Ovolo Laneways

Fancy mixing business with pleasure? Melbourne has to be one of the best places for a bleisure trip, so Mr Smith decides to join me at the end of a work foray, leaving our two-year-old with Granny Smith. We’re after a weekend doing what parents of a toddler can usually only dream about – bar- and restaurant-hopping around the city, as well as spending quality time together with lots of the S-word. Sleep. We soon discover that Ovolo Laneways makes a great base for both sides of that equation, with its playful, modern mood and a location that allows us to pack in as much foodie action as possible.

Tucked away at the Parliament House end of Little Bourke Street, Ovolo is in a prime position to enjoy the fab CBD drinking and dining spots around every corner, and Chinatown with its dumpling houses is just down the road. We step into the shiny new foyer, with its space-age silver eggs migrating across the walls and ceiling, and instantly feel like we’ve found our ideal city pad. Dapper, smiling young staff sit with laptops at the reception desk and check us into our room. Happy hour, when guests gather around the lobby’s leather banquettes to take advantage of free beer and wine, is about to start.

Petite but perfectly formed, our room is up on level four behind one of the primary-coloured doors. We note the cheery blackboard greeting and spot the goodie bag of complimentary snacks. We’re just about to tuck in (Mr Smith) and hit the shower (Mrs), when a call comes through from reception with a confession – there’s been a mix-up with two similarly named guests checking in on the same day, and if we’d like to move we can have the room we actually booked, our more spacious One-bedroom Suite. So it’s back past the astro-turfed benches and backlit artworks to our level two boudoir, which comes complete with a separate king-size bedroom, roomy lounge with chaise sofa and a beanbag, plus a kitchenette. The bathroom is slick, with subway-tiled walls and a rainshower, and the hair dryer passes my all-important test, firing on all cylinders rather than the standard hotel-issue variety lacking in puff. Even the Malin+Goetz bath products imported from NYC are fitting for a foodie getaway, with ingredients including cilantro, peppermint and rum.

Snacks, showers, free beer and sav blanc (ready to go in single-serve glasses) from the minibar follow swiftly, then it’s out into the balmy evening for a pre-dinner drink. It’s so warm that we opt for one of the two rooftop bars within easy strolling distance. We head around the corner to Spring Street’s Siglo, above Melboume Supper Club, but while the waft of orange zest in the air promises a killer negroni, the queue proves too long. Instead, we opt for the fun and flirty Madame Brussels, where we look out over the many parasols and jugs of pink drinks to leafy Bourke Street. When the squawk of hen parties becomes overwhelming, we escape to Flinders Street and take our pick from some of the alluring dining hot spots – Cumulus Inc, Coda and Chin Chin. The winner tonight is Cumulus’ new bar Up, and our sole regret is that we order only one of the duck waffles to share. We weave our way back through the laneways, and on the home stretch discover that the Melbourne branch of glam Thai eatery Longrain is just across the road from the hotel. Perfect for a final cocktail and dessert at the bar.

Morning brings the ultimate luxury, a 10am sleep-in, easy to do in our all-white king bed and peaceful room set away from the street. By the time we emerge, we’ve missed Ovolo’s complimentary Grab’n’Go breakfast of pastries and muffins, but no matter, our most ambitious plan for the day is brunch. We power up at the super-sized Nespresso machine, which is available for all-day refuelling, then hop aboard the number 96 tram at the end of the street. It takes us to East Brunswick’s legendary Pope Joan for Cuban sandwiches and heirloom tomato salad among chef Matt Wilkinson’s produce garden, with a Bloody Mary for good measure, then back to Fitzroy’s Gertude Street for some of Melbourne’s most eclectic and inspiring homewares and clothes shopping. I plan to continue shopping back in the city, but the heat and promise of an afternoon nap in our cool suite convince me otherwise.

Evening brings a repeat of the night before, this time with friends as we start with a pinot grigio and bar snacks at Grossi Florentino’s offshoot bar Ombra on Bourke, then cross town and continents for Japanese at the intimate Hihou. In typical Melbourne fashion, as we near home we stumble across New Gold Mountain, our favourite hidden bar discovered on our first trip to the city together. It’s been just metres away from Ovolo all along, and one last cocktail completes the circle on a weekend of easy indulgence.