June is the darkest month of the year with the winter solstice which is a time for the lights to glow brightest. Winter has brought cold nights out but great weather for cosy warming dinners. We have enjoyed been good food, interesting art, and fancy shopping. Sylvia is encountering such great food when she is out without me that I have given her a corner to feature what she had eaten out without me that you will see towards the end of the post.
Above is a photo of a derelict house at 43 Sargood Street in Coburg which I pass when cycling on the Upfield bike path. It has looked so sad, especially when advertised as a site ripe for redevelopment. I was really happy to read an article in Domain about the house titled "Burnt-out and deemed 'beyond repair': Coburg weatherboard sells for $868k to couple planning to restore it." (5 June 2026) I would love this house to feature on Restoration Australia, the tv show that takes viewers on the journey to give new life to hopeless houses like this one. More likely I will just have to watch how it goes as I pass it on my bike. I wish the new owners well with this challenging project!
Taverna
434 Lygon Street, Brunswick East
We got along to the Vegan Night at Taverna, a Greek restaurant in the building where Hellenic Republic used to be in Brunswick East. It was quite a different menu but great to taste some Greek vegetable-centred food. The set menu was organised into 4 courses for $65pp and I have written more about our meal of excellent fava dip, wonderfully flavoured chickpeas, crispy pumpkin fritters, a beautiful roasted cabbage and a small sweet treat of baklava at the end. For more on our meal, check out my post on the Taverna Vegan Night.
Melbourne Kebab Station
451 Sydney Rd, Coburg
You can't keep us away from the Melbourne Kebab Station. They make the best Turkish bread in Coburg and have other fine Middle Eastern foods for reasonable prices. We went there in June one evening on the way home when we did not have energy to make dinner. We had our favourite Vegetarian meal with Falafel served with rice, salad, a choice of two dips and Turkish bread. I really love their silky baba ganoush but it isn't vegan so we now have just hummus so Sylvia can eat it. I also had the cheese and spinach pide which is very good. I should also mention that I love the cheery service with a large dose of personality from the staff who are always busy at the their in front of the heat of the cooking kebab meat.
Big Elma
138 Nicholson Street, Coburg
We were back at Big Elma to sample the winter soups. The specials on the day were a brothy minestrone and a creamy celeriac and cannelini bean soup. Both were so good. We had a vegan kimchi toastie to share, forgetting we would have toast on the side! We asked if a lot of
things were vegan but forgot to ask about kimchi cheese toastie. It was impressive that our server came back to check if we wanted it to be vegan. The service with the hot chocolate was also great when Sylvia was checking if it was vegan. She got a lovely one with dark chocolate powder and soy milk and they were very obliging in adding the vegan whipped cream on top. We also shared a very good slice of berry crumble cake.
Gnoccheria Grocer
89B Harding Street Coburg
On the way home from Big Elma, we dropped in at the Gnoccheria. Well it was always the Gnoccheria but now they have expanded with a Grocer and a Mangia (hole in the wall cafe). It is such a delight to browse the Grocer. We are never organised enough to buy much but there is plenty to tempt. The displays like this one in the middle of the room are gorgeous. The grocery shelves stock lots of local producers and always have vegan and gluten free options. At the front are pizzas, fresh pasta, meals and desserts made by the Take Me Home crew who run the gnoccheria. They are a friendly bunch and usually come and say hello and sometimes have some very good sample plates to pass around. I just wish they were closer to our home!
Miss Fishers Murder Mysteries Tour and Gin Palace
Gin Palace: 10 Russell Pl, Melbourne VIC 3000
I have written about the wonderful Miss Fisher Murder Mysteries Tour that I did in June in the footsteps of stylish 1920 heroine Miss Phryne Fisher, stopping at many amazing historic Melbourne buildings. The tour ends at the Gin Palace which is far more gorgeous and sophisticated than I am, but welcoming all the same. I was really impressed that they had a good albeit short mocktail menu. The photo is of my new favourite mocktail: kombucha and tonic. Such a great afternoon!
Vegan Bake Off, Welcome to Thornbury
520 High Street, Northcote
The Vegan Bake off at Welcome to Thornbury had queues for old favourites and new bakers. The idea is to buy bits and pieces from different baking businesses and vote on them. It is fun, it is indulgent and it is a great way to discover vegan bakers. Sylvia was upset she missed out on the vanilla slice from the Kindness
Echoes when she watched the last slice being sold to the person in front
of her. It was tough but we had lots of other great baking!
In the above photo you can see Gingersnap's mango and passion fruit opera cake, Better Now Bakes' banoffee pie parfait and a raspberry yuzu biscuit, Divine Eggless Treats' loaded chunky choc-chip with hazelnuts, Groovy Cupcakes' white
chocolate mud cake slice with thick caramel layer, and a peace love and pineapple cupcake that was sort of hummingbird, and lastly from Woking Amazing, a relief to have a savoury scrambled eggy croissant with bacon and rocket.
