Bicycle Thieves Cafe — Restaurant in Melbourne

4.4. Bicycle thieves is a relatively new Northcote cafe that has a buzz about it. It’s impressive for sure. It is a lovely bright open space to sit in and sits nicely on a corner site. I had a long black to start. It wasn’t quite top draw. Lovely and creamy but it lacked a little length, I thought. I enjoyed the tiny glass of sparkling water on the side. I ordered the Breakfast Ramen for my dish after reading about it online. It sounded intriguing and I couldn’t go past it. I really liked this dish. For a start, it looks amazing. It was a very attractive sight when it arrived at the table. More important, all the flavours and textures in the dish really work. I thought the broth was lovely with impressive depth of flavour. The kaiserfleisch is absolute melt in the mouth stuff. Thrillingly thick and salty - and I mean just the right measure of salt - this is seriously beautiful meat. I had to look the word Kaiserfleisch up. The web tells me it’s a ham made only from the eye of the pork loin. Marinated for one day and then golden smoked and tenderly cooked the next. I’m not sure if that’s how they do it here but whatever they do it is fantastic. The tofu went beautifully in the meal too. There were gorgeous silky mushrooms as well. And, critically, there was just the right measure of spice right throughout the whole l dish.

Someone is a visionary to have created this combination. It really works and I enjoyed it more than a few ramens I’ve had from specialist ramen places around town. I didn’t know which element to save as my last mouthful, which is always a sign for me of a stellar dish.

There was lovely service throughout. They are pleasant and engaging staff here. This cafe is a really good addition to the Northcote scene and it should...

The place was buzzing with people with an orderly line of people awaiting entry. Upon consulting the menu we immediately realised why it was so special. You won’t find your typical smashed avocado here. There are burgers etc available but frankly it would be sacrilige to order them with the insane creativity and uniqueness on offer.

I chose the three quarter avocado on toast with eggplant black garlic purée, goat feta, pickled chilli and smoked almonds and it was an utter revelation. Just a stellar combination of intriguing flavours and an absolute joy to eat. I am so glad I ordered the side of cured salmon, it gave us much colour to the plate as it did to my life, truly enriching.

Hubby got the slow braised lamb shoulder with green harissa scrambled eggs, cottage cheese and house made roti. The roti was indescribably delicious, just so insanely fluffy and the perfect bed for the eggs. The addition of fried curry leaves was a master stroke.

We sipped on the banana and peanut butter smoothie and the fresh watermelon juice with passionfruit and mint- heaven. The food arrived so promptly we were wildly impressed considering they were at full capacity.

Our final dish was the chocolate and coconut chia with buckwheat granola. This was another thoroughly enjoyable dish. That perfect little lemon curd, beautiful combination of perfectly stewed and fresh fruit and the crispy little coconut flakes. Honestly I couldn’t...

We liked the food in this place and have been regular customers since they opened the cafe a few years ago. However on this one occasion my husband and I ordered 2 coffees and an iced Mocca to share. The quality of the coffees were all bad. They were all diluted and watery. We were not upset and nicely asked our wait person to look into it. Our coffee was returned to our table by another person who abruptly dumped the cup on our table and said here’s your coffee AGAIN. We had other instances on previous visits where she had acted this way. My husband and I were shocked by this attitude and advised another lady who seemed to be very attentive and asked how our food was. The person who dumped the coffee on our table said to my husband ‘ I am the manager and you listen to me. Last time you brought a can of tuna here! ‘ We have a 5 year old who is a fussy eater and one morning he said he wants tuna. He still ate the order from the restaurant as well as his tuna. On that occasion alone we spent $200 at the cafe on that morning. Be aware of the new ‘manager’. She is rude and has an attitude and is ruining the experience for the customers. That was our last time for us at...