Cafe Reviews

Birdie Num Nums occupies an interesting space in Melbourne’s cafe lexicon in that it caters specifically for young families, whereas many cafes do not. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot of arty-types and groovy young things here as well, especially in the front section of the cafe, which is warm and welcoming with recycled timber and interesting nic nacs softening the space.  Conversely the back section, with its shade cloths and central sand pit, is ‘kid central.’

Food here is modern bistro with Greek influences, reminiscent of Pireaus Blues, the enduring Greek restaurant on Brunswick Street, which was founded by the same family.  The food is rustic and pleasantly plated - my crispy squid on Vietnamese-style shredded salad with crushed peanuts and sweet roasted chilli dressing ($16.5) hit all the right notes. Coffee is pretty good too, which comes as a bit of a revelation considering the generic brand (Grinders ‘Giancarlo’ Blend); a word of caution though, on the day I visited both the coffee and service out the back - in the ‘family friendly’ area - were not quite up to scratch, whereas out the front it was a different story altogether, where the service seemed to hum, and the coffee was of a noticeably higher standard. 

Still, good food and a great kid-friendly atmosphere provides welcome relief for busy mums, and who knows, maybe you will even hear the occasional ‘howdy partner’ within these hallowed walls?

Reviewed Nov’08 [PS]

Birdie Num Nums
745 Nicholson Street
Carlton North

The festive season is upon us here in Melbourne and what better way to celebrate than to make the most of the great outdoors? Ceres (Centre for Education and Research in Environmental Strategies - pronounced ‘series’) Community Environment Park is a sustainable eco-centre and farm community on the banks of Merri Creek in Brunswick East and it is a treat for families, indeed anybody, who is hoping to escape the relentless rush of the city for a little while.

There are a number of cafes here - including a small makeshift cafe operating out of the organic fruit and vege market (open on Wednesdays and Saturdays) offering good coffee and a selection of yummy cakes - usually to the accompaniment of a folk band and lots of little munchkins running around! The main café is a more sophisticated affair, encompassing a large sprawling wooden complex with a timber veranda overlooking the courtyard and the communal dwelling areas. It has to be said that it’s hard to get a bad seat here - every seat has an interesting view, surrounded by happy activity, no matter where you sit.

The food is good in an ‘all-day breakfast menu’ kind of way. There’s also a number of daily specials, and most items are made in-house using excellent produce. The coffee is good too, with both spaces serving Supreme’s Organic FairTrade Blend which, correct me if I am wrong, has a strong Columbian base which makes for good caramel/nutty and biscuity flavours.  Artisan coffee it is not, but it is still consistently well-made by passionate staff and I’m yet to have a dud coffee here. Plans are underfoot for a new conference centre and a sustainable restaurant, but most folks just come for coffee and conversation, while the kids happily entertain themselves.

Reviewed Nov ‘08 [PS]

Ceres
8 Lee Street
Brunswick East VIC 3057

Open for a year, the Source is one of the new breed of cafés that’s probably best described as an espresso bar. By that I mean that although they serve food [& in fact the food is very good] - their primary reason for being, is the coffee. When you walk in to this Mosman-located café, everything screams a love of coffee - from the Synesso machine on the bench to the Renegade roaster taking pride of place on the floor. It’s a great spot with a great vibe, but most importantly [for us anyway!] they make great coffee.

And not just great espresso - although that was fantastic - but go prepared to expand your horizons. They are coffee aficionados, and as such, are only too happy for you to experience the latest single origin coffees that they are bringing into the country themselves. We tried the Kenya Masai - served pour-over style through the Swiss gold filter - and it was delicious: full of flavour yet uniquely delicate! Although barista purists - they are currently setting up a barista exchange with Brother Baba Budan [the café we judged Melbourne's best café 2008] - they are definitely not elitist - the Source buzzes with a friendly, vibrant atmosphere.

Whether you’re just beginning on the espresso road and want to ask some questions of knowledgeable staff, or just want a great coffee, this is definitely a place that should be high on your list!

Reviewed Nov ‘08 [AF]

The Source Espresso Bar
6/914 Military Road
Mosman  NSW  2088
Tel: (02) 9969 1368
www.thesourceespresso.com 

An oasis of relaxation in the otherwise plastic & kebab shopping precinct of Cronulla - Grind features the sort of cosy, grungy atmosphere that you would expect to find in Newtown’s King St. Its walls are lined with all sorts of knick-knacks, photos and reviews - most of them good! And there’s a reason for that. Richard Calabro and his team churn out the sort of coffees that you could almost drive down to Cronulla especially for - if only it wasn’t for the awful drive that starts at Tempe and continues through the appropriately named Tom Ugly’s bridge.

Let’s cut to the chase - they don’t do food but that’s not why you come to Grind. It’s an espresso bar and, yes, it’s all about the coffee.

