What's happening in Melbourne
The best things to do this week
Participate in an immersive theatre event in a speakeasy, solve a murder and wash the whole thing down with excellent cocktails
Experience ACMI's Wonderland exhibition with DJs, live performances and cocktails – and without the children
Rice Paper Scissors is hosting an all-you-can-eat vegan brunch
Mangia, mangia! Get ready for the third annual Italian Wine and Food Festival
Enjoy a vegan high tea accompanied by '90s hip hop and R'n'B in funky laneway bar Belleville
A festival dedicated to our favourite four-legged friends is everything you hope it would be
The barbecue legends make a return to the CBD
The latest news
Competitions and announcements
The Duke is giving you and up to six friends the chance to win an afternoon of wine tasting in their swish upstairs wine bar. The bar’s Flight of Fancy offers a rotating trio of wines from regions all over the world – one week you might be tasting three of the tastiest wines from Italy; the next you might be sampling the top drops from the Mornington Peninsula. This is one for the true wine lovers, as the Duke’s Flight of Fancy tastings allow you to compare and contrast each wine and discover the subtleties of different wine regions.Feel like going on a viticultural adventure? Enter the competition below for your chance to win a Flight of Fancy trio of wine tastings as well as matching bar snacks for you and six friends at the Duke. Entries close Thursday May 31. Fill out my online form. // var z124hhrq1pxtgon;(function(d, t) { var s = d.createElement(t), options = { 'userName':'timeoutlondon', 'formHash':'z124hhrq1pxtgon', 'autoResize':true, 'height':'1136', 'async':true, 'host':'wufoo.com', 'header':'show', 'ssl':true}; s.src = ('https:' == d.location.protocol ? 'https://' : 'http://') + 'www.wufoo.com/scripts/embed/form.js'; s.onload = s.onreadystatechange = function() { var rs = this.readyState; if (rs) if (rs != 'complete') if (rs != 'loaded') return; try { z124hhrq1pxtgon = new WufooForm();z124hhrq1pxtgon.initialize(options);z124hhrq1pxtgon.display(); } catch (e) {}}; var scr = d.getElementsByTagName(t)[0], par = scr.parentNode; par.insertBefore(s, s
Want a go-to list of the best things happening in Melbourne, delivered to your inbox weekly Sign up for our newsletter to get our weekly edit of local goodness – from bars to burgers to art to parties – you'll also gain access to exclusive Time Out offers. Sign up below. Go on, you know you want to.
What's better than getting your hands on a fresh copy of Time Out Melbourne? Getting your hands of a fresh copy for free. This year, Time Out is going quarterly in Melbourne and Sydney – and we're celebrating by handing out copies of our new-look autumn issue across both cities for two days. What's more, our new magazine is packed with all the winners of our 2018 Bar Awards, making it your ultimate guide to Melbourne's bar scene (cheers!). Read on and you'll also find a swag of fun Melbourne International Comedy Festival interviews, new restaurant reviews, and all the best events happening in Melbourne from March through to May. So where can you get it? Free copies will be distributed on Thursday and Friday, March 1-2 between 7am and 10am at following locations: Flinders Street Station (Princes Bridge exit on Thursday and Swanston Street exit on Friday) Melbourne Central Station (Swanston Street exit and La Trobe Street exit on Thursday and Swanston Street exit and Elizabeth Street exit on Friday) Flagstaff Station (William Street exit on Thursday and La Trobe Street exit on Friday) Richmond Station (Swan Street exit) Look for the friendly Time Out crew in white T-shirts, and remember: you can only get your free copy from 7am to 10am this Thursday and Friday. We think you'll like our new look. Time Out Melbourne magazine subscriptions Following a decision by our magazine distribution service to cease all subscription services in 2018, subscriptions to Time Out Me
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Wander down a cobbled alley to find what these icons are hiding
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If you know where to look, you can get by in Melbourne for a lot less than you'd think
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Melbourne area guides
The heart of the city, home to Chinatown and some of Melbourne's best restaurants and arts institutions.
