A1 Food Store
643 Sydney RdÂ
Brunswick 3056
(03) 9386 0440
Public Transport: Catch the No. 19 Tram. It comes up Elizabeth St in the city or down Sydney Rd from Coburg North. Get off at Albion St. The train is a option too: Upfield Line, get off at Anstey Station, walk East to Sydney Rd.
I won’t rate A1 because it’s already known by many, and they know it’s good!
The food is the cheapest you’ll find anyway. I get the spinach and cheese triangles, $2.50 each. Fresh as. There’s also herb pizzas (1 buck!!!) and sausage pizzas, vegetarian pizzas… and more. Coffees are just $2, they make a strong coffee. Eating in makes no difference to the price.
A1 is not just a cafe, as the name says, it’s a food store too. It’s this factor, like Brunswick in general, that makes the place a joy to sit back in: it’s a functional, busy place. Stacks of cans, be it beans or tomatoes, are piled up to be sold cheaply. There’s breads, bottles, tins everywhere and shelves laden with food.
Update: 7 December 2008
A1′s prices have shot up. The classic Spinage & Cheese Triangle went from $2.50 to $3.50. I suppose it always had to go up, being such good value. Yet I found myself slightly disappointed by the sharp rise (if you think about it as a percentage). There’s one other annoyance: the tables and seats were replaced about six-months ago and the new ones are dreadful! Great heavy things that screech across the floor, and the table legs are great wacking steel girders that allow no room for your legs … yep, sorry folks, A1 is A2; but it’s still pretty good!