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Santana Rooftop, Melbourne CBD

Paul
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0
Santana Rooftop, Melbourne CBD

MELBOURNE | Santana is a new rooftop bar from Abjar Kasho, the man Bouvardia, one of my favourite cocktail bar in Melbourne. Located on the rooftop above Bouvardia, Santana occupies the space formerly home to Pomelo. Gone are the bright, pastel colours and temporary feel of Pomelo, replaced with a sultry red and black theme, and more permanent fixtures.

Featuring a new retractable roof and wall heaters, Santana is a cosy spot that can be enjoyed year-round, regardless of what Melbourne’s weather might throw at it. South American wine, cocktails, and spirits are what Santana is all about, along with a small selection of Cuban cigars.

If you’re after something sweet, the Dominicana cocktail is a must. It’s a luxurious combination of dark rum, Okar mocha coffee liqueur, and cream. If it’s a cold night, try the Canelazo. It’s a blend of white rum, orange, lime, cloves, and cinnamon that’s served warm.

For wine, you might want to try a style not often seen in Australia, like Carménère. One of the oldest European varietals, it was all but thought to be extinct until it was re-identified in Chile in 1994. There’s a few beers on tap and in cans if that’s more your thing, along with a one page menu of top quality whiskey, tequila, rum, and a few other dark spirits.

Santana Rooftop

L3, 169 Melbourne Place
Melbourne
Victoria 3000
Australia

Telephone: n/a
E-mail: n/a
Website

Open
Mon – Thu: 4:00pm to 11:00pm
Fri – Sat: 3:00pm to 11:00pm

Bola Bake, Airport West

Paul
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0
Bola Bake, Airport West

MELBOURNE | Picture this. You’re enroute to or from Melbourne airport, looking for somewhere to have breakfast or lunch. You’ve got a few places on your list, but nothing that’s close to the airport. You could eat at the airport, or you could head to Bola Bake. It’s a cafe inside a surprisingly cosy converted warehouse in the industrial suburb of Airport West, just 10 minute drive from the airport.

I was invited to check out Bola Bake by Scot Nottle, who owns the cafe with his wife Pakchima “Mini” Punapaprasurt. Mini’s the head chef at Bola Bake, and she’s honed years of experience working in the kitchens some of Melbourne’s top brunch spots into what she’s does here. Mini’s menu is one that exemplifies the kind of contemporary Asian/Australian fusion that’s a signature of this city.

It’s the kind of menu that, while only containing around 15 options, has you indecisively jumping between them because you want to eat it all. The most popular item on the menu, and for good reason, is the Squid Ink Mentaiko. A bowl of squid ink spaghetti is adorned with magura poke tuna, tobiko, mentaiko brown sauce, and an onsen egg. It’s a savoury, salty dish that encapsulates the flavours of the ocean in the best way.

Another winner is the “Okono Benny”, which sees okonomiyaki fused with eggs benedict. The classic Japanese teppanyaki pancake topped with smoked salmon, baby spinach, poached egg, hollandaise, tobiko, and bonito. It’s the best of both worlds.

Even simpler dishes, like fried chicken on waffles, stand out at Bola Bake. What can be quite a heavy dish in less experienced hands is a light wonder here. Mini’s version sees light, fluffy waffles form a bed for crispy Korean fried chicken, Kewpie, pickled cucumbers, honey glaze and a fried egg.

There’s cakes and pastries to enjoy in or-to go in the display cabinet at the counter. Think yuzu or taro burnt Basque cheesecake, and Nutella almond croissants. To drink, it’s the usual cafe suspects, along with great house creations like a lavender, rose, and espresso latte; and crunchy topped peanut butter latte.

If you’ve got a dog, you’ll be happy to know that Bola Bake is a dog friendly venue. There’s free house-made dog treats for your furry friend, and if you want, Scot will take a snap of them for Bola Bake’s doggy wall of fame.

Bola Bake

22A Fraser Street
Airport West
Victoria 3042
Australia

Telephone: 0468 836 289
E-mail: [email protected]
Website

Open
Mon – Fri: 7:00am to 3:00pm
Sat – Sun: 8:00am to 3:00pm

TamiSweet, Melbourne CBD

Paul
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0
TamiSweet, Melbourne CBD

MELBOURNE | TamiSweet is a Vietnamese cafe and patisserie that opened in St Albans in 2016. What began as a business primarily catering to the neighbourhood’s large Vietnamese population, soon grew as word of owner Minh “Tami” Hà’s cakes got around. Late last year, Tami opened a second store on Lonsdale street in the CBD. I popped in to visit for What’s On Melbourne.

The space is small and relaxing, especially popular in the evenings for those looking for a post work sweet treat to take home. On the menu you’ll find a selection of cakes, cookies, and desserts, along with coffee and non-coffee lattes.

