Outpost is a new-ish venture by the coffee fiends at St Ali. It’s just near South Yarra station, and I decided to *gulp* CROSS THE RIVER for a visit on a Saturday morning.
Unlike pretty much anywhere worth brunching on a Saturday morning northside, we were able to get a seat straight away. The cafe itself is tiny but they have plenty of sort-of-outdoor seating in the entrance to the building.
We ordered coffee straight away, and this arrived within five minutes. And may I say these are among the best coffees I’ve had in Melbourne.
There’s no menus on the table; instead, the menu is scrawled on a long piece of brown paper stuck inside the window. There are only about four or five breakfast options. I chose the strawberries and melon with yoghurt and oats:
The fruit was nice and fresh, but the yoghurt was very thick, almost paste-like; unsweetened, it was very intense and too sour for my liking. The oats were supposed to be toasted, but they were pretty much just like regular rolled oats as far as I could tell. I think I was expecting something a bit more granola-ish.
J. ordered the sourdough with avocado, buffalo mozzarella and Vegemite. It came out like an open grilled toastie:
Weird combo, right? It actually tasted pretty good, although I am a big fan of Vegemite with breakfast. (Try it on your toast next time you have eggs on toast. YUM.) I would have liked to see the avocado sliced rather than all mushed up.
Service was a bit hit and miss; it took ages before they took our food order, as they thought we already ordered (although how they thought this I don’t know, as there was only one waiter at the time). I ordered a second coffee after the food, and it didn’t come, until the waiter checked 10 minutes later to see if I got it and then chased it up.
Really Outpost is all about the coffee, which is, as I mentioned earlier, spectacularly good. I don’t think I’d bother going out of my way for the food, but I’d definitely cross the river again for one of their lattes.
KATE
Mushed up is better! Can season it properly… otherwise it ends up bland. (Don't know if they did season it properly but that's why I always used to mush it up – little bit of lemon juice, salt, pepper and sometimes 'erbs).
I was there today… I have to agree with the length of time it took for the food to arrive. Starving.
I go to outpost almost every day, as I work in south yarra.
The buffalo mozarela toasty is one of my favourite! I have to admit that at first
I was not sure about the mix of the ingredients, that is why I ordered it in the first place, but loving it since.
The place is small and there are always lots of people eatingdans the kitchen is tiny, maybe this is why the food can take a little longer then usual sometimes to be served, but in my opinion is worth the extra 5 minutes for the food to arrive as is always spectacular! If you are in a hurry there is a variety of great sandwiches that are ready to go.
Connie
[...] place of employment) and bike rode into South Yarra where I visited a great new coffee shop called Outpost just next to the train station. I got there at about 8am and was able to sit and enjoy a coffee [...]