The Kettle Black

La place m’avait été référée par une journaliste de la Presse. Très business mais mes enfants ont été bien accueillis. Le service etait impeccable et que dire des plats… Juste Wow. J’ai opté pour les champignons sur toast qui m’ont fait pensé à une entrée que je privilégiais au Trois petits bouchons. Mon copain a pris le hotcake juste visuellement c’était sublime. Un pudding chômeur réinventé format déjeuner qui aurait été suffisant pour 2! Un peu comme le Regine a Montréal mais une petite coche au dessus ;)

Highly recommend this place! There is a great atmosphere — it’s a little white house kind of stuck between big buildings — a bit of old in a lot of new. Very cute.
The staff is super friendly and willing to help.
And the food… Amazing !
They are known for their hotcake and it didn’t disappoint! Super yummy!
I had the burrata with the herloom tomatoes too — and it was just lovely. I «know my burrata» and I can tell you that the one they use was a good one!
We were 7 and didn’t wait as long as we thought we would — we were put on a great table outside. It was just perfect.
Coffee was good too!

The service from staff are great. They do their best to ensure you don’t have to get out of your seat. From the moment you sit down, the staff ensure you have a drink in your hand and our meal was served really quickly as well. I highly recommend this café.

I came here again with friends who were visiting from out of town and insisting to go.
As I said last time I was not floored, and was even more underwhelmed this time around.
I just don’t see the hype. I much prefer my locales like Oscar Cooper in Prahran or such. Much more simple, basic, and there isn’t the waiting on the sidewalk pretension nor high prices etc.
A lot of the food menu items, whilst daring on paper, don’t really meet expectation or wow, sort of as mentioned before.
As my experience with Top Paddock, I’d only return if a friend insisted, but I’d be unwilling.
Personally, now that I’m a bit more experienced living in Melbourne, they strike me as tourist trappy. Although I’ve only tried Kettle Black and Top Paddock to date.

The best brunch I’ve had in Australia to date! Well worth the wait!
My boyfriend ordered the bean with basil pesto and chorizo with a side of bacon. The mix of ingredients was a combination of unexpected awesomeness (direct quote from Pete). This hearty dish surpassed all expectations!
Although the bacon was only a side it was worthy of being a main. It was one giant piece of ¼″ meat and tasted like a suckling pig cooked over a camp fire. The smoky flavour made my taste buds scream for more.
I ordered the coconut chia with fruit, rose petals, and maple syrup. The layering of flavours in this dish was spectacular! Bite after bite, I loved every bit of this dish.
This eatery should definitely be on everyone brunch list.

I have to give all the stars I have to these guys. They’re doing a good job. This must be the one of the best places I’ve been to in Melbourne. I had scrambled eggs with feta and avocado. Everything tasted fresh and delicious. One bad thing about this place is that is so PACKED all the time and you might have to wait outside for a while to get a table. I like the interior design, it’s relaxing and the coffee I had was good. The staff is quick and smiling all the time.

Go to southbank to have lunch in a rainy day, not very far from victoria warrack, very beautiful white house. hotcake cake with ricotta is cover with many colourful flowers (of cause edible) and x-​berries, which are all my favorite .the plate is big enough for sharing with 3 people, hot and sweet taste is very irresistible for a sweet stomach! and the latte is also awesome except the art is art bit mass when presented.

This is my 2^nd visit to Kettle Black. The first visit I had their amazing and prettiest looking hot cakes. This time around, I had the tataki ocean trout with kale salad. It is the most amazing ocean trout I have ever had. I really took my time eating this dish as I didn’t want to finish it so quickly. Although there may be many dish that I would like to try on the menu, I think the next time I am back, I would like to have this again.

Walked 8 blocks and waited 30 minutes and it definitely worth the wait! Absolutely delicious!

These are one of those places where the not so cultured tend to flock to grab a sense of culture. I won’t deny it, it’s a beautiful setting. The façade, being heritage listed, couldn’t be demolished leading the architect to design around and above the façade. Although this is a typical response to heritage listed facades, the architects decision to juxtapose the old and new in a clash of ages, allows the design to stand out among the rest.
Sadly, now to the food. The expectations were set high after hearing so much about it and hence were hardly met. The food is experimental for the sake of experimenting, the café seems to be engrained with the concept of ‘less is bore’ as opposed to ‘quality over quantity’. Nothing stands out that any other café around the city strives to achieve and sometimes it feels as though the chef didn’t quite think the combinations through; in attempting the wow factor it achieves the pretentious factor instead. Missing the point entirely of fresh, light, pleasing food.
This café is simply for the crowds seeking a bit of the cultural flair, which sadly it does well to imitate. It’s worth a visit simply for the architecture, but if you’re there for the food head into the city instead and find yourself one of the many arcades with good food and vibrant atmosphere, something along the lines of ca de vin.

