Enter Neighbour

Key points: 4.7. Very impressive place. Hip and stylish cafe. Young and old alike will love it. Great menu. Superior food and coffee here. Great alcohol options too. Excellent service. Highly recommended Full Review: This place could revive the pretty moribund Hartwell shopping strip. Either that or the strip may claim it. First off, it’s a lovely space. It sits nicely on the street and is well set out and great to sit in. Super coffee to start off. Thrillingly smooth. Outstanding length. So, the coffee is great. You have to love a place that serves a Bloody Mary. Almost all the best brunch places serve them in my view. The one here is smaller than customary and priced accordingly. It is terrific. I meant to enquire but it has a bacony sort of flavour that is beguiling. And, importantly, the spicing is perfect. It’s a fantastic drink. I asked for a recommendation for brunch. After discussion and advice I settled on the Nanban chicken. The dish has forbidden black rice, gribiche dressing, peas and pickled cabbage, Japanese chicken topped with crispy shallots, fresh chilli and coriander. This was a super recommendation. I’d be very happy to get this dish in a well regarded restaurant. It has great textures and great flavours and a really gorgeous tang. It’s a superbly composed dish and an outstanding brunch option. I savoured ever mouthful. My colleague loved his dish too. The Hartwell Brunch with trout. Both dishes looked great. Both tasted great. Accompanied with a Good Victorian Prosecco both dishes made for a good meal. Service was excellent throughout. Friendly, informative and efficient. This place is the real deal and deserves its very good rating, 4.7 at the time of writing. The key issue for me is whether it will triumph over the location. I lived in this area many moons ago. It’s never been that fashionable but maybe the cafe can change that. The cafe would do wonderfully in the inner city. It should do well here particularly as it is not just a cafe for locals. It’s one of those places that’s well worth travelling to. I crossed several suburbs and was rightly glad I did. We had a great time here. Highly recommended.

Wow, l normally reserve a 5 star for something special and this cafe has served up the best pancakes l have seldom had and only dreamt about from cafes. The staff are friendly, the coffee delicious and the pricing reasonable with a good quality menu. Worth a look to see for yourself. You will not be disappointed.

Today's experiment took us to this neighbourhood gem, lured by the array of fascinating combinations on offer. There were several other dishes we would've happily tried but the Nanban Chicken and Truffled Mushrooms were too hard to resist. Beautifully spiced chicken pieces rested on a bed of black rice, pickled cabbage and peas topped with fresh chilli, Gribiche dressing and coriander. The dish was creamy, flavoursome and comforting in texture. We love truffle so the mushrooms brought our tastebuds happiness. This place serves Axil coffee, different Mork hot chocolates, matcha, beetroot and turmeric lattes and alcohol. Good quality food and beverages complemented by friendly service and a homely atmosphere. Away from the city rush, it's a good place for the weekend brunch to relax.

Their cafe name is as welcoming as their crew are! 😍 FOOD & COFFEE: I ordered the Scotch Pancakes (of course) and soy latte! The pancakes were sooo good! It was so fluffy!! The texture of the pancakes were perfect and it went so beautifully with the coffee mascarpone! It wasn’t too hard but soft with a hint of chew! I also appreciated the fruits because the only thing pancake is better with is fruits 🤤 The coffee mascarpone was great as well tho I would’ve liked a stronger coffee flavour but it may be my soy latte winning the coffee flavour! Speaking of which, the soy latte was really great as well 🥰 SERVICE: The service is really welcoming and lovely! They’re super cheerful and just make the cafe experience all the better! I was honestly ecstatic to finally find a reason to try this cafe as bonus tip, they’re on GROUPON! And can I just say, the most worth it $12.50 I have spent in the LONGEST time! It was perfect in every single aspect and I would definitely return!

The owners seemed genuinely nice and friendly, overall experience was very nice. I liked how they shared the names of their venders on the back of the menu so I felt extra comfortable with eating food and ordering coffee - great coffee as well. We didn't have to ask for more water because they paid good attention to each table, only down side of the experience was that the food took some time, actually more than 35 minutes. We were so very hungry and normally that would've made me not to like the place much, but other than that the service was great and the food was so good. I'd recommend this place and would like to go again.