Wrap your head around some of the biggest dilemmas facing the world today, at the Festival of Questions. Presented by The Wheeler Centre in partnership with Melbourne Festival and the City of Melbourne, this one-day event on Sunday, October 15 will bring together some of the smartest, funniest, most interesting minds in science, law, philosophy, anthropology, journalism, politics, activism and entertainment. Held at Melbourne Town Hall, the festival will consist of four 90-minute panels. 'Questions for the Nation' will tackle topics close to home, from marriage equality to foreign investment. 'What Is Right? What Is Left' will explore the extent to which traditional politics are being disrupted in the age of Brexit and Trump. 'Philosophical Fight Club' will see a panel ponder questions on population growth, global terrorism and ethical consumption. Finally, 'What the Hell?' will offer an in-depth discussion of Margaret Atwood's feminist novel The Handmaid's Tale and the uncomfortable timeliness of the current television adaptation. As for who'll be doing the talking, guests of the festival will include lawyer and human rights advocate Julian Burnside, Teen Vogue columnist Lauren Duca, federal MP Tim Wilson, and comedian, musician and transgender rights campaigner Jordan Raskopoulos.
You've watched the films on the big screen, bought the toys, and maybe even tied the knot in a Princess Leia costume. Even if you've only done one of the above, you're bound to get excited about Brisbane's latest eatery. Yes, it's Star Wars-themed. In fact, the forthcoming addition to Queen Street in the CBD doesn't just take its cues from George Lucas' space opera saga, but from Eddie Izzard's famous joke about just what Darth Vader and his cronies might eat on board the Death Star. No one can answer that question for sure — Izzard reckons the ungodly combo of peas and penne — but the Death Star Canteen is going to have a whole lot of fun trying. You cannot kill catering with a thought here. Thank Glen Morris — aka the main man behind Glen’s Espresso — for making this pop culture dream a reality. In his vision of the most notorious place in a galaxy far, far away, coffee and sandwiches will be on the menu. We're not sure if the trays will be dried properly though, let's give it a look... Wait. This one's wet, and this one's wet and this one's wet. This one is wet. This one is wet. This one is wet. This one is wet. This one is wet. This one is wet. This one is wet. This one is wet. Did you dry these in a rainforest, Glen? Brisbane Star Wars buffs still have two more months to wait before they can get their cinema-themed caffeine fix, but we don't think anyone will mind. If you're going to open a Death Star Canteen, there's only one day you do it: May 4, or May the Fourth be with you, as we're all fond of saying. Find the Death Star Canteen at 359 Queen Street, Brisbane from May 4. Check out their Facebook page for more information.
Ever been gettin' loose out on the town and thought, “I could destroy a round of mini-golf right now.” Procure an Argyle-patterned vest and beige slacks immediately, because the good folk at Howler are bringing us a custom-made nighttime mini golf course to conquer. The Howler Mini-Golf-O-Rama, which will feature nine holes each complete with a classic theme (think windmills, volcanos and jungles, classic mini-golf), is opening on Sunday, July 26 at Brunswick’s beloved bar and will run until August 3. To use the course, all you have to do is turn up to Howler after 5pm, buy yourself and/or your golfing buddies a drink and choose your putter. The course will be set up in what was once Howler’s bandroom, and to keep the good times flowing, guest DJs will pump up the jams (and hopefully play a non-stop dubstep remix of Lee Carvallo’s putting challenge. In fact, consider this an official request). The course will also be open from 1pm on Saturday 1 August and Sunday 2 August for those who enjoy a spot of weekend afternoon putting. Now, let’s all dig out our Happy Gilmore VHS’s and prepare to just taaaap it in.
Find out what a late night party looks like when Elizabeth Rose is in charge. The beats-cranking Sydneysider is curating a trio of discotheques, the first of which is locked in for Sydney's Civic Hotel, with the final two hitting Melbourne's Boney and Brisbane's Brightside over the Easter Weekend. For each party, she's inviting her favourite local DJ talent to commandeer the decks, kicking off shenanigans before Rose delivers her own midnight set. It's high time Rose celebrated. Over the past twelve months, this young producer's been racking up one impressive achievement after another. First, FBi Radio named her 'Next Big Thing', then QANTAS gave her its 'Spirit of Youth' prize, and then her second EP reached #1 — on both the iTunes AU Electronic chart and triple j. In the meantime, she was singing on tracks for Flight Facilities and The Aston Shuffle. All of that led to Universal Publishing snapping the young DJ up with a publishing deal. So she's throwing you a party. What a legend.
The 2015 Melbourne Fringe Festival is very nearly upon us. The longest-running independent arts festival in town, this year's Fringe will run from September 16 to October 4, and will feature more than 400 events across 174 venues. It's a veritable cultural frenzy, and try as you might, you just can't see it all. Below, we've put together a list of ten essential shows, to help ensure you have the best fest you possibly can.
A long, hot, Melbourne summer deserves a proper Melbourne send-off, and how better to do that, than with a series of free music events? To squeeze a little extra goodness out of the sunny season, the folks at Rosé Rosé are set to host a three-week boutique music series called Wine Not?, complete with an all-Aussie lineup of wines, beers, cocktails and top DJs. Held in conjunction with the Arts Centre's new exhibition The Australian Music Vault, the event will take over the centre's ground floor al fresco space, The Barre on Friday and Saturday nights from March 9. WAT Artists has pulled together a banging musical lineup for the occasion, with the likes of Harvey Sutherland, Oscar Key Sung, Andras, Fantastic Man and Nite Fleit promising to have punters dancing their way through March. Alongside the tunes, expect a carefully curated, locally focused bar offering, with cocktails from Melbourne Martini, brews from Grand Ridge and Rosé Rosé's own lightly sparkling rosé cans. There'll also be a rose-themed light show, a lounge area for chilling out under the stars, and easy access to The Australian Music Vault, for when those DJ tunes inspire you to dig a little deeper into the Aussie music story. Wine Not? will run from 5–11pm on March 9, 10, 16, 17, 23 and 24.
Potatoes are glorious — whether they're deep-fried, mashed or baked. You know it, we know it, Eat Pierogi Make Love knows it. And this Polish diner up in Brunswick East is giving the humble spud all the attention it deserves by creating a new potato-packed menu that's only available for one weekend. On Saturday, August 17 and Sunday, August 18, carb lovers can descend on Eat Pierogi Make Love to sample some of the 12 starchy dishes mostly made just for the weekend. This includes a fist-sized potato dumpling stuffed with slow-cooked beef, smoked cheese and caramelised onion; a layered potato bake with bacon, cheese and Polish smoked sausages; and jalapeño, potato and vegan cheese pierogies served with vegan sour cream and dill. The crew has even dreamed up a potato cocktail for the evening. The Apple of the Earth Sour is an apple vodka cocktail amped up with frothy sweet potato syrup and potato chips. Shots of potato vodka are also on the cards for those looking to have a real 'tater bender.
If you love Japanese food and you love your gin, put your hands together for what could be your event of the year. As part of Four Pillars' Bloody Midwinter Gin Fest, the guys are teaming up with Melbourne Japanese diner Yakimono for a special winter feast, guaranteed to warm the cockles of your heart. This one's running for one night only on Tuesday, July 11. Not only will you be sipping gin and swapping stories with Four Pillars founders, Stu Gregor and Cam Mackenzie, but you'll also be tucking into a flame-licked menu, courtesy of executive chef Daniel Wilson. [caption id="attachment_883543" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Yakimono[/caption] Expect dishes like gin-glazed, chargrilled chicken skewers, gin-cured kingfish sushi, and a range of signature cocktails. There'll also be plenty of Four Pillars' famous Bloody Shiraz gin doing the rounds, plus a sneaky taste of their latest creation. Tickets for this one will set you back $145 per person, but that includes plenty of drinks, and trust us, you won't be leaving hungry. Spots are limited though, so don't hang about. For more info on the Bloody Midwinter Gin Fest, including all the various cocktail classes, restaurant pop-ups, and distillery takeovers, check out the festival program. Images: supplied, Yakimono.
CBD barbecue tragics, you won't have to venture to Collingwood for a bit o' Bluebonnet this autumn. Melbourne's barbecue experts are taking over from Huxtaburger at the John Curtin Hotel. It's the first pop up Bluebonnet have had in the CBD since before they opened their permanent location in Collingwood, and marks the second residency for the Curtin's 'Kitchen in Residence' pop-up series. Bluebonnet will be open seven days a week for lunch and dinner at the Curtin from Friday, May 1, serving up their best smoked Riverina angus brisket, smoked porter braised beef cheek and Berkshire pulled pork for four months. Expect Bluebonnet's applauded seasonally-changing menu before gigs or for office lunches, with all the meats paired with guindilla, cheddar and confit garlic cornbread or apple and kohlrabi slaw. And here's something huge, Bluebonnet's pillowy buns are on the menu (they're usually only used at festivals). Known for its solid lineup of gigs (recent slam dunks include Dick Diver, Smith Street Band and Boomgates), the Curtin is a perfect choice for the music-lovin' Bluebonnet team. This marks a more inner-city push than their recent opening in Geelong, joining forces with the Workers Club to bring live music and barbecue to the townspeople. Head on down to 29 Lygon Street for the Bluebonnet Curtin pop-up, open from Friday, May 1. Open Mon to Wed 5–10pm, Thurs and Fri 12–10pm, Sat and Sun 5–10pm.
A cafe, a roastery, a bakery, eggplant katsu okonimiyaki and Belgian waffle balls — if you pop by Nicholson Street right now, you'll find all that (and a big queue) at one venue. Au79's mammoth 200-seater is just one ambitious cafe to open in Melbourne within the last six months. From South Yarra's all-day eatery doing brunch in the morning and pizza at night, to Fitzroy's new breakfast tapas joint, Melbourne's cafe culture has become somewhat less easily defined than in recent years — in many ways, more dramatic. With so many openings hitting the city in a six-month period, we whittled it down to our favourite newcomers raising the bar for Melbourne's caffeine scene. Well, our favourites so far — there's still another six months to go.
