So Saturday night we headed out for drinks and then dinner in the CBD, organised by our friend D. D is very adept at finding and locating Melbournes various trendy bars which seem to occupy the weirdest places. This one was pretty tame, occupying a basement, and it is called The Sweatshop.
We were there so early that for at least half an hour we were the only ones in the place. It's basically crates to sit on, which actually gives you a rather sore butt after a while (or at least it did for me).
The highlight of the venue (at least for some of us... I chose not to partake) was a rediscovery of the Lolly Waters of our youth, in particular West Coast Cooler. For some reason the idea of spending $5 on something that should be much cheaper was incredibly kitsch and so they were downed with much vigour. I chose a glass of Sparkling, and then a glass of some red wine which I didn't even identify, both were nice and got me in a rather happy mood.
Of course the West Coast Cooler Encounter (trying saying that repeatedly after having consumed a few) prompted discussion of various other Lolly Waters (not Alco pops as they have recently and topically become known). In particular the one that sprang to mind was "Wild Peach". The quandary of the night was "is it still available". I've been to several reputable liquor merchants and so far no dice, but then they were reputable liquor merchants. The quest continues.
Anyway after this we headed on to the 100 Mile Cafe. This little gem is literally hidden away from the world... in Melbourne Central, of all places. It's behind a door that doesn't even look like a door, we actually walked past it before realising it was the entrance.
It's a rather large space, very trendily layed out and with large full length windows that afford a view of the Latrobe/Swanston intersection.
The gimmick of the place is that all produce and drinks are sourced within 100 Miles. One of my dining partners (who happens to be my partner) actually used the GPS to confirm this in one or two cases. Though we were left with a question of who grows rice within 100 miles of the Melbourne CBD, a question for another visit.
For Entre I had oysters (of which there were three types). All delicious. Then I had a burger for main, which was simply fabulous, even the chips were nice.
Several of my friends had the dahl, which they said was less than stellar. We all had a dessert of one form or another which was very nice though a tad expensive at $14 each.
The highlight of the place however was the waitress. She was simply fantastic, you could not ask for a better hostess. When asked for advice about meals and then her advice was ignored, she promptly gave as good as she got, which was hilarious. Also, when asked why there was no West Coast Cooler on the menu, she basically said that they wouldn't lower themselves to that. Also, it's probably not from less than 100 miles away!
All in all it was a wonderful evening out. Even better when deciding to catch a train home we only had to wait 3 minutes which was fairly incredible in itself. Thanks Connex.
Showing posts with label bars. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bars. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Monday, March 3, 2008
The Vegie Bar - where it's always a full moon
I'm a firm believer that the full moon has major effects on people. The proof is irrefutable really, any sane individual can see that people just go ga ga at that time of the month. But, in some places, it seems like it's a full moon virtually constantly. The Vegie Bar on Brunswick Street Fitzroy is one of those places.
Saturday was rather lovely, we had a birthday of a friend at The Standard Hotel in Fitzroy, 293 Fitzroy Street. (that's Fitzroy street Fitzroy, NOT St Kilda!). The place is just great and I might review it some other time. Anyway rather than eat there my vego partner decided we should visit the Vegie Bar as we hadn't been there for ages.
We kind of have a love/hate relationship with this place. It can be absurdly good, the food being simply outstanding value. But we have had bad experiences there in the past. It all seems to come down to a) who's working in the kitchen, and to a lesser extent b) the waiting staff.
Well Saturday day night the place excelled on both counts. The food was simply delicious. I had two samosa's for entre and then the Mexican Burrito for Main. Both dishes were simply delicious. My Partner had Kofta Balls for entre, and Vegetable Plate for main, and he said they were fantastic.
The place was packed when we arrived, a short wait however landed us a table in the non alcoholic part of the venue. I assume it's due to some vaigary of liquor licencing that the venue is required to have a drinking and non-drinking section, I could probably look it up but it really doesn't matter. The waiter quickly cleaned our table from the previous occupants, there was some friendly banter of the kind that means he likes you (either that or he's just good at his job, maybe both).
