One of the things that Melbourne offers, and KL lacks, is a good cup of coffee. The coffee drinking culture here is very mature, literally a cafe in every street corner within the CBD.
Cafenatics also offers good sandwiches and muffins
Breakfast places like MART 130 and even chocolate drinks specialists at Max Brenner serve up good coffee, but for really awesome coffee, you have to go to a dedicated coffee place like Cafenatics.
Cafenatics is small cafe chain based in Melbourne CBD, with about half a dozen stores across the city. The one we went to is located conveniently at QV, just a few doors down from Max Brenner.
a glass of flat white after a meal, yums
I have taken a liking to enjoy a cup of flat white after a good lunch. Flat white is pretty much the same as latte, but served in a ceramic cup instead of glasses. Both drinks consist of steamed milk poured over a shot of espresso, but due to the smaller size of ceramic cups, flat whites usually end up slightly stronger.
The aroma of coffee here is really good, and with the very fresh and super creamy milk makes the drink very smooth. This of course, is done by very experienced and skillful barista who packed beans properly and made sure the milk is prepared perfectly. Not bad for $3.30 a cup right?
For those who are stuck in Malaysia, there’s always places like Cafe Le Passione at Hartamas Shopping Centre.
Address:
Cafenatics
Red Cape Lane, QV
Melbourne 3000 Victoria, Australia
GPS: -37.810657,144.965587
Tel: 03-9654 9096
After lunch at Red Silks in Chinatown, like most people who has nothing better to do, we look for a cup of after meal coffee and a place to chill out. We headed up north a couple blocks to QV (Queen Victoria Building), a rather popular hangout area that houses several restaurants and a couple grocery stalls
Max Brenners at QV
Coffee drinking is actually quite a big thing in Australia. The annual coffee business amounts to some $3 billion, that is plenty of coffee for a population of some 21 million people. The market is a lot more mature than KL, with plenty of privately owned businesses and a few international chains.
In Malaysia, you’d go to Starbucks or Old Town, but in Melbourne, the defacto choice is Max Brenners (although you can find Starbucks, and actually even Old Town Kopitiam!), it is just convenient that there is an outlet located right in the middle of QV with a nice outdoor seating area that is sheltered from sun and wind.
milk suckao and cappuccino
The place is almost perpetually full, we actually had to wait for a couple minutes before landing ourselves a table. Since I was basically a tourist and Max Brenners is famous for their chocolates, Mell ordered a Milk Sukao for me, and from their website:
Suckao is the espresso of the chocolate drinks. It is a small, dense, concentrated shot of rich chocolate. The term “Suckao” is made up of two words that describe the utensil and the unique drink it contains: Suck – to draw the dense liquid through the metal tube. Kakao – the Spanish word for cocoa beans from which this rich chocolate drink is made and which determine its quality.
It is basically fresh milk (refillable) warmed by an aroma therapy size candle with chocolate chips on the side to mix. The quality of chocolate was rather high and I really liked it, not bad at all for $6.
latte, KY, milk chocolate
Mell got herself a milk chocolate ($5) that comes in a “HUGMUG”. The cocoa used is originated from Venezuela, creamy and tasty. The hugmug is specially designed for chocolate drinks at Max Brenners, to be used for hugging with both hands, perfect for the rather chilly weather when we were there.
Carol, Margaret, and Mellissa with her hugmug
Carol and Margaret got themselves Cappuccino and Cafe Latte ($3.30 each), and both the drinks were better than the same offered by the likes of Starbucks or Coffeebeans in Malaysia. Part of the reason being that the milk used here is so much fresher and tastier.
We ended up going to Max Brenners a few more times, meeting up friends and sampling different types of drinks along the way (the coconut + lychee drink was awesome, and the magic waffle balls very interesting). It was sort of a meeting point for Mell and her friends there, for obvious reasons. Good drinks, nice environment, affordable prices.
Max Brenners is located at the heart of QV
Max Brenners has over a dozen branches in Australia, a couple in New York, Philippines, Israel, and there’s even one in Singapore at Esplanade Mall on Raffles Ave.
Address:
Max Brenners
Queen Victoria Building
25-27 Red Cape Lane,
Level 2, QV Square,
210 Lonsdale Street
Melbourne VIC 3000
GPS: -37.810657,144.965587
Tel: +61 3 9663 6000
