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.