Anyway, it was upon sitting down that the full moon factor kicked in. To my left were a couple that seemed to be having an awfully serious deep and meaningful, lots of holding of both of each others hands, whispered conversations. At one point the woman put her head down on her table and her partner gave her a head massage (hell I could have used one). The other issue was that I wasn't sure if he was a guy or a girl, it could easily have been lesbians, he had very long hair and a few random piercings. All in all very strange, if I was wanting a deep and meaningful conversation with my partner I can think of about a million other places I'd rather have it than the Vegie Bar.
But the fun didn't stop there. a young couple arrived sitting to my right. Partner thought they were Swedish... they didn't seem to be talking at all but anyway the guy ordered a pizza. When it arrived he seemed to think it wasn't big enough so it got taken back and later a bigger one came out. When this arrived however something was wrong with it (not sure what) and it got taken back as well. Sadly we didn't see the conclusion of this but both pizza's looked fine to me. Ah well.
After all this, I was still tempted by the bread and butter pudding but was simply to full so had to leave it for another time.
Anyway, the Vegie Bar rarely disappoints for a variety of reasons, though I wouldn't guarantee it, I once had some particularly nasty nacho's which kept us away from the place for six months, though it does seem to have made up for that as the food on saturday was great. But we won't go back for a while, just in case.
The Vegie Bar is at 380 Brunswick Street Fitzroy, you might have to wait for a table, you might have to share a table, but that's half the fun.
Saturday was rather lovely, we had a birthday of a friend at The Standard Hotel in Fitzroy, 293 Fitzroy Street. (that's Fitzroy street Fitzroy, NOT St Kilda!). The place is just great and I might review it some other time. Anyway rather than eat there my vego partner decided we should visit the Vegie Bar as we hadn't been there for ages.
We kind of have a love/hate relationship with this place. It can be absurdly good, the food being simply outstanding value. But we have had bad experiences there in the past. It all seems to come down to a) who's working in the kitchen, and to a lesser extent b) the waiting staff.
Well Saturday day night the place excelled on both counts. The food was simply delicious. I had two samosa's for entre and then the Mexican Burrito for Main. Both dishes were simply delicious. My Partner had Kofta Balls for entre, and Vegetable Plate for main, and he said they were fantastic.
The place was packed when we arrived, a short wait however landed us a table in the non alcoholic part of the venue. I assume it's due to some vaigary of liquor licencing that the venue is required to have a drinking and non-drinking section, I could probably look it up but it really doesn't matter. The waiter quickly cleaned our table from the previous occupants, there was some friendly banter of the kind that means he likes you (either that or he's just good at his job, maybe both).
Anyway, it was upon sitting down that the full moon factor kicked in. To my left were a couple that seemed to be having an awfully serious deep and meaningful, lots of holding of both of each others hands, whispered conversations. At one point the woman put her head down on her table and her partner gave her a head massage (hell I could have used one). The other issue was that I wasn't sure if he was a guy or a girl, it could easily have been lesbians, he had very long hair and a few random piercings. All in all very strange, if I was wanting a deep and meaningful conversation with my partner I can think of about a million other places I'd rather have it than the Vegie Bar.
But the fun didn't stop there. a young couple arrived sitting to my right. Partner thought they were Swedish... they didn't seem to be talking at all but anyway the guy ordered a pizza. When it arrived he seemed to think it wasn't big enough so it got taken back and later a bigger one came out. When this arrived however something was wrong with it (not sure what) and it got taken back as well. Sadly we didn't see the conclusion of this but both pizza's looked fine to me. Ah well.
After all this, I was still tempted by the bread and butter pudding but was simply to full so had to leave it for another time.
Anyway, the Vegie Bar rarely disappoints for a variety of reasons, though I wouldn't guarantee it, I once had some particularly nasty nacho's which kept us away from the place for six months, though it does seem to have made up for that as the food on saturday was great. But we won't go back for a while, just in case.
The Vegie Bar is at 380 Brunswick Street Fitzroy, you might have to wait for a table, you might have to share a table, but that's half the fun.
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