Across the Border: Potts Point: Retailers: My Little Monkey

I don't have any children, but a few of my friends do and two of them both gave birth in the past month. I was very pleased they had little girls (Finn and Emerald), because it meant I could go shopping for miniature dresses. 

I normally would go to Plum Interiors, on Macleay Street, Potts Point, because they have a really cute range of little frocks with matching hats and handbags.

But about two months ago, a new baby and children's wear shop opened up on Orwell Street, just up the road, and I always like to support new businesses.

My Little Monkey has clothing and toys for babies and children, aged from about zero to five. The labels are mostly from France and the US and they are quite stylish. There are also wooden counting blocks, felt mushrooms, wraps and bibs, and of course, knitted monkeys with long arms and legs.

I absolutely adore this purple SILK swimsuit (above left), but I was worried summer would be over before Emerald or Finn could fit into it. Instead I purchased a couple of romper suits made from 100 per cent cotton, which the woman behind the counter happily gift wrapped for free.

If you have children, there is a play section in one corner where you can leave them while you look around:

But my favourite thing in the shop was a fabulous three-storey dolls' house with swimming pool and rooftop entertaining area:

It costs about $300 for the house alone and then you need to buy all the furnishings and residents, which adds up to about $1,000 for the lot.

The house is made by a Swedish company called Lundby and the attention to detail is incredible.

It's very different to the basic wooden dolls' house I had as a child, which looked a bit like this:

It never really fired my imagination or held my interest for very long.

But even as an adult, this Lundby house makes me want to start playing with dolls again, which is kinda weird. Perhaps the only solution is to buy it for Finn or Emerald and then just go and visit them lots. If you want to see the dolls' house it's in the front window of My Little Monkey. 

You might be pleased to notice that the woman of the house, the mother I guess, is relaxing on a sun lounge by the swimming pool, while the father is up on the rooftop barbecuing some sausages for their Australia Day party.

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My Little Monkey

3/115 Macleay Street (enter via Orwell Street)

Potts Point NSW 2011

02 8964 6191

facebook.com/mylittlemonkeypottspoint

Across the Border: Potts Point: Reader Story: Apartment Buildings: Byron Hall

This is a history of Byron Hall written by someone who lives in the building - what could be better than that? 

I enjoy writing about all the excellent early 20th-century buildings, and 19th-century buildings in our area, but it's so much better when it comes from someone who lives in it and loves it. 

Here is Ms X's journey through Byron Hall on Macleay Street - a building that is unmissable if you are into that kind of thing. 

Internal and fireworks pix by Ms X; externals by me.

2011 Sydney New Year's Eve fireworks display from the roof of Byron Hall.

"Given the new year has well past, it's about time I delivered on a promise to a woman I have never met.
"My Darling Darlinghurst is a favourite blog of mine.
"I love hearing stories from 2011 and share the author's fascination with the strange timetable the 311 bus keeps.
"A while back I happened to see that Violet had created a hand-coloured zine and was sharing them with her fans/readers.
"I was quite the excited one on the interwebs, and a quick email secured a copy.
"Shortly thereafter Violet fed it under the front door of my apartment building.
"In return for that kind gesture, I’m introducing her and you to the insides of my home at Byron Hall.

"Byron Hall sits at 97-99 Macleay Street and was designed by Claud Hamilton.
"Hamilton was a fairly prolific architect in the area, and also designed other apartment blocks like The Savoy (1919) and Regent’s Court (1925).
"He and the construction workers of Sydney finished Byron Hall in 1929, the year of the stock market crash and the start of the Great Depression.
"Byron Hall is a mix of styles: many aspects are art deco, some a little Georgian (like the windows), and others classical (such as the pediments).
"Until the 1950s the building was a series of serviced apartments.
"Maids lived on the top level and the caretaker in a small flat on the ground floor.

"The foyer is the grandest part of the building, and the caretaker’s office is usually occupied in the early part of the day by one of the longest-term residents who is now in her 90s.
"She arranges the more basic repairs and trouble shoots any issues, but more than that she is a pretty impressive collective memory of the old building. 

"Just outside the office are the original and still-used letterboxes, so tiny and made for an era when post-delivered objects had a smaller and more uniform size I expect. 

