Melbourne Cafe Reviews

Lighthouse Stables and Tea Rooms
7 Federal St
Aireys Inlet
Ph (03) 5289 6830

This place is signposted from The Great Ocean Road and is easy to find. It is a delight, an oasis in a desert of overpriced and poor quality cafs along this famous strip of the Victoria Coast.

The cafe is a small white-painted weatherboard a few hundred metres from the elegant white pile of the Aireys Inlet lighthouse. Tables outside in the open air, a few under the verandah and two or three inside. Know a pet hate? A farrago of cakes for sale all heaped upon the one plate. I like my goodies on separate display. Too often, in this roam along the Victorian Surf Coast, have I been confronted by the former in my caf visits. My friend and I select a savoury scone from a range of biscuits, muffins and cakes, which when it comes is accompanied by a small dish of light orange chutney. My l.b. is of fine quality and the bill for two coffees and two cakes comes to $12—a very fair prince along a tourist strip where often you’ll pay 50% more for similar fare.

Milkshakes, spiders and sandwiches are also available. Wooden floorboards and fascinating old photos of ships and ancestral characters adorn the walls. Various touristy items—cards, booklets, toys, canned fish—are for purchase.

I listen to a group of six at another table. Two are English, bound for Port Campbell. One of the Aussie blokes says to him, ‘You can catch helicopter ride over the Twelve Apostles. If you hang by a rope it’s half-price.’ They leave and we too vanish, bound for our clifftop walk.

Laneway 73
73 Great Ocean Rd
Anglesea
Ph (03) 5263 3113

In a little space wedged between two shops and covered over in transparent plastic sheeting, is to be found Laneway 73. It’s a most inviting place to be seduced into on a lovely afternoon in early autumn. The Rasilia coffee machine fronts the establishment and seems to be doing a quiet but regular trade in takeaways. Three tables and a bench down the alley and a few tables out on the street. Amazingly, for a seaside caf, The Age is available for perusal, along with other papers and mags on a bench. I settle in for a long lazy read, my bus not due for well over an hour.

A voice from the street—’Takeaway latte thank-you my good man, and could you make that a little bit hotter than the norm?’ Aha, puzzle solved. My l.b. was one of those tepid jobs that I’d encountered a few times in Bendigo recently, and I was beginning to wonder whether a few proprietors were following American style, fearing lawsuits from burnt-lipped customers. Coffee is Gravity and the only goodies are small (very small) over-priced biscuits—so small they should be coffee-accompaniments, not sold. But the ambience is wonderful, and secreting myself here, paper in hand, coffee at elbow and with the thought of a soon-to-be bus ride along The Great Ocean Road, is a delight I am quite happy to share with the gods. And the shade of Kierkegaard.

Spoons Cafe
42 Sackville St
Port Fairy
Ph (03) 5568 3452

A brief note. We’d dined here the night before (very good) and now I pop in for a coffee. Intimate space. Two lemon easy chairs. Papers. My l.b. is perfect—half fill, rich crema and a small jug of hot water if I wish to alter the strength. A perfect shortbread on a dark green plate. This place is run by young people with vigor and enthusiasm. Highly recommended.

Bella Claire Gourmet House
28 Bank St
Port Fairy
Ph (03) 55681610

Large square date scones arrive on square white plates with two big triangles of butter in a small round jar. I ask for my strong l.b. and the girl says, ‘double shot?’ She asks the amount of water I want. Two-thirds fill I say. When the coffee lands it’s good. This place does lunches and sells gourmet goodies of all descriptions—biscuits, condiments, cheeses, jams—as well as Timboon icecream. A few tables out on the street, some inside the shop and a scattering out to the courtyard in the rear. I like it out here in a narrow breezeway with a rough scribbled wall on one side and a solid bluestone on the other. To the north I lift my gaze and see big columns swell in the sky. Two unseen persons recount tales of their childhood. Things aren’t cheap here in Port Fairy, but who cares? The service is amiable, time is ample, it’s early Feb 09 and kids and teachers now back in their shackles.

Annie’s Provedore
Shop 2, 50 Hitchcock Avenue
Barwon Heads VIC 3227
Ph (03) 5254 3233

$15.50 for a small lime tart, a commercial biscuit, an Earl Grey tea and a long black, may seem an excessive fee for a morning’s session in a coffee house. But remember folks, this is a Tourist Town, and the store has that expensive feel. Don’t complain.

