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The Journal is a cafe and restaurant located in Melbourne, Australia. It is currently owned by John Vakalis
History
[edit]The Journal was opened in 2004 by restaurateurs Con Christopoulos and John Vakalis. According to the company history, the CAE approached Con Christopoulos with a concept that most other restaurateurs could not visualise. The idea was simple yet intricate; make the newly built City Library join and continue to the street. That he did.
The final product is one of Melbourne's more stylish cafes. It's warm surrounds and art deco aesthetics taken from the City Library, the space has integrated with the building, Flinders Lane and Melbourne itself. The design has been copied many times in other cafes throughout Melbourne.
The cafe was an instant success amongst Melbournians and soon after it opened, it notably became a Melbourne icon and institution.
In 2007, Journal Canteen was opened in an old classroom on the other side of the enterance hall. Apparently Con, whilst traveling in Italy had fallen in love with a photo of an Italian Airforce canteen/messhall from a magazine. He then went on to base the design of Canteen around that photo. Rumour has it that the photo can not be found and may be lost forever leaving Con feeling like citizen kane with his yearning for rosebud.
2009 was the year that Con left the partnership to focus on other projects. John Vakalis still runs the venue and can still be seen behind the coffee machine.
Patrons
[edit]The Journal has long been frequented by famous people such as Chris Lilley and Garry McDonald. Other notable customers have included former Miss Universe Jennifer Hawkins, Hugo Weaving, Anton Enus, Cathy Freeman, Julia Zemiro, Helen Garner, Singrid Thornton and Michael Klim.
Food and drink
[edit]The Journal is a bastion of solid Italian style coffee and rustic foods. The Journal is also renowned for its adaptation of the traditional and seasonal Italian antipasto [1]. Its prices for food are low, approx $AUS15-25.
References
[edit]- ^ Valent, Dani. "Journal Canteen", The Age Online, 15 January 2008.