Victoria

HOT: Nicolangela, Level 1, Shop F174, Melbourne’s GPO, 350 Bourke St, Melbourne

December 21, 2009 ⋅ 8 comments

When I was a young grad, fresh out of uni, I used to do walk up to Nicolangela’s delightful Greville Street shop (which is no longer) and peer inside longingly, just like Holly Golightly drinking her coffee outside Tiffany’s. The store was a treasure chest of beautiful dresses designed and made in Melbourne, from sleek [...]

HOT: Ponyo, Ford Fiesta Moonlight Cinema, Royal Botanic Gardens, Birdwood Avenue, South Yarra

December 19, 2009 ⋅ 2 comments

Over the years, RM and I have been to Moonlight Cinema many times together – as friends, as friends-dating-other-people, as kinda-a-bit-more-than-friends and as boyfriend-girlfriend. It holds a special place in both of our memories of Melbourne, and I wouldn’t have been surprised if he’d proposed on a picnic rug at Breakfast At Tiffany’s (a sure [...]

HOT: Eco Innovators Showcase, Cnr Little Collins and Swanston St, Melbourne

December 17, 2009 ⋅ 2 comments

Melbourne is riding a pop up store wave and the Eco Innovators Showcase is about as ‘pop up’ as a pop up shop can get. In the morning: one unremarkable, poster-plastered news stand pillar standing innocently on Swanston Street. In the afternoon: the pillar has been transformed, Tardis-like, into a shop stocking over 25 Melbourne [...]

HOT: Melbourne Op Shop Tours (Part 2), Inner West, Williamstown to Footscray

December 15, 2009 ⋅ 9 comments

Read Part 1 of the tour here. Another quick train ride to Spotswood then St John’s Op Shop (612-614 Melbourne Rd, Spotswood). ‘Great variety of household goods’ is an accurate description, with ‘variety’ being the operative word. This is an OCD sufferer’s nightmare. The rabbit warren of a shop was full of surprises – an [...]

HOT: Melbourne Op Shop Tours, Inner West, Williamstown to Footscray

December 14, 2009 ⋅ 4 comments

Fashionistas know that the surest way to score a one-of-a-kind outfit is to scour old shops and vintage stores. Melbourne Op Shop Tours helps you take up the op shop challenge by running small group (max 10 people) tours through various areas of Melbourne. What makes it different from other op shop tours is that [...]

HOT: The Palace by Luke Mangan, 505 City Rd, South Melbourne

December 13, 2009 ⋅ 7 comments

Since returning to Australia after two years overseas, I’ve developed a hypothesis that Australian food trends lag behind the northern hemisphere (especially the US and UK) by 1-2 years. That means that I’m expecting to see a flurry of gastropub openings in Melbourne in the near future (probably macaron specialists and ramen stalls a year [...]

NOT: Trunk Bar & Restaurant, 275 Exhibition St Melbourne

December 12, 2009 ⋅ 6 comments

The twinkling lights in the busy courtyard entrance of Trunk Bar & Restaurant boded good things for our Friday night dinner. Inside the dimly lit, high-ceilinged restaurant, the crowd was just as bustling and everyone appeared to be enjoying their food and wine in the relaxed surroundings. We had high hopes for Trunk’s Italian-influenced menu. [...]

HOT: Melbourne Design Market, Federation Square carpark, Melbourne

December 11, 2009 ⋅ 12 comments

One of my favourite entries in Melbourne’s design market calendar is the twice-yearly Melbourne Design Market held in the unprepossessing carpark of Federation Square. While some of the stalls remain the same every time, I still like to go because there’s always something new to see and buy. Here are some of the stalls that [...]

NOT: Rice Queen, Level 2, 231 Smith St, Fitzroy

December 10, 2009 ⋅ 8 comments

As an ‘oriental’, I was intrigued by the concept of an ‘oriental diner’? I mean, what’s ‘oriental’ food exactly? The menu at Rice Queen appears to cover the gamut of a whole eating continent, from Japanese to Chinese, Sri Lankan to Thai. What this means is that there’s a patchiness in the quality of the [...]

HOT: Coco Rice, 10 Manchester Lane, Melbourne

December 9, 2009 ⋅ 7 comments

Coco Rice is one of the classier cheap-dish-with-rice joints in the CBD. As its name suggests, it specialises in coconut rice and Indonesian food in general and the small, brightly-lit restaurant is located in swish Manchester Lane, well away from the harsh flourescent lights and dumpster aromas of Chinatown. Most of the lunch workers and [...]