A private spa in a magical treetop hut. A dearly departed bar returns (well, sort of). A cuisine-crossing rice dish that will blow your mind. And more. Here’s what Broadsheet Melbourne editor Tomas Telegramma is checking out in Melbourne in September.

Escape to the lake
Lake House is the jewel in Daylesford’s crown. And as winter wanes, it’s an idyllic place to (re)visit for a swanky spring weekender. Once you arrive, there’s really no reason to leave. Start at the spa, where you can soak in a private circular tub – in a treetop hut – that looks through the willows onto Lake Daylesford. Then sip a fireside cocktail before slinking into the award-winning glass-walled restaurant for a four-course feast. The Victorian icon behind Lake House, Alla Wolf-Tasker, serves as the culinary director, and her current menu is A-plus. The show-stealer? Fraser Island spanner crab and mustard leaf atop koshihikari sushi rice that’s been enriched with seaweed in a risotto-like fashion. It’s a silky umami bomb that you need to try.

Food openings and events for your hit list
August was a stomper month for restaurant, cafe and bar openings in Melbourne. And – as usual – we’ve packaged the most exciting of them into a wrap. It includes eight First Looks and you should think of it as your cheat sheet for the month. There’s an already-heaving neighbourhood pizzeria by the Tipo 00 team, an ex-Sunda pastry chef’s tiny gluten-free bakery, and what could very well be Australia’s best bowlo restaurant. As for what’s happening this month, there are a ton of food and booze events worth getting excited about. Joe Jones, of the recently closed Romeo Lane, has turned Poodle’s upstairs space into the ephemeral, candlelit Bar Caniche; the exceptional Mono XO is hosting what it’s called the Full Moono XO Party on the 11th; and Balaclava’s Moonhouse is getting experimental – and theatrical – at a one-off dinner on the 21st.

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The (Archibald) eagle has landed
Narre Warren gallery Bunjil Place is the first (and only Victorian) stop on the prestigious Archibald Prize’s national tour. It’ll be here until October 16, following the exhibition’s closure at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Head to the south-east to see all 52 of the awards’ finalists – and the groundbreaking winner. Koori artist Blak Douglas took out the top spot this year for his portrait of fellow First Nations artist Karla Dickens. It’s a “first” for the 101-year-old competition – and only the second time an Aboriginal artist has taken out the prize. Other famous Aussies who sat for Archibald finalists this year include artist Patricia Piccinini, Midnight Oil frontman Peter Garrett, and writer and broadcaster Benjamin Law (well, his butt).

Melbourne Writers Festival returns
An impassioned F-bomb is the only appropriate reaction to the fact that Scottish actor Brian Cox – who portrays tyrannical tycoon (and patriarch of the most dysfunctional family on TV) Logan Roy in HBO’s Succession – is in town this week for Melbourne Writers Festival, which runs from the 8th to the 12th. In the lead-up, we spoke to Cox about telling people to “fuck off”, his favourite child and putting on Logan’s skin – here’s our interview. He’s headlining the festival’s first face-to-face event since 2019 alongside Pakistan-born novelist Mohsin Hamid, a New York Times bestseller whose Exit West and The Reluctant Fundamentalist were shortlisted for the Booker Prize. While Britpop legend Jarvis Cocker – founder, frontman and lyricist of the band Pulp – will be beamed in from the UK to introduce Good Pop, Bad Pop, his eccentric new memoir. We’ve rounded up some top picks of the program and a handy reading list.

Thank you for the music(als)
It’s a great time to be a musical theatre fan in Melbourne – the shows currently lighting up our stages scratch a lot of itches. There’s the global phenomenon Hamilton, which has just announced it’s closing next January; if there’s only one show you see in 2022, let this be it. It’s essential viewing. Or maybe Dolly Parton smash hit 9 to 5 the Musical, now showing at the Arts Centre, is more your speed. Over at the Regent, feel-good 2007 film Hairspray is taking to the stage with a cast of national treasures, including “Dunny Man” Shane Jacobson in the role John Travolta played in the film. Plus, Come From Away – based on the remarkable true story of a tiny-but-mighty town off the east coast of Canada that embraced thousands of stranded passengers on September 11 – is back.