Saturday 8am – 5pm
Please note: Brood Box is no more. We will try and check out the new café here at some point.
I’d like to be able to tell you that I stumbled across Brood Box by combing the city’s laneways, but the truth of the matter is that I had my mind set on a coffee at Brother Baba Budan, when my friend Ross convinced me to go here instead. So I’m going to start with a little shout out to Ross – thanks Bronze.
What immediately appealed about Brood Box was that it is different. How many cafes, including some really good ones, are just so same same? Well this one’s not: no recycled wood, no exposed brick feature walls and no communal tables. It’s down a laneway that, at first glance, holds as much appeal as Robert Doyle. But venture down the laneway and you’ll come across a caravan inside an art gallery serving coffee. Go Melbourne!
To be honest I was a little reticent at first. It sounded like a gimmick and gimmicks are notorious for serving rubbish coffee. It’s nice to be wrong for a change. Doesn’t happen often, so let’s all take a moment to contemplate the gravity of what’s just taken place.
There’s some stiff competition in this area of the city: The Dancing Goat, Sensory Lab, Shop 7, not to mention that you actually have to walk past Brother Baba Budan to get to Brood Box, so serving average coffee isn’t going to cut it. But lo and behold, the coffee is excellent. They even do siphon. In a caravan, in an art gallery would you believe.
A couple of other things worth mentioning. Being a warehouse style space, there’s plenty of room to move so you won’t have to listen to your neighbour complain about how much they hate working for the man. The front half of the room even gets some morning sun. Oh, and the barista is a Frenchy named Baptiste, just in case you like that sort of thing. So if you’re up for something different, check it out.
