Café Bellino: Rustic Charm in Brunswick

Yesterday morning E and I had a pleasant sunny ride to Café Bellino in Brunswick. I had had enough warm sunshine in Darwin last week and enjoyed sitting out in the mild autumnal weather.

Café Bellino has rustic charm that might as well be in a country town as in the middle of Melbourne’s suburbs. Distressed brick walls, young box hedges in planters, shaggy gum trees. The water comes in old wine bottles, and the food is served on large white plates.

The breakfast menu included a variety of egg dishes and a long list of extras. I don’t like eggs so I chose the sourdough toast and some extras: home made baked beans, avocado salsa and mushrooms. Sounded promising. And because the toast came with a choice of spreads, I asked for honey so I could have the rare treat of honey on half of my toast.

When my meal came, it was nice but nothing to rave about. The bread was a nice white bread but not the dense and chewy texture that I prefer. The beans and salsa felt healthy but lacked some robustness in flavour. If I ate my raw red onion in the salsa rather than pushing it to the side of my plate, maybe it would have had more bite. I think something as simple as a squeeze of lemon juice would have improved it. But I did enjoy drizzling honey on half of my toast from a little jug. E also was a bit disappointed with his eggs but liked his coffee.

I would go back. It was a pleasant place to chat to E, do my Saturday suduko, watch the world go by, and walk away feeling I’d had a healthy meal that didn’t weigh me down.

Café Bellino
281 Victoria Street
Brunswick

03 9380 5900