South Melbourne

St Ali

12-18 Yarra Pl,
South Melbourne
Phone: 9686 2990

I'll Tumble for Ya

Posted By Jane Ormond on 1 December, 2010 | Comments 4

  • Share
Photos: Guy Lavoipierre

If you live in Melbourne and have had a cup of coffee, seen a cup of coffee or stood next to someone holding a cup of coffee, you will have heard of St Ali. It is a major coffee temple. And rightfully so. Because it makes the kind of coffee that makes you want to run a bath full of the stuff and just get in and splash and kick around in a fit of caffeinated glee. Pop on a shower cap made from a coffee filter and you are good to go.

Every day the menu features a different cold drip filter, syphon and coffee of the day. I had the Ethiopian Yirgacheffe syphon – one of the juiciest I’ve ever had. Floral, fruity, succulent. Hence my point about the bath.




St Ali roast their own beans – they’ve got a 5kg roaster onsite, and three 22kg roasters working their magic under the master’s watchful eye just nearby. St Ali also stocks take-home packs and all the associated accoutrements you might need.

The place itself ticks all the de rigeur boxes – a lo-fi industrial fit-out, situated down an alley opposite graffiti-covered rollerdoors. The Shins are on the stereo and the waitstaff are spunky. It’s like the movie version of the Melbourne coffee scene. The space is segmented really smartly though, so what could feel cold and hard actually can be quite intimate. Windows open onto the lane, framing folks so perfectly you can almost hear someone yell ‘Action!’

Menu-wise, the offerings are fittingly snappy, coming under cute subheadings like ‘From Chickens with Love’, ‘Kitchen Confidential’ and ‘Cos I’m Worth It’ (this is where you’ll find lobster tail or smoked salmon with optional caviar and champagne add-ons.) Whatever appetite you’ve got, you’ll find something to suit, from a light fruit breakfast to corn fritters with haloumi for brunch or a simple pizza or twice-cooked pork belly for lunch. The Asian-leaning dinner menu is similarly cute in its categorising of ‘two legs’, ‘four legs’ and ‘sea legs’. Sweets are courtesy of Philippa Sibley. They also offer a range of barista courses and food events, so keep the peepers peeled.

I took a long black for the road – Nicaraguan. Still very fruity, but punchier than the Ethiopian. Dabbed a little behind my ears. Just cos.

The Facts

St Ali
Address: 12-18 Yarra Pl, South Melbourne
Phone: 9686 2990
Hours: Mon-Tues 7am-5pm, Wed-Sat 7am-11pm, Sun 8am-5pm
Coffee: St Ali
Food: Breakfast, lunch, dinner
Cards: AE, MC, V, DC, EFTPOS










































Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

  • Anonymous

    went to St Ali for the first time yesterday and it will be my only experience.  $4.80 for a large latte – you must be fricken kidding!  I don’t care how fancy you are, no latte taste’s good at that price, and a small at a dollar less is just as exorbitant.  of course you don’t know the price until you’ve ordered because the wanky sign above has writing so small you can’t see diddly squat.  i love coffee, but this is coffee snobbery to the extreme.
    -epic fail

  • Goran

    so I guess you are after a cheap coffee if all you can say about St.Ali is what they charge?!
    I get my short macchiato from the St.Ali at least twice a day and that cost only $2.50! I think that is most than fair price for a cup of excellence.

  • Goran

    typo
    most – MORE

  • RC

    There was a time when St Ali was as indeed the place described here, but those days are gone.  Looong gone.  Yeah, it was a busy morning, but the staff were rude, the menu is tougher to work out than the Saturday cryptic and my friend described the mushroom burger as the culinary low-point of his nascent vegetarianism.  

    Worse still, the coffee was rubbish.  I can remember when St Ali raised the bar of coffee in Melbourne.  I used to take friends from out of town there to marvel.  Instead, this time I had to apologise and take them to the park to finish the crossword.

http://espressomelbourne.com/wp-content/themes/espresso