Vertue Coffee Roasters (Carlton)

From stable, to home, to hidden Carlton café, Vertue Coffee Roasters is not a place you will stumble upon. Let’s be honest, none of us are meandering through car parks and lines of giant bins in search for coffee. This is a place that the locals know about, and M was eager to introduce me to it.

Once inside, you will be shocked at the size, light and attractive décor of this café in a place that you did not know existed.

The menu has many vego options.

Harissa Eggs. M ordered this one. She found it to be tasty, not super spicy but sufficiently so. The only problem was that there was too much egg. Instead she would have liked less egg and something else as an accompaniment to break it up (like mushrooms or kale).

Mushrooms. This was my dish. The variety of mushrooms were heaped on house-made corn bread. The bread was more like a savoury corn cake, but it had been toasted. There was beetroot too, and this gave a pleasant grounding. I got a croquette on the side. This was almost sweet, like nutmeg, and made with macaroni cheese. It was crispy on the outside. I really enjoyed my meal. It was interesting and balanced.

To share, we had curly fries. M thought these were outstanding. Not too crunchy but crunchy enough. She wasn’t a big fan of the tomato that accompanied it, too diluted. I liked the fries too but they weren’t as crispy as the ones I had at Bad Shepherd recently (post on that still to come) and I agreed with M about the sauce.

I had a flat white. The art was pretty but a little too milky in the design. It had a strong crema, was very nice coffee, and in a very nice cup.

Overall M loves this place.  She admits she probably won't order the harissa eggs next time. This is a big statement for M who had me going to the same restaurant, for the same udon noodle soup, for two years, before I finally snapped.  The harissa eggs were not such a dish for her – nice to try but only once with so many other vego options on the menu. She loved the décor which is light and airy (unexpected for the hidden location). The service was very friendly.

Overall I enjoyed it and will return.

Vertue Coffee Roasters
8 Raffa Place
Carlton 3053
03 8060 6987
vertuecoffee.com.au

Opening hours:
Weeekdays, 7:30am to 4:00pm
Weekends, 8:00am to 4:00pm