Domain Review Bayside & Port Phillip - September 11, 2024
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Writers: Raine Cabral Laysico, Gideon Cohen, Sanam Goodman, Alice Jeffery, Leta Keens, Sasha Murray, Jinghua Qian Photographers: Jamie Alexander, Jake Gelvezon, Tim Grey, Jessica Grilli, Armelle Habib, Liana Hardy, Casey Horsfield, Kaede James Takamoto, Arianna Leggiero, Mia Mala McDonald, Liz McLeish, Ben Moynihan, Stephanie Rooney, Mark Roper, Vivian Tang, Lillie Thompson, Leah Traecey
Cover credits: Jason Chongue shot by Mia Mala McDonald
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As a designer, The Plant Society co-founder Jason Chongue knows his work is just as much about function as form – and in his case, “function” means keeping living things alive as well as meeting a brief. He connects greenery with interior design, matching plants to clients’ lifestyles and their aesthetics, and his new book is full of tips on chic gardening, indoors and out.
Jo Walker Broadsheet Editor
Melbourne: Level 4, 600 Church Street, Cremorne 3121, VIC
16 Explainer: What You Need To Know About Mooncakes
Exhibition: Libby Haines
NOW OPEN
Kalye Marinas
502 Hampton Street, Hampton
Fusing a traditional US boil with Filipino flavours seemed like a no-brainer to the team behind Kalye Marinas. With a flagship in Geelong and now an outpost in Hampton, it’s the vision of two couples: Richcy Sigre and Abegail Almonte, and Kristine Jane Alvarez and Honey Lynne Caranguian.
The small-ish menu includes silog meals – fried-rice-based plates served with egg, pickled veggies and a protein. But the seafood boil is the real highlight. Over four steps, choose your seafood (prawns, clams, mussels, lobster and more), add-ons (corn, potatoes, sausages, eggs), sides (rice, hash browns, roti) and sauce. You can opt for a sauce of garlic butter, Cajun spices or something Filipino, such as laing (a spicy sauce of coconut milk and shredded taro leaves).
Filipino desserts like halo halo (crushed ice filled with sweetened beans, candied fruits, leche flan and ice-cream) and turon (jackfruit and banana spring roll) are also available. — RCL
Photo: Jake Gelvezon
ADD TO CART
35mm Co photo album
Melbourne company 35mm Co is dedicated to bringing back the fun and nostalgia of film photography with cutely coloured point-and-shoot cameras. It’s also a champion of actually printing images and sharing them outside of social media, so it only makes sense the label now produces lush photo albums too. Designed to store (and show off) 4x6-inch prints, there’s also space to write info and comments – so memories are preserved forever. — JW
$149 95 / 35mmco.com
IN THE DIARY
Don Giovanni
Reimagining opera through a firmly contemporary lens, BK Opera transforms the classics into edgy, surprising performances. The company’s new show, a radical reinterpretation of Mozart’s Don Giovanni, might be its most daring yet. Set in the modern-day BDSM world, this is a dark, brooding and subversive interpretation that explores themes of power, pleasure and consent. With an ensemble cast of up-and-coming performers in a warehouse venue, it’s not your regular night at the opera. — GC
Attica chef Ben Shewry has joined forces with Melbourne brand Remedy Drinks for the second time following a kombucha collaboration in February this year. The team has now released a limitedtime-only strawberries and cream kombucha, which you can purchase from the Remedy website. remedydrinks.com
On Tuesday September 17, chef Michael Greenlaw of Ritz-Carlton Melbourne’s Atria, and Ben Devlin of Northern Rivers restaurant Pipit, will join forces for a one-off dinner at Atria. The four-course tasting menu will focus on sustainability and blend Victorian and Northern Rivers produce. Bookings are essential. Level 80, 650 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne / atriadining.com.au
Lee Ho Fook chef Victor Liong is launching a “quick service” casual canteen, Silk Spoon, inspired by the dishes of the Silk Road. The menu will offer affordable dishes, with the option to dine outdoors or take away, all priced from $12 to $18 500 Bourke Street, Melbourne / @silkspoon_
Ex-Nobu Melbourne chef Doowon Lee has opened Sot, a chic new 80-seat spot in the city. His initial menu offers inventive spins on Korean classics, including Koreanstyle beef tartare (yukhoe), spicy ceviche in chilled gochujang broth (mule) and panna cotta sweetened with sujeonggwa (cinnamon punch). 98 Bourke Street, Melbourne / tcnc.co.kr/sot
Brae chef Dan Hunter, cookbook author Natalie Paull and chef Tom Sarafian of upcoming venues Zareh and Sarafia are among 14 new inductees into the Melbourne Food & Wine Hall of Fame, an honour given by Food & Drink Victoria. melbournefoodandwine.com.au/industry/ mfwf-legends
Sydney Road,
Brunswick
Name: Liv Jones Age: 28 Occupation: Masters student Tell us about your outfit today. My Doc Martens are thrifted. In fact, everything I’m wearing is thrifted – except for my scarf. It was a gift from my mum. I think it’s from Scotland. How do you describe your style? Honestly, I wouldn’t really be able to pinpoint my own style. I’m very eclectic. I change it day-to-day – it’s really dependent on what I’m feeling that morning. If you were to go into my wardrobe, you’d find femme stuff to masc stuff – a whole range of looks.
