Category Archives: coffee specialist

The Age Good Cafe Guide Awards 2013

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The 2013 edition of The Age Good Cafe Guide is in stores today – are your favourites listed?

While I am not a coffee drinker I have reviewed several of the award-winning establishments noted with a *. These cafes won top honours:

  •          Eftpos Best Cafe: Auction Rooms* (North Melbourne)
  •          Best Coffee: Axil Coffee Roasters* (Hawthorn)
  •          Best New Cafe: Top Paddock* (Richmond)
  •          Best Food Cafe: St Ali Coffee Roasters* (South Melbourne)
  •          Lattore & Dutch Best Boutique Roaster: The Maling Room* (Canterbury)
  •          Best Brew Bar: Duke’s Coffee Roasters (Melbourne)
  •          Best Small Cafe: Cheerio* (Richmond)
  •          Bonsoy Best Barista: Courtney Patterson (, Melbourne)
  •          Local Hero: The Resident (Ashburton)
  •          Hall of Fame: Giancarlo Giusti ()

Each of the 300+ cafes in the guide have been reviewed and the very best have been awarded one to three coffee cups based on their commitment to coffee, the food and the decor/ambience.

The Age Good Cafe Guide 2013 is available in book stores and theageshop.com.au for $9.99. You can also pick up a copy for $5 with this Saturday’s copy of The Saturday Age.

HOT: Industry Beans, Warehouse 3, Cnr Rose St & Fitzroy St (enter from Fitzroy St), Fitzroy

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HOT: Industry Beans, Warehouse 3, Cnr Rose St & Fitzroy St (enter from Fitzroy St), Fitzroy

How do you convince a non-coffee drinker to drink coffee? Wrap it up in some fancy science and serve it with a smile.

Regular readers of this blog will know that I don’t drink coffee. It’s one of my few weirdly inconsistent food habits – I will happily eat coffee cake and coffee ice cream, but I’ve never wanted to have a cup of the stuff.

Being a non-coffee drinker presents some gaps and challenges when I visit establishments which are shrines to the bean. So what did Industry Beans do differently to convince me to try their coffee?

HOT: Industry Beans, Warehouse 3, Cnr Rose St & Fitzroy St (enter from Fitzroy St), Fitzroy

Brothers Trevor and Steve Simmons from Penny Farthing Espresso take their coffee very seriously – they select their beans from around the world, batch roast them on site in Fitzroy and prepare the brew using a Synesso machine, using a pour-over filter or cold-drip. On every table there’s a tome to coffee with explanations about the different beans and brewing methods. Aeropress, filter,  espresso and cold drip all mean nothing to me but flick the back of the guide and you can choose to have your coffee as an Aeropress Jelly, coffee pearls, coffee caviar and coffee toffee ($3 each), all made within the science lab aka kitchen cool room.

HOT: Industry Beans, Warehouse 3, Cnr Rose St & Fitzroy St (enter from Fitzroy St), Fitzroy

Always tempted by food with unusual textures I decided to try all four. The coffee pearls and coffee caviar were both made using by coating cold drip coffee with a thin jelly membrane using a technique called reverse spherification, whereby you submerge a liquid in calcium lactate in a bath of sodium alginate. The result is a curious sack of suspended fluid and the experience is just like eating caviar – you pop the whole sphere into your mouth, bite down and a squirt of cold drip coffee bursts into your mouth.

HOT: Industry Beans, Warehouse 3, Cnr Rose St & Fitzroy St (enter from Fitzroy St), Fitzroy

I also really liked the crunchy shards of coffee toffee but liked the jelly the least out of the four. It’s made by making coffee using an Aeropress and then putting gelatine into the brew before it cools down. The resulting jelly has an intense flavour and even the addition of panela didn’t make it enjoyable for me after a few tiny spoonfuls.

HOT: Industry Beans, Warehouse 3, Cnr Rose St & Fitzroy St (enter from Fitzroy St), Fitzroy

The four unusual coffee treatments were really fun to explore and together added up to about half a cup of coffee – just enough caffeine for someone as sensitive to the substance as me.

Now to the food. The breakfast and lunch menu is a departure from the poached-eggs-smashed-avocado-French toast triumvirate. Don’t get me wrong, I like all those dishes but I don’t get too excited by them when they appear on every cafe menu and when I can make a decent version at home. On the other hand, Industry Beans’ menu inspires much excitement – so many interesting choices!

