Sbriga…..The Final Touches
Mr Wilson has finished. He’s now enjoying the warm sun somewhere in far north Queensland, leaving his brother to finesse the job. It’s finally coming together and reality is slowly sinking in. It’s certainly daunting but we really haven’t had much time to really think about it because we are so focussed on opening over the next few days.
Over the weekend, we experienced the post renovation cleaning dilemma. Those of you who have renovated will certainly be familiar with the filmy layer of dust that settles in the tiniest nooks and crannies when the tradies have departed.
I arrived with Nonna and Yiayia in tow — they were both talking at me at the same time (one in English, the other in Greek) all the way to the cafe and I had to listen really carefully so I could respond to them both — it’s quite a skill. They hadn’t seen the cafe yet so we were pretty excited about them seeing it for the first time. Not a word from Nonna. She just wanted to start cleaning. After all, she was on a mission and she had to leave in a couple of hours so she could get home to lock up the chooks before it got dark (we don’t want the foxes getting to them because these ones are really good egg layers). Mum was full of praise, “Lovely, darli, beautiful. Your father would have been very proud of you.”
As many of you know, when any mothers of ethnic origin are pulled in to lend a hand, there is a bit of theatre involved. Our very dear friends Chris and Johnny also dropped in to help out. They didn’t say much but when I spoke to Chris this morning, she confessed that she continued to clean quietly at the back of the cafe, at the same time having a quiet giggle because she could certainly relate to the ‘theatre’ she was witnessing.
Our kids were left with Renes and Randall for the day where they experienced trips into town to see the Hollywood Costume exhibition which they are still talking about, a game of footy and all you can eat pizza. Kids have got it pretty good these days.
Before we could start cleaning, everything in the cafe had to be taken out. Gradually all the contents — mixers, cookers and storage units filled the street. With everything outside, someone had to stand guard and Yiayia kindly volunteered. It wasn’t long however, before she was directing me on what I should be doing from outside the cafe. Because I was some distance in the cafe, she felt she had to be audible and in ethnic terms, this is equivalent to shouting at me. People stopped and stared. She really did have good intentions.
On the other side, Nonna, in fine form, could clean better than anybody else (in her eyes). She’s exceptional at the cleaning thing because she’s very quick and thorough. However, we knew she was taking pain killers for her hip so we flinched each time she attempted to lift anything (against our wishes of course) despite us attempting to discourage her. She’s a trooper and all she wants to do is help her kids. Unfortunately it wasn’t long before she was driving Mario nuts with her Nonna advice. All good intentions of course — her heart is as big as the world.
Chris and Johnny’s help was gold. I don’t think we could have done as much as we did without them. It’s now looking like a real cafe. Randall also dropped in late last night to fine tune the musak factor and all other things IT — clever man. There are still hundreds of little things to address but were on the home stretch now so we’re close to opening.
Oh and Nonna did get home in time to lock up the chooks and we heard from Sev (via the far east) that she was extremely impressed with what she saw…….
It looks awesome, when is Sbriga set to take over Melbourne?
By the way, where’s the espresso machine at?
Lookin good! Will be dropping in early tomorrow – can’t wait
Hi Randall — as mentioned, thanks so much for coming in today with Anna.
It was very much appreciated. Look forward to seeing you again some time.
I work around the corner, and been eyeing this out. Fantastic job guys, the atmosphere and decor look amazing, and very welcoming.
I will sneak in one day and have a coffee + breakfast…as not to offend my regular cafe 😉
Once again, great job and all the best!
Hi Vivek – Many thanks for your kind words.
Please sneak in whenever it suits. We look forward to meeting you.
The Sbriga Team
Congratulations! Looking forward to having my first order there and well done 😛
Hi Danielle — thanks for your note.
We look forward to welcoming you when you drop in. You must try some of our delicious dolce and I’ve been told by the kids that the chicken, provolone and pesto panini is perfecto!!
wow!!!!!!! it looks amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! wishing the spriga team only the very best!!!!!!!!! wish I could just sneak in from geece for a quick espresso!!!!!!
lots of love,
olga
Hey Olgs
Thanks for your support and lovely to hear from you!
Wish you could come down and we could do coffee all day!!
Delicious!
Hi Guys
Sharking for Chips & Drinks will be doing a monthly wrap up of new openings and changes to Melbourne’s restaurant, bars, pop-up and overall dining scene. No matter how much information is collected in Epicure’s Espresso summary – I continuously encounter 80% of people that either don’t read Epicure every week and don’t spend every second on social media – thus missing out on Ћ ever changing foodie landscape. We want to become a one-stop-shop for people to find out where’s new to eat so they can impress those close to them with where to go and what to do.
This isn’t being done anywhere else so please get in touch. Melbourne foodies are becoming much more wary about publications such as Time Out and Broadsheet just regurgitate press releases as their reviews so this is a way to get word out in a more concise manner.
To be included in Ћ wrap-up you will need to provide Ћ information below which I have outlined. You will also need to ensure that you attach a Hi Res Logo and a photograph (completely up to you – can be of owners, chefs, venue etc) that can be used. Can you also attach Ћ press release in BOTH PDF and Word formats.
Please submit all items in Ћ format below – so please keep to hand.
reply to crilly6453(at)hotmail.com so I can send you a template.
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Nic Crilly-Hargrave
Sharking for Chips & Drinks
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Hi Nic — thanks for your email and support.
Happy for you to send us template.
Cheers
Mario