Searching for the Best Cafe in Richmond

Where is the best Melbourne Coffee? Could it be from cafes in Richmond? Do you get great coffee from the nearest cafe to your office? Are you lucky enough to have it right downstairs in your building? Or do you prefer to walk a few blocks and explore what the best cafes in Richmond have to offer?

Ask any Melbournian and you will get a different answer. Richmond Cafes are fabulous! Delicious coffee can be found all over town. Amazing coffee shops hide down laneways and secret alleys. Richmond is home to some of the best cafes and coffee roasters in Australia.  But where is the best cafe in Richmond

Where is the best espresso bar? Who serves up a killer piccolo latte? Do cafes in Richmond have a better recipe for chai latte than those in inner Melbourne? What’s the answer to the age-old question; cappuccino verses latte. Who serves the best bubble tea in Melbourne?

I’m returning to my discovery of the best Melbourne Coffee. I've discovered fabulous cafes in Collingwood and amazing cafes in St Kilda. This time, I'm visiting cafes in Richmond. I’m narrowing in on areas, cafes and coffee roasters to find exactly who and where it is. Will it be Veneziano Coffee Roasters. Or perhaps, Touchwood.

I'm so excited. I can’t wait to find out!

Some of the Best Cafes in Melbourne

Friends of Mine Café

 

 

Friends of Mine Café provides Melbournian’s with delicious food and amazing coffee in a comfortable environment. Always holding their arms wide open to newcomers. It’s the ultimate café nearby. Friends of Mine believe brunch is the most important meal of the day.  It’s a great place for your morning coffee hit. And an even better place to meet your friends, pop open some bubbly and sit back and relax.

On the menu you'll find plenty of all-day breakfast options, whether you’re in the mood for the classic egg combinations or something sweeter. The Chilli Scrambled Eggs with bacon, chives, reggiano and fried onions on toast is fabulous for breakfast.

They also do lunch. My favourite dish is the Super Green Salad. It’s broccoli, asparagus, kale and edamame beans tossed with quinoa, almonds, currants, corn salsa, medley baby beets, feta and avocado on five grain toast with a poached egg. You can also add chicken or smoked ocean trout.

May Day Café

 

 

May Day comes from the very talented Axil Coffee Roasters. All the usual suspects are on the menu, such as smashed avocado and eggs Benedict. But coffee is the main game here. Be sure to sample a piccolo latte. It’s to die for. Aside from daily food specials, there's also cold-drip and batch-brew specials. May Day also boasts a small pastry kitchen which produces a selection of delicious croissants, cronuts and cruffins.

Fifty Acres

 

 

Located at 65 Bridge Road Richmond. Fifty acres isn’t quite the country farm in the middle of a big city. But its sleek design is definitely worth checking out. It's the perfect place for a pre-or post-shopping breakfast or lunch. It’s that great, you might just do both!

The menu changes quite regularly but maintains the classics such as the house-cured New Zealand king salmon on dark rye. The house coffee blend is supplied by Melbourne’s Dukes Coffee Roasters. A wide variety of tea is supplied by Storm in a Teacup.

Touchwood

At 480 Bridge Road Richmond you will find Touchwood. It’s a gigantic space. There’s plenty of room inside and a fabulous open courtyard out the back with lots of seating, great for big groups on a sunny Melbourne day.  

The menu is fabulous. Where else can you get a beetroot latte? Seriously, nowhere. You can order delicious wholemeal waffles with fresh berries, banana, candied bacon crumb and maple syrup. There are also the Melbourne classics like avocado on toast and burgers. The Kyoto Scrambled Eggs are next level amazing. Its smoked salmon, nori, chilli flakes, okonomiyaki sauce, kewpie mayo, avocado & black sesame seeds on a toasted bagel. The Smoked Salmon Bagel with avocado, pickled onion, radish, dill and caper cream cheese is also great.

Their delicious coffee is sourced from Five Senses Coffee Roasters. It keeps me going back to Touchwood for just one more.

Hector’s Deli

 

 

Located at 94 Buckingham Street in Richmond is Hector’s Deli. It might just be the best sandwich shop in Melbourne. Hector’s is located on the corner of a quiet suburban block. Tall windows let in plenty of morning light. It’s only small, with eight seats inside.

