Tinker Northcote — Restaurant in Melbourne

I originally posted this;

“Ordered a meal that was described at gluten free, which when it arrived was not. DM’d the cafe to advise of their mistake and to change it. They offered a $50 voucher to rectify the mistake. It was never received. My unhappy stomach and I won’t be coming back.”

Which was in relation to a meal the advertised as gf, which my partner surprised me with, while eating I realised it contained barley, which is gluten. I dm’d Tinker to advise them privately though Instagram, and they apologised and said they would change it online (uber eats) and forward a $50 voucher. This was on 11/4/2021 (16 days ago). It was never received. Tinker responded to my review with this;

“Good afternoon Bonsai. Thanks for the review but we don't feel like it is really a relevant review of our products or our services. To address your point though, we can assure you that your voucher was posted last week to (MY PERSONAL ADDRESS REDACTED) as discussed. Should it not arrive by the end of this week, please get back in touch and I will happily organise one of the talented local rock bands to perform a concert outside your bedroom window late one night next week. Love Team Tinker.”

What a completely unprofessional and unsafe way to handle this situation, with a threat (harassment to my home) and posting my home address on the internet for the world to see. I would say my review is an incredibly relevant review of your product and services, given that I had a severe reaction to the mislabeled food you served me. I will be lodging a complaint with the police and also one with regards to you breaching my privacy. You did the wrong thing, you failed to rectify it, and when you were called out you turned nasty and completely inappropriate.

I will also be submitting a complaint to Uber eats about this restaurant and can assure you I will not be using this voucher, if it does indeed exist, as I now feel incredibly unsafe given this experience.

Tinker = empty apologies...

The team behind Tinker have got a lot of experiences in the cafe business (Legacy, Penta, and Temperance Society); They really know how to spoil and satisfy Melbournian's lifestyle through the beautiful dishes they create. It's located in the Northcote, really easy to get here by public transport or car as it has plenty street parking spaces.

The cafe was pretty spacious, wide open kitchen was at the back and coffee marker is at the front. Interior design was minimalist but very trendy. We were served by the friendly customer staffs.

To start of my brunch journey, I ordered Mocha *$4.20. The coffee was great, but not the best but it was above the average. I found that the mocha was slightly too milky, but the taste was good and still give 4.0/5.0.

For the main, I ordered Breakfast Bowl with Salmon - $22.50. It was served with cashew pesto quinoa, avocado, kale, cherry tomatoes, haloumi, yogurt, a poached eeg and pita chips. Presentation wise was really appealing and increased my appetite, it had great colour combination. It was served with the fresh smoked salmon and vegetables and the sauce used in the dish was just right amount which made me really enjoy the dish. I had the similar dish from other places and so far this one is the best. Unfortunately, I found that the poach eeg was little bit tasteless. It is not a cheap dish for a brunch dish over $20.00 but they served good quality of food.

My first impression of this cafe was good and definitely come back. They did well as what we expected before we stepped in to Tinker.

Yay: great customer service, food was great Nay: no single origin coffee, poach eeg was tasteless

Service : 4.5 Price :...

Dining in at Tinker has always been a pleasure for the few times we have visited over the years. Our last visit continued this trend and this time we got to sit out in their rear courtyard which was perfect for our sunny autumn Sunday. The menu had lots to temp us but we started with a couple of good strong coffees and another round just to help us wake up.

I felt like savoury today and something a little different so opted for the cauliflower & cheese fritters which were served with a charred cauliflower and freekah salad with a poached egg and pine nuts for texture. I snuck some bacon on the side just because! The fritters were tasty and had an excellent consistency and this was definitely a dish I’d have again. Sizeable that I didn’t really need that bacon although it was nice.

KD ordered the Toast of the Town French toast which she loved. Creamy chantilly cream toppings,rich caramel, meringue and berry compote made this a sweet treat.

While I think of it there was quite the worm farm activity going on at the back of tinker, veggie patch as well. Always...