fitzroyalty

I’ve read that Wildflour bakery and cafe in Fitzroy has closed. Good riddance. On my first visit back in January, I was impressed. On my second, about 3 weeks ago at a quarter to ten on a Sunday morning, I was annoyed. It was not early. It was not unreasonable to expect breakfast. On entering Wildflour however we were rather rudely told that they were too busy to serve breakfast. What? The attitude was indifferent and unforgiveable. The message was “we don’t care about you and we don’t want your business.” We went around the corner to Ici, who have a much better understanding of customer service.

Apparently Wildflour did not have a permit to opperate as a bakery, but as a cafe. I can’t see why anyone so incompetant in establishing the legal basis of a business should expect any sympathy. Another blogger has already covered the story but I have to disagree: yes their bread and croissants are lovely, but if they are business amateurs and crap at customer service they don’t deserve to survive.

On Sunday I went exploring in the Yarra Valley armed with my copy of the Foodies Guide. It’s a foodie paradise – cheese, hearty meals, wine, fresh air and time to think. I started at the Yarra Valley Dairy and then had lunch at the Healesville Hotel. I had the lamb shank and a friend had the beef ragu pasta. Both were fantastic.

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Update 22 January 2009: Najla featured on last night’s episode of Food Safari on SBS.

On Saturday night after another film at the Westgarth in the Spanish Film Festival I took my friends to Cafe Najla, a Syrian restaurant on High St. The food is incredible. We were lucky to get a table vacated by a cancelled booking; otherwise it would be impossible to get in on a Saturday night.

Above is the mezze vegetarian entree, which was plenty for three to share. I then had the lamb kebab on the most delicious rice. We shared a bottle of Sticks Pinot Noir, which was reasonably priced and the perfect match to the delicious food. The room was full and it took some time for our food to arrive, but the staff were aware of this and were very helpful. Najla gets my recommendation.

Walking though the city on Thursday evening was my first taste of winter. The city was full of life. Street chess on Swanston St drew a curious crowd.