Workshop Brothers Specialty Coffee, Glen Huntly by Big Fil

It’s a little weird.  Travel all over Melbourne to try out different places but then I ignore what’s in my own backyard.  Top of the list would have to be Workshop Brothers Specialty Coffee, a nice, friendly and definitely on trend cafe located just around the corner from home.

While I have heard positive comments about the coffee here, not being a coffee drinker I can’t really comment on this.  For me it’s always about the food.  On the few times I have been Workshop Brothers has always seemed to have one of the more interesting menus around. 


When the one page menu contains options such as a Moroccan lamb and cous cous salad, soft shell crab tacos and ricotta hotcakes with sour cherry coulis and orange blossom mascarpone, and they are not amongst the options tried, you know the choices are good.


For example, quinoa and parmesan fritters with salmon gravalax, avocado, poached eggs and dill hollandaise.  Nice fresh sliced avocado, perfectly poached eggs and the salmon are all very good, but it was the fritters that really piqued my interest.  Milder in flavour than I’d expected from a dish with parmesan, they provided an interesting textural contrast to the softer eggs and avocado.


I was also unable to go past the ‘Workshop Weapon’, a wagyu beef patty in a brioche bun with pickled onion, cheddar cheese and chipotle mayo, served with hand cut chips and enlived by the addition of the optional bacon.  Nicely cooked, quite creamy and with a reasonably meaty flavour, it was a good hamburger without matching the heights of a couple of other recently tried places.  The  pickles though raise the whole thing up a notch, cutting through the sweetness of the burger, and the chips are properly chunky, crispy outside and fluffy in the middle.

Overall
Workshop Brothers is a very good local café.  Clean light minimalist interior, a few outside tables for diners with four legged companions and friendly staff makes it a popular place that a peak times you may need to either reserve a table before hand or wait until one becomes free. 

Verdict
Food – 8
Service – 7.5
Ambience – 7.5
Price – 6.5

Address
1146 Glen Huntly Road
Glen Huntly VIC 3163
Tel: (03) 9078 9055