HOT: Industry Beans, Warehouse 3, Cnr Rose St & Fitzroy St (enter from Fitzroy St), Fitzroy

I settled on beetroot rostis topped with smoked eel, tarragon, watercress and crisp samphire ($18.50) as it was firmly in the ‘won’t make it at home’ camp. The stack was beautifully presented and contained an addictive mix of salty, smokey and crispy in every mouthful. My only issue was that overall it was almost a bit too dry for me and I think it would have benefited from maybe some of the tarragon mayonnaise that comes with their vegetable crisps on the lunch menu.

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I also tried the creamed lemon tofu breakfast brulee ($14) – a breakfast dessert so to speak. The dish didn’t have the traditional hard sugar crust I was expecting and I’m not sure whether it was supposed to be like that or that it wasn’t possible to create a hard crust given the nature of tofu. To be honest it wasn’t very pleasant having a sticky undercaramelised toffee skin stuck to my teeth. That aside, the set tofu underneath was silky smooth and only faintly tasted of lavendar or lemon. In fact, it reminded me of one of my favourite Chinese desserts, tofu fa, without the sugar syrup. The dish came presented with blueberries and caramelised rosemary.

HOT: Industry Beans, Warehouse 3, Cnr Rose St & Fitzroy St (enter from Fitzroy St), Fitzroy

I suspect word about Industry Beans has already started spreading around the neighbourhood. I was there at 8am on a wet and rainy Sunday and there were a steady trickle of customers from that early start. The space is industrial warehouse chic in the literal sense of the word – you can actually sit amongst shelves of warehoused coffee and wooden pallets painted in black form a feature above the counter and on the ceiling, with echoes of the slats in the outdoor/indoor area out the front.

For more raves about Industry Beans, with reviews of other parts of the breakfast menu, read Poppet’s Window.

Industry Beans, 
Mon – Fri 7 -5
Sat & Sun 8 – 5


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HOT: St Ali North, 815 Nicholson St, Carlton North

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St Ali North is a cafe that ticks all the boxes for me.

In fact, it’s almost as if they gathered a focus group of one (me) and asked what I wanted from a cafe. Let’s see now…an easy distance from my house via public transport or bike, an interesting menu using good quality produce, friendly helpful service, early opening hours (they open at 6am and serve breakfast from 7am), bike parking and kid-friendly facilities. Tick, tick, tick.

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They get special bonus points for having a convenient bike-through where you can draw up your treadlie at the window to grab a drink, a sweet or a quick bite to eat. Oh, and if your bike needs some attention you can get some free air from Velo Cycles or book your repairs at their workshop.

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AND if you have kids the outdoor seating area segues seamlessly into a patch of lawn overlooking a (council) playground where the rugrats can run riot.

I’ve been there several times and been impressed with every visit. The large rectangular space is light and comfortable, with seating of all shapes and sizes to accommodate singles or a group just as comfortably. When the weather’s warm the prime location is actually on the grass by the bike path I think, otherwise the bench seats by the communal tables provide just as good a view of passing traffic with the benefit of shelter.

St Ali North Nicholson St Carlton North

I don’t usually order porridge when I’m out as I tend to make my own, but I couldn’t go past ‘War of the Roses’ –  thick and creamy organic rolled oats decorated with a pretty drizzle of strawberry and rosewater compote and sprinkles of hazelnut praline for sweetness and textural crunch ($14).

St Ali North Nicholson St Carlton North

Another sweet breakfast option is ‘Sweet 16 and Never Been Kissed’ with brioche topped with pan-fried peaches and bacon ice cream ($17.50). I was expecting the ice cream to be like a Heston Blumenthal-esque bacon-flavoured ice cream but it is in fact a rich vanilla bean ice cream topped with a sprinkle of bacon bits. So it’s a little less avant garde – I was disappointed but those with more cautious palates may not feel the same way. For that price I would also have hoped for more than one slice of brioche.

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If you’re looking for something more filling I recommend the St Ali Breakfast Sandwich, a hefty handful of meaty pork terrine topped with a fried egg and with that richness offset by a picalilli relish and a crunchy walnut and green apple salad ($16.50). You can always finish off your savoury dish with one of the delectable sweets made onsite in prime position tempting customers at the cashier.

