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Glen Waverley is inviting in a new generation of Asian cuisine—and boy are we happy to see it. The fourth venue from brothers Nolan, Brian Taing and partner Joe La, Workshop Bros Glen Waverley is an inventive all-day diner.

Waffles are what the Cookie Monster might term a ‘sometime food’, but there’s a hole-in-the-wall cafe in Richmond where that is definitely not the case.

Heads up, burger fiends. There’s a new player in town. L.A. Burgers has popped up on Toorak Rd in South Yarra (just opposite the station), and it’s doing—hands down—some of the best burgers we’ve tasted this year. That’s a big call, so let’s pop the hood on this bad boy and check out the engine room.

Kew’s brekky grapevine has been working overtime in recent weeks, which is probs why Brandy Kew is heaving at 8am on a school day, just four weeks after opening.

A 60s-inspired fashion boutique inside St Paul’s Cathedral? Yep, it does exist.

If there’s any Year 10 Italian left in your brain, you’ll know that ‘cucinetta’ translates roughly as ‘little kitchen’, a moniker here that feels entirely appropriate. This place isn’t much bigger than the average King-sized mattress. In a lot of ways it feels more like a randomly generated dinner party than a restaurant—albeit one with Nonna-quality food.

We’ve got a love/hate relationship with fast food fried chicken, which generally fluctuates in direct synchronicity with our blood-alcohol content. Basically, the more beers, the better it tastes. But there’s a new chicken joint in the CBD, from Singapore by way of NYC, that’s set to shake up the fried chicken game.

Richmond seems to be dotted with thousands of backstreet industrial gyms (must be all those warehouses lying around), but finding one that isn’t a sweaty, GloboGym muscle palace isn’t always easy. Enter The Richmond Gym: an accessible fitness space that’s all about good technique and old-fashioned fun.

It was a long time coming, but Wilson & Market is finally complete. The Brasserie (open as of right now) is the last in a three-part rollout that began with hole-in-the-wall Mr Wilson’s Tuckshop back in March. A cafe was added in June, and now there’s a classy wine bar and bistro to go with it, transforming a quiet pocket of the Prahran Market into the ultimate all-day dining venue.

Open the door to Eltham’s Third Chapter and two things become pretty obvious. One, this is a beautiful space. And two, the locals must bloody love it.

Tipo 00 may have changed the Melbourne pasta game, but chef and co-owner Andreas Papadakis was pretty adamant that this place was going to be different. “No pasta,” basically says it all. Osteria Ilaria might have Tipo’s soul, but it’s going to be its own beast.

Time to upgrade your plastic-fantastic Casio? We know just the place. German watch brand Kapten & Son has just opened Australia’s first ever bricks and mortar store, and—hells yes—it’s in Melbourne. Prahran to be precise, tucked down King St just opposite the Town Hall (look out for the blue anchor sign as you’re walking down Chapel).

It’s not often Friday night rolls around and you think ‘Man, I’m really craving Armenian’. But as anyone who’s dined at CBD hotspot Sezar will tell you, Armenian food is a spice-filled bag of surprises.

Cancel your plans to Italy. This place is the next best thing. The Tempo Pizzeria team have over 30 years’ pizza-making experience and even travelled to Italy to be officially certified at "Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana". We don’t know exactly what that means, but it sounds pretty damn Italian, so just go with it.

Call off the poodles—we’ve found the best French baguette sandwiches in Melbourne.

You’ve probably seen them around: velvety soft raincoats, oozing Scandinavian sophistication and a certain you-know-you-want-me vibe. Rains coats are already stocked in boutique stores all over the world, but it’s only recently the brand has lashed out and started its own concept stores. The first two were in Denmark (Rains’ home country), then came Paris...and now Melbourne.

Pure South reopened this year with a new look space and a killer Tasmanian menu. Upstairs you’ve got Pure South proper: an upmarket dining room with beautiful views over the Flinders St footbridge. Downstairs is the newly revamped P.S. Bar & Kitchen.