Exceptional Italian food, gelato and coffee, plus an excellent museum and theatre.
Kensington has northwest charm in spades: there are wide, tree-lined streets, plenty of public transport and green spaces aplenty.
Inventive bars, geek girl boutiques and envelope-pushing eateries. Plus live music institutions.
Multicultural hub, with dining options from all over the world and a thriving food scene.
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Whisky is not traditionally designed to pair with food the way that wine and many beers are. That being said, we can’t survive on drams alone. Cured meats, oysters, nuts, dried fruit and chocolate are just a few of the things that can pair well with whisky – but we recommend going with cheese, as it’s social and often goes well. Achieving the perfect whisky and cheese pairing isn't easy – which is why we're bringing you this guide to five simple and delicious combinations. You can find all these cheeses at most supermarkets or fromageries, and the whiskies at your local First Choice Liquor store. First Choice is celebrating World Whisky Day (May 19) by running tastings in stores across the country – but on any day of the week you can count on First Choice for an extensive range of whiskies and friendly staff waiting to help you find your ideal bottle.
The Crafty Squire may be known as a brewhouse, but it also brings its A-game when it comes to screening live sports. Crafty screens all sports across FOX and ESPN, which means you can catch every single game of AFL, A-League, NRL, all FIFA World Cup games, rugby union, cricket and more, live and loud. Its prime location in the centre of the CBD on Russell Street means it's accessible, so you can pop in any time to watch a match. And they really mean any time – the Crafty has a 24-hour license, making it the perfect spot for early morning games. Unlike most pubs where its first-come first-seated set-up, you can book in a comfy seat or booth to ensure you have prime spots to watch the game. They also have a menu packed with counter classics including chicken parma, steak and ale pie, veal schnitzel and burgers, plus plenty of James Squire beers on tap. You can check out the Crafty Squire's full sports guide to see what's coming up, and you can make special requests if you see something missing. So whether it's a mid-week union game, a Saturday arvo AFL session or a World Cup match, the Crafty Squire is the perfect combination of a sports bar meets brewhouse, where you can catch the game and enjoy a good beer. Find out more about sports at the Crafty Squire.
Once upon a time, whisky was considered a drink for old men, sipped in quiet contemplation while sitting around a gentlemen’s club smoking cigars. But times have changed, and the modern boom in whisky means this ancient tipple has a place with all sorts of people and in all sorts of places. But if you're a bit overwhelmed by the breadth of choice, fear not – we're bringing you a guide to selecting the perfect whisky for different occasions. You can find all these whiskies at your local First Choice Liquor store. First Choice is celebrating World Whisky Day (May 19) by running tastings in stores across the country – but on any day of the week you can count on First Choice for an extensive range of whiskies and friendly staff waiting to help you find your ideal bottle.
Patricia Cornelius is one of the most fearless and unique voices in Australian theatre, and although she’s won just about every prize available to a playwright in the country, she tends to fly under the radar at our biggest theatre companies. Now her work is coming to the Melbourne Theatre Company mainstage in this adaptation of The House of Bernarda Alba that transports the action to Western Australia where four daughters and their mother are mourning the death of their mining mogul father. Leticia Cáceres, who last year won the Helpmann Award for directing Leah Purcell’s The Drover’s Wife will helm an all-star cast with Candy Bowers, Peta Brady, Julie Forsyth, Bessie Holland, Sue Jones, Melita Jurisic and Emily Milledge. Creating this uniquely Australian world is the always inventive designer Marg Horwell.
