• With art deco flair and a strong snack game, Shane Delia opens sultry new cocktail bar Jayda in the CBD. Right next to his Maha flagship on Bond Street, find classic cocktails turned on their head by a world-class bartender. And to eat? Beefy borek buns, taramasalata tarts and a saucy lamb sanga inspired by a late-night staff meal.

• First Look: A double-decker wine bar and shop that proves Bluebonnet’s owner is no one-trick pony. Chef Chris Terlikar is best known for smoky slabs of Texas-style barbeque. But you’ll find none of that at this charming 140-year-old former pub. Instead? House-made charcuterie, luscious pasta and a roaming cocktail trolley.

• In just a year, the freewheeling Bar Merenda has cemented itself as an essential Daylesford destination. The menu is compact, chalked up on a blackboard and constantly changing. The only sure thing? Its fierce hyperlocality and downright deliciousness. This wine bar is likely to be the star of your next spa-country weekender.

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• First Look: It’s a little dive-y and a little disco at Coburg’s Italo-American pizza bar, Hotel Lombardo. The moodily lit diner is hitting all the right notes, with a big hit of nostalgia. Slide into a cushy booth for a glossy pepperoni pizza – or a culture-crossing mortadella and pineapple. Then bring a round of Negronis to the pool table.

• First Look: Kariton Sorbetes’s glowing new gelato store brings Filipino flavours and slushie spiders to the CBD. The flagship’s menu is projected onto the curved, sky-blue ceiling. And it has all the popular flavours – like ube (purple yam), mango float and champorado (rice pudding) – in scoops, tubs or pillowy bread buns.

• First Look: Acai bar Lovabowl started in the back of a Fitzroy North fruit shop. Now it has its own home. Gabrielle Russo’s flavour-packed, topping-heavy acai bowls regularly drew crowds to her parents’ Queens Parade fruit-and-veg shop during lockdown. Head two doors down to find her new minimalistic shopfront.

• Now open in Brunswick: at Tino, the empanadas are never the same but the Pisco Sours are always $15. A homey new Latin American-inspired bar and eatery has taken over the former Rascal site on Sydney Road. And Argentinian chef and co-owner Sergio Tourn is putting the spotlight on the flavours of his homeland.

• Now open: if it’s not gonna be a burger, it has to be the chicken and waffles at Yarra Glen’s new low-key diner. The American-inspired Lulu’s Bar & Burgers is all about, ahem, burgers. But your meal doesn’t have to be. It’s the latest from the team behind Heartswood (which is across the road), headed by a chef with fine-dining pedigree.

• Market Lane, a Melbourne coffee stalwart, has opened its seventh location – in the historical Mercat Cross Hotel building at Queen Victoria Market.

• First Look: One of the world’s best crab restaurants, Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Crab, lands in Melbourne. It’s popping up at Crown for four weeks only. Chef Dharshan Munidasa will serve the freshest-of-the-fresh whole mud crabs with fiery black peppercorn dashi, plus a dramatic crème brûlée in a hollowed-out coconut.

• Now open: Thyme, an all-day indoor-outdoor diner – with a menu by celebrity chef Karen Martini – at new hot springs and spa Alba. The star of the show is undoubtedly the crumbed-fish sandwich, a Japanese spin on the one from Hero.

• Lamingtons, but not as you know them: Sydney’s Tokyo Lamington has opened a Melbourne store. By an ex-Black Star pastry chef, the popular bakery is known for turning the Aussie classic on its head – with playful spins like black sesame, yuzu-meringue and fairy-bread popcorn. Plus, you’ll also find onigiri here.

• First Look: There’s more than just Standing Room at the Melbourne coffee mainstay’s new Fitzroy North cafe. “To progress from a tiny hole in the wall to a fully-fledged cafe has been a full graduation.” On a sunny corner opposite Eddie Gardens, there’s plenty of room to dine in, plus creamy breakfast congee and vibrant Turkish eggs.

• First Look: New neighbourhood cafe Lennox is the closest you’ll get to the Greek Islands in Hampton. It’s bright, breezy and built for sunny days (there’s a back courtyard with private cabanas).

• First Look: Kew’s new wine bar is a Turkish delight. At the intimate Nazar, Turkish chef Ayhan Erkoc is reimagining dishes he grew up eating. Breakfast staple sujuk and eggs is unrecognisable (and bite-sized) here, plus find duck pastirma and beetroot-and-labneh kebabs.

• Now open: loaded focaccia, prosecco salami and fun Italian vino at Pezzo, the Umberto team’s new wine bar. The collab with specialist wine importer Quelvino is here for a good time, not a long time.

• First Look: Behind an art deco facade, Kensington’s Cassette wants maximum flavour with minimum waste. The new sustainably minded corner cafe composts on-site and finds clever ways to use excess stock on its globetrotting menu. Find DIY sushi bowls, loaded potato rosti and innovative coffee-spiked bacon and eggs.

• Open till 3am: Mejico’s new pink-lit, glass-walled bar is pouring more than 400 different tequilas and mezcals. And 10 variations on the Margarita. The buzzy Mexican diner has made the most of its late-night licence by turning its upstairs space into a dedicated tequila bar – serving Mexican-inspired booze and snacks into the early hours.