Café Kinetic....a nice breaky before office

As soon as you enter in this café you notice clearly one thing, they received two coffee beans from Melbourne Coffee Review, it is on all T-shirts of the guys working there. I usually put a lot of emphasis on the fact that the coffee should be always fair trade and having a goof coffee which is also fair trade is a winner, well Kinetic does have it. I will spend sometime explaining a bit more of what does fair trade mean, there is a great film around as well, but that will be a subject all together and it can't be really mixed with any café description. At the moment, let's consider fair trade just a plus, though not essential.
The second thing you notice are the chandeliers and the art deco used in the furniture, a strange choice in the middle of the CBD, but more you get in more you notice just usual tables, somehow sort of food court tables, completely uninteresting, that is a pity, because I was stoned by the interior design in the few metres, but once you really get it, well it seems the designer got tired and had a coffee, which I may understand, and forgot about the remaining part of the bar. You order at the counter and you wait at the table, quick service and nice latte indeed. Lots of people waiting for the takeaway, but no confusion at all, the café is quite big, so you have your nice relaxed time at the table with multiple choice of newspapers.
What about the breakfast, well quite an impressive choice to be in CBD. They have specials, mostly for takeaway, but you can have it at the table if you prefer, and at what a price, very cheap, not sure how can they make it, also quality is top notch, which surprised me even more. So here the deal coffee and muffin or croissant or egg&bacon or a mix of them for just 6$, up to 8$, based on the choice. These guys clearly know how to attract customers, quality at an attractive price.

Rating (5=too good to be true,1=i saw and tasted much much better)
Coffee: 4 good, well done, fair-trade
Food: 3.5 good quality, good price, maybe not too much fantasy, but hey we are in CBD
Service: 2.5 great entrance, lots of expectation, but after few meters, well ..
Place: 3 quick and CBD style

Café Kinetic
103 Flinders Lane
Melbourne CBD

Il solito posto.....the usual place, but for dinner

This is a typical Italian restaurant, I have been there once and I found it quite good though a bit expensive. I do not usually go too much at the Italian restaurants, probably because I expect Italian food, but somehow I get usually disappointed, not possibly because it is not good but most probably because it is not Italian, but more an international variation, which is ok, but not what I wanted. I ride my bike in this little lane every second day, and I saw an increasing number of people here for breakfast, I was curious to see how was it. The issue with bars and restaurant that become also café' is that they carry on the smell of the dinner, and it is not too much about food but more about beers and wine. Having a coffee with the smell of wine or beer, is like when I wake up in the morning after a big night, the only difference is that I am the source of the smell. So I tried maybe once or twice but no more. I just avoid it. So, I was well surprised that the spirit smell is not actually there when I opened the door of Il Solito Posto. You come down few steps and you have few small tables, Tuscan style, in nice wood. The tables at the corner have benches and pillows, a nice environment, somehow dark, but that's ok in the morning when you are still sleeping a little bit, usually before the office. Service was ok, where ok is used to say I have seen better. Orders got mixed up somehow but no problem to have the right one at the end. The latte good, average, nothing extraordinary. And food pretty usual, and expensive as I remembered the dinner :-D. I was more interested to the people inside, all well dressed and high class, you could smell more money than usual, but hey, we are next to Channel and Armani here, so somehow expected. A place to go again? Probably not but give a try, you may like it more than I do.

Rating (5=too good to be true,1=i saw and tasted much much better)
Coffee: 2.5 average
Food: 2.5 nothing to call back home about
Service: 2.5 ok
Place: 2.5 better than expected, but this is not a café, many alternatives around

Café Superfino.....super French

I have never really seen this little café till my good friend Neil from Scotland took me there. Neil was on vacation here in Melbourne, and probably he has got more time to explore, or most likely he did not take places for grant. This is a typical mistake we all do when we settle in a place, just going back to the usual places, forgetting about the other 95% of bars and restaurant in Melbourne, and there are hundreds of them, one every few meters in Melbourne CBD. It was my last year 2009 new year resolution to explore more. Why did I like this place, and I have been back since, probably because it has a French size (very small café), a French look, French baguette, a French touch but very good coffees and nice owners. I am Italian, and by definition we do not love France and French things, but, inside we do. How can you not like the French cheese, the French bread, the French food….we will never admit it of course. If you come here for breakfast you can expect nothing super elaborated but just well done, the same for lunch, and when I see the baguette in the front fridge, well I fall in love. They use fair trade coffee and this is another positive thing of this café, last time it was Ethiopian, the country where the coffee was born. Very good quality and the espresso was just perfect in taste and size. A nice couple is running this place, he is more after the coffee and she is after the food, a good partnership that obviously works quite good. The place is so tiny, that really remembers a typical café in Paris, I just love it, reminds me of many trips back when I was living in Europe, and this may have affected my comments above and my rating below, I know!!!

Rating (5=too good to be true,1=i saw and tasted much much better)
Coffee: 4 fair trade and well done
Food: 3.5 half point more because of the baguette :)
Service: 3 quick and nice, not superb, maybe a bit french :D
Place: 4 tiny French place, if you like big look somewhere else, there is a food court around the corner

Brother Baba Budan, cool but.....

