Black Squirrel — Restaurant in Melbourne

I have never felt the need to ever write a review about a terrible experience at a cafe before but after leaving this place today I have to!

Once I sat down with my partner and asked by the waitress what drinks we would like to start with and I noticed filter coffee brewing equipment, hario v60 pour over and kettles on the shelf with cold brew equipment also. I politely asked if they served filter coffee and she bluntly said no. Why would you have this equipment on your shelves and not serve it to the public?

We ordered meals, Sweet potato & kale fritters and Pan fried mushrooms. We received our meals to realise there was no mushrooms on the plate for the pan fried mushrooms.

Once the dish was remade it tasted bland. Same with the Sweet potato & kale fritters. My knife couldn't cut through the bread on the mushrooms dish. It was so blunt that it would slide while trying to cut. The broccolini does not work with this dish at all. We didn't finish our meals because they were so underwhelming.

When we went to the till to pay we didn't get ask how our meals were, it was here's your bill, thanks, see you later vibe. There was no conversation about our experience at this cafe.

We left flat and extremely disappointed. What is the place trying to achieve? Does it want to be a great cafe serving incredible tasting dishes with fantastic service to the public or is it just another mediocre cafe...

blacksquirrelcafe will be one of my top picks for a delicious brekky in the southeast.

Beautifully decorated with a distinctive rustic theme, this cafe has a really strong brunch menu, with its best options available, every day so you can visit here any time from 7 am to 3 pm. I was drooling over the idea of a lot of items on this menu, especially their new on menu Oat-Chia Porridge made with fresh produce- cinnamon apple compote, cherries,currant,crumble and roasted Almond flakes .

We picked both their benedict plates one with Juicy Teriyaki beef and the other with Smoked Salmon. The Smoked Salmon was served sizzling away in a brisket, gorgeous, it keeps the food warm and I hate when food gets cold while you eat, the portion was pretty decent aswell. Both dishes served on their homemade rosti instead of bread which makes it so much more filling and delicious- What better reason to get out of bed than for a brunch of crispy, potato röstis topped with a perfectly poached egg and dipped in hollandaise sauce.

Love their focus on detailing of coffee and you can expect range of pastries and savouries on counter. However what is stocked is delicious and I have no qualms in regarding their house made banana bread to be the best I have Had.

Almond Cap here is a 10 on 10 too!

So save this one for your next brekky-...

I’ve just added Black Squirrel Cafe to my list of favourite places to brunch! We ordered the Smoking salmon (smoked salmon on a house made rosti, avocado mousse, apple and fennel salad with poched eggs & dill hollandaise) and the Saffron Shakshuka with chorizo (baked eggs in tomato and capsicum sugo, cold smoked labneh served with Za’atar toasted bread). When the Smoking salmon hit the table, our server lifted the cloche and a cloud of smoke escaped the dish. Whoever put this dish together is a genius. There was flavour from the saltiness of the salmon to the richness of the perfectly poached eggs, the creaminess of the hollandaise to the sourness and freshness of the salad. The texture came from the crunchy rosti and the salad. It was a very balanced and flavourful dish. The shakshuka was perfect for the cold weather we were having: rich, sour, creamy, comforting - a warm hug (if food could hug you). We mopped up every last bit with the crunchy bread. The greens juice we had was lovely and refreshing and the long black was aromatic the perfect compliment to a satisfying brunch. Put this place on the list if you haven’t already! Thank you to Rank One for organising and to Black Squirrel Cafe for having us. We thoroughly enjoyed the meal and will be back to try other dishes...