Tori's bakery cafe, Melbourne CBD

 

Tori' is an Asian inspired bakery cafe in a laneway in Melbourne city.  These days that is just the sort of place where you would most expect to find beautiful food, vintage chic and the greenest drinks.  Despite this, it never ceases to amaze that these places exist: that food can look this good and that a cafe can inspire awe and wonder upon first setting eyes upon it.

I had not wanted to go there.  I had other plans.  We had been on a fun visit to the NGV with my sister and were about to have coffee in the spotty cafe when she found she had enough time to get to St Kilda on the tram before her lunch date.  Given that she is only in her home town for a couple of weeks, every moment is precious.  She is very generous with her time when she visits from Ireland so it is hard to begrudge her a wish to visit one of Melbourne's most hip and happening seaside suburbs.  Sylvia loved seeing her but was delighted that she could now have time for a long-desired trip to Tori's.

My sister and Sylvia got their heart's desire but I felt a little short changed  Then I walked up the stairs to the counter.  People were queuing up in front of the cake display, which gave me a chance to look around.  Already I was loving it.  Old couches and lamps, a piano and vintage pictures on the walls.  Tori's is the sort of place that you could just not imagine to be this stylish and welcoming.

The cafe is unexpectedly spacious.  I am so used to charming interiors meaning clutter.  And I love clutter!  Yet it was lovely to be in a place with enough space that we didn't need to apologise to everyone as we squeezed through to our seats and we weren't close enough to feel self consciously that if our neighbour's conversation is so clearly heard then so is ours.  So this is what "limited vintage seating" on Tori's website means!

I wanted to admire the cakes and I wanted to sink into the soft old couches.  Luckily we had to wait to be seated so we could concentrate on the cakes.  

It was best to focus on how pretty the cakes are rather than their prices.  They are so beautifully coloured and sliced and garnished that it makes sense to pay more.  Even so, I baulk at paying $10 for a drink and between $12.50 and $15 for a slice of cake.  (A few things like madeleines are cheaper at $5.)

Here are a few of the lovely offerings on display. From the top left hand corner going clockwise: Garlic bread filled with cream, Matcha and pistachio madeleines, Matcha basque cheesecake and Ube basque cheesecake.  The presentation is colourful and precise.  Other "cakes" on offer included a Sesame basque cheesecake, a Strawberry shortcake and a Taro fresh cream tart.  Actually these are more dessert than cake.  I understand that some of these rotate and others are fairly constantly available.

There is no food menu, just the display!  But there is a menu of hot drinks and a couple of cold ones.  Not much to please me but I was very happy to see a Yuzu Matcha spritzer on the list of drink specials.  Sylvia had already decided on the strawberry matcha.  She claimed it was one of the best strawberry matchas she has had and that it lived up to the hpye.  I enjoyed drinking the juice before I remembered to mix it with the green layer of matcha.  Once I did I still loved it with the matcha giving the juice some gravitas

Choosing a cake was tough when faces with so many wonderful creations.  I went for the Earl grey canale.  Sylvia is quite into canales.  These little French cakes are taste amazing with a crust the tastes so chewy but such a soft and tender crumb inside.  I just don't like that they look dark and dull.  Tori's managed to even made canales look fancy.  They are topped with a small blob of icing that is decorated with gold leaf and rose petal.   And they tasted even better than they looked.

Sylvia went for the classic Banoffee pie.  Tori's pie is so perfectly sliced and the cream on top is so smooth.   It did not taste as good as my mum's caramel tart with cream and bananas.  (We never called my mum's banoffee though it is similar but no banoffee ever tastes as amazing as this favourite family recipe.)  The caramel was lovely but I prefer my mum's higher ratio of caramel to banana.  However this slice of pie beats my mum's hands down with presentation. This looked magnificent with a drizzle of caramel over a chunk of banana on top by the chocolate flakes and more banana neat sandwiched between the perfect layers of caramel and cream.

Tori's is a delight to visit and a delight to photograph.  This sort of cafe is very zeitgeist and yet also somewhat timeless.  When I was a student a few decades ago we delighted in the latest and greatest find with a jumble of second hand furniture, bright colours and good food.  The main change is that food has become more elegant in presentation thanks to social media and smart phones.  Tori's is beautiful in many ways and such a special experience that I look forward to returning.

Tori's
28 Niagara Lane, Melbourne, Vic 3000
Open: Thurs-Tues 10am - 6pm
https://www.toris.com.au