Each Peach

506 Lygon St, Brunswick East; 03 9383 4529; Open Sat-Weds

The minimalist refit is a favourite of many inner north cafes. At Each Peach, the walls display a little more flare than somewhere such as Small Block or Julio, and the reserve is saved for the menu. This is a cafe to stop in on a rainy day, when you want to feel at home but have someone bring warm things to you on a plate or in a glass; or somewhere to bask on a sunny day with light filling the front room as you ponder between paninis and their biscuit selection.

The walls here are decorated with tea towels stitched into quilts; the front room is dominated by a hefty communal table perfect for spreading a newspaper on or resting your elbows as you become immersed in a novel (perhaps a book picked up from the cafe's bookshelf). Out the back there's a fire and subdued lighting, giving the room the feel of the loungeroom of a country relative. It's a good place for kids too, with toys and play area in both rooms.
All this atmosphere would be wasted if the produce on offer didn't stand up to scrutiny. There's no problems there. The staff at Each Peach know their way around a coffee machine and deliver a well-tempered drink. Just about everything served is organic (see right). Choose from one slice or two of sourdough raisin toast or cinnamon toast with fig apple jam; or ask them to heat up one of the paninis on display, perhaps filled with goats cheese and olive tapenade, or biodynamic proscuitto, tomato and fetta; or tuck into a bowl of nourishing toasted muesli.

Addendum: Having walked past Each Peach several times since they opened, I've been impressed to note how frequently they update their menu (a simple affair, chalked up on a blackboard on the wall). The panini fillings change regularly - there was a pork sausage and quince one last week, which I didn't act quickly enough to sample - as does a simple, cooked meal option. It's a great attitude to fresh produce and will keep curious palates sated.

Curiousity will no doubt increase following Matt Preston's glowing review in Epicure, 12.08.08.

A Minor Place II

103 Albion St, Brunswick East; 03 9384 3131

Ah, the mid-week, mid-afternoon lunch. It's a wonderful time to be lazily perusing a menu; taking time over a coffee; stretching out a conversation over repeated top-ups of table water. And A Minor Place is as funky and fitting a venue for these activities as you could wish for.

The cafe uses organic bread and eggs, and takes some care to make standard cafe offerings a little bit unfamiliar. I did notice, to my chagrin, that their french toast has changed. Since it is pistachio season I should use that as an incentive to get some fresh nuts and cheese and whip up my own batch of pistachio ricotta.

My lunch choice was the Xanadu toast:The riot of green rocket covered fresh tomato, wonderfully thick wedges of avocado, and chevre, all sitting atop two pieces of aforementioned organic bread. The bread held its texture well, especially given the sandwich was drizzled with pesto oil. A good sprinkling of dukkah completed the flavour spectrum. It was quite delicious and met my late lunch requirements aptly.

My dining partner went with the fabulously titled 'Forget About It' meatball wrap. Try ordering it without either a straight face or a New York accent!The wrap came with tomato sugo, spinach and yoghurt. Rocket was rather more prevalent than spinach, and I would call that pocket bread, rather than a wrap, but they're very minor points (about a clearly ironically named Minor Place!). Each of the ingredients was subtle, but fresh, which meant they worked together to create a fulfilling lunch dish.

A Minor Place has had a development application in the window indicating that they are going to become licenced. If one can linger as contendedly as we did over a plate of food each and a coffee, imagine what a glass or two of wine will do!

CERES cafe

Cnr Robert and Stewart Sts, Brunswick East; 03 9380 8861

It's hot. Very hot. It's also March, not January. Cars are going round and round in Albert Park, a week ago the leaves in the same park were starting to turn yellow in preparation for autumn, and yet here we are, venturing out into the heat to at least nurture our bodies with good food, seeing as we can't keep them cool at home.

CERES is close, so minimises the amount of exertion needs to get there. Sure, it's not air conditioned, but that wouldn't fit with the ethos of the place, whose menu offers organic, garden-grown options wherever possible.

After hanging out with that rogue penguin at Lambsgo Bar last night, a carefully-made, restorative, organic fair trade coffee is definitely in order.

For food, SG chooses the baguette of the day: kangaroo with rocket, goats cheese and tomato relish.The crusty bread clamps on thinly sliced fillet, the tender meat pieces contrasting against the nuts and seeds in the bread.

I faced a tough choice between Verity's famed baked eggs, organic housebaked beans with sourdough, or French toast. I went with the last of these, served with organic maple syrup and a choice of free-range bacon or fruit compote. I chose the latter, which on this occasion was blueberries.It was a wonderful choice. The thick brioche was giving rather than crusty, which also made it much more able to absorb the wonderful syrup. Rather than a sickly sweet pour of liquid sugar, this syrup was more viscose, like a thin honey, and added chewy, almost nutty notes rather than just sweetness. The berries were a great complement, balancing the dish, so that while satisfying it wasn't too filling.

www.ceres.org.au

A Minor Place

103 Albion St, Brunswick East; 03 9384 3131

One of Brunswick's shopfront cafes (cf Ray's, Small Block, La Paloma), A Minor Place offers guests milk crates and fold-out tables outside. Inside, an easterly window welcomes plenty of sunlight over the wooden communal tables as well as a few smaller seating options. It's a minimalist fitout that is netting reward: on a Wednesday lunchtime at least 20 people are seated amongst the tables. Isabelle Lucas, former Neighbours star, notes it as one of her favourite spots in an interview with the age(melbourne) magazine.

Their menu features plenty of organic produce and an imaginative take on breakfast. My menu highlight is the french toast: casalinga bread dipped in free-range eggs, served with stewed rhubarb, quality maple syrup and moreish pistachio ricotta.

Their coffee is carefully made and strong. This mocha looked too well-decorated to drink, so I photographed it to allow it to be preserved on the web, then vigorously stirred and took my time enjoying the blended tastes of bitter coffee and rich, sweet chocolate.