Began my 2nd day by driving to the city and checking out some of the popular cafes and eateries.

Breakfast Thieves

Experience: Started my 2^nd morning by driving down to the city where I can find all my awesome cafes. First stop was Breakfast Thieves on Gore Street. This place has a lot of vegetarian and gluten free options. Although in town, Gore Street is actually quite quiet and loads of parking. The café is located at a very nice corner somewhere in the middle of the whole street. Ordered their hot seller Thieves On The Run and a latte. The ciabatta roll was alright, nice and warm, and café latte was pretty ok. Service was pretty ok too.

Rating: 4/5.

Location: 420 Gore Street, Fitzroy VIC 3065. 0730-1600hrs

Proud Mary

Experience: This joint needs no introduction. No reservations so have to try your luck in getting a table. I was there just to takeaway one of their best-selling house blend Honeysuckle. The place is as expected filled when I arrived at 9am+ and parking is horrendous. I did an illegal parking to run in to buy my cuppa. First thing that greeted me was the infamous customized 6 group Synesso!!! I didn’t know about that in the first place hence it was a shocker! Coupled with so many EK43s! I can’t even afford one! Envy! Anyways, their coffee is one of the best I’ve tried, and they are probably one of the best around together with the later few which I’ll be writing on. This place is dope folks, if you didn’t visit Proud Mary, you didn’t go to Melbourne!

Rating: 5/5.

Location: 172 Oxford Street, Collingwood VIC 3066. 0700-1600hrs.

Auction Rooms

Experience: Heard about this place from the lady at Optus at the airport. Not difficult to find this place and I managed to find a parking space at the side road a little ahead of this place. Love the ambience of this place, ordered a latte (AUD$4.00) as usual and a croissant (AUD$4.50). Croissant is not cheap but it was seriously very good with even pockets in between and served hot with kitchen-made butter. Yummy just thinking about it! The beans used are from the blend Candyman of Small Batch Roasters which apparently belongs to the same family as Auction Rooms. Latte was a smooth one with a very nice sweet finish. So nice, that I bought a pack of beans. ;P They are using a Synesso, a Mazzer Robur and an EK43 at the bar and another EK43 at the retail side obviously to grind for customers buying their beans.

Rating: 4/5.

Location: 103-107 Errol Street, North Melbourne VIC 3051. 0700-1700hrs

7 Seeds Specialty Coffee

Experience: Seven Seeds is touted as one of the top roasters in Melbourne and possibly Australia. Very serious peeps in their coffees and visiting them was really an enjoyment. Here you will see their sensory lab, as well as roasting facility on the right side while the left side is where the restaurant and bar were. I ordered a single origin, Kenya Karatu on a V60 and took around 15mins to get to me. This SL28 and SL34 varietal is bursting with black current acidity with prune and cola undertones. Quite interesting. Didn’t get to eat as the place was crowding up and I was too full drinking so much coffee! Nevertheless, this is the place to visit too for coffee lovers.

Rating: 5/5.

Location: 106-114 Berkeley Street, Carlton VIC 3053. 0700-1700hrs.

Grill’d

Experience: I frequent Westfield in Doncaster quite a bit while in Melbourne mainly because it was near my buddy’s place in Baldwyn. Westfield is prolly the biggest mall located in Doncaster and maybe even east of Melbourne. Always walked pass Grill’d which is situated at the foodcourt on level 2 so this time I manage to try the famous Mighty Melbourne burger (AUD$13.50) and man, I totally didn’t regret it. Apart from the awesome juicy beef patty, egg and melted cheese, there is also a chunky slice of beetroot which gives the burger a boost in taste! Love it and can’t wait to try the rest next time!

Rating: 5/5.

Location: 619 Doncaster Road, Doncaster VIC 3108. Mall opening hours.

Brother Fox

Experience: Seriously if I’m a tourist I wouldn’t know this place at all. And also, seriously this is my last meal for Day 2. ;P Drove all the way to Glenferrie to meet up some friends over dinner at this restaurant. Brother Fox is a Vietnamese-owned restaurant but serves damn good fusion food. On top of that, service is tip top with the quick-witted owner-manager. To top it all off, they are using a La Marzocco espresso machine! However, the barista’s skills need to be fine-tuned. Nevertheless, if you’re around the area, stop by here for their awesome food and I heard their burgers are pretty darn good too! Parking may be a pain but for the sake of good food, be patient! 😉

Rating: 4.5/5.

Location: 648 Glenferrie Road, Hawthorn VIC 3122. 0800-1500hrs, 1730-2100hrs. Closed on Mondays.

Now you guys know how tough it is to be a food blogger… 6 locations within the span of 10 hours. ;P Stay tune for Day 3!

Yours Gastronomically,

Big Roy