Caffeine buzz in Melbourne
Kalpana SunderMelbourne, December 24, 2011
First Published: 14:14 IST(24/12/2011)
Last Updated: 14:14 IST(24/12/2011)
I am in the brazenly
modern Federation
Square, a warren of
exhibition spaces and
galleries linked like a
Rubik's Cube with
triangular shards of glass,
sandstone and zinc.
Melbourne is a city with
cutting edge fashion, art,
architecture, food and music;
where you have to be a forensic
artist and
What
National Gallery of Victoria Melbourne Cricket Ground Royal Botanic Gardens
When
Any Time
Where
Art Series The Langham Sofitel Melbourne on Collins
Map
delve deeper to
ferret out its little secrets.
Fiona Sweetman's 'Hidden
Secrets' is an innovative
attempt to guide visitors
through the laneways of
Melbourne -- narrow streets
between the city's broad thoroughfares,
filled with eateries,
bars, shops and restaurants
and offering a parallel city, so
to speak.
I am taking the Café
Culture walk, which is just not
about coffee alone -- but
brings you up-close with many
independent businesses and
local enterprises.
"Melbourne is a city founded
on an entrepreneurial spirit
and wealth from the Gold
Rush, and even today small
businesses are major players
in sweeping in big changes,"
says Fiona. The city does not
tolerate 'chains' and it's a
telling point that Starbucks
had to close three fourths of
its shops in 2008, a few years
after entering Australia!
Fiona speaks about how the
Italian immigrants were the
ones to introduce espresso in
Melbourne. And when they
could not find good beans,
they would even use ground
chicory or acorns. There is
the iconic Pellegrino's
Expresso Bar, which imported
the first Gaggia machine in
the 1950s. Crossly Street is
the lane of boutiques and
small innovative businesses.
We peer in to the windows of
Lucy Folk --a quirky jeweller
who specialises in her 'foodie
jewellry.
There are food-inspired
pieces ranging from popcorn
and pretzels to tortilla chips.
The mecca of the caffeine
world is Degraves Street,
lined with cafes with umbrellas
and red plastic chairs. We
have a coffee here at Degraves
Expresso, which uses recycled
cinema seats and benches
from a magistrate's court!
We swing past Hardware
Lane, famous for its line of
open-air cafés. La Belle Miette
is a French patisserie that
serves divine macaroons in little
boxes designed by a graphic
artist. It's run by the daughter
of a perfumer, who uses
unusual scents to flavour
the macaroons.
There are also small cafes
with character, in large corporate
buildings. There is
Truffula Seed hiding in the
Steel House building on
Spring Street, a name
inspired by Dr Seuss's book
The Lorax! Their USP is the
ethically sourced beans from
the Social Roasting Company
delivered on green bicycles
and carry-home cups that you
can re-use.
The Manchester Utility
building is a beautiful Art
Nouveau structure designed
by the famous architect
Marcus Barlow in 1932 and
built in nine months to counter
the effects of the Great
Depression with the first escalator
in Melbourne.
What we are here to see is
the Switchboard Cafe, imaginatively
run out of the closet
space that housed the building's
telephone system! The
Tuck shop in the foyer of the
NAB building at Bourke
Street derives its name from
the name given to comfort
food at school lunches. It's a
small café that serves a myriad
salads and luscious hot
dogs along with coffee.
Our walk ends in
Manchester Press on Rankins
Street -- one of the newest
cafés located in an old printing
press building and very
popular with the young crowd
-- they have amazing open
bagels. It's another link in a
city which is using its old
spaces imaginatively in new
endeavours...
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