Melbourne Patron

Over the last few years, I have had the pleasure of attending the odd gig as part of the Melbourne International Jazz Festival . I'm not generally a big listener of jazz, but I do enjoy it live - either a more traditional style, or something a bit more unusual and challenging. Years ago, after a relationship break-up, I took to listening to ABC Classic FM , which ran a late-night jazz show (possibly still does). In one particularly glum mood, I heard the alternately freakish and dulcet tones of David Liebman 's saxophone. It inspired me to buy one of the more unusual albums I own, a collection of his songs named after various colours (including the one I'd heard on the radio), aptly named Colors . It has kept me company in some of my oddest moods - because there is some music out there that magically fits those miniscule flashes of undefinable feelings that flit through our psyche. Ever since then, I have been much more open to trying different kinds of music, and in ...

In my opinion, some places are simply better experienced than described. This post features many photos which hardly do The Lui Bar (Level 55, Rialto Towers, 525 Collins Street, Melbourne) justice, because no matter how many pictures I show you or words I write about it, there is just nothing like viewing Melbourne from 55 floors up, handcrafted cocktail in hand, listening to jazz. Albert Park Lake and beyond, from The Lui Bar The Lui Bar stems off Shannon Bennett 's revered restaurant  Vue De Monde , the degustation meal of which is absolutely on my bucket list. The restaurant was moved to the Rialto site in 2011, and its adjoining bar has also been making waves ever since. Iconic in location, the venue not only occupies the top level of what was, in 1986, the tallest building in Melbourne and the Southern Hemisphere at 251 metres, but offers spectacular city views of up to 60 kilometres on a clear day. Even the Eureka Tower , currently Melbourne's tallest buil...

When I think lunch, my first thought tends to be noodles. I'm not fussy: I'll eat basically any type of Asian cuisine, as long as it's well done. Having worked in Richmond for a couple of years now, I've sampled most of the offerings on or near Swan Street. My favourite? Happy Kappa, an unassuming-looking Japanese place (85 Swan Street, Richmond). It's BYO, cash only, and this place won't win any prizes for decor. It's got a bunch of big wooden tables and a few longer communal ones, and there's random Japanese decorative stuff plonked all over pretty much every surface. The standard fluorescent lights have been 'cleverly' hidden by draped fabric, and you eat from plastic bowls with disposable chopsticks as you would from most Japanese takeaway joints. But, it's charming in a quaint way. Your eye always has something to rove over (not least all the spunky creative-type lunch patrons), and soft, soothing jazz music plays overhead. ...