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As you’d expect from a cafe headed by coffee maestro Salvatore Malatesta there is a strong focus on high quality coffee (they even roast their beans in house), though being a non-coffee drinker I also recommend their iced and hot chocolates ($4).

While the prices are a couple of dollars higher than the usual cafe prices I think the overall dining experience is worth the extra money for the occasional visit. The food is creative, the mood is relaxed and there’s plenty to keep you busy, whether it’s people-watching, paper-reading or keeping an eye on the kids at the playground.  Bike down and linger for a long stay.

St Ali North,  +
Every day 6:00 am – 6:00 pm


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HOT: Monk Bodhi Dharma, Rear 202 Carlisle St, Balaclava

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What do you expect to find in a supermarket carpark? Cars, trolleys, a rubbish skip and maybe some delinquent kids? Certainly not the coolest cafe-in-a-brick-shed in town.

Monk Bodhi Dharma sounds like the temple for some Eastern cult, but in fact it’s a fabulous rustic cubbyhouse cafe nestled away from the bright flourescence of the nearby Woolworths. It takes a bit of finding but is well worth the search.

The vegetarian kitchen specialises in healthy eating and kick-ass coffee and tea. The cafe drinkers amongst my friends loved the smooth and creamy inhouse coffee blends. Being the outcast non-coffee drinker, I went for the chai latte, a very spicy mix steeping an unexpected heat into the soy milk. It came presented in a lovely Japanese glazed earthenware teapot and a hand-warming handleless tea cup.

The stripped back brickwork and imposing communal table Where’s makes the space cosy for the people supping on the special stews and soups and the standard menu extending from breakfast to 3pm through to lunch. I went for the Mexican bean mix and crusty seeded bread, a filling and warming dish enhanced by the fiery homemade chilli jam.

J’s banana bread was moist and studded with walnuts while the accompanying lemon ricotta was an indulgent yet light spread.

In need of dessert, I decided to backtrack to the breakfast options to order the Madagascan French Toast ($16). It’s quite appropriate as a dessert – a very sweet mix of eggy bread flavoured with cinnamon and cardamom served with sticky poached pear, that moreish lemon ricotta again, crushed pistachios and drizzled with syrup. It was delicious but my one complaint is that I didn’t like the baguette used to make the French toast, as it was very hard to cut through the crust and overly chewy.

Service was super-friendly and the waitress was very understanding and accommodating of the various accroutrement of new mothers – prams, capsules and nappy bags.

A nice final touch came with the bill – their business card not only lists their contact details, but recommends other places around Melbourne that they like (including Auction Rooms, De Clieu, Proud Mary and Three Bags Full). I love a place that spreads the love!

For more reviews, check out Espresso Melbourne, Where’s the Beef and Backseat Baristas. Monk Bodhi Dharma occasionally hold breakfast degustations which sounds like a good reason to get out of bed and cross town – read Eat, Drink, Stagger to find out more.

Monk Bodhi Dharma on Urbanspoon

HOT: The Maling Room, 206 Canterbury Rd, Canterbury

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At first glance, the sign for The Maling Room looks like The Mailing Room. Which is an apt name for the airy cafe housed in a Victorian era former post office, its faux majestic columns hailing the entrance to the little village street known as Maling Road.

Maling Road is a favourite pram-pushing destination for Eastern suburb mums and the clientele of The Maling Room reflects that popularity. This is no inner-city bolthole, with wide corridors of space between tables for prams and kids to run around under the high ceiling (which makes it pretty cold in winter, by the way).

Their menu is also mum friendly, with a large list of breakfast options (trust me, when you become a parent breakfasts become the new dining out option) and sandwiches for lunch. All the dishes are fairly conservative options, reflecting the prevailing demographic for the area.

Their main claim to fame though is their coffee – they have a couple of Synesso machines and make a special note that their milk is heated at the optimum 65 degrees, so if you want a hot coffee you’ve got to ask for it. Their roastery apparently supply most of the cafes along the Maling Road strip. The coffee menu listed three options for specialty coffee and food blogging mum Kat‘s Costa Rican Finca de Licho blend ($4) looked very pretty from my non-coffee drinker’s perspective. It was described as ‘a complex and vibrant coffee offering brown sugar sweetness. Shows notes of citrus, berries and dried fruit such as apricot’. Kat confessed that she was not a coffee connoisseur and rates her coffee as ‘good’ and ‘not good’ (much like HOT or NOT!) – this one got the thumbs up.