URBAN VIBE
Brunswick is a vibrant, multicultural hub known for live music, craft beer and diverse cuisine. The suburb is rich in culture with indie art galleries, vintage shops and street art. Its European influence, bike lanes and easy transport access attract a dynamic community.
Source:
Photo: Kaede James Takamoto
Photo: Casey Horsfield
Photo: Mia Mala McDonald
Photo: Jamie Alexander
Photo: Liz McLeish
EXPLAINER
Mooncakes: Good To Eat, Better To Gift
Every August, you start to see towers of pretty boxes cluttering up the entrances of Asian grocers – the mooncakes are back in town. That’s a sign you need to check your calendar and your family group chat and get ready for Mid-Autumn Festival – the festival of the harvest moon.
“I personally like to get my mooncakes a month ahead,” says Raymond Tan, founder of CBD bakery Raya. In the past, he’s even asked friends to bring back mooncakes from overseas so they can have a month-long tasting party.
Of course, here in Australia, the festival takes place in spring rather than autumn. But what’s beautiful and unifying is that no matter where you are in the world, you can catch a worshipful glimpse of the full moon – even if it’s upside-down. And you can eat something round in its honour – such as mooncakes.
The festival dates back to the Shang dynasty, some 3000 years ago. It’s tangled up in myths about the moon goddess Chang’e, her archer husband Hou Yi and their complicated longdistance relationship – which features a thief, a tyrant, a rabbit and a potion. There’s also a 700-year-young legend of how concealed messages in mooncakes helped insurgents
Words by Jinghua Qian · Photo by Vivian Tang
organise an uprising against the Mongol rulers of the Yuan dynasty.
But most Asian Australians nowadays are less fussed with the folklore and more focused on food, family and friends. As Tan says, “It’s more an excuse to get together.”
Getting together means gifting and sharing mooncakes. Cantonese-style mooncakes are the most well-known and widely available: dense pucks with rich filling inside a thin, glossy, soft crust moulded with intricate 3D designs. Common fillings include lotus seed paste, red bean paste, or mixed seeds and nuts, and many also feature whole salted egg yolks, which resemble mini moons in their oily orange glow.
Suzhou-style mooncakes, on the other hand, are more like round meat pies, with pork filling in a flaky crust stamped with red dye. Teochew mooncakes are different again, with flaky pastry in a spiral design. There are countless regional variants throughout Asia, and new interpretations emerge every year.
“Different generations have different mooncakes,” says Joey Leung, the founder and pastry chef behind Joy Jaune. When she was a little kid in Hong Kong, she remembers only a handful
of flavours. She’d save the mooncake tins to use as a piggybank for her pocket money.
By the time she started high school, fashions were changing. “People were getting wealthier, they were looking for something different and new, so custard mooncakes were born. That was actually invented by a dim sum chef at The Peninsula Hotel in the late ’80s,” she says.
This east-meets-west mooncake was the first flavour Leung made herself when she launched her business in 2020. But nowadays, one of her most sought-after flavours is a miso black sesame liu-sa that combines the dazzle of flowing black custard with the complex umami of shiro miso. It’s a favourite of her customers at Preston Market.
For Tan, who grew up in Malaysia with Teochew parents, his childhood staple was traditional Teochew mooncakes with yam filling. “But my all-time favourite flavour is actually from the Raffles Hotel in Singapore, a champagne truffle snowskin mooncake. It’s very fancy.” Snowskin mooncakes use a mochi pastry for a springy, translucent exterior.
At Raya, Tan makes both Cantonese and Teochew mooncakes with Southeast Asian flavours like pandan and coconut, as well as
cookie-inspired fillings like pistachio and white chocolate, or matcha and macadamia.
