The Good Life Guide To Woollahra
Sun Herald
Sunday May 7, 2000
Between the boldness of Double Bay and the bustle of Bondi Junction, Woollahra carves
out its own, more refined, territory, writes Christine Hogan.
Tibet Gallery
This is the place to find soft, luxurious Himalayan pashmina shawls, scarves and stoles in a huge range of unusual colours. There is a small selection of jewellery, as well as a fashion range featuring pashmina cardigans and wrap-around skirts. But the plush, hand-knotted rugs are the biggest drawcard: their texture divine, their simple, subtle designs well-suited to a contempoaray lifestyle. Owners Diki Ongmo (right) and Tim Linkins also encourage people to be inventive and create their own Tibetan highland sheep's wool rugs from the colours and designs available.
22 Queen St Tel: 9363 2588
Simon Johnson's
"Have we got some good olive oil to take down to the farm, Charles?" That's the sort of question you'll hear from the Lucindas and Edwinas who shop in here with their significant others. They've got quite a lot to choose from: about 50 or so from Italy, naturally, Spain, Greece, as well as some local labels. Along with the rest of the stock, they're not so much displayed as curated into a must-have collection.
55 Queen Street Tel: 9328 6888
Anne Schofield Antiques
Since she has been working in antique jewellery since 1965, Anne Schofield has developed a formidable collection of worldwide contacts who help supply her shop with beautiful and unusual pieces. Schofield herself has a passion for late-18th-century pieces - intaglio and cameo - because of their elegance and simplicity. In this eclectic shop, you can find pieces that cost from $250 up to $50,000.
36 Queen Street Tel: 9363 1326
Ros Palmer Interiors
Getting deeper into the antique dealers of Queen Street - and there are rather a lot of them: Au Lion des Neiges, Martyn Cook, Artes de France (lovely Louis XIV fauteuil in the window here). But there is something grand about Ros Palmer - she sees the top and goes straight over it. The result is lush, not lurid, gorgeous, not egregious. However, the prices here can bring on potentially catastrophic accidents to the brain. Best to go when you are feeling particularly
well rested.
42 Queen Street Tel: 9363 1326
Orson & Blake
Want a lifestyle in spades? Here you go: it's glamour all the way. Who can live without a squishy red heart (who knows what it's for apart from squishing), a silver lighter cover, some cute sort of decorative fish with no apparent function - O & B provide the stuff of which perfect dreams are made. It smells so gorgeous - that would be the perfumed accessories from L'Occitane, the Diptyque candles or the Cote Bastide crystalline chips. There are generous bed throws (the most wonderful caramel waffle-weave wool), manchester from Shades of India and Charlie Brown, large leather waste baskets, small leather covered books, nightwear and more.
83-85 Queen Street Tel: 9326 1155
Bistro Moncur
There is so much to like in what is essentially a very good quality pub dining room - the one that opened the way for so many others like it around town (including the nearby Centennial Hotel). First, there's the food - which has impeccable French references while making the most of brilliant local ingredients. Then, there is the service: it's attentive, not intrusive. The room itself can be a trifle stuffy and noisy in summer but in winter, it's cosy, despite the space - particularly when you choose comfort food, such as the bangers and mash. (cultural note: just down the street and across the road is the building that starred as Number 96 in the TV series).
116 Queen Street Tel: 9363 2782
jones the grocer
Three years have passed since Rachel Peart and Lindsay Jones-Evans abandoned their "non-foodie" careers to create this fuss-free haven for food lovers and they have never looked back. Locals flock to the cafe twice a day for the happy-hour coffee ($1.50) and walk out the door with slabs of rocky road and Turkish delight from the deli. Jones' own chilli jam, gourmet pies and sausages are also popular. "When we first opened, we seated eight and now it's up to 40," said Rachel. "We thought it would be a little business that would keep us occupied. We had no idea this is how far we'd go."
68 Moncur Street Tel: 9362 1222
Lesley McKay's Bookshop
#More eclectic than its big sister down in Double Bay. The smell here is brilliant, too. It's that seductive aroma of new books, which its addicts know very well. There are the usual suspects on the main table, including Ruth Cracknell's harrowing story of her husband's last months, Graham Greene on Capri (sigh), the latest Robert Drewe, and Paul Keating's treatise on Australia in the Asia-Pacific. It's particularly apposite, since the former PM bought St Kevins, the grand and gloomy Edwardian pile just across the street, from Leo Schofield.
