“Hello Sailor” beckons the sign outside this café in Hawthorn, Melbourne, designed with the billowing flags and diving swallows normally seen decorating the arms of salty seadogs. That’s about as kitsch as it gets at Wade Nicholson-Doyle’s new place, for although there are nods to his recently completed time in the Navy dotted around, it’s never overdone. This venue has the refinement of an officer and a gentleman rather than the rowdy sensibilities of a shore leave hangout.
A life at sea has been in the family’s blood since Wade’s Irish grandfather took his leave of the Royal Navy to start a new life in Oz in 1942, and Wade himself only discharged from the Australian Navy in April this year. Service obviously instilled plenty of get-up-and-go in the owner, for he had this place ready to set sail only weeks after hitting civvy street. The interior is a joint effort between Eades & Bergman and Paul Grummisch of please please please design, whose nautical visual allusions include the wall-mounted wooden planks – recalling a pier, or perhaps the timber of a ship’s hull – and porthole door windows. Exposed piping in rugged black for shelving supports and polished copper for light fittings are neat additions. Hello Sailor is one for the early birds, opening from 7am to 4pm; keep scurvy at bay with market fresh produce from the Yarra Valley and stay hydrated with Seven Seeds Coffee, teas from Storm in a Teacup and Victoria Market Juice drinks.
