All posts tagged: reviews

Juniperlooza: all of the gin

On the banks of the Yarra, sun shining in one of those ‘once a month’ beautiful Melbourne days, Pilgrim and Riverland Bars hosted a fun, laid-back festival affair – entirely dedicated to gin. I love gin, but I’m not what you would call a connoisseur – that’s what I really loved about Juniperlooza – you didn’t need to be going in, but, by the end of your experience you came out a little more cultured on the topic. Split across the two areas were 14 drink stands manned by local bars like the iconic Gin Palace, plus international, local and interstate gin distilleries – each with their own signature cocktail on offer, or, for those who wanted to keep it simple – the classic gin and tonic. The accessibility of chief distillers was a real highlight, listening as they proudly discussed their botanicals (one particular gin, from the West Winds Gin company – infused one of their navy-themed gins with Murray sea salt, one sip instantly made me crave seafood), the history of the term …

A Foodie Battle | Ms Collins

Published by We Know Melbourne

Last night we attended Good Food Month’s Battle of the Pans at Ms Collins. To kick of the night the two foodie giants, Daniel Wilson of Huxtable fame and Daniel Poyner, resident chef at Ms Collins were introduced, giving a short speech about what to expect. Wilson was to cook up dishes with a pan asian flavour and Poyner, more of a modern Australian touch. Upon looking at the menu, we already were anticipating which dishes we would give the tick to, but were secretly hoping that the chefs would surprise us. Each round was served with a battle card where we had to circle our favourite dish. First up of the ranks, Round 1. Wilson was serving up Pan fried prawn rice noodle roll w sesame ginger dressing & coriander and Poyner, Seared scallops w peas, fennel, lemon & guanicale. Normally not a fan of prawns, Wilson’s dish surprised us. The crispiness of the rice noodles wrapping the prawns gave it a fresh new taste, to the point where we were even chomping on …

Bogan Bombshell

Published by We Know Melbourne

On Friday night we were welcomed into what felt like Janeen from Clarinda’s lounge room where she told us of her exploits from scrubbing bathrooms as a Sanitation Engineer – with her secret weapon BAM, through an ill-fated attempt at burlesque dancing (where she ‘couldn’t get them out’) to finally playing the role a phone sex operator – all to raise money for her McDonalds Preston manager husband, Johnno’s bail. Hares and Hyenas was the perfect setting for this show, it felt intimate and personal. At one stage a lucky door prize was drawn, and the winner awarded a family-sized Aero bar which was then passed around the audience, everyone sharing chocolate to the aptly named song ‘An Aero Comes Along’ – definitely a fun vibe, unpretentious and all-inclusive. Susie McCann brought a huge amount of energy to one-woman role of Janeen, and the songs were pretty darn catchy to boot – the tunes of some of your old favorites, matched with witty, ironic bogan pride lyrics. Ultimately a winning combo. If you are a …

Fitzroy’s 127 Brunswick Street

Published by We Know Melbourne

Opening just in time for summer, 127 Brunswick Street is the newest dining spot on the ever popular Brunswick Street. Taking over the old man’s pub, the Old Colonial Inn, the newly revamped 5 story venue, 127 Brunswick Street is the works of Vince Sofo and Paul Adamo, owners of St Kilda’s Esplanade Hotel. Exploring the venue this week, there’s several spots from which to choose to dine or drink. There’s Ichi Ni Nana Izakaya on the bottom floor, Village People Hawker Food Hall on the next floor up, and Upside Rooftop and Bar, of course on the top floor. Each has their indoor and outdoor dining space, making them the perfect place to enjoy dinner on a balmy summer’s evening. We opted for Ichi Ni Nana Izakaya after a couple of wines at Upside Rooftop. We had heard such positive reviews of Ichi Ni (in St Kilda) so are our expectations were high, and we’ve got to say that it lived up to all the hype. Offering up a tapas-style menu, we had difficulty trying to pick …

Fringe Festival Review: A Star is Bored

Published by We Know Melbourne

A Star is Bored was anything but boring. In fact, it had all the energy of a one-man mini Broadway show in loud flanno PJs with fabulous hair. Kicking off with a hilarious showreel, where Nick parodies everything from Broadway and primetime crime to teen horror movies, we were taken on his journey from the ill-matched mean streets of Reservoir through an all-consuming Foxtel addiction, his never-give-up-efforts to make it big in reality television (including a super-funny ‘Toddlers & Tiaras’ parody) to his final destination – when it all came together in a shower of glitter – set to Sesame Street. Nick Eynaud’s vocal range was incredible – his catchy but well written songs adapted to the tune of popular hits from the last few decades, my personal favourite.. set to Kate Bush’s Wuthering Heights was perfectly timed and came out of left field for maximum effect. I simply can’t recommend this show enough, especially if you are a fan of pop culture and musical theatre, ironic references to the desperation and depravity of soul-selling reality television and the narcissistic belief …