FOMO — Australia's clash-free, one-day summer festival — is back for a fourth year. This year, it's making its return to Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide, and bringing the full festival to Melbourne for the first time ever. Leading the program is famed American-Trinidadian rapper Nicki Minaj, who released her high-energy, highly acclaimed fourth album Queen just last month — which features everyone from The Weeknd to Ariana Grande, Eminem and Lil Wayne. Hot on her heels is Mississippi's Rae Sremmurd, the hip-hop trio best-known for its chart-topping hit 'Black Beatles' made in collaboration with Gucci Mane. Meanwhile, Florida's Lil Pump is heading Down Under for the first time, bringing hits 'Gucci Gang', 'Esskeetit' and songs from his yet-to-be released album Harvard Dropout, and electro music producer Mura Masa will break up the hip hop and rap with his disco tunes. Also on the schedule is Kali Uchis, making her Australian debut and performing hits off her widely acclaimed album Isolation, along with the mononymous avant-garde Sophie, Australia's own Anna Lunoe, and Dutch experimental artist San Holo, among others. FOMO will kick off on Brisbane's Riverstage on Saturday, January 5, before moving to Parramatta Park in Sydney, on Saturday, January 12, and then to Melbourne's Flemington Racecourse on Sunday, January 13. Pre-sales start at 10am local time on Wednesday, September 5 and general sales at 10am local time on Thursday, September 6. $1 from every sale is going to refugee charity Asylum Seeker Resource Centre and, if you can't afford your ticket in one fell swoop, you can opt for a payment plan, which lets you pay it off via monthly instalments. Only available for festivalgoers in Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne. Here's the full lineup. FOMO 2019 LINEUP Nicki Minaj Rae Sremmurd Lil Pump Mura Masa Kali Uchis San Holo Anna Lunoe Sophie Cosha Carmouflage Rose Just A Gent MIMI triple j Unearthed winners FOMO 2019 DATES Saturday, January 5 — Riverstage, Brisbane Sunday, January 6 — Elder Park, Adelaide Saturday, January 12 — Parramatta Park, Sydney Sunday, January 13 — Festival Hall, Melbourne FOMO will take place in January 2019. Tickets go on sale this week. For more info, visit fomofestival.com.au. FOMO image: Mitch Lowe
Meredith is a festival where you're guaranteed to have a good time, no matter what. But whatever your reasons for heading to the three-day December festival in central Victoria, you won't be disappointed with the acts Aunty Meredith has just announced for this year's lineup. Indigenous 'bush band' Mumbali will be making the trip from Numbulwar in regional NT, and local musician Laura Jean (who recently got the seal of approval from Lorde via Twitter before she deleted all her social posts) will be making her first appearance at The Sup. Aussie acts including Sampa The Great, Pond, Mildlife and The Presets will complement international talent, like Zanzibar-born Mim Suleiman, who will bring a collision of afrobeats disco, deep house and soul to Meredith from the UK. This year's also full of throwbacks. The Pixies' Kim Deal will bring twin sister Kelley and her band The Breeders to play from the band's new album (and hopefully some oldies from Pod, too).Ed Kuepper will resurrect the energy of his 70s Brissie band The Saints with his new group The Aints, and Mental As Anything — which also had its heyday in the 70s — will take to the stage on Saturday afternoon. Aunty has really covered all bases here. You're wondering how you can get tickets to this aren't you? Meredith tickets are only available by entering the ballot. You can still do so at here up until 10.28pm on Tuesday, August 14. Fingers crossed that we can all hang out in The Sup on December 7, 8 and 9. But we know what you're really here for. We'll cut to the chase. Here's the lineup — and we're promised a few more are still to be announced. MEREDITH MUSIC FESTIVAL 2018 LINEUP The Breeders Billy Bragg The Presets Yaeji Sampa The Great Panda Bear The Founding Father of House Lil Louis Laura Jean Pond DJ Jnett Mambali Montero Nadia Rose The Aints! The Pharcyde Mildlife Mental As Anything Roza Terenzi The Native Cats Mim Suleiman Tourist Kid Time For Dreams Zeitgeist Freedom Energy Exchange DJ Lady Erica Scott & Charlene's Wedding The Seven Ups (more to be announced) Meredith Music Festival will return to Meredith on December 7–9, 2018. Onsite camping will once again be available from Friday. To put your name in the ballot to get your hands on tickets, go to 2018.mmf.com.au. Image: Steve Benn.
Find out what's new in the world of digital technology when Pause Fest returns for its sixth consecutive year. Setting up once again at Federation Square, this homegrown festival brings together some of the country's brightest minds for an entire week of talks, workshops, networking events, screenings and installations. With more than 60 free and ticketed events on the docket, you shouldn't have any trouble finding something that grabs your interest. Among the speakers at this year's conference will be representatives from Google, Telstra, Crumpler, VICE Media and Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, discussing the future of everything from telecommunications to transport. Other highlights include the Startup Expo, a virtual reality activation on the Federation Square screen, an audio walk along the banks of the Yarra, and a presentation by Adriana Gascoigne, founder of Girls in Tech. For the complete Pause Fest program, as well as information on ticketing, visit pausefest.com.au.
Melbourne is getting a pair of brand new breakfast spots with a serious amount of mojo. Opening this week on Hardware Street in the CBD, with a second location in Balwyn soon to follow, White Mojo is serving up one of the most insane menus we've seen in quite some time. Do things like vacuum sealed watermelon and croissant burgers float your boat? In that case, you're looking in the right place. Open for breakfast and lunch Monday through Saturday, the options at White Mojo's city location are enough to make even the most journeyed Melbourne brunch-o-philes take note. Their signature burger is filled with tempura soft shell crab, pickled cucumber, chipotle mayonnaise and a fried egg, and did we already mention that it's served in a croissant!? Ascend to the CRUNCHIEST of all the levels of mouth heaven, with a crispy soft shell crab, engulfed by one very hungry croissant.👌 👌 👌 P.S. We're open 8am-5pm on ANZAC Day. A photo posted by White Mojo (@whitemojo) on Apr 22, 2016 at 2:47pm PDT Other standout menu items include waffles with lemon curd, meringue and freeze-dried berries, nutritionist approved coconut smoothie bowls, and cauliflower pannacotta with Canadian scallops, potato popcorn and black pudding dust, served in a smoke-filled glass kalosh. Your caffeine fix at White Mojo is a Sumatran blend, with the baristas using different grinders for milk and black coffee. Alternatively you can get a Matcha latte served hot or cold, or stock up on Vitamin C with a glass of fresh pressed OJ. White Mojo Balwyn, meanwhile, is expected to open in the next few weeks, with the owner promising a menu that is "90 percent the same as the CBD location with a few tweaks and changes to suit the area". White Mojo can be found at 115 Hardware Street, Melbourne. For more information and to stay up to date on their Balwyn location, visit facebook.com/whitemojocafe. Images: Simon Shiff.
It's that time of the year when we're starting to see the fantastical glimmer of sun-soaked activities on the horizon. Leading the charge is Mornington Peninsula's VineHop, which is back for its seventh run on Saturday, November 30. Headlining this festival? Standout Victorian booze. Yet again, The Briars wildlife sanctuary in Mount Martha is the main hub for VineHop, hosting 17 drinks producers, 13 food trucks, five shopping stalls and a series of DJs and bands. Here, you can even get tattoos, make fragrances and candles, have a tarot reading, or let one of the beauty stalls cover your face and arms in glitter and jewels. Start your day here, before jumping on the provided shuttles that'll take you off to the six participating vineyards and orchards that are each hosting their own music, food and drinks. Think of it as the ultimate booze crawl. You'll hit up Mock Red Hill, Bayview Estate, Hickinbotham of Dromana, Stump Gully, Dromana Estate and Phaedrus Estate. These venues will be pumping out their own brews, plus host a stack of other drinks producers. Wine, beer, cider and spirits are all on the menu for VineHop, so be sure to plan your day accordingly — will you go wine before beer or liquor before wine? Really, it's all up to you as you can decide when to hop on and off the shuttles, creating your own summertime adventure. And to make sure there's no fighting over who has to be the designated driver, the VineHop crew have even organised buses to and from The Briars festival hub — going to Seaford, Mornington and Rosebud. Just make sure you get tickets fast as the first and second releases have already sold out.
Part cafe, part greengrocer, Abbotsford's latest eatery is open for business. Located at 197 Vere Street, just a five-minute stroll from Collingwood Station, Mavis the Grocer is the latest venture from the team behind Lazer Pig Pizza and the Grace Darling Hotel, and is promising locally-sourced food in comfy surrounds. The menu at Mavis keeps things close to home, with a commitment to seasonal, local, sustainable and organic produce — and it's not just all talk. Their food scraps are reused as compost, all their packaging is eco-friendly, and they even have a veggie garden in the courtyard out back. Likewise, their suppliers are chosen based on their environmental practices, with the added aim of keeping food mileage to a minimum. All the produce on the menu is also available for purchase, from free range eggs to homemade condiments and freshly-baked bread. If you're planning on eating in, breakfast options range from simple (homemade muesli with vanilla yoghurt and poached quince) to more substantial (omelette with crush potatoes, leek, gruyere, chickpea shoots and chilli oil), while for lunch you can dig into a range of salads and sandwiches (slow-roasted pork belly with fennel, apple and mayo sounds like a winner, although it's hard to pass up a toastie with ham hock and cheddar). Coffee by Seven Seeds comes in a house blend or seasonal single origin. Alternatively, you can opt for a mug of organic tea. Summer seems like the season for their array of cold pressed juices and smoothies, or you can get in on the latest health beverage craze with a March Hare kombucha. They also offer a small selection of beers and wines, because brunch. Mavis the Grocer is open 8am – 8pm daily. For more information visit www.mavisthegrocer.com.au Via Good Food.
Road trips are an idealised summertime activity, but when the heats eases in Autumn there's really no better time to be in the car for extended periods of time. If you do it right, you come away with good friends and esoteric stories which will never be understood properly by people who weren't there. But it's equally possible for road trips to turn hellish and monotonous. That's not what you want - that's not what anybody wants. So we have compiled a list of tips to help you on your way and make sure you have the kind of road trip which will remind you of the wind and sunshine in your hair, shared memories and in-jokes. WHEELS So this seems a superfluous point, but if you're going to go on a road trip you need a car, and if you don't have one then you've got yourself a problem. Once you've got the car, make sure it's one that everybody knows how to drive. Nobody likes being the only manual driver in a car full of stricken automatic-only drivers. You should also do all the practical things like get the oil, tyres and water checked before you leave, and make sure you've got back-ups in case of emergency, especially if you're trying to look like you know your stuff about cars. Bigger cars are better for road trips, especially if you've got friends with ample hips or ridiculously long legs. And for the love of God, make sure the car has air con. A GREAT DESTINATION Jumping in a car and heading nowhere might sound very Kerouac-esque for an hour or so, but in the end you're going to want to be heading somewhere. Holiday houses and camping grounds are all good, although there's a high likelihood a music festival might be your destination this autumn. If that's the case, be patient and anticipate that you will have to wait in a queue for six hours on a backed up country road and be forced to pee in the bushes in direct view of many headlights. MAPS Getting lost is not half the fun. The person who says it is needs to be ejected immediately from the vehicle. You probably have a GPS, but bear in mind that the GPS is not infallible. You need a map. A map in this instance is defined as a proper map you purchase from anywhere good maps are sold, not scrawled notes copied from Google Maps your barely literate friend drew on the back of a phone bill. CREW Be wise and consider precisely which of your friends and loved ones you're going to enjoy being in a cramped, confined space with for potentially several days. It's also a good idea to make sure there's not going to be anybody overly-familiar with their sense of personal space, particularly if they have personal hygiene issues. There's nothing more awkward than finding yourself on a road trip with a couple who have recently broken up and still have unresolved issues. CONVERSATION Once you've exhausted your witty high school stories, politics, childhood traumas and the ever-fascinating subject of who's having sex with whom, complex philosophical questions are always a good bet. Questions such as 'which of your legs could you do without' and 'would you rather punch Kyle Sandilands or Miranda Devine in the face' are good starting points. MONEY Money is a general necessity in all areas of life, but when we say 'money' here we mean the multi-coloured pieces of paper marked with numbers the ATM is wont to dispense. This is crucial because ATMs can be scarce in the bush, and on a road trip sharing is of the utmost importance. SNACKS It's a given that everyone is obliged to bring a lot of sugar on a road trip. Minties, Snakes and all things that once delighted you in children's birthday party bags are right and necessary when on the road. Hot chips with tomato sauce sold by old ladies with facial hair in country towns are also awesome. It's uncanny how the shops saying 'Best Pies in Grafton' actually do sell the best pies in Grafton. MUSIC If you've got one of those whatsits that plug your iPod into the car's stereo system, you're sweet. If you don't have one of those, however, you're going to want a couple of good mixtapes, or, more accurately, mix CDs. '60s pop songs, '80s power ballads and '90s rap should all be considered in the choice of music. You want to have songs that are going to remind you of the trip for years to come, an underlying theme for your future reminiscing, if you will. RIDICULOUS APPAREL Questionable fashion choices are a mandatory on the road. Nothing makes you feel more alive than climbing out of the car at a truckstop wearing something outrageously fluoro and swaggering inside to get yourself a rainbow Paddlepop. Furthermore, there is no more appropriate occasion for a man to sport short shorts. Stupid sunglasses and hats are fun, but bear in mind they might enrage Mick Taylor-types on the roads. SUNSCREEN Often overlooked in the relative shelter of a moving car, sunscreen is necessary for anybody with an arm in close proximity to a window. You don't want to get sunburnt, and unevenly sunburnt at that, while sitting in the car. More to the point, nothing will ruin your holiday more than being so sunburnt you have to wear shapeless kaftans with long sleeves and not being able to sleep at night because it hurts so bad.