"Anything that does not fit has to sit on top in piles, each resident sorting through the pile. 

"It is terribly inefficient, but a reminder that it really is OK to spend a minute or two extra in the foyer collecting mail and chatting to neighbours. 

"There are two lifts, with wonderfully un-automated doors, which tend to inspire two types of reactions. 

"On the one hand there are the friends who squeal with glee (squee!) at things so well aged and beautiful. 

"On the other, those who cannot be convinced that the lifts, despite recent and full refurbishment, are safe. 

"The basement and an area on the top floor are the two other common spaces.
"The company (the building is company title) still own the flat the maids previously resided in, and you can access a small balcony and a meeting room.
"The view from the balcony is beautiful — straight across The Domain to the city and the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
"The meeting room contains the original name board from the foyer, listing some of the first residents against their flat number.

"The basement has a communal laundry and the boiler room. 

"While not quite out of Nightmare on Elm Street, it is a little dark and spooky. 

"The basement also houses the building’s bike racks and ‘The Shed’: a giant old wooden workbench where you can repair things, sand things, paint things and generally make a mess.

"One thing you are always conscious of living in Byron Hall, is how lucky you are. 

"Lucky because the building is wonderful, but also because 2011 is home to a great many people who are without homes. 

"For that reason I'm a Friend of the Wayside Chapel, who live next door to us at Byron Hall. 

"They are often a friend to those who are in need, so perhaps you might think about become friends with them as well?

"The sun is pretty low in the sky as I finish writing this, streaming in to our lounge room and demanding I get organised for dinner. 

"So goodnight from Byron Hall."

Across the Border: Potts Point: Retailers: Shop Local!

Stop. Don't spend any more money (if you have any) and save it for this weekend when Potts Point celebrates the City of Sydney's and the Potts Point Partnership's new campaign, Shop Local! This Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 50 of the best Potts Point retailers and small businesses will be swinging open their doors to offer special discounts for local residents as well as the occasional glass of complimentary bubbly. 

I found the Shop Local! campaign's chic little flier (above) in my mailbox this week and I have to say that despite the fact that I already purchase most of my clothes, books, gifts and food from the local area, this weekend sounds like a lot of fun. And they have dubbed the area, ''The Point'', which is kind of funny. So on Friday night you can tell your friends you're going down to The Point and they will think it's some new small bar or something.

The celebrations begin on Friday night at 6pm when ''Champagne corks start to pop'' in a number of retailers who will be offering late night trading, special discounts and ''Taste a Plate'' specials. Top of my list is clothing store Becker Minty (above), on Manning Street who promise ''refreshments and special offers for locals''. Special offers sounds good, because the last time I went to their store in the old Post Office building (since relocated) I dropped about $700 on a frock. And no, I didn't regret it; I just didn't eat for a few weeks.

Other shops staying open late include the excellent Potts Point Bookshop (above), local institution Macleay Bookshop (until 9pm), excellent gift and homewares shops, Macleay on Manning and pocket-sized Plum Interiors, as well as women's shoe shop, Booty, clothing store, Mon Petit Chou, and new kid on the block, Pour Tous by Davidson and Beaumont down on Elizabeth Bay Road. There are others listed on the flier, which you can download from the Potts Point Partnership website.

After all that shopping, pop into Llankelly Place's KL Kitchen (above) or Tomatillo Mexican Grill on the strip for a Taste a Plate special. The cute little flier doesn't quite explain what exactly that Taste a Plate is, and neither does the website but I imagine it means a discount or special of some sort. 

Saturday is Meet the Owner day at dozens of shops in the area including my big fat favourite Greek cafe, Ithaka Kafenion (above). Black Bull Butchery is running an all day Know Your Meat class, which is always a good thing, while new Llankelly Place gallery space, The Cross Art Projects, is hosting a talk by environmental activist Jack Mundey, who is the present chairman of the Historic Houses Trust, from 2pm. Sounds interesting. 

Bounce Walking Tours are also offering a special Art Walk of Potts Point, which promises to take in the area's ''past, present and future''. It runs from 11am to 1pm, costs $20 and includes admission to the historic Elizabeth Bay House (below). 

