Bagdad Foods Cafe
Bagdad Foods Cafe
50 Darlot St
Horsham
(Crn Darlot & Natimuk Rd.
Next to Baker’s Delight)
Casting a leftwards glance through the vertical window, the lurid colours of PRE-MIX KING and the more sedate signage of WIMMERA BOLTS AND FASTENERS meet my gaze. A shit-heavy B-double lumbers past the roundabout and heads down Natimuk Road. But inside the cafe, at my blackpainted table, I listen to the tinkle of plates and cutlery being delivered up to the dishwasher. It’s 2 p.m. The lunch crowd have disappeared. Unlike Melbourne, this wonderful country establishment is peopled at regular times.
There is a tiled front section and a few tables on the pavement outside the building. On the wall, a mirror framed in the form of a pineapple. From the tiled area, up a step, is the small carpeted inner sanctum, set up with two larger tables, one table for four and two tables for two. On the shelves sit books of enticing titles: “Frank Lloyd Wright: Prairie Houses”; “James Martin Desserts”; “Italian Country Living”; “Morocco” by Philippe Saharoff and Francesca Torre. Copies of The Age, Herald Sun and The Wimmera Mail Times are always available.
Greg, (the owner along with his wife Judith) makes Fiery Bengal Chutney, Dukkah, Moroccan Style Dressing and other tasty bits and pieces. These products too grace the shelves and benches.
Some of the lunch offerings today include pumpkin soup and roll ($7.50); Shepherds Pie with salad ($10.50); Spinach, leek & fetta tart ($9.50); Madras Lamb Curry ($14.50); and vegetarian quiche and salad ($12.50). Pieces of hedgehog (a country staple) and totally wicked big thick choc-topped Anzacs are $3.00. All food is made on the premises or at home, and is fresh, tasty and attractively presented.
Excellent Monte coffee is served, and tea comes in elegant china cups.
And of you call in, tell ’em where you found ’em. They’ll appreciate it.
F. N. Soren
Rural reviewer
Comment [1]
Minimo
Minimo
822 Sydney Rd (Crn Donald St)
Brunswick
This neat cafe has only been open a bit over a week (as of writing this.) It occupies a corner on Sydney road, Brunswick. Already there is constant trade. Sitting here, at the large shared table (which most cafes seem to have now!) replete with a large bowl of fresh flowers, I realise that the cafe manages a quiet, peaceful vibe even though it’s right on Sydney road. The music is pleasant and set at a low volume. (A rare thing to find, it seems.)
I order a breakfast called eggs tepenade which consists of two free range poached eggs on sour dough with a mushroom and capsicum mix. The meal comes out elegantly presented and is just the right amount. Like Cafe 3A, I find the food here tastes excellent and is prepared with an ideology of quality, instead of serves too large/uninteresting.
As well on the menu are five varieties of french toast! The greatest variety of offering for this meal I’ve seen at any cafe so far.
The long black I order comes out hot and has a good depth of flavour and decent crema. A small and very fresh shortbread comes with the coffee. Perfect accompaniment.
At a table in the front window facing Sydney road two Muslim women speak quietly to one another. About every five-minutes or so someone comes in for a take-away coffee. A business woman who looks like a regular joins me at the shared table, orders breakfast and selects The Age from the available papers. The various comings and goings and few (but not too many) cafe-goers inside give the sense of a quiet vibe but also a bit of spark.
Some lights are left off inside. I liked this. They didn’t need to be on. Natural light did the job perfectly.
Seating is available outside, on Donald street: an advantage of being on a corner — seating right on Sydney road wouldn’t be so pleasant.
A speciality of the cafe is their piadina — a bread made here and filled with a variety of tasty fillings. Only $7.50. (I’m looking forward to trying one of these!)
Highly recommended.
22 December 07 by Lawrence MartinComment [6]
Timbale
Timbale
167 Swan St
Richmond
A quiet cafe with a chilled-out atmosphere, Timbale delivers good food and serviceable coffee while somehow managing to avoid the rushed and busy feel of some of the larger cafes in the Richmond area.
