This man often stands on the corner of La Trobe and Swanston Streets with his crazy banner. He’s so old skool. I’m tempted to walk up to him to say ‘get a website dude!’ Fitzroyalty - hyperlocal news and reviews about Melbourne's first suburb: Fitzroy 3065 by Brian Ward is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 Australia License.
Archives for August, 2007
First day of the Melbourne Writers Festival is always a hoot and Saturday was no exception. I saw a few sessions, the two sessions with Dave Eggers and Last Chance to Read, which was Cate Kennedy, Nam Lee and Rjurik Davidson talking with Kalinda Ashton about the supposed ‘imminent-extinction’ of the short story. I also went to the Soi 3 modern poets launch and a few parties. I’m booked in to see another session on Tuesday as well. I really love the MWF and think it’s vital to support these things if you want them to stick around (do I sound ...
Night of the Long WivesEdward Albee’s famous alcohol fuelled, all night psycho-battle between husbands and wives is a modern classic. After a college drinks party, professor George (Gary McDonald) and his wife Martha (Wendy Hughes) invite the new biology teacher Nick (Stephen Phillips) and his wife Honey (Alison Bell) back for a nightcap that becomes a nightmare. Nick and Honey watch as George and Martha indulge in a battle of wits, minds and souls developed over twenty plus years of marriage. Soon Nick and Honey, nicely soused with bourbon and brandy and not so unassuming as we thought, become part ...
Busy busy busy! It had been mad workwise lately. Certainly no time to do anything else that hold more personal interests, like posting to blogs! Badly needed a break to get some perspective, which I guess I did achieve in a small way. Just returned from a week's skiing in New Zealand's South Island. The mind and soul are somewhat refreshed although on returning to the coal-face, the workload is
Frustration, disappointment, anger. What kind of self proclaimed music room doesn’t stock “Mysterious Girl” by Peter Andre, one of the 90s greatest tracks? A gluttony of chilled, ambient, blues and bass vibrate the air but no sweet tones from the Greek Cypriot? Fine. It will do. I’ll take this up with management later. Opening the modest aluminium door with it’s stylised logo that looks like it’s existed since the 70s, reveals a set of stairs that leads to the Recorded Music Salon Café. Immediate point of differentiation. It doesn’t carry ...
Departs from tramstop #125 Normanby Roadnear the corner of Clarendon Street, adjacent to the Melbourne Exhibition Centre and Crown Casino.Reservations office Ph:03 9696 4000FoodSet menus are offered, there is not a huge range of choice, but this is a small mobile kitchen. With the limited facilites, they do a great job with the food and it's well presented and tasty. Some great wine too, or your choice of drink with the meal and journey.ServiceEfficient, well presented and informative. ValueOk, you'll pay a fair bit more than your average restaurant, but you are paying for a journey and an experience here ...
Last weekend, the weather here in Melbourne decided to do its best to keep people at home. Drizzly rain and wind. Undeterred, we met up with a few friends and ventured upto King St, where there are more than a few restaurants popping up. Amongst them, Taste of Malaysia beckoned with its bright red sign, a few doors down from the corner of Lonsdale St. Not yet having found a Malaysian restaurant we'd recommend to being on-par with real Malaysian food from a Malaysian mamak (despite obvious currency differences), we decided to give it a go.
MR5 Mid Level,Southgate Landing,Southbank, Victoria, 3205PH: [03] 9696 0440FoodA variety of different dishes available in different cuisines, as well as some of your standard fair like fish and chips or pizzaServiceHip young waiters, good service and you won't wait too long for a meal ValueFair, prices have gone up a bit over the years DecorCasual atmosphere, not ritzy. A view over the yarra toward the city that can't be beat! I recommend a seat out on the balcony
I avoid libraries like the plague, perhaps too many people in there to make me feel guilty about my own poor study habits, but Mr Tulk is a worthy reason to grit your teeth and brave the blizzard of books to reach this fancy little café situated in the State Library. Offering simple bistro style meals, just did coffee and cake that day but I’ll be back for something more substantial. Skinny flat white was smooth and inoffensive, perfect for the majority of people though the lemon tart has a bit too much of that artificial citrus tang ...
The other Saturday, Alastair and I went on a lunch "date" to the Brasserie by Philippe Mouchel (Riverside at Crown).When we arrived at 12.30, there were only two other tables and we were seated between them at a table by the window. Not a bad seat, but we could easily overhear the other conversations and it felt as if the tables were quite close together. Al was in a minimal eating mood (whereas I'm always in a big eating mood!) so only I ordered an entrée. I tossed up between the Country style corn-fed chicken liver ...
