AUCTION ROOMS

103-107 Errol St, North Melbourne - ph: 9326 7749

There is a lot of hype about Auction Rooms. It's ranked amongst the best coffees in Melbourne and is pretty famous for its food too.

In my current cafe-weekend-brunch-find-the-perfect-poached-eggs obsession, I decided to go pretty much half way across town to try it out.

First impression was really good; the place has been nicely done up - it's bright, spacious and bit grungy / quirky in true cool Melbourne way. We were greeted with a smile by one of their waitresses.

Then came our first order. Hubby in his usual 2 orders per breakfast style decides to start with a croissant and asks for it to be heated up before serving. To his disappointment and my bemusement, we noticed it has been heated in a microwave - which results in a soggy and slight hard dough and with almonds losing all their crunchy-ness. Disaster.

Almond croissant ($4.5)

Our other orders are quick to follow. Hubby is again a bit disappointed by his avocado and tomato bruschetta. Firstly, ONE toast seemed like a bit too little for the price. Secondly, the rocket salad on top looked like it had not been washed properly. Ignoring the salad he thought it was a tasty dish overall, but wasn't impressed.

Smashed avocado and tomato bruschetta with pesto and lemon ($13.5)

I can say the same for mine. The moroccan stew tasted quite nice; eggs were cooked really well and toast was delicious, but I just kept playing around with my food searching for the yummy ingredients - there was barely any feta or chorizo in it.

Moroccan tomato stew with chorizo, poached eggs, goats feta, black olives and dukkah ($16)

At least the coffee met our expectations. The house blend of Kenyan beans tasted deliciously sweet and nutty. And the small glass of sparking water to clean the palate was a really nice touch.

Short black ($3)

I left with the impression that Auction Rooms were trying to cut corners with the food to maximize profits. Apart from the croissant, our dishes tasted good but felt short from impressing. I might go back for take away coffee if I'm in the area, but wouldn't come again for the food.