Do you remember all those years ago in the summertime, when you were just a little tacker and you had pile in the leather seated Kingswood to go down to your favourite Nanna’s summer house near the beach or up in the country and even though Nanna was only cooking on a beat up old oven with an esky to keep the milk cold you knew she was always capable of whipping up a storm while everyone else watched the cricket with a Calippo in hand? OK, so maybe your childhood was not a late 70s or early 80s cliche but you get the gist.
The folk at Auction Rooms are on a summer holiday and seem to be renovating the place so in the meantime they are operating a skeleton operation out of their roastery/warehouse a few doors down. Roller door, milk crates, side-swept fringes, actual warehouse chic and a limited food menu (limited as in just a few pastries). They are running the Candyman and when I was in they had the Ethiopian Sidamo SO on Pour Over. The relaxed vibe and the ramshackle setup truly is a little bit like a hot summer’s day at Nan’s. But instead of sunburn and Creamy Soda you’ll get sunburn and the delicate sweet kiss of smallbatch espresso.
No idea if they’ll keep it open when the main shop is back open (Jan 17) but considering how popular Auction Rooms is now they could do worse than leave it open in busy periods as the takeaway section… just sayin.
Happy New Year folks.
Caffeine City 
I was so happy when they announced on their FB that the Speakeasy would be open over their summer break. Auction Rooms really do make the best coffee in town and they’re literally around the corner from home so I was already whinging about having to go to South Melb/Carlton (SHOCK HORROR) to get my caffeine fix. Bah!
Its a very cool space they got running there. I didn’t realise they were actually renovating Auction Rooms tho – wonder what they’ll be changing1