If you can't make the Bounce tour on Saturday, don't fret, Elizabeth Bay House is also open on Sunday from 10am to 4pm and costs just $4 to have a snoop around inside. 

Before visiting the house you could pop into the James Dorahy Project Space, hidden in the Minerva building on Macleay Street, for a glass of bubbly and an exhibition viewing from 11am to 1pm. 

There's also a guided tour happening in Woollomooloo, the Green Bans Art Walk, which begins at 2.30pm. But when I went to the Performance Space website it appears that it has already been booked out. 

Oh, well, there's always the Cafe Dov garden party from 3pm to 4pm, a $15 Brunch at the Librarie from 10am to 2pm or jazz at the Becker Minty owned Velluto Champagne and Wine Bar from 7pm.

I'm sure I recognise that deer (above), which was featured in the Shop Local! flier as coming from artist Gary McEwan's excellent gift shop, Bang! And yet there is no mention of him in the campaign. So I will mention him here. McEwan and his shop (below) on the corner of Macleay and Orwell streets are definitely worth visiting. 

There are also dozens more shops involved in the campaign that I couldn't mention here. Visit the Potts Point Partnership website for more details.

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Shop Local!

Appreciate The Point

August 26-28, 2011

www.kingscrossonline.com.au

www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au

Across the Border: Potts Point: Retailers: The Potts Point Bookshop

A promising blue sky appeared above the neighbourhood yesterday, so I ditched my usual Saturday morning house-cleaning ritual and set off outside to enjoy the day. I'm glad I didn't waste time inside because it was one of those days that remind me yet again of why I love this neighbourhood so much. I saw flowers in the most amazing colours at the Kings Cross markets, sunlight running like a line of silver around the clouds, a flash mob at Poos on Sticks, a warped looking stretch limo cruising down Macleay Street and I even met a sausage dog called Malcolm. 

Later on, when I zipped into The Potts Point Bookshop in the Pomeroy building on Macleay Street, the brilliance continued. 

The bookshop was celebrating the inaugural National Bookshop Day, an Australian Booksellers Association initiative that coincides with the launch of two new campaigns: the ABA's IndieBound and the City of Sydney's Shop Local, which are aimed at encouraging residents to support their local shopkeepers. I was happy to oblige, but I was also drawn to the shop by the promise of in-store readings by Razor author Larry Writer (below right) and PM Newton (below left), whose debut novel, The Old School was released last year. My friend John Webber also came along and happily agreed to take the pictures for this post.

Newton (first name, Pamela) read the opening chapter of her book, which follows police detective Nhu 'Ned' Kelly as she investigates a double murder, and is set in Bankstown, in Sydney's west, Greenwich, north of the city and Goulburn in the NSW Southern Tablelands region.  

Writer then read an edited version of the final chapters of Razor detailing the last rites of Razorhurst and the deaths of brothel madam Tilly Devine and sly-grogger Kate Leigh. Hearing Writer read from the book it struck me how perfect the writing is: laden with colour and detail, based on solid research. Here is Kate Leigh as an octogenarian resting ''her aching bones in the small, dark room upstairs at 212 Devonshire Street where she lived alone with her memories, the bottles and bouncers of her sly-grogging days having long since vanished. Few people bothered to visit her, but she always kept her pantry stocked with biscuits and tea in case someone dropped in for a chat . . . she lived in the past and reminisced a lot.''

After the reading, the pair had a ''conversation'' about their books. I haven't read The Old School but it sounds excellent and is praised in the cover-blurbs by actor-author-critic Graeme Blundell, Underbelly author and journalist Andrew Rule as well as action novelist Matthew Reilly.

One of the interesting things that came out of the conversation was about policewoman Maggie Baker, whose memories of Leigh and Devine are included in Razor. Writer interviewed Baker for the book but she was so afraid of retribution, even in the late 1990s, that she insisted on a pseudonym being used. So Maggie Baker she aint. 

The conversation sadly ended but then a bookshop assistant cracked some Champagne open and things were looking up again. With glass in hand I purchased The Old School and asked Newton (below left with fan) to sign it for me.   

