Yum! Matcha (green tea) cake at Cibi in Collingwood is something I love (Kappaya, now at the Abbotsford Convent, also do a good one). I’ve been revisiting some old favourites recently and Cibi remains a great place to meet friends for coffee and food. Seriously good coffee. Fitzroyalty - hyperlocal news and reviews about Melbourne's first suburb: Fitzroy 3065 by Brian Ward is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 Australia License.
Archives for “coffee”
Three Bags Full 56 Nicholson St, Abbotsford (Cnr Nicholson & Mollison Sts) (T) 9421 2732 website urbanspoon foursquare (PS. Don’t go to www.threebagsfull.com.au like I did, they’re suppliers and manufacturers of top quality sheepskin and equestrian products. Right.) Three Bags Full is the new cafe from the team that brought you Liar Liar in Hawthorn and based on those credentials (and not much else it seems but word of mouth) some serious serious buzz has been generated. I’d been hearing stories about this place packing out regularly. Nick from Broadsheet had to wait for 20 minutes in line for a seat six days ...
I have a very cool friend who is the barista at Pearl Oyster. He also comes around a lot and is the fill-in girlfriend for my housemate. It makes sense to me. On a particular day when we were all very over hung and in need of resuscitation, I dragged the boys to Proud Mary. I have never eaten breakfast here, but it was pumping harder than a body-dysmorphic body-builder from Brisbane, and probably brought out as many plates of eggs as one would eat. And never ever let me train on a 35degree day, after a heavy night of drinking, ever again. I ...
I had coffee with a friend on a midweek evening at recently. It’s really peaceful there on quiet evenings, and the coffee is good. Fitzroyalty - hyperlocal news and reviews about Melbourne's first suburb: Fitzroy 3065 by Brian Ward is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 Australia License.
I've been meaning to get down to Proud Mary since it opened a few months ago, but moving further west has made it more than just a quick bike ride away....After a besties spa date in Glen Waverley over the most recent weeken, V and I decided to go to Proud Mary for breakfast. Dropped May off at work by 9.30, bleary eyed I conquered the eastern freeway and rewarded myself with a a Proud Mary coffee.V ordered the Ricotta hot cakes with a roasted apricot, maple syrup and vanilla bean icecream while I ordered the crispy hash - smoked ...
Lisa Dempster has written an excellent article on I eat I drink I work exploring the intricacies of the coffee surcharge, from decaf to mocha to - the main interest of this writer - soy milk. I have always hated but accepted with grumpy surliness the soy surcharge imposed by almost every coffee shop, but Lisa's interviews with various coffee vendors has shown that soy really does cost extra, and despite the call that the extra cost should be averaged out over all beverages, the imperative of the business owner to, you know, make a proft from their business makes ...
I’ve had my third breakfast at Siyia on Smith St and am hooked now – their omelettes and panninis are beyond delicious. This time I tried the Cyprus village omelette, which contains haloumi cheese and mint. The coffee is good too, so a weekday breakfast at Siyia is highly recommended. Fitzroyalty - hyperlocal news and reviews about Melbourne's first suburb: Fitzroy 3065 by Brian Ward is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 Australia License.
As a lot of what I write about is what I spontaneously experience in my daily life, what I discuss changes as my life changes. I love eating out but try to limit solo cafe breakfasts to once a week (not including social breakfasts with friends on the weekend). I’ve started to review the cafes I have breakfasted at on my way to work, having found them while cycling randomly through back streets in Collingwood. Current favourites include Siyia on Smith St and Bluebird on Johnston St. This time I tried Ladybird cafe on the corner of Johnston and Wellington streets. ...
but I thought I should post it anyways. Strike me down, for the trends I keep with. I’m talking about Proud Mary, the other specialty coffee house, you know… in Collingwood. It’s been open for a little over three weeks now and I have had the experience lingering in my mind-tank for a little over a week. I know, I got lazy and started filling my time with book-reading. Something that is entirely necessary when you’re burning holes in your head by over-analysing 1780s Australian colonial art in a mad-rush to graduate…but that is another story. It’s my new Seven Seeds and you ...