While fresh, handmade mooncakes are still a relatively small business in Australia, demand has increased dramatically in recent years. Tan attributes some of this growing interest to the 2020 Netflix animated film, Over the Moon
“I think people started noticing mooncakes,” he says. Over the course of four years, Raya’s output has grown from 150 boxes in 2021 to 1000 boxes in 2024. “We don’t want people to miss out – last year when we started getting traction, we had already sold out, so this year we tried to avoid that.”
The mooncakes, it seems, are multiplying. Australian artists Hwafern Quach and Phuong Ngo have their own creative take. Their ongoing collaboration Slippage adds 888 ceramic celadonglazed mooncakes in each iteration of the artwork – a comment on the commonalities across Asian cultures and a critique of China’s expansionism in the South China Sea.
Whether or not mooncakes really helped topple Mongol rule back in the Yuan dynasty, it seems they can still play a revolutionary role today – whether they’re made of shortcrust pastry, mochi snowskin or clay.
Five Local Labels Serving Up Luxe Linen Tablecloths
By Alice Jeffery
I LOVE LINEN I Love Linen applies its namesake fabric to a collection of dining essentials. Timeless striped and gingham designs can be used for everyday meals. Ruffle trims level up the whimsy, whether you’re setting the table for a backyard picnic or hosting a festive brunch. Use natural, white or charcoal styles as the foundation for minimalist settings, adding seasonal colours to the mix whenever the mood strikes. ilovelinen.com.au
BONNIE & NEIL A bold and bright disposition is at the core of Bonnie & Neil’s design DNA. The Melbourne-based brand applies its playful vibe to a range of minimalist and maximalist table coverings. Choose from painterly florals and fruit-filled styles or keep things classic with stripes and checks. Pieces come in cotton as well as linen weaves – sizes vary to fit small or large; round or rectangular. bonnieandneil.com.au
You’re invited to our
Thursday 12 September 2pm-3.30pm
Classic Residences 3 Brewer Road, Brighton East
Step inside our award-winning community and join us for a delightful afternoon of tours, entertainment and refreshments. Meet your future neighbours and discover the joy of retiring at Classic Residences.
Family and friends are welcome. No RSVP required.
Visit keyton.com.au/openday for more information.
Photo: Stephanie Rooney
SAGE & CLARE A refined sense of playfulness is baked into everything Sage & Clare offers. The Melbourne brand’s artisanal wares are made in India and offer a colourful and bold boho take on statement table dressing. The dining collection is crafted from European flax linen and includes an eclectic medley of lush vintage florals, upbeat tartans and Italianate stripes. sageandclare.com
FLOU Flou’s minimalist designs are elevated by thoughtful details – contrasting embroidered edges, scalloped finishes and delicate floral motifs. The Melbourne label sees its pieces as future heirlooms and says the European flax linen gets better with each use. A nationwide hiring service means you can kit out tables for events without having to worry about doing the washing after. flou.com.au
BED THREADS Sydney brand Bed Threads is steadily taking over every room in the house with its signature linen styles. French flax linen tablecloths come in 11 core colourways –from classic white and oatmeal to more saturated shades of olive green, lavender and turmeric. Mix-and-match with the label’s napery to create layered settings that make you feel like you’re dining in the South of France. bedthreads.com.au
From the creation of the finest customised one-off pieces, to sourcing spectacular gemstones, diamonds & bullion, to remodelling, to repairs & cleaning of your cherished heirlooms and timepieces. Insurance valuation & claims. We are masters of our craft. Transform your old jewellery & pay with unwanted pieces
SINCE 1922 We are Melbourne’s leading expert in repairs and remodelling. Suite 5, 173 Barkly Street, Saint kilda 3182 | T (03) 95922660 enquiry@promenadejewellers.com.au | promenadejewellers.com.au
Photo: Armelle Habib
HOME OF THE WEEK
Shining example of stylish luxury
Words by Maria Harris
Every great house deserves a great garden. And the moment you step inside the front gate at Higham Grange in Brighton, you realise you’ve struck gold.
The garden sweeps majestically around the house. Clipped hedges frame vast curved green lawns. Purple violets provide scented ground cover in herbaceous borders with banks of white azaleas and deciduous trees about to burst into flower. Even the inground trampoline doesn’t look out of place in this heavenly setting. This house would look amazing in an old paddock, but the breathtaking garden gives it a special aura.
Higham Grange, built c1902, is now a resplendent family home with grand and impressive proportions and an easy flow between rooms.