Roald Dahl fans will know Henry Sugar as the guy who robbed casinos by ‘seeing through’ playing cards (a short story that caused some of us, not naming any names, to spend many late nights practicing with a deck and a candle). For everyone else, it’s Carlton North’s new bistro and wine bar, a saucy little number from Michael Baker (Hell Of The North) and Daniel Mason (Cookie and The Toff).

Be The Duck has opened on Burnley St, and our list of Melbourne’s Best Cafe Names has a brand new addition. Yep, this place has been a long time coming. Burnley St, particularly the bit north of Bridge Rd, isn’t known for having an awesome foodie spread. But thanks to chef and owner Tom Skocic, that’s all starting to change.

Local label ELK prides itself on contemporary accessories, hand-crafted leather goods, and stunning original footwear. So it should, because this is some seriously cool stuff.

It’s finally here, guys. Shannon Bennett’s long-awaited Melbourne Benny Burger is officially open for business tomorrow. 

For FeeFee’s owner, hospo-pro-turned-DJ Fiona Meiklejohn, this place is all about “music, booze and a rocking good time.” Sounds bang on for ‘LoJo’, the lower end of Johnston St between Wellington and Hoddle. It’s a beer-soaked, rock n’ grunge strip that thinks acai bowls are a government conspiracy, and FeeFee’s Bar looks like it’s going to fit right in.

Smell that? That’s the smell of passionate souls, handpicked roses and exquisite perfumes wafting from New York sensation Le Labo in Fitzroy. Trust us, this place will change the way you buy fragrance forever.

Fitzroy St may be the answer to the question ‘Where’s the nearest kebab?’, but it’s never really exploded onto the Melbourne foodie scene. The good news is, that might be about to change...Introducing St Luja, a smoke-infused restaurant, cocktail and whisky bar that’s riding Fitzroy St’s upmarket wave.  

Well, you can add another well-designed café to Glenferrie Rd’s booming Hawthorn portfolio. Ten years ago the best meal you could get round here was a baked potato on the corner of of Burwood Rd. Now it’s like some sort of never-ending Disneyland buffet. If you put your mind to it, you could eat at a different venue every day of the month, and still have room for more.

Now this is a story all about how...some guy invented crazy baklava combinations that stretched the boundaries of culinary possibility.   

The latest John Curtin Hotel takeover is here, and it’s fried to crispy perfection. Sonny’s is the last in a great chain of Curtin kitchen residents (first there was Huxtaburger, then Bluebonnet Barbecue, then Leonard’s House Of Love got in on the action) and it might just be the best of the lot. We’re talking 24-hour brined chicken, pressure fried and crispy AF.

Tutto Bene is the perfect example of Southgate’s phoenix-like emergence as a serious Melbourne foodie destination. This isn’t just a place for Langham guests, pre-show theatre goers and the occasional tourist. Not anymore. Thanks to a reno’ and refresh in 2016, it’s now a schmick trattoria-style Italian eatery, with a menu built around organic, bio-dynamic produce (not to mention some of the best views in town).

Every good Melbournian needs a Burger Bucket List: a handwritten scroll that chronicles all the ridiculous triple stacks, fried chicken breasts and unnecessary croquette-stuffed monsters to eat before we die (let’s face it, probably of some sort of cheese-related illness). Well hold on to your napkins, because we just found a brand new Nashville-style burger bar in St Kilda, and it’s an absolute ripper.

If there’s anything you can count on after a long week, it’s Friday night drinks. But if you’re getting tired of the same-old-same-old in the CBD, it might be time to cross the river. Southgate’s Waterslide Bar needs to be top of your list.

Apparently the most authentic way to drink beer is in a traditional beer hall, but we can’t all jet off to Germany whenever we’re craving a pint. Lucky we’ve got Hophaus to fill the void, eh?

“You can get steak and pomme frites anywhere,” says Fortify co-owner Adam Davies. “We wanted to show a different side of France.”

All hail the humble squat – the exercise responsible for 90% of peach emoji’s posted on social media. What would we do without you?

It’s the eternal struggle. Obviously having living green things in your apartment makes you look like you have your life together. They’re cool and trendy, and they oxygenate things. But they also tend to die slow, wasting deaths, despite your best efforts in palliative health care.

