The Kitchen — Restaurant in Melbourne

Outstandingly tasty and refreshing menu, happy and confident staff with an amazingly unique and relaxed décor. So lets break it down:

Atmosphere: What a great little place! Nice Maître D’ serving station when you entre; however considering the space, it seems a little bulky and takes away from the open café like open seating area. It has an eclectic feel but it works with the brick-work and the big bay windows provide an amazing natural light and gives the front serving tables an amazingly warm feel. I haven’t been to a place that offers mix of a café, lounge and outdoor serving but this place just makes it work and uses the space brilliantly. Well done! Plus – who ever was responsible for that playlist in the background – great choice in background music! 😊

Customer Service: Couldn’t fault it! It was outstanding! Greeted respectfully at door, shown to our reserved table with chilled water already on the table, along with menus and drinks menu prepared. Order was taken within 5-10 minutes, entrée served within 10 minutes, mains about 10 minutes after. We were asked after our food and the plates were cleared timely and professionally. Every one of the staff, were so well mannered, charming and seemed so happy to be there. Really made the experience.

Food: Entrée: Mushroom Bruschetta (split between two); Mains: Chicken Parma and the Confit Pork Belly (chef special) 2 non-alcoholic drinks Average $30 per person – with entrée – more for chef specials and alcoholic drinks

Mushroom Bruschetta – It was hard not to select some of the other entrees but this was a perfect split entrée for 2 people. It had beautifully rich flavour, vegan egg (new experience for me) and the balsamic vinegarette was just light enough compliment the dish. Chicken Parma – Excellent! Nicely smoked ham, cooked perfectly, wasn’t over-crumbed and was not an over bearing size. In saying that, you didn’t feel like you were short changed on the dish at all. Additionally, you have to try these chips! They were so light, fluffy but crisp – I almost re-order them by themselves! Confit Pork Belly – As much as I was hesitant that pineapple caramel was the sweetener in this dish, it worked so amazingly well. More to the point, when mixing the pineapple, asparagus, rice, pickled radish and pork belly together is was such a great mix of flavours not normally found in the regular household. Outstanding!

Overall: I was researching places in Rye to visit and the recommendations here are extremely well deserved. Definitely give this place a try, we walked away overwhelmingly satisfied. I believe you...

Loved it here. It’s in the running for the best breakfast/brunch place on the peninsula, in my view.

I’d been keen to go to The Kitchen for ages. It is such a lovely stylish looking place from the street. And so it is inside. It’s a pleasant and warm cafe restaurant that is very nicely fitted out. There’s two good outside areas here too, one at the front and one at the back.

We were a party of four today. Two of us including me went for the Big Benny. I’ve rarely made a wiser meal choice. It’s the big brekkie basically, but an unusually classy one. It’s a cracking dish. First, it has perfectly cooked eggs, two of them, with a nice hollandaise sauce and a touch of greenery. Plus, two very good slices of good bread well toasted. Few things make me unhappier than single eggs and single slices of toast. Great to see they don’t do that here. Nice tomato, very good mushrooms as well. Very good bacon too. But the coup de gras with this dish is a good wedge of high quality chorizo. Best chorizo I’ve tasted for a while. It was utterly delicious with such a good spice kick. This was a very satisfying dish overall.

Out two other companions had the avocado smash and the bacon sandwich. Both dishes were very well received.

We were given complimentary slices of Turkish delight just before our concluding coffees. My coffee was a beauty. Warm, creamy and absolutely flavoursome and delicious.

The service was lovely here today. Generally efficient and nicely warm at times.

A couple of concluding comments. They have a lovely looking drinks list here some good local wines and beers with excellent descriptions. It was also good to be encouraged to visit local breweries.

We enjoyed it here very much. This was a very very good brunch. The quality at The Kitchen is evident. The cafe is as good as most places I’ve been to in the hipster drenched inner suburbs of Melbourne. We will be back for sure.

(PS - the Zomato score of 3.2 at the time of writing is...

The atmosphere and coffee were the most redeeming qualities of our visit on a rainy Saturday (26/7) morning. The café had a warm, cozy vibe, complemented by live music that added to the overall ambience.

Unfortunately, the service left much to be desired. After being seated, we were seemingly forgotten. We had to ask for menus, and after waiting another 20 minutes with no further interaction, we had to flag down a staff member just to place our order.

We ordered the “Canadian Breakfast,” the Almond Coconut Porridge, and two coffees. The coffee was truly exceptional — generous in size and perfectly made. My friend even remarked that it was one of the best coffees she’s ever had.

Breakfast, however, was a bit of a letdown. While both dishes tasted great, the porridge was disappointingly cold — not ideal for what’s usually a comforting, warming dish on a chilly winter morning. The pancakes in the “Canadian Breakfast” were delicious and worked really well with the meal. The surprise came with the bacon: thick slabs more reminiscent of ham steak than the "streaky" bacon described on the menu. This unexpected twist threw off the balance of the dish. A note indicating it’s "thick-cut bacon" would have been appreciated — I likely would have opted out had I known.

Staff didn’t check in during the meal or ask how everything was when clearing our plates. We noticed other tables, likely locals or regulars, receiving much more attentive service — being offered water without asking and engaged in friendly conversation. The contrast was noticeable.

In summary, while the café’s ambience and coffee stood out, there’s definitely room for improvement when it comes to service and menu clarity. Some of the other dishes we saw looked great, so perhaps we just caught an off moment — but unfortunately, our overall experience didn’t quite live up to the initial promise of...