables to the outdoor courtyard to upstairs private dining room. My most recent visit to The Commoner was for Sunday lunch. I reckon Sundays are the best days [...]
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HOT: Demetri’s Feast, 141 Swan St, Richmond
Blog: MEL: Hot or Not - 27 September 2011
Oh Demetri’s Feast. If only you weren’t so small. If only your food wasn’t so good. If only your service wasn’t so friendly. If only you weren’t so cool. Then it’d be easier to visit you all the time. Demetri’s Feast was crowned Melbourne’s best breakfast in The Age’s Cheap Eats 2010 and that accolade [...]
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HOT: Fringe Furniture, Melbourne Fringe Festival, Abbotsford Convent, 1 St Heliers St, Abbotsford
Blog: MEL: Hot or Not - 26 September 2011
Melbourne Fringe Festival is on now until 9 October 2011 and one of the regular parts of the eclectic program is the free Fringe Furniture exhibition. The theme for this year’s exhibition is ‘Dancing in the Dark: Small Solutions to Big Problems’. Basically, this translates to design that’s smart, green, sustainable and beautiful by designers, architects, [...]
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HOT: Queen Margaret, 356 Queens Pde, North Fitzroy
Blog: MEL: Hot or Not - 25 September 2011
The pizzeria Queen Margaret is not named as a reference to QEII’s sister, but to Queen Margherita of Savoy, the first Queen of the united Italy and for whom the magherita pizza was named. Queen Margaret boasts eighteen (!) pizza varieties on its chalkboard menu, spearheaded by not just one but three riffs on the [...]
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HOT: Ilona Staller, 282 Carlisle St, Balaclava
Blog: MEL: Hot or Not - 21 September 2011
I can’t cope with Melbourne’s growing trend for restaurants that don’t take bookings (too uncertain, too impatient, too hungry). But I really wanted to have dinner at Ilona Staller. What to do? Answer – dispatch my Balaclavan friends R and A to plonk themselves at the bar at 6:30pm on a Saturday night while I [...]
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HOT: Small Block, 130 Lygon St, East Brunswick
Blog: MEL: Hot or Not - 20 September 2011
Small Block is a cafe particularly well suited to the urban professional/hip and arty/young parents demographic of East Brunswick. To whit: attention to coffee – the blackboard shows the single origin bean of the day and gives a description of its particular qualities; an extensive all-day breakfast menu which has the locals lining up on [...]
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HOT: Victoria in a Bento Box, Matteo’s Restaurant, 533 Brunswick St, North Fitzroy
Blog: MEL: Hot or Not - 19 September 2011
The Melbourne Food and Wine Festival doesn’t just run events for two weeks in March – the rest of the year they promote food and wine with themes and events such as the Spring Graze. The Spring Graze is a gathering of more than 60 events throughout September across Victoria, all with the theme of [...]
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HOT: Plumm Wine Glass Experience, Taste of Melbourne 2012, Royal Exhibition Building, 9 Nicholson St, Carlton
Blog: MEL: Hot or Not - 18 September 2011
Did you visit Taste of Melbourne this weekend? The exhibition can be pretty overwhelming, what with the huge crowds of people and the number of exhibitors and restaurants participating. So this year I restricted myself to a quick whip around the stalls that I was interested in (such as Yarra Valley Dairy, Gundowring, Enni) and [...]
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HOT: Icons of Style, Mad Men Costume Exhibition, Chadstone Shopping Centre, 1341 Dandenong Rd, Chadstone
Blog: MEL: Hot or Not - 14 September 2011
Mad Men is probably my favourite television series. Besides the tight script and convincing acting I really enjoy seeing the beautiful 60s costumes and set design (I have a penchant for vintage lamps and mid-century furniture). So I was quite excited to discover that from Thursday September 8 to Sunday October 2 Chadstone Shopping Centre [...]
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HOT: Bluebird Espresso, 134 Johnston St, Collingwood
Blog: MEL: Hot or Not - 13 September 2011
You had me at hello. There are some cafes which just grab you by the coat and give you a big bear hug, providing smiles and instant comfort. I loved Bluebird Espresso from the moment I spotted it – a retro blue bike chained to lamp post, colourful tulips bravely wavering against the grey grunge [...]
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NOT: The Tea Room, Level 1 NGV International, 180 St Kilda Rd, Melbourne
Blog: MEL: Hot or Not - 12 September 2011
Oh I know, I should have known better. When you have a captive audience (hungry, footsore gallery goers) then there’s probably not too much incentive to provide a great dining experience at the in-house cafe. Other than Cafe Vue at Heide Museum of Modern Art and some international examples (notably Tate Modern and Musee d’Orsay) [...]
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HOT: Cafe Bursaria, Como House, cnr Lechlade Ave and Williams Rd, South Yarra
Blog: MEL: Hot or Not - 11 September 2011
The website of Cafe Bursaria has the tagline ‘South Yarra’s best kept secret’. You know what, I think for once that kind of puffery is true. I lived in South Yarra for four years, within cooee of Como House, and I’d never heard of, let alone stepped inside, Cafe Bursaria. Which is a shame because [...]
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HOT: Squirrel Cafe, 23 Groome St, Clifton Hill
Blog: MEL: Hot or Not - 8 September 2011
squirrel /ˈskwər(ə)l/ Noun: An agile tree-dwelling rodent (Sciurus and other genera, family Sciuridae) with a bushy tail, typically feeding on nuts and seeds. Verb: Hide money or something of value in a safe place: “the money was squirreled away in foreign bank accounts”. Squirrel Cafe makes the most of its name by taking both those [...]
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HOT: Dressed for Murder: Fashions from the World of Hitchcock, Melbourne Writers Festival, BMW Edge, Federation Square, Melbourne
Blog: MEL: Hot or Not - 7 September 2011
Melbourne Writers Festival is over for another year and we’re in the middle of the Melbourne Spring Fashion Week – so this post straddles the two events nicely. One of the events I attended this year at the Melbourne Writers Festival (along with the Jonathan Franzen Q&A which was really enjoyable – he’s the guy [...]
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Queenscliff Time Bubble
Blog: Aerohaveno: A Travel Blog - 6 September 2011
I've just returned from Queenscliff, a town about 100km south of Melbourne, at the easternmost end of the Bellarine Peninsula which wraps around the southwestern shoreline of Port Phillip Bay.In the 19th century Queenscliff was a popular holiday destination for Melburnians, linked by vessels which steamed straight down the bay between the two places. Sadly, today we have to settle for going the long way round via Geelong.
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HOT: The Cutting Table, The Social Studio, 128 Smith St, Collingwood
Blog: MEL: Hot or Not - 5 September 2011
Since I wrote about The Social Studio almost 18 months ago the social enterprise has grown and developed. In terms of their cafe, it has moved from the back of the studio (where it was cute but small and hidden) to a bigger, brighter and more prominent site right next door. I’m so glad that [...]
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Giveaway: Beginners
Blog: MEL: Hot or Not - 1 September 2011
A few days ago I went to see the new Mike Mills new comedy/drama Beginners on the strength of several recommendations from friends. I loved it! Funny, quirky, sweet and honest. I think the official film website describes the plotline the best: Beginners imaginatively explores the hilarity, confusion, and surprises of love through the evolving consciousness [...]