The Middle Park Hotel is embracing its culinary roots and introducing a new menu devised by head chef Sangsub Ha. The gastropub will hone in on Victorian produce, showcase swish new dishes while also delivering some excellent pub classics. Entrees veer towards modern flavours, like the hiramasa kingfish with nori powder, squid ink rice puff and daikon radish remoulade; and veal carpaccio with apple, truffle soy, feta and curry oil. The menu is also geared towards groups, with share plates that include individual bites like lamb and chorizo sausage rolls and freshly shucked oysters; or larger share platters like the 1.5kg dry aged rib eye with cured meats, parmesan crisps, seasonal greens and red wine jus. Like any great pub, they will also grill you a prime steak. Choose from grass-fed porterhouse, eye fillet or rib eye bone cuts, which come served with smoked garlic butter, pepper or mushroom sauce. Vegetarians are well looked after too, with plant-focused dishes including salted beets with cheese blancmange, watercress and beetroot chips; and tagliatelle with creamed shimeji, champignon, oyster and porcini mushrooms. With each dish on the menu, you'll also find a specially selected wine, be it a full-bodied Exception cabernet malbec or a fruity La Vieille Ferme rosé. Whether it’s a special night out, a mid-week repast or a Sunday lunch, the Middle Park Hotel’s menu takes a step up to deliver beyond the usual pub fare. Find out more about the Middle Park Hotel's new m
The brainy sibling in the Vivid Sydney family, Vivid Ideas, includes headline speakers in the Game-Changers Talk Series to smaller, niche festivals and conferences. Whether you’re interested in professional development, or personal stories behind creative success, take a look at our highlights of the program. Check out our list of the ten best Vivid Light artworks. RECOMMENDED: 15 Vivid Sydney events you shouldn't overlook.
It was Oscar Wilde who said the only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about, and it’s a sentiment that lies at the heart of UK playwright Mike Bartlett’s new play Wild. In a world where social media likes and viral sharing hold real currency, where information is power, not being talked about is a kind of death. Of course, being talked about is no guarantee of safety either.Bartlett takes the known facts of the Edward Snowden case as a dramatic template and then folds in a Julian Assange character as his Godot. US whistleblower Andrew (Nicholas Denton) has escaped to a Russian hotel room after the most mammoth info-dump of all time, and he’s alone and cut off. Although he’s not quite alone because there’s a woman (Anna Lise Phillips) with him, English and clipped and decidedly odd. She says her name is Miss Prism, first name George – in a direct reference to Wilde’s Importance of Being Earnest – and claims to be working for “him”, he with the old locked-up-in-an-embassy vibe.She offers Andrew a way out if he’ll join their outfit, although she prefers in the meantime to tease and torment him rather than elucidate what that might actually entail. It’s here that we get a sense of Bartlett’s love of wordplay, of the ways that language can veil as much as reveal and, while it’s a long way from the prismatic wit of Wilde, the banter is truly funny and alarming. Phillips is a scream as the blithely torturous George, deflating Andrew’s self-importance with her
How can artists and the creative sectors step up and make an impact on the most challenging issues of our time? How can creativity influence public debate and discourse? And how can the arts be the kind of gamechanger it always sets out to be? If you’re working in arts and culture (or hoping to forge a creative career), then get ready to grapple with these questions (and a whole lot more) at Creative Victoria’s second Creative State Summit. Held over two days at Melbourne Museum, the summit is an opportunity to hear from and meet some of the most innovative minds in the city and beyond, working across arts, culture, screen and design. Your ticket gets you access to the entirety of the two-day program, the theme of which is 'Creativity in a post-truth world'. The speaker line-up is a diverse mix of people from different fields: from Tea Uglow, the creative director at Google Creative Lab, to Aaron Foley, the official chief storyteller for the City of Detroit, and Australian actor Kiruna Stamell, who lives and works in the UK and was featured on ABC's Australian Story last year. That’s just scratching the surface; visit the website for full details. This Creative State Summit is produced by REMIX Summits and is part of Creative Victoria’s Creative State program – a $115 million strategy launched in April 2016 – which aims to boost the state’s creative industry across everything from film and television to fashion and arts festivals.