On a recent Friday I had a delicious breakfast of corn and capsicum pancakes with chilli hollandaise at Chef’s Edge cafe on Wellington St in Collingwood, which is also a kitchenware shop and a knife sharpener that does breakfast, lunch and dinner as well as fantastic coffee. I’ll be back soon. As Ed at Tomatom recently observed, the Collingwood area has a vibrant food culture. I have to agree. While I have lots of good things to say about social media, I also recognise its shortcomings. It’s anarchic, arbitrary and inconsistent. With no organising structure or principle the content it creates ...
After reading Peta’s review of Bluebird cafe on Johnston St I realised that it was the same place I had ridden past and noticed recently, and that made me keener to stop in for a coffee. I did better than that by having breakfast on a midweek morning on my way to work. The coffee is good, the interior is cute and quirky, and reflects the owner’s interest in cars, bikes and Italy. I had a toasted pide with prosciutto, spinach and fried egg. The salty prosciutto and the balsamic on the spinach made a fantastic combination. I believe the cafe is ...
Monsieur Truffe is a wonderful cosy cafe filled with rich dark treasures such as truffles, chocolates, beautiful french pastries and liquid gold. It is located towards the Gertrude St end of Smith St and there is meter parking out front. Monsieur Truffe should be listed on Melbournes top treasures to visit. 90 Smith St, Collingwood. http://monsieurtruffe.wordpress.com/"J'adore Monsieur Truffe, I think I am in love. That is how much I love this cafe. It is a very simple cosy cafe with beautiful touches such as the Japanese design serving plates and cups. The service is ...
I lived on Lygon Street on Carlton for the first 25 years of my life. It was a great place to grow up as it had a wonderful variety of small businesses run by people of assorted nationalities. The Lebansese barber shop on Elgin street, FuLu's Chinese restaurant on Rathdowne street and I particularly remember the Continental (Italian) Milk Bar, run by the Greco family on Lygon street.My mum would shop there at least once a week and I remember Mr Greco, his wife and children coming around from the counter to pick me up and say hi. ...
It took me a while to notice that the Smith St Canteen had closed and the premises had morphed into the Kerynia cafe. I stopped in for breakfast solo on a recent Saturday morning and was most impressed by what I discovered. Like Siyia further south on Smith St, Kerynia has a Greek and Cypriot influenced menu with meat based and vegetarian hot lunches changing daily and a few delicious breakfasts on offer. This is the Kerynia breakfast with wonderfully creamy scrambled eggs, tomato with oregano, haloumi, spinach, mushrooms and some tender fried meat morsels (I can’t remember what it’s called). ...
I keep forgetting who is open on Sundays and who isn’t. I talked a friend into a frenzy about the breakfast at Cibi and we strolled marched there about midday on a recent Sunday craving treats only to be thwarted. The newish cafe at 354 Smith St Collingwood (previously the Smith St Canteen) that I have been meaning to try is also closed on Sundays. The next obvious choice was Provenance, because it met our criteria: my friend had not been there before, it makes great coffee and is open! My friend combined two of the breakfasts on the menu by ...
Since it opened late last year, Gibibaba on Smith St has become one of the most desired places in Melbourne at which to dine. Reviews from Gosstronomy, Everything goes with cream, Hieronymous the anonymous, Melbourne gastronome, 1001 dinners 1001 nights and Hookturns are all fundamentally positive. I loved it the first time I went and I’ve been waiting for the right opportunity to visit again. On my first visit they were yet to offer Turkish coffee due to a lack of the right stove on which to brew it; that has been corrected now, and the Turkish coffee is excellent. The ...
