The Melbourne Edit 2018

UPDATED MARCH 2018

I love Melbourne.  Truly, if it was nearer to my friends and family in the UK, I would move there in a heartbeat.  I am lucky enough to have a very lovely and excellent friend there who I visit as often as I can, giving me the perfect excuse to explore one of my favourite cities as a 'local' rather than a tourist.  So I can't tell you about hotels, but I can recommend things to do, see, eat and buy in Melbourne.

The Arts Edit

Melbourne has a thriving contemporary art scene, but my first stop on every visit is the National Gallery of Victoria.  The NGV has two sites, one of which highlights international art and often has fantastic temporary exhibitions.  The second site at Federation Square has an amazing collection of Australian art, including some wonderful indigenous work.

ACMI, or the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, is also situated at Federation Square, and has a truly fantastic programme of cinema-based exhibitions such as recent shows focussing on Aardman and Martin Scorsese, as well as video art installations by artists such as Candice Breitz and Julian Rosefeldt.

Melbourne is well known for its street art, but these days it is hard to find the best quality pieces.  Hosier Lane used to be the centre for artists, with its own curator, but it is now a mess of tagging and tourists.  Small galleries and spaces around the city still provide highlights though - including the nearby AC/DC Lane, Chapter House Lane and Flinders Street Gallery.  For high quality street art, wander around Fitzroy and Collingwood where you can see work by Fintan Magee, RONE and other internationally known artists.

Outside the CBD (Central Business District), I loved the Heide Museum of Modern Art, the beautiful house of art collectors John and Sunday Reed set in wonderful grounds which houses their fascinating collection and an intriguing programme of exhibitions. Montsalvat is a beautiful artists' community full of studios and galleries in lovely surroundings.

William Ricketts Sanctuary is an oddity (understatement) in the glades of Mount Dandenong, about an hour outside the city.  Ricketts was a self-taught and reclusive artist whose respect for nature and the indigenous people of Australia inspired him to create this sculpture park where he lived and worked for decades before his death in 1993.


The Food and Drink Edit

Melbourne is OBSESSED with coffee.  To a ridiculous level.  For someone who likes coffee but doesn't *love* it, it is hard to understand the complexity with which Melbournites can imbue it.  What I do know, however, is that the city is full to the brim of cafes and coffee shops, from the old school diners to ultra-hip brick wall warehouse spaces.  The best I've found have been outside the CBD: The Foreigner in Ivanhoe, and Auction Rooms in North Melbourne.  For cake and sandwiches, head to the uber-busy but worth the queue Beatrix in North Melbourne.

Pizza is king in Melbourne and the best can be found at DOC in Carlton, and 400 Gradi in Brunswick.  You can't beat the (admittedly tiny) lobster roll at super-cool Supernormal and the tacos at Mamasita are fantastic. For a reasonably priced fun night out with great food, head to Gazi, which serves up delicious chicken souvlaki and the most amazing chips I've ever had, triple cooked and sprinkled with feta and oregano *sigh*.

Chin Chin serves brilliant thai street food, in a cool warehouse space on Flinders Lane with queues out of the door.  I particularly recommend the 'wok-tossed brown rice w. sweet pork, salted duck egg, basil and crispy school prawns' (yes I did ask for a copy of the menu so I wouldn't forget this dish.  I also bought the cookbook.)  The red duck curry and larb gai were also delicious.  We ordered far too much and I couldn't eat for about three days afterwards.

When I was finally ready to eat again, I found myself wandering past Royal Stacks in the rain (I never said Melbourne was perfect - don't get me started on the weather...).  I was hungry, I fancied a burger, end of story, right?  Well, yes, except that it's worth noting that what I found was my PERFECT BURGER.  The search is finally over.  The perfect patty, the perfect cheese, the perfect bun, the perfect amount of pickle and mustard.  Goddamn it being 10,000 miles from home.  I mean, seriously, goddamn it.

