From the platform you walk into the old, red, brick station building left over from the time when this was a railway line.  It houses railway memorabilia.

Wader around and you get to absorb the experience of travelling along route 96  when the journey was taken by train.
There is much old railway paraphernalia to browse through and also, beautifully resorted and polished pieces of furniture.  Some of the pieces are huge and hidden under smaller things. It takes ages to see what is there.

A nice touch, as you walk up the concrete ramp from Canterbury Road into the quaint red brick building, is the ticket dispenser still holding those old cardboard tickets.  It is as if you should take a ticket to continue your journey though the building.

Some of my favourite pieces:-

Station clock.

Station trolley

A small back door from the store leads onto the light rail platform and the other end of the long narrow building becomes a coffee shop.  This is a relaxed and friendly place. The word homely could describe it.

It is an odd cafe to find in sophisticated Albert Park.  It is like wandering into someone’s kitchen and asking for a snack.

The kitchen runs behind the counter and if you arrive at the right time you can see the cook cum barista cum waitress taking a cake from the oven.  She makes all the food. The menu is simple, toasted sandwiches, cakes, biscuits, some large and beautiful meringues served with cream.

The coffee is good and the baked cheese cake one of the best around, there are papers and magazines to read, an open courtyard with more railway artefacts and the sound of the light rain swishing past to let you know that this is a station.

Coffee at Albert Park Station – Tram route 96

The Railway antiques are open daily 9.30 to 5.00pm

The coffee shop is closed on Mondays

Getting there:-
Ride the 96 tram to the Albert Park Station stop

Related posts:

1. The Good Life, and Good Food at Albert Park Lake
2. The Garden of Eden in Albert Park
3. Mart Cafe – Tram route 96 Stop 130 Middle Park

The cafe is long and narrow with a courtyard at the rear.  The red chairs are for outside, only.  Inside is cool and more sophisticated with a polished concrete floor and dark wooden tables and chairs.  The tables come in various sizes including a long communal table.

One wall is covered in posters advertising up-coming events and happenings, there is their organic coffee for sale and there are plenty of papers and magazines to read. It is a comfortable and relaxing atmosphere.

Breakfast is served all day.   We ordered one breakfast and two lunches.

The Nasi Goering looked good, the egg was perfectly done, the flavour everything it should be. $15.50

The beef hamburger had plenty of bacon and the egg just right but the beef was a little over cooked and on the dry side.  It  came with a side serving of caramelized onions and tomato sauce. $16.90

English muffin, bacon, egg and tomatoes was a  breakfast special  for $8.00 and was good value for the price.

There were fruit muffins available and cakes for afternoon coffee – the milk in the flat white coffee was silky but I like mine a little stronger, however you can’t please everyone and I didn’t ask for strong.  If you like it strong that would be the way to go.

Service was friendly and attentive with the waitress saying ‘enjoy’ when she delivered the food.  I found that rather endearing.  The Red Star Cafe, on the corner of Ward Street and Coventry Street, is a great place to sit and  view the action around the South Melbourne Market.

The Red Star Cafe opening hours:-
Mondays CLOSED
Tuesday to Thursday 8.00am to 4.00pm
Friday to Sunday 7.30am to 5.00pm
They serve organic fair trade coffee

Getting There:-
Tram:
96 (Light Rail) from Bourke Street, and get off at the South Melbourne stop. The market is about 2 minutes away.
112 Tram from Collins Street, get off on the corner of Clarendon and York Street.
Driving:
Melway:       Map 1C Ref E11
There is parking on top of the South Melbourne Market and some parking in the neighbouring street ( alot of street parking is Permit only, so watch out for that)

Related posts:

1. Gas Eateries and Supply Cafe – South Melbourne
2. A touch of France on Park Street, South Melbourne
3. Prahran Market –the food lovers market in South Yarra

Over the years Prahran cafes and food outlets have come and gone but not  the Special Cake Shop.  It  just keeps on keeping on.  It was opened in the mid 1950s by a Greek Immigrant and then bought in 1976 by its current owner George Seherlis.

