Eating & Drinking Melbourne 2012

My bar, cafe and restaurant reviews appear in the new Eating and Drinking Melbourne 2012 guide. Published by Hardie Grant. Release date: September 1, 2011.

About Eating & Drinking Melbourne:

For the first time ever, Eating & Drinking Melbourne brings you over 700 of the best restaurants, nifty bars and cheap treats.

Our team of dedicated – and slightly bloated – reviewers has gobbled and guzzled its way through more than 700 bars, pubs, cafes and restaurants, to bring you this annual guidebook to Melbourne’s best venues.

Eating and Drinking Melbourne is like a Melway for your tummy! Whether you’re on the grid or on the outskirts of the city you won’t go hungry in Melbourne-town.

Divided into area chapters with sections on restaurants, cheap and cheerfuls, and bars, this guide is as comprehensive as Wikipedia – without the boring bits.

All venues have been carefully selected to represent a cross-section of each of Melbourne’s distinct locales – from the ‘burbs to the bright lights of the city – with casual and schmick options in every area.

From Elizabeth street’s Afghan, Indian, Japanese, Thai, Malaysian and Chinese feasts for all under $10 to Melbourne’s dominant culinary empires of local celebrity chefs, including Shannon Bennett, Frank Camorra, George Calombaris, and entrepreneur Con Christopoulos, while not forgetting the coffee houses of Salvatore Malatesta (St Ali), which can be found all over town.

Melbourne’s bar scene is now frequented by an increasing number of boutique breweries, but beyond local beer and cider, Melburnians are also being treated to the finest whiskies and tequilas, not to mention laboriously handmade cocktails which remain as fashionable as ever.

To find out more about Eating & Drinking Melbourne, visit the Facebook page.

Your chance to win!

Thanks to Hardie Grant publishing, I have two copies of Eating & Drinking Melbourne (valued at RRP $29.95) to give away. For your chance to win, tell me about your favourite Melbourne bar, cafe or restaurant. The best two answers will receive a copy of the book. Winners will be notified by email by 2 September 2011. Enter by commenting on this blog post.

Good luck!

Modern Grace: The Hempel, London

Sixties `it girl` and actress turned hotelier, Anouska Hempel, is a legend in design circles. Famed for creating the stunning Hempel Hotel in London’s West End, Anouska is also responsible for establishing the prestigious Blakes in London and Amsterdam, and most recently the rainforest-inspired Warapuru in Bahia. Known for her unwavering commitment to the creative vision, Anouska is an unapologetic perfectionist. Her eye for detail is most evident in the understated Hempel, said to be one of London’s first minimalist hotels.

Compared to the lavish Blakes Hotel in South Kensington, the simplicity of the Hempel is a stark contrast. Discreet glamour in an almost all white decor is this Hotel’s signature style. From the sparse lobby to the Zen garden, all areas of the hotel are focused on creating calm and tranquillity. Each of the 44 bedrooms and six apartments in the Hempel are all individually
designed to exact standards. Particular highlights feature a bed in a cage over a lounge and a towering atrium over a bed.

Located at Craven Hills Gardens, north of Hyde Park, the luxury hotel is situated close to the world-famous Portobello market of Notting Hill. This market runs along a mile-long road which is lined with antique treasures and vintage fashions. After a long day, head to the Churchill Arms on Kensington Church street, a pub and Thai eatery that is literally decorated in flowers. For a more upmarket affair, take a Black cab to Nobu in Mayfair or the Worseley in Picadilly.

There are endless possibilities when it comes to London entertainment. Despite its gritty streets and more often than not, gloomy skies, London is a metropolis that is open to the world. Diverse in its cultural offerings; underground tube rides,
outrageous tabloids, summer music festivals, pubs at every corner,’beigels’ on Brick Lane, bars in Hoxton, super-clubs in Farringdon, lazy Sundays on Hampstead Heath and Soho cabarets – and this is barely scratching the surface.

www.the-hempel.co.uk

Fashion: a sign of the times?

