Melbourne Places » Windsor

The Red Door – Windsor

Melbourne — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 06:32:02 +0000

The Red Door has been operating in the same space for number years. I have seen the red door and the beautiful street art on the side of the wall but never visited until now. I’m not sure why.

A strong recommendation from a colleague prompted my first visit. She went on a week day evening and loved the food. She likened it to tapas and it is a kind of Yum Char that you order from the menu.

She took a bunch of cards while she was there and distributed them around the office. We joked that she was getting commission but she said it was that she enjoyed the atmosphere and the food she wanted us to know about it.
The atmosphere is something else – I haven’t experienced it before. Take a look at these photos.

One of the things I like about Yum Char is seeing the dishes pass-by giving a visual view before you decide to sample. For this to really work you need to go to a large busy Chinese restaurant where they cater for a large number of people. Then you get variety and freshly cooked dishes. A smaller place doesn’t give you the same variety and I think that often dishes go round and round for a couple of hours.

The Red Door is a smaller place. A strange place when you walk in. It is full of Chinese antiques. It is wonderful. Rather like eating in a relaxed antique shop.

We went for Saturday lunch and we chose to eat at a table in the window. If we weren’t addicted to people gazing while we talk we would have had a different experience of being swallowed into a different world by choosing a table in the interior. Well try that next time.

You can see the Red Door Menu here

We chose Prawn and Crab Dumplings, Vegetarian Jiao Zi, Duck Bean Curd Wrap, Northern Chive & Prawn Dumplings.

Vegetarian Jiao Zi

Prawn & Crab Dumplings

For desert we had Red bean and Custard sweet buns.

These Red Bean sweet buns were delicious.

In fact all the food was good and I thanked my colleague for the recommendation that took us to the Red Door. We will be back.
Red Door:-
1 McIlwrick Street,(off Chapel Street)
Windsor
Phone 9510 9658

Opening Hours:-
Monday: Closed
Tuesday: Dinner only 6pm-10pm
Wednesday to Sunday: Lunch 12pm-3pm Dinner 6pm-10pm

Web:-

http://reddooryumcha.com/r/

Getting there: -
Train:-
The Sandringham Line to Windsor Station – McIlwrick Street is opposite the station.
78 Tram:-
This tram runs from St Kilda East to Richmond along Chapel Street.

Street Art at the Windsor end of Chapel Street.

Melbourne — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 22:13:52 +0000

Brighten up a grey winter morning and take in the Graf Art as you stroll along Chapel Street, Windsor. Of course it doesn’t have to be the morning, anytime during the day will do. But the in-your-face colours gives a me lift on a grey morning.

The corner of McIlwrick and Chapel Streets (at Tarlo and Graham)

Most of the art is just around the corner off Chapel Street where there are big flat walls to the sides of the shops.

A lane way off Duke Street 5 meters from Chapel Street

On a cold winter morning it is a flash of colour to lift the spirits. Take a look next time you are in Windsor – that is the strip of Chapel Street from the Windsor Railway Station to High Street.

As seen from Chapel Street

It is hard to know what to call this art. I have heard it called Graf Art, Street Art, Urban Art and I rather like the idea of it being Public Art; that is art that is available for us see as we go about our daily business. We have the chance to admire, criticize, discuss it and ignore it as we walk on by.

Corner of Union Street and Chapel Street.

My only wish is that it could be changed more often – like a shop window. However vivid the piece, you stop seeing it after a while and it becomes part of the background. I want to be startled out of my morning-fog with something new.

There is also this in the way of public art. Check here I always enjoy this on my way to the South Melbourne Market.

Getting there:-
Windsor end of Chapel Street

Tram
78 runs from St Kilda along Chapel Street into Church Street and then to Richmond.
6 from CBD to Glen Iris runs along High Street cross Chapel Street.