The Special Cake shop is in one of these charming old buildings that are fast disappearing from along Chapel Street

The shop has stayed the same.  The inside, which hasn’t changed since I have been buying from it,  looks a bit retro but I think it is one of those places that fashion has gone the full circle and is back with it.

The inside is divided into two parts with a wide opening between them.  As you enter there is seating to the left, the retail counter to your right and the kitchen straight ahead.    The windows are full of cakes and biscuits.  They are not all Greek cakes.   You can get an English sponge roll and lamingtons.  There are some wonderful double chocolate biscuits.

I’m told that they are still making coffee in their 1960’s coffee machine.    I haven’t checked this out.  I have had coffee there.  It was good but not the best I have had.

I usually buy and head for home. The Baklava is good – solid hearty Baklava with lots of nuts. Great  for desert.

A few years ago they introduced a spinach and feta scone  – if you think of  ’scone’ in an English sense you’ll look for the wrong thing. This scone is about the size of a saucer and oozes spinach, onion and feta. They are usually in the window but you can buy them warm from the pie-warmer or if you arrive at the right time – late morning – they are warm from the oven.

This scone is my weakness.  Every few weeks I begin to crave one and I need to have my fix.

The Special Cake Shop is a friendly place with family members working there.  They are always helpful, pleasant and quick.  Many of the customers are regulars and appear to be friends.  It would be easy  to fit into this companionable vibe. They also serve pies, sausage rolls, filled rolls and gourmet sandwiches.

Where:-
Special Cakes, 207 Chapel Street, Prahran Phone 9510 7689

Opening hours:-
Open every day from 7.00am to 6.00pm

Getting there:
Tram No 78 runs along Chapel Street to Richmond.  Tram 6 to Glen Iris leaves from the CBD, get off at the corner of High Street and Chapel Street and walk North.

Trains the Sandringham Line to either Prahran Station or Windsor Station

Related posts:

1. Railway antiques, restored furniture, coffee and cakes at the Albert Park Station.
2. Trash, Treasure or vintage? It is hard to decide in Womango, 47 Chapel Street, Windsor/Prahran.
3. Scones cup cakes and lunch, Sandringham Village – by the beach

I think it is best on Saturday.  The produce seems to be fresher as if it was whisked from the soil or picked from the tree that very morning.   It is also the day when the market is flooded with locals doing their weekly shopping – a great ambiance that is unique to this market.

Shopping  before the Saturday crowds.

It’s good to be there early on Saturday and miss some of the crowd but on the other hand from about 10.30 onwards the place is full of free nibbles – you can lunch your way around the stalls eating a bit here and there.  If you watch the shoppers you can see them sampling and snacking as they weave from stall to stall.

This is a produce market.    There is a hardware stall but it is about food: fruit and veg, meat fish and poultry, delicatessens, coffee, flowers and a very popular organic stall (Ripe the Organic Grocer), selling everything including wine and cakes made with organic ingredients. It is not a market for clothes and bric-a-brac.

A good place to start is Cleo’s.  It has an entrance off Commercial Road and a window full of bread.  You can wander through the delicatessen and straight into the market.

From Cleo’s I head to stall 108,  MJ Mow Gourmet Potatoes.  Every variety of potato is available including the increasingly popular kipfler and one I had never heard of before,  Purple Congo.  This is good to mash and because of its colour good to use as a decoration.    There is a flier available that  lists 17 varieties of potatoes and  their different uses.  It is fun to experiment and I do but I love my old favourite the King Edward.

Stall 116 is Damian Pike the Wild Mushroom Specialist.  Wild mushrooms are those that come up in  a field after rain and have the best taste ever.  There not always available – it doesn’t always rain.  The stall is interesting not only because of the selection of mushrooms but for unusual seasonal items like flat peaches from China which they say they stock.  I have never seen them but I believe they exist!

You can grab good coffee or dine on something more substantial in the Market Square which is partly covered and has a play ground for the kids.

Coffee in the Market Square.

