Yesterday I worked my last day at my job as a legal secretary for a small firm in Clifton Hill. It was a bittersweet day - I really liked the people I worked with and the clients. However, I was contacted out of the blue by a family lawyer I had met a while back (we bonded through a mutual love for duck rice paper rolls), and she offered me a job as a legal clerk at her practice in the CBD. Family law is the area I want to practice in and she does 'high-end' family law which I've never really been exposed to having always worked in legal aid firms. It was a really difficult decision and I hope I won't regret it.
Anyway, as my 11 am caffeine deprivation headspin came around, I hurried down the street and broke the news to Amad, my friend at Cliftons Cafe. Amad makes the best coffees on Queens Parade. There are always people waiting for his coffees when I go in, which says something because the two-block Queens Parade shopping strip has a ridiculous number of cafes. He has a gaggle of dedicated regulars whom he greets by name, and you don't get the usual huff you get from baristas when you order a regular cappucino, soy cappucino and a skinny hot chocolate with extra marshmallows. The soy cappucino is mine - I bet you can guess which of the orders goes to the male barrister and female solicitor I work with!
I usually drink black coffee because most cafes in Melbourne use the nasty watery soy protein isolate soymilks that ending up tasting more watery than a long black. But Cliftons uses Vitasoy which makes a lovely creamy coffee (another notable exception is Ici in Napier Street, Fitzroy, which uses the deliciously nutty Australia's Own).
Cliftons also has a great sandwich bar and if my stomach is digesting itself, I get an omelette, beetroot and salad doorstop sandwich. The hot food is a bit more pricey than other places on the street but it is always fresh and you can mix and match to your heart's content.
I had a lovely picture of Amad but until N sobers up and locates the camera cord, he will have to remain an enigma to the online world.
Cliftons Cafe
310 Queens Pde Clifton Hill VIC 3068
ph: (03) 9481 6343
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