Trains
Sandringham Line to Windsor Station

Tarlo & Graham after the fire

Melbourne — Tue, 24 May 2011 12:43:02 +0000

This notice is in Tarlo & Grahm’s current window display – I hope you can read it.

Tarlo & Graham’s windows are always fascinating to me. I have written about them before in ” Tarlo & Graham – view their windows”.

I don’t believe anyone else would decorate their window with objects burned in their fire.

This is their second window onto Chapel Street.

Tarlo & Graham’s windows are one of the best reasons for a walk along Chapel Street, Windsor. They excel themselves with the strange, fun, wacky, ugly, weird, macabre – well you have to see them for yourself. They never fail to raise a smile, a laugh, or a gasp. Try to catch these ones before they change again.

Where:-
Tarlo & Graham
60 Chapel Street
Windsor – phone 9521 2221

Opening hours:-
Monday to Saturday 12pm – 6pm
Sunday 12pm to 4pm
Of course their windows are open for viewing 24/7

Getting there: -
Train:-
The Sandringham Line to Windsor Station They are opposite – on the corner of Chapel and McIlwrick Street
78 Tram:-
This tram runs from St Kilda East to Richmond along Chapel Street.

Website:-

http://www.tarloandgraham.com

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

Tarlo & Graham – view their windows as you stroll Chapel Street

Melbourne — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 07:46:35 +0000

Tarlo and Graham at the Windsor end of Chapel Street offer a great visual feast with their windows.

Strolling around the Windsor end of Chapel Street is always fun but what draws me back time and time again are the windows of Tarlo and Graham.
I find I’m drawn on a weekly basis just to check them out.

They don’t always change weekly but another view gives another perspective and sometimes I miss something on the first
viewing and even on the second. These objet d’art and the style of the interiors they suggest, are a sort of industrial meets the…. well the
macabre. They may not be everyone’s idea of home sweet home but it is great fun to view.

The windows vary which is what makes them so fascinating. These colourful wool rugs appeared during the cold winter months.

William Tarlo and Philip Graham opened their shop about 6 years ago. They said in a recent interview that their aim was to provide an exciting and stimulating environment focusing on the unusual, exotic and collectable. Check out their website to see what they mean.

Where:-
Tarlo & Graham
60 Chapel Street
Windsor – phone 9521 2221

Opening hours:-
Monday to Saturday 12pm – 6pm
Sunday 12pm to 4pm
Of course their windows are open for viewing 24/7

Getting there: -
Train:-
The Sandringham Line to Windsor Station They are opposite – on the corner of Chapel and Mcilwrick Street
79 Tram:-
This tram runs from St Kilda East to Richmond along Chapel Street.

Website:-

http://www.tarloandgraham.com/home.html

Carlisle Street in St Kilda East is evolving. Check out the Carlisle Street Bazaar

Melbourne — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 01:22:37 +0000

The Carlisle Street Bazaar opened just before Christmas adding another retail experience to shopping in the piece of Carlisle Street around the Balaclava Rail Station.
This Carlisle Street Bazaar replaces a store where I often browsed. It was one of those stores that covered an eclectic range merchandise – clothes, furniture, home ware, jewelery, gifts. All this appeared to be individually chosen to give a cohesion to the store. This space has now morphed into the Carlisle Street Bazaar. It is as if the original store has re-invented itself and presented a new face to the world, the cohesion has gone but the atmosphere has livened up.

To me it is an improvement. For one thing the space is lighter and brighter. I found the old space rather gloomy. The variety is better and it is more fun to browse.

Stock moves too. There was a hand created metal pig and sheep when I first walked into the Bazaar and a few days later they had gone. “Snapped up,” I was told. They still have smaller roosters from the same artist. They are the sort of patio/garden object that lift your spirits and cause you to smile.

So far the Carlisle Street Bazaar have been a constantly changing visual feast – new clothes, new displays, new bric-a-brac.

At this point the venture looks successful and it will be interesting to watch it evolve. I like the original art and would like to see more creative works for sale.

