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Melbourne eats and drinks to have on your radar

Whether you’re going for a girls’ weekend or timing your trip with a certain football final, Melbourne is always a good idea. But working out where to eat (and drink) can feel like trying to crack the Enigma Code – there are just so many options. Here are some of the cafes, bars and restaurants on our radar right now.

Melbourne cafes worth getting out of bed for
Loafer Bread, North Fitzroy

A North Fitzroy institution that’s been doing organic sourdough, croissants and pies since long before “clean-cut plywood bakery” became a genre. Chefs across the city name it as their favourite for a reason – get there early, because the good stuff sells out fast.

Suupaa, Cremorne

A konbini-inspired cafe-restaurant hybrid leaning into Japanese convenience-store culture – think mortadella onigiri, udon bolognese and matcha with milo. Novel, a little chaotic, very fun.

Rowena Corner Store, Richmond

This converted 1956 milk bar in Richmond is the last of its kind on the strip, and it’s still run with the same warmth – Mediterranean-leaning brunch, great coffee, and a courtyard worth lingering in. A proper Melbourne institution waiting for those who are ready to find it.

Also worth knowing about:
  • Matcha Mate, Collingwood: Matcha specialists with seven blends to choose from, plus hojicha and house-made toppings.
  • Archie’s All Day, Fitzroy: All-day diner on Gertrude Street, breakfast through to after-dinner drinks.
  • Pinned Coffee, CBD: Tiny new laneway spot getting attention for its Mont Blanc and Einspanner.
  • Upper Middle, South Melbourne: Baguette-and-pizza bar from a France-Soir veteran, built for daily routine.
  • Waxflower, Brunswick: Cafe by day, listening bar by night, with a 3500-record collection behind the counter.
Melbourne bars to raise a glass to
Hope St Radio, Collingwood

We can confirm, this one lives up to the hype. A relaxed Collingwood wine bar with a great record collection and an even better list, Hope St is exactly the kind of low-key, warm spot you want when you’re not chasing a big night – just a good one.

Gracie’s Wine Room, South Yarra

This South Yarra newcomer had a following before it even opened, thanks to owner Kelsie Gaffey documenting the whole build on TikTok. Now it’s open, expect a leafy courtyard, buttery lobster rolls and chilled reds that make it very easy to lose an afternoon.

Caretaker’s Cottage, CBD

Set in a 19th-century bluestone cottage behind Wesley Church in the CBD, this tiny 25-seat bar punches wildly above its size – it landed at #19 on the World’s 50 Best Bars list in 2025. Walk-ins only, Guinness on tap, and a freezer martini that’s worth the wait.

Also worth knowing about:
  • Slowpoke, Collingwood: New rooftop lounge with 360-degree views from the Daybreak Festival crew.
  • Runner Up, Collingwood Yards: Sunny, fruit-tree-filled rooftop with wallet-friendly wine and rotating DJs.
  • Paradise Alley, Collingwood: Time Out’s 2018 Best New Bar, still going strong with its alleyway beer garden and divey pool room.
  • Marion, Fitzroy: Andrew McConnell’s Gertrude Street wine bar institution, next door to Cutler & Co.
  • Disuko, CBD: 1980s Tokyo disco by way of an izakaya, rooftop terrace and vinyl-only soundtrack.
Melbourne restaurants to wine and dine in
Bar Bellamy, Carlton

A GFG-hatted neighbourhood bar built around two big communal tables and a real “dinner party at a friend’s house” feel. The cocktail list changes a few times a week, the wine list evolves right alongside it, and the nostalgic European-leaning plates are made for lingering over. Book ahead – it’s earned its regulars.

Kaprica, Carlton

A rustic little trattoria doing some of the best pizza in the city, with pasta and Negronis to match. It’s the kind of place that makes you want to book a follow-up date before you’ve finished the tiramisu. Note it moved from Lincoln Square to Grattan Street a few years back, so double-check you’re heading to the right address.

Bar Holiday, Carlton

Also in Carlton (Lincoln Square this time), Bar Holiday is what happens when you take a European neighbourhood bar – think Paris, Amsterdam, Madrid – and drop it into a sunlit warehouse with sawtooth ceilings and exposed brick. Small plates, wine, beer and cocktails, plus takeaway coffee and pastries by day if you’re recovering slowly.