Look, up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! Wait, no it's actually... a bacon and egg muffin? Today only, Micky D's on Elizabeth Street have teamed up with aerial food delivery service Jafflechutes to literally rain down breakfast food from the sky. The high-flying offer is part of a marketing push surrounding the rollout of McDonalds' new all-day breakfast menu. From 3pm until 5pm this afternoon, piping hot McMuffins will be launched from the rooftop of the Maccas at 11-15 Elizabeth Street, floating via parachute down into the laneway next door, where hungry Melburnians can catch them in their mouths. Or, y'know, their hands. But really, where's the fun in that? Alternatively, might we recommend bringing a large sack of some kind? The view from here! Drop time is 3PM right near the Maccas on Elizabeth and Flinders. Bring your friends! Your cute dogs! Your depleted myki cards! Your parachute catching skills! Posted by Jafflechutes on Tuesday, December 1, 2015 To be honest, we're not normally all that hot on the golden arches, but we can't deny the appeal of flying food. And if bowing down beneath the golden arches is what it takes to make our dreams of living in a live action version of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs a reality...so be it. We'd also like to take this time to reiterate the fact that Jafflechutes are awesome. Any company whose business model involves tying tiny parachutes to sandwiches will always get our tick of approval.
To farewell winter for another year, the team at Welcome to Thornbury is bringing back one of its most intuitive warming weekend events — a mini festival dedicated to mulled wine and hot cheese. Following a successful run in August, the party returns to the High Street food truck park from noon, Saturday, September 1, pulling together a selection of hot, gooey creations from some of the city's favourite cheese-slinging vendors. This is where all your cheesiest dreams come true, chowing down on lush cheese fondue from Frencheese, mulled wine doughnut balls from Jamm'd, cheesy pierogi from Pierogi Pierogi, a raclette burger from the folks at Mr Burger, and other treats from the likes of The Cheese Rebels, Happy Camper Pizza, Smooth Toastie and Pasta Face. Of course, you won't find a better drink match to all that rich, melty dairy than some hot, spiced booze, so the bar will be rounding out its usual offerings with six different mulled wines. Available all day, you'll be apple to pick from mulled wine spiked with apple pie, chilli chocolate or cherry — amongst others. If you want to go all out, that's available to you in the form of a cheese and wine degustation. Four cheeses from Cornelius Cheese paired with four hot and spicy wines — and it'll set you back $35.
NGV International will again play host to a series of Sunday afternoon parties, as the appropriately named Summer Sunday series returns to the gallery in 2017. Spanning four consecutive weekends in February, the free summer shindigs in the NGV Garden will feature performances from the likes of CAMP COPE and Ali Barter, along with sets by an array of local DJs. Throw in tasty treats and ice cold bevos, and your Sundays are well and truly sorted. The sessions run 1pm to 6pm every Sunday, beginning on February 5. That first date will see Gabriella Cohen take the stage, followed by Ali Barter on February 12, Emma Russack of February 19, and CAMP COPE on February 26. "The National Gallery of Victoria is pleased to once again invite visitors to experience some of Melbourne's most talented emerging performers in the unique setting of the NGV Garden," said NGV director Tony Ellwood in a statement announcing the lineup. But it won't just be musicians taking over the NGV Gardens. The space will also feature an Asahi pop-up bar, along with food vendors such as Gelato Messina, who'll serve up a new sweet creation every Sunday.
Dark and debaucherous banquets from Bompas and Parr, immersive art sleepovers at Cradle Mountain and all the demon purging and ceremonial death dances you could want in a festival. Dark Mofo is back for 2015. Centred around the winter solstice and running June 12-22, MONA's annual June festival celebrates the Neolithic-started tradition over ten days of weird and wonderful art, performance, music and happenings around Hobart. Last year's festival attracted more than 130,000 Mofos, and with this year's lineup, they're looking at a lot more pilgrims. Coinciding with MONA's huge Marina Abramovic retrospective Private Archaeology, this year's Dark Mofo is deeper, creepier and darker than ever before — with art, food, music and performance pioneered by 250 artists from around the world. For one of the biggest events of the festival, the brave and adventurous at heart will want to lock in June 15-17 for a two-night immersive art experience sleepover within Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park. That's right. Immersive art sleepover. It's called Wild At Heart and is curated by the Unconscious Collective (Motel Dreaming). British jellymongers and universally applauded food artists Bompas and Parr are hosting a full-on, debaucherous banquet. Huge. And Melbourne contemporary artist Ash Keating will open an exhibition called Remote Nature Response as part of the whole WAH shebang. Music-wise, Dark Mofo is as brooding and gloomy as ever at Hobart's historic Odeon Theatre, with already-leaked, heartbreaking headliners Antony and the Johnsons leading the charge with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. British art-pop collective The Irrepressibles are also locked in, alongside Arkansas experts in doom metal Pallbearer. Seattle's 'horror-country' rocker King Dude will be there, as well as German industrial dance outfit Oake. There's plenty of Australians in the bunch too, from The Drones' brooding folkster Gareth Liddiard to Melbourne's '60s-inspired crooner Brous and performance vocalist Kusum Normoyle, modern day Divinyls-like Sydneysiders The Preatures, Hobart's eclectic pop group Tiger Choir and Melburnian chillwave must-see Klo. Also hailing from Melbourne, gloomy electronica artist Jake Blood and frenetic rock outfit My Disco. Then there’s Japan's electro-conducting EYE, who will be premiering new work CIRCOM, especially for Dark Mofo, presented by Red Bull Music Academy. Immersive art and experimental theatre fans, you'rve got plenty to look forward to. Dark Mofo set to unveil a brand new festival precinct dubbed 'Dark Park' at Hobart's Macquarie Point. Huge public artworks will invade the park, from a high-octane Fire Organ by German chemo-acoustic engineer Bastiaan Maris with producer Duckpond, to a Night Ship cruising around the river, and a full-body sonic massage immersion of Bass Bath by Melbourne’s Byron J. Scullin in collaboration with Supple Fox. Virginia Woolf’s Orlando will be performed by Victoria’s THE RABBLE theatre company at the Theatre Royal (Australia’s oldest theatre) and you'll find a dark take on Roald Dahl's The Witches at Salamanca Arts Centre’s Peacock Theatre. Plus, you won't want to miss Dark Mofo's new late-night ceremonial death dance Blacklist curated by Supple Fox. We don't even know what that means. Those keen to lose themself in a dark, dark cinema have plenty of Nordic dark folkloric films to sink their teeth into. North Hobart’s century-old State Cinema is presenting a super niche series featuring A Second Chance, A Spell to Ward off the Darkness, Down Terrace, A Field in England, Partisan, Severed Ways: The Norse Discovery of America, Valhalla Rising and more, curated Nick Batzias and James Hewison. Dark Mofo Films will also see the red carpet world premiere of Tasmanian-filmed Foxtel adult drama series The Kettering Incident at the Odeon. Last but not least, we feast. Dark Mofo's annual bacchinalian food festival returns to Princes Wharf Shed 1 — the ever-anticipated Winter Feast. Guest chefs Jake Kellie, Martin Boetz, Sean Moran, Mike McEnearney and O Tama Carey and the Mona Source restaurant team head five nights of feasting and performance, culminating in a Balinese ogoh-ogoh parade to purge all those demons and burn all those fears. Really. Then there's the annual Nude Solstice Swim — nothing like an early morning swim in Tasmanian water to cure your Mofo hangover. Dark Mofo runs June 12-22 in various locations across Hobart, Tasmania. Tickets are on sale from 10am Monday, April 20 from here. Registration for tickets for Antony and the Johnsons with the TSO over here. Images: Beth Evans, Matt Glastonbury.
Eggplant chips, duck quesadilla and brekkie chicken lasagna. They're all on the menu at new Melbourne café, Eden’s Backyard. Having opened on the stretch of Nicholson Street between Johnston Street and Alexandra Parade just a fortnight ago, this new eatery is already attracting the inner north's ravenous hordes. Calling itself a 'modern brunch cafe', Eden’s specialises in just that — the lazy, hazy space between breakfast and lunch. But you won’t find any old run-of-the-mill Western meals here. Nearly every dish is spiced up with a touch of Asian fusion and a dash of creativity. The duck quesadilla ($21) is a tortilla filled with a roast duck fillet, caramelised onion, roasted peppers and mozzarella, while the brekkie chicken lasagne ($18) is made up of chicken ragu, light béchamel sauce, sautéed spinach, ricotta, mozzarella and, to ensure its ‘brekkie-ness’, fried eggs. Meanwhile, sweet tooths can get stuck into Kev’s secret French toast ($19), a decadent mountain of Nutella, vanilla poached pear, blueberries, strawberries, caramel sauce and brioche; or the pancake stack ($15), which comes with mixed berry compote, honey mascarpone, green tea ice cream, maple syrup, Oreo and peanut crumbs. You’ll find the rest of the menu on the Eden’s Backyard Facebook page. As the name suggests, the cafe aims to provide a bit of an oasis on an otherwise barren, busy street. On the outside, visitors are greeted with a mossy vertical garden and winding vines, while inside, there’s an emphasis on natural colours and textures. Find Eden’s Backyard at 161-163 Nicholson Street, Carlton. It's open Tuesday to Friday, 7.30am-4pm; Saturday-Sunday, 8.30am-4pm; and is closed on Monday.
Throw on your formal orange jumpsuit for an evening in the slammer. The one-time home to some of the worst offenders in Australian penal history, the Old Melbourne Gaol is undergoing a one-night transformation, into a gin-guzzling pop-up bar. And really, it makes sense. After all, what makes people want to party harder than the thought of going to prison? The Gin Bar is actually the latest in a series of prison pop-ups, organised by the folks at the Australian National Trust. See, that’s how they get you; luring you in with the promise of alcohol, and then ambushing you with a history lesson. Well played, National Trust. Well played. Entry to the pop-up starts at $40, but this comes with two complimentary drinks. An extra $10 gets you into an intimate cocktail masterclass, and food by CNK Food Design will be available to purchase.
