food and wine

HOT: Rooftop Cinema, 6/252 Swanston St, Melbourne

January 20, 2012 ⋅ One comment

Ah summer! There are certain events that happen every year which really mark the season in Melbourne. Cricket. Tennis. The Suzuki Night Market. Free music in the parks. And one of my favourites, outdoor cinema. Every year I try to get to at least one summer movie screening under the stars – it’s still a [...]

HOT: Backstreet Cafe, 152 Kerr St, Fitzroy

January 11, 2012 ⋅ 3 comments

In Fitzroy, it’s another day, another new cafe…. Backstreet Cafe is the new project from the people behind Birdman Eating and it takes some of what’s great about that Fitzroy stalwart and extends it beyond – or more precisely below. More on that later. The cafe is located in a corner spot in amongst residential [...]

HOT: Helados Jauja, 254 Lygon St, Carlton

January 9, 2012 ⋅ 5 comments

Happy New Year! Hope you had an enjoyable and relaxing holiday break. Apparently one of the best ways to stretch out that happy holiday mood is to continue one holiday habit in your everyday life. With Melbourne’s unpredictable heat waves, one holiday habit I’ll be continuing is daily ice-cream! Fortunately in Melbourne there’s lot of [...]

La Madre Bakery Giveaway!

December 9, 2011 ⋅ 63 comments

Following on from my carb-fest at La Madre Bakery recently I am excited to offer a giveaway of a selection of La Madre‘s new Christmas range! The sweet and savoury treats come presented in a reuseable cookie tin and inside you’ll find a sample of: Vanilla Snowflake Shortbread made from Heilala Vanilla vanilla paste and topped [...]

HOT: Janet de Neefe at Books for Cooks, Rice Queen, 2/231 Smith St, Fitzroy

December 7, 2011 ⋅ Post a comment

I’ve written previously about the great author events that specialist cookbook store Books for Cooks run. They are becoming so popular that they’ve started moving certain events out of their store – too many books and people to fit into a small space! While the non-store events are generally not free, the great thing is [...]

HOT: The Design Files Open House, 40 Little Napier St, Fitzroy

December 2, 2011 ⋅ One comment

What’s better than a pop up shop? A pop up house! Melbourne design blogger extraordinaire Lucy Feagins has brought her blog The Design Files out of the interwebs and into real life. With the help of The Project Agency’s Esther Navarro-Orejon, Lucy has turned a swoon-worthy Fitzroy warehouse conversion into an even more swoonworthy display home [...]

HOT: Beechworth Bakery, 316 Maroondah Highway, Healesville

December 1, 2011 ⋅ One comment

I didn’t realise that the Beechworth Bakery had stretched beyond to town of Beechworth to other parts of the state – but it’s pretty handy that there’s one in Healesville. Beechworth Bakery prides itself on being ‘Australia’s greatest bakery’. That’s a tall claim! But it is an old-fashioned bakery filled with old-fashioned British style bakery items [...]

HOT: Giant Steps Innocent Bystander Winery, 336 Maroondah Highway, Healesville

November 25, 2011 ⋅ One comment

A sunny weekend saw us taking a trip out to the Yarra Valley, armed with a recommendation for lunch at Giant Steps/Innocent Bystander. Unlike most of the other wineries in the Yarra Valley, Giant Steps/Innocent Bystander isn’t located on an expansive piece of green land – it’s just a straight turnoff from the Maroondah Highway [...]

HOT: La Madre Bakery, 18 Milton Street, Bell Park

November 22, 2011 ⋅ 2 comments

La Madre Bakery is located in Geelong but well-known in Melbourne. Their bread is sold at discerning grocery stores and delis across the city, including my nearest stockist in North Fitzroy, The Green Grocer, as well as being used in cafes such as Pope Joan. Their excellent reputation means that if you’re in Geelong or on [...]

HOT Chat: Georgia Beattie from Lupe

November 18, 2011 ⋅ 2 comments

Melbourne Music Week starts today until 26 November – a fun-filled week of music (natch), films, workshops, parties, eating and drinking. One of my discoveries for Melbourne Music Week is actually not directly about music. If you visit any of the bars at Melbourne Music Week you’ll find Lupe, an innnovative single serve filled wine glass [...]