EAT/DRINK:
* Bar 303 – fun bar and performance space, check out the fridge for what’s on, or click here. AKA the long-time home of Kicking the B
* Northcote Social Club – 301 High St: great pub meals, best deck/beergarden in Northcote
* The Inthanon Thai – 182 High St: lovely service, curries, seafood and vego options, deep-fried tofu and fish cakes are awesome
* Curry Cafe – 73 High St: new management, new interior, new menu! Specials on the window (and new local beers) are great! Plans for beer garden out the back, watch this space…Beware, so easy to over order as serves are generous!
* Denn – 113 High St: reliable dinner options or a steak sandwich with pals? here’s just fine…
* Wild Yak – 350 High St: tasty Tibetan dishes
* Fruit Pedallers AKA Terra Madre – 103 High St: organic/biodynamic food store – now new, improved and twice the size!
* Kelvin Bar – 84 High St: from the orange scooter and ever changing mini gallery/shop window you just know it’s the bees knees
* Harvest Wine & Liquor – 207 High St: Great selection of beers, wine and whisky. Swing by, give them your $$, check em out here
* Joe’s Shoe Store – 233 High St: my spiritual home! Great bar, quality vinyl, friendly barkeeps, pizza from Meine Liebe next door…pure win!
* Wesley Anne – 250 High St: the belle of Rucker’s Hill! Fabby decor, courtyard and beverage options
* The Estelle Bistro – 243 High St: gorgeous fitout, with mouthwatering menu and lovely staff
* Foxy Brown – 31a South Cres
* Pasticceria Bisetto – 229 High St: fabulous biscotti, cakes and gelato. Serving Northcote since 1972
* Penny Farthing Espresso – 206 High St: Good coffee, small but perfectly formed menu…Now open for dinner and coffee themed cocktails !
* Gypsy Hideout – 68 High St: deliciously different breakfast/lunch and great coffee options, now licensed – try the share plate and a jug of sangria or Pimm’s? Fabulous courtyard, lovely staff.
* Coco Loco – 219 High St: organic/fair trade chocolate bar – divine desserts and cocktails! Now renamed Papasito – drop in for delicious organic Mexican food and their stunning chocolate mousse…
* Merricote – 81 High St: Bronwyn and Rob Kabboord’s delightful Modern European restaurant.
* Ember Lounge – 111 High St: relaxed atmosphere, wine, live music, wood fired pizza, dim lights, open late. Need I say more?
* Open Studio – 204 High St: superb music, spoken word, wine, cider, crepes, what’s not to love?
* Kau – 541 High St: beautiful food, lovely coffee and sweet hosts! Gorgeous Snotrag mural out the back, lovely rear terrace
* Westgarth Liquor and Grocery – 97 High St: Great selection of drinkables, plus Mumma Salma’s homestyle dips, sweets, pickles and jams. My favourite friendly convenience store…regular wine tastings too, check their facebook for details
* Northcote Bakeshop – 571 High St: beautiful range of breads, pastries, slices and scones. Great lunch options – beef empanadas, croque monsieur, brioche rolls, and more! Coffee is good too
* The Purple Emerald Lounge Bar – 349 High St : now northside after 15+ years in the CBD, swing by for great music, tapas and a few drinks. Trading Tuesday – Sunday, Open as a cafe in the afternoons. For your funk/soul/acid jazz fix…
* Two By Two – 235 High St: Understated, elegant food, no plate over $30! Breakfast and lunch Tuesday – Sunday, dinner Thursday – Saturday
* Bang Bang – 337 High St: Quick and cheap Vietnamese/Chinese food! Good pho
* Kitty Somerset – 565 High St : Gorgeous Northcote cocktail bar. Mid century sofas, table lamps and open fire. Great menu and friendly staff, superb record collection
* Thai Tiki Hut – 571 High St : Bamboo booths, Asian movie posters, delicious Crazy Wings. My favourite booth has a view of old Thai films on a wall mounted tv. If only they served cocktails…
* Myrtle’s Crepes & Coffee – 59 High St : Great Allpress coffee, crepe recipes from Brittany, lots of happy customers. Sweet and savoury options on the menu. Open Tuesday – Sunday
* The Herbert – 41 Arthurton Rd : Well made Padre coffee, delicious breakfast/lunch options and friendly service. Stunning decor. A short stroll from High St and Northcote station
* Yum Yum Thai – 101 High St : Delicious Thai food, don’t miss the Pad Tom Yum Seafood and the Tod Mun Pla. Dinner and Take Away Monday to Sunday from 5:30pm
* The Dojo Ramen Bar – 333 High St : Tasty ramen, great drinks list and desert menu. Lovely beer garden and great sounds. Lunch Sunday, dinner Tuesday – Sunday
* Joanne’s Kitchen – 238 High St : Beautiful Taiwanese – Malaysian dishes, well priced. Delicious dumplings, hand made noodles and spring onion roti. Sadly no liquor licence. Open daily for lunch and dinner
* Seoul Soul – 315 High St: Simply delicious Korean food. Rice dishes, chargrill and tapas. Lovely fitout, great prices
* Il Melograno – 76 High St: delicious Sicilian gelato, sorbet, baked treats and hot food. Love the coffee! Open Tuesday-Sunday til late
* Lam Lam – 209 High St: Old school Vietnamese. Love the beef rice paper rolls
* Sookie La La – 593 High St : Clasic northside diner. Superb sandwiches, doughnuts, milkshakes and bagels
* Kitchen Iroha – 487 High St : stunningly presented, super fresh, delicious Japanese food
* Sweet Salt – 296 High St: go for the prawn/barramundi spring rolls, the Taiyaki, the handcut chips…just go already!