The gorgeous leadlight-framed entry leads into the reception hall, inviting you to gaze up at the highly decorative ceiling. Move left to the study, where the box-bay window looks out past the verandah to the garden, or take a right to the lounge. This sublime room blends another elaborate ceiling with a white marble mantelpiece. WHAT THE AGENT SAYS
“Higham Grange is brilliantly located and is a significant Brighton home with gardens and resort-style facilities that are rarely offered to the marketplace.”
The informal living, dining and kitchen areas are lessons in restrained luxury and elegant minimalism. American oak hardwood floors provide continuity, while the wideopen spaces are design heaven.
Big enough for large-scale entertaining, they never feel overpowering.
The kitchen is both practical and beautiful. It includes a custom stone island bench and is packed with top appliances.
In the butler’s pantry a trapdoor in the floor opens to the cellar, ideal for storing prized vintages. The living area has a generous dining space, while nearby, the living room with an open fireplace and comfy window seats overlooks the tennis court and swimming pool. Automatic sliding glass doors transport you to the covered outdoor terrace with its built-in barbecue and views over the tennis court and greenery.
Higham Grange is not short of bedrooms. At the front, the luxurious main bedroom has an impressive dressing room. Its sumptuous en suite with shower, dual vanities and oversized bath looks like the perfect place to relax after a gruelling workout. The privately
zoned downstairs guest wing is next to another stylish bathroom.
Upstairs, three more bedrooms, with built-in desks, share a bathroom and powder room off the central book-lined retreat.
Among a long list of extras are hydronic heating, gas ducted heating and central cooling, Control 4 automation system, alarm system, gym, steam room, an 80,000-litre water tank, garden irrigation and a cubby house.
Brighton 18 Asling Street
$9.9 million-$10.8 million
5 3 5
Expressions of interest: Close 5pm, September 16
Agent: Marshall White, Andy Nasr 0422 029 324 with James Buy Sell , Mal James 9804 3133
This house last sold in 2017 for $7.9 million. The highest recorded house price for Brighton (past 12 months) was $40 million for 16 Moule Avenue in December 2023.
SALES $6.75 million 16 Norwood Avenue, May $6.75
Andy Nasr Marshall White
LUXURY
Words by Joanne Brookfield & Shae Wiedermann
Toorak
5 Tahara Road
$9 million-$9.9 million
4 3 4
Expressions of interest: Close 5pm, September 17
Agent: Kay & Burton, Gowan Stubbings 0412 269 999
You won’t get much change out of eight figures here, but you will have an impressive checklist of property must-haves. First, there’s the exclusive blue-chip location, with the bonus of a sizeable 925-square-metre north-facing block. Over two levels, the floor plan provides endless flexibility with not one but two fitted home offices plus a studio with the garage. There’s also a pool, landscaping, leafy views and – STCA – the option to outdo the neighbours with a new build.
Brighton East
30 Canberra Grove
$6.2 million-$6.8 million
4 5 3
Expressions of interest: Close 4pm, September 18
Agent: Forbes Global Properties, Robert Fletcher 0413 493 901
This modern house has a smart three-storey floor plan. The top floor offers a main bedroom with a generous en suite and walk-in wardrobe, plus three more bedrooms with en suites. Downstairs, a kitchen – with butler’s pantry – connects to the living and dining room, which open onto the terrace and garden, with a heated pool and spa. The basement level is for relaxing, with a games zone and theatre.
Malvern
10 Soudan Street
$4.8 million-$5.2 million
4 2 3
Auction: Noon, September 14
Agent: Jellis Craig, Carla Fetter 0423 738 644
The hard work has already been done in this charming turnkey abode. The free-standing, double-fronted Victorian family home has been made over by Mim Design, leaving nothing for new owners to do except enjoy the voluminous high-end interiors, prime location and privacy of the north-west garden oasis. The property features a home office, versatile studio space with wine storage, and a workshop and double garage with secure parking for up to five vehicles.
If palatial accommodation is your thing – classical columns, seemingly endless French doors, ornate sweeping spiral staircase, travertine paving and imposing gates – then look no further than Le Chateau. Although inspired by old-world European architecture, this mansion is brand new and brimming with high-tech and imported luxe touches. With a lift connecting all three levels, there’s a cinema with a bar, cellar, sauna, and gym, and a north-facing pool.
A GROWTH INDUSTRY
Words by Leta Keens · Photos by Mia Mala McDonald
Former architect Jason Chongue co-founded The Plant Society with a fresh approach to home gardening. His newest book is a how-to guide on incorporating greenery into interior design. He’s got plenty of ideas for selecting stylish plants – and keeping them alive.
