Canteen - Melbourne

Poke poke poke. I can't get enough of their chicken poke bowl. It's a perfect combination of things that are good for you rice, beans, avocado, carrots and not so good things fried chicken. I feel less guilty eating fried stuff because of this poke bowl.

Not many cafes offer the exceptional staff and ambiance that this place does. It is connected to a barber shop, and the owner warmly welcomes you as soon as you enter. The barista is incredibly friendly, and I enjoyed a wonderful conversation with her. I ordered the avocado smash panini and it was absolutely incredible, a true work of art. I also tried the health shot (lemon and ginger) which only added to my admiration for this place. Do yourself a favor and check out this fantastic establishment.

This cafe is saving the souls of many local workers who don't have much of a variety of choices nearby. The chai latte was delicious and the decor of the cafe is light and colorful. Gets very busy at lunch time so get in early

Food : Scrambled eggs with bacon slab. Rice pudding. Eggs were cooked like a pro, good portion. The bacon slab idea is pretty cool, probably prefer this over the usual thin and oily rasher bacon. The rice pudding was impressive to look at, with strawberries and passion fruit adorning the top. And it was as much enjoyable to eat, as it was to look at. Ambience: Nice bright airy indoor area, some spots outside in the shade.Service: All the wait staff are experienced, pretty flawless. What made this a 5/5 in the end was they allowed us to split the bill, not this one bill per table thing which would have been a huge hassle for our group. Thanks guys.

Red is the new green poke bowl with rice, red quinoa, beetroot, kimchi, pomegranates, pickled egg br/ br/ Poke bowls are becoming more and more common at cafes and restaurants, but can you blame it?! Poke bowls are very healthy and extremely filling. The poke bowl is quite basic as it does not have any meat or fish scattered throughout. It is quite a light meal but will keep you energised and full for the entire day. The rice and quinoa mixed with the beetroot is a perfect combination and these flavours really stand out in the meal. the beetroot gives the dish a bright pop of colour and sets the theme for this meal. br/ br/ Okonomiyaki fritters with kewpie mayo, bbq sauce, Asian herbs eggs br/ br/ These fritters, OMG, as soon as I saw the ingredients on the menu I instantly gravitated towards them. The fritters were quite thick and large so they were obviously very filling. The texture was clumpy and not mushy. The sweetness of the kewpie mayo and smokiness of the bbq sauce melted perfectly into the fritters and added so much flavour to the overall flavour of this dish. These fritters were probably the best out of all 3 meals that we tried and I would highly recommend trying them if you like fritters! br/ br/ Punchbowl Nutella on toast with fresh strawberries br/ br/ I was very intrigued by the Nutella and strawberry toast because it is very unusual for a café of this calibre to serve something so basic. However, this dish was far from basic. The Nutella was homemade so it had chunks of hazelnut spread throughout, and the chocolate was thicker than normal Nutella, so both of these spread on the crunchy toast formed a really well made meal. The sweetness of the strawberries made the dish pop and complemented the chocolate spread really nicely.