Little Red Rides the Hood

Thursday, 5 July 2012

Sonido! And more Gertrude Street

I was successful in dragging El Marido to Gertrude Street! That didn't take long at all!

A couple of Sundays ago El Marido and I checked out Colombian café Sonido! for brunch. And yes the café's name has an exclamation point, that's not a typo. I absolutely loved the place, El Marido did too, it is just like a little Bogotá in Melbourne, the interior, décor, and of course the menu all add to the Colombian feel.

Front of the café

Outdoor seating

As expected, there was a wait list when we got there at 12pm. We had the option to skip the wait list and sit on one of the kiddie chairs outside:

But we opted to be put on the wait list as it was too cold outside. I'm glad we did we would've missed out on being surrounded by their wonderful interior! It is comprised of actual Bogotá bus route signs, Colombian children's books, a Chibcha head, maps of South American countries and random mismatched bits and bobs. There was also a vinyl record player, and the menu cards were made from Spanish magazines and posters.

The kitchen reminded me so much of El Marido's abuela's (grandma) kitchen in Timiza.

I ordered the Arepa Ropa Vieja and El Marido got the Arepa Chorizo. Both were under $12, relatively cheap for a café I must say! My Ropa Vieja was full of flavour both on its own and with the picadillo and guacamole complementing it. The arepa is just the right thickness and did not absorb too much of the meat juice so it did not go soggy. I tried El Marido's Chorizo and while it was also very good, I preferred my Ropa Vieja.

Para beber I had their classic Colombian hot chocolate, and while ordering I totally forgot to get the one with cheese. Colombians have their chocolate caliente with cheese, weird as it may sound, El Marido says it's good. El Marido had the agua panela, it's some sort of sweet tea made with panela, or as Sonido's menu says, an "elixir". In Colombia, agua panela is normally drunk when one is sick. Well El Marido was not sick but the agua panela made him feel extra better nonetheless.

EM said you had to roll the paddle between your hands so the chocolate becomes extra frothy.

Sure enough it became wonderfully frothy!

Just the steam from the agua panela is enough to make you warm. Mmm qué rico!

Service was ok, pretty average as one would expect during brunch rush on a weekend.

Since we're on the subject of Gertrude Street I thought I should share more of what I love about it.

The cycling scene:

A gorgeous purple Tokyo Bike outside Sonido

Lovely non-cookie cutter shops:

Cottage Industry

Amor y Locura

This wonderful bike shop

And their resident pets:

The stylish people and animals:

Look at that gorgeous dog

And the yarn bombed posts and crochet-covered trees!

I'm due to visit Gertrude Street again soon, I am after a Cambridge Satchel Company bag and Cottage Industry is a distributor! I might just pop in Sonido again, and try the chocolate with cheese this time!

Saturday, 2 June 2012

Brunch with Gaby and the Wonderfulness that is Gertrude Street Fitzroy

Today I had brunch in Gertrude Street in Fitzroy with my good friend Gabriela. We went to De Clieu, Seven Seeds' latest progeny. I had always wanted to check the place out but never had the chance until today. I've read so much about it and it didn't disappoint. Not sure how it is possible as they use the same beans, milk, machine and I'm assuming baristas too, but the coffee tasted better than Seven Seeds' and its elder child Brother Baba Budan's. Maybe I was just desperate for a coffee then after riding up the hill on Queensberry Street.

This photo is actually from 6Lumens, not mine.

Super cute kid! "Who cares about brunch and coffee when I can kiss myself on this window!"

De Clieu Menu + Nail Colour of the Week

I had their Pork Neck Roti which was very interesting. I usually get the predictable boring Eggs Benedict / Eggs with Bacon or Smoked Salmon and Mushroom for brunch but was feeling adventurous and non-boring today. The Pork Neck Roti was really yum, I'm not a big fan of barbecue sauce but it worked well with this dish. I didn't photograph it well but trust me it looks much better in real life.

