Level 2 161 Spring Street Thank God for smokers. No, seriously. If it weren’t for smokers and the new(ish) Australian ‘you can’t smoke inside’ laws, we might never have been graced with the stunning rooftop bar we find at Siglo in Spring Street. No longer allowed to smoke indoors, smokers have gone out or up. [...]

For those days when the ‘buzz’ of the city becomes less of a thrill and more of an irritation, you’ll need a few ‘green’ spots to help recharge. Luckily Melbourne has quite a selection. Albert Park Lake is probably most famous for being the site of the contentious Grand Prix.  Opponents believe that the vast [...]

Melbourne’s CBD is full of fabulous sneaky little laneways and Hosier Lane is one of the best. A magnificent ‘gallery’ of some of the city’s best grafitti and home to Movida, providing the CBD’s best Spanish fare.

The Manchester Unity Building Crn Swanston St & Collins St This is the sort of building you look up and expect to see Clark Kent paragliding down in his Superman tights. Not so much strictly art deco as neo-gothic, the building has a myriad of vertical, terracotta clad ‘fins’ streching upwards towards the bell tower. [...]

Collins Street to Little Collins For a chocoholic like me, the highlight of the 19th century Block Arcade is not the intricate etched glass roof.  Nor is it the magnificent decorative wrought iron and timber supports cupping the glass.  Or, in fact the elaborate mosaic floors - apparently the largest in Australia.  For me – and many a chocoholic, the thrill [...]

Ezard Flinders Lane Gingerboy Crossley Street I couldn’t decide which Teage Ezard restaurant to add to my ‘favourites’ list, so, well, you choose. Ezard is a ‘proper’ restaurant. A fine – rather very fine – dining experience. A slick and intimate dining room of plush carpets, shiny, shiny glassware and highly starched linen. You certainly [...]

15 Celestial Ave Melbourne The address might create a certain expectation of this chinese restaurant and that would be, well, both right and wrong.  While the food is most often of the heavenly variety, the place itself is not.  Cheap and cheerful.  Nothing more.  Nothing less.  The tabletops are laminex, the walls fake wood panelling and [...]

360 Lt Collins St Melbourne The in house pastries in this bakery-cum-cafe are so light they’d barely do a dint of damage to the hips.  No really.  Flakey and ethereal, teamed with a robust Romcaffe latte, they make a suberb start to a morning in Melbourne.  Gill’s diner and commercial bakery is quite the find.  Fabulous [...]

Often referred to as the ‘lungs of Melbourne’, the Botanical gardens provide a great reprieve from the frenetic pace of the city.  You’ll find monstrous trees with terrific foliage for great shade on a hot day.  The resident bats come out in full force at night, as does the Moonlight Cinema and an annual Shakespeare [...]