Mozzarella, sage and anchovy toasties are on the menu at Liminal, a slick, art deco-style 400-square-metre cafe, wine bar, produce store and more from Nathan Toleman and his Mulberry Group (formerly behind Higher Ground, Kettle Black and Top Paddock) that’s just opened in the CBD.

In April, we said goodbye to St Kilda’s iconic Prince Public Bar; it will return with a new look in early 2020. We were sad to hear Restaurant Shik closed – the contemporary Korean diner made many of last year’s best restaurant lists. And in June, George Calombaris will bid farewell to the Press Club after 12 years.

In happier news, two excellent new Japanese joints have opened in Collingwood and Fitzroy. Chotto Motto specialises in the Hamamatsu regional style of gyoza. And Tamura is a tiny 30-seat sake bar slash record store in a heritage-listed Gertrude Street shopfront. And in the city, Saint Dreux joins the cavalcade of new Japanese diners.

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In Footscray, Slice Shop Pizza (look for the Western Bulldogs-coloured neon sign), and Counterweight, a vinyl shop serving oozy, cheesy off-menu toasties and great coffee, join the ranks out west.

You’ve got a rare chance to see inside Melbourne’s iconic Robin Boyd-designed Walsh Street House when a series of films on design and architecture is screened in the living room. And Housemuseum Galleries, Melbourne’s newest contemporary art gallery, is here.

At the NGV, a suite of Coco Chanel’s iconic little black dresses (from the LBD’s roots in the 1920s through to its becoming a fashion icon) is on display, along with more than 150 other stunning vintage garments. (While you’re there, don’t miss the Alexander Calder show.)

In May all-day Italian diner Lagotto, from the brother and sister powerhouse behind Congress and Future Future, opened in Fitzroy North. Then in June, the crew behind cocktail institution The Everleigh and late-night city bar Heartbreaker opens Bar Margaux on Lonsdale Street. It’ll be serving half-size Manhattans and Martinis and a brasserie-style supper menu until 5am.

Sense of Self – a body-positive bathhouse – will open in spring in Collingwood, with steam rooms, massage, DIY treatments and meditation spaces. The owners want to make wellness more accessible, and less about beauty.

Finally, Moon Dog Preston is headed our way later this year, bringing with it an indoor river, waterfall and lagoon. The outlandish concept comes courtesy of a trio of brewers known for weird, wonky beers.

This story originally appeared in Melbourne Print Issue 26.