103 Alma Rd
North Perth Western Australia 6006
(08) 9328 3999
Website
Hours:
Mon-Sun: 7am-6pm
Thu, opened until 8pm
The North Perth Growers Market is a mix of veggie shop, Italian Deli and convenience store, all at once. They are located at about 50 metres from the North Perth Plaza, and still open. It takes a lot of good and hard work for a shop like this to survive a shopping plaza with a Coles in it, and doing so for years. A bow to them.
The place is very well organised. They major in veggies and fruit, but there is an Italian corner with authentic Italian pasta brands and cooking ingredients so you can let your sexy "casalinga" shine at home, and a nuts and eggs corner, too. Moreover, there is a deli area (with packaged cold meats, cheese and antipasti), an area with potted herbs and other plants (Kale lately), an area with tinned pulses and tomatoes, a corner with reduced produce, and a fridge with basic dairy. There is even a Peter's fridge - A Magnum achievement!
The place is always clean and tidy, and the produce looks always great so well piled and shiny. The mirrors on the wall create a visual trick of abundance, and the shop looks like packed to the rafters with produce. The coloured blackboards are a nice touch, too. They regularly scavenge their produce to get out the old, mushy and the not-so-good-looking stuff and sell it at reduced prices. When you buy full price produce, you get very good good-looking produce. That is how it should be.
I love the fact that, in season, they have always two varieties of each fruit, one very good quality, big in size perfect looking and expensive, and another medium quality not so good looking but cheaper.
Unlike similar shops, the temperature of the shop is great and the refrigeration not too high, so you won't get the cold-burnt veggies you get elsewhere.
Pricing is very good, better than at Coles, and the quality usually better as well, not to speak of the variety of veggies, fruit and herbs they have, and the availability of different prices and qualities. Their deli area is not cheap, but they sell at similar prices you find at IGA.
The guys working there are always lovely, eager to help, and fast with queues.
I cannot give the place five stars because, sometimes, one can find packaged products that have passed the use-by date still on the shelves, and that is always a big no-no with me.
302 Walcott St
Menora Western Australia 6050
(08) 9271 1179
Hours:
Mon-Wed 10am-8.30pm
Thu-Sat 9am-8.30pm
Sun 11am-7pm
La-Vigna is a dream of a bottle shop if you are into International wines, ciders and beers: Spain, Italy, France, Portugal, Chile, Argentina, New Zealand, and what's not.
There is a tendency in most bottle shops, bars and restaurants in Perth to have a few international European wines that are mediocre regarding quality; moreover, they are poorly representative of the wines of a given country, so we get something that is easy to import, or that is well marketed in origin, not the wines that are top-notch or the latest new thing in that country country. Not only that, you ask them something about a specific wine, cider or beer and they do not know anything. They just sell them as the latest thing... in Perth.
La Vigna is great because they have a great selection of international wines, ciders and beers that are representative of the wine culture of the countries they sell from. Thus, you have a great variety of wines coming from different "terroir denomination" areas within the same country, which means they are completely different varieties of wine and have a history behind them. Being so, you go to La-Vigna and know you can buy and try different things from the same country. That is exciting!
The downside of the place (can you guess?), is the pricing. You have to pay top dollar for what you fancy, and the prices of some of the bottles are just worth paying if you want something special for a special occasion, or, well, to pamper yourself if you have the money. Having said that, some of their international wines are still affordable, not more expensive than a good Australian one. That is also exciting!
The staff are not only very friendly and chatty, but also very knowledgeable about what they sell. You tell them what you might like or you are looking for and they will help you with great mastery, or they will let you browse at your heart's content if that is what you want. That is awesome!
Shop 26 Plaza Arcade
Perth Western Australia 6000
(08) 9325 5371
Website
Facebook
Hours:
Mon-Thu 9 am - 5:30 pm
Fri 9 am - 9 pm
Sat 9 am - 5 pm
Located in the Plaza Arcade, T Bar is a mini-shop selling a cool selection of male and female T-shirts, especially nice for men. The style is a bit rocky and dark with some hints of humour and whimsicality, and very eye catching. However, the designs are never edgy, innovative, or too varied in style, the motifs somewhat mainstream, but cool enough to bring you there and not to other shops. The good thing is that some illustrators contribute to the prints, and that the prints change quite often.
The quality of the cotton is just OK, and it does not justify the 40 bucks for a full-priced item. Yo can save money by buying two or three items, which are marketed cheaper, but you might meed just one! I usually go there to buy gifts and I put up with their price, but it is still unjustified. To be fair, sometimes I have also found cool tees in their discount racks and they are around 20 bucks. So it is a matter of being lucky when you visit.
The staff are always very helpful and friendly. I always make them try the shirts I buy for sizing and styling purposes.
T Bar's space is tiny, a little corner really, so you will not need to move much: roll your eyes, twist your neck, manoeuvre your elbows and buttocks with precision and voilà, you've finished your shopping experience!
They sell their stuff through their website, too.
435 Fitzgerald Street
North Perth Western Australia 6006
(08) 9227 6529
Website
Hours:
Mon-Fri 8 am - 12:30 pm
Mon-Fri 1:30 pm - 4:30 pm
Part of the recently opened Fitzgerald Medical Centre, this tiny collection office offers the usual services provided by Clinipath: collection of blood, urine and other biological samples.
The office is attended by a lovely charming chatty lady, who works on her own the whole day, and makes your visit very enjoyable. If I had to rate her services would be five stars.