After my first breakfast at Provenance on Smith St I was very impressed, and planned to return. On a recent Sunday I returned with a friend who is a regular, and he introduced me to owner Dave, who was busy training new staff. Provenance seem to be doing very well! This time I chose the scrambled eggs with chilli, coriander and lime, which is delicious. One day I will have dinner there… Fitzroyalty - hyperlocal news and reviews about Melbourne's first suburb: Fitzroy 3065 by Brian Ward is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 Australia License.
I’ve been spending a lot of time on Smith St recently. On a recent Saturday I met a friend for coffee at Gluttony because I have not had cake there for such a long time and it was calling to me: we have missed you, come and eat cake. Gluttony was a favourite of mine years ago, when I would meet friends there and spend a relaxing afternoon philosophically solving all the world’s problems one cake at a time. But this time I realised I had forgotten to have lunch, and it was 4pm. Instead of cake I chose what could ...
I recently had breakfast at Siyia after being prompted to bump it up my priority list by the Age article about Smith St. Siyia specialise in omelettes and paninis for breakfast, with flavours based on the owners’ family origins in Greece, Cyprus and Morocco. I had a delicious panini with fried bacon, egg and kasseri (a sheep’s milk cheese). There’s a few tables inside and a couple on the footpath, and they were doing a steady trade in take-away coffee while I sat, munched and watched. The coffee is good too. They’re only open on weekdays so no lazy weekend breakfasting ...
Is this the French toast that can beat Gingerlee’s? The French toast with maple yogurt and hazlenuts at new cafe restaurant Provenance on Smith St (where Deelish cafe used to be) is outstandingly delicious. I’m very impressed with Provenance for several reasons. My friend had the scrambled eggs with cured trout, which was simply presented but excellent, with wonderful multigrain toast. The coffee is very good. You can download the complete menu (163kb PDF) and they’re also on FaceBook. The interior is light and open and preserves the wonderul pressed tin ceiling of the original Coles grocery store, the first premises of ...
Monsieur Truffe is a chocolate shop slash cafe on the Collingwood side of Smith St near the lovely Wabi Sabi Salon. They do a simple French breakfast of coffee or hot chocolate and plain or chocolate croissants, which are divine. The coffee is was average when I was there but once they get a new barista and the business gets settled (they have been open about 3 months) I am sure it will improve. You can sample many of the chocolates and the raspberry in particular is wonderful. The interior is a mixture of retro and contemprary furniture with brown and ...
Cibi is a lovely cafe slash Japanese homewares (crockery and cutlery, origami paper, manga tshirts, toy robots) slash (very reasonably priced) Danish furniture shop that is a delight to visit. The coffee is excellent. I visited at about midday last Saturday, and it was starting to fill up. They’ve been open for about 8 weeks and are still being discovered by locals. My girlfriend chose the potato salad with egg and broccoli and sourdough. It was not actually described as a sandwich so it was a surprise when it arrived! It was delicious. I chose the traditional breakfast plate, which featured rice, ...
Finding this almost mythical place is a mission. Its a secret secret mission for the brave and determined.Pip and I found a park on a sunny day and entered the Abbotsford Convent gates. We were transported to another world - birds chirping was about all we could hear and sometimes the swishing of gum trees.We walked through the gardens, down a path, under a gable and along a veranda. Opened an unmarked door, into a passageway, through another unmarked door, up a grand stairway lit by magnificent leadlight, through another doorway - and finally we see a small photocopied A4 ...
The Age has reviewed a bar that I like, the Abbotsford Convent’s Handsome Steve’s House of Refreshment. I never seem to get there though. This could be the prompter.
In another first for me I had breakfast last Saturday at Cavallero (warning: pointless single page website) on Smith St. For me it was definitely breakfast although it was 1pm so I ordered the omelette, but my friend who also had not yet eaten that day decided to go straight to lunch food and selected the anti-pasto plate, which was spectacular. Below are before and after (more like outside and inside actually) photos of the omelette with cheese and baked cherry tomatoes. I make no apologies for creating food porn. It is as good as it looks.
