Manchester Press | Spring St Grocery
Manchester Press Cafe
8 Rankins Lane
Melbourne, VIC 3000
03 9600 4054
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Let me tell you a bit about last weekend. On Saturday, I attended a Chunky Move dance class… my first one in years. Let’s just say I have a loooong way to go (can’t even touch my toes!), but I’ll just keep the attitude that it’s a good workout and keep going for more sessions because it’s fun!
After class, it’s only a short tram ride into the city from the studio, so I caught up with Ees for brunch at Manchester Press, a nicely hidden laneway cafe set inside what used to be a warehouse art gallery.
Vibrant and bustly even in the wintry drizzle, the cafe pulsed with a growing queue outside. We claimed our coffees minutes after being seated, sipping into the atmosphere of creativity with a bit of old school past.
Toasted bagel w/ grilled blue cheese, grapes, roquette & walnuts (13)
Manchester’s menu focusses on bagels bagels bagels. Ees chose an appropriate combination with blue cheese and it satisfied him, although he thought the overall serve was small compared to the other bagel combinations that were offered at the same price.
Toasted bagel w/ 12 hour roasted pull pork w lettuce, BBQ sauce & home made appleslaw (14)
I did think about getting the (more appropriate?) bagel with thick sliced pastrami. But with dance class and all, heck I was hungry… so I got the Melbourne cliché – pulled pork. The pork was moist but on the sweet side, it filled me up nicely.
Manchester Press is a busy CBD cafe and unlike Hardware Societe, I like the vibe here. The coffees didn’t excite me, but in terms of food, I enjoyed the change in brunch landscape with all the bagels.
After brunch, we felt like something sweet… so guess where we ended up going?
Spring St Grocery
157 Spring St
Melbourne, VIC 3000
03 9639 0335
www.springstgrocery.com.au
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Ah… I’ve FINALLY visited this place! It has been buzzing on my food radar for quite sometime but I just don’t seem to get into the city that often.
The coffee and gelato bar is out front while there’s a boutique grocery at the back. The whole set-up sits like a pretty little corner Italian store.
The gelato is ‘displayed’ the old-school way, built in-set into the counter. They cycle around an eclectic mix of flavours like fiore di latte, avocado & goat’s curd, and spiced maple pumpkin.
I had a turmeric, cardamom and pistachio gelato while Ees had a scoop of tiramisu. They were lovely, smooth gelatos. It was a good way to end our brunch catch-up. Maybe I should head into the CBD every Saturday after dance class and eat into the my wishlist of city places!