Finally, after so many tries, I could find an available seat at this little cool café. First of all, it is very cool and very grunge, in an area of Melbourne where there is the highest concentration of ties probably in Australia, maybe after Sydney CBD. It is indeed a bit weird to see typical office "penguins" (the tie reminds me a lot of the penguins I must say) in a very young style bar. Probably the brain remains always cool, even if the office uniform demands the tie. The café is as small as the pictures actually shows it, there is a table, a couple of benches and that is all. The biggest business is the latte takeaway clearly, even at lunch time, which somehow diminish the cool environment and Buddha Bar style music. Just make the picture of yourself having the latte, seating at the table (if you can find a spot) and trying to avoid the many business people that want to have a take away latte, does it sound relaxing? So first lesson learnt here, don't come on rush hours, there are at least two alternatives nearby without compromising on coffee quality (Captain of Industries and Brood Box). If you are in a rush before the office and you want a quick take away, than it's fine. I am Italian and I cannot drink coffee in paper or plastic glasses, it can be quick though but in small cups at the bar, no problem with that, this is what I have done for 15-20 years in Italy :-). Coffee quality, above average, but not as good as the St.Ali blend you can find also at Brood Box. Said that, places like this one change blend on a weekly basis, so you can be lucky or not, it is like when you taste wine and you are happier with a Cabernet than with Shiraz, or two Shiraz from different years. You should add that I may have had an hard day and coffee was not appreciated as deserved. Of course we are not talking about comparing cheap 3$ wines…but indeed Reserve wines. We are comparing 7 Seeds to St.Ali, the best probably in Melbourne. I am sure you find better blend in Melbourne, but you need to be selective and find the right blend in the right week. What about the food, none….only coffee….but really no space for that. Service was good, there was no sort of pretentious attitude.

Rating (5=too good to be true,1=i saw and tasted much much better)
Coffee: 3.5-4 good level but I would have expected something more
Food: 0 none
Service: 3.5 quick and responsive
Place: 4 just cool, the chairs in the ceiling are a great idea

brotherbababudan.com.au
359 Little Bourke Street
Melbourne CBD

Tyranny of Distance, design and coffee

Here we are in another area difficult to compete, Windsor end of Chapel Street. There are so many nice cafés around….and at the end if it becomes to hard to compete it is better to get together. In which way? Style, atmosphere, quality, design, all at a reasonable prize. The café has to have something special of course, and the idea to open in an old car service station is somehow unique, and I believe they won the bet here. They have two areas, outside, in the garage, and inside, in the house. The most interesting one is in the serving station of course where they converted the little office in a small kitchen/bar and the placed few tables and sofas instead of the car. By the way, if you have now problems with your engine, be quick and go to High Street, where there are still few shops, before they close down and they re-open as cafés. In Tyranny of Distance a sculptor, most probably, or a carver has decided to open few gas bottles and weld them in a unique design. People around are typical of this end of Chapel Street, and mostly young generation. Now let's move to the breakfast, well fantastic. I got one of my favourite dishes, eggs with mushroom and chorizo in a earthenware bowl, which you should not touch it for at least 20 minutes (I am still writing with 3 fingers, uh). Leave it breathing for a little bit till it comes down to a good temperature and enjoy your coffee in the meantime. The latte was indeed good, better than usual. It is always hard to find very good latte, and only few places specialize in it, though they than lack in food (as we saw in 7 seeds). Tyranny of Distance was able to impress me more than usual, but I must say it was not as good as the milestones café (7 seeds and St.Ali above all). Service just perfect, quick and friendly.

Rating (5=too good to be true,1=i saw and tasted much much better)
Coffee: 3.5 better than average
Food: 4 very nice and below 15$, a good finding
Service: 3.5 something you will remember
Place: 4 there is definitely an artistic touch

147 Union Street
Windsor (close to the Windsor train station)
www.tyrannyofdistance.com.au

Mart 130, "Harry Potter" Middle Park Station

Having a breakfast at a tram station sounds very very weird, I cannot argue that, but having the brekkie at Middle Park Station is one of the best Victorian experience, but avoid the F1 week. The front of the café is really a tram station, but it seems like platform 1.5 of Harry Potter. With few smallish tables and chairs. I would probably decide not to have breakfast there with a tram every 7 minutes though. The Park balcony is just gorgeous, with a view of the tennis courts, all green, with lots of trees around, we are of course in the Albert Park you may say. There is quite a number of tables, but the best one is the square table at the bottom end, a bit secluded, that you can get only if you are extremely lucky or arrive here very early during the week, because the weekend is jumped out. Inside, I love it, it was the station of course, and they tried to keep that vintage and charm character that it used to have. You can see there is a nice taste in interior design, done by a proper architect or the owner itself, and in this case I would say impressive. Not too much not to less. Next time there I would like to have chat with him. My latte was good, right temperature, quick to come, well done. Breakfast was excellent, I order nothing complicated, eggs with bacon and veggies, but all well presented. In another occasion I had a muffin, still fresh and warm from the oven, delicious. The only drawback of this place is the crowd in the weekend, but this is something expected for such a beautiful café, meanwhile during the week is just perfect, I went there in more than one occasion riding the bike through the park before work, and it was just perfect, relaxed and really a suggested way to start your business day. Service is busy during the weekend, but still very friendly; in a working day it seems to be in a family.

