Fitzroy is my favourite Melbourne suburb - an old working class, inner city neighbourhood home to an interesting mix of immigrants, bohemians and more and more wealthy up-and-comers. There are gay bars and book shops, an African internet cafe (well there was, it looked closed), tatty Chinese homewares stores selling gaudy ornaments, super-expensive clothing boutiques, endless vintage shops, trees and bike racks covered in “knitted grafitti” and miles of interesting street art down residential streets and alleyways. One street has a few real Keith Haring pieces left over from his visit to the city in the early 80s, just behind a block of public housing flats. There is a former Aboriginal health centre-turned cockail bar which trains Aboriginal youth in hospitality work, and a stretch of footpath outside a Safeway supermarket where other Aboriginal people often meet on the street. There are Turkish, Korean, Ethiopian and Afghan restaurants, a forlorn former “Spanish strip” now consisting of a single Iberian supermarket, flamenco bar and a restaurant and cultish indie record stores and bookshops.
yep we went to the Ethiopian restaurant after our catch up last weekend
There are few though. Did you go to the Horn of Africa? I think they have live Ethiopian jazz every Sunday, I always meant to see it but never did. Next time. The food was good, right?
yep we went to Horn. I thought Calvin asked you but you guys went somewhere else. Food was good, there are coffee ceremony ( I presume something like Japanese Tea ceremony) but we missed it.