I’ve started on a list of my favourite cafes around Brisbane. This is mostly for my benefit, but in case you’re looking for somewhere that is guaranteed to be both fun and yummy, check out the list.
So I’ve had a lovely, lovely saturday so far. I had a rather late night out in the Valley on friday following Brendans’ fantastic ‘Future Orphans’ birthday party, and resultingly I didn’t particularly feel like doing much of anything.
The day therefore began with the usual cup of tea, yoghurted muesli, and random music (first up, The Beatles – Revolver, followed closely by something from Donovan, some Kanye, a taste of Patrick Wolf, and then Elbow’s Asleep in the Back ). A game of Bagh-Chal (online version here) began somewhere near the end of Patrick, continued all the way through Elbow, and then was interrupted by a phone call from some acquaintance of Duncan’s. At this point in time, I checked my watch, realised that the only thing I had possibly planned for the day – the attendance of UQ Union Council – was coming up rather soon, and decided it was time for me to pop out.
I made a sort of half-hearted effort to attend, making it as far as the Cultural Centre – which I think is a very worthy effort – before deciding to instead find myself some coffee and peace of mind. This was muchly thanks to the very apt guidance of Jon, who happened to be going in that generally quite specific direction and discouraged me from following him.
This turned out to be the best thing that had happened all day, as I ended up heading to Woollangabba to check out a cafe that I’d passed a few weekends earlier on the way to a Ма́сленица celebration. I dropped into a few shops on the way and was almost captured by the enchantments of Caro Mio, but thankfully I somehow managed to make it to my destination, as Pearl Cafe turned out to be everything that had caught my eye, and more. The Courier Mail review, which I just discovered, is absolutely spot on. Everything about Pearl Cafe screams elegance, from the attentive floor staff to the old-world presentation. The coffee was excellent, too… not the best I’ve ever had, but definately a cut above the rest.
After half an hour or so of coffee loitering, mostly involving the Review section of the Australian, I made the usual comments, left, and began a walk up Vulture St. Past the Gabba I discovered Dan Murphy’s and, obviously, had to drop in. I’m not a wine snob by any means, but I have recently developed a taste for Tempranillo, a beautiful red spanish grape. I enquired… they shrugged, and found me 2 bottles. In their entire collection. Ehh…
It was all summed up for me beautifully by one of the floor staff, an older man who looked like a manager-type. ‘Not many people like Tempranillo, so we don’t really have any. … I know it’s a great wine. But it’s not very popular, so we don’t have it.’ I walked out with a $9.60 Tempranillo that I was assured tasted fantastic. Hrmph.
Global Economy: 1 – Tim: 0.