Au Fermier is about an hour outside the city, in the small town of Trentham.  Owned and run by Annie Smithers, it is perfection.  There is no menu, just a set three course lunch/dinner which showcases local produce, as much of it as possible coming from Smithers' own garden.  We ate wonderful pasta with prawns and courgettes (zucchini), delicious lamb with feta and beetroot and a blissfully sweet pavlova with lemon curd and passionfruit.  The room is beautiful, the service is topnotch and the atmosphere relaxed and friendly. I will definitely be back.

For drinks, Melbourne is full of fantastic rooftop bars, of which Madame Brussels is one of the most fun.  Who can resist a jug of cocktails and a huge cheese plate with a view of the city? Bar Lourinha serves really fantastic tapas and has a great wine list.  Squeeze yourself into the tiny space, grab a seat at the bar and settle in.


The Shopping Edit

Melbourne is full of fantastic boutiques hidden down laneways, and the only thing that stops me buying ALL OF THE CLOTHES is the fact that it's entirely the wrong season and I am fickle so worry that I will have lost interest in them all by the time they are weather-appropriate in London.  My particular window-shopping favourites are Zimmerman, Sass & Bide and Life with Bird.

Otherwise, I always stock up on Aesop skincare products and Gewurzhaus spices.  And spend a few hours wandering around Gertrude and Smith Streets in Fitzroy, hanging out at Readings bookshop in Carlton, and pottering at the wondrous Queen Victoria Market, which I DREAM of having near me in London.

The Venice Edit

I love Venice with every fibre of my being.  I lived there for several months as a student and have been back every two years ever since.  My dream life involves living there for the whole of May and June every year.  Until that happens, I make do with biannual long weekends to check out the Venice Biennale, drink campari spritz and eat spaghetti vongole.

The Arts Edit

Where to start?  I'm not going to talk about the obvious sights but don't miss them - Piazza San Marco can be hideously busy but still makes my heart sing every time I wander through. If you want to visit the basilica, go early in the morning before the crowds gather. The Palazzo Ducale is fascinating and worth touring.  Every church you walk past has something to recommend, but my favourite is the Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari. And please don't miss the Scuola Grande di San Rocco where you can see the most beautiful Tintorettos.

Obviously if you're in town for the Biennale, your focus will be on contemporary art and you can head straight to the Giardini and Arsenale and get stuck in. Other amazing contemporary spaces in the city include two owned by art collector Francois Pinault - Palazzo Grassi and Punta della Dogana.  The exhibits are sometimes controversial or overhyped (at the time of writing, they are housing a tiresome Damien Hirst show) but the architecture is amazing and should be seen.  Victoria Miro has an offshoot of her London gallery near the Teatro Fenice which shows artists in her very high-quality stable.  Palazzo Fortuny is a stunning building which is worth a visit if it is open for a temporary exhibition.  And Casa dei Tre Oci, on the island of Giudecca, often shows interesting contemporary artists (currently David LaChapelle).

For modern art, don't miss the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, housed very sympathetically in her old home, for its wonderful displays of artists including Picasso, Brancusi, Pollock, Ernst and Malevich plus a good programme of temporary exhibitions.

The Food and Drink Edit

The most fun areas for eating/drinking are Dorsoduro (the student area) and Castello (lots of locals - this is where I always stay).

In Dorsoduro, head for Campo Santa Margherita where there are several great bars and the people watching is fantastic.  My favourite is Caffe Rosso (which has a sign that just says Caffe) where they do the best spritz in the city, but Orange and Marguerite Duchamp are also fun and cheap.  The restaurant in the square does good cheap pizzas too.  Gino's on the street down to the Peggy Guggenheim Collection is good for a quick cheap and tasty 'tramezzino' (sandwich) lunch.

In Castello, the bar to go to is Refolo on Via Garibaldi - great fun and open til late.  The restaurants on the same street are all pretty good too - I always head to one or another for a mountain of spaghetti vongole on my first day.  The best 'cheap as chips' pizza in the area is Dai Tosi - it's a bit tricky to find but absolutely worth it. 