There’s only a few tables inside, which makes it seem small and cosy, but there’s an upstairs area with seating available (which I haven’t actually checked out yet) and of course a few tables on outside, which is a boon now that the weather is warming up again. One of the walls is lined with band posters.
I try the French toast (A favourite breakfast of mine), and it’s simple but delicious, coming with both bacon and maple syrup by default (and it seems to be real maple syrup, too, not the cheap imitation). The coffee (a latte) is fine, not the best I’ve had but certainly not the worst. It’s the laid-back atmosphere, however, which is the real attraction.
23 October 07 by Davin McCallGingerlee
Gingerlee
117 Lygon St
Brunswick East
Ph 9380 4436
Positioned on a north-eastern corner on Lygon street, this cafe was a lovely place to be this morning. A classic Melbourne mix of rain and sunshine. I was quite mesmerised watching rain rolling down the wide windows and a fan inside spinning at a lazy pace, hanging low from a high ceiling. Tables and seats run along the right-hand wall as you enter and are a great pace to sit in the morning sun. I sat a bit further back, where the glass was type you can’t see through and an intimate space opens up which is like a cosy enclosure away from the outside world. Fittingly, there’s soft booth seating here. A plain white wall has a large picture of a ship on it.
Coffee, which is all I had this morning, is first rate. The two lattes I had were smooth and creamy. Furthermore, the glass of water which was brought to my table seconds after sitting down was never allowed to fall below half-full. I noticed a macchiato at one table and it looked perfect: stark contrast of black coffee and white top, not too full in the glass.
14 September 07 by Lawrence MartinComment [1]
Tre Espresso Bar
Tre Espresso Bar
Shop 10
Hardwick Building
459–475 Sydney Rd
Brunswick
I find myself perched at a little table near the professional ‘help-yourself water station’ at a cafe I think is fairly new.
As I look around: Large table with a plant at the centre, chairs with backs, wooden Ray-like stools, small round table and small rectangle tables. Concrete floor with a matt-type lacquer finish. Five cactuses in pebbles in a long rectangular plant box which has a fluoro light over the top. Windows have clear glass panels, with an odd panel pink or blue. Wooden panelled roof. A section of retro wall paper, patterns in browns. Bricks walls worked back in some parts and not others, some remains of paint. Six over-sized tungsten light bulbs dangling from long lighting cables. A cord board is mounted on one wall with large lettering above: NOTICES. For some reason I see this as reinforcing the notion of cafes as ‘local message centres / communication points’ where people in the community catch up, chat or just hang out.
As I listen: behind the counter staff are talking and I hear the words USB and WIRELESS. Near me a parent is trying to convince her child that it needs a custard-filled donut. (The child later goes on to make a repetitive tapping noise at one of the wooden stools, and is left unchecked.)
I order a long mac and a salami/fetta pizza. The pizza comes out with some rocket on top and olive oil. It’s small, herby and very tasty. The salami is cut very thin, and as such is there for the right reason: taste only. The crust is crunchy at the edge and seems to be home-made. The long mac is served in a cup, not a glass, so you don’t get to see how it looks, but it is a well made coffee, good depth of flavour.
I like the variety of seating. It allows you to find a good spot out of a variety of options, and acts to make the layout interesting. Plastic orange seats surround gas heating pylons outside, with a large wide fold-out awning providing cover. But the wind lashes about today and no-one’s game.
Music is pleasant, set at an unobtrusive volume. A woman sits at the large table reading the Herald Sun. She is delivered a custard-filled donut and cappuccino. To my right two people sit opposite each other with their coffees and talk quietly. A girl has just arrived and places notebooks on a table and fossicks around in her hession bag for a pen. A young guy with a small leather sling-bag has propped himself up at the counter and speaks familiarly with the staff.
