Little Treasures, 20/04/13

This wet Sat morn marking the start of a wintery chill in the year saw 5 of us brunching at this little Petersham cafe by the park. As well as our three regulars we had two special guests, our regular honoured guest Shelley & welcomed a guest we want to come again the lovely & wise Caz.

 Brunch club was relieved after last week to not have to battle the dogs for our food or deal with batty dog owners. It was also a very nice touch to have a large bookshelf line our view as we ate (though we think 3 copies of Dan Brown's turd Da Vinci Code lowered the feeling).

As usual talk was filled with our special brand of witty, naughty, name-dropping (especially the one of us who now sports extra trendy hipster glasses) sometimes caustic humour. Today our targets for discussion  were the double-barrelled Sarah, greasy Albanese, ABC 24 news hosts, Alan Jones' liberal leanings, Anglican archbishops, Kiwi politics, Benedict Andrews (a favourite target) & particular belly laughs from oleaginous   Richard Torbay.

Food & coffee opinions were very mixed with some members effusive while otherwise were underwhelmed. Unanimity was reached however on the unkind obscurity of the google-infused Good Weekend quiz this morning leading us to wonder if the SMH had been reading our blog of late & noticed our very high recent scores. Bravely, we managed 14/20.

BRAD: 3.5 out of 5. Food not up to the high standards of my glasses or my name-dropping (did I mention in the last week alone I had dinner with both Kate Mulvany & Malcolm Brown)
SAL: Likewise 3.5. Not up to the standard of my world-famous nicknames for people of dubious character quality.
SHELLEY: 3 out of 5. Food & coffee not up to the standard of the Singapore experience I have just come from.
CAZ: 4 out of 5. I recommended this place so I'm rating highly. And this time I wasn't too distracted by facing the bookshelf given my love of books. Too many Dan Brown, Bryce Courtenays & Gretel Kileen's 'Visible Panty Line' which excited Andrew no end.
ANDREW: Yes I do have a sick childish sense humour. To further prove my childishness I brought a teddy bear to brunch which I thought was a nice silly touch which would bring a light silly fun tone to proceedings this morning but instead lead to me being likened to Sebastian in 'Brideshead Revisted'.
Cafe ratings = 4 out of 5 for the exceptional quality of the soy latte. Best soy latte I think I've ever had at a cafe, caramel like. Also my 'not so little breakfast' was delicious in a not so little way.

Cafe Bones (Woof Woof), 13/04/13

A unique experience. Like no other cafe Brunchclub have ever been to before. But don't ask us ask who the cafe is actually designed for, that is a dog. Brunch club readers meet LAURA our beloved honoury greyhound otherwise known as Sooky La for reasons obvious in this photograph.

LAURA SAYS: I love Cafe Bones because I get to go outside & off my leash. However I don't really enjoy the other strange creatures that frequent this place who look somewhat like me but are obviously my subordinates especially the little ones who look like cigarette butts. Especially when their owners let them run wild off their leashes & take the attention of my owners & my extended Brunchclub family away from me. Grotesquely, they even defecated in front of my owners whilst my owners were in the middle of their lunch. I do also love this place because I get to indulge my fetish for stealing forbidden food off tables at which distracted or gullible humans sit but again I could do without the competition from my smelly, uncouth & attention-seeking four legged inferiors.

Anyway my owners do love this place & my baby brother (pictured above) quite enjoys the outing here too as long as he's had sufficient sleep the night before.

I think my Aunty Sal & Uncles Brad & Andrew were amused by this place & enjoyed their interactions with the multitudes of canines on offer. However Aunty Sal did struggle in a bronchitis & busted knee state with the long walk required to reach this cafe. Moreover, Uncle Brad didn't seem to be a natural dog-lover ,which I certainly can understand not being one myself, & I get the impression he thought the place a bit low-brow for his upmarket self. Also, he had a traumatic experience whilst sitting alone reading a newspaper only to be attacked by a mob of dogs trying to get into a food bag close to him. My beloved Uncle Andrew seemed to fall in love with this enormous sweaty horse-like monster dog which to me is a betrayl because he promised to stay faithful to me only.

Ok well that's the end of my guest blog. Overall I give Cafe Bones four dog bones out of five, who cares what my owners or the Brunchclub think. I'm off to enjoy another Puppachino.

P.S Brunch club score 19/20 for the quiz. I choose my owners & their friends well!!!

Tiger Mottle, 06/04/13

Well apologies for the lack of a blog for quite some time but all members have been away whether for Easter or for the Tsunami Anniversary in Japan ( one of my very first students was killed) or ????really can't remember!!

There have been a few meetings with two members in attendance like Town Bike Pit Stop in Redfern (loved by both Brad & Sal)  For more info; www.townbikepitstop.com.au
 & a brave return by Andrew & Brad to Waterloo after the French House merde experience to the adjacent & infinitely superior Tapas themed Bogata Sapnish Deli Cafe; http://www.bocata.com.au

This wet morning the Brunch trio was finally reunited & back to continue our more than 2 year Sydney cafe odyssey landing at Tiger Wattle Cafe near Five Ways in Paddington based on a tip from a Japanese friend of mine now living in Okinawa (hello Ryo, if you read this).

Our advice is arrive early on a sat morn before the child/baby/Paddo ghetto locals crowd a pretty cramped cafe. We had a lovely time chatting on North Korea's attempt to Team America the world once again, knee mishaps, future travel plans including my 2013 centre court Wimbledon tickets & giving verdicts on events attended the night before (Brad- The Inklings writing & reading group had a most stimulating night on the philosophy of Easter), (Andrew - Drongo book club's take on the greatest Australian film of all time 'Picnic at Hanging Rock' but certainly not the greatest Aus novel of all time....Mirandaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!).

Most memorably, we trotted off to the nearby Ben Quilty exhibition 'After Afghanistan' which we were all most moved, disturbed & captivated by. Here are details of the exhibition which only has one week left in Sydney before it tours the country; http://www.benquilty.com/news.php


Finally, we scored 20/20 for the quiz. We were obviously destined to reunite by the powers that be.

ANDREW: 4 Golden Eggs. Beautiful coffee, lovely omlette. Thanks Ryo for the tip.
BRAD: 3 Golden Eggs....(4 for food. Great Eggs Bennie. 3 for ambitious but not totally successful Decor. 2 for Noise)
SAL: 2 Golden Eggs. Good snacks, omlette slightly overcooked but enjoyed it. However, didn't enjoy the noisy children.