Auction Rooms

Auction Rooms
103-107 Errol Street, North Melbourne, VIC
Organic coffee


Marcus Mottram and Andrew Kelly have cleverly adapted the beautiful Melbourne Auction Rooms, built in 1873, into a unique, open area with high ceilings, full of natural light and an entire wall replaced by glass panes.

The centrepiece is the red roaster right smack in the middle of the café where Andrew delivers his own specialty roast. Auction Rooms is perfect for groups of all sizes, and from the few times I've been there, I've never needed to wait for a seat.

There's no generic breakfast dishes here - the menu isn't filled with unusual ingredients as such, but their arrangement speaks of innovation. For example, the menu is relatively egg-free. When they are served, they are free-range 'green eggs'.

The breakfast dishes are named after the place. The Opening Bid ($16.50) - poached/fried eggs with andrew's choice smoked bacon, braised field mushroom, grilled tomato and sauteed spinach on dench sourdough was not bad.

There's also the Counter Bid ($12.50) - avocado and soft ricotta on toasted dench sourdough with fresh mint, chilli and extra virgin olive oil. Silent bid ($16.50) consisted of eggs steamed with bonsoy, sesame and light soy with asian mushrooms, spring onion sambal and toasted rice cake.

We also had the Shady deal ($15.50) - casa iberica chorizo, hashed with spiced potato carrot and baked eggs, finished with fresh lemon and parsley, add andrew's choice black pudding ($3.50). Whoever invented this must be really creative. Too bad I didn't appreciate the "spiced" part. The boys loved it though.

The house made fruit brioche with jam ($7.50) was full of cinnamon and fruit peel so I didn't like it. I think in my mind I was imagining a mix between Dench's brioche and Yak's Fruit toast and this fell short.

Overall, it's an interesting place worth a try. Better do it before it's "going, going, going...GONE!"