Chic, cool and does great coffee (for those of you coffee review app users - it is rated 4 beans…read moreso..). This joint also serves great food and sweet treats - the duck sandwich will always have a special place in my heart (although sadly it's not on the menu much anymore) and the chocolate & pear danish is brilliant. If you're in Camberwell for whatever one arvo, you definitely have to visit this place. Who knows, you might bump into Megan Gale while you're there (still the highlight of all my trips there).

2pm in the afternoon and I was absolutely starving. I ordered the smashed avo and feta mash on…read moresourdough (again, it's no surprise - I'm an avocado lover!) but decided to treat myself by adding on poached eggs and cherry tomatoes. This was a brillant decision by me. The cherry tomatoes had been slow cooked to perfection, so full of flavour. My iced coffee was a real treat with ice cream, yum! It was such a satisfying brunch that I can already tell next time I'll be tempted to order the same again. However if I'm feeling like something more indulgent next time, I'd try the banana pancakes or even the 'collective sigh of relief', the Collective Espresso's version of a big breaky (with an adorable name). Another plus to Collective Espresso was the presentation of the food, everything looked superb arranged on the plate. After the meal, we sat and chatted for longer than expected. I really appreciated that the staff were happy to let us linger and at no stage, did we feel rushed out the door. This to me, is great service that encourages me to return. It was a splendid lazy Saturday brunch.

MOB "My Other Brother Cafe"…read more First time here and I wasn't let down. I'm giving 5 stars for a couple of reasons. The first being the wait staff was fast, sweet, and in gauging. It's not a large place but they had no problem seating 5 on the spot. Second reason was the food presentation. Great plating on simple dishes always makes me smile. Makes me think the cooks are happy and that makes me happy. If you can't make a sandwich look good on a plate then you shouldn't be in the kitchen. The last reason was the food it self. Simple dishes with great flavour. I loved the use of beet powder on the eggs benny, it had great colour and flavour. I was stoked that my burger came on a milk bun, I'm so over brioche and pretzel buns. The sauce on my burger was the best thousand island I've ever had. Sweet and tangy, salty and bitey! Added depth and dimension to a classic burger. Maybe it was the combo of the bbq glaze and the thousand island. Not sure what they did to it but it really made my burger taste more complex. I think maybe they just cared. The sign of a good chef is the quality of their sauces. Maybe Escoffier said that, but don't quote me. Even if the sauces where not made in house my mouth thanks you. I can only speak for the food that I ate, but the rest of the food at my table looked amazing. I will be back to try more dishes. This will definitely be my swap meet cafe stop when I shop at the Camberwell Market. 5 seats 5 friends 5 bloody Mary's 5 dishes 5 stars Thank you MOB cafe !

The food is actually really nice and a pleasant place to have some brunch watching the local…read morethoroughfare as they do their weekend shopping While the food was well presented, staff were nice one downfall is the fact that (as is a commonly mentioned gripe), they charge a 10% surcharge or sat and Sundays which can bring the total bill up a fair bit

At first I thought this was just a standard cafe, but it turns out that it opens later than a lot…read moreof other cafes, and also it happens to be in a part of Melbourne that tries to be somewhat European. Anyway, I wandered in here and was somewhat disappointed at the breakfast offerings, until I noticed that it feels more like a pub than a cafe. I guess it is somewhat like those places in Paris called cafes, but function more like pubs. Yeah, this was good, and I have to come back and check it out again.

