While suburban milk bars are slowly disappearing from our streets, Grigons & Orr in North Melbourne has transformed a corner store into a quirky vintage styled milk bar and cafe.
There’s some pavement seating (with a stash of crocheted blankets for chilly days) and a few tables and chairs in the cosy front room – look out for the ghost sign above the milk fridge.
The pick of the locations is actually up the steep rainbow stair by the corner bay window, where you can look down on the village traffic of North Melbourne and admire the kitsch surroundings.
The decor is retro and the all day menu is too. They’re most famous for two things – jaffles ie toasted sandwiches and indulgent milkshakes.
The milkshakes are served in huge metal cups that are taller than most children and really there’s enough to share. Inside the concoction contains smashed up chocolate bars/biscuits along with thick frothed milk ($7.50). My tip is the Tim Tam milkshake though if you’re feeling nostalgic for your childhood there’s always Fizz Whizz!
The jaffles are made with classic spongy square white bread, buttered on the outside and pressed into crusty triangles via a jaffle iron. I tried the most basic ham-cheese-tomato combo ($9.50) as well as some fancier flavours such as the jerk chicken and pulled pork. Personally I preferred the classic fillings, especially given the higher end jaffles cost close to $15 which in my mind is too much for a sandwich made with supermarket bread.
On your way out if you need Spam, tinned tomatoes or shampoo then they can help you too.
Grigons & Orr is a fun throwback to the time of 1 cent lollies from your local corner store. The food I tried was ok whereas the milkshakes were amazing, and for that it’s worth returning.