Say hello to the latest member of the Rustica sourdough empire. What started as baker Brenton Lang’s drool-worthy CBD cronut factory is now popping up further and further east. Swan St got a lucky first expansion, and now it’s Hawthorn’s turn. Judging by the buzzing crowd waiting for tables on Sunday morning, the locals are pretty stoked by this decision.

Hands up who can point to Heidelberg Heights on a map? We’re guessing not many of you. That’s cool. It’s a suburb that doesn’t attract a lot of Melbourne foodie hype. But for Tori and Bea, co-owners of hole-in-the-wall Crate Specialty Coffee, that’s kind of why they love it.

While there’s something comforting about swinging by your local breakfast institute on a Sunday morning for a plate of smashed av and a skinny cap, there’s also something infinitely better about sitting down with a fresh stack of corn fritters and a breakfast cocktail at Fairfield’s Two Fat Monks in Fairfield. Let us repeat that last bit for you: breakfast cocktail.

Brunswick St’s new tapas café is determined to do things a little different. Avocado, when it appears, is staunchly un-smashed. The dishes aren’t garnished with edible flowers or elaborate confections. The furniture may be Scando, but the place feels warm and homely—none of the usual sterile minimalism that makes you feel like you’re brunching inside a copy of Cereal magazine.

Wearing glasses can be both a blessing and a curse. But that’s not the way the founders, or shall we say the visionaries, at Dresden Optics see it.

It’s official: Instagram sensation Duzenman has just opened its impeccably-styled doors on High St. This is the brand’s first bricks and mortar store—more of a leather emporium really (owner Samantha Duzenman calls it an ‘atelier’)—and they’ve picked a good spot for it. High St Armadale was made for shops like this. Exquisite boutiques that you can peruse at your leisure while waiting for a table at nearby High Society or Moby 3143. Local brands with a luxe edge.

There are some interesting things happening in Highett. It used to be one of those ‘blur suburbs’—something you see out the car window as you’re cruising down the Nepean Highway. But the food scene in the last few years, particularly the buzzing junction around Highett Rd and Railway Parade, is throwing up some really cool stuff. The Diplomat already has the Sunday brunch crowd on lockdown, and now Hot Lips Hacienda has arrived to make Friday nights a LOT more fun.

If you take a peek into the future of health care, you’ll probably see something like Upwell Health Collective. This place is kind of insane: a tranquil Zen space in Camberwell that combines nearly every type of clinical and wellness treatment known to science (and some known to faith).

Uncle Drew is everything a good Melbourne café should be. Suburban and small, with a tight menu, loyal locals, and damn good coffee. It’s a simple recipe, but stumbling on the real thing is still a refreshing experience—like finding money in an old pair of jeans. Drop by on a lazy Sunday morning and you’ll see owner Jonathan Scali working the coffee machine, bowls of granola whizzing by at nose-height, and the dogs of Clifton Hill catching up around the water bowl outside.

So long, Bedford St. We had some good times. Collingwood’s old burger bar may be gone for good, but in its place is a new venue, revamped and rethought: Terror Twilight. It’s still owned by the same guys—local coffee roastery Wide Open Road—but that’s pretty much where the similarities end. Where Bedford St had mac n’ cheese pancakes and gnarly hunks of golden fried chicken, TT is all about the healthy stuff.

Blencowes is fast becoming a Balaclava institution, the sort of place where the barista greets you by name and you get to say 'The usual, mate' and feel totally boss. But if you live north of the Yarra (or even a couple of suburbs over) you've probably never even heard of it. 

Melbourne’s new boutique pie store has opened in Brunswick East, and it looks fair dinkum delicious. The Pie Shop (good name) is the latest brainchild from chefs Matt Wilkinson (Pope Joan) and Steve Rogers (Circa, MoVida), a dinky-di throwback that’s serving a mix of sweet and savoury pies, plus a few must-have staples (think steamed dimmies, sodas and obligatory Snickers bars).

