Melbourne Patron

For months, there had been speculation about the newest dumpling joint to hit Melbourne: Tim Ho Wan (206 Bourke Street). This one was setting the bar high, even for Melbourne diners: it was one of an international franchise based upon the original, a Michelin-star awarded 20-seater restaurant in Hong Kong. Michelin star dumplings! Yes, please. The Queue usually runs around the corner, but moves fast Signs identified the Bourke Street location even before Christmas, so it was no real shock that upon its opening in March, Tim Ho Wan's first Melbourne site boasted queues around the clock. Fortunately, they've done this before (there are currently over 20 Tim Ho Wan sites in Asia and Australia, including four in Sydney), so the waiting area had been neatly sectioned off around the corner, and casual stool seating provided. Menus can be found dotted along the queue area, and in peak times, clipboards are handed out by staff, bearing checklist menus ready to be filled out an...

I am an absolute sucker for pretty lights. So when I saw the Dandenong Festival of Lights advertised, I was pretty keen to go. Basically it looked like a big bunch of colourful, lit-up sculptures with a Chinese twist, in a park. The website more classily described it as celebrating "Chinese culture through a display of hundreds of beautiful and unique silk light displays". We chose a night to go - Friday, 2 October 2015 - and rocked up to Greaves Reserve (Dandenong Showgrounds) around 7pm. There was ample parking, and it was needed: there was a queue of people lining up for tickets probably 300 metres long. An usher said it would be the busiest night of the event's duration (why, I'm not sure). The queue moved quickly though - we probably reached the gate within ten minutes - but I did make a mental note for next time, to buy tickets online beforehand. The entrance was promising: a huge, intricate, colourful archway, lit up against the night sky, framed b...

Good cafes are few and far between in Melbourne's CBD, so it is unsurprising that The Hardware Societe (120 Hardware Street, Melbourne) has created such a loyal following. Its name is regularly mentioned in foodie circles and it is often recommended to visitors. Having never set foot in the joint, I tried it for the first time this September, when my Dad and a business associate of his were in town. Perhaps it was the effect of all the hype - or I've been spoilt for choice by the hordes of excellent cafes in Melbourne - but although I found The Hardware Societe good, it wasn't amazing. Its location has obviously contributed to The Hardware Societe's success - halfway down a traffic-free laneway, bang in the middle of town, allowing for its regular queues to spill onto the street. I arrived at 9.45am on a Saturday to put our name on the list. The others arrived at 10am and we were seated by about 10.10am. Twenty-five minutes' wait... not too bad for such a rev...