The theme for our ‪‎travel pics this week is E, for Eating.

The genesis of this image may not seem unusual to our American readers but this is a real rarity in Australia – it is from one of the few remaining grocery-store diners left in the country.

It used to be that at the capital-city CBD ‘flagship’ stores of Coles and Woolworths, there was a cafeteria .. and going to ‘the caf’ was a highlight of many a trip into the city.

Then, those cafeterias nearly all closed down, as the ‘flagship’ stores were shuttered, to be replaced by smaller ‘Coles Express’ and ‘Woolworths Metro’ shops.

At their peak, these cafeterias served 20-thousand meals a day – but now, the only one that I know of is the Woolworths George Street store across the road from the Sydney Town Hall.

We ate there while visiting Sydney for a cruise a few years back, and the food – while plain – was like a warm childhood embrace.