Cafe No 5, Melbourne

Cafe No 5

5 Centre Place

Melbourne, VIC 3000

This was - no argument -  the best cafe we'd been to during our trip to Melbourne. The food was a decent proportion, nothing fancy - just a really good hearty meal. It was also the first coffee my mum had in Melbourne and she declared it excellent, something she's NEVER done in Sydney. I'm no judge as I don't drink coffee but my mum apparently makes a really good coffee and she's never complimented a single place in Sydney for their coffee (got any suggestions anyone?). But she loved the cappuccino here and I was really surprised to hear her mentioning the coffee from this place even after we got back to Syd and she's NEVER recalled a single good coffee experience (except for her own).

My chai latte & mum's cap in the background

My chai latte was also excellent! I remember my first exp with chai latte...hehehe It was at uni last year, i was told that it was coffee and I was really surprised that it smelled and tasted nothing like it, shocked that it was actually suggary and that the lovely aroma of cinnamon greeted me. It was a SUPER SUGGARY EXPERIENCE and it changed my views about coffee, only to go home, google it, and find out that it was actually tea! LOL Then I've got some memories of the really watery and weak chai lattes, the ones that don't have enough cinnamon nor the suggary hit that I'd experienced the first time. All the chai lattes I've had are either really suggary or just plain weak. But this one was perfect. Not watery, enough froth at the top, a decent amount of cinnamon, but most importantly it wasn't too sweet nor too bland! 

BRAT (Bacon, rocket, avocado & tomato) Panini

Chicken Schnitzel Panini

I must say their menu isn't really extensive but they don't need one! We each ordered a panini and swapped a half each. I know my photography skills are really bad and it doesn't look like much in the pics but trust me when I say they were great! I'm not a great fan of rocket so I liked the chicken schnitzel one better but the BRAT panini would definitely be a more veg-balanced option. 

The decor was really cool here and it had a really cozy, local kind of feel to it. The walls were lined with loads of awesome stuff: pics drawn by local artists, posters and cards about all different local music events and that cool clock with their shop name on it =] The only one thing that made us worry at first was that there were no prices on the walls (no menus here) and we were crossing our fingers that it wouldn't be expensive after we'd ordered. But after their good coffee and good food we weren't too fussed about the price. It turned out to be really cheap though, $18 for the two of us! Now where could you get that in Sydney?