GREATLY MISSED:
Peppermill – 235 High St: home style Caribbean and French Mediterranean
Spudatoes – Westgarth Village: NOW TRADING AS HIGH ON SPUDS, 106 High St, Preston 🙂
Seven Sisters – 73 High St: retro styled delights, open fire
Dragan and family ex-Alphabet City: enjoying a well earned rest
Peacock Inn Hotel – previous management, old school pub pianist, and bathtub salad bar
Kingfisher Organic Bakery – 371a High St
Silly Yaks – 105 High St: vibe, music, great gluten-free brekky options
Northcote Aquarium – 382-4 High St, closed after 45 years. 382 is now home to Aquarium Cafe, 384 became Title Records
Ultra Violet Florist in Westgarth
Joe and Ross ex-Westgarth Licensed Grocers: enjoying a well-earned retirement! Miss you!
Kick Gallery – 239 High St: now in Peel St, Collingwood
Coffee Select – 63 High St: superb ice coffee and chocolate orange cake
The Eastern Ingredient – 411 High St
Salty Dog – 300 High St: now apres-makeover,trading as Carter’s Public House
Tabiya By Discobeans – 238 High St: best sock store ever!
Bryony ex-Lupa: taking a break from 10 wondrous years of fashion. Happy travels!
Moi, Jasmine and Shell ex-Jules Bar: congratulations on the sale, miss you already!
In The Woods – 246 High St: superb window displays and beautiful objects
Old Hat – 226 High St: relocated to Ballarat (?)
Chowhound – 235 High St: became Black Radish, now trading as Two By Two
Joe Green – 2A Mitchell St: coffee with a touch of vintage style
Next Door Diner – 204 St Georges Rd: now trading as Cafe Perri
Disco Beans Cafe/Gallery/Performance space – 238 High St: closed 27 April, 2013. NEW LOCATION 539 Plenty Rd, Preston! 🙂
Title Records – 384 High St
Cafe Najla – 102 High St : now home to Base Camp (Himalayan and Birmingham Balti cuisine)
Willow Bar – 222 High St : Now trading as Francesca’s Bar
United Arab Eatery (UAE) – 487 High St: Turkish/Moroccan/Lebanese/Syrian flavours from the folks who brought us Pizza Meine Liebe and Munsterhaus. Great salads, pides and sweets
Cinecult / Cinerarium – once held at 303, now relocated to The Wilde Bar in Fitzroy for the 2015 season. Drop by http://thecinerarium.com/ or @thecinerarium on twitter
Bar Nancy – 61 High St : after 15 years, Laodan needs to do other things. I miss Nancy a lot, but that’s life I guess…
Subterranean – 55 High St : Caitlin has relocated to 252 Johnston St, Fitzroy after many years in Northcote
A Little Light – 116 High St : Now making candles at home! You can still find them on facebook and instagram and pinterest – contact them to buy your favourites or to become a stockist
NIFTY HOMEWARES:
* Know Your Product – NEW LOCATION! cnr High and Timmins St, Westgarth: where everything says “take me home!” Nifty online action here!