If I only had one night in Venice, I'd eat at Corte Sconta in Castello.  You need to book in advance and like fish but it is very special and the clams in ginger and white wine are my Death Row Meal.

Alle Testiere is small and perfectly formed, and I had one of the best meals of my life there in July.  Clams, lobster ravioli and beautifully cooked fish followed by crema rosada (Venetian creme caramel) and washed down with prosecco and grappa (yes, the grappa was a mistake) - just a truly joyful evening.

The Practical Edit

If you can splash out, I would recommend getting a water taxi from the airport into the city.  It's a total joy, although at €110 (for the whole taxi) it's an expensive joy.

Once you arrive in the city, it's worth getting a 24/48/72 hour ticket for the vaporetti (waterbuses) so you can jump on and off as you like.  It works out much cheaper if you're going to make more than a couple of trips, especially if you plan to go out to some of the other islands.  You can't buy tickets on the boats.

Generally speaking, I walk around Venice because I'm always trying to pack too much into my time there and the vaporetti can be really slow, but if it's your first trip do get the No 1 vaporetto up or down the Grand Canal so you can see all the amazing buildings along the canal and get a feel for the geography of the city.  

And one final tip: head to the newly refurbished post office, which is now an impressive department store called Fondaco dei Tedeschi. Bypass the shopping (or don't if you have the cash to splash, obviously) and head up to the roof terrace for the best views in the city.

Venice Biennale 2017

Every two years, Venice is taken over by the international art world for the Biennale.  The event runs from May to November, and involves hundreds of countries curating exhibitions of contemporary art in their own 'pavilions'.  The key sites are the Giardini and the Arsenale (historic naval warehouses and dockyard) but there are other pavilions and 'collatarol' exhibitions across the city.  One could spend weeks and not see everything, so a plan of attack is necessary if you don't want to miss something wonderful.

To be honest, this year the Biennale was pretty disappointing, full of mediocre and instantly forgettable art.  The standout pieces for me were:

- an incredibly powerful video work telling refugee stories by Candice Breitz in the South African Pavilion

- a series of beautiful black and white photographs in the Australian Pavilion by Tracey Moffatt

- a beautiful diorama-style film by Lisa Reihana in the New Zealand Pavilion

Of the non-official Biennale exhibitions, I was knocked out by the Diaspora Pavilion, particularly a striking and fascinating installation by Yinka Shonibare and beautiful disquieting photographs by Khadija Saye, who tragically died in Grenfell Tower.

Damien Hirst's much-trumpeted return to sculpture dominates the city, taking over two key contemporary art spaces at Palazzo Grassi and Punta della Dogana.  I was not expecting much and I think it's fair to say the exhibition lived down to my expectations.  Hirst has a great concept and a few good gags, but I got the joke by the end of the second room and I really didn't need to be banged over the head with it ad infinitum.

Of course, some of the best times one can have in Venice are just wandering around and discovering little moments of magic round every corner.  Support by Lorenzo Quinn is a perfect piece of public sculpture along the Grand Canal.

The Melbourne Edit

I love Melbourne.  Truly, if it was nearer to my friends and family in the UK, I would move there in a heartbeat.  I am lucky enough to have a very lovely and excellent friend there who I visit as often as I can, giving me the perfect excuse to explore one of my favourite cities as a 'local' rather than a tourist.  So I can't tell you about hotels, but I can recommend things to do, see, eat and buy in Melbourne.

The Arts Edit

Melbourne has a thriving contemporary art scene, but my first stop on every visit is the National Gallery of Victoria.  The NGV has two sites, one of which highlights international art and often has fantastic temporary exhibtitions.  The second site at Federation Square has an amazing collection of Australian art, including some wonderful indigenous work.

ACMI, or the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, is also situated at Federation Square, and has a truly fantastic exhibition programme.  My last two visits have introduced me to video artists whose work I didn't know before but who I am now obsessed with: Candice Breitz and Julian Rosefeldt.

