Sandi Sieger’s guide to what’s hot and happy(ning) this week. Eat, drink, buy, try, visit, read, be merry.
EAT: Yaki Nau – Contemporary Japanese BBQ in Melbourne
Positioned in a vibrant part of Melbourne, you’ll find Yaki Nau on the corner of Queen and A’Beckett Streets. Visit for a refined take on the Izakinu of Japan, with fine food and drinks on offer. Every detail of the experience has been considered, making your night fun, delicious and exciting. Featuring premium wagyu, a grill set into your table and perfectly paired cocktails, the divine smell of cooking will fill the air too.
A must-try is Yaki Nau’s signature Sake Bomb. You’re invited to participate in the ceremony whereby you raise a full glass of beer, cheers, then smash the glass down on the table so that a small cup of soju falls in the full beer, wildly splashing everywhere. At Yaki Nau, you are wholly immersed, which is a good reminder for why you might treat yourself by going out to dinner in the first place.
Enjoy contemporary Japanese BBQ brought to you by Chef Hugo Mai, who after seven years at Nobu has innovated on traditional flavours. The menu sings. A treat is the double fried Tebasaki Karaage, but trying the M9 Wagyu Karubi is a reason to visit on its own. The dish melts in your mouth adding even more to the excitement. With premium Blackmore Wagyu beef, premium sake, and even an experimental desert of brûléed custard sauce inside a sweet potato, Yaki Nau is not stuffy and fancy. It’s fun and fancy.
Yaki Nau is open now at 370 Queens Place, Melbourne.
DRINK: Introducing 96° – Quality Teas Land on Australian Shores
96˚ brings together the finest black, green, and herbal teas from around the globe. Crafted with passion and expertise, each sip showcases the rich flavors and quality of the tea leaves. The tea comes in large pyramid-shaped bags, allowing the leaves to fully infuse and reveal their complex tastes. And it’s incredibly delicate.
All the packaging is either compostable or fully recyclable and all of the teas are sourced from certified plantations, ensuring they have strong, fair labour policies.
96˚ launched in Coles this June with four varieties – Chamomile, Chinese Green, English Breakfast and Mint teas – this premium quality tea promises to deliver the perfect cup of tea every time and priced at $ 10 for 20 tea bags, it is great value for the quality.
BUY: Tickets To So Frenchy So Chic’s Newest Event, Le Grape Escape
Mark your calendars – So Frenchy So Chic will be gracing Melbourne with a celebration of art de vivre (the distinctly French art of living well) on September 20th and 21st.
The first of its kind in Melbourne – an event dedicated exclusively to French wines – this event is an exclusive opportunity to indulge in the finest wines from every wine making region, where you can immerse yourself in the rich flavours, traditions and passions behind French winemaking.
Working alongside some of the best and passionate boutique French wine importers, who service the wine lists of top restaurants across Australia. They’ll showcase 110 wines from 13 regions of France: Alsace, Chablis, Beaujolais, Bourgogne, Bordeaux, Champagne, Jura, Languedoc Roussillon, Loire Valley, Provence, Rhone, Savoie and Sud Ouest.
Le Grape Escape will run across three sessions: 5pm-9pm on Friday, 20th September, and 11am-3pm and 4pm – 8pm on Saturday, 21st September. Upon arrival, all guests will receive their very own Le Grape Escape wine glass. Throughout the sessions, ticket holders can stroll between vendors and get a taste of the wines that span across the 13 regions. The wines are available to sample, purchase by the glass or by the bottle.
Limited early bird tickets are on sale now here.
TRY: EQ – Melbourne’s First Preventative Wellbeing Retreat
Visit EQ as soon as you can. Actively plan for it, and invest time in furthering your journey of fundamentally improving your health. EQ offers a new, revolutionary wellness-retreat. And it doesn’t stop there. Learn and discover calming, holistic practices you’ll use in your own time, long after you’ve left EQ’s doors.
EQ offers a rare opportunity to keep the feeling of respite going even after you leave, after re-immersing in life’s chaos.
Nestled in South Melbourne, ensure you allow three hours to dedicate to yourself. EQ is not just a spa, but a holistic mini-retreat. Learn meditation practices that will support you in an ongoing way. Co-founder, Mia, and the entire EQ team, deliver evidence based approaches that make improving your wellbeing something for you to easily grasp and put into practice in your daily routine.
The sessions include meditation, in many modes including sound therapy and guided breathing. The most profound, thought-provoking movies are curated for you to watch as part of the journey. EQ offers a perfectly sized space and vibe to facilitate your journey, with a generous spa and two saunas. Not to mention dual plunge pools that are not only inviting, but cleverly designed for you to be kept accountable by your bestie, who can dip in at the same time. The roving assistants are kind, knowledgeable, dedicated, and proactive. The team at EQ are super professional and up to the challenge of helping us by generously sharing their insights.
Make a booking and begin your journey.
VISIT: Mirror Mirror Rooftop Lounge
Melbourne hospitality group, Tiffy Group, pens a new chapter in its fairytale with the Snow White-inspired Mirror Mirror Rooftop Lounge, located above The Clarendon Hotel in South Melbourne. Overlooking the Melbourne CBD skyline, the venue brings the magic of the iconic fable with fairytale-inspired cocktails, seasonal bar snacks and a live DJ every Saturday night from 7pm.
Behind the bar, guests will find top local and international wines and spirits, spotlighting Patrón tequila in cocktails such as the Plata Margarita, De Verdad Tommy’s and Hoguera Old Fashioned.
The snack menu, designed to complement the cocktail offerings, is led by Executive Chef Ryan Spurrell, who brings his Michelin-starred credentials to the team (The Ledbury, Pollen Street Social, Vue de Monde, Estelle). The menu, which changes with the seasons, means no two visits will be the same. Currently, guests can expect to find tasty bites with Asian influence such as:
- Tofu Karaage, Sweet & Tangy Sauce ($12)
- Prawn Cocktail, Avocado ($15)
- Three types of sliders: Wagyu Beef Sliders, Spicy Chicken Sliders, Pulled Jackfruit Sliders ($15 each)
Mirror Mirror Rooftop Lounge is located on Level 3 of The Clarendon Hotel.
READ: The Kitchen of Somewhere by Anna Kelly McLeod
The Kitchen of Somewhere is not only a cookbook, but a personal story of how food shapes our connection to place, the environment and, most importantly our understanding of who we are.
The journey of this book first began when the author, Anna, discovered a notebook on her mother’s desk shortly after her passing by suicide. It was bursting with photographs, recipes and wisdom – all beetroot and cake batter-stained from many years of use.
Inspired by this find, Anna retraced her mothers steps and travelled more than 64,000km across NZ, Australia, the Pacific Isles and the US, to create The Kitchen of Somewhere – a collection of 70 recipes and 240 photographs that showcase the travels her mother embarked on throughout her life, and the incredible people, food and memories she experienced along the way.
$5 from every purchase will be donated towards Beyond Blue, to help reduce stigma and raise awareness for mental health and wellbeing.