Kat and I met up for lunch and each ordered a dish from the breakfast menu – truffled eggs with juicy mushrooms and cherry tomatoes for her ($16) and smoked salmon, avocado and beetroot relish eggs for me ($16).

The breakfast was large and filling and fairly well done – not particularly exciting nor terrible. The big tick went to the just-set creamy scrambled eggs (nothing worse than scrambled eggs heading towards being omelette-like) though a minor quibble was that the toast could have been toasted for longer as under the weight of the toppings it became rather soggy.

All in all, our experience of The Maling Room was pleasant and as it’s set in a little strip with shops full of pretty things, it makes for a nice afternoon outing.  Though would I recommend that you cross town for the cafe? Probably not.

  • The Maling Room, 206 Canterbury Rd, Canterbury
  • Mon-Sat 7am-4.30pm | Sun 8am-4.30pm

The Maling Room on Urbanspoon

HOT: St Ali, 18 Yarra Place, South Melbourne

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No doubt many of you have heard of St Ali, the cafe and specialty coffee purveyors who are one of a handful of places responsible for Melbourne’s love affair with ‘third wave’ coffee.

Well, I don’t drink coffee, so this puts me at a disadvantage when a reviewing a place such as St Ali. However, I’m comforted by the fact that there have been lots of good words written about St Ali‘s coffee already (Eat Drink Stagger, Eating Melbourne, Melbourne Gastronome to name a few) so here is my non-coffee-drinker’s guide to St Ali.

First of all, LOVE the space. Tucked down a laneway, away from the often middling cafes on offer on Clarendon Street, the plain whitewashed wall declares ‘we’re so cool we don’t need a sign’. Inside is a high-ceilinged warehouse space complete with retro posters, industrial winches, exposed steel beams and a behemoth coffee roaster taking pride of place in the corner. All that unpolished brick and metal, plus the constant stream of customers, makes it a buzzy, noisy place. Not so noisy that you can’t hear a conversation, but certainly the reverberations of dozens of conversations and the hissing coffee machine can rise to nightclub levels at times.

During my lunchtime visit the place was so busy that the attractive, skinny-jeaned waiters were almost jogging from table to table. Nevertheless, they were super friendly as well as being efficient and the meals were brought out during the lunchtime rush with impressive speed. That might explain the clientele – not just your expected hipster coffee drinkers and young mothers with prams, but also besuited business people from nearby offices.

Instead of coffee I order a Peace & Light chai with soy ($5). Creamy and fragrant and served in a cute pot-bellied saucepan, it was the perfect antidote to the blustery cold outside.

The food menu is surprisingly extensive, covering breakfasty things, a whole section devoted to eggs, pizzas and ‘not just a breakfast chef’ items including my choice, High IQ – roast ocean trout, quinoa, currant, cranberry, mint, pistachios with tahini yoghurt ($18.50). It turned out to be several super-sized slabs of seasoned fish balanced on top of a healthy mix of nuts, seeds and fresh salad leaves. Brain food indeed and excellent value for money.

Desserts were lined up neatly in the counter by the cashier and I choose a neat rectangle of pistachio, cardamom and yoghurt cake ($4) with a side of marscapone ($3). They only had coffee marscapone that day and I can’t say that I particularly enjoyed it as it was too solid and bitter for me – would have preferred the vanilla option. The cake itself with deliciously moist and lightly fragranced with cardamom.

So the moral of the story? There’s lots of love about St Ali, even if you don’t drink coffee. And if you do drink coffee – well, it’s probably going to be a match made in heaven.

  • St Ali, 18 Yarra Place, South Melbourne +

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HOT: Penny Farthing Espresso, 206 High St, Northcote

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Penny Farthing Espresso is a cute combination of the bygone era of top hats and handlebar moustaches with insouciant Northcote coolness.

The cafe first caught my eye because of the fabulous steampunk bicycle in the window. Apparently it’s a working apparatus, although the penny farthing enthusiast who built it has only ridden it twice…and fallen off twice. Nevertheless it’s a beautiful piece of art.