There is nothing quite as comforting as a perfect cheese toastie. Both delicious and nostalgic, it is a go-to on any day. And luckily for us, Maker & Monger will once again elevate the toastie experience with the fifth instalment of its famed Friends of Fromage series. Every Saturday, from August 31–September 28, Melbourne's favourite cheese connoisseurs Maker & Monger are letting a different top Aussie chef take over its Prahran Market stall — each creating a one-of-a-kind toastie. The series will include Micha Tropp (Toddy Shop), Rosheen Kaul (ex-Etta), Shannon Martinez (Smith & Daughters), Blayne and Chayse Bertoncello (O.My), and Jeung Eun Chae (Chae). Tropp kicks it off on Saturday, August 31 with his riff on a Bombay veggie sanga, and is followed by Kaul's tuna sambal toastie on Saturday, September 7. Martinez is running the stall on Saturday, September 14, pumping out stacks of her Mexican cobb loaf, before Blayne and Chayse Bertoncello work together on their 'textures of artichoke' sandwich on Saturday, September 21. This year's Friends of Fromage ends on Saturday, September 28, when Chae whips up an epic cashew doenjang and comté toastie for the Prahran Market masses. The FOMO is real with this one pals, as these toasties have been created just for this cheesy event. If you want to sample one of them, you'll only have single day to do it.
Anyone who's ever been on a long haul drive knows that truck stop dining can be a fairly dubious proposition. We're talking soggy chips, mouldy sandwiches wrapped in gladwrap and questionable meat products that have been sitting under a heat lamp for God only knows how long. Fortunately, a new trucker-theme diner in Werribee is set to exorcise those unpleasant memories through a combination of gourmet burgers, killer cocktails and signature alcoholic milkshakes. Due to open in the west Melbourne suburb later this week, Truck Stop Deluxe is the brainchild of burger aficionados Jimmy Hurlston (Jimmy’s Burgers and Easey’s), Dani Zeini (Dandenong Pavillion and Grand Trailer Park Taverna) and Josh Lefers (Grand Trailer Park Taverna and Pawn & Co). They've teamed up with Werribee locals James Fava and Adam Toffolon, who previously operated Joe's Bar & Kitchen on the same site. While the full Truck Stop Deluxe menu isn't currently available, we do know it'll include waffles, ice-cream sandwiches, cocktails and spiked milkshakes (presumably not unlike the ones at the Grand Trailer Park, which are excellent by the way) as well as lots and lots of tasty, tasty burgers. Oh, and before we forget, the inside of the restaurant features two actual big rigs, one of which you can sit inside while you eat your meal. Don't kid yourself: you know you'll be tempted to try and recreate scenes from Smokey and the Bandit. As well you should. Truck Stop Deluxe is located at 98 Watton Street, Werribee. Their operating hours are 11:30am til late Tuesday – Sunday. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnJEeHND_lQ Via Good Food. Image: Dollar Photo Club.
When your nine-to-five plays out like a well-oiled machine, it can sometimes feel like each week is a little same-same. But Melbourne is brimming with a fine bounty of things to experience and explore each and every day. So aside from casual laziness and a little lack of inspiration, there's really nothing stopping you from squeezing some adventure and spontaneity into your schedule. We've teamed up with Mazda3 to celebrate the landmark 40th anniversary of their iconic small cars, and in turn, help you celebrate the little things that bring a sense of adventure to life. Shake things up, as we give you seven different detours to take each week in Melbourne. From Monday to Sunday, enrich your everyday with one completely achievable activity that inspires you to take the scenic route as you go about your daily routine. This week, take yourself to the movies and snack on some gelato while you're there, shout "Bingo!" at a Collingwood rave and celebrate everyone's favourite claymation cheese-loving inventor and his canine pal at ACMI's latest exhibit. Plus, we've got your future detours sorted for the new few weeks here. All require no more effort than a tiny break from the norm — what's your excuse for not trying them all?
Just when you thought Melbourne's festival calendar couldn't get any more packed, Summersalt springs into town. From January 23 - February 21 next year this monumental outdoor arts festival will be bringing you giant inflatable whales, artsy bouncy castles, roving street theatre, artworks exclusively for dogs and more. With all events taking place around Southbank and most being completely free, it's safe to say, your summer is looking just that little bit more sunny. Summersalt is the baby of all our best cultural institutions. MTC, Malthouse, ACCA, Melbourne Recital Centre, Arts Centre, VCA, Chunky Move, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, The Australian Ballet and the NGV will all be involved and it's the first kind of Melbourne event that has such high levels of collaboration. The recently announced Sugar Mountain Festival will be run in collaboration with the festival as will next year's White Night. Though the full lineup is yet to be released, what we've seen so far is definitely exciting. If you didn't catch Architects of Air's much-loved EXXOPOLIS at the Glow Winter Arts Festival, it will be back in town after its run at MONA FOMA, or you can opt to get cosy in the belly of a whale or check out the biggest human puppet in the world if you're up for something new (and slightly terrifying). This interest in large-scale, outdoor works is no coincidence — the whole aim of the festival is to draw in new audiences. Come for the giant inflatable whale, stay for the art. Some theatrical favourites from the past year will also be making a welcome return in the form of Malthouse's Blak Cabaret and MTC's Cybec Electric series of cheap play readings. The highly-acclaimed, intimate Cherry Cherry (A Dining Room Tale) will also be back in action as Neda Rahmani invites you over for a BBQ. This theatrical program is looking much stronger than the musical offerings; aside from the glorious Sugar Mountain Festival, not much has been released aside from the always beautiful MSO sessions at Sidney Myer Music Bowl. There are also a couple of odd, miscellaneous works which really stand out from this first round of events. Asking audiences to sleuth through the city and hunt down clues, Sour Times is a wholly interactive work that leads you along secret trails with the help of a special smartphone app. Or, if you'd rather bring along a furry friend, Anastasica Klose will be setting up the Farnsworth Republic for Dogs in the ACCA Forecourt. An off-leash play area of activities and luxury dog beds, the site will complement Menagerie, her new exhibition inside exploring the connection between humans and dogs. Get your calendar out now and start counting down the days. Not only is the start of the year going to be beautiful and sunny, it's going to be full of roving dogs and giant puppets. Bring it on. Summersalt Outdoor Arts Festival will run from January 23 - February 21. Read more at their website.
Off the back of the release of their second album Choose Your Weapon, Melbourne neo-soul quartet Hiatus Kaiyote are killing it this year. After wrapping up a sold-out tour around Europe and the US, they’re back on home turf and setting off around the country for a string of live shows playing their ‘multi-dimensional, polyrhythmic gangster shit’ (their words, but good ones) for local fans. The group’s 2012 debut Tawk Tomahawk earned them props from people like Prince and Pharrell, and a Grammy nod for their collab with Q-Tip ‘Nakamarra’ — a first for an Australian R&B act. Always interesting, their sound is blissful funk with broad appeal — not least for the heady vocals of majestic frontwoman Nai Palm. It’s the kind of music that has seen them on a festival bill alongside Grace Jones and Massive Attack one night, and the next playing a small gig in Paris with a 70-year-old Ethiopian jazz composer. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGlIMaw5vlU[/embed]
A brand new performing arts festival is on its way to Melbourne, featuring works by creatives from all across Asia. Running from January to April next year, the first ever Asia-Pacific Triennial of Performing Arts is a joint venture between various government entities, the Sidney Myer Fund, and a number of the city's leading cultural institutions — including the Arts Centre Melbourne, the NGV and the Australian Centre for the Moving Image. Suffice it to say, we've got big expectations. The inaugural Asia TOPA lineup includes 60 events and more than 350 artists, hailing from China, Japan, India, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and beyond. Standout shows include a special performance by the MSO featuring prolific Bollywood composer A.R. Rahman, a pop music pop-up and bar in the Immigration Museum courtyard, and the first ever Australian performance by the National Chinese Ballet of their most iconic work, The Red Detachment of Women. Many works on the program are the result of cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary collaboration. In One Beautiful Thing, acclaimed local circus company Circa will join forces with acrobats from India to showcase the centuries old gymnastic practice of mallakhamb. Meanwhile, Chunky Move choreographer Anouk van Dijk has teamed up with Singaporean visual artist Ho Tzu Nyen on the immersive new dance work ANTI GRAVITY. Also on the menu are a number of moving image works. These include a free exhibition at ACMI about the early days of Bollywood, as well as a special screening of Satan Jawa, the new film from Indonesia's Garin Nugroho, featuring a live score by the MSO and 20 gamelan players. Asia TOPA is set to take place between January and April 2017. For more information including the full program visit www.asiatopa.com.au.
Get crafty, grab a frosty and toast yourselves silly at Melbourne's Good Beer Week. This year's festival once again features a stellar line-up of events including food pairings, master brew classes and some ingeniously creative sorts, showing Australia is at the top of its beer making and celebrating game. Running from May 16-24, the festival covers a lot of ground. With over 250 events to choose from, we've hand-selected our ten favourites to make it easier for you.