Rating (5=too good to be true,1=i saw and tasted much much better)
Coffee: 3 Good but not excellent
Food: 4 really nice in presentation, good in quality
Service: 3.5 friendly and more, especially if you go in a working day
Place: 5 till now I used 5 only for another cafe' (Captains of Industry, though everything else was not as good), and once you are in the back balcony you will understand why.

107a Canterbury Rd
Middle Park (take tram 96 and get out at Middle Park Station)

Arcadia, in the middle of Gertrude Street

Gertrude Street is one of the most know street in Melbourne area, because of the nice restaurant, because of the retro art shops, interesting pubs, outstanding architecture (including the Community Housing Development, one of the first in Melbourne, an example of inclusion and not separation, where the less lucky people are moved to the ghettos, far away from the city, as it happened in Paris, with all the problems that still the French capital is experiencing). Sorry I am Italian, and my political background has to come out sometime. Did I forget to mention anything in this nice street? Oh yes, the café scene and lifestyle. Located almost on the border with Fitzroy, has a mix clientele, mostly in the middle class, after a nice coffee and the daily newspaper. It is hard to get a table in the weekend as the café is not as big, but waiting for few minutes is not a huge issue in this street, lots of interesting people and shops around, difficult to get bored. I was almost sure about the quality of the breakky as soon as I stepped in. A big black board with all the specials, many available, and a fantastic menu to choose from. My appetite could be well satisfied I thought. And reality was……fantastic. Really great breakfast, based on eggs and small meatballs, well impressed. Coffee was an experience as well, unfortunately not good experience. The waiter forgot first to place my order, than she placed the order, than I waited and after a long while, after the breakky was all gone (well, in my stomach), it arrived. It must have been only that waiter and just in my case, because O could see coffees going to all tables but mine, so I take is as an unlucky experience, but surely it will not happen again (hopefully). Having the breakfast without any coffee is like going to a pub and not drinking, or even worst ask for a beer and it arrives when the pub is closing.

Rating (5=too good to be true,1=i saw and tasted much much better)
Coffee: 3 Average good latte
Food: 4 well done and reasonable price too
Service: 2 it should have been less than that, but I believe it was just an unfortunate case
Place: 4.5 I like it, they way it is organised, with all the adds on the left wall and newspapers around

193 Gertrude St
Fitzroy

Pics and video to add

Captains of Industry, coffee and much more

This is still a secret in Melbourne, and I was just so lucky that a friend of mine took me there after lunch. Really hard to find it, no clear direction, no signals of coffee or shop, well there is, but anybody guess to understand where are you getting into. The shop/café is in Somerset Place, close to Brother Baba Budan and Brood Box Café, not an easy location, with high competition, so you really need to be a magician to start something that long term is profitable. I believe they got it. The keyword here is vintage. As soon as you walk in, at the first floor, you have bicycles as old as my grandmother (100 in few days), shoes, ladders, all very vintage. Even the guys that are running the shop are vintage, in dressing and style. I keep calling shop because it is not only a café, that would limit Captains of Industry, it is a tailor, a shoe maker and hair dresser (I wonder if the style will be only '70s).It reminded me more of a factory, an idea factory, where people gather to discuss about art and politic, though I have never seen Australians speaking about politic. It is just a great place. Everything else is not as great I must say. They do not have food, so don't come here for breakfast, and the service is interesting, but quite slow at the moment, but that's ok here. Coffee quality is average. So why coming here? For the experience, and I am sure you will love it.

Rating (5=too good to be true,1=i saw and tasted much much better)
Coffee: 3 good
Food: 0 none
Service: 2.5 slow, but I'm sure it will get better
Place: 5 and this is the highest score I have ever used, and this is why you come here