Queens Court, Queen Street Tel: 9328 2733
Caffe Agostinis
When homemaking queen Martha Stewart was in town not so long ago for a magazine publishers' conference, her hosts brought her along here for a slice of the increasingly famous orange cake. This was a smart move, since Margie Agostinis' cake is gaining a near-mythic reputation across town. In the summer, the courtyard of Queens Court is crammed with women in Helen Kaminski hats (you might even catch a glimpse of John Laws' princess Caroline, passing by), while in the winter, on come the heaters and the local denizens warm themselves like lizards on the sun-heated tiles. It's open for lunch and dinner, BYO - try the steak sandwich.
118 Queen Street Tel: 9328 6140
Read's of Woollahra
Riada (in Queens Court) used to be funkier with its imported labels but now Reads - something of an institution in this neck of the woods - is delivering a similar sort of modern edge with an interesting stable of local labels, including
Easton and Pearson, as well as Melbourne outfitters Saba. There is a good range of suiting here, too - labels such as Sara Sturgeon from England and Emmanuel (as in Ungaro). Good quality shoes, nice bags, scarves from all over the world. The shop's main asset remains Mary Read, who founded it in 1978. She has a good eye and buys items rather than ranges.
130 Queen Street Tel: 9328 1036
Summers Floral
$The smell of the hyacinths - pink, white, palest purple - released on a warm autumn afternoon was heady. Step further across the threshold of Angie Summers shop on the corner of Moncur Street,and you get a blast of gardenia then November lilies. Angie specialises in the pretty and the sensual - among the pre-packaged floral tributes were posies of luscious peace roses and baby arum lilies and soft pastel lisianthus. If you prefer to send your plants potted, there were gloxinias and cyclamen in fuchsia pink and white. Gardenias cost $25 in plastic, $65 in a decorative tub.
1/101 Queen Street Tel: 9328 2475
Penelope Sach Teas
"Drinking one of Penelope's blended teas is a sensual experience. Using her extensive knowledge of herbs, Penelope creates an exotic range of teas for a range of local and international clients, including five-star hotels and upmarket restaurants, but she also caters for tea drinkers who walk in off the street. Packaged in her signature unbleached cardboard containers, the tea blends cater for all tastes. A favourite is lemon tang, which is great for hangovers. The berry blend looks like rich red wine and smells divine.
2 Moncur St Tel: 9362 3339
Ma Maison en Provence
If you love the south of France or were simply thrilled by Peter Mayle's books, A Year in Provence and Toujours Provence, you'll get homesick just stepping across the stoop. There's a still life of sunflowers in the front and the sun-bleached colours of Provence everywhere in this shop - olives and golds on quilts, pale, sunlit yellow and washed blues on cushion covers. As well, there are those extraordinary Provencale prints on table cloths and napkins, some tableware in arresting colours and you'll also find some comestibles from the "terroir", so you can eat Provencale-style, as well.
158 Queen Street Tel: 9363 1500
Pigott's Shop
!Nan Sefton and Meg Kimpton opened this little pearl of a renovated corner store in 1986 and they've been supplying their clients with a particular view of the world ever since. It's decorating with a slight English accent and a little American freshness, says Nan, aimed at newly marrieds or couples with young children. She's having a bit of trouble talking her customers into oil cloth though - so practical for little sticky fingers. "In England, they understand it but in Australia, people tend to think plastic, how tragic!"
53 Ocean Street Tel: 9362 8119
The Parterre Garden
%Traditionally, a parterre garden was a formal European garden viewed from above and this 15-year-old business thrives on the finer aspects of landscape design. If you are looking for a Versailles tub (up to $4000) or a striking bronze statue, then this is the place for you. The owners travel throughout Europe in search of unusual items, including mirrors, anduze (French urns) and fountains, but you can also pick up a quirky cactus in an Australian-made stone pot.
33 Ocean Street Tel: 9363 5874 l
Best of the Rest
Pasta Pantry: Ready-made meal heaven, with pasta and salads a speciality. Also good baguettes, divine desserts, and excellent takeaway hot chocolate. 148 Queen Street, tel: 9328 7155
Zigolinis Restaurant: Wake up and smell the coffee - many Woollahrans do over
the weekend, retreating into this restful space to settle down with the papers. 107 Queen Street,
tel: 9326 2337
Cose: Translates as "things" in Italian, though what's in here might be better described colloquially as "stuff" - very good stuff, from enough velvet cushions to serve an 18th-century Ottoman emperor for a year, to rather more practical briefcases, lamps and (yes!) more candles.
8/118-122 Queen Street, tel: 9362 1316
© 2000 Sun Herald