Dench Cafe — Restaurant in Melbourne

A large cafe with a great menu. I was spoilt for choice w some great dishes to choose from. The menu is great, but it was hard to choose a dish lol.

I ended up ordering baked bacon and eggs w pancetta ham & bacon, thick brioche, beetroot hummus, semi dried tomato & macadamia. The presentation was the best I've seen in 2022. Such a level of detail.

The second vegetarian dish was Roasted Tomatoes, Grilled halloumi, semi-dried tomatoes and macadamia pesto, goat cheese, gran bread, snow pea tendrils, pomegranate, pepitas, balsamic glaze and a hash brown. Phew, try saying that after you have a Bloody Mary hahaha. BTW the Bloody Mary was spicy and the celery crispy! Yum.

This cafe also sells Dench bread which we all know is great, right? The 100% rye is absolutely delicious and the small carrot cake was moist, with some yummy icing and walnuts.

The service from all the staff was friendly welcoming. My strong almond latte which was really good, I didn't see the brand of almond milk but I'd buy it.

Oh and I almost forgot. I had a Bloody Mary too, and this was spicy, with nice cold tomato juice and fresh crunchy celery. Just how I like it, thank you.

Overall this was a solid experience in a very handy location, with plenty of off street parking in the car park across the road, on street parking everywhere and attentive service.

It doesn't get much better than this. Highly...

I recently had a great breakfast at Dench Cafe in Fitzroy North. We ordered the Brunch Buddha Bowl, the Dench breaky board special, a Hot cross bun, a Peanut butter jelly smoothie and coffees. Everything we ordered came out beautifully plated.

The Brunch Buddha bowl was a bowl of goodness. Featuring tabouli, spinach, roasted cauliflower, roasted tomatoes, smashed avocado, pickled zucchini, a soft boiled egg, salsa and beetroot pesto it was colourful, fresh and healthy. My friend highly enjoyed it.

I had the Dench breaky board special which comes with a basil & coconut panna cotta, a potato & herb rosti, scrambled eggs with jalapeño & chives, chorizo and a pear & roquette salad. I enjoyed each of the components of the breaky board and thought everything worked well together. The hint of basil in the panna cotta nicely balanced out the sweetness. The great thing about a breakfast board is you get to try a little bit of everything, it’s the perfect way to have something sweet and savoury.

In addition to an extensive breakfast and lunch menu, Dench Cafe also sell a great range of breads and pastries. I noticed plenty of regulars making purchases whilst I was there and I couldn’t resist ordering a hot cross bun which was delicious.

Overall I had a lovely experience at Dench Cafe and I recommend checking them out if in the area. I rate it ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ out of 5. Thanks very much...

Terrible. It took an hour this morning to get 2 coffees and one breakfast. The food only came because I went to the counter and asked for it after waiting for more than 30 minutes. The fritters were burnt on the outside and raw and soggy in the middle. The excuse for the delay was that there was only one person in the kitchen. However, there were only 4 diners in the cafe and one had not yet ordered and another had already eaten. I left without eating my meal. This is the second Monday in a row that I’ve been disappointed here. Last week they forgot my coffee order. Again when there was only 5 people in the cafe. I used to come here quite regularly, but after today I’m done. RESPONSE TO REPLY This response to my review/complaint is the most insincere and ridiculous response I’ve ever seen. To blame the terrible service and undercooked food on a “problem with the network”, whatever that means is bizarre. The kitchen is next to the front counter and there was only one person ordering food at the time (me). How in the hell do you blame the “network” for my order being forgotten and then not cooked properly...