Went to buy coffee beans and have a quick coffee. Was shocked to find the freshest (roasted) beans they had were more than 3 weeks old. I declined to buy them. I was then even more shocked when the waiter told me that beans were "best" between 18 and 29 days after roasting - quite a brazen lie if anything that anyone has ever told me about coffee is to be believed. I informed that waiter that in my personal experience beans start to lose their flavour and ability to make a "crema" after 10 days, whereupon he told me that if I thought I knew more than the baristas at Toby's Estate I was kidding myself. Unbelievable rudeness and deliberate misinformation from the waitstaff just to make a $10 sale has meant Toby's Estate has no chance of seeing my business ever again. Retrain fools like these, Toby's! And give your customers some credit for knowing something about beans. This is Melbourne, after all.

Did some searching online to find the best price for the new washing machine we had researched and decided on. Appliance Warehouse not only came in $40 cheaper than anyone else, but the shipping was FREE Nick was able to arrange a time that suited me to deliver the machine, and he installed it without even being asked to. A lovely friendly guy and a great service.

I come to buy freshly roasted coffee beans and they are THE freshest at Coffea. The price is better than the coolsie new cafe roasters. And the castagnaccio has to be eaten to be believed.

Approximate cost: $10

El Bazaar used to sell David's Kosher Salt. I don't know if it was an oversight in their ordering but I got it twice from there and then they've never had it in stock since. It's a great product at an excellent price - usually flake salt like Maldon sells for $9 per 240g where David's was around $3 for 450g.

Here's the trouble - whenever I go in to ask if they have David's Kosher Salt they act completely stunned and horrified. I get it - they're of arab descent - but why should they act as though asking for kosher salt is tantamount to some kind of racist remark? Especially as they USED TO stock it! They need to sort out their issues. If you don't believe me just go in and ask for kosher salt. I won't be going back to ask for it, or anything else.