Fitzroyalty

Hyperlocal news about Melbourne's first suburb: Fitzroy 3065

Monthly archives: January 2012

predicting business success

31 January 2012 | 38 Comments

I write often about the successes and failures of small businesses in Fitzroy, including how the area is used to test new business ideas that sometimes become very successful and lead to the creation of franchise empires.

I sometimes get comments from readers that I am too critical of businesses. This is not my intention. My aim is to offer a pragmatic critique and interpretation of something that is rarely written about.

I write from a consumer’s point of view about how businesses present themselves to me and treat me as a customer.…

breakfast at Cafe Lua in Carlton

30 January 2012 | 4 Comments

Before Cafe Lua, the cafe on the corner of Elgin and Drummond streets in Carlton looked dingy and unappealing. It’s now bright, colourful and appealing. Having read Where’s the beef’s positive review, I was keen to try it. I ordered the corn hotcakes with bacon, tomato, avocado and poached egg. It’s a substantial meal and a delicious one, with the coriander pesto working particularly well with the bacon.

With the unfortunate closure of What about food cafe further west on Elgin St, Cafe Lua is a welcome addition to the area.…

Scarpetta has closed

29 January 2012 | 3 Comments

While I report on the closure of some businesses with little to say about them, I feel far more disappointed when I learn of the closure of a business that I enjoyed frequenting. I recently noticed that the windows of Scarpetta Italian restaurant on Brunswick St have been papered over.

Scarpetta did seem to struggle with retaining customers, and I’m not sure why. Neither old fashioned nor overly trendy, Scarpetta was somewhere inbetween. I first ate there in 2007 and last in 2011, and I always enjoyed it.…

Stencil cafe, Fitzroyalty, libel, fraud, bribery and the ethics of hyperlocal journalism

24 January 2012 | 80 Comments

If this is some kind of performance art, I’m starting to tire of it. I got home from work today and read my emails. A reader had emailed me this photo. I’m speechless. Whoever created it is, I allege, guilty of fraud and libel. I published no such statement, and anyone who has been following the Stencil cafe PR debacle would know this.

fitzroyalty fitzroy business brunswick st

Courtesy of a reader / copyright: used under the fair dealings provisions of the Copyright Act 1968 / c2012

Fitzroyalty receives thousands of pageviews a day, whereas a poster will be seen by far fewer people.…

banned from a cafe that does not exist

22 January 2012 | 96 Comments

Fitzroyalty occasionally receives threats and other pointless forms of pathetic posturing from deluded self-congratulatory types. I’ve been banned from the Melbourne food bloggers Facebook page for refusing to consent to be censored when discussing the dubious practice of accepting freebies bribes in exchange for publishing positive reviews. I was falsely accused of publishing defamatory content by fashion shop Leonard St, which ironically could itself be considered defamatory.

In the past week various commenters have tried to suggest that I accept freebies from cafes, and that I am biased towards Slowpoke cafe and against a potential competitor that has not even opened (yet).…

breakfast at Campos, Elgin St Carlton

18 January 2012 | 1 Comment

Campos on Elgin St has been open for about a year but, as I haven’t spent much time in Carlton of late, I’ve only just noticed. I’m rather please I have finally found them because they make coffee as good as I have had anywhere, and Ryan and Faddy agree. There’s a short breakfast menu and some sandwiches, including this divine smoked salmon, mascapone, preserved lemon and pine nut sandwich, which you can also have for breakfast.…

The skin I live in

17 January 2012 | 4 Comments

Pedro Almodovar’s new film The skin I live in has taken over my brain. This post is full of spoilers so if you haven’t seen the film, and want to, stop reading now. Antonio Banderas stars as a super villian mad scientist doctor with the look of James Bond. He does superb menace. Slinky amoral menace. Best kind I suppose.

sex and gender film …

dinner at Grumpy’s Green on Smith St

16 January 2012 | 1 Comment

I’ve had a drink or two at Grumpy’s Green on Smith St in the past year but I don’t think I’ve eaten there since 2009. The crinkle cut chips are gone and the menu is very different, though still mostly vegetarian with a token meat page containing only a couple of dishes. Last week I had the halloumi burger with eggplant and pesto, which comes with excellent chips. The food may have improved, but the menu itself is horrific.…

lunch at Egg Sake Bistro, University of Melbourne campus

15 January 2012 | 3 Comments

Egg Sake Bistro is in the basement of the University of Melbourne’s Union House building, so it’s not going to attract any non-committal passing trade but it is popular with students. It opened in 2010 with a design that flatters the service: it’s a cheap fast food venue but there’s nothing necessarily wrong with that.

If you walk to the left side of the counter you can get rice and noodle dishes like this salmon salad rice ($7.80, below) or excellent maki including lobster salad and cream cheese ($2.80).…