Mr & Mrs Smith x Tokyobike

Cibi (pronounced Chi-bi) is a minimal Japanese café with an enticing breakfast plate of flavourful rice, vegetables and salmon – with plenty of Western dishes, too. There’s a shop in the rear, so browse cool cookware on your way out. Collingwood Children’s Farm hosted the city’s first farmers market and it’s still going strong, with an ever-changing list of stallholders serving everything from cheese toasties to caviar. For something a little more creative, Saint Crispin serves up some of the most inventive – and palate-pleasing – plates around, and Ides has a flavour-packed six-course menu that adds a large dollop of fun to the idea of 'fine dining'.  If you're looking for something alfresco, head up to the roof terrace at moreish tapas joint, Naked for Satan. 

Sip on an Australian Old Fashioned at the cooly kitsch Dingo's on Smith Street – it's the eucaplytus bitters that give it the local twist. Take advantage of the region's world-beating wines at Marion: a buzzing wine bar with a fine line in food, too. Forgotten Worlds serves a side of nostalgia with its craft beers thanks to its array of vintage arcade games. Australians have a knack of naming things literally – case in point: Everyday Coffee; which serves the black stuff all week long in relaxed surrounds.

Whether you’re a rocking rockabilly or a Forties glamourpuss, Vintage Garage on Smith Street is your port of call for fashion finds selected by the city’s smartest dealers. There’s rare vinyl and other memorabilia for crate diggers, too. A few shops down is Happy Valley, a design-conscious art and book shop that has been painstakingly curated by owner Chris Crouch. Cool threads hang at lo-fi Somebuddy Loves You on the corner of Smith and Charles, and over in Fitzroy, liven up tea time with boldly coloured pots and crockery from T2 Tea on Brunswick Street, or even bolder day-of-the-dead design trinkets from Amor y Locura on Gertrude Street.

Fitzroy’s graffiti artists have helped ensure that Melbourne is among Berlin, Bristol and Valparaiso as one of the world’s leading street-art cities – check out the Ever Fresh mural (on the corner of Johnston and Young) and other politically charged works on the Melbourne Street Tour. At the western extreme of Gertrude Street lies Carlton Gardens, home to the landmark 19th-century Royal Exhibition Building and, nearby, the family-friendly Melbourne Museum. Or, for fewer crowds, pack a picnic and cross Victoria Parade to the well-manicured lawns, peculiar fountains and statues of Fitzroy Gardens.

No-one does bathing like the Japanese, so you’ll be reassured by the authenticity at Ofuroya Japanese Bathhouse, from the tatami mats and steam room, right down to the sake lounge and the nudity. You can sip cold ones all week in the airy surrounds of the Stomping Ground Brewery & Beer Hall on Gipps Street, but show up on Saturday or Sunday at noon to learn a thing or two about how this tasty tipple is made on the expert-led free tour.

You'll find Tokyobike's Melbourne store at:

5 Peel Street
Collingwood
VIC 3066