I also cornered Writer (below left with fan), literally, in a corner of the bookshop, so that he could sign the copies of Razor and Bumper that I had brought from home. It was the first time I had met Writer and of him I have to say two things. He is extremely kind and friendly and admits to being shy. Sixty is obviously the new 40. Seriously, I cannot believe he is 61. 

Speaking of numbers, the sparkling wine being drunk amid the books was also to celebrate Anna Low's fourth year as owner of The Potts Point Bookshop. I wish I had known the shop had changed hands earlier, because I purposely stopped going there when the former owners were running the store. Basically, I didn't think they were very friendly. But just look at Anna (below) and you can tell she is a lovely woman, especially when she passes around glasses of deliciously cold sparkling wine to her customers. 

So I will definitely being going back to the shop, especially because I have my eye on an excellent pop-up book, which shows you how to cut paper to make your own pop-ups. It's designed for children but who cares. The shop also stocks the nice little colourful Moleskine notebooks that I like to use and has an excellent range of locally-made birthday and blank cards. The children's section is also impressive with a range of book-related toys such as a Hungry Caterpillar wheeled, wooden pull-along. If I had a spare few hundred dollars I could have easily dropped it on some of the recipe and gardening books too. And I wouldn't mind snuggling with a book on the bench with this long-legged floral animal:

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The Potts Point Bookshop

14 Macleay Street

Potts Point NSW 2011

02 9331 6642

www.pottspointbookshop.com.au

The Potts Point Bookshop Facebook Page

Across the Border: Kings Cross: Bars: Fountain Cafe

I'm sub-titling this post as ''Bars'' rather than ''Food'', because I would definitely go back to the Fountain Cafe to drink but I wouldn't make a visit just to eat. I started drinking here only a few weeks ago when I discovered that it's loner-friendly and offers two drinks for the price of one until 9pm weeknights. That's about $7.50 for two beers, which isn't bad if you aren't in the mood for a pick-up pub.

It really is a good place to go for a drink when you happen to be on your own and thirsty, because you never have to fight for a table and its prime location on the bend, where Macleay Street and Darlinghurst Road meet, means there is lots of people- and car-watching to be done.

That voyeurism includes watching the countless tourists that like to photograph themselves in front of the El Alamein Fountain on the edge of Fitzroy Gardens:

So when my locally-based friend, Sapphire Tenzing (no relation of Sherpa), was up for a balmy summer evening drink al fresco last week, we chose The Fountain Cafe, because we had no energy to seek out a rare, highly coveted outdoor table at the Darlo Bar or Green Park Hotel. 

We began by ordering four glasses of white wine. As you do.
There isn't a wide selection to choose from on the happy hour menu, but the Rothbury Estate Semillon Sauvignon Blanc seemed like a better bet than the Lindemans. And the first two glasses went down quite well.

We decided to order food to soak up some of the alcohol, but I must admit we didn't have much faith in the kitchen, so it took us a rather long time to make a decision. The cafe is open from 7.30am to 11pm and serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. I will have to ask my friend, Ruby Molteno - The Queen of All Day Breakfasts - to try out their bacon and eggs, because I'm sure they would pass the test. The lunch offerings include sandwiches and burgers, while the ''all day'' dinner menu is made up of salads, pastas, pizza and ''Asian dishes''. We eventually settled on the grilled dory with chips and salad for me, and for Sapph, a Moroccan lamb pizza, which we had spied looking good on another table.

The fish arrived in a somewhat unpleasant, rich butter sauce. It was advertised like that on the blackboard so I only have myself to blame. I scraped most of it off and ate the fish, which was dry and unexciting.

The pizza, on the other hand, was quite delicious and enough for two people. The lamb wasn't chewy and there were refreshing blobs of yoghurt and rocket leaves scattered across the top.

I think we ordered about three or four more glasses of wine, but I don't recall exactly, because by that time night had long fallen and the Fountain Cafe staff wanted to close. 

We left a good tip before we were booted out on to the street and at that stage we probably should have gone home to ready ourselves for work the following day. Wise decisions are never made at 11pm, when you have had a few drinks. So we decided to kick on. 

