Mister Close, 246 Bourke St, Melbourne

I’ll admit, it has been a while between drinks with the blog. But life has been hectic and I’ve been holed up in a city office block workin’ for the man every night and day…Now, when you are stuck in the city work one of the highlights of the day is stepping out at lunch, breathing some roughly fresh air, snooping out a bite to eat and re-stocking dangerously low caffeine levels. And, let’s be honest it is not like Melbourne is devoid of quality lunching options. In fact it is quite the opposite – no matter where you go you know you could have gone to a dozen other places and, probably, been just as satisfied. This is where it helps to be exceptionally bloody good at what you’re doing when you’re a new player in a saturated market. Exhibit A – Mister Close.

The guys behind Mister Close, located in the Midtown Plaza which fronts Bourke and Swanston are not new faces to the Melbourne cafe scene indeed they only just sold up Arcadia in Fitzroy but Mister Close is a whole new venture which has its own challenges and opportunities.

I managed to scurry in this week on my oh-so-short lunch break and the joint was packed. I had to wait for a few minutes to snag a seat up the back near a row of carefully preserved National Geographics. Perched as I was on a triangular row seat and pressed for time I was stoked when my Italian Meatballs on a huge bed of creamy mash promptly arrived alongside a deep caramello, buttery long macchiato courtesy of Campos Coffee.

The geometric interior with a geographical theme has won acclaim from design buffs, the food is big and tasty and the coffee equally good (and as of this week they’re using Jonesey’s Milk). Perhaps the best part is that you can sit and scoff at the knuckleheads drinking Starbucks when they could be sippin’ Campos. Suckers. I’ll be back for a another geography lesson as soon as I escape the office, you can count on that, Mister Close.