The six sandwich varieties on the menu are the usual suspects, with next level ingredients. Meat for the Wagyu pastrami sandwich comes from Meatsmith, while the ham, cheese and tomato uses mortadella, mozzarella and provolone.

The delicious sandwiches come either hot or cold. My pick of the hot sandwiches is the Tuna Melt. It’s a house tuna mix, pickled green chilli, fresh white onion and melted American cheese on light rye.

When I am looking for a fresh sandwich, I order the Roast Eggplant. It is roast eggplant, stracciatella, kale pesto & calabrian chilli paste

The coffee comes from Axil Coffee Roasters and is always on point. Milk is sourced from St David Dairy and a mouth-watering assortment of pastries from Rustica. Gluten-free breads are also available.

Long Street Coffee

 

 

Located at 45 Little Hoddle Street Richmond. Long Street Coffee was established by husband-and-wife team (and baristas) Francois and Jane Marx. Francois and Jane have taken their passion of coffee and matched it with defending the rights of asylum seekers and refugees living in Australia.

After a successful crowdfunding campaign, the pair converted a garage for the cafe. Proud Mary blends dominate the house coffee and Auntie Peg’s supplies the best-looking cakes and pastries I have seen in a long while.

The all-day menu is driven by entirely organic ingredients with a local focus, including vegan and gluten-free options. Cheese, meats and fish are cured and smoked in-house and all eggs are free-range. 

At Long Street Coffee, customers are encouraged to sit, relax and stay a while. The owner’s philosophy is one of hospitality. Long Street Coffee is an amazing space where people can sit, drink cups of tea and coffee, and not rush.

The cafe employs refugees. For many of the staff, working at Long Street is their first job in Australia, and Jane and Francois assist their team to find future study or employment opportunities.

Veneziano Coffee Roasters

 

 

Veneziano co-founders Rocky Veneziano and Craig Dickson have been selling coffee from their Abbotsford roastery for more than a decade. Coffee is king here. Since their beginning in 2014, Veneziano Coffee Roasters have transformed from a small batch to a talented and growing team, committed to making a positive and meaningful impact to coffee businesses across Australia

When the pair moved operations from Abbotsford to Richmond in March 2014, they never imagined filling the huge warehouse where they once parked their cars. But a café nearby was always part of the master plan.

Warkop

 

 

Located at 12 Risley Street Richmond. Walkop is tucked away in one of Richmond’s back streets. This lovely little café is home to an outstanding sandwich list, each with Indonesian-inspired fillings.

The star of the menu is the chicken taliwang sandwich. Its next level good. Be warned though. The chicken packs a punch. Its thanks to a marinade of sand ginger, lemongrass, shallots, garlic and shrimp paste. It comes with cheese, tomato and rocket, between two slices of organic Zeally Bay Sourdough.

There’s also sticky pork belly with lemongrass and kaffir lime on multigrain; beef pastrami with pickles, cheese and coconutty rendang sauce on light rye; and a vegetarian number with tofu, tempeh and gado gado with peanut sauce, in a cross between a Turkish roll and focaccia. There is also a delicious smoked-salmon bagel with alfalfa, salmon roe, green chilli and tartare sauce.

For breakfast, it’s hard to go past the kaya toast with lashings of custard-like coconut jam on soft grilled brioche.

There are also delicious looking pastries on display from Ned’s Bake. The outstanding coffee is supplied from the wonderful Dukes Coffee Roasters. 

Rowena Parade Corner Store

 

 

Located at 44 Rowena Parade in Richmond. The Rowena Parade Corner Store is tucked away from the hustle-and-bustle of Punt and Bridge Roads. It’s a local treasure that has been providing locals with their daily milk, bread and newspapers since 1956.

From the kitchen, you can expect a Mediterranean twist, including paninis, ciabattas and burgers served on Turkish bread from the Abbotsford Convent. For breakfast, I can never go past the Mediterranean Breakfast. It is homemade green falafel, haloumi, tzatziki, Cypriot grain salad, poached eggs, olives and warm pita bread. For lunch the Spiced Pumpkin Hummus Bowl is delicious. It is spiced pumpkin hummus with warm lentil, capsicum and feta salad, homemade green falafel topped with crispy kale and served with warm pita bread. The lamb Ragu is also next level and always looks so delicious.  

With a spacious back room and a lovely, sun-drenched courtyard the Corner Store has a variety of spaces to sit and relax a while.