Also worth knowing about:
  • Jim’s Greek Tavern, Collingwood: It’s been going since 1980, and there’s still no menu – you say “fish” or “meat” and the waiters decide what you’re having.
  • Carnation Canteen, Fitzroy: Tiny 20-seat Mediterranean spot from a chef who cut her teeth at London’s River Café.
  • Apollo Inn, CBD: Gimlet’s moody, old-world companion bar on Flinders Lane, all cocktails and neat snacks.
  • Bang, Fitzroy: Elevated Thai street food with a sophisticated fit-out to match.
  • Mid Air, CBD: Mediterranean-French rooftop on the 12th floor of Melbourne Place, all skyline views.
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The Keepsake Club is crafting its own sense of community

Sick of admiring the sense of community found in cities like Sydney and Melbourne from afar, Kate Scott and Meg Bevis decided to do something about it. So, the Keepsake Club – a book/craft club, run out of Burleigh’s Sean Scott Boutique – was born. And it resonated instantly.

“It came from a simple realisation,” Kate says of The Keepsake Club, which officially launched in April. “Places like Melbourne and Sydney seemed to have endless creative clubs and welcoming third spaces where people could meet, make things together and form genuine friendships.

“For the longest time, I thought moving away was the only way to find that. But over the past year, it became clear that the Gold Coast wasn’t lacking creative people – it was simply lacking spaces that brought them together.”

Instead of leaving to find that community, Meg and Kate decided to create it.

“The Keepsake Club is our way of building the kind of welcoming, creative space we had always been searching for, right here on the Gold Coast,” says Meg. “We hope it’s somewhere people can slow down, make something with their hands, and leave with both a keepsake and new friendships.”

It’s gone off. Tickets sell out within hours most of the time, which is great and also a bit annoying, because it means people keep missing out – something Kate and Meg say they’re actively trying to fix as the club grows.

We caught up with the pair about why everyone seems so hungry for in-person hobbies right now, and where they want to take Keepsake Club next.

We’re seeing Gold Coasters really embrace these opportunities to connect in-person. Why do you think that is?

I think people are starting to realise just how lonely life can become when so much of it happens online. While social media helps us stay connected, it can’t replace genuine, face-to-face interaction. As human beings, we’re wired for connection. Spending time with people who share our interests, creating something together, and simply having conversations in the same room has such a positive impact on our mental wellbeing.

A lot of your events focus on creating things by hand. Why is that so important, especially for adults?

Once we’re out of school or university, a lot of us forget the importance of learning new skills and creating simply for the joy of it. As adults, we’re often so focused on being productive that we rarely give ourselves permission to make something just because it makes us happy. Creative activities like scrapbooking or journal making encourage us to slow down, be present, and use our hands in a world that’s increasingly digital.

What have been some of your favourite moments from your events so far?

Some of our favourite moments have simply been making new friends ourselves and watching friendships form right in front of us. It’s been so lovely seeing girls who initially came to an event by themselves find their people through the club, and then come back to future events together. There’s something really special about watching people arrive as strangers and leave having made a genuine connection.

What would you say to someone who’s keen to take part, but nervous about coming alone?

We’ve been in your shoes before! We know how nerve-wracking it can feel to walk into something new by yourself, but we really encourage you to give it a go. So many of the people who come to our events arrive on their own, and that’s actually how some of our favourite friendships within the club have started.

If you’re feeling particularly nervous, you’re always welcome to pop into Sean Scott Boutique beforehand to have a chat with us and see the space where we scrapbook. Sometimes knowing what to expect makes taking that first step a little easier!

What’s the ultimate goal for The Keepsake Club?

Oooo that’s a big question! We’d love to keep growing Keepsake Club and collaborate with more local artists and creatives to host an even wider range of workshops. The big dream would be to one day open our own dedicated Keepsake Club studio – a permanent creative space where people can come to make things, learn something new and meet like-minded people.

For now, we’re just really excited to see where the club takes us!

Keep an eye on Keepsake Club’s socials for the next Scrapbooking Soirée, Murder Mystery Party or journal making workshop, or pop into Sean Scott Boutique on James Street, Burleigh Heads, and say hi to Kate and Meg in person.

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Add these books to your spring reading list

Spring on the Gold Coast means one thing: finally getting through that ever-growing TBR pile before summer swallows it whole. From a tradwife influencer’s time-travel nightmare to Emma Cline’s latest page-turner, these are the books we’re packing into our tote bags this season.

