Best of 2015: Melbourne’s must-visit cafes

Melbourne dining: legendary, unique, and precious to those who reside there. The culture of a weekend brunch date, the search for the ultimate flat white, the regular queues out the door of popular eateries, the increasingly decadent instagram shots, and the CHOICE. With hundreds of cafes and restaurants crowding the city and suburbs and newcomers opening their doors daily, the high standard and variety is unlike anywhere else in the world. Of those I managed to visit (which was quite a few!), here are my top picks from 2015. If you haven’t been, you are missing out – or if you need to impress others with your knowledge of the dining scene, take your pick of my favourite cafes for 2015.
(The correlating restaurants will be in the next post).

In no particular order…

1. Tall Timber | 60 Commercial Road, Prahran
   A unique menu with a health-food slant and a big reputation, Tall Timber caters for everyone, from those with food intolerances (kale and quinoa feature) to those just wanting the Timber Benedict (a mountain of slow-cooked pulled pork, eggs and creamy apple cider hollandaise). Just be prepared to have significant trouble deciding what to order and don’t expect to get a table without a wait at peak hour.

   
   

2. Hammer & Tong 412 | Rear 412 Brunswick St, Fitzroy
   Food chemistry is front and centre, with flavour combinations you might initially squirm at: a duck egg & candied bacon waffle is paired with sriracha caramel ice cream, toffee popcorn, maple & seeded mustard syrup, while ingredients like salmon roe, smoked mozzarella and black barley speckle the menu. Just trust the process. The soft shell crab burger is famous city-wide, and watch out for their food truck patrolling Melbourne’s streets and markets.
   
   
   
   
3.  Industry Beans | 3/62 Rose Street, Fitzroy
   A Fitzroy coffee roastery occupying a narrow, high-ceilinged industrial space (named best designed cafe in the world in 2014) with food to match. A dedicated coffee menu adorns each table, while the food options borrow from the techniques of high end restaurants (think coffee caviar, compressed watermelon and truffle foam). Brioche french toast is coconut crusted and accompanied by pineapple, crushed peanuts, lime curd and coffee caviar, while in the share plates mouthfuls of cured salmon are served on a base of fennel avocado mouse and kaffir lime jelly with tea marbled egg and crispy quinoa. Don’t leave without trying the coffee garden dessert, where a buttery pistachio sponge is topped with coffee custard pudding, pops of coffee caviar & cold drip gel and surrounded by textured chocolate soil & dollops of berry coulis.

   
   

4. Mammoth | 736 Malvern Road, Armadale
   A recent opening, Mammoth has already left its mark on Melbourne – maybe it is the infamous lobster donut burger (be warned, sticky fingers are unavoidable in this mash of sugar & spice coated donut, coriander & mint filled papaya-green mango slaw coated in a lime fish-sauce dressing, dripping sriracha kimpi mayo, more sticky cucumber jam and big chunks of lobster), or the more simple avocado dish (thick-crusted dark rye toast liberally smeared with a pumpkin seed hummus and topped with coddled eggs & chunks of avocado), but I can’t wait to go back (and neither can anyone else, by the looks of the weekend brunch queues).

   
   
   

5. The Kettle Black | 50 Albert Road, South Melbourne
   You may have already seen the ricotta hotcake on social media (golden, large enough for two and smothered in berries, maple syrup, double cream, seeds, and edible flowers), but it is the rest of the menu that really shines here. Occupying a half-modern-office building, half refurbished Victorian home with white decor, marble benches, floor-to-ceiling windows for maximum morning sun saturation, green potted plants and gold edged furnishings – it is an impressive eatery from the start. Top quality local, seasonal ingredients are front and centre – try the tataki ocean trout with raw kale & pickled vegetable salad, seaweek, nuts and poached eggs, or the creamy housemade coconut yogurt with artfully arranged berries, dehydrated fruit, nuts and freeze-dried powders.

   
   

6. BONUS: the favourite local from my two years at college out in the South-Eastern suburbs
    District Brewer | 36 Brewer Rd, Bentleigh
   Unusual and innovative menu options make this cafe unique: try the Mexican breakfast (fried queso fresco & jalapeño fritters on a bed of black bean hummus, smokey avocado & corn salsa with charred baby leek, red pepper jam & a fried egg) or the pretty-as-a-picture Black Forest Bircher – halfway between a dessert and breakfast, it is a little bit chocolatey, studded with pistachios and grapes  and topped with spears of crisp chocolate, pistachio-dark chocolate crumb, and scoop of bright pink cherry labneh.