In January next year Noma will open in Sydney for ten weeks. For that time it will likely be the only restaurant in Sydney entirely inspired by Australia’s native ingredients, landscape and climate. When he was here in 2010, Noma’s visionary chef Rene Redzepi said this: "I think this is the essence of great cuisine. I think that in any city they should have all the ethnic and multicultural cuisines, but I think that it's a poor culture if it doesn't have its own true, unique expression that can only be represented right there at the place." He was making a comparison between the restaurant food he’d eaten in Sydney and Melbourne and the indigenous feast he'd had in the Flinders Ranges. Redzepi was surprised that, given the incredible variety of native produce we have, no one outside of indigenous communities (and a tiny pocket of restaurants) were using them. A lot has changed since then. "After listening to Rene Redzepi's keynote address at the Sydney Opera House, I was completely inspired and left that night on a mission to track down Australian native produce which I could weave into my Cantonese cooking," says Kylie Kwong, owner and head-chef at Billy Kwong — the only restaurant in the world making traditional Cantonese food with Australian ingredients. At the moment, their latest menu includes wallaby cakes with Kakadu plum, crispy saltbush parcels and stir-fried spanner crab with a trio of native greens. Elsewhere, Adelaide's Orana has a dish of emu, plum pine and mountain pepper, while at Attica in Melbourne you'll find salted red kangaroo with pepperberries and bunya bunya, a starchy Queensland nut roughly comparable to a chestnut. With the exception of the above restaurants and a handful of others though, the use of native ingredients is rarely more than an occasional flourish — a few wattle seeds here and there, a lemon myrtle infusion or maybe a sight of warrigal greens. Finding a native vegetable, fruit or meat is an extreme rarity. You get the impression that Australia's portfolio of native ingredients is simply a short list of easily substitutable herbs and greens. [caption id="attachment_552283" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Billy Kwong[/caption] REVOLUTIONISING OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH NATIVE FOODS John Newton's been researching native ingredients for his book The Oldest Foods on Earth. The history of native Australian food, with recipes. Australia has around 6000 unique edible plants and, in South East Queensland alone, there are more than 1500 different fruiting trees, he says. "We have the most fantastic native game birds. I've tasted the magpie goose — I love duck, and it's ten times better than duck. There's the bustard, there's scrub turkey, which tastes like pheasant. Beautiful." Even if only a tenth of our native ingredients tasted any good, it would be more than enough to completely revolutionise a green grocer’s shelves or an entire restaurant menu. But that particular revolution will have to wait, as there's not nearly enough farms or even knowledge of how to farm the vast majority of those ingredients. A lot of that information was lost after Europeans first arrived and started terraforming Australia for the production of beef, wheat and wool. [caption id="attachment_552284" align="alignnone" width="960"] Quay[/caption] FARMING NATIVE FOODS Picture this: you're an enterprising land owner who wants to start a farm. Given the resources and knowledge out there, you're more likely to start growing blueberries, cabbage or some common vegetable, rather than spend several years fiddling with native ingredients that have little to no backlog of info on how to actually cultivate or propagate them. Well, this has been the life of Mike and Gayle Quarmby. The owners of native food farming and distribution initiative Outback Pride have dedicated the best part of two decades to figuring out how to grow various native ingredients on a commercial scale. "We've done an enormous amount of research, development and horticultural work to actually domesticate these native food plants to get them to perform in a sustainable way," says Mike Quarmby. When they started, the majority of native produce farming consisted of simple wild harvesting, now their business is the biggest general supplier in the native food industry. Their clients include some of Australia's most innovative restaurants, chefs and grocers — and in January they'll be supplying almost their entire range of 65 ingredients to Noma Australia. [caption id="attachment_552289" align="alignnone" width="960"] Scallops with beach succulents at Orana.[/caption] SO, WHY THE STIGMA? It’s been a tough slog for the Quarmbys to get here. Aside from their trials in horticultural adventure, Quarmby says the duo has had to battle against an entrenched negativity against indigenous produce. "Australians have an inferiority complex about everything and anything related to food. ‘If it comes from overseas it must be good’. That has had a major effect,” he says. When we talked to John Newton about this, he mentioned the experience of three of Australia's early native produce pioneers: Jean-Paul Bruneteau and his restaurant Rowntrees, and Jennice and Raymond Kersh with Edna's Table. Interestingly, this first wave of restaurateurs made a big noise about using Australian native ingredients. Newton, who was working as a food critic in the '80s when the restaurants were operating, says the restauranteurs regularly faced criticism from customers solely due to the fact that they sold indigenous ingredients. "I don't know why. You could explore that in terms of racism all that you like," he says. But Newton says the worst thing to happen to the industry was a TV show called Bush Tucker Man. "Every time he puts something in his mouth he screws up. He hated it." Quarmby gave a similar review: "All due respects to Les Hidden, but he gave the impression that you only ate bush tucker if you were starving, and it tasted like shit." Quarmby says Redzepi has proven so influential because, as a Dane, he didn't come to Australia attached to any cultural prejudice or inferiority complex around Australian ingredients and the idea of a national cuisine. And now, despite a rough past, both Quarmby and his competitors in the native food industry are witnessing rapid growth. "We can't believe the number of new restaurants — we have nine exclusive distributors around Australia and our phone is running hot. They're saying things like 'this is the easiest thing we've sold all our lives'." WHERE TO EAT NATIVE INGREDIENTS Orana 1/285 Rundle Street, Adelaide, South Australia Attica 74 Glen Eira Road, Ripponlea, Victoria Vue de Monde 55, Rialto Towers, 525 Collins Street, Melbourne, Victoria Billy Kwong 1/28 Macleay Street, Elizabeth Bay, NSW Quay Upper Level, Overseas Passenger Terminal, George & Argyle Streets, The Rocks, NSW Bennelong Sydney Opera House, Bennelong Point, Sydney, NSW Top image: Salt cured red kangaroo with bunya bunya at Attica.
There’s not much better on an icy August day than a hot bowl of pho. We know it, you know, and the folk behind the CBD pop-up Pho Real know it best. For the past week, they’ve been dishing out steaming bowl of brothy, noodle-y goodness after steaming bowl of brothy, noodle-y goodness and — here’s the twist — inviting you to choose the price. (Okay, so we’ve had the whole pay-as-you-wish deal going on around town for a little while now, but have we ever had it with pho? Didn’t think so.) The Pho Real team’s 12-hour slowly cooked broth is available in chicken, beef, chicken and beef, and vegetarian varieties. So strong is the pho’s inside-warming goodness that they actually sold out on their very first day, but since then they’ve rallied to meet the CBD lunch and dinner demand. Melbourne, you pho sure know what you want. As accompaniment, they’re also dishing out crispy spring rolls and charcoal skewers of pork, chicken or beef and, to wash it all down, on-theme Bia Saigon and cans of Southeast Asian sarsaparilla soft drink Sarsi. (Though know that these other Vietnamese-style treats are priced — the generous pay-what-you-want scheme is only pho your pho.) Sadly, as is the nature of pop-up deals like this, the pho-fest won’t last pho ever. Pho Real will be here warming our chilled winter hearts until next Tuesday 11 August. Don’t pho-get to get on down. Pho Real is open every day for lunch from 11-3pm and dinner from 5pm till late, at 11 Liverpool St, Melbourne.
Long-deprived vegetarians, today's your day to high five a stranger, hug a disinterested cat, throw flowers from your shitty morning bus, dance merrily to your 9am. Today, IKEA Australia announced the launch of its long-awaited veggie Swedish meatball, consisting only of vegetables. AW. YEH. That's right, vegetarians can now partake in the glorious Swedishery that is IKEA's famed meatballs. The new ball is called GRÖNSAKSBULLAR, which sounds like a demon the Charmed sisters once battled — but this long-awaited IKEA newcomer deserves one mighty title. The new veggie balls will be rolled out (heh) in Australian IKEA store restaurants from April 27. Carnivores, if you're freaking out, don't think for a second the original meaty meaty meatballs are going anywhere. The veggie orbs of goodness will set you back $8.99 for a serving size of 10 and $3.69 for the kids’ serving size of five (plus you'll probably be able to take frozen balls home with you). “Our iconic IKEA meatballs are much loved in Australia — last year Aussies enjoyed nearly 8.5 million of them," said IKEA Australia food manager Simone Fowler. "The new veggie balls are a healthy, more sustainable option and form part of a move to decrease the impact of our food offering on the environment. Producing this meat free product will help cut our carbon emissions by half.” Overall, IKEA's aiming for a more sustainable food offering, acknowledging the lower environmental impact veggie-only balls have in comparison to their ambiguous meatballs. As Fowler said, the newbies will lower IKEA's carbon footprint too. It's part of their new campaign to promote for more environmentally-friendly, healthy and more ethically-produced food products — called the 'IKEA People and Planet Positive Strategy'. So IKEA's not only producing sweet veggie balls, but taking a long hard look at all their instore food. Meat-eating haters gonna hate. This is a victorious day for IKEA-lovin' veggos who've watched their buds enjoy dollar hot dogs and sweet, sweet meatballs on every furniture run.
What do you get when you take a southeast Asian-style hawker market, give it fresh, neon-lit designer digs and throw in some modern technology? Well, Melbourne is about to find out, when HWKR opens its doors in the CBD this February. Taking over a contemporary space beneath A'Beckett Street's Eq. Tower, HWKR is set to deliver a dining experience pretty unique to Melbourne. Its four permanent kitchens will play host to a rotation of Asian food vendors, with residencies from some of the world's top chefs already in the works for the opening year. Tenants will take over the kitchens for three months at a time, each plating up a menu of signature fare alongside one exclusive HWKR dish. Meanwhile, on-site cafe ManyMore — run by local not-for-profit group the MAI Foundation — will be slinging coffees daily, with all its profits heading to charity. The space will feature loads of seating options throughout, including a stacked staircase along one wall, where you can soak up all the hawker buzz while chowing down on your food. Best of all, HWKR's tech-savvy setup means there'll be no scrounging for change when it comes time to pay. Diners simply download the venue's app to order their food, either from their table or before arriving, and pay via their device using the cashless and cardless systems. Among the first to give the concept a workout will be 2017 Masterchef winner Diana Chan, delivering her own riff on hawker fusion fare. She'll kick things off with the likes of traditional satay, and a lobster brioche roll oozing Singapore chilli crab sauce. HWKR will open at 137 A'Beckett Street, Melbourne in February 2018. For more info, keep an eye on hwkr.com.au. Image: Jayden Oswald.
Maybe you're old enough that you can remember where you were when you heard the news of his death 21 years ago. Maybe you grew up only ever knowing of his loss and his legend. Either way, Nirvana fan or not, Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck is essential viewing. This isn't your usual music documentary, or the standard package of talking heads, childhood photos and backstage pics — though they're all there in some shape and form. As the name suggests, this is a mosaic of his tumultuous life as it happened, drawn from the most intimate resources and largely spoken in his voice. Filmmaker Brett Morgen uses art, music, journals, home videos and audio montages provided by Cobain's family to journey, step by step, from the birth to the death of the rock icon. First he's a bright child, then a disaffected teen, a creative genius, a reluctant star, a drug-addicted celebrity and a doting father. What he rarely seems, though, is happy. Indeed, think of Montage of Heck less like a portrait of Cobain and more like his thoughts and emotions being allowed to roam free. Biographical information is included, but this is about who he really was, rather than interesting trivia. Things get dark, clearly; however, the fleshed-out image the film composes of the troubled musician is probably the most complex audiences have ever seen. Examinations of tortured artists rarely come across as quite so honest, or so genuine in peeking behind the veil of their public personas, or so willing to embrace the complications of their subjects. Morgen's style has much to do with the movie's air of authenticity, the writer, director and co-editor piecing everything together with a lived-in mood and a stitched-together look unlike the bulk of similar offerings. From animation that brings Cobain's drawings to life and scrawls his handwritten lyrics, lists and love letters onto the screen, to footage of his brand of wedded bliss with Courtney Love, to revealing chats with those who knew him best (Love, Cobain's parents and sister, his ex-girlfriend Tracey Marander and Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic), it never feels anything less than hand- and home-made. The wealth of content the feature has at its disposal is certainly astonishing, both in providing much more than a glimpse Cobain's most personal moments, and in allowing fans a few opportunities to really geek-out — such as spying his sketches for Nevermind's album cover and his suggestions for 'Smells Like Teen Spirit''s music video. That Montage of Heck is the first effort made with the support of his loved ones shows, though this is as far from a glossy tribute as you can get. It might be light on performances, but the film also has an amazing soundtrack, obviously — and the way Morgen weaves Nirvana's music into the mix is so well done, it causes goosebumps. That's the kind of reaction Montage of Heck inspires. By the time it makes it to the MTV Unplugged clips from what turned out to be one of the band's last major performances, expect your eyes to get misty. With so much said about Cobain for the past two decades, it feels fitting that a compilation of his own words actually says the most. Never basking in the cult of his fame, nor wallowing in his demise, this is Cobain being Cobain. It's not just a montage: it's a haunting, heartbreaking cinematic poem about a lost icon — and perhaps the finest music documentary of its generation.
Talking seesaws, live hypnosis and a water ballet about the menstrual cycle. Yup, Melbourne Fringe is well and truly upon us, and there's a hell of a lot to take in. Running from September 14 through to October 1 at venues all around Melbourne, this year's festival program is packed to the brim with a mix of cabaret, comedy, circus, dance, installation, music and more. Cassandra-Elli Yiannacou's play The Last Journalist on Earth explores the madness of the modern day news industry, while punters after something a little more outrageous need look no further than Betty Grumble's latest burlesque show, titled Sex Clown Saves the World. Further highlights include Completely Improvised Potter, an improv show set in the wizarding world of J.K. Rowling, and The Children's Party, a participatory art project featuring aspiring pollies between the ages of eight and 12. There'll also be a number of works from emerging Indigenous artists courtesy of the Deadly Fringe Artist Development program. For the full Melbourne Fringe program visit melbournefringe.com.au.
