I love that scene in the Sofia Coppola film Lost in Translation where Bill Murray’s character is singing Roxy Music’s song at a Japanese karaoke bar. Mr Rosanna and I have been bunkering down for winter, which is not my favourite season and I must admit I’m not a very nice person to be around when I’m cold, tired or hungry and watch out if I’m all three. My work colleagues know I get ‘hangry’ so it’s probably no surprise that I’m the team lunch organiser.
While it’s cold and I am tired at the moment – I have been eating! I’ve started celebrating my birthday early this year and Mr Rosanna took me to Camus on High Street Northcote on Saturday night, after having had my family over for lunch during the day. Camus is relatively new – French Algerian – and very close to the Westgarth Theatre and Bar Nonno. We were seated upstairs in the more modern formal, but more sterile-feeling, upstairs dining area which could do perhaps with some sound baffling (and I’m not a fan of the white floorboards) – it was full house but I think I’d go back and ask for a downstairs table next time which feels more cosy, particularly in the winter time.
The food was great although we’d probably eaten a bit too much at lunch given the plates are designed for sharing. Mr Rosanna and I shared two starters of calamari stuffed with prawns and the sardines – I preferred the calamari to the sardines while our two shared mains included the slow cooked goat with apricots, which was delicious (sorry any vegetarian readers out there!) and the baked snapper which was also very good.
I stopped eating a bit earlier so only just had room for a shared dessert of Turkish delight souffle with halva icecream, which was delicious, and Algerian mint tea, which was sweet but also very nice. I don’t know who has done the fit out and design for Camus but particularly love the graphic design – their business card has no other details except for just the name – as well as some of the finer details like the Glenn Tebble tableware made by Bendigo Pottery. Glenn Tebble himself has a very inspiring life story of his own – he’s originally from Eltham and a cystic fibrosis sufferer who has now had a double lung transplant and building his ceramic business on a global scale making bowls and plates for the likes of Brae, Ezard and Movida.
While we headed home after dinner – on previous nights out in Northcote, Mr R and I have gone out for drinks at Joe’s Shoe Store, there is also the new Irish whisky bar and bookshop Buck Mulligans (love the turquoise pressed metal bar), the Wesley Anne if you want to see a band or the Black Waffle if you want dessert. Next time! I hope you’re hanging in there if you’re not feeling it, like me. Go away winter blues…
Miss Rosanna 