Information:-

Damian Pike Wild Mushroom specialist Phone 0411 438 465

MJ Mow Gourmet Potatoes  Phone 0417 382 354

Market Web site

Address:-

163 Commercial Road, South Yarra

Opening Hours:-
Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday – dawn to 5pm
Friday Dawn to 6pm
Sunday 10am to 3.00pm

Closed:-

Monday and Wednesday

Getting there:-

Tram:- 72 and get off at Stop 30

Train:- Take the Sandringham Line to Prahran Station and walk to Commercial Road.  It’s about 2 minutes walk

Related posts:

1. Red Star Cafe right opposite The South Melbourne Market, Clarendon Street
2. Cakes and coffee at the Special Cake Shop – Chapel Street, Prahran
3. Explore the Books @ the Fed Square Book Market CBD

This cafe is right on the tram stop – platform 2.  Notice the name – tram backwards.

In the summer I wander in early and make my way out onto the covered verandah at the back.  I use the somewhat old fashioned word veranda because this cafe is in the old station master’s building.  Some of the vintage pieces that decorate the white  interior reflect this.

The verandah at the back could be described as a covered deck.  This is my favourite spot.  I like to sit at the bench overlooking Albert Park and the tennis courts.  On a summer morning the sun hasn’t reached the verandah so it is cool and a gentle breeze wafts around to give a hint of a hot day to come.  Then there is the thwack of the tennis balls, the occasional shout from the tennis court and the rumble of a passing tram.

The bench has room for the Herald Sun and the railing has a flat top  so you can put your coffee out of the way of the paper and still have access to the paper and the coffee.

I am going on about the location but it is the location as well the food that sells it to me.  I can think of no pleasanter way to spend an hour or so than sitting at the bench browsing the paper and looking across the park.

Tables outside in the front of the station master’s office are on the edge of Platform 2.  From there you can watch the trams and the travelling public.

The clientele is an interesting mix of people.  It is child friendly and Mums and babies turn up about mid –morning and so do people conducting business. The tables are big enough for a few papers and laptops.

The Food!   It is good.  I always have the same breakfast – the corn fritters.  The corn has been oven roasted and has a slight crunch, and then there is the bacon and the sour cream.  I sometimes find myself obsessing about these fritters and I have to go back for a fix.  They are always good the quality doesn’t vary.

Also on the menu is home-made Bircher Muesli , French Toast and various varieties of eggs with add-ons.

The muffins are good too, if you are wanting a mid-morning snack.  Lime and coconut last time I had one – different and delicious.

For travellers on the 96 tram (fast rail)  to St Kilda this is a great place to get off, experience the ambiance and the food, then head on to St Kilda.

Getting There:-

The Mart 107A Canterbury Road, Middle Park. – Phone 9690 8831

Tram 96 from the CBD to St Kilda, The Middle Park Stop,  number 103

There is parking for 1 hour along Canterbury Road or in Armstrong Street.

Opening hours:-

7.30am to about 4.00pm.  closing does depend a little on the time of year and the weather.

Things you should know:-

They DO NOT take any plastic – you need to make sure you have cash.

There is CBA cash machine in Armstrong Street about 200 meters away

Related posts:

1. Cafe Racer, St Kilda Beach
2. Railway antiques, restored furniture, coffee and cakes at the Albert Park Station.
3. The Good Life, and Good Food at Albert Park Lake

Chimmys was the place to grab a coffee before racing to a meeting or a training course.  The Head Office moved and I forgot about Chimmys until recently when I was in Park Street and wanted a coffee.  I remember it always being busy on those work-day mornings and it was busy on the recent Sunday when I popped in.

The flat white doesn’t have any pretty designs but it has the silkiest milk I’ve tasted for a while and the coffee is the best.

To me the cafe has a French feel, and the man who makes the coffee a Gallic charm – you need to experience this charm for yourself.  Perhaps it is just European ambience and charm but I like to think of it as French. The filled baguettes reinforce the French ambience .

