Favourite cafes - thoughts from BookTalk in Richmond

I was in one of my favourite cafes the other day and I got to wondering what makes a café “my café”. One we chose over a number of others in the same area. "My cafe" may be too strong a statement – I am really talking about cafes that we feel comfortable. Cafes where we can wander in , order a coffee, drop down – sort of slump - and read the paper.

There are also cafes where we like to sit up straight and look our best. There are cafes where we know the food is good so we meet for lunch and cafes where we go because it is “my café” for one of our friends. These don't become our cafe of choice.

There is a café on Carlisle Street that I want to make “my café” but every time I go there, there is a problem with the table or I’m asked to move because I’m at a table for two or three and I’m only one. It is a cafe where I have received the wrong bill and had to argue about it. They supply papers and magazines and the decor is conducive to whiling away an hour or so, but something always jars. The food is good and this means it’s busy and the staff appear very concerned with getting the crowded in and out. It’s the sort of café where they are trying to take your coffee cup while you still have a couple of mouthfuls left. And it is hard to keep sitting at a table that has been swept clean.

When I was working in Elsternwick for a few weeks there was a café near the office where I bought my morning coffee. They were friendly and I read the paper while I waited. People had breakfast there and I like to see them sitting around. I got to recognize some of them and we greeted each other with a smile.

I was in the area recently and I headed there for a coffee. It’s closed and there’s a ‘For Let’ sign on the window. I’m glad I didn’t get too attached and I wondered about the people who used to go there for breakfast.

The BookTalk café in Swan Street Richmond is a café I feel at home in. It is one of my favourites. The café is in the middle of the bookshop and patrons are surrounded by new and second hand books. The second hand books can be read as you sip and there are magazines and papers for a shorter read. The chairs have the name of well known authors on brass plaques attached to the back. I must look out for Charles Dickens next time I’m there.

I’m back to my first thought and what makes a café “our café” I don’t have the answer but it is as well that we don’t all want the same thing. We don’t want to find there is no room in our chosen café and of course with the number of cafes in Melbourne we need to share our patronage between them.