It’s Thursday 11.21 AM, perhaps the best time to try a cafe and avoid the rush. The atmosphere here is noticeably calm and relaxed. The break-up of people around the area set the scene right. It is much more welcoming than if a large loud group were to dominate the space. There’s a sense people have individually left their workplaces, or have stopped in on the way to somewhere else, to grab a coffee and a quiet moment to read or write. The girl with the hession bag places her cup carefully back onto the saucer so as to make no sound. An act of precision that I too, practice at times.
Good spot, recommended.
(This cafe is run by the owner of a Carlton cafe, Tre Bicchieri)
21 June 07 by Lawrence Martinjus Scrumptious
jus Scrumptious
Main St
Chalton
Chalton is a small township on the Calder Highway, in the north-eastern Wimmera. People passing though should plan a stop at this smart establishment. On entering, one is greeted with solid square tables and long-wearing blue carpet flecked in red and yellow. The colour scheme throughout is blue and cream and on hot summer days cavernous space takes on a welcoming, ever alluring prospect.
Cakes, sandwiches and focaccias feature on the menu and a highlight for us was the light fluffy scones, jam and cream. Coffee is workmanlike and a slight impost is charged for a double shot. Breakfast lasts till 10 a.m., lunch till 3. Cakes and slices are placed in little stands on the counter. All Melbourne daily papers are available for reading, a rare treat in the country. Against the exposed brick wall, one finds a stand of gourmet goodie – sauces, Murray salt, dukkah. Big wide windows give a view across the road to the still-operating Rex Theatre.
A few chairs and tables occupy space on the pavement. Staff are restrained, friendly, professional. There is a feeling this place is valued by the locals, and on our last visit the air was filled with a mixture of American and Australian accents. Eight farming types gathered around a table, deep in discussion. Ah, the ever-varying happenings in the Victorian cafe scene.
And dear reader, as a coda, hearken to these lines of the great incomparable Nietzsche – ‘He who has come only in part to a freedom of reason cannot feel on earth otherwise than as a wanderer – though not as a traveller towards a final goal, for this does not exist. But he does want to observe, and keep his eyes open for everything that actually occurs in the world; therefore he must not attach his heart too firmly to any individual thing; there must be something wandering within him, which takes its joy in change and transitoriness.’
24 May 07 by John MartinEl Mirage
El Mirage
349 Lygon St
Brunswick East
Phone (03) 9388 0966
Modern, slick design. Even a bit daring, I think — when you walk in, or in viewing the cafe from the street, the sparse look, and often being quite busy, can be off-putting. A better explanation might be possible through comparison. This cafe, in layout, is converse to one where you might peer through a window to check it out, walk in unobtrusively and have a look.
Back to design. The photo does not reveal much of this. The caf is deep. There’s a decent expanse wooden decking at the front, two bike hoops meeting the footpath (like this bike emphasis). At the top of the decking is `bar’-type seating and a large slide-up perspex window showing through to inside. It can be a bit funny when the window is drawn down and people sit facing you on the same seating arrangement from the other side.
Inside, the coffee machine, register and whole setup runs down the right-hand wall. On the left-hand wall, bar seating, khaki type green, running the entire length. Small wooden square tables and chairs fill most of the floor space, with table spacing good — not crammed (although an initial look from the door could give the perception of tables tightly packed in).
Coffee is excellent, my only criticism would be that sometimes it’s not hot enough.
I like the menu boards — a simple light wooden board with a single sheet of paper, computer printed in a very plain font with a low-detail printer. (A funny thing to comment on, perhaps; but this place has a noticeable style to it).
The menu itself offers a good selection of food. Egg breakies, muesli, BLTs 1 to 4, fritatta, pancakes and more. There’s a selection of small pastries and slices on display. I’ve found the food to be quality, a favourite being the pancakes which is simply and elegantly presented with a dollop of rhubarb and cream at its centre.
