Fremantle: My favorite things, part two

I’m staying in North Perth, but sadly all I can really tell you about the city is how to get to the Wellington Street Bus Station to catch a train to Midland or Fremantle. I love Fremantle – it’s got this laid-back air about it that doesn’t require me to wear anything except the one pair of Tom’s I am always wearing. I mentioned a few of my favorite things in an earlier post; here are a few more great finds in Fremantle.

Fidel’s Cafe
Free wi-fi and $3 cappuccinos, plus comfy couches.  I’d catch a ride into Fremantle with Ian on his way to class (at the ungodly hour of 7am, every day for 21 days), then hang out at Fidel’s until yoga started or the museums opened or whatever else I was doing for the day could begin.  In Fremantle, you’ll find baristas blearily rubbing their eyes at 7:30am as they open shop.  There is no 6am Starbucks call around here.

Spirulina bars and raw smoothies in the Fremantle markets
What more brings feelings of home than the blend of cacao and maca? Or the fine mixture of seeds, nuts and dates, colored green with fortifying spirulina? Both can be had inside the Yard at the Fremantle Markets, along with fresh squeezed orange juice, gluten-free bread, cheap fruits and veg, and mini-cupcakes. I had the Spirulina bar for Sunday breakfast before going to yoga.

Moore & Moore’s website
I had a “brekky” date at Moore & Moore and so looked it up beforehand. You’ll be hard-pressed to determine what they do just by looking at the website (I thought it was an antique furniture shop, frankly), but you’ll feel so painfully hip that you’re in on the whole joke that you’ll absolutely have to stop by.  Even the name of the place has a tinge of irony to it, or subliminal messaging. Turns out they’re a cafe-cum-art gallery with catering business and they have nice, reasonably priced breakfast dishes. The attached galleries display rotating shows of artists and photographers: I caught Michael O’Connell, who does paintings of aging superheroes doing mundane activities like waiting for the bus or visiting the ice cream truck. My breakfast date said they used to let dogs onto the sunny back patio, then told me how the last time he brought his, the dog surreptitiously took a honking bite out of a woman’s birthday cake. Curiously, the back patio no longer allows four legged friends. The front patio still does though, and it’s quite pleasant.  We sat there and I had a pumpkin squash hash on Turkish bread with poached eggs.

Wine at X-Wray
The faint smell of pot and the ragamuffin decor belies an astonishingly good and fairly priced wine list. My favorites: the Pinot Noir and the Smoking Gun Semillon Sauv Blanc, a reasonable $8.50 and $7, respectively. (To be fair, I appreciate its aforementioned characteristics too.) The food is generally fine and cafe standard, but the $3 savoury muffins stood out.  I had one for dinner while I waited for Krishna Das’s kirtan at the town hall. Best thing about savoury muffins is you can eat them with heaps of butter, just like a sweet muffin, and no one looks at you sideways.

X-Wray is hidden down the Essex Lane alleyway, behind the movie theatre.

Street art
What can I say? Here are some photos.