* Flashback – 91 High St: Nola’s amazing vintage/retro fabrics, lampshades, cushions and wallpapers. Also on facebook
* Retro Active – 307 High St: Tony and Wendy’s modernist decor heaven
* Mr.Pictures – 109 High Street: careful framing, as recommended by Clare Whitney
* Northcote Bowerbird – 283 High St: you never know what you’ll find…
* Flowers by Entwine / Local Shop – 262 High St: beautiful blooms, stylishly presented – also fabulous scented candles, lawn flamingoes and so much more
* Tombo Co – 80 High St: Beautiful Asian antiques, fabrics, cushions and ceramics. Now offering custom made furniture. Look out for the cute white dog…Check out their website…
* Rathdowne Records – 230 High St: The best crates of black wax – now in Northcote! So damn dangerous…
* The Bowery Vintage – 478 High St: Carefully chosen treasures for home, garden, bar and wardrobe. Fresh flowers, plants and great prices
SASSY CLOTHES, ACCESSORIES & BEAUTY:
* LUPA – 55 High St: Davina’s world of local designers
* I Dream A Highway – 259 High St: for clothes, indie accessories and local music
* Blackfinch – 110 High St: artist made jewellery emporium, featuring on premises jeweller Raymond de Zwart
* A Quirk of Fate – 289 High St: Local shoemaker’s delightful shop. Beautiful accessories, homewares, lots of local product, footwear and hosiery
* SorIta Anti Ageing and Beauty – 266 High St: the most friendly salon ever! Nita and Soraya use natural (and some organic) Australian products, suitable for vegans. Try their sugar epilation if you don’t like waxing? Appointments available Tuesday to Saturday
* Fresh Nails & Footspa – 221 High St : Shellac nails, massage chairs, spa manicure and pedicure? Yes please…
* Klei – 269 High St: beautiful wearables, accessories and homewares
Vetti: Live in Northcote 
There is evidently a lot for me to ascertain outside of my books. Thanks for the fantastic read,
a couple more:
Joe Green Cafe (ex Cafe Bedda)
2a Mitchell St
Harvest Wine (best in High St)
333 High St
whoops, Harvest already in there, well… drop in and say hello to Mitchell, top bloke, knows his onions, er, wines. Good for boutique beers and ciders too.
Brown & Bunting, excellent 2ndh bookshop, been hangin’ out for one in High St, no.237 to be precise.
Sad to see Joe & Ross @IGA go.
Who remembers Robert Price from Alphabet City?
Ian Mc Phail: I enjoy an occasional visit to Harvest, hearing great things about Joe Green, but haven’t dropped by there yet. Brown & Bunting joins the 2nd hand bookshop gang in High St – went to an enyoyable Q&A there recently. I too am missing Joe and Ross (and Maria), don’t recall Robert Price??
Ian Mc Phail: I enjoy an occasional visit to Harvest, hearing great things about Joe Green, but haven’t dropped by there yet. Brown & Bunting joins the 2nd hand bookshop gang in High St – went to an enyoyable Q&A there recently. I too am missing Joe and Ross (and Maria), don’t recall Robert Price??
+1
Joe Green is well worth a visit – great coffee, friendly staff, and the ragu (often on the specials board) is delicious.
Violet: yes, I’m already a fan…their specials are certainly worth ordering!
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I love Salty Dog and the Wesley Anne. I’ve heard Cafe Najla is great but I haven’t been there yet.
Kitten of Doom: I’ve had some great dinners at Najla, strangely I’ve never eaten at Wesley Anne…Must check out what used to be Salty Dog – they’re now Carter’s, haven’t been in since the name changed ages ago 😦
I already feel like I’m spamming you.. Just wanted to send you another little note as I saw you mentioned the ex-Alphabet owners. So funny.. I work with Dragan’s wife now.
ana: Hey – that’s not spam! Such lovely people, I went to Alphabet often when they owned it.
Totally remember Rob Price -he now works at the Pool, a lot less cranky then he was at Alphabet. Maybe check out Red Door in Mitchell St (great food, coffee variable) and Otsumami 257 High St for fab Japanese food
snappyshoes: Thanks. I have no idea who Robert Price is. I used to go to Alphabet a lot, but mostly when Dragan and his wife ran it.
-For what it’s worth, Rob Price is a bit of a Northcote legend. He set up Alphabet years ago. Not sure whether he was a cafe running aspiring actor or vice versa but he used to turn up frequently in roles like this one in Head On:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0138487/fullcredits#cast
A really nice man but by god he was angry when he was running Alphabet – something like the soup nazi on Seinfeld.
Loving your blog
snappyshoes: Thanks! I’ve only been in Northcote 10 years, I did go to Alphabet prior to that, but only sporadically. The only period of Alphabet’s history I’m really au fait with is a few years back, when Dragan and his lovely wife owned it. Went frequently then.
Hello. Am enjoying what I’ve read of the blog. I recently moved to Melbourne from Sydney and after spending a couple of months searching for our place in Melbourne, my partner and I have ended up in Northcote. It’s where everyone said we belonged but our first visit here saw us come down Separation Street and head up High Street towards Thornbury and we just didn’t get what the fuss was about. Northcote kept coming up so we came back, parked the car and this time headed towards Ruckers Hill on foot. It was an ‘ahhh… now I get it’ walk. We moved shortly after and feel very much at home. Wesley Anne is a regular Sunday haunt for us, I love the fondue pizza at Meine Liebe and we’ve been to Joe Green several times. So much still to discover.
lee: hi and welcome! So pleased you are enjoying my blog and your new home. There is a lot to enjoy in and around Northcote…
I love 3070 – a great blog to read! Thanks, T 🙂
Tania: Thank YOU! Lots more on the way, so stay tuned.
I popped in (from Brisbane) late August to find that Joe and Ross had moved on. Bugger. I still owed Joe $5 too.
Coming down this weekend and going to eat and drink at every shopfront in the Westgarth Strip, even the newsagent.
Tony: I still miss those guys. Enjoy your Westgarth dining experience!