To discuss hiring space: – phone 0411598411.
Opening hours: -

Monday to Saturday 10.00am to 6.00pm. The Bazaar closes at 5.00pm on Sunday.

Getting there:

Trams – 12, 3, going along Carlisle Street, first stop past St Kilda Road. 67 Tram get off at the corner of Carlisle and St Kilda Road or a 78 that runs from Richmond to the St Kilda East end of Chapel Street.

Train – Sandringham line to Balaclava Stration

Trash, Treasure or vintage? It is hard to decide in Womango, 47 Chapel Street, Windsor/Prahran.

Melbourne — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:50:50 +0000

The Windsor end of Chapel Street is know as the funky end of Chapel Street, Prahran To me it is the fun end. I often pass Womango and I can never resist the window. It’s a ’stop and stare and stare some more and chat to your friend’ sort of window. It’s a collectors paradise.

Womango’s Window –
Inside it is as crammed with goods as the window. The old saying ‘there is nowhere to put a pin down’ is spot on.

At the entrance there is a notice saying ‘No Big Bags’ and you can see why. Even without a big bag you have to be careful not to send some of the treasures flying.

There’s a yellow and green jug in the window that I like and I can spend ages gazing at the rings that are in a case inside and then there is something about those long white evening gloves of the fifties. What romance they conjure up. Yesterday there was an old wooden ladder in very good condition filling up some of the entrance space.

If you are a visiting Chapel Street for vintage, retro, antiques and treasures from the recent past , I’d start here.
If you are a collector and looking for something in particular the owner knows her stock – that’s a feat in itself. She is knowledgeable and is happy to talk. She is also happy for you to spend as long as you like exploring this visual feast.
Note the opening hours – they are unusual for the area:-
Closed Monday and Tuesday. Open Wednesday to Sunday from 12.00pm to 6.00pm.

You can ring the owner if you need to make contact at other times – 9533 6650 or 0410 750 310

Getting there

Take the Sandringham Line Train to Windsor Station. Come out of the Windsor Station and you are there. Womango is more or less opposite Syber’s Book Shop, by the pedestrian crossing.

Trams 78 and 79 run the full length of Chapel Street between St Kilda and Richmond.

If you are coming from the CBD by tram you need a tram number 8 or 6 or 72. These trams intersect with Chapel Street at some point.

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.

Chapel Street – They Funky End at Windsor

Melbourne — Sun, 10 May 2009 02:27:53 +0000

The funky end of Chapel Street – that is the end by the Windsor Station and Dandenong Road – is one of the first places in Melbourne that I explored. It was different from any place I’d seen and it is still different. Over the years places have come and gone and some have stayed the same.

You can buy designer clothes, designed by local designers. You can get fashionable shoes for huge feet at Rosenberg’s Shoes. You can prowl various op shops and you can buy second hand books from Syber’s Book Shop.

It was the cats I first feel in love with at Syber’s Book Shop, the books came later.

Syber’s Book Shop is a treasure trove of books including rare and out of print books. The wonderful thing is that they know what they have and where to find it. I wanted a book by the German writer H.H. Kirst. Often when I ask I get a blank stare. Not this time.

“Oh. Yes,” said Penny Sieber getting up from her desk and putting her hand on a book by Kirst.

The chairs at Syber’s Book Shop give an atmosphere to shop but you may have to compete with one of the three cats for the most comfortable one.

Syber’s Book Shop is a good place while away some time if you are into books and of course there are the cats to meet.

This is also the retro end of Chapel Street and even the Op Shops go in for presentation and stylish window dressing.

The best way to get to this funky end of Chapel Street is to take the Sandringham Line Train to Windsor Station. Come out of the Windsor Station and you are there.

Trams 78 and 79 run the full length of Chapel Street between St Kilda and Richmond. If you are coming from the CBD by tram you need a tram number 8 or 6 or 72. These trams intersect with Chapel Street at some point.