Through a Dark GlasslyHannie Rayson’s play, like the enormously popular adaptation of A B Facey’s A Fortunate Life that played to over 30,000 people back in 1984, is one of those plays about the Great War told through the eyes of an ‘everyman’ rather than an official hero. In this case it is told through eyes that were clouded for half a century.Nelson Ferguson was a promising artist who served on the Western Front. Mustard gas robbed him of his full sight but he struggled on, raising a family and making a career in art none the less.Rayson adapts his ...
241 Swanston StMelbourne 3000 VICPhone: (03) 9663 3288FoodVietnamese, mainly Phở. Large servings of lovely rice noodle soups and a great selection of vietnamese dishes. Some very unusual and interesting drink choices. Extras on the side and tea always laid out for you at no extra cost.ServicePrompt service. This is a very busy little restaurant but you'll be seen to quickly. ValueA small restaurant/café that is great value. Not your full class act, but awesome for the price to stop in for a great lunch.DecorNothing flash to look at. You'll come here for the food and good value.
After finding ourselves in the city after a lesson at CAE at 9.30 on Monday night, we were starving and frankly, the thought of food was the only thing keeping us from not going home due to exhaustion of busy-ness. C thought of Supper Inn, which excited me beyond belief. Supper Inn holds a bit of nostalgia for me, as it was the place where my parents took me the night before I was due to start orientation at uni a while ago. Also, in my two-and-half years in Melbourne, I had heard lots about the famed congee (or rice ...
4 Tattersalls LaneMelbourne, VIC 3000Tel: (03) 9663-3980FoodGreat food, all very enjoyable dishes.ServiceVery good service, attentive and polite waiters. Pappadums and water served up front without even asking. I like that.ValueReasonably priced dishes and well priced banquet availableDecorVery different and unusual, very very 70's! Part of the entertainment is to look at some of these far out 70's decorations.
Saturday afternoon found us rushing to Queen Vic Market in a desperate but hopeful attempt to grab some cheap seafood and fresh bread during closing time discounting. Alas we got there just in time to see the last few stalls locking up and the only activity left to be seen were stallholders hosing down and mopping floors in preparation for next morning's opening. We were of course disappointed to
A story dealing with one of the most shocking murders committed by a young person in recent Australian history might be a surprising subject for Arena Theatre Company, an organisation for and about youth. Even more surprising is the bringing together of two of the most formidable emerging writers, Lally Katz and Tom Wright to author it. Based on the murder in 1997 of the engineer, Joe Cinque who was murdered by law student lover Anu Singh, the same event that Helen Garner explored in her book Joe Cinque's Consolation.Criminology is based on fact but is a fictional account of ...
Evil Under the SonIn her earlier play The Memory of Water Shelagh Stephenson set up an intriguing story about three daughters dealing with the recent loss of their far from perfect mother. Although not intended to be ghost like the ghost in Hamlet, their mother appears as a kind of living flashback. It was a lot of plays ago but The Memory of Water still sticks in my head.Enlightenment had a similar theme and a similar combination of grief, loss and the supernatural and will also have a similar effect on me. Lia (Sarah Peirse) and Nick's (Nicholas Bell) 20-year-old ...
Vaults 1-9, Federation Wharf (under Princes Bridge)Ph: 9662 1771Open: everyday, 7am-midnightIN summer there is no better place in Melbourne’s CBD for a drink than Riverland.Located at river level at Federation Square the open-air bar looks south across the Yarra to the rowing sheds and when the sun is shining the vibe is nothing short of pumping.In winter, Riverland is a little less appealing but
If you cut cheese in Kura, it wouldn’t take long to reach the nostrils of fellow patrons. Lucky you have the aromas of barbecued meat to cover up any voluntary or involuntary flatulence, though the crackling and sizzling won’t be loud enough to drown out the rectal trumpeting. You’d be caught out quicker than the dialogue in Gilmore Girls. It’s a cute, cozy stylishly modern Japanese bar where you can enjoy, by candlelight, some Asahi Super Dry on tap, a limited range of rice wine with grilled bird, cow or sea animal. Wishing the selection was ...
As the pauper that I am, I feel extremely blessed to be able to indulge under a roof such as this. Feels like getting into Establishment bar on George St, Sydney with scruffed up Dunlop Volleys, where they don’t like white shoes let alone dirty $25 sneakers with character. But it’s Melbourne and it’s all accommodating, even for a bum like me. If you’re lucky, you’ll get a seat inside the buzzing atmosphere of this little Italian trattoria with a minimal wait. Tired of the conversation with your dining partner? No dramas, just turn, bump ...
You could be forgiven for not venturing to the quieter end of Latrobe St, insinuating this was Chinese cuisine from the name, bracing for the snobby arrogant service similar to that of some Sydney CBD establishments, thinking it had just opened three days ago and that Christmas had arrived. Not that time of the year, they’ve just left a decorative piece hanging. It’s Korean fare here, BBQ tables border the brightly lit dining area, a polite waiter escorts you to an expensive solid wood table that looks like it’s just been unwrapped. So clean is this place ...