Beers with ramen. Beers with music. Beer with burgers and board games and bowls. Yes, Good Beer Week is upon us, and, as always, our stein runneth over. Bookended by free parties on opening and closing night, this year's boozy brouhaha features more 270 events at venues all over town. Hope your boss doesn't mind you coming into work with a hangover. Foodies will be enamoured with an array of gastronomic options, including dinners and degustations at such culinary institutions as Le Bon Ton, Fancy Hanks, Babu Ji and Milk the Cow. As it turns out, there isn't much that doesn't go well with an ice-cold beer. Or, preferably, several ice-cold beers. You'll also find plenty of ways to keep yourself entertained, from trivia nights to block parties to a circus show at Hawkers Brewery. We just hope the acrobats stay off the piss. Image: Simon Shiff.
Eating actual food from the World's 50 Best Chefs can come with a pretty hefty price tag, but this April, you'll have the opportunity to feast on their words of wisdom for a whole lot less. This year, the prestigious World's 50 Best Restaurants awards are set to take place on Aussie shores and, while most of the associated culinary fun will be reserved for industry folk, absolutely everyone's invited to catch the globe's top chefs take the stage for #50BestTalks. Hosted by commentator and ABC presenter Annabel Crabb, there are just two of these foodie events planned, happening at the Sydney Opera House on April 1 and Melbourne's Margaret Court Arena on April 3. Sydney's lineup includes appearances from Dominique Crenn (2016's World's Best Female Chef and mastermind of San Francisco's Atelier Crenn), Massimo Bottura (of 2016's World #1 Restaurant, Osteria Francescana), and our own Peter Gilmore, whose restaurant Quay ranked #98 in last year's awards. On sale from tomorrow, February 15, tickets for both events start at a tidy $30. That said, if you fancy splashing out, $119 VIP tickets will also nab you entry to a post-event canapé function and the opportunity for a meet and greet with some of the chefs.
To get a sense of Benedict Cumberbatch's Dr Stephen Strange, first picture in your mind Hugh Laurie's character from House. Tall and lanky, with a gravelly voice begging to be coughed into clarity and an unyielding arrogance that offends all who meet him, House is the super surgeon whose primary demon is his crippling fear of failure. To get, then, from House to Strange, just add a pinch of traumatic injury, mix in some eastern healing and meditation, and serve it up with a magical cape and the ability to manipulate space and time. Okay, yes, that's quite a leap, but as a departure from the last thirteen superhero flicks from Marvel Studios, Doctor Strange is as refreshing as it is successful. Strange's transformation from surgeon to sorcerer is an altogether conventional one – a Matrix-style 'forget everything you know' sequence comprised of training, studying and martial arts under the guidance of a mystical Tibetan monk named The Ancient One (a fantastic turn by Tilda Swinton). Driven by a solipsistic determination to heal his wounded hands, Strange's focus slowly shifts to larger matters – chiefly, saving the world – as his psychadellic journey of discovery reveals a multiverse of infinite possibilities and supernatural threats that only sorcerers can repel. As one character explains, the Avengers deal with threats on earth, but threats to the earth? That's where these guys come in. Like Ant-Man before it, Doctor Strange offers a more intimate, individual tale compared to the ensemble juggernauts of The Avengers and Captain America. That's not to say it's a small-scale production, however. Visually, this is Inception dialled up to eleven, a world-bending, shape-shifting and time-distorting Escher painting filled with heroes and villains duelling over the possibility of immortality. As always, there are Marvel's well-timed comic touches, as well as a pair of end-credit scenes (so do stay through to the very end for a hint as to Strange's next villain). A solid supporting cast boasts Rachel McAdams as Strange's love interest, Chiwetel Ejiofor as his sparring partner and Mads Mikkelsen sadly under-utilised as something of a two-dimensional villain. Wordier and more offbeat than the standard Marvel fare, Doctor Strange nonetheless rightly and proudly earns its place in the franchise's extraordinary universe, offering a visual feast unlike anything else seen this year. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSzx-zryEgM
You've seen the TV series, following an incredibly relatable tale of trying to balance work, life, love and the like. Now, see the play that inspired the show. Before Fleabag was winning TV awards all over the UK, including a BAFTA for best female performance in a comedy for writer/creator/star Phoebe Waller-Bridge, it was a similarly applauded one-woman stage piece. And it's headed to Melbourne. Actress Maddie Rice takes on the lead role as Fleabag hits Malthouse Theatre from March 28 until April 22, stepping through the story of its titular character. Fleabag's existence is perhaps best described as chaotic. Friends, family, job interviews, keeping a guinea pig-themed café afloat...they're just the beginning. The idea behind it came at one of Waller-Bridge's pal's storytelling nights, as a challenge to create a character for a ten-minute slot. If you're a fan, you'll want to see where it all began — and fill in the gap until the TV show's second season, which is expected in 2019. If you've just heard everyone talking about Fleabag, and haven't watched it yet, here's your chance to jump on board.
There were short-lived rumours that Melbourne's art and hospitality scene had reached peak saturation, but the city quickly put those to bed when its cultural ecosystem grew and flourished once again. It was a year of innovative new restaurants and bars — bigger and taller than ever before — forward-thinking events and bold spaces, pubs and cafes. And they're not all from the big players — independent ventures are flourishing. At Concrete Playground we encourage exploration and showcase innovation in our city every day, so we thought it fitting to reward those most talented vanguards pushing Melbourne to be a better, braver city. And so, we are very pleased to announce Concrete Playground's Best of 2017 Awards. As we continue to attempt to define Australian cuisine, chefs continue to push the boundaries. We've seen (and tasted) fermented calamari noodles and cod roe in choux pastry, we've climbed three levels to find some of the city's finest Japanese fare and we've eaten duck smoked by our favourite pasta experts. Bars continue to offer immersive, imaginative experiences that take you beyond their drinks lists — and late into the night, with some now serving inventive bar snacks til 3am. The cafe culture is stronger than ever, too, with new cafes not only guaranteeing a stellar cup of Joe, but also innovative lunch snacks and sleek interiors that'll really make you reconsider that desk sandwich. Pubs are now more likely to brew their beer in-house than not, and they continue to champion other local brands, artists and events. The bringing together of the art and food scene has expanded beyond pubs, with venues spending more time on their appearances, collaborating with local designers, architects and street artists to create stunning spaces. This prompted the creation of our new category, Best New Space. We've searched far and wide to find our favourite, visually stunning, innovative and sustainable spaces that are accessible to you — including shops, hotels, co-working hubs and public spaces. Event organisers have created smart and clever new events, celebrating the city's cultural ecosystem and bringing people together to dance in museums, look at innovative art and to support each other in times of hardship. This year, we will be awarding a People's Choice and Overall award in each of the following five categories: Best New Restaurant Best New Bar Best New Cafe Best New Pub Best New Event Best New Space These 36 outstanding Melbourne ventures have been handpicked by Concrete Playground for their combination of originality, innovation, creativity, approachability and sustainability. We straight-up love them. And the winners are... BEST NEW RESTAURANT OVERALL WINNER: OSTERIA ILARIA Backing up a wildly successful first restaurant with another cracker is never an easy feat, and yet the names behind cult favourite Tipo 00, have managed to hit it out of the ballpark with their new wine bar, Osteria Ilaria. Taking over the Little Bourke Street space next door to its legendary pasta bar sister, this chic newcomer complements rather than competes, steering away from Tipo 00's pure Italianness to take an even bigger bite out of Europe. The warmly-lit space nails that modern rustic feel; it's all white-painted exposed brick, with an open bar and kitchen down the length and a suave private dining room sitting up the back. And then there's the menu. It's clever enough to pitch this newbie among the Melbourne's contemporary wine bars, yet there's an easiness to the delivery that's primed for that more casual, snack-happy, after-work crowd. You don't have to dig too deep to realise that Osteria Ilaria's got all the makings of another instant classic. PEOPLE'S CHOICE: KISUMÉ The simplest way to describe Kisumé, the luxe Japanese restaurant from lauded restaurateur Chris Lucas, may be this: three storeys of considered grandeur. Its design is impressive — a Chablis bar, a Kisumé Winewall, avant-garde art — and considered attention to detail travels throughout the three levels, from the menu down to the nifty coin-sized refreshment towels that entertainingly expand when you open them. In the kitchen, there's acclaimed Korean-born chef K. S. Moon. Known the world over for his innovative flair. Moon arrived fresh from his Singapore restaurant, Mikuni, armed with some serious certifications including as an international sake sommelier. And his knife skills are impressive. Raw fish dishes are all elegant and mostly restrained, allowing the quality of the (well-sourced) produce to speak for itself. BEST NEW BAR OVERALL WINNER: LONGSONG If you believed the hype, Longsong was on track to being one of the year's best new bars long before it opened. Venture in to experience the final product and you'll be hard-pressed to disagree. A long time coming (it was first rumoured to open in November 2016), it's the latest venture from David Moyle of Hobart's Franklin. He has teamed up with Melbourne restaurateurs Lisa and John van Haandel to create a sibling venue, and upstairs neighbour, to their iconic mod-Thai haunt, Longrain. The kitchen offering is a celebration of simplicity — unfussy, but cleverly executed and more affordable than you might expect. The drinks situation proves just as tempting, whether you're in for a feed or not. Alongside all-Victorian lineups of both craft beer and wines by the glass, there's a handful of classic cocktails. There's no doubt that this one was well worth the wait. PEOPLE'S CHOICE: TOKOSAN Neon lighting, a 16-metre-long street art mural, a DJ and a karaoke room. Tokosan, an offshoot of top Sydney and Dubai fine dining establishment Toko, is more than just a bar. The pub-style Japanese menu features sticky grilled pork ribs with a jacket potato, Japanese-style chicken burgers and popcorn shrimp with spicy aioli. Ramen and udon noodle soups also make an appearance, as does sushi, and $20 all-you-can-eat Temaki Tuesdays (a type of hand-rolled sushi). Tokosan's cocktail list, named after Kill Bill characters, includes the gin, cucumber and passionfruit O-Ren Ishii, the Boss Tanaka with bourbon, apricot brandy and ginger ale, and the sake-infused Sofie Fatale. BEST NEW CAFE OVERALL WINNER: AU79 Au79 is the symbol (and atomic number) for gold on the periodic table, and it's the name of Abbotsford's new cafe. When you name your cafe after such a covetable metal, you're making quite the statement — and the team behind this ambitious eatery have certainly gone for gold in every aspect of its production. Previously an auto mechanic's garage, the 200-seat space has been radically transformed by Mim Design and now feels more like a large-scale conservatory or botanical garden fern house — it's loft and bright and filled with greenery. Executive chef Stephen Hogan worked closely with his kitchen crew to create a menu that reflects his imaginative approach to food. In addition to the kitchen there's also a bakery and patisserie run by ex-Rustica head baker Isaac Kane, and a roastery that looks after all the Au79 coffee. So you know that the cakes, tarts and breads are made in-house, as is house blend of beans from Brazil, Colombia and Guatemala. PEOPLE'S CHOICE: BAD LOVE CLUB Just like chocolate and peanut butter and croissants and coffee, cakes and cocktails seem like a match made in sweet-tooth heaven. Boozy bakery Bad Love Club certainly thinks so. The bakery has a pretty simple concept. During the day the focus is on coffee, bagels and oozy jaffles. When the sun goes down, the sugar