Search Results for 'cafe'

Gourmet Garage


Andy & Dan are the lads behind Hawthorne Garage, a welcome newcomer to the deli / cafe / speciality food scene on Brisbane’s south side, which is somewhat lacking from what I can see (and equals opportunity from where I sit and tap this out!).

There’s an espresso window out the front serving up DNA coffee, seemingly popular with the yummy mummy’s who reside is this well heeled pocket. Inside you will find all the goodies you might need for a quick top up shop or dinner tonight, a small deli counter offering a popular, quality range and a hot roast chook if you can’t be bothered turning on the oven. A great range of Levain breads (Brissy’s best baker according to me) and their mini flourless cakes. Pick up some fresh blooms from a small Campbell & Bradley Florist stall as you head out the door.  Being an old garage the industrial bones have been retained and polished, and  there is parking out the back.




You can find this modern little grocer giving the south side a tune up in both the food and service stakes on the corner of Orchard Street & Hawthorne Road, Hawthorne. Big thanks to the lads for letting me take some snaps, I am sure they will do very well here with their first venture. Open 6am to 8pm daily.  Hawthorne Garage, 255 Hawthorne Rd, Hawthorne QLD.

Hawthorne Garage Food Brisbane
September 23, 2012 Comments (2)

Little Cutie

Little Nuffield is a super cute cafe in Newmarket Auckland and a finalist in NZ’s Best 0f 2012 Awards. A shoe box size space (20 m2) and a minimalist makeover budget (around $30K) seems like money very well spent to me. You can read more about it on  Material Creative, an emerging design practice gaining recognition for their interiors. Pics via Material Creative.

Little Nuffield Food Auckland
September 8, 2012 Comments (0)

More on the go for Ko Ka Ko


New Zealand indie coffee brand with a loyal following, KoKaKo, has opened a good looking new cafe in a somewhat forgotten/dodgey spot on Great North Road. A brand that takes the road less travelled, from all accounts the locals are loving it. Serving up really good coffee, food and service in a great looking space, why wouldn’t they be voting with their feet?! If you’re living in, or lurking about, Auckland then head to 537 Great North Road Grey Lynn.

KoKaKo Food Auckland
February 25, 2012 Comments (0)

They’ve got the local market cornered


The corner store cafe in Toowong is where the locals queue for a casual weekend brekkie. You can lob up in your lycra or go all out and pop on some lippy before you down that latte.  It’s as cute as a button and it has its own veggie patch for the kids (and kitchen brigade) to explore.  Tanya Lea is pictured here with her camera.  She is a very good person to know. Tan is the queen of organisation and systems and can sort an office into shape in no time (or wardrobe, kitchen, garage etc). She has just launched a new blog … www.declutterhome.com.au … and has done a great job for me on various ‘sorting and systems’ projects over the past 2 years so I thought I’d share her services with you.  Tan is based in Melbourne, the Corner Store Cafe is at 113 Sylvan Road Toowong Brisbane.

Food Other Brisbane
December 21, 2011 Comments (0)

Tell tale tiles


Have the loo’s on the cafe laneway level of Melbourne Central always looked like this? If so, I hate being the last one in the know! Love the dramatic B&W city scape story telling.

Design Melbourne Central Melbourne
July 28, 2011 Comments (2)

Limestore’s square


I found 33 Squares in the back blocks of Newstead yesterday, yet another cool little cafe discovered in downtown BrisVegas. Taking up 33 squares of the Limestore foyer, I also loved the large artwork that celebrates the buildimg’s original usage (tanning hides that were shipped to Italy to be made into shoes and accessories). 33 Squares / Limstore, 33 Longland Street Newstead Brisbane.

Food Brisbane
July 26, 2011 Comments (1)

Honestly it’s good


If you know Padre at South Melbourne Market and The Brunswick East Project then you won’t be surprised that their third cafe is also good and honest. These really nice lads are slaying city suits in the coffee aisles with their two mint coloured machines (Slayers FTNITK … err that would be …For Those Not In The Know). The League of Honest Coffee, 8 Exploration Lane Melbourne, is just around the corner from Miss Chu … oh and BTW… the bottom 3 pics are from Broadsheet given most of my snaps were horrible.

League of Honest Coffee Food Melbourne
July 4, 2011 Comments (0)

Wow in the West


I’m really looking forward to heading West in October for the Design Institute WA Chapter’s Annual Forum, having a snoop around Perth and having dinner at Cantina 663 and The Greenhouse again!

Andrea Veccia-Scavalli from Matthews Architecture gave me the heads up a couple of months ago on a fabulous looking project they completed recently and sent me these professional pics. Formerly a hospital supplies showroom, this heritage space built in the early 1900’s has undergone some serious surgery. Matthew’s (also the design creative behind Zekka [King St] and Test Tube [Mt Lawley]) created a design within the existing shell and have produced a gorgeous looking mixed use facility incorporating studio spaces for ‘artists in residence’, stores in the existing basement, a retail space with rather sleek looking cabinet work design done by Geyer,  a café/bar and extension of the upper floor to create a gallery space (where the Artists eventually display their work). The ground floor was ‘dropped’ by over half a metre to allow direct access from street level, which also allows for glimpses into the studio spaces below the shop (a bespoke glazing system incorporating blackened steel and brass detailing frames the view).  I also love the attention to detail with the lighting.  The café area connects to a laneway which will eventually connect to a new major public space. From what I can see this looks like a seriously hip place to hang out.  VENN, 16 Queen Street, Perth WA.

Design Venn Perth
June 25, 2011 Comments (0)

OMG it’s OTT


Super chef Shannon Bennett has opened an outlet of Cafe Vue in the departures hall at Melbourne International Airport. It is merely my personal opinion that if you are up at some ungodly hour of the morning to catch an iron bird to an exotic locale that you couldn’t miss this even if you were sleep walking.  Whilst we saw a hint of the dramatic counter pattern at Shannon’s St Kilda Rd cafe (top pics), this newbie takes design drama to a whole new level. I look forward to picking up a brioche for brekky and picnic box for the plane next week (particularly given how horrid the food was on my last international escape). Photos by Diana Snape via Broadsheet.

Design Food Melbourne
February 14, 2011 Comments (3)

Oliver Brown goes to town


The friendly design crew at Morris Selvatico in Sydney sent me some snaps of their latest project (actually  I’ve never met them but their logo looks friendly so I’ve decided they must be!). Given that I am running with a ‘dramatic tiles and wallpaper finds’ theme today I thought I’d share this striking looking new cafe with you. Specialising in handcrafted chocolates, the design intent was to capture an ambience that is both vintage and contemporary, that celebrates both the timeless art of chocolate making and our modern cafe society.  Morris Selvatico also wanted the design to set the store apart from the surrounding competition, which by the look of these pictures suggests all the boxes on the design brief have been ticked. You can find Oliver Brown at Westfield Chatswood.

Westfield Food Sydney
February 14, 2011 Comments (0)