Saint Ali may well be the guardian of coffee, yet St. Ali in South Melbourne is the guardian of food stories.
Having breakfast last weekend I was pleased at my good cafe selection, to see John Lethlean and his family arrive for coffee. Not really interesting enough for a post, except possibly if we had shared the larger table and loudly continued our conversation about why Jacques Reymond did not ring our bells despite its 3 hats, (that did not happen, and even if we HAD shared the table and a wall not been between us, would I've?? Probably not...)
It's a bit of a sport of sorts, for PDC and I to spot food reviewers and see who else in the dining room notices, unless they were particularly cool at St.Ali, I have to say no one blinked an eye.
We had just gotten back to our eggs when in walks another familiar face, Bob Harts wife (sorry, I only know her face, not her name).
Hang on a minute, a possible double food reviewer sighting and from rival papers, this was getting interesting until they choose to sit outside, with Bob arriving less than 5 minutes later.
With our noses back in our respective eggs, nothing more was to be seen until the coincidental toilet dash saw both John and Bob standing side by side. No, paper fights, no harsh words just friendly smiles and hand shakes.
I guess communal good taste, accounts for the witnessing of the similarities, of different food readerships.
Jack
Mark's very passionate about coffee and roasts it on premise. He trains good barista's too, with the ideal of setting up a Skater-Punk Barista scene a la San Diego. After selling Ray he settled on South Melbourne as a place that needed a venue like his and designed and built most of the fixtures in the space.
ReplyDeleteIn the week he opened, I told John and many others about the little secret with no obvious signage and Mark credits me with helping him get things off the ground.
Sadly with popularity has come a high staff turnover and a decrease in the quality of food and service, but the coffee is as good as ever and now Mark has another venue in the city that seats just 15 - Brother Baba Budan 359 Little Bourke Street.
We're all such Geeks. It's amazing how many people see him when out and about.
ReplyDeleteThanks Sticky, St Ali and I have been friends now for a while, yet as you mentioned the food has been a bit hit and miss, but seems to be getting better, the coffee and service I have always found to be fab.
ReplyDeleteMark trained at Ray a barista that owns a cafe near me Jason at Batch in St Kilda East, again fab coffee yet the food is a bit on and off.
Haven't made it to BBB yet but have heard its a cute little place.
Ed, you may not be a 'foodie', yet I guess you could be a food nerd like me, in this food game, for extra points you need to identify the wifes and their first and last name, very nerdy
Jack
Interesting! and I must try Brother Baba Budan. Probably won;t get to St Ali - never in the Sth Melb area.
ReplyDeleteHey Jack,
ReplyDeleteYou need to get a disguise (ruth reichel style). That will making disgruntled Lethlean orientated comments easier.
I was at st. ali a couple of weeks ago. What did you think of the decor? I thought it was kind of weird, all the wood made me feel like I was sitting on a deck, yet I was in the middle of brick buildings in warehouseville. Very strange.