Melbourne Places » Tram 72

Prahran Market Square, Mojito Cafe and Bar for Sunday Brunch/Lunch

Melbourne — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 09:24:32 +0000

I’m in Chapel Street South Yarra at 1.30pm on a sunny Sunday afternoon when I remember that I have to meet a friend in a city bar for ‘catch up’ drinks at 3.00pm. Trams are easy but the last time I ate was a slice toast at 6.30am. I need food or I will become one of those giggling, chatting, careless people who lose it after the first glass of wine. I head to Commercial Road.

I looked for Orange or was it Red or possibly Red Orange Cafe. A cafe I remembered that served a great breakfast. It appears to have gone. It is always a bit sad when somewhere you remember has disappeared without any goodbye. It is like a sudden hole in the ground that you have to navigate around.

I navigated into the Prahran Market and wandered into the Market Square. This turned out to be an ideal place to be on Sunday afternoon.

There is live music, relaxed families, people eating and people who are just enjoying the music.

I shop at the market and have written about it before see here. But this is my first Sunday Lunch/breakfast experience. I say breakfast because I always order breakfast at this time of the day.

Mojito’s had a breakfast special; two eggs any style, three rashers of bacon and two slices of toast for $8.90. I ordered this with the eggs scrambled and my usual flat white.

The coffee was good. The band played. The sun shone. People chattered. The waiter with an Irish accent brought a bottle of water. There was a constant movement of people coming and going. My breakfast came. The scrambled eggs were just right, bacon tasty and the toast thick and firmly toasted.

There are other choices in the Prahran Market Square for Sunday Midday eating. Cafe Egnaro serves focaccia and Prides

Cafe Egnaro

The Beangreen Vegetarian Cafe has salads of various combinations with chick peas and there are interesting looking fritters.

Beangreen Vegetarian Cafe

It was so pleasant and relaxing I was loath to leave but my glass of wine in the city called.
Mojito can also be accessed from Commercial Road. The food is described as Mediterranean, Australian and Italian and they also have wood fired pizza. I can only speak for their breakfasts. It was the scrambled eggs that won me over. So often they can be watery.

Where:
Market Place Prahran Market

Mojito Cafe and Bar 169 Commercial Road, South Yarra
Phone: 9826 6544

Mojito can also be accessed from Commercial Road.

Opening Hours:- Mojito
Every day from 8am for breakfast
Thursday Friday and Saturday until about 9.00pm for dinner.

Getting there:-
Tram 72 from the CBD
Tram 78 runs from Richmond to St Kilda along Church & Chapel Streets

W-class Yellow and Green trams icons of Melbourne on route 78/79 are to be replaced so grab a ride while you can.

Melbourne — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 08:49:44 +0000

W-class trams date back to the 1930’s.

W-class Tram at the corner of Chapel and Carlisle Street

A W-class tram was the first tram I rode in Melbourne. It was before I lived here and in the days when there was a conductor on board.

I clambered up the high wooden step and sat on a hard seat and fell in love with these charming yellow and green vehicles.

Now these wonderful old trams have almost gone. The green and yellow ones on Prahran to Richmond route are to phased out and scrapped. So clamber aboard one of these work horses of the public transport system while you can. They will be history soon.

You can see how badly they are being maintained.

There are some W-class trams that have been painted a dull red for the tourists. They don’t feel like the real thing to me and I haven’t photographed one. The real thing is painted green and yellow!
To take a ride back in time. Take the 78/79 tram from St Kilda to Richmond North (78 during the day and 79 at night). The W-class is still in every-day use on these tracks.

This is one of the few tram routes that doesn’t go through the CBD. It travels in a straight line along Chapel Street and into Church Street.

News reports tell us these trams are for the scrap heap. You can check out what is happening at this web site. So instead of being shaken and joggled on this route in future we can expect to glide along as one would on, say, route 6 which always carries new sleeker models. No charm there.

Grab the opportunity and grab a 78 and slowly progress along Chapel Street, and into Church Street until you get Victoria Street, Richmond – the home of Vietnamese cafes and the Minh Phat Supermarket.

This is not a comfortable ride. People have described the trams as the ‘old green W-class rattlers’. It is the charm of Melbourne’s past you are experiencing. In the recent TV mini-series “Pacific” about World War II, two of the characters flirted on a W-class tram. I wonder if they borrowed one from route 78 for the filming?

Recently a number of the W-class trams congregated in St Kilda – There are 6 in this photo.

Tram route 78/79 is an interesting route to travel. Starting in St Kilda, that is the Chapel Street end of St Kilda, the tram picks up many people who make short journeys – sometimes only one or two stops. Then you cross Dandenong Road and head into Windsor with its eclectic collection of op shops, cafes, designer shops and the fascinating Tarlo and Graham shop. From Windsor it’s across High Street and into Prahran and South Yarra. Chapel Street is packed with cars so the journey is slow. This gives you a change to gaze around. It is a great area to ‘people watch’ – some are walking faster than you are travelling. Across the Yarra and you are into Church Street and the speed picks up. This segment is filled with furniture design emporiums and exotic car show rooms. It is here that you can view the latest Ferrari or Maserati. Finally you arrive at North Richmond where you can take the 109 (always a sleek modern tram) into the CBD or ride back the way you came.

A good place to board a W-class tram is the corner of Chapel and Carlisle Streets. The no 3 and 16 trams from the CBD intersect with it here. The number 6 intersects at High Street and the No 72 at Commercial Road.

What:-
W-Class Trams – Route 78/79
Trams run every half hour – about 5 and 35 past the hour from the St Kilda terminus

Check out the timetables here:-
78 daytime tram-
79 Night-time tram slightly changed route goes to St Kilda Beach

Window shopping in Greville Street, Prahran

Melbourne — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 11:55:16 +0000

Greville Street, Prahran is a favourite street of mine. My first encounter was a few years ago when I walked from the Prahran Railway Station along Greville Street on my way to Chapel Street

The late afternoon sun gave an orange glow and a touch of magic to this unique street. I feel in love.

I fell in love with the funky edgy designer shops, the retro and second hand and places. There was a feeling of being outside the mainstream – a place where exciting, new and experimental things were happening. I felt it strongly then and I still do

The street has changed over the years. Less funky and ‘out-there’ but the magic is still there. Where else in Melbourne would you see a window mannequin wearing a purple dress with fuchsia tights and a pair of yellow Doc Martin boots.

A couple of my favourite shops have closed and disappeared but Palm Beads is still there as it was on my first visit and the Greville Street Bookstore gives personal service as it has for over 20 years. Greville Records has been there for ever and although other shops have come and gone the vibes have re-adjusted themselves and evolved as everything evolves with the time. The street is still one of Melbourne Places that is unique.

This a pictorial stroll showing you what caught my eye during a recent visit.

Greville Street, Prahran is a great place to be from midday onwards and in the weekend. Cafes do open early to catch the morning-workers trade and many have regulars who come at the same time every day. However many of the shops don’t open until 10am or 11am.
Coffee and food is good at most places and people-watching is a fascinating past-time in Greville Street.

Getting there

Train: The Sandringham Line to the Prahran Station and you are there.

Trams: The 72 from the CBD crosses Malvern Road and Chapel Street, get off at that junction and head north. Greville Street is on your left by the Stonnington Town Hall.

The 78 Tram runs along Chapel Street from East St Kilda and Richmond.