When Jason Chongue and partner Nathan Smith were looking to move from Melbourne to rural Victoria, they weren’t particularly fussed about the area or the town. The house and landscape weren’t top priority either. “We were just set on the rainfall,” Chongue says.
After checking out plenty of locations, the couple ended up on five acres in Newlyn North, just outside Daylesford. “It’s very wet all year round,” Chongue tells Broadsheet “I always say that when you create a garden, it should suit your lifestyle. I wanted to move to the country, but didn’t want to spend hours watering – and also that’s not sustainable. I plant according to the climate, and had a specific garden in mind in terms of something quite green. I’m not a cacti garden kind of guy.”
Chongue’s garden-first approach to real estate shouldn’t be surprising – as co-founder of The Plant Society, alongside Smith, he spends his life incorporating plants into built spaces and creating just the right greenery for householder and commercial clients.
His work is pragmatic as much as it is aesthetic. “For instance, when someone with children says, ‘I want this, this and this,’ I’ll be the first to say, ‘Realistically, are you going to have time to nurture all that as well as look after your kids?’ Probably not, and it’s okay not to have your perfect house now,” he says. “We’ll do something different that challenges their thinking, but gives them their own individual take as well.”
Chongue’s work is often the “last little bit that ties everything together,” he says. “There might be a garden that’s been designed by landscape architects – we’ll take part of that and pull it indoors. Or we look at what the interior designer or residents have done inside, and try to bring a bit of that colour outside through the planters, for instance.
“It’s almost just stopping and listening and seeing how the house works. Our philosophy is to capture [the personality of] who lives there, and to soften the spaces with gardens, whether that’s a potted garden, indoor garden or balcony.”
The Plant Society’s client list boasts prominent commercial names like Hecker Guthrie, Elenberg Fraser and Mercedes. Recent jobs include interior planting at the new StandardX hotel in Melbourne, and installations for cult beauty brand Aesop across Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra.
“There’s a bit of randomness to how StandardX approach their interiors in that
there’s meant to be a sense of surprise, so we have some really unusual combinations of planting. We’ve got spider plants in there – no one else wants to touch them, so it’s making the daggy cool again. There are definitely lots of textural clashes in that space on purpose,” he says.
The Aesop project, on the other hand, is “experimental installation work – there for seven weeks, changing the way people move through the shop and interact with the plants.”
Greenery has been part of Chongue’s life since he was a little boy. “I grew up gardening with my parents and grandparents – they’re from East Timor and we’re a farming family. My aunties would give me cuttings of things like begonias and zygocactus, and we’d just swap plants.” At primary school, he got along well with the gardener, who would teach him things at lunch. “I think it was a bit of an escape for me, and I naturally grew up with a love for it.”
Chongue trained as an architect and worked in the industry for seven years, starting out on masterplans and large apartment blocks. “I didn’t really love that,” he admits. He moved into retail and hospitality, and eventually specialised in interiors, using plants as a starting point in all his projects.
Chongue’s architecture background translates “in a unique way” into the work he does through The Plant Society. “We understand spaces,” he says. “I’m always looking at natural light and small spaces. In my new book, The Plant Society Design Handbook , we talk about textures and tones, which is very design-based, and carry that into the horticulture realm.
“People always think gardeners don’t design – sometimes, as a gardener, it can be a bit haphazard, but having a design background has allowed me to look at gardens and plants from both angles.”
It’s from architecture and interiors, too, that he gets much of his inspiration. “Looking at colours used in those fields, as well as how artists use paint and merge colours … I also think about photographers and how they frame and capture light. I kind of look at plants as my palette.”
The Plant Society had its genesis while Chongue was still working on buildings. “For me, there is a social aspect to architecture, but there’s also a Devil Wears Prada side to it as well – you have to be high-end and have to be wearing the nicest things. I kind of missed the vulnerability side.”
Craving something a bit more organic,
Chongue tried to join gardening clubs, but found that most of their meetings were on weekday mornings – and most of the participants were way outside his demographic. So he and Smith, a flight attendant at the time, started The Plant Society as a way of meeting like-minded folk.
“We’d do it on a weekend at the back of cafes, and would find all these places that would let us be there – there was no pressure, it was just a little club. It was mainly people our own age who lived in apartments, who maybe didn’t have a grandma to ask all their plant questions to.”