‘Yesteryear’ by Caro Claire Burke

There’s a reason everyone’s talking about this one. Natalie is a tradwife influencer with millions of followers and a picture-perfect homestead – until she wakes up in 1855 with no idea whether she’s hallucinating, hoaxed or trapped in something far darker. It’s already a GMA Book Club pick with an Anne Hathaway film adaptation in the works, so consider this your head start before everyone else catches on.

www.goodreads.com

‘Lost Lambs’ by Madeline Cash

A debut so hyped it landed Dua Lipa’s stamp of approval, ‘Lost Lambs’ follows the Flynn family as their small coastal town spirals into gossip and chaos over an ‘arrangement’ gone wrong. It’s sharp, funny and more than a little unhinged – think Wes Anderson’s Royal Tenenbaums, if they were just a bit more relatable. Perfect for anyone who likes their family drama served with a side of chaos.

www.goodreads.com

‘Mad Mabel’ by Sally Hepworth

Meet Elsie: eighty-one, gloriously grumpy, and no stranger to a cutting remark. When a body turns up near her quiet Melbourne lane, her past life as ‘Mad Mabel’ – convicted of murder at just fourteen – comes back to haunt her, and the media won’t leave her alone. Twisty, funny and unexpectedly tender, this is Hepworth at her best.

www.goodreads.com

‘Queenie Is Working on It’ by Candice Carty-Williams

We’ve been waiting nearly a decade for this one. Queenie Jenkins is back, ten years on – thirty-three, thriving at work and decidedly not thriving in her love life, especially once a fertility scare sends her spiralling. It’s got all the heart and hilarity of the original, with just enough chaos to keep you up past your bedtime.

www.goodreads.com

‘Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage’ by Belle Burden

Started as a Modern Love column, ended up a #1 New York Times bestseller. Burden picks apart the unravelling of her twenty-year marriage after her husband left without warning, searching for the clues she missed along the way. It’s raw, unflinching, and the kind of story you’ll want to discuss with every married friend you have.

www.goodreads.com

‘Switzy’ by Emma Cline

Already longlisted for the 2026 Booker Prize, Cline’s fourth book follows David, a retired executive with dementia, on a private flight across Europe to a Swiss assisted-dying clinic – his grip on the present slipping as childhood memories rush in to fill the gaps. It’s darkly funny in places and quietly devastating in others, and critics are calling it her sharpest work yet. Not exactly light reading, but worth every page.

www.goodreads.com

‘The Wedding People’ by Alison Espach

Phoebe arrives at a luxury Newport hotel alone, in a green dress, with no luggage – and everyone assumes she’s there for the wedding taking over the property. She’s not, but that doesn’t stop her and the bride from becoming unlikely confidantes over one very chaotic weekend. Equal parts hilarious and heartbreaking, it’s easy to see why this one won a Goodreads Choice Award.

www.goodreads.com

‘I Who Have Never Known Men’ by Jacqueline Harpman

For something a little different: this quietly devastating cult classic follows the youngest of forty women imprisoned in an underground bunker with no memory of how they got there. When they finally escape, they find a world stripped bare, and the narrator must work out what it means to be human when there’s no one left to define it for her. Slim, strange and impossible to shake.

www.goodreads.com

Keen to pick one up? Support one of the Gold Coast’s small, independent bookshops instead of the big guys.

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What to wear to your next pickleball match

You don’t need to go on a shopping spree to play this season’s trendiest sport – but some of these racquet sport brands make it seriously tempting. Whether pickleball or padel is more your speed, you’ll look good doing it with the help of these Aussie businesses.

  1. Rallee Fine Line skort, $89.95, www.ralleeclub.com
  2. Ace X1 Control, $98, www.acesportinggoods.com.au
  3. The Upside Kova racerback dress, $189.99, www.theupside.com.au
  4. Love Pickle performance sports hat, $49, www.lovepickle.com.au
  5. Forty Love Centre Court tennis dress, $239, www.fortylove.com.au
  6. Rallee Shroomandala polo, $99.95, www.ralleeclub.com
  7. Club Pikl Summer Starter pickleball set, $159, www.clubpikl.com.au
  8. Forty Love Baseline tank and removable bolero, $159, www.fortylove.com.au
  9. The Upside Archie knit polo, $169.99, www.theupside.com.au
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Beginner’s guide to: Pickleball vs. Padel

Have you ever wanted to try a new sport or fitness class, but chickened out at the last minute because you didn’t know what to expect? Us too. That’s why we created our ‘Beginner’s Guide’ series. It’s a place for us to chat to founders, trainers and business owners throughout the Gold Coast. To find out what to expect, what to bring and (often most importantly) what to wear, we’re going straight to the source.

