Coffee and cake with the ladies and one man
"Set amongst five lush acres of botanics, this bad boy is both a shopping and dining experience. Not only can you pull up a seat at their café and watch the ducks, peacocks and chooks (!!), but you can also wander over to their on-site garden centre." Urban List
An old book group friend was over in Melbourne from Perth, to which she moved around three years ago, and so a coffee experience was organised at Warran Glen Nursery in Warrandyte. Now I have often passed this place on the way to our film society screenings, but I have never visited. It was quite a revelation - not so much because the food was out of this world but more for the setting and the overall experience. Sister dear we shall go there when you are next here.
Beautiful gardens - what looks like river there might be an offshoot of the Yarra which is not far away or it might be completely fabricated. I didn't visit the nursery but it looked pretty large too. But then I'm not a big nursery goer.
The café itself was huge - what you see above is only part of it. There was another indoor section as well as lots of outdoor space for tables and chairs and a playground for the kids. For who was there? Well predominantly groups of old ladies like me, a few families and also groups of yummy mummies with their children. It's Saturday - hence the families. I'm guessing that mostly there are very few men who go there. So our one lone male was quite brave really. he had come to catch up with our friend. Alas her husband had already returned to Perth I think.
As for the food. Well it served all day breakfasts - well I think it was all day breakfast - and the menu featured all those things you would expect - avocado, poached eggs, kale, french toast and granola. But we were there for coffee and cake. And the cakes looked amazingly yummy. I dithered and eventually chose crème brulée tart with blueberries, even though I couldn't see much brulée on it. I should have taken a photo I guess. This is somebody else's from the web of something different - but it gives you an idea of the sort of thing. Typical of such places really. So aren't we spoilt?
I mean this sort of thing is available everywhere. Mind you I think that mostly the taste is a bit disappointing. Mine was - well it didn't taste of anything very much really, but it was sweet and smooth and creamy and the blueberries were very pretty - and tasted of blueberries. Blueberries always look gorgeous don't they against the cream.
But really what got me and what gets me every time I go into Eltham and see people sitting in the numerous cafés is how much time some of us have and how much spare money we have to spend. Coffee and cake is not a cheap exercise. Mine was $12.00. Who are these people one wants to ask? Well i think it is probably mostly, as I said, retired ladies meeting up for a coffee and a chat and yummy mummies. Not the men though. Why are they doing? Why don't they like to sit in cafés and socialise, watch the world go by. Why do they always have to be busy? Don't they like relaxing? No I don't think they do (sweeping generalisation of course). And it shows in the fact that the world is more or less ruled by men and they don't like to talk to people. However, I truly think we affluent people in Melbourne's more decorative suburbs are so lucky to have this lifestyle at our fingertips. I really should do it more. Everyone should.
In the cities the café culture is different. It's dominated by the young - who either dip in quickly for their takeaway coffee, use it as a cheap office, or use it as a pickup spot.
"These days, there are coffee shops everywhere. No matter which country you find yourself in, you are likely to find a coffee shop…and with coffee shops comes the opportunity to meet and pick up women." Dan Bacon - the Modern Man
The Modern Man advises men to flirt with their potential pickup. Which I think is probably a good bet. Women do like a bit of gentle flirting. And it's nice to think that at least some young people are actually meeting potential partners out in the big wide world rather than on the net. The pseudo office thing can sometimes be a problem for the owners though. I gather some people use their free wifi, buy just one coffee and stay there for hours, and there's really no real way of moving them on. Some have tried rules about how long you can do this for but it has not worked. Tricky. And a bit brazen too.
But I'm guessing this is not the kind of thing that happens out in the Warran Glen Nursery and Café. It's a date Jenny.