Melbourne is well known for its street art, but these days it is hard to find the best quality pieces.  Hosier Lane used to be the centre for artists, with its own curator, but it is now a mess of tagging and tourists.  Small galleries and spaces around the city still provide highlights though - including the nearby Chapter House Lane and Flinders Street Gallery.  I thoroughly recommend taking a walking tour with Bernadette from walk to art to explore all that is new in the Melbourne art scene.

Outside the CBD (Central Business District), I loved the Heide Museum of Modern Art, the beautiful house of art collectors John and Sunday Reed set in wonderful grounds which houses their fascinating collection and an intriguing programme of exhibitions.

William Ricketts Sanctuary is an oddity (understatement) in the glades of Mount Dandenong, about an hour outside the city.  Ricketts was a self-taught and reclusive artist whose respect for nature and the indigenous people of Australia inspired him to create this sculpture park where he lived and worked for decades before his death in 1993.


The Food and Drink Edit

Melbourne is OBSESSED with coffee.  To a ridiculous level.  For someone who likes coffee but doesn't *love* it, it is hard to understand the complexity with which Melbournites can imbue it.  What I do know, however, is that the city is full to the brim of cafes and coffee shops, from the old school diners to ultra-hip brick wall warehouse spaces.  The best I've found have been outside the CBD: The Foreigner in Ivanhoe, and Auction Rooms in North Melbourne.

Also in Ivanhoe can be found one of the best pizzas I've had outside Italy, at L'Artigiano, a beautiful little local Italian restaurant which is well worth the twenty minute train from the city centre.

Chin Chin serves brilliant thai street food, in a cool warehouse space on Flinders Lane with queues out of the door.  I particularly recommend the 'wok-tossed brown rice w. sweet pork, salted duck egg, basil and crispy school prawns' (yes I did ask for a copy of the menu so I wouldn't forget this dish.  I also bought the cookbook.)  The red duck curry and larb gai were also delicious.  We ordered far too much and I couldn't eat for about three days afterwards.

When I was finally ready to eat again, I found myself wandering past Royal Stacks in the rain (I never said Melbourne was perfect - don't get me started on the weather...).  I was hungry, I fancied a burger, end of story, right?  Well, yes, except that it's worth noting that what I found was my PERFECT BURGER.  The search is finally over.  The perfect patty, the perfect cheese, the perfect bun, the perfect amount of pickle and mustard.  Goddamn it being 10,000 miles from home.  I mean, seriously, goddamn it.

Au Fermier is about an hour outside the city, in the small town of Trentham.  Owned and run by Annie Smithers, it is perfection.  There is no menu, just a set three course lunch/dinner which showcases local produce, as much of it as possible coming from Smithers' own garden.  We ate wonderful pasta with prawns and courgettes (zucchini), delicious lamb with feta and beetroot and a blissfully sweet pavlova with lemon curd and passionfruit.  The room is beautiful, the service is topnotch and the atmosphere relaxed and friendly. I will definitely be back.

For drinks, Melbourne is full of fantastic rooftop bars, of which Madame Brussels is one of the most fun.  Who can resist a jug of cocktails and a huge cheese plate with a view of the city?

Bar Lourinha serves really fantastic tapas and has a great wine list.  Squeeze yourself into the tiny space, grab a seat at the bar and settle in.


The Shopping Edit

Melbourne is full of fantastic boutiques hidden down laneways, and the only thing that stops me buying ALL OF THE CLOTHES is the fact that it's entirely the wrong season and I am fickle so worry that I will have lost interest in them all by the time they are weather-appropriate in London.  My particular window-shopping favourites are Zimmerman, Sass & Bide and Life with Bird (particularly their outlet store on Brunswick Street in Fitzroy).

Otherwise, I always stock up on Aesop skincare products, Gewurzhaus spices and Kikki K stationery.  And spend a few hours wandering around Gertrude and Smith Streets in Fitzroy, hanging out at Readings bookshop in Carlton, and pottering at the wondrous Queen Victoria Market, which I DREAM of having near me in London.