• The city’s best new bars of 2023. Did your favourite make the list?

• Madeleine de Proust, a boutique bakery from Attica’s former head pastry chef and her chef-partner, opens on Lygon Street.

• Pint-sized Banh Mi Stand sells some of the CBD’s best rolls.

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• Sandwich superstar Stefanino Panino rolls into Collingwood Yards.

• We talk to Dessert Masters breakout star Kay-Lene Tan about spoons, Dachshunds and her favourite Melbourne restaurant right now.

• Moon Dog is bringing Wild West energy – and a mechanical bull – to the former Franco Cozzo building in Footscray.

• Coming soon: Purple Pit, a basement cocktail den with “Krug meets Jack Daniels” energy from Romeo Lane founder Joe Jones and Maurice Terzini of Sydney’s Icebergs Dining Room and Bar.

• Restaurants will soon have to disclose where their seafood comes from.

• Goodtime Footscray bar Baby Snakes to close at the end of the month.

• 18 to try: all the new Melbourne restaurant and cafe openings we got excited about in November.

• Hector’s Deli now offers catering (and founder Dom Wilton may or may not deliver your sandwiches dressed as an astronaut).

• Try six shades of mystery grey gelato from Piccolina at this MPavilion edible art activation.

• Experimental Melbourne supper club Gruel is hosting a dinner dedicated to eggs this weekend.

• Sleepy’s Cafe and Wine Bar owner Steve Chan flexes retro “Hong Kong uncle” style at work.

You might have missed
• Inside Fysh, Aussie chef and The Whole Fish Cookbook author Josh Niland’s first international restaurant.

Listen up
• This week on Broadsheet’s podcast Around Town, we hear about a luxe new butcher, talk about the paninis selling out in Carlton and chat about one of the year’s most anticipated restaurant reopenings.

More, please
• Navi, Julian Hills’s Yarraville fine diner, is donating $1 from every snack purchased in the restaurant’s front bar area Navi Lounge, to Foodbank Victoria throughout the month of December.

• Chef Hiroshi Kawamata’s Tokyo restaurant Sebastian is bringing its take on the Japanese shaved-ice dessert kakigori to a pop-up series at Leonie Upstairs.

• Cocolo, a cafe dedicated to all things coconut has opened on Glenferrie Road Hawthorn.

• Black Star Pastry has released a white strawberry version of its signature watermelon cake for the holidays. They’re available at Black Star shops until December 24.

• Swiftmas has come early. Crown Melbourne is giving away 12 tickets to Taylor Swift’s Melbourne Eras Tour shows. More info here.

As seen on the web
• Mayukh Sen profiles legendary 90-year-old food writer (and award-winning actor) Madhur Jaffrey – via The Washington Post.