Captains of Industry
Lvl 1, 2 Somerset Pl
CBD - Melbourne

The Vegie Bar

Well, I know this is not the typical breakfast café. First thing first it is called bar and not café, and, as the name says, it is vegetarian, therefore no bacon or sausages. Add they only have lunch and dinner during the week, so brekkie is only on Saturday and Sunday morning, from 9am. But, and this is why I believe it should be in this blog, the place is really nice and grunge; it is a place you can't miss when you walk in Fitzroy Street. I wonder if they studied the interior design or just happened to be like that, it's hard to say. They have a central area with a bar and the kitchen on the back, a coffee machine and lots of waiters working here, that makes service one of the fastest in the city I guess. Many tables distributed in the main room, upstairs, in the side room, in the backyard and on the street, is it enough? But still it may happen that you have to wait for a table. Why? Because it is so cool that it is always full, and this is a good sign. Another good point is that The Veggie Bar is cheap, with most of dishes below 15$ and breaky at 10-11$; but don't think that saving on money means also saving on quality, this is not the case here. It's just that you will not have bacon or sausages or chicken, but only eggs and any sort of veggie, mostly on season, which is great for the customers, money and quality wise, and for the owner as well. Should you come here for the coffee itself, maybe not, there are other better places around. You should come here for the lot, for the mix of place, people, food, and an average latte. There are people a bit grunge, with tattoos that cover most of the bodies, and theatre ads everywhere on the wall. Close your eyes, open them and you could be in some cities in the East Europe, maybe Budapest, the only difference is that the house around Fitzroy cost between 1 and 2 million dollars, in Budapest you should be fine with 1 or 200,000 dollars, and lots of coffee and breakfast and lunch and dinners to cover the difference.
Back to business, let's go the final rating(5=too good to be true,1=i saw and tasted much much better)
Coffee: 2.5 Average, nothing to scream about
Food: 3.5 well done, fresh and cheap
Service: 3.5 quick
Place: 4 grunge, young, interesting, sort of Uni bar, but not only for students, a bit bohemian but in a very rich area.

The Vegie Bar
378 Brunswick Street
Fitzroy (tram 112)
vegiebar.com.au

The Turtle

It was really a nice and warm day and the beach was just the perfect place to be. A nice sun bath, something I really miss from Italy or Greece, where you do not have to spend half of the time thinking about cancer and related problems. I used a normal sun protection cream and not a 30+, and I get brownish. But it can't be all perfect in Australia :-). Why this introduction? Just to say I moved a bit along the coast and on the way back I stopped in Elwood for breaky. It was already 3:30pm, and calling it breakfast is a bit too much, not even brunch, possibly lu-ner or di-nch. Well, anyway, I wanted my eggs and a latte, so I opted for the Turtle, which is a nice bar on a round about shared with other cafes and a 7/11. This round space gives a bit of European environment, sort of square, and The Turtle is located in a beautiful two storey art deco shop, I really like it. It is close to Elwood Patisserie and Bakery, run by a Greek family (this is the best Patisserie in Elwood, well Melbourne, possibly Victoria and maybe Australia) and opposite to Café de Cuba. So, if you are lost here around, well you will not have problems looking for food and coffees. The Turtle has a nice area outside, with few tables on the pavement, and you can smell vacation here, even if, unfortunately, the day after is a working day. The atmosphere is very relaxed, you can still smell the sea and it even seems warmer here. It's just a nice place to have a breaky, which they serve till 4pm. I was just in time to order my latte ($3.50) and my baked eggs with Italian sausages ($16.50) and I was really starving. The coffee arrived straight away and the food soon after, a good start I though. The eggs covered almost completely the little terrine, just perfectly cooked. Inside the sausages in a tomato sauce. I attacked the dish, which was at 89 degrees Celsius, not a good idea, but I could not wait. I than let the dish to relax a bit, getting cooler, and than again my fork was full of sausages and eggs, there was bread on the side to help me to amalgamate the mix. Well, I originally thought that $16.5 for a breaky is a bit too much, though we are in the upper class Elwood, but the quality of the meat was just so high that I was astonished. The sausage just melted in my mouth, the texture was divine and the combination with eggs and a little ciabatta was just perfect. Was I maybe to hungry and therefore everything would have been perfect? Possibly but I do not think so. The coffee was good/average and the service was responsive and smiley, which I really appreciated, understanding that being friendly even at the end of a tiring and busy day is not a common thing, good score on this.

Rating (5=too good to be true,1=i saw and tasted much much better)
Coffee: 3 Average, and not Fair Trade
Food: 4 well done, excellent quality, they could have scored better if the price would have been below $15
Service: 3.5 responsive and smiley
Place: 4.5 fantastic and relaxing

34 Glenhuntly Rd
Elwood (take bus 246 or have a nice bike ride)
www.theturtle.com.au (but nothing on it

Yellow Bird, don't miss it

Chapel Street for coffees is always great, which side is always the dilemma. Do you prefer the South Yarra end or the Prahran end. I like both somehow, the first is a bit posh and the second one a bit grunge. Nevertheless I tend to go more on the Windsor side, just to add more confusion to the district's names. I remember I visited this café when it just opened and I loved it, it was just perfect for this area. I believe most of the furniture has been bought from the two OP shops nearby, which makes the place very grunge and there is quite a wide area outside. Said that, it is not as easy to find a free table in the weekend. I have decided to visit this place again and I loved it even more, only drawback is really …..too busy, but that comes with the popularity. Why do I like it? Because it has all the components of a great café. The four reasons I go to a café are all well rewarded here. As I said above, the place is so cool, lots of newspapers, to read with your coffee, a couple of sofas and tables and chairs from the 70s, or, well, from the OP shop nearby. Outside, on Chapel Street, simple tables where you can spend some time watching around, and there is lot to see around :D
The latte is good and quick, and at the right temperature. Quality is good but not excellent. Food is great; this is an heaven if you are an egg lover . I have got poached eggs with feta, spinach and pumpkin….just great, and this is clearly a brunch because the size is just amazing, American style. Quality was comparable to the quantity, very high. And what about the service, another good surprise, I remembered lots of smiles there, and they are still there, though from different waiters.
Let's try to summarize my 40-60 minutes there. A great time reading my newspaper and talking with the waiter, having a great breakky and good latte in a cool place. What can I say? Absolutely a place to go back!!

