Auction Rooms
| Where | 103-107 Errol Street, North Melbourne, 3051—View map |
Contact | 03 9326 7749 |
Website | www.auctionroomscafe.com.au |
Open | Tuesday to Sunday 07.00am to 04:00pm |
Payment | EFTPOS, Visa, Cash |
Diet | Check with venue |
Seating | Inside and outside |
Kids | Welcome |
Pets | Welcome |
Coffee and architecture
Francesca Fogarty
Auction Rooms is an absolutely gorgeous space. It features a glass wall creating a neat courtyard that separates the body of the room from the rear façade.
The space is large, airy and makes use of recycled materials.It's not surprising it was Six Degrees-one of Melbourne's pre-eminent architectural firms - that transformed this former auction room into a bustling café. Dominated by a bar set right in the middle, Auction Rooms is part of a growing trend in Melbourne that creates intimacy and togetherness from large spaces.
Stained glass; pendant lamps made from PVC pipes; and a pale blue exterior, provide enough visual fodder to leave me and my architect friend satisfied.
The focus here though, is predominantly on coffee, including roasting coffee in a red 1950s coffee roaster. Single origin coffees of the day, such as macchiato or long black, are served- they are smooth, rich and sweet. Not surprisingly one is certainly not enough.
The crowd is young. People are mainly in their twenties and thirties, music lovers by the look of them, and beer is consumed as freely as coffee. Refreshingly (maybe only for me as I do eat a lot of eggs), the menu is relatively egg-free. When they are served, they are free-range and organic.
The Opening Bid, poached eggs with bacon, tomato, spinach and black pudding, is served with perfectly roasted cherry tomatoes. Whilst the black pudding did seem a little ambitious for my self-inflicted queasy stomach, surprisingly it went down a treat when doused with the cherry tomatoes.
The Counter Bid, avocado and soft ricotta on toasted sourdough with mint and chilli was presented brilliantly- as was most of the food. The chilli gave the meal a bit of a kick in the pants, and the mint was a nice change from basil, which seems to be a mainstay on breakfast menus around town.
Now if you feel like something that is truly right for brunch, the smoked trout frittata fills the role. While it wasn't really anything out of the ordinary, the fennel, red onion and grapefruit salad was fresh and tart, without making me pull a funny face.
Auction Rooms is the type of place where you'll go for breakfast, and end up staying for lunch as well.