Uniqlo’s Melbourne store location confirmed!

Just as Melbourne shoppers are be celebrating the soon to be arrival of H&M, Inside Retail has reported that Japanese fast fashion and casual wear retailer Uniqlo has also confirmed the location of its  first store in Australia to be in Melbourne, more specifically, inside the ‘Melbourne Emporium‘ centre.

Melbourne Emporium is currently under development, but the location lies within the block between Melbourne Central and the Bourke Street Myer / GPO building (between Lonsdale Street and Little Bourke Street) and Uniqlo is said to be occupying a 2180sqm store within the shopping destination, spread across four floors. Uniqlo offers a wide variety of styles for men, women and children, captivating collaborations with well known designers and brands, and the most affordable knitwear collection. I attest that this is sure to be an exciting new addition to the Melbourne shopping scene!

For more details, you can read the full article here.

Share and Enjoy

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Add to favorites
  • Email

Short Round – Dining Review

The name of the café Short Round may have you recalling the pint-sized sidekick character of Indiana Jones, as an employee informs me this character is the café’s namesake. Alternatively, the location of this café may have you recalling visits to the pet and animal supply store that previously occupied the same site, as one former Thornbury resident informs me. Before stepping inside Short Round, I was told of the memories of a former Thornbury resident, visiting the same address with her father in the seventies to purchase chicken manure for their veggie garden. Well, that definitely was hard to picture once I stepped inside, as this place has been completely transformed into a bright, spacious and modern café. The space itself is open and fresh, with tables inside as well as a lovely outside balcony area. I particularly liked that table areas were quite spacious, and chairs and tables were not crammed in together, which is pleasantly appreciated considering this is becoming an increasingly common feature at popular cafes that try to cram in as many patrons as they can.

Short Round Coffee

Short Round Coffee

Between our group of four, I tried the Vanilla Bean Oat Porridge, the Butterscotch house made waffles, the Potato, Chorizo and Manchego Omelette and the Bacon and Cheese Scramble on Brioche Sliders. Honestly, my group shared the same opinion, the food was nice, but there was no real standout. While each dish was cooked well, the dishes just tasted a little blander than expected. The service was attentive and the wait for food was reasonable, but while the food ultimately was true to its menu described, it managed to deliver just a little short. Considering this café is quite new, the potential and quality is definitely there, I would have preferred bolder flavours to make the dishes a little more memorable. The relatively small serving sizes didn’t help either, especially given the price, which is not to say the menu was more expensive than other great cafés around town, but for the simplicity of some of the dishes and smaller serving size, the meals did seem a little overpriced. However, that being said, with meat from local butcher Velimirovic, and Proud Mary coffee, Short Round knows good quality, and the coffee was hands-down fantastic. Many great baristas make good coffee, but tend to prepare it a little on the milkier side, but I loved that the coffee from Short Round was refreshingly stronger than usual, and it was marvelous!

Although I didn’t get to try it, the Bloody Mary’s breakie looked like a standout, and sounded like a more exotic and interesting dish that would be worth a try! The menu is available online, which is always helpful, and I can imagine this would be a new favourite for locals, I know I would come again, just based on the coffee… and maybe to try that Bloody Mary’s breakie!

Butterscotch house made waffles

Butterscotch house made waffles

Vanilla Bean Oat Porridge

Vanilla Bean Oat Porridge

Potato, Chorizo and Manchego Omelette

Potato, Chorizo and Manchego Omelette

Short Round Cafe Interior

Short Round Cafe Interior

 

Short Round

731 High Street,

Thornbury, 3071

Tel: 03 9484 3904

Hours:

7am -4pm Tuesday – Friday
8am – 4pm Saturday -Sunday

Short Round on Urbanspoon

Share and Enjoy

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Add to favorites
  • Email

Melbourne Darling’s Weekend Picks Saturday 28th September – 29th September

 

hawthorn-wide-620x349

Image via

Saturday 28th September

Grand Final fever is in the air and Melbourne streets will be buzzing amongst a prominent wash of white and purple or brown and gold today! For many Melbournites, today will be all about getting together with your friends or family and tuning in to the big game, whether its from the grandstand, or tuning in on the television or radio, may the best team win!

Alternatively, if football isn’t really your thing ….I won’t tell… here’s a little secret from me, it also tends to be an awesome day for shopping! But, like we needed an excuse right?

