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COVID Reminiscing

It is interesting what this COVID situation does to you, in regards to returning to basics.

I had the opportunity to drop into a local traditional Italian deli late last week, and I thought or felt I should give them a bit more business than just a takeaway coffee. So I purchased some cheese, few hundred grams of cured meat, peppered mortadella, etc., etc, some crusty bread rolls. It took me straight back to my youth in the years I spent working in and around the CBD. Back then I spent most of my time in Flinders Street, but I would look to occasions to get up around Queen Vic market and the RMIT area, perhaps as an excuse to head towards Lygon Street. But often Lygon Street was too busy, bustling as a hive of activity, and it was tough to get fast service with limited time for lunch. So frequently I head up past Queen Vic to the North Melbourne area, the traditional Lebanese and Italia Coffee shops for lunch. My frequent fare of choice, a simple crusty roll, some peppered mortadella, a slice of some real cheese, sun dried tomato and some nice relish or olive tapenade as a spread, all washed down with some serious serious coffee occasionally with a small "correction fluid" chaser. Long before Subway existed! I can't recall what they called it, modern cuisine labels it a muffaletta but it's not something invented in New Orleans.

It's still a winner!
"Extremists on either side will always meet in the Middle!"

Re: COVID Reminiscing

Reply #1 –
Bloody yum. I used to work just around the corner from Vic Market and we used to go there often for lunch. USed to do the same thing, pasta dura roll, mortadella and cheese. That wine shop just inside used to sell plastic glasses of wine sealed like the old aeroplane water cups were. We used to sit in the lane just beside it near Eliz St and enjoy. The simple things huh?
2021-Pi$$ or get off the pot
2022- Real Deal or more of the same? 0.6%
2023- "Raise the Standard" - M. Voss Another year wasted Bar Set
2024-Back to the drawing boardNo excuses, its time
2025-Carlton can win the 2025 AFL Premiership

Re: COVID Reminiscing

Reply #2 –
Not quite as cultured as LP and GTC...
$5 Lunch at the old Glenferrie pub in Hawthorn, Plate of Bratwurst snags with gravy along with real Mash and Peas washed down with a glass of ale. Dingy, Dark and less than salubrious...just the way we liked it.

Re: COVID Reminiscing

Reply #3 –
Quote from: ElwoodBlues1 – on
Not quite as cultured as LP and GTC...
$5 Lunch at the old Glenferrie pub in Hawthorn, Plate of Bratwurst snags with gravy along with real Mash and Peas washed down with a glass of ale. Dingy, Dark and less than salubrious...just the way we liked it.
@ElwoodBlues1‍  Shizen when did you frequent the Glenferrie?

For about half a decade in the 80s it was my goto location for lunch and "occasionally" after work, when I was working out of a Herald & Weekly Times site just a couple of hundred metres down the road. Small world isn't it! Can't say solids were big on the agenda, often it was nine pots in a round of three in the front bar!

 Did you ever go to the Hawthorn Club just around the corner in Glenferrie Road, we would go there to play Snooker. Even more woefully after work was to end up at Chasers, one of Brereton's old haunts. Many of the Dawks players preferred the trendy pub up past Swinburne, I can't recall the name but it was popular. Of course if we were heading into town it was often via the Whitehorse on the way.

Is the Glenferrie even still there?
"Extremists on either side will always meet in the Middle!"

Re: COVID Reminiscing

Reply #4 –
Adored the continental cheeses and meats on offer AND the breads at the VIC market.  Can still smell it today!!

Used to go with a good mate to Perc and Gag's pub every Friday for their mixed grill.  Two middle loin lamb chops, three thick snags, four slices of bacon, chips galore, fried eggs, ladle of peas ... $2.50.  Seriously good grub.

Re: COVID Reminiscing

Reply #5 –
Quote from: Gointocarlton – on
Bloody yum. I used to work just around the corner from Vic Market and we used to go there often for lunch. USed to do the same thing, pasta dura roll, mortadella and cheese. That wine shop just inside used to sell plastic glasses of wine sealed like the old aeroplane water cups were. We used to sit in the lane just beside it near Eliz St and enjoy. The simple things huh?
I was lucky back in the day, I was friends with Alec Prosser, who owned Prosser Seafood at Vic Market. Use to get some serious stuff at terrific prices, and some significant freebies as well. His drinking mate was the pilot on the King Island airline that ferried crays and all sorts of good back and forth between there and Moorabin. When Alec retired his boys inherited the business, but they had a fall-out and split it in two so there were two Prosser Seafood stores in Queen Vic for decades.

In his later days a long time ago, Alec was a notorious aged drunk driver, never really had an accident, didn't have a brake, indicator or any inclination to stop at lights or rail crossings either, once he was on a roll it was rolling all the way home express! I realise that is nothing to boast about in modern times, and it's not something anyone thinks is funny or proud of, it's just the way things were back then.
"Extremists on either side will always meet in the Middle!"

Re: COVID Reminiscing

Reply #6 –
Quote from: capcom – on
Adored the continental cheeses and meats on offer AND the breads at the VIC market.  Can still smell it today!!