The interior says, “It’s all about the food!”  That is, it is not decorated.  There are two large rooms with a wide doorway between them, dark brown tables, pale cream walls and sort of  orange/brown lino tiles on the floor. Relaxing?  Not particularly.  The best place to be is outside under the veranda .

Most of the first room is taken up with display cases and one end is given over to the ovens with a row of tables along the remaining wall.   The second room is the cafe area with tables spaced so you feel separate from your fellow coffee drinkers.

The cafe is popular with locals. This is a breakfast and lunch place.  By mid afternoon most of the food has been sold.  This is a good thing because you know everything is made the day you buy it. The baguettes with egg and bacon are just as good at breakfast as they are for lunch and if you just want a coffee try a raspberry shortbread with it.  Delicious.

Then there is the bread.  I bought some  bread ‘pain de campagne’ and I will be back for more and I’m told the ’seven grain’ bread is delicious.

For a Francophile this tiny area of Park Street, South Melbourne is a good place to hang out.  Manon is at 294 Park Street and then further towards Clarendon Street on the other side there is Le Metro,  Byoux et Accessories, at 231 Park Street. The shop is a French experience. Check it out here

Getting there:-

The number 1 tram goes past Chimmys on its way to the South Melbourne Beach.  You can get off, buy a filled baguette and a pastry and perhaps a take away coffee, get on the next tram and picnic at the beach.

Chimmys info and opening hours:-

They serve a cooked breakfast from Wednesday through to Sunday.

They open from 7am every day of the week.  In the weekend they close at 3pm and during the week 4pm.

You can confirm hours etc:- Chimmys phone 9696 7418

Related posts:

1. Red Star Cafe right opposite The South Melbourne Market, Clarendon Street
2. Gas Eateries and Supply Cafe – South Melbourne
3. A French Experience at Noisette’s Port Melbourne

As you are wandering up Kings Street or along La Trobe Street at the edge of the CBD you suddenly come upon this funny old house that is completely over shadowed by the high rise buildings on La Trobe Street – so over shadowed that I have known people to walk past and not see it.  The Old Corner Shop is the oldest private residence in the city.

It is owned and lived in by Lola, the granddaughter of Valetta Azzopardi who bought the property in 1899, and her husband George Russell.  Lola was born in the cottage and has lived there all her life.

Amazing to ponder on that when you consider how we move about today.  It is even more amazing to think that the Russells sleep, eat and relax there every day while  the heavy traffic and trams grind and rattle past and the city loop train roars underneath.

If you are waiting at the traffic lights in the early hours of the morning give a thought to them asleep only a few meters away.
The plaque on the side of the house says it was built as a shop and a dwelling in 1850/1.  Its surprising the building is still standing what with the city loop train line being dug underneath it and then all the construction work for the buildings behind it.

Strengthening and restoration work was carried out in the late 1980s.  However the house still looks vulnerable to modern life.  It poses the question of what that corner may be like in another 150 years.  I hope the little house is still tucked in there and holding it’s own.
The Russells turned the original shop into a cafe and catering business and it is still a shop and cafe today with a black board menu.

I was working in the area during the winter and one lunch hour popped in for coffee.  The experience made me wonder if they don’t get many walk-ins.  The instant coffee was a very very long time coming but fine when it did.  The up-side of the wait was to give me the chance to explore the shop  – the ambiance of another era  is very strong and well worth experiencing.

I also met William, the Pekingese, who came in from the living area to say hello.  He had just returned from his daily walk in Flagstaff Gardens and is very at home in this delightful and incongruous  house on the corner of  La Trobe and Russell Streets.  He, too, has lived there most of his life.
If you haven’t seen the house take a detour that way – it is a blast from the past and if you step inside there is a moment when you believe you’re a time traveller or in a time warp.

Getting There:-

Train: The Flagstaff Gardens stop is opposite.

Trams: You can get the free city circle tram and get off at the corner of a Trobe and King Street or take any tram from Flinders Street Station along Swanston Street.  Get off at La Trobe Street and either walk or take the next tram along La Trobe  to King Street.

