• First look: Find grilled cheese dippers and a Filet-O-Fish-inspired sanga at tiny shop Louie’s in Brunswick.

• First look: Casual pasta bar Pastarami brings cult mafaldine to the former Noir space in Richmond.

• First look: Ferdydurke transforms into Aster, a CBD cocktail and wine bar from the same team.

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• First look: Grill Wagyu at your table at new CBD Japanese barbeque restaurant Yakinau.

• First look: Get shareable birria quesadillas at Bar Mexico, a new Preston venue in a former shoe factory.

• Coming soon: Carlton’s Japanese gelato and bento shop Hareruya Pantry to open a second location this month.

• Former Attica chef-ceramicist Claire Ellis launches
romantic tableware label for the home, Service.

• Now open: Foc, a new lunchtime go-to for focaccia sangas in the CBD.

• Twenty-four Victorian bakeries and pastry shops have been named as part of La Liste’s World’s Best Pastry Shops Selection for 2024.

• Superstar chef and Chinese-ish cookbook author Rosheen Kaul will prepare a solstice feast surrounded by immersive floral installations by Hattie Molloy and live “creepy jazz” at Hope St Radio this Friday June 21.

• New Melbourne gin label Dutch Rules makes award-winning bottles.

• The Everleigh and Stefanino Panino’s cocktail and sandwich collab starts on July 2.

• Try Toddy Shop chef Mischa Tropp’s Keralan-inspired take on laksa and award-winning renditions from Darwin at Molly Rose’s Laksa festival on Sunday July 7.

• Belles Hot Chicken’s sizzling 50 per cent off deal includes its new winter sanga.

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• Atria, the restaurant on the 80th floor of the Ritz-Carlton in the CBD, now offers a new à la carte lunch with an $80 two-course or a $95 three-course option. Both two- or three-course menus are served with Ramarro Farm leaves, mustard dressing and Dutch cream potato boulangère.

• The team from North Melbourne Mauritian wine bar Manze will prepare a seafood dinner at Bar Merenda in Daylesford on Sunday June 30 from 6pm. The multi-course banquet is $90 per person. Bookings essential.

• Gemini wine bar in Coburg is hosting the Dutch Rules Distilling team on Wednesday June 26 from 6pm. There’ll be $16 cocktails and a gin and tonic tasting where you’ll get three G&Ts paired with a snack for $39.

• CBD venue Yum Sing House has a moody restaurant downstairs and a lively karaoke bar upstairs. Its menu nods to dishes from Hong Kong, Japan, Thailand and Korea. You can sample Yum Sing hits in its winter Chef’s Plate series, a multi-course feed that includes hiramasa kingfish with ponzu sauce, and chicken wontons, for $55 per person.