Overview
This post is presented by the All New Toyota Corolla Sedan.
There's plenty of fun to be had in this city each week, but there's only a small handful of truly fresh urban adventures to be had. We've partnered with Toyota to find the very best of these shiny-new experiences in Melbourne. Presented by the All New Toyota Corolla Sedan, these are our picks to put you on the road to a life of goodtimes. Now your only challenge is getting to them all.
This week is all about the highest heights, the surreality of the animal kingdom, and the easiest, most delicious way to do good in the world.
Eat: Feast of Merit
When you find the coming together of good coffee and a good conscience, great things usually follow. Feast of Merit, the newest venture from youth social enterprise YGAP, proves this to be true. Not only does this place donate all their profits to youth education in Malawi, Ghana, Rwanda, Bangladesh, Cambodia and Australia, they also focus on seasonal produce, raw foods and locally sourced drinks. The breakfast menu caters to a range of tastes with the sweeter side of things looking like Bircher muesli, coconut water, apricot, pistachios, and hung yoghurt ($11.50) and the savoury path providing beetroot (pickled, raw and roasted) with wild rice, candied walnuts, salted ricotta and za'atar spice ($13.50).
117 Swan Street, Richmond
Drink: Loop Roof
Opening high above the city's favourite video bar, Loop, this new venue — officially named Loop Roof but affectionately dubbed Looptop (see what we did there) — is a new gem in Melbourne's rooftop crown. Looptop's drinks menu features a huge range of topnotch cocktails, but it's the hard iced tea selection that stands out. Our pick is the awkwardly named but delicious-tasting Sparkle Motion ($19), made with Wyborowa vodka, Pomme Verte, T2 Lychee Sunrise tea syrup, fresh lemon, grapefruit peel and an edible gold spray giving it the advertised sparkle. Each hand-crafted tea syrup is created in-house using tea from T2, and features a different ice cube full of delicious ingredients that are designed to melt and release more flavour into the drink as you go.
Level 3, 23 Meyers Place, Melbourne
See: Isabella Rossellini's Green Porno
This playful stage show, based upon Isabella Rossellini's short film series and subsequent book of the same name, kookily explores mating in the natural world. The screen icon — who is currently studying animal behaviour at Hunter College in New York — says the show came naturally to her because she has always been interested in animal behaviour, and she "certainly knows a lot of people that are interested in sex". The actress dresses up in a variety of ridiculous insect and sea-creature costumes, while providing a storyline that is somehow both absurd and scientifically accurate.
March 26; Arts Centre Playhouse, 100 St. Kilda Road, Melbourne
Do: Virgin Australia Melbourne Fashion Festival
The difficulty with VAMFF is always the same — where to begin? With countless runways that are set to dazzle, an exciting cultural program, and some serious networking opportunities for those in the business, there’s something for all who are fashionably inclined. If innovation is what you’re after, we recommend heading to either the National Graduate Showcase or Independent Runway. But if you're just heading along for a taste, get along to the Premium Runways.
March 17-23; all around Melbourne