Cafe Petrushka was opened by Minka Wolman (Australian born of Russian Jewish immigrant parents) and Jessie Sumner.
A three-course meal including borsch cost 1s 9d, glass tumblers of tea 6d, and a Russian supper was available until midnight.
The depressed 1930s saw penny-wise artists fall away from the Latin. There was little relief in the neighbourhood until Café Petrushka opened in 1937. Sitting by the corner of Little Collins and Russell Streets, in a shop scheduled for demolition, the bohemian theme café was an instant hit. Its tables were tinted green, panes of moulded ‘weeping’ glass were set in the front door, and the chirpy young proprietors Minka Volman and Jessie Sumner—who called out da svidanya as each customer left—wore folk blouses and brightly coloured skirts.
https://heathcoteartcritic.substack.com/p/artists-and-their-cafes
Cafes such as Fasolis and Café Petrushka played host to Melbourne’s bohemian crowd, attracting writers, poets, artists, and hangers on: the ‘famous, near-famous, flash-in-the-pan famous…famous to be’, and ‘garrulous never-to-be-famous’ [4].
Porter, Hal, The Paper Chase
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On the heels of the Depression, Cafe Petrushka -the only Russian kitchen in town - opened in Collins Street. Its popularity with the city's bohemian crowd made it madly fashionable but its patrons were not always flush with cash. The proprietors allowed hard-up patrons to assist them with market shopping or hand write the menu in exchange for a meal.
https://onecrumbatatime.blogspot.com/2015/03/focus-on-food-in-sydney.html
[Cafe Petrushka : Australian Gallery File]
https://find.slv.vic.gov.au/discovery/fulldisplay?docid=alma9912018503607636&context=L&vid=61SLV_INST:SLV&lang=en&search_scope=slv_local&adaptor=Local%20Search%20Engine&tab=searchProfile&query=any,contains,144%20Little%20Collins%20Street,%20Melbourne&offset=0
It was established in 1937 at 144 Little Collins Street, Melbourne. The Petrushka became the rendezvous of the city’s bohemians, intelligentsia, and sundry dancers from Colonel de Basil’s Russian ballet troupe (Monte Carlo Ballet).
Among the 'Petrushka-ites' were the artists Nutter Buzacott, Albert Tucker and Hayward Veal, and Writers' League confrères Robert Close and Alan Marshall.
The Petrushka closed in 1939 but is described in Hal Porter's The paper chase (Sydney, 1966).
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| Little Collins Street, Melbourne, Victoria [PRG 280/1/8/57] - State Library of South Australia |
The depressed 1930s saw penny-wise artists fall away from the Latin. There was little relief in the neighbourhood until Café Petrushka opened in 1937. Sitting by the corner of Little Collins and Russell Streets, in a shop scheduled for demolition, the bohemian theme café was an instant hit. Its tables were tinted green, panes of moulded ‘weeping’ glass were set in the front door, and the chirpy young proprietors Minka Volman and Jessie Sumner—who called out da svidanya as each customer left—wore folk blouses and brightly coloured skirts.
With milkless dark tea in a glass tumbler as customary refreshment (priced at 6d), the cuisine was limited but authentic. Volman cooked dishes she had been raised on by her Ukrainian mother. Ever popular was a bowl of borscht with sour cream, her delicious pirozhki, a baked bun filled with chopped mushroom and vegetables, and holubtsi, a spiced cabbage roll. It was so affordable, too. A meal of soup, with serve of pig’s knuckle, then slice of trifle could be had for 1/9d.
‘Petrushka’ was named for a dance production by the Ballets Russes, this dance company annually performing at a Melbourne theatre nearby from 1936. Painters, stage folk and hangers-on were in the café from late morning, and an evening crowd came by after ballet or the theatre. One might glimpse around tables Rupert Bunny telling dancers of seeing Nijinsky in Paris, Bill Constable and Loudon Sainthill grilling scene painters on modernist sets, Cynthia Reed and Sam Atyeo talking Bauhaus design, Joy Hester and Albert Tucker on a date.
