Project281 Cafe, Kitchen & Bar

Amazing place for brunch. The food was presented beautifully brought to the table quickly and tasted better than it looked. Cannot fault the service. Really worth stopping by for a meal. Eggs Benny was on point. Only thing is the 20% surcharge for public holidays a bit steep. Otherwise would have given 5 stars.

Delicious options, warm inviting open space (pram & wheelchair friendly and lots of highchairs available and change table in toilets). Staff friendly and very helpful with explaining menu options. Loved our leisurely lunch, hard to decide on what to pick. The hot chocolate was the bomb! Waffle fries yummy & hearty decent sized meals available with a Japanese flair. You won't be disappointed.

Pretty busy, but not as bad of a traffic for lunch on a weekend in comparison to weekdays. Food came in good timing. The Tropical Mango was alright, the chips were nicely done for The Prawn Burger. The Prawn Burger was nice, avocado is evidently plentiful that you git small hits of the panko prawn and pickled red cabbages.

Had brunch today with the family, nice looking venue. The coffee is ok with single origin espresso and filter coffee offerings. (I had my standard Dbl. Espresso & Magic) I ordered the breakfast burrito which had nice flavours but was about 80% rice and they missed the side of fries I ordered with my burrito but I didn't get charged for my coffee as compensation which was nice. My partner had the Avo/Mango toast which was sloppy she thought with pureed avo (she wasn't too impressed). Staff were ok but didn't seem too happy to be working.

Excellent place for breakfast and brunch. I struggle to remember a place with better service. The staff here is incredibly nice and accommodating. They were constantly making sure everything was good and every single one of them sporting their best smile. Food is excellent, beautiful presentation and good prices.

Last year, while being stuck in Europe as the border to Australia was closed, I attended an online seminar about roasting. Anne Cooper was one of the guest speakers, and she shared interesting insights about how to roast coffee from Colombia. This was the reason I went to PROJECT 281 CAFÉ to enjoy some tasty coffee, to have lunch and maybe to run into Anne to have a chat about anything coffee. The café was easy to find, a gigantic and colorful mural painting showed me the way. I love these mural paintings on brick walls, they give a special creative touch to Melbourne, and you can see them all over the city. The café is located inside a big, old warehouse or factory building. There is a separated space with two roasters in the left back. The team wasn’t roasting today, but everything was there, a sample and a production roaster, to create magical coffee flavors. I was delighted to see that a Kenyan single origin espresso in the hopper besides their house blend. But I came just a few minutes too late, and they swapped the beans to another tasty coffee from Brazil. I noticed another difference between Australia and where I usually have my coffee. Even at lunch time, the baristas will ask you what coffee you want to order before they bring you the food menu. That is a big difference, and I noticed it just now. It happened to me every time I enter a café for lunch. So, I went for a double espresso from Brazil and the poke bowl, made of sesame rice, greens, pickled ginger, avocado-pea smash, cherry tomatoes, wasabi pea crump, wakame and with salmon sashimi. Just have a look at the picture, no additional words needed: YUMMIE!!! For my desert I ordered a magic, as I know by now that the baristas in Melbourne will create super sweet, smooth espresso-based milk beverages. Their house blend cut beautifully through the milk, and I walked back to the office – fully satisfied.