A little flight reading: Melbourne Precincts by Dale Campisi

The perfect day out in Melbourne involves coffee, sandwiches, beer, a bike ride and a tram trip.

A sandwich at Melbourne’s Captains of Industry. Picture: Nicole Cleary

MELBOURNE PRECINCTS

Dale Campisi

(Hardie Grant Books, $39.99)

The perfect day out in Melbourne, according to Dale Campisi, necessarily involves coffee, sandwiches, beer, a bike ride and a tram trip.

Let’s hold on the bike ride, but go roaming past the 150 or so destinations in 20 precincts so enticingly described and pictured in this new edition of the “curated guide to the city’s best shops, eateries, bars and other hangouts”.

Campisi is a long-time Melbourne enthusiast (last year Hardie Grant also published his Melbourne: A City of Villages) so when he recommends starting with a baguette at Waffle On and coffee at Dukes, both close to Flinders Street Station, it seems a reasonable thing to do. Afterwards, check out Captains of Industry for a gourmet sandwich, haircut and bespoke shoes, all with a view of Melbourne’s marvellous GPO, which opened in 1859 and is now home to H&M’s flagship store.

Outside the CBD, Campisi recommends Gertrude Street, Fitzroy, and Greville Street, Prahran. No surprises there perhaps, but he also puts in a good word for Dandenong, southeast of the city, with its abundance of Afghani, Indian and other international foods.

Find time, too, for Yarraville and Seddon, in the “secret” west. I love the look of Third Drawer Down and The Museum of Art Souvenir Store in George Street, Fitzroy. Its merchandise is pop-art paradise, down to giant nose soap dispensers. ’S not your decorating delight? Go for the inflatable ring doughnuts.