In the thrill, buzz and glamour of this year’s L’Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival, the pervading question was: how do you dress in these tough economic times? Be prudent? Deny or defy? The response was conveyed in multiple perspectives from local and international designers alike.

With a filmic motif, the key runway looks were classic black and white ensembles, with splashes of fuchsia, orange and cobalt blue. As anticipated, tights in all colours and prints dominated and sky-high heels were ubiquitous on every runway. The most notable debuts were tapered tailored trousers, tuxedo jackets and a revival of the classic trench coat. They say that fashion is a reflection of the times, but despite the doom and gloom, fashion still managed to put on a brave and pretty face.

It was all gangbusters on Runway 5, the most striking of them all, and a welcome reprieve from the glitz of earlier shows. The surprising but slick show featured designers ALPHA60, ANT!PODIUM, Fool, Friedrich Gray, Jack London, NOM*d, S!X and Therese Rawsthorne. Fool discombobulated the audience with their playful use of colour and fabrics, pom-poms, heavy knits, soft toys and other eye-opening paraphernalia.

Giving their sartorial take on dire straits was ALPHA60. The Alphalites expanded on their usual palette of blacks, greys and pristine whites, by accentingtheir collection with checks, prints, and frills. NOM*d’s resilient collection was military inspired, replete with ripped-up and layered embellished detail.

Runway 7 combined international and Australia labels including Alice McCall, Christine, Claude Maus, Collette Dinnigan, Cose Ipanema, Maticevski, Viktor & Rolf, Willow and Zambesi. McCall presented a very ‘now’ look, flattering silhouettes with hints of geometry, her new collection reinstating her reputation for making modern pretty. Dinnigan delivered a predictably outstanding
collection with her stunning use of metallic sequins and leather. She paid cues to present trends while still working within a classic framework, reminding audiences why she is labelled as one of Australia’s most prominent fashion designers.

They say hard times prompt a flourishing of ideas and creativity but this year’s 2009 independent showcase was somewhat disappointing. In the past, the Independent runway show has always presented the most fashion forward collections, defiantly challenging the status quo. This year saw a restraint that did not produce what we have all become accustomed to – difference
and innovation. This is not to say the collections were lacklustre, but there seemed to be a reluctance to push the boundaries of the design scope, as seen in previous years. With that said, there were real gems. A welcome reprieve from the sea of mediocre came from the House of Baulch who bedazzled in a dramatic collection of jewellery and lycra body suits in all colours of precious jewels: ruby, amethyst and gold.

Limedrop’s Huntsman collection delivered an oxymoronic twist to the punk-rock look, combining bow ties and frills with plaid and leather. Carly Hunter’s collection oscillated between the masculinity and feminine and was the most accessible in its versatility and simplicity. Ellergy’s ‘Under the Cherry Moon’ prettily adorned the runway catwalk with its glamorous but modern
ensembles; a highlight was a gold, sequined backless long-sleeve dress and metallic copper trousers that left audiences transfixed. Kuwaii continued the colour theme with a beguiling showcase of bright shift dresses. However it was Dion Lee’s understated collection, which was the show-stealer. Like all good design, Lee’s pieces were meticulously constructed with careful attention to detailing – a worthy recipient of the Westfield Chermside Australian Fashion Graduate of The Year Award.

Generally, LMFF delivered a mixed bag of the good, the bad and the damn right outrageous. There were moments which saw collections going down the ‘anything really is possible!’ trajectory and, at other moments, the audience tasted a very real sense of, ‘perhaps there really is such a thing as too much’. Designers either took a practical (some would argue safe) approach (layers
and timeless pieces to last a decade of recessions) or defied the Global Financial Crisis with bold prints, bright colours, and luxurious silks. The more avant-garde revealed a ‘do-it-yourself’ approach, translated in pinned-up and shredded fabrics. And, as always, the majority of the local designers stuck to the Melbourne black, a reassuring staple in this unstable economic climate.

L’Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival
fashion@lmff.com.au
lmff.com.au

Hotel Du Petit Moulin, Paris

(As published in Fashiontrend Australia).