But if you’re not a bike fan, then Penny Farthing Espresso is a comfortable little spot with vintage wooden chairs and tables in the front room and a secluded courtyard in the back. Naturally the place is decorated with many minature penny farthings and other sepia-toned bicycle paraphernalia. It draws a crowd ranging from young families to pretty girls in vintage dresses.

The cafe has a page of all-day breakfast options and lunch options start at 10:30am, which means if you’re a bruncher rather than breakfaster there’s heaps of choice. For coffee aficionados the baristas make their coffee using Five Senses coffee beans using a Synesso machine, so I assume it means it’s good coffee? They also retail tea and coffee to take home. (To read coffee reviews, check out Backseat Baristas, Melbourne Coffee Review and Melbourne Coffee Guide).

Scanning the Spring menu, my stomach was drawn to two items: apple and rhubarb compote served warm with walnut ricotta infused with freshly shaved vanilla pods  and thinly sliced housemade almond biscotti ($10) and two slices of French toast drizzled with real maple syrup & topped with seasonal berry compote and garden fresh mint, with a side of Meander Valley double cream ($12).

I decided to go with the latter and not much longer a plate of eggy bread landed. It was neither the best or worst French toast I’d had, I just wish the plate had more than just a garnish of berry compote and the toast had been fried a little crisper. Next time I think I’ll go with the compote – the picture on the Penny Farthing Espresso website is pretty and mouth-watering.

For other Northcote cafe options, try the equally quirky Palomino.

Penny Farthing Espresso on Urbanspoon

HOT: De Clieu, 187 Gertrude St, Fitzroy

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De Clieu is the hottest cafe on the Gertrude Street strip at the moment and it was one of the reasons I’d avoided it till now. The crowd overspilling into the footpath tables and lounging in the frame of the large street-facing windows seemed too cool for school (or at least too cool for me) and there always seemed to be a line of people waiting to get inside – and when a pregnant lady is hungry she has to eat RIGHT NOW.

The second reason I’d not been hunting it down since it opened in October is because I’m not a coffee drinker – and De Clieu is the brainchild of the coffee maestros behind Seven Seeds and Brother Baba Budan. I wasn’t sure whether their food menu was a coffee afterthought and whether I’d actually be able to add anything to the blogosphere love for this place.

Well, I’m pleased to say for all you non-coffee drinkers out there, the food at De Clieu is top-notch. The menu is small (one page) but interesting and while yes, the atmosphere is definitely cool, it’s still friendly and welcoming.

If you can’t snag a prized street-side view, then draw up an old-school chair inside the corridor of brushed concrete, wood and white hospital tiles, a look which epitomises Melbourne’s brand of warehouse chic thanks to architects Six Degrees. If you sit in front of the cake cabinet filled with Little Bertha delights and croissants from Dench, you get an even better view :–)

My order of lentil and rice pancake with spicy coconut, pea and potato filling sand green mango yoghurt ($13) was a beautifully presented wheaten round encasing a spill of fragrant coconut sauce with a surprisingly high heat quotient. A highly recommend tangent away from your usual breakfast and lunch cafe fare.

I’m not sure whether it’s because I’m eating for two (ha!) but I didn’t feel quite full enough after it, so went for a second lunch course of thick cut grain bread from neighbour Fatto a Mano with balsamic roasted sardines, red onion, parmesan and squishy roasted tomatoes ($10.50). It was generally a satisfying two-hander sandwich but I had small two gripes with it – the filling was too cold and presented a not very pleasant contrast to the warmly toasted bread, and while it’s good to know that they didn’t just open a tin of John West for the filling, I had to extract two spiky fins while biting into my lunch.

Overall my lunch at De Clieu was relaxed and tasty and many reviews tell me that the coffee is excellent (such as Eat, Drink, Stagger, Melbourne Culinary Journal and The Age). The cafe is a winning formula for the Fitzroy set, fixies, skinny jeans and coffee-drinking optional.

De Clieu, 187 Gertrude St, Fitzroy +

De Clieu on Urbanspoon

HOT: Espresso 3121, 98 Balmain St, Richmond

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Espresso 3121 is a little tucked away cafe in the middle of warehouse-bounded Richmond. It’s not easy to find but it’s testament to its good quality food (and presumably excellent coffee, given its name) that it was a jumping little joint during the weekday lunch hour (note it’s closed weekends).