Many dressed exotic when visiting Café Petrushka. Alister Kershaw once arranged to dine with Alannah Coleman: ‘She arrived wearing velvet trousers and a Breton fisherman’s striped shirt. An Egyptian fez was perched becomingly on her long blonde hair. A quiver of arrows slung over her shoulders added a Robin Hood or Saxon touch.’ Coleman completed her outfit with a Bersaglieri cape hanging to the ankles, and Roman sandals on her bare feet.
The Petrushka’s ambience was ever friendly. People joined lively discussions underway, or struck up conversations with lone strangers. Argument or belligerence were diffused by jests. When the opiniated Justus Jorgensen of Montsalvat kept ranting against modern art, a playful bohemian tipped soup over him. The café owned a gramophone and selection of jazzy French 78s, which customers jumped up and danced to if the mood took them. That was how the record of Josephine Baker singing La Petite Tonquinoise was quickly worn out.
All changed with the Second World War, when armies of US servicemen passing through Melbourne shook up hospitality and dining. After that cafés shunned bohemians.
Cafes such as Fasolis and Café Petrushka played host to Melbourne’s bohemian crowd, attracting writers, poets, artists, and hangers on: the ‘famous, near-famous, flash-in-the-pan famous…famous to be’, and ‘garrulous never-to-be-famous’ [4].
Porter, Hal, The Paper Chase
--------------
On the heels of the Depression, Cafe Petrushka -the only Russian kitchen in town - opened in Collins Street. Its popularity with the city's bohemian crowd made it madly fashionable but its patrons were not always flush with cash. The proprietors allowed hard-up patrons to assist them with market shopping or hand write the menu in exchange for a meal.
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After Pot's review of the Melbourne restaurant scene, Focus turned its attention to eating in Sydney for the 'Alimentary' column in the next edition, July 1946. In this instance the writer was Minka Veal. Minka was the Australian born daughter of Russian-Jewish parents who had established a clothing factory in Flinders Lane - A. Wolman Pty Ltd. Minka began her working life in the clothing factory but the business foundered during the depression which meant she had to find an alternative living. In 1937 she opened the Café Petrushka with Jessie Sumner. Here they served Russian tea in delicate glasses and a menu of Russian specialties such as borscht, cabbage rolls and halva. Although the café closed in 1939, during its brief life it was a popular haunt of theatrical celebrities, journalists, artists and writers, the likes of Albert Tucker, Max Meldrum, Alan Marshall and Hayward Veal. Minka and Hayward were married in 1944 and left Australia in 1951.
After Pot's review of the Melbourne restaurant scene, Focus turned its attention to eating in Sydney for the 'Alimentary' column in the next edition, July 1946. In this instance the writer was Minka Veal. Minka was the Australian born daughter of Russian-Jewish parents who had established a clothing factory in Flinders Lane - A. Wolman Pty Ltd. Minka began her working life in the clothing factory but the business foundered during the depression which meant she had to find an alternative living. In 1937 she opened the Café Petrushka with Jessie Sumner. Here they served Russian tea in delicate glasses and a menu of Russian specialties such as borscht, cabbage rolls and halva. Although the café closed in 1939, during its brief life it was a popular haunt of theatrical celebrities, journalists, artists and writers, the likes of Albert Tucker, Max Meldrum, Alan Marshall and Hayward Veal. Minka and Hayward were married in 1944 and left Australia in 1951.
[Cafe Petrushka : Australian Gallery File]
https://find.slv.vic.gov.au/discovery/fulldisplay?docid=alma9912018503607636&context=L&vid=61SLV_INST:SLV&lang=en&search_scope=slv_local&adaptor=Local%20Search%20Engine&tab=searchProfile&query=any,contains,144%20Little%20Collins%20Street,%20Melbourne&offset=0