Ben & Jerry’s Openair Cinema Melbourne – Review and tips to help you plan your visit

Summer has arrived and if lounging outdoors on a warm night with your friends, eating ice cream and watching movies sounds like one perfect summer night to you, then you’re definitely going to want to check out the Ben and Jerry’s Openair Cinema. Running from 1st December – 22nd December, the Ben and Jerry’s Openair Cinema has set up its own sectioned off area of St. Kilda’s South Beach area.

With a great selection of both new releases and all your favourite oldies, you can take a look at the listing of movies planned to screen each night. Gates open at 6pm with local DJs supplying some chill out tunes while you find a spot on the lawn and get comfortable with bean lounges and deck chair hire as well as the option to enjoy the Italian food offering from Ladro, or the drinks and snacks at the bar before settling in to watch a movie once the night sky falls at about 8.30-9pm.

Sundae Sessions take place each Sunday from 5pm, described as ‘music by day, movies by night’ you can enjoy the tunes of a live band, and have a go at the lawn games set up in a fun and chill atmosphere whilst savouring some complimentary scoops of delicious Ben and Jerry’s ice-cream!

Thanks to the Ben & Jerry’s Openair Cinema, I attended the Opening Night – Sundae Sessions Charity Launch and it was great fun. I advise that whatever night you decide to go, make sure you try to get there early to ensure you reserve yourself a good viewing spot. This is also a good idea to allow for a good amount of time to catch up with your friends and enjoy the atmosphere before watching the sunset and getting ready to watch the movie.

Ben & Jerry's Openair Cinema

Ben & Jerry’s Openair Cinema

You can pack a picnic and bring your own food, or if you get there extra early you can even take a walk down Ackland Street beforehand and pick up some takeaway (I did see some people bring in Grill’d bags) as well as bring along non-alcoholic beverages like a bottle of water. However you are not allowed to bring in any alcohol or glass to the venue, but you can purchase alcoholic beverages on site. It is good to note that the bar did serve complimentary water in plastic cups as an alternative to buying bottles and I enjoyed the tangy and citrusy Aperol Spritz on offer!

Restaurant Ladro does cater inside the venue, serving up a selection of Italian food. I tried the ‘Gamberi’ prawn pizza which was nice, albeit the burnt edges of the base  and the tomato sauce and pea overload, but it was the addition of the lemon and garlic prawns that made the pizza worthwhile. If you don’t like pizza, they also served smaller hot snacks like calamari and aranchini. You can view the menu on offer at the event here. For one dollar extra all pizzas can be made on a gluten-free base. Of course you can also sample one or more of the wonderful flavours of Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream which can be purchased at the snack bar.

Ladro Gamberi Pizza

Ladro Gamberi Pizza

You can hire deck chairs and bean lounges on site, but it is still a good idea to bring your own picnic blanket and perhaps an extra blanket if you get cold. Being the beautiful but moody-weathered city of Melbourne it would also be smart to bring along an umbrella or light, emergency raincoat, as we all know how unpredictable the weather can be. While cinema screening can be cancelled due to foreseeable bad weather (in which case pre-puchased tickets will be transferrable for another night) it is noted that screenings will go ahead during intermittent showers. So it’s always better to be prepared!

The Ben & Jerry’s Openair Cinema and it’s laid back, festival like atmosphere makes the perfect setting to catch up with friends and make the most of warm summer nights. Check out their website for more information, session times and booking information.  Don’t forget its only on for three weeks so get your friends together and organise those tickets soon so you don’t miss out!

 

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The Lab Nitrogen Gelato – Dining Review

Walking down Bourke Street in Melbourne’s CBD I had to do a double take when I walked by a store that claimed to serve nitrogen gelato that didn’t appear to be N2. I was surprised to see the presence of nitrogen gelato spots in Melbourne suddenly double before my eyes!

On the surface, The Lab looked to me like a hastily put together rip-off of N2, trying to get in on the sudden trendiness of nitrogen gelato. The Lab featured the same concept as N2, the same science lab set up, staff wearing white lab coats and protective eye wear, and a display of empty glass beakers. The Lab featured the same black walls and uninviting, slightly awkward seating area (though in defence of The Lab, at least they actually had tables and chairs, albeit a limited number of them and there was no AstroTurf in sight.) They were also a little more technologically adoptive with their menu displayed on screens above the counter, but the menu phrasing ’1 scoop = $6, 1 serve = yumminess’ sounded all too familiar. The first time I saw this place I walked past with my nose in the air thinking ‘Ha! Imposter! You are no N2!’ But the second time I walked past a week later I thought, ‘Well until I’ve tried it myself, who am I to judge!?’ It’s only fair.

The Lab Menu

The Lab Menu

The Lab

The Lab

The menu offering was not as exciting as N2. On my visit the flavours on offer included ‘Milky chocolate with homemade brownies, Black Sesame, Salted Caramel Popcorn, Raspberry and Yuzu Sorbet and Ice Lemon Tea Sorbet’. I went with the Salted Caramel Popcorn. There were a handful of people inside the store, staff were friendly and the wait time was not long at all. The ice-cream was presented well, with popcorn dotted on top of the ice-cream and finished off with a swirl of caramel sauce. The taste test was where the Lab could have really made me ‘eat my words’ with my snooty comparisons of it to N2, but unfortunately for The Lab, I stood corrected. The ice-cream had a wonderfully smooth consistency but it lacked flavour and tasted horribly artificial. The cute looking toppings also didn’t help when it came down to the ‘crunch’. The caramel sauce was sickly sweet and overly runny and the popcorn tasted stale and nasty. I felt sympathetic for the guy who ordered before me, as while waiting for our order, he turned to me and said ‘I keep hearing about how good nitrogen ice-cream is, so decided I just had to try it!’ But after I tasted The Lab’s contribution to nitrogen gelato in Melbourne I felt like running back to find that man and reassure him, ‘it’s not all like this, I swear!’

Salted Caramel Popcorn at The Lab

I don’t mean to be too harsh, it’s not the worst ice-cream I’ve ever tasted and if you were like that gentleman in line before me who was new to the concept of nitrogen gelato, you would still find it exciting and intriguing to watch your ice-cream being prepared and suddenly appear out of a cloud of smoke. But just as N2 would not survive long term based solely on the novelty factor of nitrogen gelato, (the difference is their exotic and mostly amazingly delicious flavour combinations like their outstanding Crème Brûlée) once the novelty appeal disappears, The Lab’s ice-cream just does not cut it for me.

However, The Lab’s convenient city location is an advantage and if their menu changes weekly, hopefully they start to serve some more enticing flavours. I’d give it another try in a few months, as I think that would be the true test to see whether they are just trying to cash in on the sudden hype over nitrogen gelato or if they are actually serious about serving good quality ice-cream.

The Lab

188 Bourke Street,
Melbourne

(03) 9077 5354

Open Monday – Sunday, 12pm til late

The Lab Nitrogen Gelato on Urbanspoon

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