Rating (5=too good to be true,1=i saw and tasted much much better)
Coffee: 3 good
Food: 4.5 great, lots of dished based on eggs
Service: 4 friendly and quick
Place: 4.5 just so grunge and cool, with good music, maybe a bit too loud to be in the morning (and that's why it is not 5)

122 Chapel St
Windsor (not far away from Windsor station)
www.yellowbird.com.au

Ps : photo and movies to be loaded

The Mess Hall, one of the best in CBD

I find always quite difficult to find a nice place in CBD where you can have a mix of good food, coffee in a pretty and charming café and adequate service. Which one of the four is less important, probably the service I must say, as long as they are polite and they do not have attitude, and some cafes have. Which one is more important? Difficult to say but if I find myself in a charming place, I somehow tend to forgive mistakes. The Mess Hall is one of these places which I feel comfortable in and I could spend easy the all morning drinking coffees and reading the newspaper. What about the food, just good. It is simple in some cases, based on yoghurt, berries and porridge (all at about 10$) and more "creative" in other cases. I could not find another word for that, because you can see an Italian inspiration in some breakky, but being an Italian, I never seen something similar in Italy, maybe because the typical breakfast over there is an espresso and cornetto (of course, quickly, because your car outside is not well parked, police is around, you heard of a crash outside, and many other things). You add bruschetta with Bulgarian Feta, and my wife, being Greek, has an hard attack. But I always keep saying that without testing, or experimentation, we would not see many great food dishes and, of course art generally speaking.
I wanted to have an espresso here, and it was a good decision. It was creamy, full, tasty. It did not excel in any particular taste but it was well balanced, which I like it a lot. Well done.
Overall a good experience, and being so close to many offices, no wonder it is always busy; add they have two floors, second floor is more for lunch than breakky, they have an outside area and the bar has a lot of light, beautiful in a sunny day.

Rating (5=too good to be true,1=i saw and tasted much much better)
Coffee: 4 the way I like it, simple and well balanced
Food: 3.5 adapting Italian food to breakky is hard, but a good try
Service: 4.5 probably one of the top 5 or 3 in CBD
Place: 3 nothing to call home about but not bad at all

51 Bourke St
Melbourne CBD
messhall.com.au

Galleon Café, not anymore a secret in St.Kilda

This is my favourite café in St.Kilda. I am really sorry for all the others cafes and I believe my preference is more due to historical reasons than anything else. It was the first cafes I have been when I arrived in Australia/Melbourne and it was the café I went after I bought the house in St.Kilda, just to add a bit of caffeine to the adrenaline you have from an auction. Nevertheless, I asked myself why I like this place so much, and there is not only one answer to that I believe. Let's be pragmatic:
-1- the place is cool, 3 little tables outside and many more inside. I wonder if they bought the all furniture in the 70s, because it looks so retro that I would not be surprised to see sooner or later Andy Warhol's ghost. I remember that my mother had a similar table when I was a kid, and it was sooo trendy, it was '73.
-2- the service is great, I think the core of the guys serving the tables is the same since I arrived here in Australia, in 2006. They have good and bad days like everybody, but I still have to see a bad day.
-3- breakfast is just good, and you can change it everyday, not having the same dish for a month I guess. This is not a place to taste the coffee, this is a place for latte and breakky. And this is why you do not really smell coffee here, which is the only drawback I can really find
-4- location, just in the centre of St.Kilda, far away from Fitzroy Street, which is good in the night but not really in the morning and so close to the beach. A perfect place after the St.Kilda Market on Sunday morning.
-5- not very busy in the week, but full in the weekend, especially on Sunday. Take it easy
I have been here many times and I will go back again, such an easy and good place. Give a check.

Rating (5=too good to be true,1=i saw and tasted much much better)
Coffee: 3 good latte, but this is not the highlight of the cafe
Food: 4.5 very good selection and good quality as well
Service: 3.5 good and the usual ones for a long time
Place: 4 70's all very nice and nicely mixed

9 Carlisle Street
St.Kilda (next to the new super station, 16 or 96)

Ps : photo and movies to be loaded

Wall Two 80, another corner of St.Kilda East

Have you ever though that less a bar has more successful is. I mean when the furniture is cheap, benches and crates outside, leftovers from somewhere, and sofas from the Opshop, than people are more attracted by the place. Weird but in many cases the cafés are like that. Wall Two 80 is a typical example. This is not to say that food, coffee or service is cheap as well, both in quality and/or price, as indeed it is not the example for this café. Let's make clear one point, the latte is good, and you can spend easy a good part of the morning outside, seating on a bench, reading your newspaper, enjoying the people around. They have also a good choice of food, though not the best, not as good as Las Chicas which is just across the road, so, if you feel hungry, just walk twenty meters more. What I really loved of this place is inside. The idea to keep some wall with windows inside the bar is very appealing, it was an architectural choice that costed to the bar, they could otherwise fit more table, but the end result pays back in my opinion, as it is quite unique. And you need to be unique in Melbourne, with so many cafes, especially in St.Kilda East, or better say Balaclava.
The crowd here is not as young as in the other places, 30s and 40s, and this makes somehow the place more interesting, and mostly not as loud as other cafes I have been. As end result, a really nice interior and average breakky. I would visit it again, yes, why not, I felt quite relaxed and you need that in a morning with hangover!!

