CBD

One of the lovely aspects of Melbourne is that almost every corner of the earth is represented somewhere in some way. Even the gross corners. But something that isn’t gross is the almost identical replication of the foodie laneways I remember visiting in places like Brussels, Rome and Prague (cue name dropping), here in sunny Melbourne. So imagine my absolute thrill when stumbling across Issus in Centre Place, making me feel like I was sitting in a cozy alleyway in Paris, sans beret.

I was a pretty average student in school. Even in university I was rubbish. I would study around 30 hours a week and still wouldn’t remember what room I was in let alone what subject I was studying. Sometimes I’m reminded of how dumb I am, and in those moments I try to prove I’m not dumb by surrounding myself with smart stuff. Like books. I figure if I’m seen around books then people will automatically think I’m clever, which is why I popped into Mr Tulk recently.

I knew I was in for a treat* when 50% of the clientele at Urban Café were bike short wearing professionals ordering a double mocha skinny latte on their way to their desk jobs, and the other half were retirees with their handbags tucked safely into one armpit (they were in the city after all, and in the city people like me roll old bats for their pension money and sensible shoes). Turns out this 50% were also generally unaccommodating of the idea of a share table, which made it hard seeing as this makes up half of the seating at the café.

Hardware Lane. You know it. It’s where you take out of towners to try and impress them with Melbourne’s multiculturalism (‘look everyone! We have pasta! Eat your heart out, Rome!’) or friends to show them you know cool places to drink (look guys! Beer on a roof! How hip am I?!). It’s not, however, the hub of activity in the mornings which, in the CBD, is actually a relief. Especially if you stumble across a delightful little place like Affogato as I did.

I don’t want anyone to be afraid of the plastic walls of Trunk Diner, because quite frankly what sits within those walls is so many levels of awesome that I kind of have a headache just from thinking about it.