The cafe is housed in a warehouse conversion so it’s light and bright, with exposed steel beams bearing a high whitewashed ceiling, pared back brickwork and a scrubbed concrete floor. The semi-industrial theme continues with designer naked bulbs and cardboard boxes neatly stacked in the open kitchen area. Naturally I loved the owner’s hanging bike too!

I perched myself at on a cafe ubiquitous IKEA step-stool and checked out the menu. Espresso 3121 does pre-made sandwiches for those on the go (and the cabinet’s sweet treats are brought in from elsewhere) while the blackboard menu is fairly simple lunch fare, with a rotating daily special of the grilled toastie of the day. In fact, I think the coffee menu is longer than the food menu!

Tuna melts are something that are fairly easy to make but also easy to stuff up. Espresso 3121‘s version was on satisfying crunchy seeded bread from Dench, with a not-soggy layer of tuna spiked with sweetcorn and spring onion (nothing worse than a sandwich with a crisp crust and mushy interior) and with just enough cheese to bind it together. It was a simple and satisfying lunch.

And if you’re a coffee drinker, you may be interested to know that Espresso 3121 have a where you can place your coffee order by Direct Message. They also have a if you want to befriend them.

For more coffee reviews of Espresso 3121, check out Backstreet Baristas, The Agenda and Melbourne Gastronome.

Espresso 3121 on Urbanspoon

HOT: Postal Hall, 116 Russell St, Melbourne

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When I first walked into Postal Hall, it reminded me a bit of an Eastern bloc railway station.

The sound of hissing steam bouncing off concrete, glass and metal surfaces. A high ceiling with exposed beams hanging a large functional clock. A brushed metal bench supporting people in transit, as they climbed onto red padded stools or slid off their stools on their way somewhere else.

This fit out could have translated into a cold, unwelcoming atmosphere, but in fact it’s the opposite. Regulars come and go for a chat, and the young, hip staff were all unerring friendly. For instance, I must have looked befuddled by the sandwich choices, so a lady walked around the cabinet explaining the lunch options, and throughout my lunch I was asked several times whether I needed help, a coffee or anything else.

Long-time readers will know that I really don’t get excited by soup as a meal (except bouillabaisse). In fact, it’s one of those dishes that I studiously avoid ordering when out, figuring that I can make my own soup just as easily and well.

However, on this day I was suffering from pregnancy-induced ingestion, and a chicken and wild mushroom soup with saffron ($11) sounded like just the thing my poor stomach might be able to handle. While this soup was the day’s special (and may not be repeated), it is a soup worth getting exciting about.

Apparently all of the Postal Hall’s soup is made off-site by an Italian chef. This particular combination of chunky portabello, chopped enoki and shredded chicken floating in an almost seafood-tasting saffron stock was headily rich, despite being a broth and not a creamy soup. It was accompanied by a couple of chunks of lovely seeded bread from Philippa’s. My neighbour was eating a large bowl of rice salad with I think tuna and egg in it, and she said that it was one of her favourite lunch dishes.

Hooray for soup! I actually felt that I could fit in something sweet afterwards so I decided to try the pear caramel cake ($4.50), made by ‘some old Italian guy on Lygon Street’. I’m not sure whether the cakes and pastries are made by the same chef that made the soup, but my hazelnut meal speckled cake was also excellent – light and not overly sweet.

The next day I went back for a toasted smoked chicken sandwich with cheese, lettuce and tomato ($10) on the same seeded bread as accompanied the soup. Good to see that the sandwich was toasted without all the salad ingredients (warm limp lettuce, ugh), but was carefully compiled again after the toasting. Their sandwiches are about $1-2 more expensive than other places in the CBD, so I wouldn’t necessarily be making a special trip just for their sandwiches.

All in all though, I like what Postal Hall is doing – good solid Italian-influenced lunch food in unpretentious surroundings and with uber-friendly service. I hear the coffee’s good too.

For other great sandwich options in the CBD, try Migo’s, Waffle On and Aix Creperie (the almond chicken is a long-time favourite).

  • Postal Hall, 116 Russell St, Melbourne +

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