GUIDE TO MELBOURNE

• Pizza

• Leonardo’s Pizza Palace in Carlton has some of the tastiest dough and sauces in town
• For American/New York style large slices, head to one of the Sal’s Pizza locations in the city. It may look like a late-night joint you go to because nowhere else is open, but the owner is the son of a famous New York pizza place owner – he continues the family legacy of making pizza in that style including importing ingredients
• Another fun one to try for huge slices is Pizza Pizza Pizza in the city for takeaway. Or, head in behind the curtain and you’ll find a secret bar out the back where they do classic cocktails to go with your slice
• Other great places close to the city are Rita's pizza & Thin Slizzy's (Abbotsford/Fitzroy), DOC (Carlton), Small Print (Windsor), and 48h pizza & gnocchi (South Yarra)

• Pasta

• The Waiter’s Restaurant is a Melbourne institution serving up plates of delicious pasta, cheap house wine and characteristically low fuss for the last 80 years, named for its historic place as a favourite for hospitality staff looking for a feed after their evening shifts
• A little fancier: Tipo 00 and Osteria Ilaria are great options with some lovely ambience 
• A little fun and modern: Pepe’s Italian serves up delicious Italian fare in a nostalgic, stylized building that previously housed Trunk. Or order your pasta by the metre (with vegan and gluten free options) at Solo Pasta in Fitzroy North
• Super Norma in Carlton is a great casual spot for Southern Italian fare
• Good Times in Fitzroy North is good, straight forward pasta and cocktails and prices you’d struggle to beat anywhere else in Melbourne

• Japanese & Pan-Asian

• Hakata Gensuke is an OG Japanese ramen chain with a few branches across the city. You can choose the softness of your noodles using the handy guide. 
• Little Ramen Bar. Noisy but delicious with good vegetarian options
• Yakimono is a fun colourful Japanese-inspired restaurant (the décor is a main drawcard but the food is decent)
• If you’re venturing a little bit out of the city, check out Chotto Motto in Collingwood - a great Japanese haunt with huge dumpling platters and fun atmosphere. Also consider Shimbashi Soba & Sake for authentic and delicious soba dishes, or 279 in North Melbourne for the best onigiri / Musubi in town
• Rice Paper Scissors have a few branches around. Think pan-Asian small plates with a decently priced banquet option, interesting and very tasty offerings including specialty cocktails, and vegan and GF options galore 

• Middle Eastern:

• Maha is pricier than many of the other listed options but worth the price for the quality and uniqueness of its cuisine. Gorgeous option for an elegant meal in the CBD

• Mexican:

• Radio Mexico is a favourite for tacos in St Kilda 

• Vegetarian / vegan. These are just a few of many of Melbourne’s famous meat-free / plant-based offerings

• Union Kiosk serves up deliciously indulgent vegan sandwiches (think spag bol or peperoni mac ‘n cheese) in the city
• Lord of the Fries started as a vegetarian food truck in Melbourne many years ago and has expanded to a very popular and successful chain offering burgers, hot dogs, loaded fries and a host of other vego dishes
• Smith & Deli in Fitzroy have incredible deli sandwiches, salads and sweet treats
• Shu serves up experimental modern plant-based Sichuan cuisine in Collingwood. Can be a pricier option but make sure to check out their yum cha with option for bottomless drinks on the weekend

• Tapas / Modern Australian

• Heart attack and Vine is a small bar in Carlton with amazing tapas / small plates
• A little way out of the city in Northcote, Vex and Zsa’s have some excellent tapas, wine and cocktails in beautiful surrounds, and Estelle serves up beautiful Modern Australian fare

• Sandwiches

• Deli style sandwiches at Alimentari & King and Godfree
• Trendy (with good reason) sandwiches at Nico’s & Hector’s 

• Bakeries & desserts

• Just really good gelato at Pidapippo & Piccolina. Outside of the city, try Luther’s Scoops & Bianco Latte 
• Gelato Messina: very famous inventive flavours of ice cream, weird but delicious
• Falco bakery (Fitzroy) has delicious bread, sandwiches and baked treats, as do To be Frank & Wildlife
• Lune croissants (Fitzroy): awarded best croissants in the world by a New York Times food writer. Really cool sweet and savoury variations but the plain croissant is a classic for a reason. There's a line on weekends but not week days
• Agathé Pâtisserie – divine French pastries including the famous Pandan croissant (though if you have the option to try the Pandan flan, please do – this is arguably one of the best desserts in the city)
• Mork Chocolate Brew House – home of the city’s best hot chocolates 

• Duke’s is known as a good place to try a ‘Magic coffee’, and supplies beans to many cafes around Melbourne
• Market Lane is another stalward of the Melbourne coffee scene with a few branches around
• Bench Coffee is a favourite of psychiatrists and registrars working in the CBD
• Higher Ground is great for coffee and brunch/lunch, or even an early afternoon cocktail
• Close to the CBD: try Industry Beans (Collingwood), Wide Open Road (Brunswick), Market Lane (Carlton), Aunty Pegs (speciality coffee tasting room, black coffee and tea only), Proud Mary (same people as Aunt Pegs but they serve all coffee variations and brunch), Three Bags Full (Abbotsford, the Turkish breakfast is incredible!) and Ophelia (Northcote)
• There are so many others around! Check out reviews on Google maps – they tend to be fairly reliable when it comes to cafes and specialty coffee stores 
• Not really coffee… but tea tasting, high tea and bites at OXI Tea Rooms in Carlton

