Café Superfino.....super French

I have never really seen this little café till my good friend Neil from Scotland took me there. Neil was on vacation here in Melbourne, and probably he has got more time to explore, or most likely he did not take places for grant. This is a typical mistake we all do when we settle in a place, just going back to the usual places, forgetting about the other 95% of bars and restaurant in Melbourne, and there are hundreds of them, one every few meters in Melbourne CBD. It was my last year 2009 new year resolution to explore more. Why did I like this place, and I have been back since, probably because it has a French size (very small café), a French look, French baguette, a French touch but very good coffees and nice owners. I am Italian, and by definition we do not love France and French things, but, inside we do. How can you not like the French cheese, the French bread, the French food….we will never admit it of course. If you come here for breakfast you can expect nothing super elaborated but just well done, the same for lunch, and when I see the baguette in the front fridge, well I fall in love. They use fair trade coffee and this is another positive thing of this café, last time it was Ethiopian, the country where the coffee was born. Very good quality and the espresso was just perfect in taste and size. A nice couple is running this place, he is more after the coffee and she is after the food, a good partnership that obviously works quite good. The place is so tiny, that really remembers a typical café in Paris, I just love it, reminds me of many trips back when I was living in Europe, and this may have affected my comments above and my rating below, I know!!!

Rating (5=too good to be true,1=i saw and tasted much much better)
Coffee: 4 fair trade and well done
Food: 3.5 half point more because of the baguette :)
Service: 3 quick and nice, not superb, maybe a bit french :D
Place: 4 tiny French place, if you like big look somewhere else, there is a food court around the corner

Brother Baba Budan, cool but.....

Finally, after so many tries, I could find an available seat at this little cool café. First of all, it is very cool and very grunge, in an area of Melbourne where there is the highest concentration of ties probably in Australia, maybe after Sydney CBD. It is indeed a bit weird to see typical office "penguins" (the tie reminds me a lot of the penguins I must say) in a very young style bar. Probably the brain remains always cool, even if the office uniform demands the tie. The café is as small as the pictures actually shows it, there is a table, a couple of benches and that is all. The biggest business is the latte takeaway clearly, even at lunch time, which somehow diminish the cool environment and Buddha Bar style music. Just make the picture of yourself having the latte, seating at the table (if you can find a spot) and trying to avoid the many business people that want to have a take away latte, does it sound relaxing? So first lesson learnt here, don't come on rush hours, there are at least two alternatives nearby without compromising on coffee quality (Captain of Industries and Brood Box). If you are in a rush before the office and you want a quick take away, than it's fine. I am Italian and I cannot drink coffee in paper or plastic glasses, it can be quick though but in small cups at the bar, no problem with that, this is what I have done for 15-20 years in Italy :-). Coffee quality, above average, but not as good as the St.Ali blend you can find also at Brood Box. Said that, places like this one change blend on a weekly basis, so you can be lucky or not, it is like when you taste wine and you are happier with a Cabernet than with Shiraz, or two Shiraz from different years. You should add that I may have had an hard day and coffee was not appreciated as deserved. Of course we are not talking about comparing cheap 3$ wines…but indeed Reserve wines. We are comparing 7 Seeds to St.Ali, the best probably in Melbourne. I am sure you find better blend in Melbourne, but you need to be selective and find the right blend in the right week. What about the food, none….only coffee….but really no space for that. Service was good, there was no sort of pretentious attitude.

Rating (5=too good to be true,1=i saw and tasted much much better)
Coffee: 3.5-4 good level but I would have expected something more
Food: 0 none
Service: 3.5 quick and responsive
Place: 4 just cool, the chairs in the ceiling are a great idea

brotherbababudan.com.au
359 Little Bourke Street
Melbourne CBD