The atmosphere is interesting. Wait staff are great, very friendly, efficient. In it’s open design, the cafe loses that intimacy and cosiness we like. What it gains however, is a cool look, and in this, it’s simply interesting to be at. A place that you’ll remember and might like to be hanging out at again, in the not-to-distant future.
16 April 07 by Lawrence Martinkerekere
kerekere
John Medley Building
The University of Melbourne
Parkville
Riding through the grounds of Melbourne Uni today, I came across this neat little coffee stop. Two wide brown umbrellas up, students laughing and ordering coffee. I had to get off my bike then and have a closer look.
Cafe latte in a cardboard take-away cup = $3.00. I’m given a large playing card: 4 of Diamonds in this case. You wait until your card is announced, then, you pick up your coffee and place your card in one of three holders: Environment, Charity, Owner. This will designate where 100% of the profit made on your coffee goes.
The coffee quality itself? It could’ve been hotter, but the blend was smooth and the latte well made.
I like the sense of fun in the idea, and that people were enjoying themselves as well as helping an important cause of their choosing. The location, in the grounds of Melbourne Uni, was well chosen — a sort of enclosed area, by the trees, shrubs and paving.
9 March 07 by Lawrence MartinComment [6]
Stringers Stores
Stringers Stores
2-8 Ocean Beach Rd
Sorrento
Ambience: constituents. People who know their job. Timing. Friendliness. Music – or lack of it. Physical layout. Fellow imbibers. Views – exterior, interior. I’ve made three visits to this establishment and each time it’s been good.
I’m sitting alone at the bench facing the sea, regarding its pale blue surface through a fringe of Norfolk pines and musing upon Terry Eagleton’s words on Samuel Beckett. “… many of the features of his later prose and plays arise directly from his experience of radical uncertainty, disorientation, exile, hunger and need … What we see in his work is not some timeless condition humaine, but war-torn 20th century Europe. It is, as Adorno recognised, an art after Auschwitz, one which keeps faith in its austere minimalism and unremitting bleakness with silence, terror and non-being. His writing is as thin as is compatible with being barely perceptible … words flicker up for a fragile moment from a void into which they then fade back.”
High ceiling, cream decor. Good Mocapan coffee. Tart, fruit-cake, friands, cookies. Slices of tart and fruit-cake are a very reasonable $3. The caf is predominately a wine shop and I like the table arrangements – one abuts the end of a wine-rack, another sits in a nook, and a bench faces a stack of bottles of olive oil and jars of olives. There are chairs and tables outside on the pavement, and also a secretive little paved enclosure at the back. A quiet, relaxed yet attentive vibe comes through to me.
It’s January 30, 2007. Teachers are back at their posts, readying themselves for tomorrow’s invasion. Retired folk wander the street and peer into shop windows. Too many cars occupy parking lots.
A walk-down cellar holds older and more expensive wines. A visit here, well outside of the January holiday madness is recommended. Open every day.
30 January 07 by John MartinThe Maling Room
The Maling Room
Crn Maling & Canterbury Rd
Canterbury
Lovely old building, great natural light… but the praise might end here. Spacing of tables was not thoughtful; for instance, to look at the cakes etc. on display one has to squeeze behind chairs and tables. Service was not entirely clear. We had to order at the counter, but I saw some folk being served at their tables(?). The coffee was quite good, but not up to our expectations*: the long black lacked density and depth – although our cappuccino tester was happy with her coffee. There was no music, which was a plus.
The atmosphere was not one which we at cafesmelbourne.com enjoy. I like a cafe which is not too busy, but has a buzz, perhaps even a sense of excitement. However at the Maling Room the atmosphere was somehow indifferent. We felt as though it didn’t really matter whether we were present or not. Wait staff seemed to drift or float around without providing even an occasional attentive eye.
12/20
- A placard stuck onto the front counter advertises the The Maling Room is ranked very highly by Crema.
Comment [4]
ALL REVIEWS: REVIEWS ARCHIVE