We ended up at the Goldfish Bar in the Crest Hotel on the Darlinghurst Road strip. But it's probably best not to bore you with the drunken details and instead leave you with this lovely festive photograph of the fountain:

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Fountain Cafe

18 Darlinghurst Road

Kings Cross NSW 2011

02 9358 6009

www.fountaincafe.com.au

Across the Border: Kings Cross: Food: KL Kitchen

It was so steamy in Sydney last night, it was just like Kuala Lumpur, so the climate called for beer and Roti Canai. I spent a few hours at the Fountain Cafe, near the El Alamein Fountain in Kings Cross, drinking happy-hour beers, and then I wobbled on down with my photographer friend, John Webber, to Llankelly Place, which is a pretty happening area these days. 

Once the domain of shoe-repairers, dry-cleaners, drunks, piss and vomit, the alley has since had a face lift that coincided with the new shopping-residential development on Springfield Mall, which obviously inspired the City of Sydney council to whip out some of their trademark grey granite tiles and spruce up the area. Really, the council needs no excuse to pull out the grey tiles - they must have a stockpile of them.

It looks lovely doesn't it? The grey tiles seem to have brought about a Llankelly Place Renaissance with new cafes, restaurants, clothing boutiques, a pop-up Tokyo Bike shop and bars opening over the past few months. 

KL Kitchen has been around since the drunk and shoe-shine days, but tonight it felt cleaner and more vibrant, with a fresh lick of paint inside and a cute aqua-coloured picket-fence surrounding the al fresco dining area. 

I just love the way this gorgeous girl is holding her hair. She looked so perfect next to this bright, fuchsia-pink painting. And this man was wearing just the right aqua-coloured shirt: 

I do like the combination of fuchsia and aqua, which is not only on the walls, but echoed on the napkins too, while the blue shade is also highlighted in this sweet wall candelabra that Webber insisted on snapping, and I include here for his benefit:

So the specialty of the house, like any good Malaysian restaurant, is the curry with a side of Roti Canai - that lovely, flaky, fire-hot, flat-bread. But, I discovered tonight, KL Kitchen is also serving Chinese Dim Sum, which was busy steaming away on portable-burners near the window:

Still, I was craving Roti Canai, so that's what I ordered. I also wanted the Mama's Chicken Curry, but it was sold out, so I had to have the beef version, which wasn't as good. The flavour was punchy - and oh, so chili hot - but I really didn't like the cut of meat, which reminded me of the beef and lamb dishes served in Chinese restaurants. It was kind of flat, thinly sliced and without any texture. 

Luckily, we also ordered the Sambal Belachan and Kangkung, or Asian Water Spinach. I love Belachan, which is a mixture of fried chilli, garlic and ground-shrimp, but wow, this one was bloody hot and I couldn't eat much of it, even though it tasted delicious. 

I think we just ordered too much food, because there was so much left-over. And what can you do with it? I considered taking it home, but there's only so much Belachan you can eat in a week. 

A friend of mine, who also lives alone, once took a doggy-bag of left-overs from a restaurant with the intention of giving it to a homeless man who was always mooching around her area. But when she offered the food to him, he looked at her in disgust and shook his head. The homeless people in Sydney don't have much need for food as there are plenty of organisations that cater to them. They just need a hot shower and a roof over their heads, I guess.

With that story in mind, I left the Belachan and Kangkung behind. We had a couple of Heineken beers and the bill came to just under $60. 

We sat outside for a bit to finish our beers and while we were there, a friendly man pulled up and secured his electric bicycle to the aqua picket-fence. It turned out he was Peter Hull, the co-owner of KL Kitchen, and he had just returned from a home delivery. 

Not surprisingly Mr Hull prefers hooning around the streets at night, making home deliveries, rather than being on waiter-duties at the restaurant. Mr Hull paid about $600 for his electric bicycle and told us he can make a delivery to nearby Darling Point and be back at the shop within 20 minutes. Not bad. And now I want an electric bicycle too. 

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KL Kitchen

Malaysian Chinese Cuisine

Shop 7, 133 Macleay Street

Potts Point NSW 2011

Entrance: 38 Llankelly Place

02 9360 8789