Used to go with a good mate to Perc and Gag's pub every Friday for their mixed grill.  Two middle loin lamb chops, three thick snags, four slices of bacon, chips galore, fried eggs, ladle of peas ... $2.50.  Seriously good grub.
Mixed grill, there's a throw back, can you even find one in a pub these days that isn't probably $45 a main? As a menu item it's been replaced by the Parma, not that Parma isn't good, just that I'd go a mixed grill any day ahead of a chicken fillet.

In the old days the mixed grills nearly always had a little bit of kidney or liver hidden in there somewhere that you either loved or hated!
"Extremists on either side will always meet in the Middle!"

Re: COVID Reminiscing

Reply #7 –
Perc always assumed I wanted the "parma and a pot" for 2 smackers.  After a month or so he got to know me and would shout out the order to the kitchen as I walked to the bar ... "mixed grills for two" :)

Re: COVID Reminiscing

Reply #8 –
Quote from: capcom – on
Perc always assumed I wanted the "parma and a pot" for 2 smackers.  After a month or so he got to know me and would shout out the order to the kitchen as I walked to the bar ... "mixed grills for two" :)
FMD, if they put a sausage on a mixed grill these days the customer would probably report the chef to the health department! :o

It probably has to be a vegan mixed grill with a sausage stuffed with humanly dispatched spinach!

On the way to "The G", let's face it probably Carlton's real home, we would sneak in via a few of the back roads to some of the smaller pubs around that Richmond / Cremorne area. I recall one pub back in the 80s that used to make their own pies, seriously good pies with cubes of steak and proper chips, all with a pot for about $5 ~ 7. It may have been the London Tavern, but I can't be sure my memory of those days seems somewhat foggy for some unknown reason! ::)
"Extremists on either side will always meet in the Middle!"

Re: COVID Reminiscing

Reply #9 –
Quote from: ElwoodBlues1 – on
Not quite as cultured as LP and GTC...
$5 Lunch at the old Glenferrie pub in Hawthorn, Plate of Bratwurst snags with gravy along with real Mash and Peas washed down with a glass of ale. Dingy, Dark and less than salubrious...just the way we liked it.
EB what can I say, I'ma food snob. I'm of strong Italian heritage and our type of food and wine is everything. We make our own salsa, salamis, prosciutto, pancetta, capocollo, wine (although I follow the science in proper wine making as opposed to the "wog" methods my ancestors used). Don't wanna brag but my Garage Hermitage is award winning.
2021-Pi$$ or get off the pot
2022- Real Deal or more of the same? 0.6%
2023- "Raise the Standard" - M. Voss Another year wasted Bar Set
2024-Back to the drawing boardNo excuses, its time
2025-Carlton can win the 2025 AFL Premiership

Re: COVID Reminiscing

Reply #10 –
My lunch place of choice, especially on Fridays. was Pinnochio's Pizza in Toorak Rd. Used to work in that area going back 20 years or so. There was a good bottle shop next door so a reasonable bottle of red and a Mexicana was a great lunch.
Reality always wins in the end.

Re: COVID Reminiscing

Reply #11 –
Quote from: Gointocarlton – on
EB what can I say, I'ma food snob. I'm of strong Italian heritage and our type of food and wine is everything. We make our own salsa, salamis, prosciutto, pancetta, capocollo, wine (although I follow the science in proper wine making as opposed to the "wog" methods my ancestors used). Don't wanna brag but my Garage Hermitage is award winning.
My grandma used to make her own Grappa among other things, kept it in what looked like big clear glass urn/amphora hanging in a woven basket besides the kitchen sink. Had a little brass tap on the bottom, and after lunch was mostly sorted she'd sit and have one glass everyday just before serving. Completely colourless and highly flammable!
"Extremists on either side will always meet in the Middle!"

Re: COVID Reminiscing

Reply #12 –
Quote from: cookie2 – on
My lunch place of choice, especially on Fridays. was Pinnochio's Pizza in Toorak Rd. Used to work in that area going back 20 years or so. There was a good bottle shop next door so a reasonable bottle of red and a Mexicana was a great lunch.
Wowsa you're triggering more memories, that area was also seemingly associated with alcohol, I'm detecting a trend in my storyline!

The South Yarra Club, that is the old old South Yarra Club, which was all club lounges and leather seats. Just a bit down the way The Prahran Club, which was more bare timber grunge and full of intellectual bohemian's wearing bow ties.

Back then if you wanted a wine at the SYC you had to buy a bottle, the food wasn't so good, most patrons went down the road to a local Chinese for dinner that was top notch! However, the SYC wine list was extraordinary if you could afford it, most got a little faint or flustered reading it and went straight to the cheapest bottle.

The Prahran Club had a dinner menu of about five items from the 50s or 60s, bangers and mash, or fish and chips I recall was about 90% of the service for about $4.50 a plate. But they had four full-sized snooker tables and some of the best beer in the area. I have this vague memory of trying to play snooker as a tram passes and all the balls wobbling around, maybe I was swaying a bit! it had two very famous patrons, Albert Lavere a world renowned gambler card shark, and the guys from Crowded House who brought in all sorts of famous transients.
"Extremists on either side will always meet in the Middle!"

