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The Pearl of the North

There’s four sections. Street, inner right, central in, and out the back. I’m here inner right, at a large brown table surrounded by stools bolted to the floor. There’s also a generous sized round table for four and two tables against the wall for two or three. A sideboard has various articles on top including a butcher paper dispenser and crayons for kids to draw with. The walls are white and the floor a blueish grey. A collection of pictures are hung on the wall to my right, a child holding a koala bear, ballerinas, seascapes. A large round mirror is mounted to the wall in front of me and there’s a captain’s hat hanging from the wall to my left. The windows to the street are wide and tall.

The phone’s stopped ringing so I’ve escaped here to Pearl on this blustery sunny Melbourne day. I order field mushrooms with goat’s cheese and a long black. This cafe is spacious, friendly and warm. I know it can get busy too, but today it’s a relaxed crowd of those lucky enough to take part or whole of their Friday off. Who knows, maybe every Friday’s a day off for the folk here?

The cafe is here to serve and thus represents the gradual northward march of Melbourne’s hip crowd who value the shopping strip over the shopping centre, have a distaste for McMansions, and like to keep their public transport options open. The No. 47 West Preston tram can be seen to rumble past occasionally from Pearl’s wide street facing windows.

My long black is excellent, coming out at the proper hot temperature which allows me to take my time with it. The field mushrooms and goats cheese is also well received and comes with a surprise: whole roasted garlic cloves.

This place is the first I’ve been to that I’d describe as a modern day Coffee Bar. That is, the focus is definitely on coffee, with bites available as accompaniments to your coffee. Friands, slices, and muffins adorn a counter area near the large shiny and serious looking coffee machine.

It took some getting used to. I’m familiar with cafes that provide the full breakfast option, available all day. I’d say that’s a Melbourne love. But here, perhaps, we are moving gently beyond our initial embrace of ‘the breakfast cafe’ and into a new realm.

There’s an airy, light feel here. Wait staff aren’t frantically delivering copious plates of food whilst at the same time hoping the orders aren’t mixed as well as hoping that whatever peculiar breakfast tastes their customer has are met by the meal they receive. Here, instead, a person who clearly enjoys making coffee is dedicated to the coffee machine whist other staff roam about, bring out orders, chat with customers and package coffee.

This cafe also roasts coffee. There’s an interesting collection of rubber stamps alongside a stack of brown paper coffee bags which appear to be the equipment used to identify the variety of blends available.

Music isn’t loud. The seating arrangement manages to be interesting and allows one to quietly lob in a spot and feel undisturbed. There’s two modest armchairs in the front window with a round coffee table between them; this appears to be favourite spot. Today two interesting looking women in their late forties occupy these seats; one has the quiet observational presence of a writer.

A section of bar seating runs alongside a bench across the northern wall and there’s a communal table shared by both staff and customer, which breaks down the dividing line between the two. The roasting machine is housed in a small open room further in, and beyond this is another room with more seating. The whole area is filled with natural light permeated by the beautifully rich smell of freshly ground coffee beans. And the coffee’s good. My long black comes steaming hot with a golden crema.

Though I’d only ordered a long black and friand and three-quarters of an hour had passed, my water glass is filled, making me feel in no hurry to move on or place another order.

Lyn (left) and Teresa discuss a poem over a glass of wine

Submissions are now being sought for the CAFÉ POET PROGRAM. (Submission time has passed) The Australian Poetry Centre is seeking poets, in each Australian State or Territory, interested to sit as ‘poet-in-residence’ in a café in their capital city for a period of six months getting free tea or coffee while you write.

Please apply by emailing the Australian Poetry Centre with an expression of interest stating a) all your contact details, b) what you would get out of being the poet in residence, c) a clear personal objective focussing on what you would like to achieve with your poetry in the six months and d) a measurable public objective to benefit others, such as being prepared to give a reading at the end of it, or providing the cafe with a poem to display.

Deadlines for applications are Feb 20th, 2009.