Within a few weeks, people were asking if they could buy plants from the couple. “We worked out where to source rare plants and unusual things, or things we loved. That kept growing and before we knew it, we had a little terrace full of plants in the corridor.”
The duo started pop-up shops in the backs of cafes, “but eventually decided it wasn’t healthy for us lugging plants back home, and it also wasn’t great having to climb over plants in the living room all the time.” That’s when they approached Collingwood cafe Cibi to sublease part of their space as a very leafy shopfront. Last year they outgrew even that and set up their own store and studio nearby, out of which they now sell garden paraphernalia and homewares, and work on projects together.
They also run a store in Tokyo after trialling a pop-up there a few years ago. “I love the types of plants they have there and how they nurture them,” Chongue says. “It’s very different to a Western country – if something’s growing lopsided, they’ll let it grow lopsided, whereas here we’ve already staked it before we can take a breath … That really inspires what we do here – that need to not make things so perfect.”
In the same way, it’s through gardening he understands that making mistakes is a normal part of life. “If a gardener says to me they’ve never killed a plant, I’m highly sceptical.” The last time Chongue killed anything? “Last week. It was an avocado –my philosophy in life is to give something a go a few times and to know when to call it quits. I’ve tried a few times with the avocado because my dream about moving to the country was to have a giant avocado tree, but I don’t think that’s ever going to happen, and that’s fine.”
The Plant Society Design Handbook ($45) by Jason Chongue is out now through Murdoch Books.
Clockwise from top: foliage and clayware, photo Mia Mala McDonald. An earthy cluster in the kitchen, photo courtesy of The Plant Society. Classic terracotta tones, photo
McDonald.
JASON CHONGUE’S TIPS FOR DESIGNING WITH PLANTS:
1. LIGHTING IS THE FIRST STEP
“Don’t be in denial about the natural light you have, because you want plants that thrive. There’s no point putting in plants that won’t work.”
2. LOOK AT WHAT’S AROUND YOU
“The next thing I always approach is what interior – or exterior – aesthetics are already in the space. Catalogue the materials, which might be red brick or a nice wallpaper or colour on the wall you want to keep, and scrapbook those elements.”
3. BE INSPIRED
“Along with what’s around you, scrapbook images of interiors and exterior architecture that inspire you, and then think about how to roll out your individual take on those. Shortlist plants that will work in the space –if you don’t know the plant types and conditions they need, shortlist plants in general and run through that list later with a fine tooth comb.”
4. BE PATIENT
“Don’t rush things, and don’t feel you need to control everything, because you can’t. There’s something quite grounding about gardening.”
5. YOU DON’T HAVE TO FINISH YOUR GARDEN
“This is my biggest tip. People want instant gardens or the exact pot they saw on Instagram by a famous artist, and that’s not going to happen. It’s about being realistic and finding the next best thing. Or they know exactly what to do in their living room, but have no idea what to do on their balcony, so feel paralysed and don’t even start. It’s about working in vignettes – breaking up the space so you feel it’s more manageable.”
LIKE A LOCAL
Oakleigh
By Sasha Murray
In the 1950s and ’60s a huge influx of Greek immigrants moved to the small Melbourne suburb of Oakleigh.
Today it remains the city’s Greek cultural hub – around 13 per cent of residents only speak Greek at home. Unsurprisingly, Oakleigh is filled with exceptional familyrun eateries. You can tick off several at Eaton Mall, which runs from Atherton Road to Portman Street. There’s classic cafe Melissa, gyros and mezze bar Mythos and Vanilla Lounge –a local institution offering luminous cakes and pastries, frappes, and savoury Mediterranean fare.
Other nearby sweet spots include the always-packed Nikos Cakes – where you’ll find paradoxically crisp and syrupy loukoumades – and The Oakleigh Doughnut Co, famous for its sizeable doughnuts based on classic Greek desserts like galaktoboureko and halva.
Come lunchtime, head to neighbourhood cafe Cote Terra (just off the main strip) for gourmet sangas. Alternatively, grab a gyros from Kalimera Souvlaki Art (known for its succulent pork and thick-cut chips) or the quintessential Orexi Souvlaki Bar, which also serves platters of dolmades, octopus, zucchini and tzatziki. If you’d prefer to put together your own picnic, or even a barbeque, don’t miss Oakleigh Gourmet Deli, Athena Delicatessen and old-school butcher Paragon Meats.