The signature item that Tami has been making since day one is her salted egg yolk (nông lan trứng muối) cake. Like most of the cakes at TamiSweet, it’s available in three sizes – cupcake, small share cake, or large celebration size. The must-order signature cake is a light and savoury, ever so sweet sponge cake, layered with salted egg yolk sauce, and topped with pork floss. An intriguing and delicious blend of flavours and textures.

Other treats include things like a moist strawberry cake, earl grey cake with boba and cheese foam, and red velvet cookies. If you’re after something to drink, there’s regular coffee based drinks, as well as things like cà phê sữa đá (Vietnamese iced coffee), cà phê muối (Vietnamese salt cream coffee), and matcha lattes. If you’ve not tried cà phê muối before, I highly recommend giving it a shot.

TamiSweet

145 Lonsdale Street
Melbourne
Victoria 3000
Australia

Telephone: 0406 011 292
E-mail: [email protected]
Website

Open
Mon – Tue: 9:00am to 7:00pm
Wed – Sun: 9:00am to 9:00pm

Mamao มาเมา, Melbourne CBD

Paul
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0
Mamao มาเมา, Melbourne CBD

MELBOURNE | Mamao มาเมา is a Melbourne Thai restaurant that opened on Queen Street in August last year. Loosely translating as “get drunk” in English, it’s proven a hit with Thai expats and students looking for an affordable feed and lively atmosphere. I recently visited to get some photos for What’s On Melbourne.

It’s a small, fun spot that gets quite vibrant in the evenings, as the lights turn colourful and low, and the live band starts playing from the small stage at the back. Posters plastered on the walls and ceiling from the more risqué segment of the Thai movie industry complete the vibe.

The focus at Mamao is on keenly priced Thai street food. There’s an extensive menu that stays true to what you’ll find being sold by vendors on the streets of Thailand. Boat noodles come in a broth made from pig’s blood and Thai spices, filled with bean sprouts, morning glory, fried garlic, fried pork fat, beef tripe, and your choice of beef or pork meatballs, meat slices, and noodles. It’s legit, and it’s delicious.

Mamao’s Mama tom yum hot pot is another must order. Fragrant tom yum broth filled with instant noodles, deep fried pork belly, prawns, pork loaf, egg, pork crackers, and coriander.

Other dishes include things like som tam with salted crab, gai yang (Thai grilled chicken), and grilled ‘crying tiger’ beef. It’s an extensive menu overall, one you can enjoy as part of a large group sharing a whole lot of things, or a solo diner ordering one of the meal combos.

To drink it’s well priced beer and cocktails, along with an assortment of non-alcoholic drinks like Thai milk tea, pink milk, and longan juice.

Mamao มาเมา

338 Queen Street
Melbourne
Victoria 3000
Australia

Telephone: 0422 919 169
E-mail: n/a
Website

Open
Mon – Sun: 11:30am to 4:00pm, 5:00pm to 1:30am

Lovey Patisserie Cafe Featuring Xplayground, Melbourne CBD

Paul
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0
Lovey Patisserie Cafe Featuring Xplayground, Melbourne CBD

MELBOURNE | Lovey Patisserie Cafe Featuring Xplayground is a pop art café from Lovey Patisserie Cafe, and online pop-art collectible store Xplayground. I recently stopped in for What’s On Melbourne to find out more about the collaboration.

Lovey Patisserie is the creation of pastry chefs Karsin Zhang and Julie Zhu, both alumni of Le Cordon Bleu. Their original cafe opened in Doncaster in late 2022, offering a delectable selection of desserts, cakes, and drinks. Everything is made on site daily, using the best quality ingredients from local independent businesses like Duke’s Coffee, Zen Wonders, and Mörk Chocolate.

There’s a seasonally driven focus on French and East Asian flavours at Lovey Patisserie Cafe, with a leaning towards creations that are light, balanced, and not overly sweet. There’s things like a gluten-free coconut pandan Basque cheesecake, blueberry and elderflower Swiss roll, and matcha strawberry panna cotta.

To drink, there’s espresso based coffee drinks, along with flavoured lattes like matcha, taro, and black sesame. There’s also things like house-made grape and lime soda, and sparkling iced tea. A ‘canimal’ behind the counter means that you can have your drink canned to go, to enjoy later in the day.

As for the Xplayground side of things, you’ll notice several walls, especially the almost art gallery-type entrance, filled with limited, rare, and high-quality designer collectibles. The Melbourne-based online retailer has built a reputation globally for its range, and this is their first physical store.

There’s collectibles from the likes of artist Takashi Murakami with his signature “Superflat” style, POP Mart, Kaws, and BE@RBRICK. I’ll admit that I came very close to buying the NBA x BE@RBRICK Michael Jordan 1998 LAST SHOT collectible that was calling to me from the display.