Rating (5=too good to be true,1=i saw and tasted much much better)
Coffee: 3 good latte
Food: 3 there is a discrete selection of dishes
Service: 3
Place: 4.5 I like the choice to leave the walls inside, really cool

280 Carlisle St (look around the corner)
Balaclava/St.Kilda East (just next to the Balaclava station)
www.wallcoffee.com.au

Ps : photo and movies to be loaded

Las Chicas, only the best

This is the area I like most of Melbourne, maybe. Why? Because it is so close to the sea and it is not as touristic. Going to Acland Street for a coffee is like having breakfast on vacation, lots of people around with maps and Lonely planet guides, checking for the best café, the best restaurant or simply the best place to have a beer. Of course many old and famous cafés in Acland street with lots of nice cakes, but at what a price. The coffee is ok to be positive and the cakes overpriced, but well that is normal with tourists, and you accept it once you travel, but not when you "play" at home.
St.Kilda East reminds me a bit of Eastern Europe, especially when I go there in a working day. People average age is well older than the one you find in most of central Melbourne area, but that is changing, more young's have noticed this area and they are moving here. But it is not the type of crowd that you expect from a sea side area, it is more similar to the Fitzroy crowd, young and bohemian……still need to understand what does really mean bohemian. I tried to trace the etymology, or better say the real meaning, I found few explanations:
Inhabitant of Bohemia…..this is not just right as Bohemia is in Czech Republic as far as I remember
A person, as an artist or writer who lives and acts free….these are not really the people around in Fitzroy or St.Kilda East, they can't live there, clearly too expensive to live and act free. Not too mention the people at the bar, bohemian maybe but they read The Age and maybe also the financial pages
Gypsy, and also here I can't find any. First of all because the Australian government would not give a VISA to a gypsy, secondly because being gypsy means that they do not have a fixed place to live, but the move constantly….you may remember the beautiful move "Chocolate"
Yes, ok, maybe I am a bit out of subject here, from coffee to word etymology it is a bit too much, indeed.
Back to Las Chicas, which is a Spanish word for girls, even more confusing in a bohemian area. Said that it really seems that most of the customers do not really complain about this confusion, and concentrate more on food and coffee. And I am one of them. I came here after the gym, so my appetite was at an high level. This is another of these place I have seen many times, always full, and always wanted to have more than just a quick coffee. And here is the time. Let's go down to the real business.
Service good from the real start, you get into the place and you are asked straight away what are you looking for, if a table, they try to organise it for you, well done. The menu was great, I was hungry and there was a good selection of everything you wanted to, probably one of the best choice in Melbourne central area. As I always said in my blog, the coffee has to be good but the breakky has to be comparable, otherwise, sorry you won't be in my Top10 (again a personal taste). The latte arrived at the right temperature, good taste, a good blend was selected, probably not the best, but with latte I do not expect it, the milk would dilute it anyway.
All in all probably one of the best place in Melbourne, it all came to my table at the right time, and I was even moved to a better table before the food arrived, without asking it. The menu was a little book, with a vast choice and the latte just right.

Rating (5=too good to be true,1=i saw and tasted much much better)
Coffee: 3.5 good, what you would expect from a similar place
Food: 5 this place knows its business, call it breakky, lunch or brunch, it is all good here
Service: 4 you get what you expect and more
Place: 4 lots of theatre and concert leaflets on the wall. Bohemian, in a way that somehow it is similar to the Uni cafés in Prague. I like it

Las Chicas
203 Carlisle St
Balaclava/St.Kilda East (just next to the Balaclava station)