Trailer Park:

If you haven’t yet tried one of Melbourne’s popular food truck yet, I would strongly suggest Trailer Park as the place to go. No longer do you need to hunt down the location of a great food truck to try, as Village Melbourne has come up with a way to bring the best food trucks straight to you! Every Saturday and Sunday from 12pm-8pm, you can find a top selection of food trucks assembled all in the one place, in an open dining garden experience. Trailer Park has been popping up on weekends since August, and this weekend will be there LAST permanent weekend, before coming back for one last hurrah in the second week of October.  The food trucks alternated on a monthy basis, and while August featured the Beatbox Kitchen, Cornutopia, Gumbo Kitchen, The Curry Truck and The Brûlée Cart, today and tomorrow you can expect to see White Guy Cooks Thai, Souvlaki cart, Mutter Krause, Chingon and Rue de Creperie

Image via

Image via

Trailer Park at:

Village Melbourne

557 St Kilda Road

Melbourne, 3000

 

Sunday 29th September

Bend & Snap Market

This funky indoor local design market that occurs monthly, on the last Sunday of the month at Thousand Pound Bend.

Thousand £ Bend,

361 Lt Lonsdale St

Melbourne, 3000

 

Suitcase Rummage

The Suitcase Rummage is on again, with its quaint concept of sellers bringing along their second-hand goods or own designs to sell in suitcases. This Sunday, the Suitcase Rummage will be taking place at the North Melbourne Town Hall as part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival.

Suitcase Rummage

12pm – 5pm

North Melbourne Town Hall,

521 Queensbury Street,

North Melbourne, 3051

 

 

Share and Enjoy

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Add to favorites
  • Email

Lark Fitzroy Store Opening

Image via lark.com.au

Image via lark.com.au

 

The delightful label Lark has been making kitsch cool with their well-known Daylesford store and retail website, stocking cute, quirky and crafty home wares, party goods and accessories.  Lark owner, Allison Jones certainly has a good eye for design, handpicking all of her merchandise from prominent local and international designers, stocking everyone from Love Mae to Orla Kiely. It therefore shouldn’t come as much of the surprise that the location Allison selected for a new Lark Pop-Up store is situated in the urban artistic hub of Gertrude Street, Fitzroy.

The much anticipated opening of the Lark Pop-Up store has finally arrived, with the store opening its doors for the first time today, Friday 27th September. The store is only planned to occupy its Gertrude street location for a six month period, so if you are not yet familiar with Lark’s lively collection of vintage inspired goods, now is your chance to become quickly acquainted. The Fitzroy store will stock an extensive selection of the goodies from their online store, as well as a few exciting new additions, including in-store pick up for online purchases, in-store craft events and a ‘confetti bar’ where you can customise and create your own confetti.

From the sneak peeks that Lark’s social media pages has provided it’s eager followers over the past few months, this bright, gelato coloured wonderland will have you feel like you’ve stepped into Cindy Brady’s dream birthday party and this is one pretty party you definitely don’t want to miss!

Lark Confetti Pops Image via. lark.com.au

Lark Confetti Pops
Image via. lark.com.au

Lark Fitzroy Store,

94 Gertrude St
Fitzroy

Open Monday – Saturday, 11am – 4pm

 

Share and Enjoy

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Add to favorites
  • Email

Kester Black & Trophy Wife Nail Art Launch Party!

Kester Black Tropicana Range

Kester Black Tropicana Range

 

Jay Z and Beyoncé, Sofia Coppola and Dior, Amy Poehler and Tina Fey, Audrey Hepburn and Givenchy

Sometimes a collaboration is just so fantastic it’s worth celebrating, and that’s just what Kester Black and Trophy Wife Nail Art are doing this Friday, to celebrate Kester Black’s lush new Spring / Summer nail polish range ‘Tropicana‘ and to launch the two stunning new nail polish shades the duo has created:

Kester Black Alimony Nail Polish by Trophy Wife

Kester Black Alimony Nail Polish by Trophy Wife

Kester Black Gold Digger Nail Polish by Trophy Wife

Kester Black Gold Digger Nail Polish by Trophy Wife

 

Head down to West Space this Friday night 6pm-8pm for this free event to sneak a peek at this exciting new range, sip on cocktails and be treated to free nail art!

