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I remembered reading Fitzroyalty’s very positive review of Juanita’s, so decided to drop in for lunch.

I only wish I’d re-read his post, or that of Where’s the Beef before visiting, because I could have ordered a lot better. Had I re-read either of these posts, I would have definitely ordered the Huevos Rancheros, which not only look awesome, but filling too.

Instead I ordered a sort of Chilean steak sandwich. It was tasty, but was very small for a steak sandwich, and at $15.50 didn’t represent very good value. Other cafes would have charged around $10 for a serving of this size.

My girlfriend chose the kidney bean gratin, which was delicious. We shared a delicious vanilla slice for ‘dessert’.

It took around half an hour for our meals to arrive (far too long), but I’d still give Juanita’s another shot.

Despite meals at the Rochester Castle (202 Johnston St, Fitzroy) costing just $9, or even less if you take advantage of one of the specials, they’re not particularly great value. Not bad value, just not great value. The servings are quite small, particularly the salads, and there weren’t even many chips with my fish and chips. This would be fine if the meals were of a high quality, but they’re merely ‘okay’.

Given that the Rochester also offers cheap jug deals, I suspect that none of this is really going to matter to who I assume are the Rochester’s target clientele, uni students.

With my Brunswick Street lunch favourite, Alimentari, closed, I decided to head down the street to Babka to try one of their pork and veal sausage rolls. Priced at $7.25 it isn’t what you’d call cheap, but it’s fairly substantial, and like most things at Babka, very tasty. And the price includes delicious house made tomato sauce.

I remember somebody writing that Brunswick Street is the new King Street, and walking along there on a Saturday night, it’s hard to with this statement. Sure, there are still some interesting venues and business along the strip, but there are a number of venues that seem to attract a disproportionate number of annoying drunks.

I remember visiting Brunswick Street as a child in the early to mid-80s. In the early 90s, in my early 20s, I spent quite a bit of time there, and already it had changed a lot. Jump forward to 2004, and living near Brunswick Street, it bears little resemblance to the street I remember from 25 years ago.

Brunswick Street jumped the shark some years ago, but I don’t think you can put it down to a single event. Rather, it’s been a gradual slide.

Some of the notable events in the dumbing down of Brunswick Street that I can think of are:

• the opening of 7-11 on the corner of Johnston and Brunswick streets
• the closing of the Punters’ Club
• the opening of generic cafes like Joe’s Garage and Red Tongue

I’m sure there are other events. Can you think of any?