Melbourne has a reputation for great coffee, largely furnished by Melburnians themselves but not entirely undeserved nonetheless. Besides the usual espresso-style drinks, nowadays we’re seeing new types of coffee with names like Siphon and Clover coming out of complicated equipments that look more like lab apparatus than brewing machines. I’m quite a fan of the… [Read more…]
February 12, 2010
Sydney Road is the beating heart of Brunswick. Although it proudly lays claim to being Melbourne’s longest continuous shopping strip, its sheer length can sometimes be a curse as shoppers struggle with the logistical challenge of traversing the road. At the moment, the strategy that’s being used is to compartmentalise the road into several distinct… [Read more…]
February 3, 2010
For the past 2 years I had the pleasure of living in Brunswick, a gritty inner city suburb known in popular culture for its myriad ethnicities, shootings (gangland figure Lewis Moran gunned down at the Brunswick Club, strip club bouncer shot by unsatisfied customer…) and Mediterranean Wholesalers, the biggest Italian supermarket in Melbourne. While fully-gentrified… [Read more…]
January 23, 2010
Lunchtime crowd at Journal cafe, City Library. Known for its good coffee and tasty foccaccias, although to be fair that’s a claim equally applicable to many other Melbourne cafes. Some at the top of my head are, the veggie foccacia at three wise muffins at Melb Uni (roasted pumpkin, eggplant, capsicum, cheese, salad leaves and… [Read more…]
January 23, 2010
I ran out of things to do the other day so I thought I’d just go for a walk around my neighbourhood and snap pictures. Albert Coates Lane, QV. Don’t let the posh upmarket boutiques intimidate you. Walk along and an elevator down the basement brings you to the Big W discount store and the… [Read more…]
July 25, 2009
Brunswick, on Melbourne’s inner north has long been overshadowed by the more artsy Fitzroy and the very Italian Carlton, despite arguably having the highest concentration of specialty groceries, Middle Eastern bakeries and a plethora of restaurants serving Turkish, Afghan, Lebanese and Greek cuisine. This could be due to the sheer long stretch of Sydney Road,… [Read more…]
July 15, 2009
Tucked away on an anonymous spot on Albert Street, a few steps shy of the traffic rush descending upon Sydney Road, La Paloma is like a little slice of Buenos Aires in bohemian Brunswick. Housed in a building that looks like it has seen better days, distressed walls with patches of stripped paint, weathered door… [Read more…]
June 8, 2009
Melbourne has been witnessing a sickening spate of attacks targeted towards Indian nationals, the latest involving a man who was bashed unconscious while walking home from a train station in St Albans and cars belonging to students torched outside their home in Springvale. The government has been quick to manoeuvre a public relations strategy to… [Read more…]
March 22, 2009
March marks the end of what has been an extremely hot summer in Melbourne, and the city traditionally farewells the scorching season with a festival celebrating water, called the Moomba Festival. It’s quite different from conventional notions of ‘celebration’ where tonnes of the stuff would be carelessly used in lush abundance, such as the tomato-throwing… [Read more…]
March 18, 2009
The Old City of Damascus is essentially a tangled network of alleyways criss-crossing and snaking through buildings patched up and conjured through centuries of trade and human settlement. This medieval city feels more like a village that has completely outgrown itself, with no planning or consideration for later, modern inventions such as the private automobile.… [Read more…]
February 12, 2010
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