WHERE DO YOU...

Go to get some culture? We are blessed in Melbourne with a thriving Vietnamese community and it’s pretty hard to beat Victoria Street, Richmond for a dose of south-east Asian food. There are rows of unbelievably cheap Vietnamese restaurants selling traditional food – pho, vermicelli noodles and more – it’s like being in Hanoi.

Go to relax? I live in East St Kilda and there’s a great bar called Pause (268 Carlisle Street Balaclava, 9537 0511) that has open windows to the street and great beers; watch the world go by on a Sunday arvo.

Unleash your inner child? Me and Sunny (my son) like to waste money at Intencity arcade (Westfield Southland, 1239 Nepean Highway, Cheltenham 9583 7433) although he is good at finding change on the floor, so it evens out.

Indulge yourself? Something you don’t often do as a working muso, but if we can get in it’s hard to beat Mamasita (1/11 Collins Street city, 9650 3821) for dinner.

Spend your last $10? Camberwell Market (Station Street, Camberwell, visit www.sundaymarket.com.au) is a good place to spend your last tenner, especially if you are under 10! Piles of old toys at 10 cents each: old board games, Pick-up Sticks, Mousetrap! Forget Xbox.

Buy something new? 555 Music (555 Burwood Rd, Hawthorn 9818 5040) has amazing kooky guitars, amps and retro recording gear.

Take someone you want to impress? Victoria Street for lunch then to Intencity.

Go on your own? Victoria’s Surf Coast is my favourite place to go by myself. I learnt to surf at Aireys Inlet as a kid and have been surfing there ever since. It’s a 90-minute drive which is good thinking time and then I go to a few spots that remarkably are still uncrowded.

Stay up late? After 30 years playing in pubs I try to avoid staying up late like the plague ... but I’m told the Windsor end of Chapel Street is the place to go to bar hop till the wee hours – but keep the bloody noise down as I live up the road and I’ll be asleep.

Want to keep a secret? Shanghai Dumpling House (23-25 Tattersalls Lane, city, call 9663 8555). If you want to stuff yourself with proper Chinese dumplings and tea for less than $15 this is the place – there’s no silver service though. Queue up like sheep then be herded onto shared tables and served in two minutes.

See Nick at the QV Summer Concert Series on Saturday, February 25 at 2pm.