For more details see the Australian Poetry Centre website (2009 Program—special opportunities) or call the office on (03) 9527 4063.

This is a pretty cafe, located at the top end of Lygon street in Brunswick East. Each Peach is a relatively new addition to this stretch of Lygon street which has become a thriving cafe zone. Though it can get busy here, I’ve come today at the sneaky time of 2:45 PM on a Tuesday whilst most people are working! Hence I can stretch out at the long pinewood table nearest the front window, read Kierkegaard’s diary and gaze out into the street.

There is a pleasant, warm and vibrant vibe here, in part due to the homely nature of the design and décor as well as the cheerful manner of the two ladies who run it. Natural light fills the front room, thanks to the large open window frontage. The ceiling is white and metal pressed, newly painted. The walls are painted white upper and, as a hasty search of the net reveals to me, a yellow chiffon lower. As well as the shared pinewood table there are two smaller tables in the front room, and in the street are a couple of laid back wicker seats with a small table. More seating is available out the back, whence from soft light glows.

Some randomly noted items from the blackboard menu: organic fairtrade espresso $2.50; milk coffees $3; organic sausage roll $6; waffles served with mocha ice-cream or banana, maple syrup and vanilla ice-cream $8; scrambled eggs with parmesan and asparagus $9.

Today I’ve just come for a long black and strawberry friand. The coffee comes in an old fashioned pale yellow cup, is hot, and has a fair crema. The friand is light and fresh. I look forward to a breakfast here one morning as the menu options look creative and I have a sense that meals here would be very good, (something I might mention here at a later stage). A lovely place.

Juliana’s is a totally unpretentious cafe on the corner of Sydney and Moreland roads. It is perhaps one of the best located cafes in Coburg. Two tables in particular are perfectly placed to sit at and stare out into the busy junction of roads upon which endless stream of activity unfolds. I find this particularly pleasurable on grey, rainy days.

Having come to Juliana’s a few times now, generally in the morning for a relaxing coffee and read of the paper, it becomes hard to categorise the cafe. My first inclination was that Juliana’s is the classic workers’ cafe — hence the pleasant, unpretentious vibe; a place where you can drink a coffee, order a sandwich and read the paper and be left alone.

But I have occasionally witnessed here the kind of spontaneous activity that one would more sooner associate with an inner-city located cafe, say, one in Fitzroy. I’m thinking of when a man sat at a table near the door and quietly played away on his banjo for about half an hour, then upped and left.

I find Juliana’s an invaluable cafe in this increasingly popular part of Melbourne. As well as mornings here, I have also dropped by in afternoons to take a much needed break in study and to take a fresh look at things.

Definitely a cool vibe. So close to Melbourne Uni. People coming in with Foo-Go’s re-fillable cups — the cafe is quite serious about their environmental impact, and would prefer you have coffee in, or use a re-fillable cup — but the option is yours, they do have disposable.

Large brown stylish booths and a house type beat playing. Clearly marked and specially fitted help-yourself water station.

Can see people, Uni students, walking past. Conversation behind me begins, “So you’ve been overseas recently?” Can hear a girl requesting a water-melon, apple and pineapple juice.

At 3.00 p.m. on this warm summery day, a chilled beat playing, this place definitely has the ‘hang-in’ factor going. Could easily stay an hour or two. The door is wide open and a breeze comes in as well as ambient sounds in the street. A tram rattles past.

Good sign: every 5 minutes or so somebody enters. Sense of action, things happening.

Ah- yes. Ordered a large iced-coffee. Good sharp coffee taste and some whole coffee beans on top. Solid scoop of ice-cream.

Some things on the menu: Frittata, side salad, soup, English muffins, slices, cookies and cakes. Fresh juices 4.50 or 5.50 (small/large). Coffee, 2.80, 3.40, 4.00 (normal to large). Short Black, Ristretto, Short Macchiato all 2.50.

Over years of frequenting this cafe I have never received a coffee short of excellent.

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 takeaway 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.

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.

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)