In this instalment, we catch up with Darren McMullen, co-founder of Gold Coast Racquet Club.

“We’re a social racquet club built around two of the fastest-growing sports in the world – padel and pickleball,” says Darren. “Both give you a great workout, but the beauty of them is that they don’t really feel like exercise. You’re too busy chasing balls, trying to outsmart your mates and arguing about whether that shot was actually in.”

How did you get into racquet sports? And when?

I first discovered the new wave of racquet sports overseas and immediately understood the obsession.

What really grabbed me about both padel and pickleball was how accessible they are. You don’t need years of lessons before you can actually enjoy yourself. You can put a racquet or paddle in someone’s hand, explain the basics and pretty quickly they’re having rallies, competing and laughing.

I loved the idea of bringing that experience to the Gold Coast and building somewhere that wasn’t just about playing sport, but about the culture and community around it.

What do you love about it?

They’re both ridiculously fun.

Padel is fast, strategic and has the added chaos of being able to play the ball off the glass. Pickleball looks deceptively simple until someone starts destroying you at the kitchen line.

With both sports, you’re moving, reacting, thinking and getting a workout without staring at a clock wondering when it’s going to end.

And you absolutely don’t need to be the strongest or fastest person on court. A little bit of strategy and cunning can go a very long way.

Who should try it?

Almost anyone. That’s probably the biggest reason both sports have grown so quickly.

We get complete beginners, serious athletes, former tennis players, couples, groups of mates and people who haven’t picked up a racquet in years.

You can start socially and keep it that way, or, if you’ve got a competitive streak, there’s a very deep rabbit hole waiting for you.

What equipment do you need to bring? And what should you wear?

Keep it simple. Comfortable activewear and good court shoes or trainers with lateral support.

You don’t need to go out and buy an expensive racquet or paddle before you’ve even played. If you’re a beginner, come down, grab some gear and work out which sport – or both – you fall in love with first.

The only essential equipment is probably a willingness to become annoyingly competitive with your friends.

How many times per week should you do it in order to see results/improvement?

Two or three times a week and you’ll start seeing improvement pretty quickly.

The great thing is that progression isn’t only about fitness. You’re learning positioning, anticipation, shot selection and how to work with your partner.

Although, in my experience, once people start playing two or three times a week, the bigger problem is convincing them to take a day off.

Is it social?

Massively. It’s one of the best parts.

Both padel and pickleball are incredibly social sports. You’re close to the other players, there’s plenty of interaction between points and they’re perfect for mixed levels and groups of friends.

For us, the club part of Gold Coast Racquet Club is just as important as the racquet part.

We want people to come for a game and stay for a drink, some food, another game or just to hang out.

It’s exercise disguised as a social life.

How much experience is needed before the first class/session?

Absolutely none.

You don’t need a tennis background, you don’t need to know all the rules and you definitely don’t need to “get fit first.”

Both sports are incredibly beginner-friendly. Within your first session you’ll understand enough to start having proper rallies and enjoying yourself.

Nobody walks onto a court for the first time looking like a professional. That’s half the fun.

What are the long-term benefits?

Physically, both sports are great for cardiovascular fitness, coordination, agility, balance and reaction time.

But I think the bigger long-term benefit is finding a form of exercise you genuinely look forward to.

You’re moving your body, getting outside, competing, laughing and meeting people at the same time.

If exercise feels like something you want to do rather than something you have to do, you’ve probably found something you’ll stick with.

What would you say to someone who is interested in this workout, but scared to try it for the first time?

Don’t wait until you think you’re ready. Just come and have a hit.

You don’t need to be fit enough, coordinated enough or experienced enough. Everyone on those courts had a first game once.

Come down with a mate – or come by yourself – grab a racquet or paddle and give it a crack. Mention you saw this article in scout and we’ll throw in free racquet rental for your first try.

Worst-case scenario, you get some exercise, meet some people and have a laugh. Best-case scenario? You’ve just found your new addiction.

www.racquetclub.com.au

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