Emily Ulman is a singer-songwriter and long-time music wrangler, venue booker, festival curator and industry shapeshifter based in Melbourne/ Narrm.
She's the kind of person who knows where the best gigs, bagels and accidentally iconic moments are happening at any given time. After a ten-year break from releasing music, she's back with new songs, a new album on the way, and a renewed love of crafting stories through sound.Her latest single 'Mountains Mountains Mountains' follows the release of 'Every Hillside', the first tastes of her forthcoming album, due later this year. "I love the Japanese proverb: The reverse side has a reverse side," Ulman shares.
"Nothing is ever just one thing. Beneath every surface there is something else waiting to be seen; it reminds us to look deeper, to question first impressions.
"'Mountains Mountains Mountains' is about the beauty and the rot, about pleasure and grief, and how even the most pristine places carry traces of what came before. We live in the layers. In what is visible, what is hidden, and the quiet charge in between.
"This song came out of a moment that felt both intimate and expansive. A parked car. A sweeping view. A private undoing. It's about renewal, about sexuality, about finding awe in the aftermath. There's tension in it. Between what's pristine and what's overgrown. The beauty lives not in the separation, but in the merging of the two to become something new."
One of the rituals getting her through? Hot chocolate. Emily stopped drinking coffee in 2017 (she knows) and has been quietly obsessed with finding Melbourne's best hot choc ever since. The good kind, hot chocolate proper.
This is not an exhaustive list, but it is the result of serious research and emotional attachment. Here are her top five-ish spots in the CBD of Melbourne/ Narrm.
1: Bakemono Bakers
Look, I'm not sure how to get through this blurb. I am so addicted to this perfect five-star hot chocolate that I feel emotional even writing about it. There aren't enough superlatives in the English language to adequately describe my true love.Obvs get a pastry while you're there and brave the queue if there is one (it's also amazing people watching). You'll be fine. I'll see you there tomorrow. Or in five minutes.
2: Mörk
I know, I know, it's the obvious choice, but clichés are clichés for a reason, and I'm not here to dog the leaderboard. Mörk is reliable, local, and basically perfection in a cup.I'm a proud Original Dark 70% variety gal. It's rich without being ridiculous, complex without showing off, and basically makes you a better version of yourself. Special shouts to Lune. They serve Mörk and somehow make it feel even fancier. Pair it with a croissant and you will ascend.
3: Bowery to Williamsburg
I'm a bagel. Love them, crave them, make them (not really). So I don't exactly need additional excuses to visit Bowery to Williamsburg, but oh my hat, their Reese's Pieces hot chocolate situation is elite.I seriously have to go there alone because if someone tries to speak to me while I'm on this journey of physical devotion, it's not pretty. Some drinks are conversations. This one is a monologue.
4: Pidapipo
Does it count if it isn't a perennial offering? I don't make the rules so hear me out. I signed up to the Pidapipo newsletter only and specifically for their hot chocolate. It's that good. We're talking a scoop of fior di latte gelato melting into some other kind of liquid wizardry that I don't have the culinary vocabulary to explain.When I casually went to one of their stores only to find out it wasn't on the menu, I experienced what I can only describe as full body withdrawal. Order is now restored. Get ye to one of their stores for a perfect winter fling. It might not stick around, but what would your next song be about if it did.
5: Honourable Final Sips
Narrowing this to five is unfair and frankly impossible. So final champions who deserve a place on the podium.The Hardware Société for their boozy hot chocolate. Chokolait for that molten Belgian brilliance that demands post-drink silence. Brunetti's, but you must ask for a cioccolata calda, not a hot chocolate. Trust me. And the Italian man at Queen Vic Market. I do not know your name but I salute you.
Oh and Alfa Bakehouse at Whitten Oval. Not in the CBD, but anything close to the Bulldogs' heartland gets an automatic mention.