And what great coffee it is too - it certainly holds its own with any of its more citified Sydney compatriots - smooth, bold and with an excellent crema - these guys do it right. If you’re down that way, make sure you make a visit; for the true espresso aficionado, this one’s definitely worth the 45 minute drive!

Reviewed Oct ‘08 [AF]

Grind Espresso Bar
6 Surf Road
Cronulla NSW  2230
Tel: (02) 9568 5535

Located somewhat obscurely down a side alley, just off of 500 Collins Street, you could be forgiven for thinking that the patrons here were visiting some sort of illicit drug den, as they come and go with apparent glee. So what’s the attraction then? It could have something to do with the stunning La Marzocco Mistral coffee machine on the front counter, which looks more like a lunar recreational vehicle from the 1970’s, than it does a coffee machine!

And the coffee is good here too, running with a boutique blend from Veneziano, one of Melbourne’s top specialty coffee roasters. My latte was wonderfully rich and dense, with complex palate structure, and a rounded mouth-feel. Coffees prices start from a modest $3 and is highly recommended. The grub’s not bad either, with a variety of panini and roti wraps available for $8.90 ea, along with soup and salad of the day. I had Salad of pan-seared ocean trout with Caponata Pesto oil, served on a bed of wilted spinach and chopped tomato - which was good value at only $16.90. The salad was fresh and the trout was generously proportioned and cooked to perfection, but I would’ve liked a bit more pesto oil to flavour the whole dish up a bit.

The store itself is very well presented with concrete surfaces softened by timber cross beams, and a green fleur-de-lys mosaic adorning the far wall. The space is divided between a casual coffee area with a communal table, and a more formal separate dining area, which seems to be just the space for a high powered meeting, or a casual luncheon. 

Reviewed Oct ‘08 [PS]

Cafenatics
500 Collins St, Melboune CBD
(located on Church Lane just off Collins St)
Tel: (03) 9629 4440

Cordial occupies a rather prosaic space in a modern block on the suburban side of Newtown’s ubiquitous King Street. Whilst some might say it doesn’t possess a great deal of café ‘character’, the outlook through the dappled light of the surrounding trees, and the outdoor seating area is very pleasant.

The menu is simple, offering typical café breakfast staples, like Eggs Benedict [$11], Corn Fritters [$12.50] and Pancakes [$12.50] and a good range of sandwiches - Chicken [$7.50], Tuna & Avocado [$11.00] - salads [such as the Moroccan Chicken for [$11.00]. But what impressed most was the quality of the meals - Lib had the Corn Fritters [$12.50] and I had the Cordial Special Burger with chicken breast, eggplant, sweet potato and basil mayonnaise [$13.00], and both were cooked very well.

Service was impeccable - friendly and efficient, and the Golden Cobra coffee was perfectly made. This is an excellent café; while not fancy, the space it inhabits is light and open, and the food, coffee and service put many fancier joints to shame.

Reviewed Sept ‘08 [AF]

Cordial
Shop 8, 130 Carillon Avenue
Newtown NSW 2042
Tel: (02) 9557 6066

The choice of name for ‘Sappho’ Cafe [historically, a woman poet from the island of Lesbos] is an apt one, as Sappho is at the rear of the bookshop of the same name, on busy Glebe Point Road, in Sydney’s inner west.It’s a lovely space - part indoor and part outdoor - the sort of space that makes you draw a deep breath, and look forward to a relaxed meal or coffee. I arrived at lunchtime, and whether this was the reason, I’m not sure, but the lackadaisical service tempered that sense of tranquility.

The menu looked great - toasted panini in various varieties [$8 - $10] and salads such as Seasoned sweet potato with feta cheese and walnuts [$11] and Free range chicken, marinated & grilled with semi-dried tomatoes [$13]. I ordered the Marinated vegetable panini, and was disappointed - it had a dry, pre-packaged quality - not what I was expecting from first impressions. Moving on, I tried a Belgian chocolate brownie [$4.50]. Again, I was sorely disappointed - instead of a high-quality chocolate experience, it had a dry, bland flavour; in fact the main taste characteristic was of flour, rather than chocolate.

The coffee to finish was Toby’s Estate, and was well-rounded and pleasant. However, overall, I was not overly impressed with the menu, and the service was not up to standard. The thing I would rate Sappho most highly for was the ambience, with a slightly bookish indoor, and a pleasant, bohemian terrace, making it a lovely place to take time out from a busy schedule.

Reviewed Sept ‘08 [AF]

Sappho Cafe
51 Glebe Point Road
Glebe  NSW 2037
Tel: (02) 9552 4498

The old ‘Dov’ was always a favourite of the Darlinghurst crowd, and in terms of matching Dov’s reputation, which occupies the same sandstone-walled premises, Forbes & Burton doesn’t disappoint.

