G9 - Commune by
Archiver, on Flickr
Panasonic G9 | Olympus M Zuiko 17mm f1.8 | Commune wine bar in Southgate, Melbourne
Commune has taken the place of what was once Walter's Wine Bar, a stalwart of Melbourne's Southgate shopping and food complex. Walter's closed as the owners wanted a change, and they moved to a hotel in Mornington. After Walter's and prior to Commune, there was a restaurant which suddenly and mysteriously closed without warning, leaving workers with only a notice on the front door that they were no longer employed.
What!?! Walter's is gone? That goes to show how out of touch I am with things and places in Melbourne. My loss...
I remember them well from so long ago - well, 1980s, which to us oldies is like, yesterday or the day before - when they were in Carlton as Walter And Maria.
Living in Western Victoria, regularly we dedicate a Sunday - usually in winter when it's sunny but cold in the Pyrenees and our Audi's German heater does its noble duty to keep us nicely thawed from the outside chill - to visit small cafes with wine licenses and family wineries that often don't get on the usual lists of quaffing places.
Maryborough, a pleasant small town out of Ballarat on the road to Avoca, was one such find. Unusually good eateries (there were four, not bad for a hamlet of <9,000) until Covid did them in and they closed.
We were regulars at a place called Madam Chi Chi's. There was nothing like it in the region. Food could be up and down but the daily menu always had a few locally sourced main courses of interest and the choice on offer was interesting. The wine was also local and bloody good as the locals would say. At $10 for a bottle it was a bargain.
The lady who ran it knew her wines and mixed a darn good cocktail, her Negronis would grow hair on chests if not heads (how I wish!). I recall that Limoncello was one of her personal favourite drinks. 38Deardorff would have enjoyed having one with her as she knew a lot about photography and she could easily hold her own on the tech-talk.
But then Covid and the lockdown came along, her in-store business fell over, takeaway trade wasn't enough to keep her open and she closed. Sadly missed, not only by us but also many others. I'm always surprised when I turn up at a new cafe and chat to staff and patrons and someone will mention Madam Chi Chi and how good she was.
Maryborough has a few okay eating-places - that pub on the Main Street comes to mind, the one restored from the iconic 1908 building, lovely surrounds for lunch or a drink - the menu rather needs some new items. The cafe at the railway station was sold a few years ago but now hasn't quite made it to what it was So sadly, still nothing to come near to Madam Chi Chi.
Apologies for having (temporarily I hope) derailed this thread, what, again!?! We can now get back on the track of good grog...