Event Details:

Friday, September 27th

6pm-8pm

West Space,

Level 1 / 225 Bourke Street

Melbourne, 3000

Share and Enjoy

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Add to favorites
  • Email

Melbourne Store Opening: West Elm

American retail giant Williams-Sonoma launched their first ever Australian residency a few months ago with the opening of Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids and West Elm stores in Sydney. Thankfully it did not take them too long to make their way to our stylish city of Melbourne!

Originally from Brooklyn, the furniture and homewares store ‘West Elm’ opened its first Melbourne store on Thursday 21st September in Chapel Street, South Yarra. You may be familiar with West Elm, known for their eclectic mix and match collections if you happened to shop at one of their stores in New York, and luckily, you no longer need to worry about that far distance freight! The best thing about West Elm, even with just a quick browse through their website,  you will find it ever so easy to imagine incorporating their versatile and modern pieces amongst your own collection at home. Another impressive factor is the store’s attempt to deviate from their ‘American giant’ image through their creative effort to collaborate with local brands and Etsy sellers to showcase and sell locally designed homewares in store too! I personally find myself drawn to their nature-inspired twig and branch designs!

Here are Melbourne Darling’s Top 5 Picks:

images via westelm.com.au

images via westelm.com.au

1. Extra Large Cast Metal Jewelry Tree

2. Branch Side Table

3. Kite Kilim Floor Pouf

4. Brass Twig Cutlery Set

5. Martini Side Table in Antique Brass

 

Store Details:

West Elm

464 Chapel Street

South Yarra VIC 3141

Phone: (03) 8396 0300

http://www.westelm.com.au/

Share and Enjoy

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Add to favorites
  • Email

Melissa Shoe Customisation Workshops and Q.V Glass house Events

65036_516633608421903_1749904020_n

Source: Melissa Australia

Ever seen a pair of shoes that lead you to think if only they had that extra something special? Ever just wish you could add that extra addition of flourish or detail to take a gorgeous shoe to a new level?

Well now is your chance to try out your skills at custom-making your very own pair of shoes, with Melissa Australia’s flagship Melbourne store, M Dreams hosting shoe customisation workshops over the next few days in the delightfully dreamy Glass house space at QV.

A ticket at $69.00 includes the price of your choice of shoes; either a pair of the Patchuli wedges or Aranha Hits sandals in your size, as well as all the embellishments and trims you need to pimp your pumps until your heart is content!

We all know what a great pair of

shoes can do for a girl, so  be prepared to leave the workshop looking like Dorothy skipping down that Yellow Brick Road in her embellished sequin heels!

1234079_510638415688089_492937098_n

Source: Melissa Australia

Workshop times:

Tue 24 Sep 2013 – 5:00pm
Wed 25 Sep 2013 – 2:00pm
Thu 26 Sep 2013 – 2:00pm

Location:

QV Glasshouse, QV

Cnr Swanston St & Lonsdale St

Melbourne 3000

Ticket Price:

$69.00

Book your tickets online here.

Don’t forget to show us your creations!

Check out some of the other interesting events taking place at Q.V’s Glasshouse installation over the next couple of weeks at the Q.V events website here.

qv

source: That’s Melbourne

Here are my top 3 event picks:

1. Free nail art – Saturday, 28 September to Sunday, 29 September:  Because unintentionally it seems that Melbourne Darling will have provided every Melbourne girl an opportunity to score a free nail art session by the end of the month!

2. Butterfly Enclosure – Friday, 4 October to Sunday, 6 October 2013: Explore the interactive, dazzling Butterfly enclosure set up within the Glasshouse and support the Butterfly Foundation with a gold coin donation.

3. Flower Arranging Workshop -  Monday, 30th September: You’ve been inspired by the beauty of nature in the Butterfly enclosure, now learn how to bring the beauty of nature indoors with the insightful tips and tricks on how to create your own bouquets, and take one home with you!

Love,

Melbourne Darling xo

Share and Enjoy

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Add to favorites
  • Email

Manchester Press – Dining Review

Inside Manchester Press

Inside Manchester Press

Walking down Little Bourke Street you could be forgiven for passing by Rankins Lane without a second glance, but if you did take a peek down this laneway, you would most likely see a group of people huddling around a small entrance, waiting to be seated to get their fix of delicious bagels and coffee from Manchester Press.