My l.b. lacks crema and is a tad off correct serving temperature. I feel sorry for the lone black-clad worker though; she is anxious and harassed. Her co-worker has failed to front. On a grey overcast morning it’s not a bad place to be and seems to get the vote from the mixed bag of locals, business types, mothers and retirees. Talk is muted, cutlery tinkles. There was music but now there is — thankfully — none. (I do think we’re reaching the point where cafes will advertise themselves as NO MUSIC ZONES, inspired by John Cage who taught us the music of the ever-present sounds — the turning of a page, the whirr of the machine, a whispered word.)

Décor here is reminiscent of those overdressed interiors one finds in Australian Country Collections — a ladder, skirted to the ceiling and hung with swathes of garlic and dried flowers … A wire cage hooked up to the ceiling with wooden boxes once the repositories of French wine and Aussie cordial. A few black-topped tables, a ‘rustic’ wooden communal table, and a bench out on the pavement. All manner of things are sold in the shop — cheeses, Phillipa’s bread, biscuits, salamis. Lunch offerings include moussaka, lasagna and rolls of various fillings. A large black-framed mirror advertises specials — Potato and Chicken Pot Pies, Thai Chicken Curry, Rhubarb and Apple Tart.

At the entrance, two little bay trees sit in pots worshipped by a host of devoted lemons.

Qdos
35 Allenvale Road
Lorne VIC 3232
Ph (03) 5289 1989

Two classics in a row. It happens but rarely. After my Blue Dolphin experience, I arrive in Lorne on a Queens Birthday weekend. The day is wet and cold. The lunch places along the town strip are packed. None look inviting, and several look positively nauseating.

Friends some years ago had taken me to Qdos for a coffee. I head there. Qdos is a sculpture park set amongst tall timber. It has an art gallery and cafe. It also caters for weddings and those kinds of things. Accommodation is available. The Japanese-influenced style is evident everywhere. Please take time to look and appreciate. A perky, vivacious and competent young waitress is taking orders and making coffees.

I take a glass of Austin’s 07 Sauvignon Blanc. Coffee is Genovese. I have vegetable soup. Another friend has pea and ham. She is impressed: “easily the best I’ve had — you could see the strings — these soups take days to prepare. You can do pumpkin in 20 minutes.” The soup comes with a neat Zen stack of four pieces of bread. Another friend has a “toastie” — ham, roasted pumpkin, caramelised onion and chutney, with salad. Again, wonderful bread. An antipasto for two comes in @ $22. A pizza of roast veggies, pesto, feta and olives @ $18. Beef and Guinness pie with salad, $16. Food comes in specially fired bowls and plates. The whole experience is art. Go there!

Blue Dolphin Cafe
84 Newcombe St
Portarlington
Ph (03) 5259 1600

Come here and you’ll see diamonds. Make your way past a missable entrance to a place of style and comfort. My long black (Jasper Fair Trade coffee) comes in a cup correctly filled, with good crema and depth of flavour, and served by the owner with delicacy and grace. Normally, if I’m at a place for lunch I deign to purchase sweets. But who could resist the range of home-made cakes, slices, pastries and biscuits that this place purveys?

Here there is awareness of the customer and her needs. Scarcely have I grabbed a glass than a bottle of water is set upon the table.

Two generously-filled glasses of red are brought to the window table of two ladies. The sea outside, through a screen of leaves.

I like the feel of Portarlington. There is only a single line of shops. Over the road is parkland, and beyond that, the pier and the sea. Because of this concentration there is a sense of containment and true village life. There is a sense of order and compactness.

The Turkish owner tells me he’s been going five years and he has clearly established a fine standard. Two wood-framed blackboards on the wall list the specials and the soup of the day. Today it’s pumpkin. Banquettes along one wall. Pide dreads and focaccias. Chicken, mushroom and leek pie with salad. Tasmanian Smoked Salmon Salad.

Bright paintings on the wall. Two shelves of books. Wines — Portalington Ridge, Bellarine Estate and Aspen Estate rest on a sideboard.

This place is well worth the trip out from Geelong. Or Melbourne. There are fine walks along the coast and fit people could make it to St. Leonards — and return.