ALL-STARS COFFEE AT ST ALI NORTH
St Ali North
815 Nicholson St, Carlton North
www.stali.com.au
The much-anticipated St Ali North is now open. Co-owner Salvatore Malatesta of St ALi recruited Jessie Gerner (Anada, The Aylesbury) as co-owner, and with the help of Velo Cycles’ Harry Fishman, has assembled a superhero team of coffee and food specialists to lift the lid off the raw space.
Coffee consigliore and Head of Coffee, Matt Perger, will head the barista crew featuring Jamie Thomson (Three Bags Full) as Head Barista and Milla Vainikinen (Johan and Nyström, Finland). The balance of St ALi North baristas have worked across Melbourne’s best cafes such as Market Lane Coffee, Seven Seeds, Dead Man Espresso, Cafenatics, Axil Coffee Roasters, Plantation and My Mexican Cousin. Wrangling as General Manager will be Adam Del Mastro, formerly of Auction Rooms. Curating the food is Jesse Gerner, with Chris Hamburger as Head Chef and Shaun Quade as Pastry Chef.
The kitchen is curing its own bacon and other goodies as well as smoking, pickling, preserving, baking, gardening and foraging. There is also coffee and food pairing. teas, and palate cleansers. Lunch boxes with ancient grain bars, pastries and other treats will be available from the unique ride-through window.
Designed by new design practice, Barbara & Fellows, the 188-seat venue is committed to the environment with its Gaia recycling system. This will turn 100kg of food waste a day into fertiliser with the hope of no general waste.
In collaboration with Velo Cycles, St Ali North is a veritable one-stop bike café, featuring free air at the café and a roving bike mechanic making spot repairs. Oh, and there’s a beard trimming service as well. The final touch is the post boxes: those who get in early will be able to access their fresh coffee, roasted on site, each week, with their own post box key.
“This is the dream space for me to launch the one and only second St ALi,” says Malatesta. “I’ve been waiting for this to happen for such a long time and to have such a cracking group of people working on it with me, well, it couldn’t get any better.”
Dinner service will follow hot on the heels of the impending liquor licence.