I had such high hopes for this restaurant based on their menu, but ... Firstly, they sat the three…read moreof us down at a really small table (which was pretty cramped when the dishes came out), and gave us our menus. I thought I knew ahead of time what I was going to get, but they had a really good sounding special which I ordered instead ... I ordered the Salmon special, which was Pan fried salmon with basmati rice, tomato and avocado salsa, sauteed baby spinach with a peanut butter sauce. I must say, it was really good, and salmon cooked beautifully, but honestly, I could have made it at home myself. My friends got the dill battered fish and chips (there WAS dill in the batter, but it was so sparse, that you could barely taste it), and the other one got the chicken schnitzel which they said was quite average. The arancini balls they ordered as a side apparently tasted like they were from the freezer and just heated up. The staff were slow to clear away the tables, and when taking away the coke bottle, there wasn't an offer to get another one. Desserts all sounded good; various flavours of cheesecake and other chocolate cakes and sticky date puddings. But all of them were a bit sickly sweet, and the ice cream that came with it tasted like diet soft serve. On the plus side, there was good background music and nice big glass windows that were opened to let the warm night air in and it was fun watching people walk by. Would I come here again though? I don't think so. I've tried it and it certainly was ok, without being outstanding. There was nothing overly memorable about the meal that I'd rave about and it will be forgotten in a week or two. Maybe their breakfasts are better, but I'll skip that, thanks.

I went here as it was on the list of Melbourne's top brunch places of 2018 and being a bit behind…read morein my brunch game, I paid it a visit. It's easy to find with ample seating inside and some seating outside. Menu is extensive and has lots of vegetarian options which was a plus as the individual I was brunching with a vegetarian.  There's a variety of dishes ranging from bircher muesli to baked eggs, to grain bowls to scrambled eggs to fritters and to big brekkies.  We got the mushroom hash which was a large hash brown topped with sauteed mushroom and two poached eggs. It could have done with some dressing or sauce as it was quite bland on its own but I liked the hash and the mushrooms and the crispy fried enoki.  The zucchini and corn fritters were three large fritters with lots of kale and edamame salad, two poached eggs, and some deliciously fried haloumi. I loved the combination of haloumi with the kale salad which was refreshing. The eggs were beautifully poached and complemented the fritters. Once again, some sort of sauce would have been useful such as an aioli dip or guacamole as the meal felt very dry.  My mocha was delicious.  Attentive staff.  split billing accepted.  didn't need to queue on a 10am sunday morning

So I didn't come for the coffee as much as I did the burgers, and almost regret that I did. Knowing…read morethat I can walk to the end of the street to pick up prime-cut meat patties wedged between soft, glossy, lightly toasted buns topped with [insert combination of various vegetables here] most days of the week has my belt loops stretching in my seat. Their entire selection (which caters to carnivores and vegetarians alike) will set you back $12.50 - and comes with a side of garlic & rosemary thick cut chips. Being a child of the 80's, how I was I ever going to get anything but the Mr. Miyagi? I can't remember having ever had carrot or daikon on a burger before (much less at the same time!), but I completely didn't hate it. The teriyaki didn't overwhelm the beef (thankfully), although I could have used more wasabi in my kewpie (TWSS). I am a glutton for heat, though, so whatever. I'd also recommend making a bed out of the chips, then letting the run-off drizzle over the top. I maintain that if you're going to get to work on clogging your arteries, you may as well do it properly. I dig the fitout although all black may not be to everyone's liking. The vintage apothecary stuff is a nice touch. The tunes were good, although as the place filled during the lunch rush it did get quite noisy. Flying solo meant I didn't have to worry about conversation so I didn't care, though. The wait staff were excellent (in that they were friendly and attentive). If you were in the area and didn't feel like NTran, it'd be rude not to go.

I visited this cafe early one morning in my attempt to have breakfast at as many of the cafes on…read moreDegraves Street as possible. Well, I suspect that after this one it leaves me with only one more, though I seem to not make an effort to stop there, however that is another story. This cafe was okay, but nothing too special. The staff were quite nice, and the breakfast reasonable. However don't expect artisan food or coffee as this place pretty much just offers the basics. Can get a bit noisy and crowded though as people make their way through in the morning.

My review is only for their drinks. Maybe it's not my type. Their mixed berry smoothies and…read morecappuccino is quite plain. Need a bit of sugar. Lasagna seems to be popular here.

