North

I had read several reviews on Jack & Daisy, and to be honest I had no idea what to expect. Some said it was great, others rubbish. Some complained of poor service, crap food and terrible ambience. Others proclaimed that if the cafe were a person they would allow them to babysit their infant child, thus proclaiming how reliable, perfect and wonderful it was.

There are cafes in Melbourne who go out of their way to look retro, grungy and a bit alley-cat like. Since starting this blog and covering the north, west and CBD surrounding suburbs I’ve become accustomed to this kind of ‘look’, even expecting it. So when I ate at Pearl Oyster it wasn’t anything new. The retro, eclectic décor, the bric-a-brac style tables and chairs, the waitresses dressed in costumes from The Sound of Music….it was all fairly typical.

It’s a quirky little place, Green Refectory. First, I walked past it several times because apparently it doesn’t need proper signage (a small, lightbox-style box in the window is enough), and in all fairness it looks a bit like a bric-a-brac shop. Second, when I finally realised where it was and pushed my way through the front door I fell over the 37 other people who were standing in the entry way waiting to order at the counter. To me, this speaks volumes about how awesome the food is. But to many it just speaks volumes of inconvenience.

I make no apologies for not being a ‘kid’ person. In fact, the older I get the less maternal I become. I mean, I like them. I do! I don’t want any of them to get hurt or feel the pain of losing a pet dog or be told they can’t achieve something. I just don’t want them on me. Or near me. But when I took my overly broody partner to Oliver’s Garden recently all that changed (for a moment), and it’s all thanks to the wonderful people of Moonee Ponds having pretty children dressed in cute clothes. Oh, and fabulous food.

In a review Anna recently posted, she rightly showcased how spelling something differently in an attempt to look funky results in people thinking you have asparagus for a brain.  Unfortunately the trend continues on the northern side of Melbourne, but I liked Piccane Caffe enough to assume they weren't trying to be hip by spelling 'cafe' with two 'f's, but in fact actually meant that it was Piccante's coffee, but in Italian...because in Italian ‘caffe’ means coffee in. You think I'm educated and worldly now, don't you? That's because I am.