Matteo Bruno has done it again. The guy who rules Melbourne’s meatball empire with an iron fist (and a good glass of Riesling) has opened a new venue on Little Collins, and it’s set to become a late-night CBD staple.

There’s a new place in Abbotsford that has us scrabbling for superlatives, and its name is AU79. It’s allegedly the biggest café in Melbourne (200+ seats…seriously). It holds more plants than the average greenhouse, and employs a gardener just to look after them. It’s got an on-site bakery, patisserie and coffee roastery—a huge glass-enclosed room, stacked high with hessian bean sacks, churning out AU79’s signature blend. The coffee machine was imported from Italy. The furniture from Scandinavia. The chefs, bakers and baristas have been poached from some of the best cafes and restaurants in Melbourne. Even the freaking glassware was picked out by hand.

Fitzroy locals are probably familiar with Thai Thani, an unassuming little Thai joint that’s been pumping out no-fuss Pad Thai since 1986. But there’s a new owner in town—Ethan Chaikijkosi, of Pok Pok and Pok Pok Jnr fame—and the times they are a’changing. The old restaurant has been given a sleek, neon facelift, and the menu has undergone a hawker-style, pan-Asian revamp.

One part 19th century terrace, two parts mod industrial masterpiece. Shanklin is the East’s latest exposed-brick coffee klatch, a cute little Hawthorn-esque cafe that’s bending the breakfast rules.

The first thing you need to know, according to Sparrow’s co-owner Geno Sparrow, is that most Philly Cheesesteaks you see around town are not the real deal.

A little art-deco slice of primo beach real estate, with good food to boot.

Visually pleasing and delicious? Nope, we’re not talking Harry Styles’ latest video, we’re talking Poke Time Food Truck’s new mobile spread.

Adam Paurini and Ryan Simpson (the masterminds behind Jungle Boy and Boston Sub) have decided to burst out of their Windsor bubble and spread some love to Richmond with their new cocktail bar, The Palm Royale. You might think a bar that’s fully decked out with palm trees, flamingos and stuffed parrots is going to be all kinds of tacky, but once you step inside, you’ll realise this little piece of Cuban paradise is anything but. It's like someone built a bar using nothing but Tropicana. 

Next time you’re standing in line for dinner at Chin Chin (along with half of bloody Melbourne), turn around. There’ll be a queue snaking in the opposite direction, and this one leads to The Lucas Group’s newest venture, a three-level sushi and sake behemoth called Kisume, just down the road. (Basically, if you want to blame someone for the hungry diners clogging Flinders Lane, blame Chris Lucas).

If the end of the world tastes like cake, we say bring it on. Armageddon Cake is one more reason to brave the dead-flat, one-hour drive from Melbourne to Geelong (also known as the worst game of I-Spy ever). It’s the Bellarine’s first and only late-night dessert bar. At 7pm the doors open and locals descend like a pack of sugar-crazed wolves, gobbling up chocolate brownies with butterscotch sauce and sticky date pudding by the handful.

Finally—a gym that offers both indoor and outdoor training. Rain, hail or shine, the Brighton Baths Health Club offers a solid workout with a serious view. Can't beat that combo. There's regular Beach Fit classes right on the sand, a modern gym and changing rooms, plus the place is open 24/7, so you can work out in your own time.

Chill out, Beatles fans. This is Yoku Ono, not Yoko Ono. It’s easy to tell them apart: one is an artist and peace activist, the other is Melbourne’s tastiest ramen and sake bar. ‘Yoku’ means ‘skilful’ in Japanese, which is pretty apt (you’ll understand once you slurp this stuff).

Today's world definitely has better access to celebrity gossip, cheese and 24-hour online shopping, but it’s also a pretty stressful place. That’s kinda why mindfulness and meditation are having a moment. But meditating on your couch with, say, Season 3 of Geordie Shore in the background, probably isn’t the best way to do it. Enter A–Space, a chilled-out meditation studio, based in Collingwood.

Whether you’re looking to impress THAT Tinder date, or you just need a few quiet ones after a stressful day at the office (no judgment), this super-cool Brunswick wine bar has got you covered. Mostly because it has self-service wine. Yep, you read that right.