This hipster hangout features a modest layout with a basic kitchen set up and a simple menu that doesn’t stray too far from a selection of bagels and drink choices of coffee, tea and juices. This buzzing brunch spot simply sticks to what they know and certainly serve it up well. I have to admit that each time I come here; I just cannot go past choosing the ’12 hour pulled pork  with lettuce, BBQ sauce and home-made appleslaw’ bagel – so amazingly delicious and tasty, everyone I have taken here just loves the pulled pork bagel too! The ‘fruit and nut bagel topped with mixed berry, mascarpone, strawberries and pistachio dust’ is also a popular choice and looks heavenly.

Pulled Pork Bagel

Pulled Pork Bagel

This café can get quite busy, so if you plan on dining here on a weekend, try to get here early to avoid having to wait what can become up to 20 minutes to be seated, and seating is generally on share tables, but once you order, food generally doesn’t take too long to arrive. The coffee here is excellent too, and if you’re lucky you may be treated to some artistic latte art!

This casual dining spot is great for a brunch date or a great choice for an early morning breakfast and coffee before a big day of shopping in the city! Excite your friends by navigating them through the city laneways to uncover this hidden gem.

 

1379388072931

Manchester Press Menu

Manchester Press Latte

Manchester Press Latte

Teddy Bear Latte Art

Teddy Bear Latte Art

 

Manchester Press

Monday – Friday

7:00am – 5:00pm

Saturday & Sunday

9:00am – 5:00pm

Manchester Press on Urbanspoon

Share and Enjoy

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Add to favorites
  • Email

Melissa Shoes Warehouse Sale: This Weekend!

The quirky Brazilian footwear brand iconic for their playful and fashion forward plastic shoe designs and their designer collaborations with Vivienne Westwood, Jean Paul Gaultier, Jason Wu and Karl Lagerfield, is now offering a massive warehouse sale that’s bound to be a plastic paradise! Stocked with previous season collections and one-off samples, as well as jelly shoes from Melissa’s little sister brand, Mel ‘dreamed by Melissa’ all up to 75% off.

If you have had your heart set on these bubble-gum scented beauties, this is a sale not to be missed!

Warehouse-sale_A4-newsletter_final

 

 

 

    MELISSA AND MEL WAREHOUSE SALE

    WHERE: 289 Geelong Road, Kingsville, Melbourne

    WHEN: Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd September. 10am – 4pm.

 

 

 

 

If you have yet to become acquainted with this unique footwear brand, you can visit their flagship Melbourne store ‘M Dreams’ located in the QV building. They have a fantastic selection of summer shoes that are as comfortable to wear as they are gorgeous to look at.

My favourites at the moment are the multi coloured ‘Aranha Hits’ jelly sandals and ‘Peace III’ t-bar, peep-toe and towering wedge all in one; what more does a girl need in a perfect summer shoe? My pick is for the nude or white gloss but any of these classic colours could see you through a summer of different outfits!

20130830_202323

20130830_202318

 

 

Check out Melissa’s Karl Lagerfield Glitter Ice Cream  heels ‘KL Incense’ I tried on the other day, now these are some seriously fun summer party shoes!

 

 

 

 

 

For more information head to www.melpop.com.au or www.melissaaustralia.com.au

Love,

Melbourne Darling xo

Share and Enjoy

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Add to favorites
  • Email

Story Coffee and Foodstore – Docklands

Dockland workers rejoice!

The Docklands is an area of fairly slim pickings when it comes to the amazingly good coffee many Melbournites are now spoiled for choice with.  Thankfully, Dockland workers and residents alike no longer need to venture too far to enjoy their heavenly cup of caffeine, with Dukes Coffee unveiling their fancy new digs, Story Coffee and Foodstore.

I only had time to pop in for a takeaway latte, and the coffee was great, a little towards the milky side but fruity and smooth.  I had a quick peek at the fresh sandwiches being made on site and the sweet treats available such as brownies, baked goods and pastries, which I am keen to try on my next visit!

The venue itself is a sweet little escape from the corporate area and construction sites just a step outside this store. The café’s interior takes advantage of warm lighting and soft music that creates a very cosy and inviting ambience, so much that you may find yourself wanting to stay long after your takeaway coffee is ready! I look forward to returning.

story coffee and foodstore

 ps. Please excuse my very amateur photos at the moment as I am I am currently shopping to buy a new camera!

 

Story Coffee and Foodstore

NAB building (concourse level)

700 Bourke Street, Docklands

9600 0558

http://www.dukescoffee.com.au/

story• on Urbanspoon

Share and Enjoy

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Add to favorites
  • Email