Lovey Patisserie Cafe Featuring Xplayground

26 Berrbang Lane
Melbourne
Victoria 3000
Australia

Telephone: (03) 9314 6101
E-mail: n/a
Website

Open
Sun – Thu: 10:00am to 6:00pm
Fri – Sat: 10:00am to 8:00pm

Lao Liuzhou Noodle (墨尔本老柳州螺蛳粉), Melbourne CBD

Paul
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0
Lao Liuzhou Noodle (墨尔本老柳州螺蛳粉), Melbourne CBD

MELBOURNE | Regional Chinese noodle dishes have really taken off in Melbourne in recent years. Walk through the CBD, and there’s no shortage of restaurants specialising in dishes that were rarely, if at all, available in this city. A recent opening that’s added to this diversity is Lao Liuzhou Noodle (墨尔本老柳州螺蛳粉), which I visited for What’s On Melbourne.

Luosifen /螺螄粉/ Snail Rice Noodle is a speciality of Liuzhou, Guangxi. As far as I can ascertain, Lao Liuzhou Noodle is the only place in Melbourne where you can find it. Nobody is quite sure who created the dish, with various origin tales floating about. What is certain is that it dates back to around the mid 1970s or 1980s.

It wasn’t common to find Luosifen outside of Liuzhou until it was featured in a documentary that aired in China in 2012. By 2014, instant versions of the dish started being produced, and during COVID lockdowns, it became a nationwide trend. Today, there’s over 8,000 restaurants across China dedicated to Luosifen.

Owner Cathy and her husband hail from Liuzhou, and when they realised that there weren’t any luosifen spots in Melbourne, decided to take matters into their own hands. When you walk into Lao Liuzhou Noodle, the pungent smell of the luosifen is unmistakable. Cathy’s family recipe sees river snails, pork bones, and assorted herbs and spices simmer for 10 hours, resulting in a surprisingly mild, sweet broth.

The snails and bones are discarded, and the broth clarified. Added to it are fermented sour bamboo shoots (the source of the pungent smell, not the snails as many assume), yuba (dried tofu skin), fungus, pickled green beans, peanuts, dried radishes, and al dente aged rice noodles. This is the base bowl, to which varied toppings are added.

There’s several bowls to choose from, which you can customise as you please. I’m a fan of the “big happiness” bowl, which gets you chicken feet, pig’s trotters, fried egg, and fried tofu. Other toppings include things like braised beef brisket, sliced beef, chicken schnitzel, and braised quail egg. Choose from one of six spice levels, and you’re good to go.

For sides and snacks, it’s things like mala braised beef, spicy pig’s ears, and pickled cucumbers. There’s also a skewer menu featuring options like lamb, beef, and fried potato.

Lao Liuzhou Noodle (墨尔本老柳州螺蛳粉)

221 Russell Street
Melbourne
Victoria 3000
Australia

Telephone: 0416 228 168
E-mail: n/a
Website

Open
Mon – Sun: 11:30am to 1:30am

Fox Friday Melbourne, Richmond

Paul
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0
Fox Friday Melbourne, Richmond

MELBOURNE | Since Fox Friday was taken over by current owners Benn and Sarah Hooper in 2019, it’s gone from strength-to-strength. They’ve built a reputation for brewing some of the best beers in Australia, and have expanded their reach from Tasmania, to all across Australia.

In December 2013, Fox Friday opened a Melbourne brewery and brewpub, just around the corner from craft beer hotspots The Royston and Mountain Goat. It’s proven a hit with no just beer lovers, but those looking for a drink of any variety and a good feed.

Inside the converted warehouse you’ll find a space which holds up to 200 people. Rather than the usual converted warehouse aesthetic you find at a lot of breweries, Fox Friday has more of a industrial warehouse meets old school pub feel about it. Bronze and steel compliments timber and natural materials for a surprisingly cosy space.

On tap, it’s the full core range of Fox Friday beers, along with a big selection of rotating limited and seasonal options. Beers from across the style spectrum are on offer, with a particular focus on hoppy, hazy IPAs. For non-beer drinkers, there’s a decent selection of Aussie wines, classic cocktails, and non-alcoholic options.

To eat, there’s a menu of small bites and larger dishes inspired by the US South. Things like burgers, smoked half chicken, Cajun shrimp skewers, and fried chicken tenders.

Fox Friday Melbourne

148/150 Murphy Street
Richmond
Victoria 3121
Australia

Telephone: 0409 950 178
E-mail: n/a
Website

Open
Sun – Thu: 12:00pm to 11:00pm
Fri – Sat: 12:00pm to 12:00am

Fuwa Kakigōri, Melbourne CBD

Paul
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0
Fuwa Kakigōri, Melbourne CBD

MELBOURNE | Fuwa Kakigōri is a new kakigōri that’s opened up on Guildford Lane in Melbourne’s CBD, that I recently visited for What’s On Melbourne. It’s one of a few new kakigōri spots that’s opened in town in recent months, and you might be asking yourself “what’s kakigōri?