This is another one of the many cafes that happened to be dotted across Richmond, and honestly, I…read moredon't think this place was really all that bad. I probably wouldn't say pretty good, but honestly, it really wasn't bad. The service was quite good, and the staff also were quite friendly. Mind you, it does happen to get pretty crowded, but then again that is basically expected of popular coffee shops like this one. Still, it was quite nice, the staff friendly, and they also made a decent pot of tea.

Of all the brunch places I've tried to date in Melbourne, pillar of salt is on my top favourite…read morelist in first place. Everything is great from coffee to food to service. My two friends and I arrived here on Easter Monday morning around 8am. We easily got a table inside as the courtyard area though covered seemed cold (they do have heaters there). I ordered a large extra hot skim cappuccino and got the most delicious cappuccino I've ever had. Creamy, chocolatey, hot and with a coffee kick. The bottle of water on our table was magically filled and replaced while we were not looking. Despite being known to be a busy venue, the wait staff were patient with us as we made up our minds. Having an all day menu made it really hard to decide on options. We settled on the following: 1. Eggs Benedict with hollandaise sauce - two large beautifully poached eggs delicately covered in hollandaise sauce on a crusty dry bread (negative). Though delicious my friend who has eggs Benedict frequently was not impressed. The bread was very tough. 2. Goats cheese with smashed avocado on sesame toast- was quite bland and the toast didn't seem to add any flavour to it. The goats cheese didn't have a strong taste 3. Corn cauliflower with kimchi sour cream sauce fritters - the best amazingest fritters I've ever had. They were massive and so so satisfying. I couldn't put my fork down and inhaled most of it. The juniper trout on top though looked like salmon to a seafood amateur like me was amazing. It wasn't smoky but just had a delicate flavour. Perhaps it was the vodka. Decent portions. Bring your appetite! amazing service and omg omg they do split bill. Oh and the counter is dotted with yummo muffins and other sweets. And affordable. Three coffees and three dishes came to 64 dollars or around 21 each.

I only stopped for a Chai, but it looked like a lovely place. It was busy, and had a nice vibe…read moreabout it. Unfortunately my Chai was tasteless, warm milk. Not to worry I went to put it down outside and dropped the entire cup! Probably just as well, as it was disappointing. Next time I'd stop to sample the menu and hope it wasn't like their Chai. Enjoy.

Pretty good place for brekkie or brunch if you're in the neighbourhood. Coffee was excellent, made…read morewith Allpress beans and La Marzocco machine, it was difficult to fault my morning cup of caffeine. I ordered the flamenco baked eggs on their specials menu which was served in a bowl instead of a baking dish. Slightly unusual as I couldn't see how the eggs were baked but it was packed full of flavour and spice! Serving was generous with lotsa mushroom, chorizo and eggs. Decoration was in line with its name too with tea towels hanging off the ceiling and little cut out fabrics hanging on the wall. I've read some pretty good reviews about this place and I'm glad to say it did live up to expectations! Not mind blowing great, but definitely on my list for future visits.

This was one of those cafes that not only did I regularly see from the train (namely because the…read moretrain passes over a bridge nearby) but I would also walk past it to go and visit the awesome pub that happens to be next door. Well, I decided to go and check it out one morning, and I certainly was not disappointed. Yep, it was basically everything you could want from an inner city cafe, right down to the rather interesting menu options. Oh, and the florist that is connected to this shop certainly gives it a pretty nice vibe as well.

I've been to mixed business a few times now and can safely say that it has been a very enjoyable…read moretime on each occasion. The setting is really cool with a light and airy décor. The courtyard area is great when it is sunny complete with a beautiful lemon tree. The staff are always really friendly, attentive and genuinely seem really happy with their jobs. Their coffee is as good as you'd expect in Melbourne from a leading brunch spot. They have some pretty cool fruit based drinks with a berry and apple smoothie, lemon and mint soda, and a number of fresh juices. Their main kind of eggs is poached (which can be annoying) but they do cook them to perfection and have a number of interesting choices that differ greatly from the run of the mill Benedict and Florentine. The potato rosti, avocado and tomato relish with poached eggs is a personal favourite.