Our Gravity Float Experience

Published by We Know Melbourne

Have you ever wondered what it would feel like to exist in a world without gravity? Last week, we got to experience the true feeling of weightlessness with the latest relaxation trend – floatation therapy, at the Gravity Float Centre. If you’re scratching your head, confused about exactly what is floatation therapy, then you’re in the same boat (no pun intended) as we were. Floatation therapy dates back to the 1950s when medical practitioner and neuropsychiatrist , John Lily wanted to test the effects of sensory deprivation. Since then floatation therapy has been used widely for stress, anxiety and muscle relaxation. Gravity Float Centre is located in Northcote (right opposite Welcome to Thornbury), and their centre is focused on providing the ultimate relaxation therapy. Their range of organic skincare products, herbal teas and zen waiting room are the perfect complement to your therapy. After you have filled out the usual registration forms, you are led into your private Gravity Float room (there’s 6 of them in the centre) and a staff member runs you through what …

Fringe Festival Review: The Sparrow Men

Published by We Know Melbourne

The fun thing about improv is that you can go to the same show every night for a week, and quite literally never see the same thing twice. Having seen these two in action before at the Melbourne Comedy Festival, I was once again (as always) impressed by their quick wit, fast ability to throw themselves into character and to draw energy and direction from each other with the smallest of cues. As with most performances of this genre, the audience are asked to throw out their best and brightest one-word ideas for the theme of the night’s show. In this instance we were visibly taken from the sumptuous, marble-roofed home of two fussy retirees, one nosily and jealously spying through the venetian-blinded windows on the new wealthy neighbours as they were moving in, over to the neighbours themselves, past two would-be assassins Russian with a penchant for ham (by the gram) – and then right back around to the beginning, each set of characters somehow linked to one-another as part of the story – it all becoming …

Fringe Festival Review: Showga

Published by We Know Melbourne

Reading the bio for this piece, I was expecting to go along and have a good laugh at someone satirically poking fun at the pretentiousness and fake elements of the yoga / wellness industry which at the moment, is so very trendy – and for the most part I did. What I didn’t expect was an hour-long performance which was actually quite insightful – playing on not only the aforementioned pretension and perceived judgement of many so-called wellness “guru’s” but also the hidden undercurrent themes of this genre like low self esteem and hiding one’s own self-loathing by projecting it out onto others… kind of like blowing out someone else’s candle, so yours can shine that little bit brighter. A clever and relatable piece, with plenty of crowd interaction, dressed up in 12 inch glitter platforms, a green two-piece and a feathered headdress reminiscent of of Bollywood-themed Priscilla, Chelsea Evans (aka Chakanunda Vaganunda Chikki Chikki Wa) is one flexible, funny woman. Showga has finished it’s Melbourne Fringe Festival run, with the last show running Sunday evening, 20 September 2015 at the …

A Night at Lido Cinemas

Published by We Know Melbourne

Having missed the opportunity to catch Dope at MIFF earlier this month, we have been eagerly awaiting it’s general release in Melbourne cinemas and on Thursday our wait was over. Lido were doing a special screening of it and we jumped to buy tickets. You may have been to Lido cinemas back in the day if you’re from an older generation, but for us, and what it seems like the whole audience (there was definitely a generation Y thing happening), we never got to experience it in it’s full glory. Lido Cinemas’ history dates back over 100 years, to when it first opened in 1911, but it hasn’t been a cinema this whole time. Closing down in 1960 to became a dance school, and then a cabaret theatre, the cinema then became an unused building about a decade ago. Upon entering the building, you can still notice a lot of the old fixtures and setup, but it no longer is a dated cinema. Given a fresh new look with lots of bright green couches, lighting projections and an overall modern hipster feel. …

Alumbra gets a makeover

Published by We Know Melbourne

Before we start this article, we must confess that although we have always known of the club/bar Alumbra, it’s Docklands location scared us and we have never made the trek there. Recently revamped and given a facelift by Roar Projects, last Wednesday they held an exclusive VIP event to launch the new look and the We Know Melbourne team went along to check it out. The venue had been given a new creative identity, based on the streets of New York and upon entering the warehouse conversion, we couldn’t help but feel that we were transported to a bar in the Upper West Side. All the guests were glammed up in high heels, dresses and suits. The venue itself now had an increased capacity with an extended floorplan. We loved the idea of the outside terrace for a cheeky cocktail under the stars. However the main attraction of the night was the foodie partnership with master chef Daniel Wilson – The man infamous for bringing to Melbourne, Huxtable and those delicious Huxtaburgers. The New York style menu …