MiddleSouthEast — Restaurant in Melbourne

What a stunning and unique cafe in the heart of South Yarra. Middle South East does modern Australian food with a Middle Eastern Twist. I was immediately greeted with a warm, welcoming environment. This is something that shouldn’t be taken for granted as it often is due to the passion and commitment of the amazing staff. In addition to this, we were able to make use of the outdoor seating due to the fabulous outdoor heaters. A cafe that is adaptable for all seasons in Melbourne, immediately gets a gold star in my books.

For lunch I chose to go for a staple dish. The “Sahtein’ Super Food Salad’ . This comes with kale leaves, ditched carrots, quinoa grains, buckini & almond crumble, chilli corn salsa, broccolini, sugar snap peas, avocado, hummus & poached egg. It was fresh, crunchy, and packed full of flavour. I especially loved both the fresh, sweet sugar snap peas and the creamy hummus that complemented each other divinely.

My first brunch partner went for the ‘Eastern Patties’ which consisted of sweet potato and chickpea patties, bacon, grilled halloumi cheese, araak tomato with poached eggs and herb zhug sauce. He was pleasantly surprised that something that looked so simple could pack so much flavour. The patties were a highlight and were extremely flavourful.

My other friend went for the ‘OHMY’ salad. How could you pass it up with a name like that. It was a combination of Middle spiced chicken, roasted pumpkin and cauliflower, with ancient grains and seeds, pickled carrot and cucumber, tossed in a secret tahini dressing. Just like the super food salad, it was fresh and complex in its flavours. It definitely left us walking away satisfied and wanting to come back to try more.

Drinking a long black, I loved the smooth texture. While one of the others ordered the ‘Thirst quencher’ juice (watermelon, lemon, orange). A refreshing way to wash down the delicious food.

I don’t think I can really fault this experience at Middle South East. Lovely staff, amazing food and an overall stunning experience. It is definitely on my list...

Updated Review

After a horrible first experience, we were contacted by Mais to come down and experience the true values of his cafe. Needless to say from entry to service to leaving, we were left astounded by the hospitality provided. Mais has spent so much time and effort to develop his business into a treasure, on par with a 5 star hotel.

Upon entry, the cafe was completely full (Sunday midday) we waited around 5 minutes to be seated. Upon seating Michael served us immediately with some coffees. We got almond flatwhites which were some of the best flatwhites we have had, soon we ordered our food. We got.. 2x freshly squeezed juices (absolutely fantastic and refreshing, nothing overpowered anything and the ratios were perfection) 1x soup of the day to share (today was a pumpkin soup with garlic bread, delicious! Plenty of herbs, chilli oil all swirled in to elevate the dish. It was rich, creamy and thick just how a soup should be for a cold winter day) 1x Seafood Risotto (huge portion, marvellous and superb! A pleasant tomato base with a splash of white wine make a amazing combination especially with seafood. The seafood was very generous for a $29 dish, when I say huge, I really do mean huge scallops, prawns and calamari provided. The calamari was real and fresh, tender and juicy) 1x Special: Lamb Pillaf recommended by Michael (super amazing and delicious, the rice was full of herbs and nuts to give you a flavourful punch in the mouth. Lamb was perfection, tender and juicy throughout, cooked to perfection)

Mais has put a lot of thought into his food menu and the chefs, waiters and waitresses and baristas all know their role and how to execute like professionals. Although we had a horrible first experience, I'm thankful that Mais reached out, so we could experience his expertise in hospitality. He and his business deserve this updated 5 star review, and we definitely will be coming back in the near future for more amazing experiences.

Kind...

Middle South East originally opened as en Vogue cafe when Vogue apartments and retail were completed in 2012. It is at the entry to the Vogue Plaza mini-mall with Woolworths and one-stop shopping for everything.

The enormous popularity of this cafe has not been taken for granted by it's hands-on dedicated owners. There is 2nd generation restaurant experience here. It has had a total renovation of interior and menu. Coffee is so perfect that there are 2 large machines speedily serving queues for in-house, outdoor and take-away.

A third machine serves an outdoor coffee section. Outside radiators above and no comfort spared. Acoustics are excellent indoors. You can actually have conversations!! 😀 Quiet tables for one or two surround family size meal tables.

Newspapers to enjoy, free wifi and friendly staff who remember your regular orders. The atmosphere and food looks and feels Middle-South-East. Shakshouka or quinoa porridge equally outstanding. Coffee even better than their generous smoothies. The owners prepare menus and supervise. The cakes and deli bar are supplemented by sublime breakfast and lunch menus. Large, healthy, original and tasty breakfasts.

Have lived upstairs since Vogue opened in 2012 so have followed all the changes. It's common to find visiting stars of film, tennis, grand prix and anyone from Channel 10 studios next door at Como all regulars at Middle South East.

Middle South East is as far from the Yarra on Chapel St as the better known Top Paddock. From the elegant bridge you can choose to walk 2 minutes north into Top Paddock in Richmond or 2 minutes south to Middle South East in South Yarra.

I like to invite friends to coffee where we can actually converse, the music is soothing and not nerve-fraying, they can park at Big W on site and get their shopping done at the same time. For these reasons alone I would choose it over Top...