Located [not surprisingly] on the corner of Forbes & Burton streets, it’s a beautiful space - the warm stone walls are offset by large glass window panes; plywood chairs and tables are complemented with a cushion-lined stone seat jutting out from one of the windows a nice spot to sit or to wait for a table.

The queues lining up for breakfast on the weekend are testimony to Forbes & Burton’s excellent breakfast menu, which includes their renowned Croque Monsieur - double-smoked leg ham, Swiss Gruyere & Mustard [$10.50] and the Croque Madame [as above, but with a fried egg on top $13].

We ate from the ‘all day breakfast menu’ - The poached eggs with roasted tomatoes, mushrooms and grilled bacon [$13], and the roast vegetable and polenta stack with pesto and provelone [$17.00] were delicious. Dessert - from the Specials Board - included a Belgium Chocolate Brownie [$8.00] which was truly exceptional.

Coffee, by boutique Sydney roaster Single Origin, was well made - Forbes & Burton uses an organic blend, using filtered (reverse osmosis) water in the machine - delivering a sweet flavour with a pleasant aftertaste.

An impressive experience and highly recommended.

Reviewed September ‘08 [AF]

Forbes & Burton
252 Forbes Street
Darlinghurst NSW 2010
Tel: (02) 9356 8788

New Melbourne Cafe Concept - a coffee ‘think-tank’

The Brunswick East Project chooses to pose a question about coffee, rather than pretending to know all the answers. And the question goes something like this - what would happen if we gathered all the baristi (aka mad espresso-heads) in the Brunswick East area and asked them to contribute to our understanding of coffee? Sort of a coffee ‘think tank’ if you will.

The result is still a work in progress, but these keen coffee enthusiasts have taken their passion for coffee to a new level by going into production for themselves, and they are producing some very interesting results along the way.

 So don’t be surprised if you find some of the industry’s ‘top gun’ baristas doing a guest stint behind the gleaming Synesso Cyncra coffee machine, or manning the shiny 10kg capacity Has Garanti roaster. 

It’s a brave business that throws opens its doors to any and all who feel they may have something to contribute.  But it takes a brave individual to put their hand up and suggest that they have something to offer - a coffee fanatic perhaps, or a coffee purist?  Either way, attracting the coffee enthusiast is the exact target that these likable lads are aiming for.

Some comfortable chairs at the front and back of the store provide welcome relief for the weary, and the communal timber table with matching bar stools is just the place to sit and read the paper whilst sipping on your coffee.  The food offerings are slim pickings here; just a selection of cakes to complement the coffee.  And I expect that’s just how the owners and staff of The Brunswick East Project like it.  After all, at the end of the day, it’s all about the coffee, and we like that too.

Reviewed September ‘08 [PS]

438 Lygon Street
Brunswick East VIC 3057

This iconic café, which has helped to put premium boutique batch roasted coffee on the map in Melbourne, might have changed hands recently but the message is still the same: uncompromising coffee from passionate industry professionals.  Such is the dedication of those at the helm of St Ali, that they’re particular about who they sell their coffee to! 

I should know as I am one of the few fortunate customers who can claim to stock their product commercially in my cafes - although I had to go through rigorous selection criteria with Justin, the head roaster, before he would agree to sell it to me!  That and at present, St Ali currently runs with a 7kg and a 5kg roaster, which to a large extent determines capacity. A larger roaster is being shipped from Italy as we speak, but these things take time to dial in and to implement.

So what’s all the fuss about?  All I can tell you is that if you’ve tried the coffee already, you’ll know what I’m talking about, and if you haven’t, then you need to do so.

The café and roastery is located in an old warehouse complex, in a decidedly obscure location, positioned as it is down an otherwise nondescript laneway. With a industrial/rustic atmosphere, it also has an interesting use of moulded timber which helps to break up the space into hidden nooks, which seem to appeal to both ‘personalities’ and bohemians alike. And the food is good too with ‘roving chef at large’, Ben Cooper, putting his usual modern European spin on things. Head Chef, Kate Holloway, oversees the day to day running of the cafe - ensuring a smooth and professional operation.  My excellent poached eggs come with spicy chorizo sausage and a cherry tomato, capsicum, and fresh corn salsa, on a bed of baby spinach, served on lightly browned ciabatta bread, which is the perfect accompaniment for the first of four coffees which I have on this particular visit. I mean, when the coffee is this good why wouldn’t you have more than one?

Certainly, St Ali seems to be quite the place to linger, as a steady stream of traffic comes and goes in the time that I am there. And the centrally located communal table provides an excellent view of the baritisi at work and play, and is just the spot to watch world go by. A sense of playful high theatre exists here, as the characters that come and go seem larger than life and are definitely part of the attraction.
Reviewed August ‘08 [PS]

St Ali Cafe
12-18 Yarra Place
South Melbourne VIC 3205