levels go up with alcohol-infused desserts and dessert-inspired cocktails. The owners, Sarah Ryan and Damien Shaw, split the shifts according to their strengths. Shaw caters to the AM crowd serving up Profile Coffee, 5 and Dime bagels and experimental jaffles. Ryan takes over at night, serving up sweet treats and booze until the wee hours. The team is committed to using local produce with suppliers such as Zeally Bay Sourdough, Cobb Lane Bakery and Saint David Dairy on the roster. They also make the majority of the syrups and spirit infusions in-house. BEST NEW PUB OVERALL WINNER AND PEOPLE'S CHOICE: WATERSIDE HOTEL The CBD's historic Waterside Hotel is in a new phase of its life in the hands of prominent pub group Sand Hill Road, who are behind the relaunches of Melbourne's Garden State, Prahran and Bridge hotels. The Waterside Hotel has been reimagined by the new owners as a multifaceted drinking and dining destination that nods to the past. A considered array of antiques, art and furniture sourced from across Europe lend plenty of personality. The ground floor spaces is the Ale House, a sprawling public bar with a focus on crafty American beers. It sits alongside the Doghouse, a US-inspired dive bar slinging hot dogs, tinnies and bottled cocktails, and an old-world dining space dubbed the Chophouse. The Waterside's crowning glory is a rooftop bar known simply as the Roof, boasting sprawling CBD views. This corner of the city is currently a little bereft of quality drinking dens, but the Waterside Hotel changes that. BEST NEW EVENT OVERALL WINNER: MAJESTIC HAWKER Taking over an Abbotsford warehouse for two nights in July, Hank's Majestic Hawker pop-up saw an array of Singaporean dishes — including soy marinated chicken wings with chilli vinegar, sambal stingray served in banana leaf, rice noodles with Chinese sausage, fishcake and egg, and fried banana fritters with pandan coconut ice cream. Turns out Americans aren't the only ones who know their way around a charcoal grill. The chef in charge of the pop-up was none other than Alicia Cheong, who previously ran Hank's kitchen when they were based at the Mercat Cross Hotel. The pop-up was so successful that Fancy Hanks is bringing its stoveless concept back to Bourke Street permanently in the new year. PEOPLE'S CHOICE: NOCTURNAL This pop-up isn't at a pub, an underground club, or even some repurposed warehouse space. Nope, this event series is happening at a venue you've probably only ever seen in the light of day: Melbourne Museum. Launched in July, the first Friday of each month sees the museum's exhibition spaces transformed into after-dark playgrounds, as Nocturnal swaps the school-uniformed tour groups for crowds of music-loving partygoers. It has pop-up bars slinging cocktails, roving entertainers and spot talks from some of the museum's curators. Plus, plenty of killer tunes, with a main stage set up in front of the Forest Gallery. BEST NEW SPACE OVERALL WINNER: JACKALOPE This Victorian boutique hotel takes a weekend on the Mornington Peninsula to a new level of luxury. Jackalope Hotel is smack-bang in the middle of the Peninsula's wine region in Merricks North, just next to Red Hill. The hotel is the 'passion project' of 28-year-old entrepreneur Louis Li, who worked with architecture firm Carr Design Group and Fabio Ongarato Design studio to design the hotel, which is his first. At the entrance to the hotel, guests are greeted by a seven-metre-tall sculpture of a Jackalope, the mythical horned rabbit of North American folklore the hotel is named after. The 46 rooms offer terrace or vineyard views, with their double-the-size 'lair' suites offering the best views in the house. Each room boasts floor-to-ceiling windows, private terraces and hand-crafted bespoke furnishings. If you're one for a good bath, the deep-soak, black Japanese tubs and exclusive Hunter Lab bath products will keep you utterly relaxed while you admire your fabulous self in the double vanities. PEOPLE'S CHOICE: KISUMÉ Kisumé, the luxe three-storey Japanese restaurant from lauded restaurateur Chris Lucas, is impressive. So impressive, you voted for it twice. The space, conceived by Australian firm Wood Marsh, unites sophisticated clean lines and a monochromatic palette of buffed metal and leather banquettes. The design doesn't scream Japanese restaurant, just cleverly hints at it, from the touches of red to Nobuyoshi Araki's provocative photographs of Japanese women. It has a Chablis bar, a wine wall, a sushi bar, restaurant and the Table — a 12-person dinner hosted by head chef K. S. Moon.
Smith Street rejoice! The universe has heard your cry for more meat, cheese, wine and all things deli and has answered with an ambitious new butcher shop and eatery named Meatsmith (and politely asks if you would stop sending letters about the matter). Meatsmith is a collaborative effort between chef and restaurateur Andrew McConnell (of Cumulus Inc., Supernormal amongst many) and butcher Troy Wheeler, once of Peter Bouchier. Meatsmith, which is slated to open next week, features an in-house deli with a fine dining twist. Alongside the standard deli fare, you’ll find pre-prepared, take-home versions of fancy Cumulus dishes, like the whole slow-roasted lamb shoulder and other mouthwatering cuts (hello, braised beef cheeks) that ensure you’ll never eat McDonalds on the run again. The eatery will also serve up a divine selection of charcuterie, pates, house-made preserves and mustards, homemade terrines and lots of French and European style cold-cuts and smallgoods. If this Cumulus roast is any indication of what to expect, we're on board. Wheeler says the point of difference for the Meatsmith butchers is the expertise of the staff, who all have extensive practical knowledge (and more than a little charm) from working in hospitality, as opposed to the classic brusque butcher stereotype. “If you walk in not knowing what you want for dinner or if you want to impress at a dinner party, our staff can help," he says. "We would like to think we're accessible to people who know good food and want good food, as well as people who want some confidence in the staff and want clear information. The design of the shop reflects this idea; we don’t have the big high butchers counters and the barrier between us and the customer, so we’re accessible”. Find Meatsmith at 73 Smith Street, Fitzroy, meatsmith.com.au. Image: Dollar Photo Club.
It's not uncommon for Aussie pubs to be named after famous lords and statesmen. A new bar in Prahran, on the other hand, is named after one of their pets. Opening this week on Greville Street, Rufus takes its name from Winston Churchill's beloved poodle, a faithful friend so adored by his master that it's said that no-one at the PM's table ate until the butler had served Rufus his meal. Visitors to the pooch's new namesake can expect similarly sophisticated service. Open from 4pm daily, Rufus is billed as a champagne parlour and terrace, with the intimate space ideal for groups of 2-4 people. The swish interior includes mirrors along the walls and chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, giving the impression that you are enjoying a tipple in Sir Winston's private parlour. Drinks include dry martinis mixed at the bar's special pink martini station, and a selection of spirits which sit proudly on display in the Rufus' drawing room cabinet. Melbourne, we will be mixing martinis from our pink martini station until 1am. #rufusprahran #martinipleasejeeves A photo posted by Rufus (@rufusmelbourne) on Apr 29, 2016 at 5:30am PDT Rufus is located at 143 Greville Street, Prahran. Their operating hours are 4pm-1am, seven days a week. For more information find them on Facebook or visit www.rufusbar.com.au.
People love free stuff. But what’s better than a free burger delivered by a drone straight into your cake hole? It's not a mere pipe dream. The wacky scientists at Monash University have teamed up with Mr Burger to bring you Future Burger, the new delivery service powered by drones and your insatiable love of burgers. If you’re interested in receiving a burger that flies majestically through the air as if by magic and flutters delicately into your lap, oozing with cheese and relish (actual experience may be sloppier), you can sign up via the Future Burger website. A few caveats though. You have to be at the Monash campus at Clayton on August 2 (a Sunday on campus) and you'll have to actually be picked by the Monash Future Burger overlords as the chosen burger recipient. You have until July 28 to enter your details and be considered for this esteemed honour. We haven't been this excited about novelty food delivery since parachute jaffles. This seems to be an experiment coming out of Monash's drone department (or, more correctly Monash's Faculty of Information Technology, but we like 'drone department') and as such, we will strive do all in our power to help science — by stuffing our faces. Future Burger is brought to you by Monash University and Mr Burger. To be in the running for drone burger delivery, enter your details here.
Your mates at Concrete Playground know how much you guys love Nutella. Sydney lost its collective shit (and rightfully so) over those damn Tella Ball milkshakes, and Melbourne eats so much of the stuff they caused a temporary nation-wide shortage. As addictions go, we suppose it could be worse. Point is, when we heard there was going to be a toaster-shaped Nutella food truck rolling around the country, we figured you'd want to hear about it. Especially since all the goodies on board will be free. The food truck menu has been devised by Alistair Fogg, the man behind Sydney's Nighthawk Diner. Think stewed winter berries with Nutella and toasted coconut, raisin toast with Nutella and berries, and a crepe stack with Nutella and crispy bacon. It's only one item per customer per day, unfortunately. Let's just say at this stage, we're not ruling out the possibility of trailing the truck from town to town like the insatiable groupies we so clearly are. The road trip begins in Sydney's Wynyard Park on Wednesday, June 15. Other stops in the Harbour City include Centenary Park (June 16), Sydney Uni (June 17) and Glebe Markets (June 18), before the long haul down the Hume Highway via Lithgow (June 19), Goulburn (June 20), Wagga Wagga (June 21), Albury (June 22), Bendigo (June 23) and Ballarat (June 24). In Melbourne they'll hit St Kilda (June 25-26) and Southbank (June 27), before wrapping up their journey in Geelong (June 28). As for Brisbane, we've got our fingers crossed you might be added to the itinerary. If not, we'll send you a Nutella-smeared postcard. Find the complete list of dates, times and locations for the Nutella Road Trip at the official Facebook page.
It's that time of year again. When Melbourne throws open its doors and says, "Come and have a legal snoop around." Yep, Open House is back for 2023, and they've just released the full program: over 180 individual buildings, 12 private Melbourne homes, 23 guided walking tours, 10 exhibitions, and 26 panel discussions. It's a lot. Organisers are expecting over 70,000 punters through the gates this year. Most of your favourite buildings are back 2023, but there are several new faces too. Gantry House in Newport. The Justin Art House Museum in Prahran. Melbourne Uni's slick new Student Precinct. Morris Moor in Moorabbin. And new social housing project, Markham Avenue. There will also be tours of the Holocaust Museum's soon-to-be completed new interior, the new Preston Tram Depot, and the Ukrainian Catholic Church in North Melbourne. [caption id="attachment_905036" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Image: University of Melbourne[/caption] The theme for this year's event is 'Collective City', and the program curators will be exploring how Melbourne is going to cope as we expand to a projected population of 8 million by 2050. That's a lot of people for a city currently sitting at 5 million people and 38 parking spaces. The questions for the future will be: how can we maximise our resources? How can we better share what we have? And just how early will we have to get up to get a croissant at Lune? This year's program also includes several special events, such as the Making Home Series, Designing With Country (July 26), This Is Public, an ongoing speaker series (July 28) and the Heritage Council of Victoria's annual Heritage Address (July 31). Most of these are held at RMIT, but check the full program for all the details. Honestly, 2023 might be the year of the walking tour. Open House is running food tours of Footscray Market, led by local foodie Joyce Watts, an architect-guided tour through Melbourne's history of apartment living (called 'Flat Life'), and an interactive walk-through of projected designs from the Future Homes project. Special shout out to Plant Swap: an exhibition for gardening communities at the Emely Baker Centre in Fitzroy North, with plant-swap meets and several green thumb workshops. Open House is running from July 29–30, and ticket prices vary. Top image: Canning Street, Eve Wilson, supplied.
