Espressino

50 Lonsdale St, City; 03 9662 3334

This coffee and snack experience is entirely owing to Mellie at tummy rumbles, who has an extensive and glowing post dedicated to the team at Espressino, augmented by comments from her many friends who have been inspired to check it out!

It was the perfect place for me to delve back into the Melbourne dining scene post-Europe. While the kitout of Espressino is very muchly in the minimalist, modern café style, the food and the service are much more Italian trattoria. On the day I visited, I had intended to grab a mid-morning snack, but what with jetlag keeping me in bed longer than expected, I hit a be-suited lunch rush. Every table taken, people queuing to order, waiting for takeaways, yet my coffee was still delivered by the ‘hunky Italian specimen’, as Mel so accurately describes him, with a decidedly cheery ‘here you go bella’.

I was there to sample the excellent coffee – rich, perfectly roasted, sweet not bitter – and the bombolone. Mmm, nutella and custard. Just three days previously I’d had a free ‘breakfast’ at a hostel in Rome, which had consisted of chocolate croissant and orange cordial. The croissant was a baked-by-the-thousand piece of pastry, with a huge wodge of nutella squirted in the middle. This bombolone, by contrast, was delicate, sugared dough surrounding a creamy chocolate custard filling, that was neither too sweet nor rich, but served perfectly for, um, lunch!

(Note, to get there, head down Madame Brussels Lane, next to the office building at 50 Lonsdale St)