We've got this fantastic Italian culture in Australia - a lot of southern Italians put their roots down in Melbourne in the 1950s. That's why café culture and coffee are woven into the fabric of Melbournians' lives. People leave home a whole hour before they have to get to work - just to have a few coffees, read the paper and meet friends in the morning.
They can be little holes in the wall with someone making coffee, a stack of papers and a bar area - very simple. My favourite is Café Racer (Marine Parade, St Kilda), owned by a guy called Danny Colls, who is to coffee in Melbourne what James Brown is to funk music. He also owns Coffee Darling and the Federal Coffee Palace, and he's dedicated his life to creating small environments that promote café culture.
But if you want to go the whole hack for breakfast, go to Richmond Hill Café & Larder (Bridge Road, Richmond), which was owned by Australia's answer to Delia Smith. You get a good posh fry-up there.
For an al fresco lunch on a nice summer's day, the place to be is Stokehouse (Jacka Blvd). It's right on the beach in St Kilda. Sit in the sun on the balcony upstairs with a glass of Grosset Polish Hill Riesling, some fresh oysters and grilled prawns with an Asian salad. You get views of the city in one direction and look out over Port Phillip Bay in the other. It's beautiful.
Melbourne doesn't have a huge brunch scene, but on Sundays there's a tradition of yum cha (dim sum) because of its huge Chinese community. Right from the time I can remember, we'd find ourselves out in the suburbs, like Doncaster, or in Chinatown, sitting at a table for 10 eating chicken's feet and king prawn dumplings and drinking lots of tea. They were always happy occasions, so my wife and I still do that at places such as David's (Cecil Pl, Prahran) or Shark Fin House (Little Bourke St).
Another place my parents used to take me to was an Italian classic called Pellegrini's (Bourke St), which has been there since the late 50s. The front coffee bar still exists, but the restaurant at the back, which was old school with red and white checked tablecloths, has gone. It's been replaced by an equally good Italian, Becco. The quality of the service and food is amazing. But you can just sit at the bar and have a glass of Bellavista sparkling wine and they do these amazing arancini - deep-fried risotto balls coated in breadcrumbs. It's a beautiful way to start the evening.
Or start at The Melbourne Wine Room. It's in the George [Hotel, Fitzroy St, St Kilda], an old Victorian building with high ceilings, terrazzo floors, timber banquettes and tables. They chalk up drinks of the day on huge mirrors - such as a Vespa (Campari, white wine and soda). It's not seen as being girly or anything; most of my mates are as likely to have one of those with a bowl of olives as they are a pot of Victoria Bitter.
One jump down from the George is Circa in the Prince [of Wales Hotel, Acland St] where you can go for a blow-out meal. It's an amazing art deco building that was returned to glory in the mid-90s. It's known for its bars downstairs - a public bar and a gay one - and it has a 40-room boutique hotel on the top three floors (theprince.com.au). The restaurant, Circa, has spectacular modern European food with Asian influences and Melbourne's best wine list. I worked there for five years. It's top end, but affordable for Brits.
There's no shortage of places for a late night drink. The Melbourne Supper Club (Spring St) is open till the last person leaves - or at least 5 or 6am. Go there and you'll find anyone and everyone, all drinking well and having nibbles such as toasted sandwiches. Old wine bottles line the walls and it's full of leather and velvet couches, and huge paintings. It's just a beautiful scene.
But my favourite bar in the whole world is Revolver (Chapel St, Prahran), which is open till about 3am. It's a cavernous New York-style warehouse space with DJs and bands, pool and pinball. The thing I love about it is it's the one venue in the city where people come from all over Melbourne to meet up.
There you go - a great day out in Melbourne.
· Matt Skinner's The Juice 2006, 100 Wines You Should Be Drinking, is published by Mitchell Beazley at £7.99. His first book Thirsty Work costs £17.99.
· A British Airways flight to Melbourne booked through airlinenetwork.co.uk costs £640 return. Doubles at the Prince from £130 per room incl breakfast. Cheaper alternatives include the Vibe Hotel in Carlton (vibehotels.com.au) at £64 per double or Base Backpackers hostel (basebackpackers.com), with dorms from £10pp.