The Hotel Du Petit Moulin is a dream realised for fashion designer Christian Lacroix who was personally invited to bring his flamboyant aesthetic to the historic Parisian hotel. As a theatre enthusiast, Lacroix’s approach to the design of the hotel is inevitably dramatic. Each room presents an explosion of possibilities and a backdrop for each guest to act out their stories.

The rooms which are all personalised, are a delicious medley of colours, furnishings and textures; gaudy wallpaper with velvet drapes, wooden floor boards with chrome mirrors, contemporary lighting with antique chandeliers, lacquered black doors with teak wood, and bright geometric shapes with somber tones.

Lacroix also designed with the vibrant Marais district in mind. As he explains, “I endeavoured to translate seventeen ambiences corresponding to each of the seventeen rooms, like seventeen ways of experiencing the Haut-Marais.” The Marais district (French for ‘the marsh’), is home to bohemian artists, creative eccentrics and a thriving Jewish and gay population. Catering especially for lovers of art and culture, a myriad of original shops line the surrounding cobbled streets.

The Paris History museum, the Picasso museum and the European House of Photography are all within convenient walking distance of the hotel. For antique shopping venture to the Village Saint-Paul, then take a walk to the rue Saint-Antoine to try an award winning Red- label baguette at Miss Manon, one of Paris’s most famous bakeries. Romanticising the past and devouring the present, the hotel shares an intimate history with its surroundings. Part of the hotel used to house the oldest bakery in Paris; the local legend is that French poet and writer Victor Hugo use to buy his bread there. The reception still maintains the Venetian-style setting, preserved from the original exterior, and the 1900 frontage and the shop signboard is heritage listed, ensuring that its historic grandeur is preserved for all time.

words LIEU PHAM

Hotel on Rivington, New York

Emblematic of New York itself, the Hotel on Rivington is a product of global collaborations. The 21-story orthogonal glass tower is an astonishing fusion of conceptual and practical design. Created by New York design team Matthew Grzywinski and Amodor Pons, the building marries the contradictions of the city; the old with the new, history with post-modern and tradition with
avant-garde. Far from being content to focus on just comfort and luxury, the design duo wanted to achieve a panoramic experience that would extend beyond ‘just another hotel’ experience.

With floor to ceiling windows, and standing higher than any other building in the area, the hotel has a remarkable 360 degree unobstructed view of the city. A provocative theme of ‘conceal and reveal’ pervades the walls where guests can determine their level of exhibitionism and often in some cases, voyeurism. The customised bathrooms suites are incorporated into the building’s exterior, enabling guests to view the New York’s skyline without compromising or intruding on their privacy.

The interiors are the intricate work of Parisianbased India Mahdavi who is touted as ‘the next big thing’ in design circles. Mahdavi’s signature style is a symbiotic blend of masculinity and femininity, resulting in a sensual ambience and warmth. The Rivington’s Thor Restaurant and Bar features a remarkable ceiling glass atrium, which is the creation of renowned Amsterdam designer Marcel Wanders, whose work is permanently featured at the Museum of Contemporary Art.

Situated in Manhattan’s fashionable and trendy East Side, the hotel is the perfect place to enjoy New York’s cultural generosity. New Yorkers have a cooler-than-thou attitude and no one can deny that when it comes to fashion, they’re top of the charts. Peggy Pardon on Ludlow street, a vintage boutique brimming with 1920s-1940s dresses and the edgy menswear boutique Spec on Clinton Street, are two of the coolest shopping haunts in the neighbourhood.

Those who are adventurous enough to explore may be blissfully surprised, as the most unique bars and shops are hidden in side streets and alleys, often with unassuming or even derelict facades. If there is energy to spare, the hotel is of walking distance of the East Village, Nolita, Chinatown, Tribeca and SoHo. On-route home, visit Katz’s deli on East Houston Street for kosher hot dogs and pastrami sandwiches and mix with an eclectic clientele of well-heeled hipsters, international jet setters and Jewish nanas.

www.hotelonrivington.com