melbourne cbd

HOT: Suzuki Night Market, Queen Victoria Market, Melbourne

January 13, 2010 ⋅ 12 comments

For me summer in Melbourne heralds long bright evenings, Moonlight Cinema and the Suzuki Night Market at Queen Victoria Market. Evidently I’m not alone as the night market has become a bit of a summer institution for young and old alike and in peak time (between 6-8pm) the crowds swell to almost uncomfortable levels. Nevertheless, [...]

HOT Chat: Dave Carswell of Melbourne By Foot

January 10, 2010 ⋅ One comment

Today’s HOT Chat is with Dave Carswell, the brains and legs behind Melbourne By Foot. I think that Melbourne is particularly conducive to exploration by foot but all those dark and smelly alleyways can be a bit daunting for a newbie. Melbourne By Foot takes you by the hand (foot?) to help you discover the [...]

HOT: Melbourne by Delicate Mayhem

January 9, 2010 ⋅ 2 comments

When RM and I moved in together we discovered several things: 1. I had a lot of kitchen gadgets and shoes; 2. He had a lot of books and electrical cords; and 3. We both had too much artwork and not enough walls to hang them. Given our shared tendency to buy photographs, prints and [...]

HOT: Shoya Japanese Restaurant, 25 Market Ln, Melbourne

January 8, 2010 ⋅ 11 comments

Market Lane in the city is where you go to complete the Melbourne Asian foodie’s trinity – Flower Drum, Hutong Dumpling and Shoya. Shoya is a multi-storey venture into Japanese food. The basement and ground floor houses traditional Japanese BBQ, first floor is traditional Japanese seating providing a la carte and degustation dining and the [...]

HOT: Izakaya Den, Basement 114 Russell St, Melbourne

January 6, 2010 ⋅ 8 comments

The tapas trend in Australia seems to have now progressed to other forms of ‘little food’ – and in Melbourne, it has led to the growth of izakayas, or Japanese pubs. Izakaya Den (from Simon Denton of Verge fame) is the latest restaurant in the izakaya-spurt. After you descend down the stairs from the barely-there [...]

NOT: North East China Family, 302 Flinders Lane, Melbourne

January 5, 2010 ⋅ 13 comments

I love dumplings. I like making them, I like eating them, I like sharing them. So imagine my joy at discovering North East China Family (Traditional Dumplings) right near my work when I met up with my equally dumpling-loving friend, A. The restaurant was heaving during the lunchtime rush hour, and we had to wave [...]

HOT: EC Pot Café Bar, QV, 200 Lonsdale St, Melbourne

January 3, 2010 ⋅ 5 comments

Today we welcome a new guest blogger, a fashionista man-about-town who prefers to remain anonymous and will be using the rather salicious pen-name of LesKiss (for those who don’t know, Les Kiss was actually a NSW rugby league player in the 80s and 90s). Thanks LesKiss! If you’d like to become a guest-blogger too, just send [...]

HOT: Alterations Now, Level 1, 234 Collins St, Melbourne

December 29, 2009 ⋅ 4 comments

My friend J’s mum is a couturier. So going op-shopping with J is a frustrating experience – she’ll pick up an ugly $10 drop-waisted peach coloured curtain-fabric dress and say airily ‘Oh, I’ll just get mum to alter it”. The next thing you know she’s decked out in a jealousy-inducing one-of-a-kind vintage outfit. I’m not [...]

HOT: Don Don, 321 Swanston St, Melbourne

December 28, 2009 ⋅ 10 comments

Have you heard of the ‘sports icon’ Takeru Kobayashi? This Japanese man is one of the great champions of competitive eating (he’s now ranked second according to the International Federation of Competitive Eating, after an unheralded six years at the top). I watched him in action in the documentary Crazy Legs Conti: Zen and the Art [...]

HOT Gig List

December 27, 2009 ⋅ 7 comments

Today we say hi to my new guest blogger CC, a cool ex-Melburnian who now calls East London home. Skinny jeans aficionado, mosh pit veteran, classical pianist now electric guitarist, CC will be bringing you news of upcoming HOT gigs in Melbourne. Her motto is ‘with great musical wisdom, comes great musical responsibility’ and this [...]