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Melbourne night owls, this one’s for you.

If you’re looking for a bar that ticks all of the boxes, you’ll be glad to know that nestled within the hustle and bustle of Fed Square, is Transport Public Bar.

Whether you've already completed your weekly shop or not, we can guarantee you’re not going to be able to refrain from waltzing on in to LaManna & Sons. This place is the definition of eye candy (or veggie).

A nursery and jaffle bar, all in one? You better believe it, because nestled in Melbourne’s inner 'burbs is our new favourite green space: Native Home, House of Plants. 

Warrandyte doesn’t LOOK like a fine dining destination. The main strip is a sleepy mix of cafes and galleries, fresh air and gum trees all over the place. The Yarra burbles past, running clear and cold (not the brown sludge we’re used to in Southbank). It’s probably full of fish that don’t glow in the dark or have legs.

If funky skull-art and pops of colour are any indication, you can expect to satisfy your Mexican food cravings at Mi Mexiko. Whipping up all your favourites, from tostaditas to quesadillas, this is some of the best Mexican on the Mornington Peninsula. 

The evolution of Melbourne’s pasta scene is accelerating at X-Men speed. A decade ago, it was enough to nail a good carbonara (the secret’s in the room temperature egg yolks). These days if your pasta isn’t handmade on an imported Italian pasta extruder, you’re already behind the Otto-ball, so to speak.

This place is basically a library for wine. Vinorium is Northcote’s latest vino temple, and it's boasting some of the best international plonk going around.

Take your usual vanilla scoop in a cone and toss it out the window, because at Northcote’s Cuppa Turca, you’re in for a whole new ice-cream experience.

Tucked into the bustling end of Chapel Street, Jalisco (that's ha-les-ko, by the by) is dishing out some of the best modern Mexican food in Melbourne. Named after the Tequila producing State in Mexico, look out for the art-deco floral patterning and turquoise door.

Celebrity Chef Eyal Shani has brought “pita to the land without pita” at his new Australian restaurant, Miznon. The latest addition to Hardware Lane, Miznon is the ninth branch of the award-winning restaurant originating in Tel Aviv, so you know it’s gonna taste damn good.

Your favourite fried chicken and waffles is hitting Smith Street, and we’ve never been more excited to get our hands waffle-y dirty. Bringing their well-known, fried and tasted chicken recipe from Brunswick East—F.A.T Fried & Tasty serves six different types of chicken and accompanying American-style sides.

"Holy crap." That’s a pretty accurate summary of our internal thoughts the minute we laid eyes on a Duke Pizza. This is officially the biggest delivery pizza available in Melbourne. We’re talking a 24-inch diameter (that’s a 64cm pizza box, just FYI). Basically two footlong subs, stacked end on end.

Melbourne’s most Instagrammable cafe has swapped lycra for flannel. What does that mean? It means Long Story Short just opened a second cafe in Brunswick. Get the hell excited.

The Rustica empire keeps on keeping on. Earlier this year the bakery business expanded into sunny Hawthorn, and now it’s set up shop inside Collins St’s newly revamped Rialto Towers.

Once upon a time...

Brunswick, meet your new local. A kitschy coffee house, cocktail bar, gallery and general hang, tucked into a revamped bank vault on Sydney Rd.

You can’t fake a good cafe atmosphere. It’s like an IQ test—you’ve either got it you don’t. And whatever it IS that makes a cafe feel cosy, warm, homely, the Wilkinson crew's new venture Lillie has it by the scoop.

Just when you think Melbourne has reached peak burger, we get this place. Chiquito & Co is the city’s latest all-American fried chicken and burger bar, and it’s already making a few waves in Fitzroy (Melbourne’s unofficial burger heartland).

Mrs. Hopper is Araliya’s louder but (equally loveable) Sri Lankan aunty, a new cocktail den inside the famous Fitzroy St restaurant. And if you haven’t guessed it already, Mrs. Hopper is all about hoppers…and Bombay-ass cocktails.

With two cafes already booming in Balwyn and the CBD, it was hard to see how the White Mojo boys were gonna up their game. Where do you go after inventing French toast with hazelnut crystals and matcha meringue?

