Melbourne Writer’s Festival starts tomorrow Thursday 20 August – Sunday 30 August so today I’m introducing you to a fabulous bookish cafe – Bread and Jam for Frances in Hawthorn.
The cafe is named after the classic children’s book by Russell Hoban and Lillian Hoban and is attached to Readings Hawthorn, one of my Top 10 Best Children’s Bookshops in Melbourne. You can enter via the bookshop or its own entrance on Linda Crescent opposite Coles.
I really like the church-like atmosphere of the place. Not that it’s silent and solemn. More that the cathedral-high ceilings and arched windows let in an abundance of light and the noise levels seem to be pretty muted (even during busy times) as most people are perusing their latest book purchase.
Bread and Jam for Frances is run by Dench Bakers in North Fitzroy so you know the bread, pastries and cakes are sure to be good. Customers come to buy a takeaway coffee and a loaf of organic artisan sourdough or sit at small tables or banquette to enjoy the short, mostly grain based, menu (sorry paleo people). They serve Veneziano coffee and Larsen & Thompson teas and have an alcohol licence.
I ordered the King brown, button, oyster mushrooms, goats cheese, silverbeet, toasted hazelnuts & toasted sourdough ($16) and was allowed to substitute the goats cheese for Meredith feta with no problems. It was hearty and filling and while a relatively basic dish, very satisfying toppling over with the mushroom melange.
I then returned to drool over the sweets cabinet and was immediately drawn to the orange and pistachio cake with a syringe jauntily jabbed into it. I do love a dessert gimmick! The cake was grainy yet moist with a sweet dose of citrus within once the syrup had been injected inside.
I think books and coffee go hand in hand and a cafe elevates a great bookshop to a fantastic bookshop. Bread and Jam for Frances is the kind of relaxed place where you’d be happy to linger with a novel and it’s a must-do destination for Melbourne bibliophiles.