With Dana Lenko, owner of Lenko boutique, Cathedral Arcade, city.
1. Get some culture? No Vacancy Gallery (34-40 Jane Bell Lane, city, call 9663 3798), Backwoods Gallery (25 Easey Street, Collingwood, call 0433 177 870) and Utopian Slumps (33 Guildford Lane, city, call 9077 9918). I love seeing what creative people are up to and these galleries always have interesting shows with unlikely themes and great art.
2. Go to relax? Fairfield Park Boathouse (Fairfield Park Drive, Fairfield, call 9486 1501). Ooh, scones and tea in that grand old building – yum. On a nice day I like to row one of their boats past the scary bats in the trees.
A bit of a happy place for me.
3. Unleash your inner child? Collingwood Children’s Farm (18 St Heliers Street, Abbotsford, call 9417 5806). They have enormous pigs, funny-looking chickens with fuzzy hairdos and amazing milkshakes.
4. Indulge yourself? We are so lucky here to have access to a world class orchestra – the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (visit mso.com.au). I try to see a few performances a year, and especially now as they are temporarily back at the Melbourne Town Hall, which is such a beautiful building with so much history.
5. Spend your last $10? Sonido Colombian cafe (69 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy, visit sonido.com.au). It’s got to be the cutest place to eat in all of Melbourne. Amazing coffee and I think about their empanadas most days.
6. Buy something new? The fact I have a shop just off Flinders Lane means I get to pop into all the other boutiques there and in the surrounding lanes and see what wonderful things are on offer. It’s my favourite place to shop in the whole world, and I’m not just saying that.
7. Take someone you want to impress? Chin Chin (125 Flinders Lane, city, call 8663 2000) – it fills all your expectations and is totally worth waiting for. Delicious food, great service and atmosphere, and the lighting is oh-so flattering.
8. Go on your own? I like to explore the Chapel Street Bazaar (378 Chapel Street, South Yarra, call 9827 5007). I’ll hunt out some treasures, and get some inspiration from the wacky remains of the last few generations.
9. Stay up late? I like to visit the Golden Heavenly Queen statue on the Maribyrnong River late at night, with torches – and butterflies in my tummy. It’s a scary walk in pitch black and then you come out onto a large open field with the Buddhist temple on the hill and the statue looks at you so serenely in the moonlight. If you are lucky a train will come past with its yellow lit-up windows like something out of a David Lynch film.
10. Want to keep a secret? I have a love of cheesy karaoke. I’ve tried a lot around town and by far the best is FM (Shop 2, 146 Bourke Street, city, call 9663 0013). It’s got themed rooms and good song selection, but I’m still waiting for the full back-catalogue of Fleetwood Mac to become available.
For more information, visit ilovelenko.com
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