Brunches/coffee dates with Gabriela is always a delight! We never run out of things to talk about and she's one of the very few people I can speak my mind to without being judged. I simply love her. Maybe it's because we share the same birthday~

I don't know why I don't venture to that part of town, it's just so amazing. Oh actually I do, The Husband thinks Gertrude Street is shady, as it has a public housing building on it. To him, Public Housing = Ghetto/Junkies. I must say it was a bit like that about five years ago, but it's not like that at all anymore. So yes, not being able to take him along there has been the reason I don't get to frequent it. And look what I've been missing!

The above shop is just awesome! It has a great collection of world music, and a whole shelf of Almodóvar DVD's!

I was so tempted to get that Almodóvar book

If you look closely you will see a stylish cyclist on a sweet orange bike!

Before riding up there today I was daunting the prospect of being sandwiched between trams and cars on this relatively narrow street. It was not the case at all, there were very few cars, all of which were polite and trams were few and far between.

Yes indeed. Love is all you need.

I shall make it a mission to convince The Husband to give Gertrude Street a chance again. He doesn't know what he's missing out on!

On my ride home I couldn't resist stopping by the Carlton Gardens. Winter may have already started but the Gardens is still in gorgeous Autumn mode.

Sunday, 6 May 2012

Today's trip to the bike shop

After doing the maths and realising spending almost $8000 per year on our car is not worth it anymore, my husband and I have decided to sell our car!

One big change that will entail is that El Marido will be riding to work and uni much more often (i.e. all the time, like me!) than his normal two to three days a week. That meant a better and faster bike. El Marido rides a mountain bike which has a heavy frame (aluminium) and sluggish tyres. We knew a road bike would be a much better bike for him to own, speed and practicality-wise. We had been shopping around for about three months and today we ventured to bike shops one more time. We went to BSC Bikes in QV where we found a Scott which El Marido test rode and the salesperson gave us a good deal, $550 instead of $650 with heavily discounted accessories. He almost got it but we weren't entirely convinced by it, it just didn't feel 'him' to me so I told him it's the first one we'd seen that day and that maybe we could check out what Velo Cycles in Fitzroy has to offer.

So off we went to Velo Cycles. And wow did we love that place. The first things to greet us were these wonderful cargo bikes outside, I knew this place was different from the typical pompous, too-sporty, racing bike-centric bike shop which caters to the lycra brigade. And it was! The majority of the bikes they have on display are urban bikes, I only saw about six or eight racing type models. It's such a far cry from the majority of bike shops in Melbourne (like BSC) which stock mainly $5000 carbon bikes only MAMIL (Middle Aged Men in Lycra) can afford and only have the token urban road and womens step-throughs in the back of the shop.

One of the wonderful cargo bikes outside the shop! Our future children will be definitely carted around in one of these!

Look at this wonderful row of step-throughs, it made my heart sing when I saw them at the front of the shop, not hidden in the back!

I LOVE these Viva Juliettes!

Pretty colourful restored vintage with a Brooks saddle and coaster brakes! I mounted this bike and was all over it and even fondled it before I realised it maybe someone else's bike up for repair/maintenance as the bikes next to it look used. Whoops!

El Marido test rode two bikes, one was a Centurion similar to the Scott he test rode in BSC, and the second was a sleek, smooth-lined 2012 Jamis Coda Sport (which I found and suggested to him by the way!). I had a strong feeling that the Jamis was The One, and sure enough the smile El Marido had on his face when he rolled back in from the street on the Jamis indicated he had the same feeling about it too. He said it was the smoothest bike he ever rode and it was much much better than the Centurion and the Scott, which were very good rides too. As soon as we decided that we could afford it we threw in mudguards and a rear rack with our order. The package is $150 more than the deal we got from BSC Bikes but El Marido and I thought we had already fallen in love with it and if he picked the Scott he would have what-could've-been feelings about the Jamis. We didn't bring it home today though as we would've had to wait an hour for the accessories to get installed so we decided for El Marido to pick it up tomorrow or on Tuesday instead. I can't wait until he does!

I forgot to take photos of the Jamis while in the store so I'll give you the one from the Jamis website instead:

Its specs are set out here. It has a derailleur gear set which is probably the only thing I don't love about it (but that doesn't mean I don't like it), being an internal gear hub girl myself. But it's Shimano so I'm confident El Marido will be in good hands!

We are chuffed with our purchase and look forward to going on rides with the new bike!