Ps : photo and movies to be loaded

7 Seeds Specialty Coffee

I can see two good things about these reviews I am currently writing:
-1- I was not born in Melbourne and I moved here only 4 years ago. I am selecting the cafes based on a directory, location (CBD and around) or just because I saw them from outside and they looked interesting. Being born in Melbourne is a good thing of course, outside of these reviews :-D
-2- I grew up in Italy, I had my first coffee when I was probably 2 years old and I got addicted. Not sure if this is a good or a bad thing.
This is to say I never investigate a place before going there, this would somehow "pollute" my judgment and I would have a prejudice, either in a good or a bad way. And my comments would just follow the mass, which may do anyway, but at least I am sure they are 100% genuine.
This morning I was looking on the web for the exact address of Seven Seeds, the café I visited on Saturday, once I was exploring a bit of the unknown Carlton. Suddenly Google provided thousands of results with links to the best Blogs and Newspaper sites. Clearly I ended up in a famous place. Let's go to what I wanted to write, and if I would change it after reading some of people's comments.
The location is hard to find, not because it is in a small lane, but because the café is gray, at the basement of a gray warehouse, in a gray street. I though I was colour blind, but luckily my wife decided to wear a violet shirt and I felt much better. Once I got in, I felt like in a….warehouse, with bricks and cheap wood, and that is what I expected from outside, therefore well done. They added few cool bikes on the wall and tables around. The smell was already arriving to my nostril, and this is what you want in a café. I love food with my coffee, but it would hate to smell food in a café. It's like having a coffee at McDonald. It can be as good as you want but you smell hamburger, that is why they do not sell it….actually they do now, I know it is sad.
I placed the order and I waited I waited I waited. The first latte arrived, I waited, I waited and the second latte arrived. Not great, isn't it. I never complain in a bar or restaurant, if I don't like it I don't go back. But indeed I was surprised about the service. The food list is small and you don't come here for food, that's it. The coffee taste was great, and I realised straight away I should have ordered an espresso, to taste it even more, stupid me. But I wanted to have some breakky as well and latte was just the right companion.
Around you can see a class room and, in the back, the place where the roast locally the coffee, and that explained the beautiful smell. For a quick and sneaky view, go to the toilette, the roaster is almost on the way.
Would I suggest this place? For the coffee absolutely, I can compare it to the Brother Baba Budan one (I found out later it is the same owner) or to St.Ali (I found out later it was the previous owner). For everything else look somewhere else.

Now, after reading some comments and blogs and Newspapers review, would I change above? Not really, I may be unpopular here, but you can have greater food and service in many other places. No, coffee is hard to beat!!!

Rating (5=too good to be true,1=i saw and tasted much much better)
Coffee: 4.5 Very very good
Food: 1 Poor
Service: 2 Lots of smiles but something I would change if I would be the owner
Place: 3.5 I always like this warehouses places, the architecture is just intriguing

7 Seeds Specialty Coffee
www.sevenseeds.com.au
106 Berkeley St
Carlton

Postal Hall, a tiny cafe in a busy street

I cannot say this is a secret café really, it was always there, not sure when they opened it but I remember it there for a long while. I was there a long while ago and back today. The same people serving the coffees, all with a smile. Back in the office I checked some comments about this café and surprise surprise I read that somebody could see a sort of attitude in the owner and was not satisfied. I was really surprised, as I had just the opposite experience, well I guess everybody can have a bad day. For sure today everybody had a good day at the Postal Hall.
Anyway, I was not there to study psychology but simply to try the coffee and get some food. I liked the environment I must say, very simple but, at the same time, very comfortable. Few small tables and chairs with two benches on the side, not really the typical furniture you find in a CBD café, and maybe, for this reason, you get a sense of break from the office time, which I like. Of course you are in Russel Street so you can't avoid the traffic and the penguins (read business man with tie) around you, but that's ok, I also wear the tie a couple of times every ten years. Plus, I always think the Post Office as a place to avoid, due to the queues, and I am quite happy to spend a nice time in a Postal Hall.
The coffee was good but quite average, nothing to call home about. It is a Miscela Tiziano (Bristot), for what I could see, which is 95% Arabica, and it is a good average coffee. It was served at the right temperature, and this is a plus. The food is mostly sandwiches and for lunch few warm dishes. The choice is limited but good. My rice salad (10$) with eggs and tuna was quite good.

Rating (5=too good to be true,1=i saw and tasted much much better)
Coffee: 3 Average, good to start the day
Food: 3 Selected choice, good result
Service: 4 The owner as well as the other guys are a good fun
Place: 3.5 A nice break in the city centre

Hero Building
116 Russell Street

Miss Jackson: find it and enjoy it

 How many times I have walked in this area, and how many times I rode my bicycle in this little street, well, I always missed this place. They have a small front courtyard but you cannot see it from outside, and the bar is on a mezzanine floor. The space outside has a rusted tall iron-made fence, that gives really a touch of arty to the place, but unfortunately, at the same time, tends to hide it from outside, therefore you really need to know where is the place. Add also the address, that is 2/19 Grey Street, to make even more confusing the search of this little café. I lived in the St.Kilda area for 4 years and I missed it, mostly because I could not see it. Now that I left this area, here I am back, willing to have a nice breakfast with a good coffee. I am lucky and there is a free table outside, with a beautiful sunny day, a little alcove in the middle of Gray Street area. There is silence, there are lots of newspapers and the service is so prompt that I hardly open the first page of The Age that I get served my latte, wow, what a start. I order a Spanish Breakfast with chorizo (14$), which is most probably the most expensive dish, but I am chorizo addicted and I can't stop myself. The menu is simple, with an average selection of sandwiches and cooked dishes, actually it looks really good. Once my eggs arrive in a little paella pan, they look gorgeous, and they taste even better. They are very filling and the breakfast fits just well with my latte. I am very happy. I want to check also the bar inside, because, unfortunately, in winter will be the main place, once the cooler wind will arrive. A bit disappointing I must say, but that is a personal feeling of course. It seems to perfect, too white and the bar is not full of coffee bags as I like to see. The walls are a bit too empty, almost minimalistic. I would have expected something different, because I built up expectations during my fantastic breakfast and mostly because we are in the middle of St.Kilda and I would have expected something more grunge.

