FTW: Melbourne Precincts coffee table book
CURIOUS about the best place to grab a bite in Hawthorn? Looking for new places to shop in Windsor? Sarah Lim reviews Melbourne Precincts and tells you how you can win a copy.
Melbourne Precincts by Dale Campisi. Image: Sarah Lim
MELBOURNE PRECINCTS
By Dale Campisi
Explore Australia, $34.95
Melbourne was recently named the most liveable city in the world for the third time in a row.
While decision makers also considered security and health services, there is no doubt that the liveability of this city can be attributed to its great food places and cultural activities.
Melbourne Precincts is a helpful guide for those of us who are still in the process of traversing across the plains of the city.
The book is a peep and a taste of what each suburb in Melbourne has. It features 20 suburbs and more than 160 destinations from the Melbourne CBD (Central, East and West as separate precincts), Fitzroy and South Yarra to Brunswick and St Kilda.
For each suburb or precinct, author Dale Campisi hand picks at least three places to eat, like Chez Dre in South Melbourne, as well as three places to shop, like Curtin House in the CBD Central. He includes snippets from a local from each suburb speaking about what Melbourne style is and what it’s like living in the precinct.
The book is an informative and useful guide to this culture rich city. Each place is briefly reviewed with each listing containing telephone numbers and websites for the reader to get further details. There is also a good balance between food destinations and shopping locales, as well as sightseeing with the book’s proposed itineraries.
Melbourne Precincts is also beautifully designed, containing 256 full-colour pages and many pictures of all the places recommended.
Having lived in Melbourne for four years, I can confirm that some of the places suggested by the author are indeed popular, trendy and worth a visit.
It’s a shame that Melbourne Precincts only includes suburbs close to the central business district though. Places like Camberwell, Toorak, Caulfield, Box Hill and Glen Waverley – where great multicultural food and shopping places exist – aren’t mentioned. A wider range would have been preferable instead of such a narrow focus on suburbs near the CBD.
Also, Campisi puts a clear focus on the content being ‘local’, so a lot of fantastic multicultural restaurants and stores don’t get a mention, which isn’t so terrible if you’re looking to find out what it means to be a true blue Melburnian.
Melbourne Precincts is definitely recommended for those who are new to this thriving city.
As well as being a handy guide to experiencing more of Melbourne, it also makes a lovely keepsake of the plethora of destinations that make this city so unique.
Meld Magazine has a copy of Melbourne Precincts to give away! For your chance to win, simply enter our competition below.
The competition closes October 10 2013 and is only open to readers in Victoria. The winner will be picked in a random draw and notified via email.