Related posts:

1. Peace and relaxation in the Tropical Glasshouse, Melbourne’s Botanical Gardens, St Kilda Road,
2. John Brack @ the Ian Potter Center, Federation Square, Melbourne CBD
3. The Block Arcade – Downtown Melbourne – CBD

I like the name.  It suggests coffee food and a chat about books we’ve read or want to read.  Booktalk has shelves of new and pre-loved books.   The mixture of new and used is interesting.

A notice tells you that you can’t take new books to the cafe tables.  You can browse these at the shelves and people do.

Another notice tells you that you can bring in your own books to exchange and if you buy a book and return it, you get 50% off the purchase price.  A lot of information but it does clue you into what it’s all about.

If you drift in by yourself there’s plenty to read with your coffee.  Besides the books they have the daily papers and great selection of magazines.

The atmosphere is relaxed and slightly bohemian.   The tables are busy and used by people in heated discussion, people studying, people writing and people chilling out and just people.  They are always being used this has to have something to do with the quality of the food and coffee.

New and used children’s books are are available for browsing.

The food is good, well priced and healthy.  Their Thai chicken salad $9.50 was delicious and a recent special of the day beef lasagne for $9.50 was a nourishing and tasty meal.

Thai chicken salad

The bacon and mushroom roti, that I would recommend, is $9.80. There are vegetarian dishes as well.   I understand the breakfasts are great but I haven’t tried them yet. There are also Vegetarian meals and a Veggie Breakfast. Apple Crumble with a Muesli crumble.

Mushroom and chicken roti

To keep the literary theme many chairs are labelled with a writer’s name.  I would like to choose my chair to match my mood; a heavy weight like Charles Dickens on grey overcast day when I’m feeling thoughtful and introspective or, Dick Francis if I’m in a light frivolous mood.  This has never been possible as the place is too popular to leave many chairs available.

Agatha Christie

Dick Francis

An inviting and comfortable couch at the back.

Swan Street, has some factory outlets and check out Dimmeys  at 140 Swan Street – the lovely old building with the clock tower – you can find some great bargains there if you hit it right.  Bargains come and go quickly.

The Booktalk Cafe, 91 Swan Street, Richmond. Phone 9428 1977

Opening Hours

8.00 to 5.30 every weekday

8.30 to 5.30 Saturday and Sunday

Getting there:

Tram 70 from  Flinders Street.  You need to catch it in Flinders Street not outside the Flinders Station

Tram 78  runs from St Kilda East along Chapel Street and Church Street to the corner of Swan and Church Streets

Parking in Swan Street is metered but there is usually free one hour parking in the side streets.

Related posts:

1. Red Star Cafe right opposite The South Melbourne Market, Clarendon Street
2. Gas Eateries and Supply Cafe – South Melbourne
3. Railway antiques, restored furniture, coffee and cakes at the Albert Park Station.

I have a friend who can’t get the words the right way round and calls it Cottage Cuppa.  Either way it is a silly name.
I guess naming something is difficult.  Naming your cat or dog is difficult enough so the business you dreamed of has to be just as hard.
The Cafe is country –chic and until recently when it took over a room next door it was tiny and crowded.

Cuppa Cottage at 88 Station Street is becoming a day-time institution in the Sandringham shopping village.   So don’t let the name put you off when you take a trip to Sandringham beach or the yacht Club.  It is right by the railway station.

The food is good which is why I am writing about it. Where else in Melbourne do find scones as one of the highlights on the menu.  Cuppa Cottage may serve muffins but I have no idea because it is hard to go past the scones.   They have a tiny kitchen where they turn out batches of scones, cup cakes, pies, tarts the best sausage rolls around.   Everything is delicious.

A New Zealander called Sandra started the business a couple of years ago and has built up a loyal and regular clientele.  It sounds and looks very feminine.  But you are just as likely to see a group of guys from a local building site eating there as a group of women having tea, coffee or chai.  Do blokes drink Chai?   I must find out.
After school there are children of both sexes buying the beautifully iced and decorated cup cakes.  These are decorated with style and flair.