Re: COVID Reminiscing

Reply #13 –
Quote from: LP – on
@ElwoodBlues1‍  Shizen when did you frequent the Glenferrie?

For about half a decade in the 80s it was my goto location for lunch and "occasionally" after work, when I was working out of a Herald & Weekly Times site just a couple of hundred metres down the road. Small world isn't it! Can't say solids were big on the agenda, often it was nine pots in a round of three in the front bar!

 Did you ever go to the Hawthorn Club just around the corner in Glenferrie Road, we would go there to play Snooker. Even more woefully after work was to end up at Chasers, one of Brereton's old haunts. Many of the Dawks players preferred the trendy pub up past Swinburne, I can't recall the name but it was popular. Of course if we were heading into town it was often via the Whitehorse on the way.

Is the Glenferrie even still there?

LP, 80's to early 90's, group of about 4 engineers including a young trainee Elec Engineer would frequent the Glen.
Worked on some upgrades to the rail loop in the Comms and Metrol areas and with some companies we dealt with like Siemens would often find ourselves down Richmond/Hawthorn way and the Glen was a nice cheap no frills lunch. I also studied at Swinburne so I knew the area well and even when I finished my degree we were made to go and study at Swinburne for the Microsoft and Novell training courses so that was another excuse to lunch at the Glen. There was a little Pizza bar in Glenferrie Rd just up from the Comm bank and we used to hangout in there too..
At the Glen we sat opposite the kitchen/servery where the Chef's would hand you the food out, Rocket Eade and his mates were often in the Glen drinking and would sit in the Booth's, they got really annoyed if anyone recognized them and wanted to chat etc....not a very pleasant individual was Eade. Pub did a mixed grill too  with lambchops, snags, bacon, tomato, mushies etc, it was real pub food..not a green in sight,Think it was about $7.50....
We probably walked straight past each other......did eat at the flash pub up the road on the corner past Swinny a few times but only when we had the big bosses in tow who were usually in town taking credit for the work we did and offered us a lunch as a reward.
Didnt go to the Hawthorn club or Chasers but did frequent "Caseys" everynow and then, the future Mrs EB liked TocH which was Sth Yarra way.....
 

Re: COVID Reminiscing

Reply #14 –
Quote from: ElwoodBlues1 – on
LP, 80's to early 90's, group of about 4 engineers including a young trainee Elec Engineer would frequent the Glen.
Worked on some upgrades to the rail loop in the Comms and Metrol areas and with some companies we dealt with like Siemens would often find ourselves down Richmond/Hawthorn way and the Glen was a nice cheap no frills lunch. I also studied at Swinburne so I knew the area well and even when I finished my degree we were made to go and study at Swinburne for the Microsoft and Novell training courses so that was another excuse to lunch at the Glen. There was a little Pizza bar in Glenferrie Rd just up from the Comm bank and we used to hangout in there too..
We sat opposite the kitchen/servery where the Chef's would hand you the food out, Rocket Eade and his mates were often in the Glen drinking and would sit in the Booth's, they got really annoyed if anyone recognized them and wanted to chat etc....not a very pleasant individual was Eade. Pub did a mixed grill too  with lambchops, snags, bacon, tomato, mushies etc, it was real pub food..not a green in sight,Think it was about $7.50....
We probably walked straight past each other......did eat at the flash pub up the road on the corner past Swinny a few times but only when we had the big bosses in tow who were usually in town taking credit for the work we did and offered us a lunch as a reward.
I had some mates who worked with the trams, out of a depot down in Glenferrie Rd Malvern, one of them was a Electrical Engineer in the maintenance department. Back in the early days he helped design and build the original Restaurant Trams, I also know the guy who did the control system refit on those years ago too. Hungarian or Croatian, used to make this home made honey mead that was a ripper!

My older brother would also drink in the Glenferrie at times with Kelvin Moore, Polkinghorne, Moncrieff sometimes, Eade was viewed as a bit of a downer by the older guys as he was always grumpy or on their back about drinking too much to stay fit. Lethal used to be about too but mostly stayed over at the Glenferrie Oval Social Club, with some of the older players like Tuck and Leon Rice. Actually, most of the Dawks weren't bad blokes, even Dermie despite having a head and mane bigger than a racehorse!

Dermie always had this stupid wad of notes stuck down his pants, made of $20 bills all rolled up like a canister. Shoved it in his front pocket and would wobble-head his way around Chasers, I suppose the wad was a proxy for maybe having a little prick, it certainly got the girls attention when he dragged it out, that is the bills not the prick. He use to drag that wad out at the racetrack as well, usually in front of the bookies, holding it like a carrot to get better odds, but you'd rarely actually see him strip one of those bills off the roll other than when buying a drink for some female! Then he would wobble-head his way out the door or off course having spent $20, like some celebrity passing through a telethon. It was all harmless fun, the stuff young blokes do when they got too much money and fame!
"Extremists on either side will always meet in the Middle!"