For dinner, there’s something charming about Greca Street. Inspired by Athens with a focus on fresh Aussie produce, punters can expect dips, plates piled with spit-roasted meats and some of the best fried saganaki in town. Cap it all off at new Greekinspired wine bar Olympia above Oakleigh Market. On a sunny evening grab a gin, ouzo and watermelon cocktail at the rooftop bar before heading downstairs for a dance alongside the vinyl-only DJ booth.
Food and drinks aside, Oakleigh is also filled with many parklands, walking trails and playgrounds. Some of the most popular parks are Brickmakers Park and Warrawee Park Playground, which has a mini maze and climbing tower for the little ones. Older kids will love Escape Xperience, a suite of interactive themed rooms where visitors uncover mysteries and dystopian worlds.
Oakleigh offers a variety of homes for sale, including charming weatherboard houses, modern townhomes and spacious family residences. With a diverse population – particularly a strong Greek community – it boasts excellent amenities like cafes, schools, parks and convenient public transport options.
Average Age 38
Median Weekly income $1,926
Top and left: Olympia, photos Liana Hardy. Right: Nanyubak street art mural by Tom Day, photo Casey Horsfield. Below: Vanilla Lounge, photo Casey Horsfield
“Oakleigh
Clockwise from top: Scotchmans Creek Trail, photo Casey Horsfield. Colourful biscuits from Nikos Quality Cakes, photo Tim Grey. Nikos Quality Cakes exterior and Warrawee Park pavilion, photos Casey Horsfield
Robert Cincotta Ray White
THE EXHIBITION
Libby Haines’s Table Manners Is a Feast for the Eyes
Words by Sanam Goodman · Photos by Jessica Grilli
For many makers, there’s no assurance that people will actually buy their work. Melbourne artist Libby Haines is the rare exception. Her richly pigmented oil paintings capture familiar domestic chaos – messy tablescapes, unmade beds – and attract hundreds of eager buyers via Instagram. Most are sold in mere seconds.
Table Manners, her fifth solo show, features a panorama of interconnected dinner party scenes, depicting a “loud and chaotic” home bustling with food and guests. Much like a dinner party host, she has full creative control of the exhibition, from location, framing and printing to catering and drinks.
How did you get into painting? I studied visual arts at university, but I didn’t think it was possible to get work as an artist, so I went and studied pattern-making and garment construction. I went on to work in production roles in fashion and then I had a jewellery label for five or six years.
I stopped the jewellery label around lockdown in 2020 It was around that time that I decided to start painting again because I missed it – mostly painting when my kids were napping.
I began sharing some of my paintings on Instagram and it just went off. I think it was down to good timing – people were stuck at home scrolling, and I was painting a lot of food and colourful things. It was kind of a perfect storm.
How would you describe your style of painting? I’d say it’s quite lively. The part that I love the most is the sculptural element of oil paints because they’re quite workable and dry exactly how they look wet.
I like to apply paint really thick, and to get that movement and sculptural feel to the paint – it makes my pieces really textured and vibrant. It always feels like there’s people either in the scene or they’ve just walked out with their presence still there, like there are stains on the tablecloth or they’ve just knocked something over. I love that.
Food is a really common theme in all of your pieces. Why is food your muse? I love eating and I love cooking, basically. Cooking for people I love and planning my meals and eating out is almost like a form of therapy for me. There’s nothing better than having a good dinner after a bad day.
There’s a joy I get from painting food that I just don’t find in other still lifes or landscapes.
What inspires you to start a new piece, and where do you draw your inspiration from? I always go through phases with colours, so I’ll always start with a palette or tone in my mind that I’ve seen out in the world. When it comes to the scenes I paint, they’re all based off photos I’ve taken on my phone. That’s why the angles are a bit unusual. I’ll combine the photos and do a sketch, then add elements and take things out to simplify it.
Sometimes when I can’t think of what to paint I’ll look through my stack of vintage cookbooks from my grandma –those really beautiful ones from the ’70s and ’80s.
You’ve become well-known for selling your pieces via Instagram. Can you talk us through what that looks like? It’s so wild. When I first began, I’d put a painting up and it would take at least a week for it to sell. Then it was selling in a few hours, and then 10 minutes, and it just kept getting shorter and shorter. It got to the point where 20 people were commenting at the same time and people started getting angry because they thought they were the first to comment.
Someone showed me how to check comment posting times down to the second on the Instagram desktop app, so that’s what I do now. It feels very surreal to get this kind of response to your work.
How did your idea for Table Manners come about? I think I just wanted to challenge myself. I don’t know how I came up with the panorama idea, but I think I liked the idea of doing something that was a bit more technical. I’ve got more people in this one than I ever have, which is hard to paint.