Butterbeer was all well and good before we reached legal drinking age, but as time marches on and the scars left by departed friends refuse to heal (I'm looking at you, Ghost Dobby), we find ourselves searching for something a little stronger. It's not the keen sting of love that Dumbledore remembered, but it is a keen sting. We're talking about Firewhisky. Lots of it. In Melbourne. This weekend. If you've always fancied yourself a decent chance of drinking Igor Karkaroff under the table, point the Ford Anglia toward South Yarra – Good Things, which delivered the pop-up Butterbeer Bar last year is at it again, but this time they have the key to Hagrid's liquor cabinet. Firewhisky Inn will run from 7-10pm this Friday, giving all who attend another chance to plunge back into Harry's universe (and to drink your memories of The Cursed Child away while you're at it). Entry is free, with custom-made Firewhiskey glasses on offer for those who get in quick. Fair warning, though – anyone who can't handle a broom by 10pm will be expected to catch the Knight Bus home.
It would be fair to say the number of plant sales popping up around town right now is as luscious as the leaves on the greenery on offer. This Saturday, May 14 is no different, with the Windsor Plant Sale giving southsiders their much-awaited dose of leafy goodness in one of the first events of its type this side of the river. You'll find a range of low maintenance popular indoor plants — including rubber plants, ferns, palms and fiddle leaf figs — at warehouse prices, as well as beautifully crafted, handmade dip-dyed plant hangers by local talent Scout Gathers. Of course, it wouldn't be a Melbourne pop-up without coffee, so there'll be some of that too (courtesy of a Touchwood barista, we might add). A portion of the sale's proceeds will be donated to the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, so there's no excuse not to pick up some foliage this weekend. You can follow them on Instagram for sneak peeks at the plants here.
Whether or not you were one of the Rubenthusiasts who voted 'Hoops' into the number one spot of triple j's Hottest 100, Australia has spoken on another Hottest 100. The GABS Hottest 100 Aussie Craft Beers of the Year have been voted, counted and announced — and Stone & Wood's Pacific Ale is right where it should be: bang on the top. The poll began in 2008 as a little spot of merriment for the staff and crew frequenting Melbourne and Sydney's go-to craft beer pub The Local Taphouse. What does GABS stand for? The 'Great Australian Beer SpecTAPular', one heck of a craft beer event first held at the Taphouse(s) in 2011. Now voted by thousands of craft beer lovers, the other Hottest 100 sees punters vote for their five favourite Australian craft beers and await the countdown on Australia Day at The Local Taphouses, official events around the country, live podcasts and on social media. So here it is, the punter-voted GABS Hottest 100 Aussie Craft Beers of 2015. Head for your nearest craft beer pub — in Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane — or your nearest craft beer bottle shop — in Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane — to take a six-pack home (or fill up your growler). GABS HOTTEST 100 AUSSIE CRAFT BEERS OF 2015 1 ‘Pacific Ale’ Australian-style Pale Ale (Stone & Wood, NSW) 2 ‘Hop Hog’ American-style IPA (Feral, WA) 3 ‘IIPA’ Double American-style IPA (Pirate Life, SA) NEW 4 ‘Pale Ale’ American-style Pale Ale (Pirate Life, SA) NEW 5 ‘Pale Ale’ American-style Pale Ale (Little Creatures, WA) 6 ‘150 Lashes’ Australian-style Pale Ale (James Squire, NSW) 7 ‘Pale Ale’ American-style Pale Ale (4 Pines, NSW) 8 ‘Kolsch’ (4 Pines, NSW) 9 ‘Former Tenant’ American-style IPA (Modus Operandi, NSW) 10 ‘Karma Citra’ Black IPA (Feral, WA) GABS (2011) 11 ‘Throwback’ Specialty IPA (Pirate Life, SA) NEW 12 ‘Hop Thief 7’ American-style Pale Ale (James Squire, NSW) NEW 13 ‘Taco Beer’ Specialty Beer (Two Birds, VIC) GABS (2013) 14 ‘Milk and Two Sugars’ Sweet Stout (BrewCult, VIC) NEW / GABS (2015) 15 ‘Beechworth Pale Ale’ American-style Pale Ale (Bridge Road, VIC) 16 ‘Golden Stout Time’ Sweet Stout (Big Shed, SA) NEW / GABS (2015) 17 ‘War Hog’ American-style IPA (Feral, WA) NEW 18 ‘Pale Ale’ Australian-style Pale Ale (Coopers, SA) 19 ‘Summer Ale’ Australian-style Pale Ale (Mountain Goat, VIC) 20 ‘Steam Ale’ Australian-style Pale Ale (Mountain Goat, VIC) 21 ‘Dark Ale’ Dark Mild (White Rabbit, VIC) 22 ‘Ramjet 2014/15 (Whisky Aged)’ Russian Imperial Stout (Boatrocker, VIC) NEW 23 ‘Three Sheets’ Australian-style Pale Ale (Lord Nelson Hotel, NSW) 24 ‘Red’ American-style Amber Ale (Nail, WA) 25 ‘India Red Ale’ American-style IPA (Prancing Pony, SA) 26 ‘777’ Double American-style IPA (Riverside, NSW) 27 Noisy Minor ‘Admiral Ackbar’ American-style Amber Ale (Fortitude, QLD) 28 ‘The Chancer’ Blonde/Golden Ale (James Squire, NSW) 29 ‘Cloud Catcher’ Australian-style Pale Ale (Stone & Wood, NSW) 30 ‘Newtowner’ Australian-style Pale Ale (Young Henry’s, NSW) 31 Noisy Minor ‘ANZUS’ American-style IPA (Fortitude, QLD) 32 ‘Fat Yak’ American-style Pale Ale (Matilda Bay, VIC) 33 ‘Bright Ale’ Blonde/Golden Ale (Little Creatures, WA) 34 ‘Small Ale’ Specialty IPA (Colonial, WA) 35 ‘Indian Summer Pale Ale’ Australian-style Pale Ale (4 Pines, NSW) NEW 36 ‘Hangman’ American-style Pale Ale (Rocks, NSW) 37 ‘Copy Cat’ American-style IPA (Mash, WA) 38 ‘XPA (Extra Pale Ale)’ American-style Pale Ale (Wolf of the Willows, VIC) 39 ‘Vale Ale’ Australian-style Pale Ale (Vale, SA) 40 ‘Dog Days’ American Wheat (Little Creatures, WA) NEW 41 ‘Imperial West Coast Red Rye IPA’ Specialty IPA (4 Pines, NSW) NEW 42 ‘Praline’ Belgian Specialty Ale (La Sirène, VIC) GABS (2014) 43 ‘Return of the Dread’ Foreign Extra Stout (Little Creatures, WA) NEW 44 ‘Roger Ramjet 2015 (Bourbon Aged)’ Russian Imperial Stout (Boatrocker, VIC) NEW 45 ‘IPA’ American-style IPA (Hawkers, VIC) NEW 46 ‘Tusk 2015’ American-style IPA (Feral, WA) NEW 47 ‘IPA’ American-style IPA (Little Creatures, WA) 48 ‘Australian Pale Ale’ (4 Pines, NSW) NEW 49 ‘Fred’ American-style IPA (Murray’s, NSW) 50 ‘Growler’ American-style Brown Ale (2 Brothers, VIC) 51 ‘Fancy Pants’ American-style Amber Ale (Mountain Goat, VIC) 52 ‘Windjammer’ American-style IPA (Green Beacon, QLD) 53 ‘Pale Ale’ American-style Pale Ale (Hawkers, VIC) NEW 54 ‘Watermelon Warhead’ Berliner Weisse (Feral, WA) GABS (2012) 55 ‘Californicator’ American-style IPA (Big Shed, SA) NEW 56 ‘Pale Ale’ Australian-style Pale Ale (Kosciuszko, NSW) 57 ‘Citrus IPA’ Specialty IPA (4 Pines, NSW) NEW 58 ‘Golden Ale’ Blonde/Golden Ale (Two Birds, VIC) 59 ‘Temptress’ Porter (Holgate, VIC) 60 ‘Pale Ale’ American-style Pale Ale (Hawthorn, VIC) 61 ‘Calypso’ American-style Pale Ale (Odyssey, VIC) 62 ‘Two to The Valley’ American-style IPA (Newstead, QLD) 63 ‘F-Yeah’ American-style Pale Ale (Big Shed, SA) 64 ‘Kung Foo’ Pale Lager (2 Brothers, VIC) 65 ‘Garden Ale’ Australian-style Pale Ale (Stone & Wood, NSW) 66 ‘Pale Ale’ Belgian Pale Ale (White Rabbit, VIC) 67 ‘Sunset Ale’ American-style Amber Ale (Two Birds, VIC) 68 ‘Dark Red IPA’ Specialty IPA (Six String, NSW) 69 ‘Atomic Pale Ale’ American-style Pale Ale (Gage Roads, WA) 70 ‘Angry Man Pale Ale’ American-style Pale Ale (Murray’s, NSW) 71 ‘Winston’ American-style Pale Ale (Shenanigans, NSW) 72 ‘Hopsmith’ American-style IPA (Akasha, NSW) NEW 73 ‘Clout Stout 2015’ Russian Imperial Stout (Nail, WA) NEW 74 ‘Grizz’ American-style Amber Ale (2 Brothers, VIC) 75 ‘#010 West Coast IPA’ American-style IPA (Exit, VIC) NEW 76 ‘Draught’ Kölsch (Colonial, WA) 77 ‘IPA’ American-style IPA (Mornington Peninsula, VIC) 78 ‘ESB’ Extra Special Bitter (4 Pines, NSW) 79 ‘Yenda Pale Ale’ Australian-style Pale Ale (Australian Beer Co, NSW) 80 ‘Rogers’ American-style Amber Ale (Little Creatures, WA) 81 ‘Splice of Heaven’ Specialty IPA (Moon Dog, VIC) NEW 82 ‘West Coast IPA’ American-style IPA (Batch, NSW) 83 ‘Vanilla Milk Stout’ Sweet Stout (Thirsty Crow, NSW) 84 ‘Barrel Breed Barley Wine’ UK-style Barleywine (Mountain Goat, VIC) NEW 85 ‘Bling’ American-style IPA (Bridge Road, VIC) 86 ‘The Fox’ Vienna-style Lager (Rabbit & Spaghetti, SA) NEW 87 ‘Session Ale’ Australian-style Pale Ale (Mismatch, SA) 88 ‘Crankshaft’ American-style IPA (BentSpoke, ACT) 89 ‘Pale Ale’ American-style Pale Ale (Mornington Peninsula, VIC) 90 ‘28’ American-style Pale Ale (Burleigh, QLD) 91 ‘3 Quarter Time’ Australian-style Pale Ale (Newstead, QLD) 92 ‘White Ale’ Witbier (White Rabbit, VIC) 93 ‘Sly Fox’ American-style Pale Ale (Feral, WA) 94 ‘ESB’ Extra Special Bitter (Hargreaves Hill, VIC) 95 ‘55’ American-style Pale Ale (3 Ravens, VIC) 96 ‘Metamorphosis’ American-style IPA (KAIJU!, VIC) 97 ‘Sparkling Ale’ Australian-style Pale Ale (Coopers, SA) 98 ‘Zoo Feeder’ American-style IPA (Modus Operandi, NSW) 99 ‘Hopped Out Red’ American-style Amber Ale (KAIJU!, VIC) 100 ‘Hazelnut Brown’ UK-style Brown Ale (Bad Shepherd, VIC) NEW NEW – First released in 2015 GABS– A ‘Festival Beer’ made especially for a previous GABS festival Head to the GABS website for more info.
