TRAVEL DIARY

A weblog regularly updated by Jodi Rose.

Monday, November 20, 2006

11:01 AM
Posted by jodi rose

Thinking about things that ground me, and one of them is definitely Cafe Giulia, possibly the best cafe in the world (and I say that from wide and varied experience). In fact I've been known to request being taken there straight from the airport on a number of occasions. It's hard to define the intangible essence that makes it transcend the everyday function of providing food, drink and shelter to become somewhere that replenishes the spirit and nurtures a community.

Whatever it is, Giulia has it in spades. Of course the food it all incredibly delicious, fresh, healthy - well, if you don't have the rhubarb marscapone waffle too often - and simple. I usually can't go past the halloumi, avocado, tomato bagel with grilled mushrooms; but when I do explore the rest of the menu it's always stunning. That fava (bean) soup is well worth the riot provoked by some friends when it was taken off the menu. And all the people working there are interesting, friendly, relaxed enough to have a chat but still getting everything done efficiently without being stressed. It's always off-putting when you get attitude or disinterest from someone in hospitality, and that has never once happened here - after a good solid few years of constant visits. The space itself is light, airy and well-designed, rarely seems crowded even though the queue at the till can stretch down the chef's counter sometimes; and has a warm comfortable vibe. If you go often enough, the other regulars start to seem familiar, and there's usually a friend in there to pass the time of day with.

So, whenever I come back from a trip away, whether it's been days or months; I don't feel like I'm really home until I've spent a few hours in my favourite window seat, chilling out, reading, chatting, inviting friends to join me. Scraped myself reluctantly out of bed after driving back from the country last week, thought I'd really better see some daylight, and the very gorgeous Stef fixed me up with a glass of shiraz (in lieu of the hot apple cider that wasn't on that day) and my bagel. Bliss. So, having sampled cafe culture over the past few years in slovakia, glasgow, berlin, new york, san francisco, london, paris, helsinki, zagreb, ljubljana, bratislava, budapest, edinburgh, barcelona, riga, tallinn, warsaw, bangkok, chiang mai, melbourne, brisbane, perth, hobart, adelaide, launceston, bega and hong kong.... I'm serious about that best-in-the-world thing!