I’ve thrown a few big dinner parties over the last couple of years and so I loved the idea of using all this imagery I have and making it into one huge piece that shows the messiness and chaos that comes with having a dinner party.
Table Manners is open to the public Saturday September 14 and Sunday September 15 at AN Studio, Fitzroy. Haines donates 10 per cent of all painting proceeds from her solo shows to causes she cares about. This year, she’s donating to the PARA Foundation.
OPEN FOR INSPECTION
Words by Shae Wiedermann, Kay Keighery & Richard Cornish
Clearance Rate of 64%*
Source: Domain Group
WHAT OUR EXPERT SAYS LAST WEEKEND
Dr Nicola Powell Chief of research & economics
“This spring promises to offer buyers more options than they’ve seen in years, with rising property listings and longer selling times, giving them greater choice and bargaining power.”
For the latest property insights go to domain.com.au/research
*As reported on August 31, 2024
Auction: 12.30pm, September 21
Agent: Marshall White, James Tostevin 0417 003 333
Nestled at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac, this modern two-storey house boasts a clean, contemporary design and superb street presence. Meticulously maintained, it offers a blend of formal and casual living spaces. High ceilings and large windows flood the interior with natural light, and its luxurious finishes include a gourmet kitchen, spacious bedrooms and a solar-heated pool.
East
Summerhill Avenue $2.9 million-$3.05 million
4 3 3
Auction: 10.30am, September 14
Agent: Marshall White, John Manton 0411 444 930
At the front of this 1920s house, a pathway surrounded by hedges leads to a charming facade, while Manchurian pear trees encircle the north-facing backyard. The interior has some period charm, with dark timber floors, leadlight windows, and an expansive hallway that leads past three bedrooms and a study to an open-plan kitchen-dining area. Extending from the living room is a retreat area, a fourth bedroom and a deck with heaters and remote sun blinds.
Expressions of interest: Close 6pm, September 16
Agent: Belle Property Glen Iris, Steve Burke 0448 331 653
With its industrial-feel polished concrete floor, exposed brick walls and wooden beams it would be hard to find another two-storey warehouse conversion in this part of the city. Located minutes from Tooronga Station and Gardiners Creek Trail, this versatile space could serve as a comfortable two-bedroom home, a funky studio, or even a garage.
Auction: 2pm, September 14
Agent: Kay & Burton, Tony Ryan 0411 557 166
On a large corner block with a big front yard, this single-level house enchants from its comely art deco facade to its deck-and-lawn backyard. The large windows facilitate lots of light. Cutaways link the lounge, the kitchendining area and the family room. The main bedroom has a walk-in wardrobe. Shiny in stone and glossy-white surfaces, the kitchen sates contemporary tastes.
232a Swan Street
$1.4 million-$1.54 million
3 2 1
Auction: 10am, September 14
Agent: Jellis Craig, Trent Stewart 0403 051 980
With soaring four-metre ceilings and arched windows overlooking Swan Street, this twostorey apartment within a grand Victorian building makes a remarkable split-level home. Period features include cornices, ceiling roses and polished timber floors. The bathroom and kitchen have been renovated.
Murrumbeena 50 Hobart Road
$1.3 million-$1.43 million
3 1 1
Auction: 9.30am, September 14
Agent: Marshall White, Daniel Wheeler 0411 676 058
Six sets of glass doors link the two living areas of this house with a deck and two patios. Period-pretty up front, the single-level house flaunts fireplaces in all bedrooms, another in the lounge, and quality kitchen appliances. Extras include ducted heating and cooling. It’s near to trains, shops and parks.
St Kilda 61 Spenser Street
$2.5 million-$2.65 million
3 2 2
Auction: 2.30pm, September 21
Agent: Kay & Burton, Matthew Pillios 0408 145 982
This pad springs some pleasant surprises. Behind the Edwardian facade, you get three bedrooms, a lounge and open-plan living on ground level; a humongous family room on the first floor; and the cutest sea-view study snuggled up with the peaked, timber-lined ceiling on the mezzanine level.
Bridport Street West, Albert Park
Inspect
Expressions of Interest
Closing Tuesday 8th October at 3:00pm
Inspect
As advertised or by appointment
Viewing
• Double garage via Ashworth St
• Exquisite Edwardian period detail throughout
• Ducted heating and reverse cycle cooling
• 150m to the beach and moments to public transport, lake and schools
• Land size – 416 sqm approx Held by the one family for 120 years is tastefully updated whilst being passionately preserved.
