Auction Rooms (Errol Street, North Melbourne)

I would have to give it another go

Auction Rooms, a café housed in the old auction house WB Ellis in North Melbourne, had been named Melbourne’s best café in the 2013 The Age Good Café Guide awards. And it is with this expectation that I decided to pay a visit to Auction Rooms last weekend.

It was easy to get a table for one. So I settled down in my seat in this industry-chic like cafe as soon as I arrived. But somehow I felt I wasn’t welcomed. No one had asked me if I wanted a coffee for a start. Although I was near the drinks counter, I was somewhat invisible.

Meanwhile I agonised over what to have for brunch. There were a few options I was interested in but when I settled on a Bruleed French Toast, I was told that there was none. That was it. The wait staff didn’t even ask if I wanted another food option apart from the coffee which I had ordered. I was certainly not impressed by the service.

Feeling a little deflated, I settled on the poached eggs on sourdough toast. There was another option which I was interested in, but because I wasn’t able to find out about a certain item on the menu due to a bad 4G connection, I had to settle for the poached eggs. I also ordered a side of what I believe was coffee smoked bacon to accompany the eggs.

I have to say that the bacon was amazingly good. It came in a good slab, similar to the size of your roasted pork (belly) (from the roasted meats shops in Singapore). There was a nice balance of fat and meat, and each bite had an aromatic and caramelised char to it. I don’t really like bacon, but this one is worthy of praise.

As for the flat white, I found it to be less than full bodied as compared to others I had.  

I would probably head down to Auction Rooms on another occasion to try out the other items on the menu.