Half Moon Cafe
13 Victoria Street, Coburg
Half Moon cafe's falafels are the absolute best! I understand the irony of a photo of the place with no falafels but my falafel wrap was full and messy in a really good way and there are no falafels on display because they are always freshly fried, hot and crispy. My wrap was called the Half Moon ($15) with the classic combination of falafels, chickpeas, lettuce, rocket, olives, pickles, tabouli, hummus and tzatziki. It was so good. This photo of the cafe, which is a small space with most seating outside in the mall, shows that you don't need to be too fancy. It just requires good fresh food with a friendly smile to produce amazing food!
Eddy and Wills
130 Church Street, Hamlyn Heights, Geelong
As we zoomed down to Geelong, late as usual, I told Sylvia to organise a cafe to meet for lunch rather than dropping into their place first, which we usually do. They did a great job of choosing Eddy and Wills. Sylvia and I both had the fantastic colourful vegan breakfast plate in the photo. It was choc full of seasoned tofu chunks, mashed avocado, beautifully roasted tomato, mushroom, spinach, pickled veggies, tomato
relish, chimichurri, and sourdough. with beans, hash brown. So much good food that we could have shared a plate. Great flavours. My only quibble was that there was too much of the relish and chimichurri. My parents enjoyed sharing a raspberry pistachio french toast with a thick slice of brioche, raspberry mascorpone, pistachio, almond and dark chocolate
soil, vanilla ice cream
The Vegan Market
Coburg Town Hall, 90 Bell Street
We were back at the Vegan market for the second month a row but this time we met up with Faye. It was great to spend time with her browsing the stalls and catching up over a spot of lunch in the row of tables in the middle of the room.
The vendors had not changed much. I made a beeline for a few favourites, especially the Panisse guys and the Dubai Chocolate brownie which I loved so much last month. We had a spicy potato borek and I also had a cheese pie (bottom right in the above photo) that was a pide boat with vegan cheese and far too much tomato sauce on top but I enjoyed them both. Also in the photo are Gingersnap's light and luscious strawberry and lemon opera cake, Better Now Bakes' beautifully flavoured Persian love cake and a gorgeous swirly rainbow cupcake. Sylvia also bought a fried chicken bao from the Purple Rabbit food truck. She raved about the crispy fried mock chicken patty with guacamole, sriracha mayo & pickles packed into a fluffy soft bao bun.
Ample Cafe
31 Arden Street North Melbourne
.jpeg)
When a new colleague had her first day in the office recently, I went out with a few colleagues for a welcoming lunch at Ample Cafe. I had the crispy sweet
potato and corn fritters, topped with char grilled corn, guacamole
salsa, chilli jam and lots of beetroot yoghurt ($26). I had mine without the poached egg and - mine without the poached egg and chilli flakes. I liked the big warehouse with distressed brick walls and plenty of space.
Roll Bae
90 Holmes Street, Brunswick East
Eating cinnamon rolls and browsing antiques is a very pleasant way to spend a Saturday morning. I had a pistachio scroll and Sylvia had a Biscoff scroll at Roll Bae. You can read more about it in my post on our visit. Afterwards we had fun wandering around Wakim Antiques where I splurged on a gorgeous green vintage tea set ( you can see it in my In My Kitchen: June 2026 post).
CERES Winter Solstice
Cnr Roberts and Stewart Streets, Brunswick East
We had good memories of the Winter Solstice at Ceres in 2024 so we went again. This year it was different with a small craft market with lots of great products. I really loved how they decorated an old train with a Christmas tree and candles and reflective words. We had a great food truck dinner - Purple Rabbit's Samosa Chat for me and Wokking Amazing's Peking duck pancake and their nuggets and chips munch box for Sylvia. It was a rainy night but we enjoyed the lights on the darkest night. Stay tuned for more on this!
Matilda
15 Arcade Rd Mont Albert North
It was a pleasure to have lunch at Matilda, an elegant French style cafe, in the leafy eastern suburbs of Melbourne. We didn't book - it was a week day - and had to wait 5 or 10 minutes to get a seat at the communal table! I can see why it is popular. It is bright and welcoming with flowers, books and cosy little booths.
The food was very good. I had a sourdough crumpet with truffle butter, gruyere and chives ($10), which was nice but had rather more of the truffle butter than gruyere than I expected. But I really loved my pumpkin soup with coyo and hazelnut dukkah with sourdough toast ($16). Sylvia was delighted with her matcha latte and her Winter Waffles served with spiced poached pears, caramel sauce with walnut crumble & vanilla bean Coyo ice cream ($27). We aren't often in that part of Melbourne but hope to return to Matilda when we do.
