New hot spots in Melbourne
Locanda Cucina Bar: Corner of Little Bourke and Exhibition Streets. Ph: (03) 9635 1246
W: www.locanda.com.au
Italian for ‘The Inn', Locanda Cucina Bar has recently opened on the corner of Little Bourke and Exhibition Streets and offers a complete Italian foodie experience. The team is lead by Andrew DiMattina (whose other venues include Society, DiMattina's, Alto and Mario's) and includes head chef Matthew English (Café Di Stasio, Il Solito Posto, Sud, Nostro Barretto, Italy 1).
Locanda Cucina Bar is the first Melbourne venue to use the enomatic wine system (which replaces air in bottles with argon gas, ensuring freshness for weeks after opening). Visitors can also buy premium wines by the glass. It is open from 6.30am until late, seven days a week.
La Vita Buona: City Square, Swanston Street. Ph: (03) 9663 4448
La Vita Buona, Italian for ‘The Good Life', opens this month in Melbourne's City Square.
The premium boutique wine store offers the chance to enjoy a drink outside on the patio in warmer weather, or to snuggle around the fireplace during the cooler months. The impressive wine list boasts over 500 labels from Australia and aboard. Visitors can even purchase a bottle of their favourite spirit to drink and have it kept in the fridge for them until their next visit!
La Vita Buona opens at 7am for breakfast followed by a roving antipasto selection throughout the day. Regular wine tastings, dinners and educational sessions will be held in the tasting room with guest ‘bar staff' throughout the year.
MoVida Dos: 1 Hosier Lane, Melbourne. Ph: (03) 9663 3038
MoVida will be given another string to its bow next month when MoVida Dos (or MoVida 2) opens in the building next door (on the corner of Flinders Street and Hosier Lane). Cooking will be simpler than at the main restaurant, focusing on plancha-style flat grill dishes. Chef Frank Camorra says the area will provide a space for private dining room for MoVida, a bar for patrons waiting for a table, and a new kind of Spanish bar in its own right.
Junior: 328 Swanston Street (next to Mr Tulk) Ph: (03) 8660 5700
Located next door to the popular café at the City's State Library, Junior is Mr Tulk's new little brother or sister. The small eatery is cleverly placed within the hustle and bustle of the Library's locker room, offering a simplified menu providing a selection of delicious flat breads, soups, baguettes, cold drinks and sensational coffee. It is open from 9am – 6pm (weekdays only).
Oriental Tea House: 378 Little Collins Street. Ph: (03) 9600 4230
W: www.orientalteahouse.com.au
Oriental Tea House has just moved into its new home on Little Collins Street, which includes an indoor/outdoor seating and a mezzanine. Offering sensational yum-cha style cuisine for lunch and dinner, it has an adjacent store set up with apothecary-style storage drawers and tables displaying a delectable variety of tea and teaware for purchase.