Tuesday, June 9, 2009

FULL BALL!!!!!!! Glenti or bust (and I nearly did)




Went(i) to Glenti this weekend! LOLOL For those of you that don't know, every year Darwin's Greek community has a massive Glenti festival down on the Esplanade in town. I realised that I've been in Darwin for over 3 years now (eek!) and I'd never been, so I talked Director Chick into coming downwith me. Shit was it FULL. ON. People swarming everywhere. Masses of greek specialites on sale, loads of calamari, souvlaki's, honey puffs - even a dessert tent. To be completely frank about it, I wasn't paying as much attention as a food blogger should cos I was so overwhelmed I ran in to get food for everyone and then ran out and retired to a shady tree to have a picnic away from the fray!! By the time I had eaten 5 little rice and mince filled vine leaves, some delicious and very special pork sausages from Crete containing bits of onion and herbs, loadsa dip, some chips (curious), calamari and about 8 of those honey puffs, I was fit to burst! And yet, foolishly, I persuaded Director Chick to come with me on an adventure to check out Jay's Coffee Van..... *flourish*
Jay is an obvious coffee afficianado who has set himself up in a cool little position down on the lefthand side of the Nightcliff Jetty. After hearing about him 3 times in one weekend, I persuaded DC to head over there on the way home from Glenti to get a coffee to share (sample the goods) and to check out his set-up. There he was, surrounded by old folk sitting on foldup chairs enjoying the sunset, struggling with a line of small children clamouring for icecream and trying to make coffees on his little coffee machine. The set up consists of a trailer containing said machine, a Logastro icecream freezer, a little fridge selling cool drinks and water, sink, stereo etc. I also noticed that he offers 6 different types of coffee (I'll have a better look next time) which from recollection were offered as a single origin coffee. He also sells bags of freshly ground coffee. His permit says that he is able to operate on weekends and public holidays from 6am - 8pm, but the covert intelligence I've been able to gather tells me that he is most likely to be found at the Jetty around the 2pmish mark, Friday to Sunday and public holidays.
So - the coffee. Well for all the hype it wasn't a bad coffee - it was much better than the swill that Box Jellyfish are offering in their similar operation located at the Nightcliff Swimming Pool carpark on weekend mornings. Creamy and hot - and cheap! $3 for a small and $3.50 for a medium - 50c for extra shots or soy milk. It tasted okay, but in my limited knowledge of coffee, I would say it lacked a depth of flavour - it sure didn't make me go WOW! What's that coffee! I MUST buy some! But nice enough for the foreshore. My only criticism would be the size of the coffee machine - he was really only able to comfortably make one coffee at a time and what with the icecreams and the soft drinks and the taking of orders and money you really need to have two people on board making it all happen.
Anyway - good to see another small operator and coffee freak creating another option around town!!
Jay's Coffee
Left-hand side of Nightcliff Jetty
Weekends from Friday to Sunday from 2ish - 8ish

2 comments:

  1. Hey chickwithguts,
    GREAT to see a foodie taking the time to document the offerings available here in Darwin. This place (from experience) needs to hold on to people like you in order to slowly build the demand/interst in truly good food, coffe etc. I have lived in the NT on an off since 1994 and can say that aside from the time tested joints like Sari Rasa (low cost personal favourite Indo lunch spot) and Hanuman (always been good) there are good an bad days for most of the other hidden treasures.

    I know that Jay's Coffee Bar is getting great raves around town and hear that his speciality blend is the way to go for body and depth in a cuppa. Apparently he's a hit with the uro travellers and medico professionals in town. All hearsay but his patronage seems to be growing.

    Keep going with your blogging for the sake of lifting Darwin's game!

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  2. Hey Koike!

    Thanks for the comment, good to know that someone is reading the blog :-)))) did you see that sari rasa is now open for dinner tues - sat? i agree totally about hidden gems, so tis good to hear about other ppls experiences of them - have you tried manolis, the greek restaurant yet? i ate there again on the weekend and it was just fantastic.

    yep jays coffee was alright. went back there again and found that a double shot of the brazilian made a great coffee. also went to coffee nut on the weekend and they - to my surprise - made a really good short black. i dunno why i was surprised really, haven't heard good reports - which just goes to show you need to check these places out for yourself!

    anyway - thanks for reading :-))

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