A lunch time favourite is soup and toasted sandwiches.  They serve salads pies – a wonderful bacon and egg pie and there is a black board menu with the dish of the day.

I go for the scones.  They are just like mum or grandma used to make (may be better)  but with a modern edge.  Date, Cheese, Plain and then there are the savory ones – spinach and feta, last time I was there. The best are the raspberry ones and they will serve them with jam and cream.

The cafe is also a gift shop and the ambience is enhanced by the merchandise which appears to be selected to add to the country-chic look.  There is creative flair behind the business.

Check out the cups, saucers and plates.   Many of them are pretty china from another era.  These are sourced from op shops but also dropped off by people who feel their no-longer-wanted-china will find a good home at Cuppa Cottage.  The name gets better when you say it often enough. It has begun to grow on me.

The Sandringham Yacht Club is nearby where you can learn to sail or crew on one of their many yachts.  You can contact them on 9599 0999

Getting There:
The Sandringham train line from Flinders Street Station terminates there.  The beach and the shopping are at the terminus.  Cuppa Cottage,  88 Station Street is across the road and the beach is two minutes walk away.
Parking:
There is one hour free parking  in Station and the neighbouring Streets.   All day parking can be found on the right hand-side of Trentham Street, just up Bay Road and off to the left.

Related posts:

1. Ride the train to Sandringham Beach – Sandringham
2. Railway antiques, restored furniture, coffee and cakes at the Albert Park Station.
3. Cafe Racer, St Kilda Beach

The main venue is used for wedding receptions and other catered-for events.    The entrance to the building is imposing.  That’s the reception entrance.  I am writing here about the café with the entrance tucked around the side.

The café is popular in the weekend.   Everyone pitches up here; bikes, joggers, walkers, families out for a stroll and breakfast groups. There are no bookings for breakfast so you front up and get your name written on the window in texter with the number in your party.

Last Saturday our party arrived and we were written on the window with a number 5. We hung around outside with the dogs and visualized empty tables.  It was cold enough for us to visualize the empty table being inside which was a pity because when it arrived the table didn’t have a view. There is an open deck in front of the café and on a warm day the windows are opened up, so if you are inside, you get the feeling of being outside

The coffee is very good and it made up for the cold wait outside and by then we were ready for breakfast.  The food is fine.  Not great but good enough to go back.  A nice touch is having a water jug with mint and lemon left on the table.

The jug of water adds style to a Carousel Breakfast.

This is ‘The Carousel Breakfast’. The mushrooms have flavour!

The muffins are worth trying especially if you arrive when they still warm from the oven.  This one is Blueberry and white chocolate.

The Carousel is quieter during the week.  This makes it more relaxing and there is no need for the texter and the window.  It is a place full of light with some of the best views in Melbourne.  It’s worth going for the views and of course a walk in the park.

Swans wander around chewing the grass.  As you can see in the photo they are numbered with a wide band around their neck.  Can any one tell me why?  It looks very uncomfortable for them.

Getting There:-

The Carousel,  22 Aughtie Drive,  Albert Park Lake, is open from 8am every day and shuts around 3.30 to 4.00pm

The easiest way is by car and as a bonus it is $2.00 for all day parking in the weekend. This is not the same during the week.  Be prepared to pay more.

Tram 96, the light rail, takes you along the back of the Park.  Get off at the Wright Street station and walk across Albert Park towards the lake.

You can also take any tram that goes down St Kilda Road as far as the St Kilda Junction.  Get off at High Street and walk to the park from there. As it crosses St Kilda Road, High Street becomes Lorne Street.  You walk done Lorne Street to the Park .  Remember you have to walk around the lake to get to the Carousel.

Related posts:

1. Railway antiques, restored furniture, coffee and cakes at the Albert Park Station.
2. Cafe Saigon, Victoria Avenue, Albert Park
3. Mart Cafe – Tram route 96 Stop 130 Middle Park