Abbotsford's favourite brewery bar is growing up. Moon Dog Brewery has recently taken over the warehouse next door, expanding their beer capacity (they're able to pump out a ridiculous 2.5 million litres a year, now) as well as launching a pizza trailer and roller disco. Yep, all in a day's work for the Moon Dog boys.

Any small business whose motto is “F*ck Vegas” is one we want to learn more about.

A Vietnamese hip hop noodle joint, from four of Melbourne’s most accomplished restaurant pros? Okay, you have our attention.

You’ve probably walked straight past Denmark House dozens of times. It’s hidden on the third floor of a nondescript brick building on Little Bourke St: a little temple to Danish minimalism, floating high above the city.

Tucked away 'round a corner off Toorak Road, there's a new salon dedicated to dedicated to "anti-crap": Bob Hair Co.

Georgia Perry describes Kiosk as her “playroom”, a physical space she can dream up her own products of internet-y graphics and silk scarves.

When French pastry prodigy Gontran Cherrier launched his first Australian boulangerie on Smith St in 2016, it’s fair to say there was a bit of hype. Okay a lot of hype. People lost their sh*t.

It may be right on the corner of Exhibition Street, a prime location for CBD hustle and bustle, but at Vacation you really can expect a quality coffee break, away from all the city hype.

It took a while, but the last part of The Smith puzzle just fell into place. Following on the back of its multi million dollar refurb, everyone’s favourite Prahran drinking den just opened its own in-house fish & chippery.

It’s 3am on Saturday morning in Windsor. You’ve just spent the night doing awful dance moves at Revs or Poof Doof and you’re craving something fried and unhealthy and utterly delicious. Where do you go?

Loaded fries with mac ‘n’ cheese, all-you-can-eat wings and pecan pie—oh my! Hailing from LA-based Bludso’s BBQ (said to be the best BBQ outside of Texas), San Antone is dishing out some of the most drool-worthy cheat meals in Melbourne.

In a sleepy Essendon high street, there’s a little cafe doing—hands down—one of the best breakfasts we’ve eaten this year. In fact we’re fighting an urge not to jump in the car right now, go back and order another plate-full.

It’s the one burger store in Melbourne where you can walk up to the counter, order a BJ, and not get slapped. Welcome to That Burger Joint, a politically incorrect St Kilda burger bar that’s been pumping since 2015.

Finding a spray tan you can actually trust is like The Holy Grail. Sometimes you hear whispers of a place that’s a ‘sure thing’, some underground urban legend where they DON’T turn you into an oompa loompa two days before your cousin’s wedding. But actually finding one is tricky. It’s always some friend of a friend’s sister’s mate’s neighbour who discovered tanning Narnia. Never you.

Part yoga, part cafe, part retail space, part meditation studio. The Beatt in Armadale sure does wear a lot of hats.

Nosh (v): to eat enthusiastically. That about sums it up at Nosh, Melbourne’s new wellness cafe and poke bar.

Funny how quickly things change in Melbourne. It was only a couple of years ago that Toko opened its izakaya-style doors on Greville St. Contemporary, sophisticated and delicious. It was a local favourite for a long time.

It’s hard to know where Melbourne’s modern-day burger obsession started, but if you follow the brioche breadcrumbs back in time, chances are good you’ll end up here. At the Dandenong Pavilion, one of Melbourne’s true OG burger joints.

One of the little-known downsides to the whole monogram process is the waiting around while the thing gets done. All that monogram fatigue. Who’s got the stamina, right?

Bayswater’s new Wonderland extravaganza has captured the eyes (and Insta feeds) of many eager to embrace their inner Mad Hatter. With burgers by the names of Tweedledee and Tweedledum, The Hatter & The Hare has “Eat Me” written all over it. 

The Mr Burger empire has grown steadily over the last few years. From a food truck fleet to bricks and mortar stores. Even a competition where they offered someone a lifetime of free stacks...if they changed their last name to Burger (anyone whose surname was already Burger was, sadly, ineligible).

Armadale’s bustling High St has a new resident, and it’s looking classy AF. Meet The New Trend, an iconic Canadian multi-brand fashion retailer that started up back in 1992.