• Cabinet Bar & Balcony is an institution, with a small selection of tasty flatbreads, some excellent cocktails and classic Melbourne city view off the balcony (looking at the sides of other buildings mostly..)
• Bar Jayda is the companion bar to Maha, serving up some of the best cocktails around and some slightly more casual plates to its sister restaurant
• Goldilocks is a long-standing rooftop favourite
• Bouvardia is where you go for expertly made, beautifully finessed cocktails
• Above Board is a small, bar-room and walk-in only elegant bar in Collingwood with some of the best cocktails you will find in the city
• One or two is a small, dark, elegant bar with a focus on balanced and thoughtful cocktail offerings
• 1806 is a historic bar, open in an old theatre with drinks and snacks until late into the evening
• Curious in the W is less well rated than the others, but the interior is stunning and the cocktail menu unique – worth checking out
• Other popular options include Caretaker’s Cottage (noisy but ranked 19th best bar in the world), Goodwater (Northcote), and Byrdi in the city for more amazing cocktails

• The Dax Centre: founded in 2012, but with a history spanning back to the 1940s, the Dax Centre is the premier gallery and education centre of its kind in Melbourne. It works with emerging artists with lived experience of mental health issues, and aims to engage, inform and encourage conversation

• Current exhibit - Weight, in which Alun Rhys Jones explores the relationship between masculinity, body dysmorphia, and psychological trauma.

• The Koorie Heritage Trust in Fed Square by the banks of the Birrarung Marr (River of Mists – Yarra River) is a not for profit First Peoples arts and cultural organisation providing opportunities for all to learn, connect and re-connect with the rich living cultural heritage of Aboriginal Victoria 
• ACMI (Australian Centre for the Moving Image) – one of the coolest permanent exhibits for kids and adults including a look at the history and progression of TV, movies, short films and video games through interactive and engaging displays

• In addition to the exhibits, regular film screenings including festivals and special director features

• Melbourne Museum

• Current exhibit: Rome: empire, power, people. Explore Ancient Rome’s political, social and spiritual worlds through over 150 objects dating from the Imperial period 1st Century CE to the 3rd Century CE, with all of the objects on display in Melbourne for the first time ever.
• The Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Centre is dedicated to celebrating the history, culture, achievements and survival of Victoria's Aboriginal people.
• On Thursday May 7th, Melbourne Museum hosts Nocturnal: Museum after Dark – an after-hours event with exclusive access to the Rome exhibit with a live DJ, drinks and snacks to purchase

• Immigration museum: Open since 1998, guiding principle of the museum is that there is an immigration experience in the life or family history of all non-Indigenous Australians. Permanent exhibitions explore Victoria's immigration history through global motivations for leaving homeland, personal stories of immigrants from various countries and time periods, the ship journey over time, and a history of Australia's immigration policies and processes. The Museum's most recently launched exhibition explores the complexities of personal identity and how such diversity has and does inform Australian society and past and present experiences of belonging and not belonging. Exhibitions display hundreds of objects from the Museum's collections relating to migration, cultural diversity, transport technology, customs and quarantine, and popular culture. 
• Science Gallery: where art and science collide. Current exhibit closing May 2 is called Distraction. Visit Science Gallery Melbourne to experience the playful ways humans devote their time in an increasingly nonsensical world. With a hundred tabs open and endless avenues to explore, how is it possible to harness the cacophony of content and find meaning within it?
• Scienceworks & the Planetarium. Current exhibit: Colour – see the world in a new light: Explore the science, psychology and everyday use of colour in this large-scale interactive exhibition from Questacon.

• Friday nights: adults-only full dome movie screenings at Planetarium Nights
• 4.30pm on Saturdays in May, screenings of full dome movie One step beyond in the Planetarium dome

• Heide Museum of Modern Art (out of the city in Heidelberg): Heide is a public art museum and sculpture park located on a stretch of the Birrarung/Yarra River. Set on 6.5 hectares of parkland with five gallery spaces, award-winning architecture and a distinctive collection of more than 3,600 works of art.
• National Gallery of Victoria (NGV): several features in various parts of the gallery currently, see list here - https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/whats-on/exhibitions/ 

• Royal Botanic Gardens – large space in the CBD with extensive and diverse green space, great for picnics and walks.

• Forest Therapy in Botanic Gardens: Originating from Japan, Shinrin-yoku, or 'forest bathing', is a preventative health practice aiming to improve and strengthen mental and physical wellbeing. 

• NGV gardens: you can enter the small but pretty gardens at NGV for free. 
• On the edges of the city are two beautiful gardens, Carlton gardens & Fitzroy gardens
• Abbotsford convent is a converted public space with pretty garden/green space, restaurants, events

• The Melbourne’s Writers’ Festival starts at the conclusion of congress and features a range of talks, workshops and other events 
• On Monday evenings, explore the observatory on a guided tour and learn to use the telescopes on Stellar Nights in the Melbourne Gardens