You could sum up the reasons I like Melbourne Central mall with these three places – Little Library, Plantation Coffee & Cupcake Central. Of course there’s also the nice mix of retail therapy, wood flooring and funky atmosphere.
As soon as I entered the mall I saw the Little Library. It was a small, unmanned space with just a large bookshelf filled with books.
I would have just walked past by until I read the sign. This library was free for anyone who wanted to borrow a book. Honesty system was the only librarian here. Can you imagine this in a mall in Manila? What do you think will happen?
We went straight to the 2nd level for coffee and dessert just to complete our lunch which we had at Hanaichi. Deb knew it was my goal to try as many coffee places in Melbourne as possible so she brought me to one of her favorites, Plantation Specialty Coffee.
As soon as I saw all the different coffee equipment I knew it was going to be something special. They had Hario drip and syphon brewers as well as the usual espresso machine.
Plantation was the first place I’ve seen that has Hario’s ice drip coffee maker.
It takes precision and patience to make drip coffee.
Here’s my iced drip coffee, a welcome relief from the heat outside.
As much as I enjoyed my iced coffee I adored the flat white that my friend Pat gave me to finish. The milk they used was the richest and creamiest I’ve ever tasted. It was like a shot of espresso swimming in a cup of heavy cream. When I go back to Melbourne this will be in the top 3 of my must-drink-again coffee list.
They also sold several Hario coffee-brewing equipment.
While we were busy buying coffee at Plantation my friend Deb was right across buying cupcakes at Cupcake Central.
I’ve always said I’m not much of a cupcake fan but I simply loved the sour lemon cupcake. The lemon cake base topped with lemon curd frosting was sweet and tangy and reminded me of a tall glass of lemonade.
The pb&j was the first vegan gluten free cupcake I’ve ever tried and it tasted just like the regular cupcake. Those two were the flavors I liked best.
There were several interesting dining options in Melbourne Central that I would like to try next time. The ones that caught my eyes were bing boy, Burger Edge and Dumpling King.
Plantation Specialty Coffee
Shop 253, level 2, Melbourne Central
300 La Trobe Street, Melbourne
telephone: 03 9686 2990
Hours: Mon to Wed 8am-6pm | Thu 8am-8pm | Fri 8am-9pm | Sat & Sun 10am-6pm
website
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Cupcake Central
Level 2, Dining Hall, Melbourne Central
300 La Trobe Street, Melbourne
telephone: 03 9077 4542
Hours: Mon to Thurs 10am–7pm | Fri 10am–9pm | Sat & Sun 10am – 6pm
website
Facebook
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