Kakigōri is a Japanese shaved ice dessert, flavoured with assorted syrups and sweeteners. It dates back to Japan’s Heian period (794 to 1185), when ice was saved during the winter, to be shaved and served as a summer treat to the country’s aristocracy. These days, it’s a popular dessert enjoyed by all. So much so that July 25 is known as kakigōri day in Japan.

Unlike snow cones and ‘regular’ shaved ice, kakigōri has a light, fluffy texture reminiscent of freshly fallen snow. And unlike Korean bingsu, there’s no milk base, just ice. If you’ve tried Hawaiian shave ice you’ll know what to expect. The Hawaiian desert is a direct descendant of kakigōri.

At Fuwa Kakigōri, blocks of ice are shaved to order using a special ice shaving machine. It’s hand shaped into a large mound before flavours and toppings are added. Matcha topped with cream and adzuki bean (red beans) is a popular option for those who don’t want something too sweet. Also popular is the strawberry cheesecake. It contains a strawberry compote filling, and is coated in torched meringue and fresh strawberries.

Beyond kakigōri, Fuwa Kakigōri also offer DIY daifuku sets, and drinks like strawberry matcha latte and hōjicha latte.

Fuwa Kakigōri

28 Guildford Lane
Melbourne
Victoria 3000
Australia

Telephone: n/a
E-mail: n/a
Website

Open
Sun – Thu: 2:00pm to 10:00pm
Mon – Fri: 2:00pm to 11:00pm

Lil Lane, Melbourne CBD

Paul
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0
Lil Lane, Melbourne CBD

MELBOURNE | Lil Lane is a new focaccia spot that recently opened in the CBD which I popped into in to grab some shots for What’s On Melbourne. It’s a place that you need to know about to find, tucked away at the end of narrow Corrs Lane.

Most of the trade happens from the service window that faces out to the laneway, and there’s benches if you want to sit and enjoy your focaccia in the laneway. There’s also some indoor seating at what’s also the entrance to nightclubs ‘House of Maximon’, and ‘Pulp’, along with stalwart of Melbourne’s bar scene, Berlin Bar.

Co-owner Giulia Dal Corso hails from Venice, Italy, and has experience working in bars in Melbourne and Venice. At Lil Lane, Giulia ensures that the focaccia and fillings are made to the highest standards, be it the traditional, or contemporary options.

Thick, airy, focaccia Genovese is baked daily, and all of the condiments and sauces are made from scratch using the best quality local (where possible) and Italian ingredients. Cheese comes from That’s Amore, and the end result is delicious.

The two most popular options are the classic ‘Focacaia Mortazza’, filled with Stracciatella, pesto, mortadella, and crushed pistachios; and ‘La Veneta’. The latter, which contains a filling of Sopressa, Stracciatella, mushroom sauce, and confit garlic, is particularly good.

If you’re thirsty, it’s quality espresso-based coffees, hot chocolate, and chai, along with speciality lattes. Flavours like tiramisu Kinder Bueno, and pistachio white chocolate. There’s also Italian sodas from Cortese, and a small wine, beer, and cocktail list.

Lil Lane

18 Corrs Lane
Melbourne
Victoria 3000
Australia

Telephone: n/a
E-mail: [email protected]
Website

Open
Mon – Fri: 9:00am to 3:00pm

FOC, Melbourne CBD

Paul
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0
FOC, Melbourne CBD

MELBOURNE | FOC is a new focaccia spot from the team behind (and in the original location of) popular CDB sandwich shop Sloppy Joe’s Deli. I recently visited to grab some shots for What’s On Melbourne and find out more

Focaccia is having it time in the sunlight at the moment in Melbourne. Following a similar blueprint to Sloppy Joe’s, FOC is all about classic focaccia fillings, along with options inspired by Melbourne’s globally diverse dining scene.

The menu has been developed by chef Adrian Li, who you might know from La Madonna, Rina’s and his appearances on Masterchef. It includes things like the ‘Rare Beef’ – sliced roast beef, salsa verde, pickled onion, and horseradish mayo; ‘Mortadella’ – Stracciatella, mortadella, and pickled green aoili; and ‘Green Beans’. The latter is a vegetarian option that’s proving very popular. It’s filled with garlic green beans, aioli, whipped ricotta, roasted peppers, rocket, and harissa.

If you want something sweet, there’s a selection of doughnuts delivered fresh each day by Peck’s Road. To drink, it’s top notch coffee, along with rotating specials like coconut matcha lattes, citrus cream brews, and frappes.

FOC

423 Little Collins Street
Melbourne
Victoria 3000
Australia

Telephone: n/a
E-mail: n/a
Website

Open
Mon – Fri: 10:00am to 3:00pm

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