Rating (5=too good to be true,1=i saw and tasted much much better)
Coffee: 3 Right temperature, but still missing something
Food: 4.5 Close to perfect
Service: 4 Great, quick and very enjoyable
Place: 2.5 Too minimalistic inside, but, again, a personal taste

2/19 Grey Street, St Kilda (enter from Jackson Street)
www.missjackson.com.au - missjackson@missjackson.com.au - but I am afraid not too much on the website

Brood Box Cafe

Today I felt a bit arty and I was in CBD and I wanted a good coffee. Pretentious you may say, yes I was. There are lots of nice galleries around CBD, some with new artists, others with emerging ones, but coffee is not contemplated usually. I have been in exposition where beer and wine was available but not coffee. There are cafes around that also have little expositions on the wall, of local artists, but I would not consider it as a gallery, and most of them are not in CBD anyway. I was in Hardware Lane and I was giving up and going to Brother Baba Budan in Little Bourke, an icon in this area.
But, as my grandfather used to tell me, never give up. In Rankins lane, signals of a café and of a gallery, in the same place!! Let's check it out. It is called Brood Box and it has two goals, promote and sell paints, of emerging and/or famous artists, promote and sell good coffee. I think today I have scored my goal. The owner explains how they change collection every few weeks to have always new artists exposing, he is clearly the arty person. The barista highlights instead the coffee blend, a Kenyan Fine Estate AA from St.Ali (yes, the usual St.Ali), they change frequently and you can follow them on twitter.
Well let's get down to the important business, let's taste the espresso. No milk, no sugar, just the coffee taste. Gorgeous, delicious, fantastic, I closed my eyes and I felt to be in Africa for few seconds :-o. And the barista did a great work with the espresso too, with the right temperature and foam on top. Very happy with it. I tasted the coffee without sugar but after that I added just a bit of it for my enjoyment, which somehow worked better to me, though you loose a bit of real coffee taste I must say.
There is no food available, but, this is a café-gallery and not really café place I guess.

Rating (5=too good to be true,1=i saw and tasted much much better)
Coffee: 4.5 Difficult to beat
Food: 0 No food available
Service: 4 Lovely barista that explains you the blend and the future plans, I could kiss him at the end. Clearly there is passion here, for art and for coffee
Place: 4 I loved this mix of art and coffee

8 Rankins Lane, Melbourne CBD
www.broodbox.com.au - info@broodbox.com.au

Alfred's Place Cafe

This is a local cafe for the office residents of 90 Collins. You can enter either from here or from Alfred's Place. It is closed on Sunday and anyway I would not suggest it in the weekend unless you are here, you do not want to walk further and you want just a coffee.
The first section of the bar/cafe is dedicated to pre-cooked food. The coffee machine is right in the middle of Alfred's next to a good selections of cakes and muffins. You can select a take away, cheaper, or seat at the tables around. Newspapers are always available, so that you do not get bored meanwhile you are waiting for the latte.
At first, the bar seems a bit too cold; the furniture inside seems a bit dated and not reflecting any particular style. The latte can be good, though sometime the waiting time may be long, I am not sure if they give priority to the take away, and if you seat, which I prefer, you just have to wait your turn.
They have a good selection of breakfast (and lunch as well). If you love the old formal standard big portion breakfast, this is the place, but do not expect more than that.
The big plus comes from the service, with an amiable Steve, co-owner, that never stops being positive and distributing smiles around, a good start in this busy part of the city.

Rating (5=too good to be true,1=i saw and tasted much much better)
latte: 2.5 because the coffee is well done but waiting time is sometime too long
food: 3 if you like standard breakfast
service: 4 they recognize you once you go back, they have a laugh with you, they behave as old good time friends. I like that
place: 2 they should refresh this place, still anchored to the 80's

Address: Shop 5 90 Collins St, Melbourne, VIC, 3000

Dr.Jekyll in St.Kilda (07-Mar-10)

Today we have decided to explore the St.Kilda scene. I did not expect too much, fitzroy street is famous for the pub and bars, ackland street for the cake shops (very touristic), gray street famous for... well everybody knows, and here it is the surprise, Dr.Jekyll.
107 grey street St.Kilda
www.drjekyll.com.au
Coffee and service are the main attractions because only sandwiches are available. Not too much choice, food wise, but really great environment, with a fabolous backyard. Chill out music, and they know the right music here, and you feel suddenly away thousand of kms and days from the busy time you have at the office. Give a try to the cakes as they are fresh and just done.
Rating (5=too good to be true,1=i saw and tasted much
much better)
latte: 3 because they use coffee from sustainable business
food: 2 not a great choice
service: 5 these guys are a great fun and it is a positive therapy, not to be missed
place: 5 great relaxing backyard with palms, newspapers and magazine available.