Melbourne Patron

The Imperial Hotel, corner of Bourke and Spring Streets, Melbourne Touted on its website as Melbourne's third-oldest pub, there's no doubting that the Bourke Street Imperial Hotel  (2-8 Bourke Street, Melbourne) is old-school. Established in 1858 and boasting red cedar doors of the same age, "the Impy" is one of those comfy drinking holes you tend to forget about, even though you pass it on the tram every day. It's on the corner of Bourke and Spring Streets, right on the 86/96 tram line, and a hop-skip-jump from Parliament Station. Red cedar doors dating back to 1858 I'd been to the Imperial a few times before. It's an easy meeting point considering its proximity to PT, and a safe haven from the unpredictable Melbourne rain when all you feel like is a drink on the way home. I've watched footy there, sipped wine at their footpath tables when I couldn't get into City Wine Shop , seen comedy upstairs, and even been through a break-up the...

It sounded cool. Pizza - which, as everyone knows, can be amazing when done properly - in a favourite old haunt of mine in Collingwood, just one block down from Smith St, with fluoro lights and even a disco ball, to boot. But there were a few things about Lazerpig Pizza Parlour (9-11 Peel St, Collingwood) that just didn't sit right with me. Occupying the site that used to house a great (albeit quiet) little pub, the Star , halfway down the notorious Peel St, Lazerpig is in a fairly accessible Collingwood spot. Its corner entrance is clearly marked by a fluorescent flying pig overhead. I'm yet to find a good explanation of the restaurant name (possibly something to do with gaming?!) - but it's certainly memorable. Lazerpig is the newest venture of the Grace Darling crew, which I found surprising, because I thought the Grace Darling was a fairly classic operation, and I didn't get the impression Lazerpig was being run very well, when I was there. Service was ...

We'd been hearing about it for months and months. Chris Lucas and his never-fail Lucas Group venues had closed what was Pearl Cafe at 599 Church Street (corner of Newton Street), Richmond, and left the small 60-seater site to marinate for a while. Things went quiet next to  Petbarn , then suddenly the new fit-out was complete, and Broadsheet was running a competition in cahoots with Mercedes-Benz for winners to experience the as-yet-unopened restaurant, Kong , at a special (and very well-publicised) dinner. There were also tastes of the food - with mixed reviews - through Rue & Co , a pop-up Collins Street venture between Kong, Jimmy Grants and St Ali . Everyone was anticipating Executive Chef Benjamin Cooper 's menu - would it be all "chilli, chilli and more chilli", that he had proclaimed as his preference on a Masterchef immunity challenge? Or would his expertise from heading up the kitchen at the ever-popular Flinders Lane haunt,  Chin ...

(As seen in GRAM magazine) 25 March 2014 saw the opening of Proud Mary owner Nolan Hirte's second venture, this time on Brunswick Street:  Stagger Lee's . Not quite open for two weeks yet, this place is already ridiculously busy, and has had the gossip mills churning for months - so it already has a lot to live up to. Its location, 276 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy (corner of Victoria Street, a hop-skip-and-jump south of the prominent Johnston Street intersection), has already won half the battle for the venture. Guaranteed foot traffic, some outdoor seating, a nice amount of natural light, proximity to all the action of Brunswick Street, and a window bench for people-watching ensure the place is set for the levels of popularity everyone expects it to enjoy. Although there are many cafes to choose from along Brunswick Street, most are overpriced and lacklustre in standards, catering more for the shopping lunch crowd or afternoon-latte-sipping hipsters. Not many do a rip...