I cannot give this place more stars because, this lady being alone, the place can run slow in the mornings. The practice was "full" in the early hours of the morning, when fasting samples are collected, and it took me more than 30 minutes to have a simple blood test done despite the waiting room having just 5 people. I came to this collection centre because I thought it would be faster than the one in the city, which is always crowded in the mornings, but it wasn't the case. The place might be empty and things flow later on during the day.
Shop 14, City Station Concourse
378 Wellington St
Perth 6000
(Corner Wellington & Barrack Streets)
(08) 9221 4747(08) 9225 1188
Hours:
8am-6pm
(Weekends/Holidays 9am-6pm)
Website
I cannot speak more highly of the doctors that I usually visit there, Dr Jenny Ho and Dr Wolman, and of any other I have visited in case of emergency when these two were not available. They give you the time you need, are professional and welcoming, and treat you like a person, not like a case. That is always great.
The facilities are very pleasant, clean and in the heart of the city, and the practice is open every day of the week.
The place suffers from too-late-itis often. I think the problem is how the front desk organises the schedule of the doctors. In my last visit, my doctor was 45 minutes late. No apologies from anybody when I asked if I was visiting at the right time slot or how much would I have to wait. The girl at the desk was unapologetic, her treatment bordering rudeness.
The ladies at the front desk are matter of fact, fast and professional, but rarely welcoming, and some of them abrupt.
They will send you an email or sms with the results of your blood and imaging tests, so you don't have to visit the practice unless necessary. That is great for your pocket, and to keep the practice empty of results collectors, and things flowing.
Hicaps payments available.
Same day Appointments
Prices are a bit high, but this is a private practice in the heart of the city.
1/687 Beaufort Street
Mt Lawley Western Australia 605008 9272 7718
Website
Small facilities but well organised, semi-hidden at the bottom of the Mt Lawley Medical Centre.
The place works well, fast and fluidly every time I have visited.
The staff doing the imaging are very friendly and professional.
The staff at reception are matter of fact, but they do what they are supposed to do, and do it fast and well.
Results are fast passed on to Doctor, but customers have to collect the images personally. This is a bit backwards, as most radiological and imaging clinics post images directly via computer and the Internet nowadays.
Toilets need to be revamped and those horrible paintings on the wall removed.
60 Walcott St
Mt Lawley Western Australia 6050
(08) 9370 1172
Hours
Tue - Fri: 10:00 - 21:00
Sat - Sun: 08:00 - 21:00
Facebook
Downey Cafe would be a successful story if they were located in the city business area, where sandwich lovers and big-serving lovers would rejoice in a munching celebration. Unfortunately for Downey Cafe, they are located in the heart of Mt Lawley, off Beaufort St, where hypeness and fanciness are a successful magic de-facto couple and working-day sort of meals are not well appreciated.
The decor of the place is very functional, pleasant to the eye, but it lacks character for the always demanding Mt Lawley clientele. Still, the place is comfortable. The fact that the place is not popular or trendy makes it perfect for quiet chatty cue-free, noise-free rendezvous, which is always great.The place is very clean and have lovely toilets! Children friendly. Family friendly. Me friendly.
Downey specialises in what I call manly food: sandwiches and burgers, but they have a selection of salads and cakes. Their sandwiches are very fresh and tasty, huge in size, and they come always with crunchy delicious chips. Their breakfast menu is not the usual one you find everywhere, very tasty and generous in size; however, the time I had mine there, I got my eggs tepid, which is a big no-no for the cranky-in-the-mornings me.
Their coffee is Ok.
Service is fast. The staff are matter of fact, still affable.
The pricing is great.
Shop 3 & 4, Manning Arcade, High Street,
Fremantle Western Australia 6160
(08) 9433 209
Hours:
Mon-Wed, Fri-Sat 9 am - 5 pm
Thu 9 am - 8 pm
Sun 11 am - 5 pm
Website
Facebook
Located in the heart of Fremantle, in the quiet Manning Arcade, The Blue Buddha is an eclectic harmonious and extensive bazaar that mixes the esoteric, the New Age, the Fen Shui and the otherworldly, and allows you to travel from Tibet to Fairyland by walking the shop's long and sinuous arcade-following layout.
They have one of the most extensive range of tarot and oracle desks I have seen in Perth, a huge selection of crystals and semiprecious stones (mounted and unmounted), tons of decoration items, meditation and relaxation CDs, aromatherapy and tarot material, hippy-style clothing, Indian-style furniture and tons of figurines. There is also also
several rotating psychics and tarot readers in the shop, just in case
you feel like consulting the Gods via their mediums (50 bucks for half
an hour, 100 for an hour). The two stand-outs, to me, are the tarot and aromatherapy areas.
I love the fact that all every tarot or oracle pile of decks has one open to browse at you heart's content. Tarots and oracle desks are like perfumes, they could talk and be perfect for you, or not to speak to you at all. Having one box open allows you to let the magic work magic, and choose a deck that you know is going to speak to you. This is always better, and cheaper than purchasing a deck hopping that the cards will speak to you once you open it.
The people attending to
the shop are very knowledgeable about what they sell, and help you
find anything you like if you are a bit lost in the shop. You can wander
without being disturbed if you decide to.
Prices are OK, not cheap, but not expensive, and very similar to what you find in similar shops or bookshops. Let's be honest, unless you are a professional tarot reader or psychic, you do not need anything of what they sell, so it is matter of feeding your whimsical wishes without being wishy-washy with your money.
I do
not like, though, how crowded the shop is and the small space to move
around, which becomes obvious when there are more than two people standing in the
same area. Still, this is what a bazaar is.
There are other Blue Buddha Shops in Fremantle and in Perth, but this one is my favourite. If you feel lazy, you can also shop online.
