There was a point where you couldn’t go to Cafe Giulia in Surry Hills without bumping into five other people you knew. It was like the Peach Pit. All this social colliding made sense – Giulia was a good breakfast-meet-up-magnet and slurping away on their brightly-coloured fruit frappes was a fine way to revitalise your weekend-weary self.

Then, like a favourite T-shirt you overwear to thread-breaking death, everyone stopped hanging out at Cafe Giulia at such an obsessive rate. We started orbiting towards other places for breakfast.

Here’s a good reason to revisit the cafe though. There’s a bright and lively display of paintings through the space by Sydney artist Tony Curran. I have to admit – he is a friend – but I’m very attracted to any good eye candy in a cafe, especially one that involves the use of 3-D glasses to enjoy!

With The Hustler, the bad-ass-looking portrait out the front of the cafe, you need to ask staff for those fancy sci-fi specs to fully appreciate the visuals in all their glowering glory. Also, points for the fact the piece looks a hell of a lot like Jon Valenzuela, host of FBI 94.5FM’s Square and the man who brings out the dangerously funny side of clip art in his comic zine, The Titled Page.

The show runs for another month, so dash down to Cafe Giulia to have a look. And have a watermelon frappe while you’re at it.

Cafe Giulia, 92 Abercrombie St, Chippendale NSW (02) 9698 4424, www.cafegiulia.com
Tony Curran, www.tonycurran.blogspot.com.