"Home": installation by Rone at Chadstone Shopping Centre
341 Dandenong Rd, Malvern East
I was so excited to see that Rone was creating one of his gorgeous nostalgic installations where art imitates reality with beauty and sadness. It was strange and fascinating that he created an old rundown house in the midst of bright and shiny Chadstone Shopping Centre. We headed there after lunch at Matilda and it was so much to take in that I wanted to go through again. I have shared photos and written more in a separate post about this amazing experience.
My Asian Neighbour
760 Plenty Road, Reservoir
We were so impressed with the Indonesian cooking at My Asian Neighbour. Later I read the backstory of Lily who served us and it made sense of the wonderful food being reminiscent of my trip to Indonesia a few years back. I was so happy to encounter the battered tempeh (fritter) and the garlic crackers that I remember fondly. We were on our way to see the new Minions movie at Northland Shopping Centre and this feast was so superior to anything in the food court there.
We shared a few different dishes. On the side we had a magnificent puffy flaky roti ($9). It usually comes with satay sauce but Sylvia is allergic so instead we used it to mop up sauces. The Vegan Nasi Campur Banquet ($35) was a wonderful taster plate with vegan rendang curry, corn fritter,
soybean (tempeh) fritter, deep fried eggplant and garlic crackers. The curry was quite spicy but the curried potato was great. and the beautiful soft eggplant was a joy. We also had the Woku with vegan crispy tofu ($24). It is described in the menu as "a traditional dish from north sulawesi, stir fried with lemongrass, house made yellow curry paste,
pandan leaf, kaffir lime leaf and tomato served with rice. The flavours were so fragrant and tasty. We'd love to go back and try other dishes.
Close up Coburg
Coburg Library projections and stories walk
We enjoyed Close up Coburg, Merribek Library's night time walk with local projections and stories. The images of the past and voices of the present demonstrated the rich fabric of the history of the suburb and then people who now live there. I was fascinated by the projector bike that walked the pavements with us and gave us lovely images on various Coburg buildings. We heard the stories through headphones which allowed for a larger audience than one live presenter could reach. Above is the historic Coburg Railway Station building with a photo of Coburg Lake.
Sylvie's Selection
Some of the best cafe food Sylvia ate in June (without me):
1st Row:
2nd Row:
3rd Row:
- Smoked Tofu Toasty with sauerkraut, greens, chili jam, and tahini, All Things Equal
- Don't Fear the Reaper - Halloumi, Avocado, Egg, Tomato and Rocket and Henry Huggins - Vegan Buffalo Chicken, Pickles and Slaw, True North
- Cauliflower bake, crispy chili tofu and cabbage and radish slaw, Smith and Deli in Degraves Street
In the news
Significant deaths: Anthony Head, Richard Scolyer, David Hockney, Penelope Keith, Vince Willis (village people lead singer)
Don’t be fooled, there’s nothing ‘reasonable’ about these rebooted abortion battles by Amy Remeikis in The Point, 3 June 2026.
Americans Have Grown Dramatically Anti-Data Center in Just Months, Survey Finds, Gizmodo, 3 June 2026.
Man Simultaneously Furious About Government Causing House Prices To Fall and Immigrants Causing House Prices To Rise (Satirical headline that brilliantly shows the ridiculousness of the housing debates), in The Shovel, 4 June 2026.
In weaponising Henry Nowak’s tragic death, the right has come full circle on identity politics, (On the riots following Henry Novak's death being spun as an anti-white police decision) The Observer, 7 June 2026.
Reform is hard. Albanese and Chalmers need to stay the course (on Australian tax reform), by Chris Wallace in The Conversation, 10 June 2026.
The Socceroos and the Australia That Exists, (reflections on an Australian win in the World Cup in the context of the immigration debate.) The Snarky Gherkin Substack, 16 June 2026.
Burnham triumphs. Farage falters. (written on the night of Andy Burnham winning Makerfield by-election) Goodall and Good Luck substack.19 June 2026/
Trump thinks his freshly signed ceasefire deal is a victory. It is – for Iran, by Simon Jenkins, The Guardian, 19 June 2026.
Hanson has tapped into angst about immigration, but it remains central to the Australian story by Frank Bongiorno, in the Conversation, 23 June 2026.
Belfast’s worst riots in years expose a racism crisis that data shows has been building for a decade, Muslim Network TV, 26 June 2026.
Karl Stefanovic to leave Nine immediately after Today host’s podcast controversy, The Guardian, 26 June 2026.
Listening, Watching. Reading
My Own Startled Face on a Lanyard - Aaron Smith's fascinating insider story of working as a staffer in the Australian Parliament House (blog post)
Minions and Monsters - this movie is great fun with lots of laughs at the Minions in the golden years of Hollywood with many references for film buffs.
The Kitchen God's Wife by Amy Tan - this novel about a young woman's experience of love and societal change during China in World War II gave a new and fascinating perspective on the history of this war.
Midsomer Murders - we have gone back to the start of this cosy detective tv series set in nostalgic British villages. It is quite formulaic but great comfort viewing with beautiful villages and many amusing characters.
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
