I first visited Industry Beans for coffee a few days after it opened, and while I was satisfied I was not seriously impressed and thought I would leave a couple of weeks for them to settle into trading before returning to eat. On my second visit the coffee was the same but I also ate and now have a sufficient impression of the place to write a review.
My lunch companion and I marvelled at the large and diverse menu.…
This is the big breakfast at Two Bob cafe on Queens Parade North Fitzroy – toast, poached eggs, bacon, fried tomato, onion jam, wonderful pork and fennel sausages, mushrooms and a triangle of what they call rosti. Normally rosti is made with grated potato but this was a surprisingly light concoction, like the lightest fluffiest polenta, and was made with mashed potato.
The coffee is very good, or at least it is exactly as I like it: strong.…
In between French films at the Westgarth on the weekend I enjoyed an amazing lunch at Gypsy Hideout. This is a lunch plate that is like a sample plate featuring items from the lunch menu, including stuffed vine leaves, meatballs, a stuffed tomato, baba ghanoush, feta and bread. The coffee is good too. I haven’t eaten there since my first visit and I’m releived to find it as good as it was then.
…
Bayte opened on Johnston St in Collingwood mid last year. It serves modern Lebanese influenced food and I really enjoyed my first visit. I had fish with green beans and yogurt and my girlfriend had the kibbe samak nayeh – raw tuna with labne and salad.
…
Hammer and Tong is a new daytime cafe on Westgarth St located in the space of the former Brix restaurant that opened on 11 February. Like Bar Paradiso on Greeves St, which took over the space of the former Felice’s, Hammer and Tong has not wasted money removing an excellent existing fitout and replacing it with something else. It seems to have done only a minor refresh.
Instead they have moved in and started trading, which is smart.…
Bric a Brac cafe opened last year on High St in Thornbury. They do great coffee and my girlfriend and I loved the food: a baguette with two kinds of terrine – duck and plum on one side and rabbit on the other – both rich and intensely flavoured and a croque monsieur (which is served with a small green salad with mustard dressing). Juganaut loves it too. I wish it was closer so I could go more often!…
The East Brunswick Bar Idda’s Sicilian deliciousness has been brought to Fitzroy with their creation of Bar Paradiso in the former home of Felice’s. They’ve retained the lovely interior and focused on the food, which is reassuring compared to places that seem to spend more money on the fitout than on the quality of the food. My poached eggs with cheese and olives was impressive, with the coffee also good.
…
The former Frederick Gugenberg men’s fashion shop on the corner of Gertrude and Smith streets closed over a year ago and, in 2012, became the venue for some pop-up shops. It has recently reopened as Karavan, a Mediterranean / middle eastern cafe.
Although many new restaurants have opened in Fitzroy in the past few months, I am not inspired by the American diner trend and there are only so many burgers I want to eat.…
Newish Collingwood cafe Tomboy on Smith St does excellent coffee and the fetta and tomato tart is amazing. And they’ve been open during the dead period between Christmas and new year, which I am thankful for.
…