onarrival
melbourne
MoVida Bar De Tapas
1 Hosier Lane, Melbourne 03 9663 3038
One look at the drop-dead décor and
designer staff is enough to send the
serious foodie running scared. The
fact is Frank Comorra, born in
Barcelona and raised in Australia,
delivers exceptional food.
An Iberian wine list as long as Don
Quixote is a great reason to visit. So
too is the challenge of actually finding
this little Euro Flash gem in its
grungier-than-thou alley opposite
Federation Square.
You can come for the rioja and
urban posturing, but you’ll stay for the
heavenly meats. This bloke knows his
way around pork.
www.movida.com.au
Koko Black
167 Lygon Street, Carlton 03 9639 8911
For indulgence beyond the everyday,
loosen up in a Koko Black chocolate
lounge. Handcrafted ganache served
in a cacao coloured interior will melt
you like a willing truffle. German
master chocolatier Arno Backes
speaks to your inner child and higher
hedonist.
If you care not to wash down
chocolate with more chocolate, Koko
Black offers a selection of liqueurs,
boutique beer and fine wine. Do not
miss out on the chocolate mousse
martini. Oh so wrong, but oh so
good.
Also at Shop 4, Royal Arcade 331
Bourke St and Chadstone Shopping
Center.
www.kokoblack.com
For more information on places + events see www.visitvictoria.com
12
Zetta Florence
197 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy
03 9417 621
Take a little time to visit the stores of
Fitzroy and find a hodgepodge of
international goodies and local
oddities. Zetta Florence will
overwhelm the stylish shopaholic with
its collection of superbly crafted
journals, albums, diaries, antique
calendars, handmade boxes and
portfolios. From turquoise leather
journals to sleek black presentation
folders, you will find something that
engages the artist within.
www.zettaflorence.com
Melbourne International
Arts Festival
12 – 28 October 2006
From low brow burlesque to somber
theatre, the biggest Arts Fest in
Australia gives every Melbournian
something to whine about and yet
more to applaud. Colossal
productions that suddenly
EVERYONE knows about are the
order of the day, and this year will be
no exception.
Academy Award winner Tim
Robbins’ Actors’ Gang makes its
Australian debut with its production of
George Orwell’s 1984. Opening the
Festival in the Arts Centre, State
Theatre on Thursday 12 October,
Robbins directs this new adaptation
of Orwell’s classic by playwright
Michael Gene Sullivan.
It’s also a festival for the family.
Cheering Carpet – The Japanese
Garden is a new experience in
participatory theatre inspired by the
architecture of the landscape and
natural elements of the Japanese
a+d
garden. In the last part of the
performance, children from the
audience are invited into the garden
to interact with the colours and
sound.
The Festival precinct is electric
with the sound of loud praise, even
louder complaint and deafening air
kisses as the entire city seems to get
involved in critique and appreciation of
a festival that is a sure bet for
delivering a dozen visual or
performance experiences that will
blow your mind to pieces.
www.melbournefestival.com.au
Satchmo – I Love Louis
The Palms at Crown, Crown
Entertainment Centre, 8 Whiteman
Street, Southbank
September 5 to 16, 2006
Accomplished
entertainer Gwyn
Jay Allen lends
his versatile voice
to a show he’s
created in honour
of one of jazz’s
greats, Louis
Armstrong. A long
time fan of
Satchmo, Allen
has mastered Armstrong’s voice, and
lends his own considerable talent and
showmanship to the experience.
Delivered by the Alligator City Jazz
Band, Gwyn Jay Allen’s Satchmo – I
Love Louis is part cabaret, part toe-
tapping sing-along.
www.ticketek.com.au
Davide Venturini
Spring Racing Carnival
Courses at Flemington, Moonee Valley,
Sandown and Caulfield. Country race
courses throughout Victoria
4 October – 23 November 2006
Like a metaphor for the western
world’s most incorrigibly democratic
city, Spring Racing Carnival embraces
all sorts.
One of the world’s richest races,
the Melbourne Cup hosts fine
thoroughbreds, wealthy spectators
and a herd of fillies full of fizz who lose
their undies in the rose bushes.
The Cox Plate is broadly regarded
by racing snobs as one of the globe’s
greatest weight-for-age races. Serious
punters converge on Moonee Valley
to make and break fortunes inside
two minutes.
A relatively sober and exuberant
family day comes at the end of
carnival. Emirate Stakes Day unfolds
at Flemington on Saturday, November
11, 2006.
www.springracingcarnival.com.au
Luna Blu Arte Moda
1260 High St Armadale 3143
(03) 9576 2729
If an unusually well-heeled Italian
woman is scrutinising your apparel,
don’t be afraid. She’s probably just an
undercover style scientist from Luna
Blu. Just opened, this store strives to
fuse Melbourne style with Italian
fashion convention. Taking pieces
from emerging and established Milano
designers, the business strives to
seamlessly weave Italian style into the
wardrobes and habits of Australians.
With suits starting at circa $AU700
and advice originating from fashion’s
stratosphere, this impeccably
researched design house is destined
to improve the appearance.
Alongside heartbreakingly beautiful
clothes are a range of home wares.
La Bottega Calatina is a purveyor of
earthy tables. These curios from Sicily
are wrought from lava and screech
“buy me!” with all of the force of a
consumer volcano.