If you haven’t tried a steak sanga from Empire Steak in the CBD, you haven’t live in any meaningful way. These things are officially ridiculous. Juicy 125g lean porterhouse steak, cooked medium, sandwiched between lightly toasted white bread, and paired with onion jam and butter lettuce. That’s your classic model, but the guys at Empire have expanded the range since setting up shop in Little Collins St.

Before anyone ever uttered the phrase ‘hidden Melbourne laneway gem’, there was Punch Lane, a cosy restaurant and wine bar that’s been going steady since 1995. Well now Punch Lane has a sister venue, down in the basement, Melbourne’s new late-night wine and raclette hotspot—Juliet.

Sneaker-heads, listen up, because Sneakerboy just opened its latest concept store in Chadstone, and it’s looking absolutely ridiculous. If Turtle from Entourage had dreams, they would look something like this: a brushed-concrete Trainer Temple, big flat screens hanging from the ceiling, decked out in cutting-edge street footwear.

It’s a hell of a concept when you get it down on paper. A boozy Footscray bakery, jaffle bar and coffee house, with cocktails running till 1am. We’re struggling to think of anywhere else in Melbourne doing something even comparable. You’ll get it as soon as you push through the big glass doors: Bad Love Club is one of a kind.

If you’ve been to Tokyo, chances are good you’ve visited the cramped alleys around Golden Gai, the city’s famous shanty-town bar district. It’s known for tiny yokocho alley bars: minuscule drinking dens with a seating capacity you could count on one hand. Just a wooden bar, three or five stools, and some of the best whisky in the world. No biggie.

Old-school Melburnians will probably remember The Cliveden Room on Wellington St. It was a place for the A-Listers—your Barry Humphries, Bert Newtons and Jeff Kennetts—an exclusive fine dining restaurant with an even more exclusive clientele.

Sloane Ranger’s industrial aesthetic feels kind of appropriate for Cremorne. A forgotten warehouse suburb, where Melbourne keeps its ad agencies, auto garages, mysterious yet trendy offices and architecture firms.

West Melbourne is dotted with gems like this. Massive crumbling Art Deco buildings from the 1920s, peeling, sun bleached, forgotten. They usually stay that way for decades, slowly crumbling, until a canny developer converts them into modern, industrial apartments, which is pretty much what happened to The Apollo on Hawke St.

If you Google “Bhang”, you find it’s the name for the cannabis flower—a way to get high in India and Nepal. But at Brunswick’s newest Indian restaurant, the only high you’ll experience is a good-food one.

There’s something happening on Chapel St. Gentrification seems to be trickling south from the Yarra, pouring into Windsor and Prahran like the slow extraction of a good espresso martini. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It means old stalwart venues (like Oriental Teahouse) are getting some overdue revamps, restyling themselves as contemporary cocktail destinations. More 2017 than 2007.

What do we want from a good wine bar?

Melburnians, we’ve found the hottest wellness studio you need to rewind, relax and rejuvenate after a hard week (or 20-something years, if we’re being honest here). Armadale’s newest arrival—ODOS—is a specialised infrared sauna and oxygen therapy studio with treatments that sooth your body using the latest technology in wellness and health.

She’s not a household name in Melbourne (yet), but Ms Vy is one of Vietnam’s most recognised and respected restaurateurs, famed for her Morning Glory restaurant in the beating heart of Hoi An. Now she’s hitting the big smoke with her latest venture: an authentic Vietnamese restaurant in the backstreets of Windsor.

Foodies, this is no ordinary food truck. Dishing out the finest modern Latino street food in the ‘burbs of Melbourne, you can expect a fiesta of sounds and flavours from La Revolucion.

You’ll probably smell Atypic before you see it. The dark scent of homemade couverture wafts through the passages of South Melbourne Market. Approximate smell radius: 15 metres. You’ll find your nose twitching like a compass needle, swinging to point due chocolate.

Difficult to find, even with Google Maps in your pocket, St. Burgs is tucked inside an apartment complex in Maribyrnong. It’s probably best just to drive up, close your eyes, and follow the scent of perfectly cooked patties.

Healthy fast food sounds like a bit of an oxymoron. Kind of like an 'addictive salad'. But for Ben's Supernatural, South Yarra's new nutrition-based eatery, it's a way of life.