Visiting Melbourne? Insiders share tips


Melbourne is an unlikely city.

Consider the conditions: a population of a little more than 4 million in the southernmost major city in mainland Australia, itself one of the southernmost countries in the world.

Yet it has developed into a thriving center of culture and good living, ranked the world's most livable city two years running by the Economist Intelligence Unit.


It's this unlikely ascendance that leads people to narrow their focus in looking for answers, putting Melbourne's exceptional bars, arts events, festivals, coffee and food under a microscope in search of some sort of ineffable essence when there probably isn't one.

It's basically a big city that only looks like a small one.

And that's a lot of its charm.

Make it smaller with our guide to the best of Melbourne.

Hotels

Luxury

Park Hyatt

Melburnians (never Melbournians or, even worse, Melbournites) are traditionally skeptical of global brands encroaching on their proudly individualistic city.

But it's hard to begrudge the Park Hyatt.

Surrounded by cardinal landmarks -- imposing Parliament House, Gothic revivalism of St. Patrick's Cathedral, Old Treasury Buildings, Fitzroy Gardens -- it's somehow both discreet and showy on a long entrance driveway on the edge of the central business district.

There's the whole Italian marble, wood paneling, day spa luxury, best of Melbourne megillah, all a five-minute walk from the center of the city.

Park Hyatt Melbourne, 1 Parliament Square off Parliament Place, Melbourne, Victoria 3002 Australia; +61 3 9224 1234

Mid-range

Hotel Lindrum

If you enjoy the sensation of history leaking from the walls of your bedroom, this hotel on CBD artery Flinders Street provides amply.

Alternately a former coffee storehouse, headquarters for the now-defunct Herald newspaper and a billiards center named for legendary Australian pool player Walter Lindrum, it's now a boutique hotel that exudes old world warmth without foregoing contemporary facilities.

Aspiring Fast Eddie Felsons can shoot some stick on an original, restored billiards table surrounded by Lindrum memorabilia.

Hotel Lindrum Melbourne - MGallery Collection, 26 Flinders Street, Melbourne, Victoria 3000 Australia; +61 3 9668 1111

Budget

Brooklyn Arts Hotel

With its seven rooms, resident dogs and convivial host in filmmaker and activist Maggie Fooke, it seems almost churlish to use the word "hotel" to describe this outpost of understated civility.

Conjuring images of identical rooms and the tiny soaps housed within them, this carefully maintained Victorian mansion is a reflection of its creative, eccentric Fitzroy environs, an ideal base from which to explore Melbourne's more bohemian north side.

Brooklyn Arts Hotel, 48-50 George Street, Fitzroy, Yarra, Victoria 3065 Australia; +61 3 9419 9328

Dining

Vue de Monde

Recently relocated to the 55th floor of the Rialto Building, Vue de Monde is Australia's greatest contribution to what you could loosely call "modernist cuisine."

Prices match its lofty heights and reputation, with food that combines a traditional French spirit with modern technique and uniquely local ingredients. Salt cured wallaby, anyone?

The deft interior use of recycled and sustainable materials creates a haute, yet unmistakably Australian dining experience.

Don't bother with the à la carte menu; go straight for the best of Melbourne entrees.
The rotovapped macadamia martini in the attached Lui Bar is worth a try.

Vue de Monde, 525 Collins Street Rialto Building 55th Floor, Melbourne, Victoria 3000 Australia; +61 3 9691 3888


Bar Lourinhã

Tapas with charm.

Spanish food generally, and tapas specifically, has had a profound impact on Melbourne's dining landscape over the last decade.

Similarly styled restaurants may get more accolades (or perhaps have more dedicated publicists) but Bar Lourinhã quietly and consistently trumps them all.

No meal is complete without at least one order of the yellowtail kingfish "pancetta" with lemon oil.

For the more adventurous there's always at least one interesting offal dish on the menu.

The concise, European-focused wine list rewards those willing to venture outside of cabernet and the like.

Bar Lourinha, 37 Little Collins St, Melbourne, Victoria 3000 Australia; +61 3 9663 7890

Supper Inn

Established in the 1860s during Victoria's gold rush, Melbourne's Chinatown has a history with which only San Francisco's equivalent can compete.

Even then it's a close race.

Chinatown has no shortage of dining options, but it's the venerable Supper Inn that's graduated to institution status, good for restorative 2 a.m. bowls of congee tor lazy Susan banquets.

If you opt for the latter, the suckling pig is so essential it seems crazy that they even make you ask for it anymore.

The wine list isn't great, but you can bring in a bottle from the City Wine Shop, located further up Little Bourke Street.

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