A Minor Place
| Where | 103 Albion Street, Brunswick, 3056—View map |
Contact | 03 9384 3131 |
Website | — |
Open | Monday to Wednesday 8am to 5pm, Thursday 8am to 10pm, Friday to Saturday 8am to 11pm, Sunday 8.30am to 10pm |
Payment | EFTPOS, Visa, Mastercard, Cash |
Diet | Check with venue |
Seating | Inside and outside |
Kids | Welcome |
Pets | Welcome |
Oh So Humble
Nicola Shafer 5 October 2008
Calling your café ‘A Minor Place' is clever-it's like describing yourself as a ‘slightly short, interesting person'. The chance of outdoing expectations becomes quite high when you're that self-deprecating.
The name also reminds me of popular aesthetic sweeping formerly shabby and increasingly hip suburbs like Brunswick. The trend toward what the French call jolie-laid, or beautiful-ugly, a quality that values flaws over perfection; the bumps and blemishes that make something exquisite and rare. Think of the kind of model that is de rigueur, with an asymmetrical face, a horn-beak of a nose, gappy teeth, and super-frizzy hair, all wrapped up in Vivienne Westwood-beautiful. Put it this way, there's just no edge to ‘A Place of Great Import with Excellent Food'.
Perhaps the name refers to the café as a former milk bar, or to its concordant appearance, popping up in a suburban street as if it were just another terrace; or, place the emphasis on the ‘A' and it's a homage to the saddest scale feasible in a minor key. Of course, it was probably just named after the Bonnie ‘Prince' Billy song, which, if you Google it, is about everything from depression to death to, vacuously enough, being on holiday.
Perhaps the namers intended all these meanings. Anyway, this much I know: it is not a sad place, nor is it an insignificant one. Rather, it is bustling, busy, popular, lively, colourful, and quite happy, if a place can have a temperament. So much so that in the few times I've been there, I have suffered either a wait for a table, or a wait for food. Fortunately, some clever use of bar space, and the ever-interesting array of customers means that I've never had to stand awkwardly without a seat, or pass my time waiting for food in boredom. No, here, there are interesting locals, the occasional incognito celebrity, and, if you prefer not to gawk at strangers, some wonderful little hidden-nook art installations. Even small windowsill cacti keep you interested, if you pass time at the window bar.
The menu isn't minor either. It's rather extensive, and includes the kind of dishes that are becoming signature Brunswick-a twist on the standard, using unusual fresh produce that calls on the Italian and Middle Eastern influences of the suburb. Stand-outs include homemade muesli (served with stewed seasonal fruit, yoghurt, honey, and blackberry compote); scrambled eggs with caramelised onion and feta; poached eggs with hollandaise on ciabatta, with tomato, spinach, onion, basil, and garlic; ‘Henry's white beans' with garlic and rosemary, served with dukkah and toast; and French toast with poached pears, honey, lemon labne, roasted walnuts, and pure maple. I had the latter, and was delighted with the unusual mix of textures, and the not-too-sweet take on what can be a sickly dish.
Slouching behind its humble name, its suburban milk bar frontage, and its unembellished menu, A Minor Place proves that definitive Melbourne urban-cool can also do really good food, and that trekking just out from bustling café-hubs like Brunswick Street and Sydney Road is worth it.