Beautiful space, beautiful coffee and perhaps the most instagrammed dishes in all of Melbourne. Even the staff are Instagram worthy in their cute little hipster wear.
Having been a passerby customer and utilising the outdoors coffee cart multiple times, I felt it was time to step in and try the amazing menu for myself. Yes the coffee was great. When it arrived. For a Monday afternoon it was a bit odd having to wait 25mins for two lattes.
Despite it being late afternoon we opted for a breakfast menu. I was rather sad to see my toast arrive burnt and with super cute little jars. The jars of butter and jam made me happy. Burnt toast didn’t. My companion had a slightly better serving of toast and eggs. We asked twice for butter as he was being indulgent but it never showed up.
The same story with the bill. The wait staff went round and round and we asked twice. In the end we walked to the counter to pay.

No trip to the city of café lovers paradise is complete without a stop to one of their infamous café, The Kettle Black. For months, I’ve been admiring this place from afar… literally!
So when I was able to come back to Melbourne and visit my family, I knew this place is the first on my to-​eat list. I came here on a weekday morning and this place is already bustling. From the outside, the building is beautiful as it combines the Victorian era as well as the modern architecture. The interior design was also very tasteful to the eye — classy and sophisticated.
I ordered their hotcakes (with ricotta, blueberries, pure maple, double cream and seeds for $ 18) and while it took a good 30 minutes for the food to arrive, it didn’t disappoint! This was probably the most beautiful, unicorn and rainbow prettiest pancakes I’ve ever eaten! Eating it is just as pleasurable. The pancake was very moist, deep and crispy while caramelized with the maple syrup. Portion was very generous, definitely enough to share for two.
Be sure to try their drinks as well. Their hot chocolate was exquisite — It was rich, velvety and complex. The Ecuador rancho tio emilio coffee was also top notch. Overall, to me, Kettle Black was a very enjoyable Brunch experience that one must encounter when visiting Melbourne as it does café culture the best!

Staff were super friendly. Food was decent. Overall score ⁷⁄₁₀
I would definitely go back and try other dishes on the menu.

This has been on my to-​do list for a while now. I waited till I had a Monday off due to the long waits we’ve all heard about.
Staff were super friendly, helpful and welcoming. Seating me on the long bar in front of the coffee machines and brew bar. Amazing fitout with lots of white and marble with accents of gold and green. Such a fresh and pleasant change from the standard hipster café.
Menu sounded fantastic with lots of interesting dishes. I opted for the Benedict style eggs with pulled pork. Honestly, I was expecting the presentation to be a bit more interesting from other reviews. It was a fantastic dish but just lacked a wow factor. Coffee was pretty good. Upon paying I noticed a display cabinet full of amazing looking sweets. Very tempted.
My overall experience was great. Staff, fitout, food, coffee. I will be back and I will choose a more interesting dish.

Kettle Black is the bomb!!! Great food looks gorgeous and taste fresh and tasty, smart service, attentive and on point, beautiful venue/​house and coffee cart outside for express visits. The infamous hotcake is as gorgeous in real life as on Instagram ;) it’s not cheap, but generous in size and worth every penny. The special jumbo prawn on brioche is tasty and fresh. I enjoyed every minute spent at Kettle Black. It is loud here, so bring loud friends: D
Ticketed parking around but there are some non ticketed 1 hr parking as well.

Once again The Kettle Black has surpassed itself
The most innovative brunch menu in town and it caters so well for gluten free
The only downside is that you can’t book and due to it’s popularity you may have to wait over half an hour for a table
That is not an issue as you can grab a coffee from their outside coffee cart and sit in the sun and chat whilst waiting for your table
I thoroughly recommend and will definitely be back

Have been wanting to try their beautiful hotcakes since The Kettle Black opened so it was great that I could drop by on a Monday lunch to try them out, avoiding the dreaded queues.
I started off with a soy iced chocolate which I felt was too milky for my liking. More chocolate please!
Food wise I had the King Island Crayfish roll $ 21. It was amazingly light and fresh which was great with the rich brioche roll. Surely the ash is just a gimmick because I didn’t taste much difference. It beautifully contrasted the dainty colourful flowers though!
Of course I got the hotcakes and thankfully it was shared between four people as it was huge and very very rich!
This is more of a hot cake than a hotcake! Beautiful, fluffy and warm with a huge dollop of cream and fresh flowers and berries. Too gorgeous to eat? Well maybe I thought that for a second. But once I started digging in there is no stopping me!
Can’t wait to come back and try other dishes!

I’d put off visiting The Kettle Black because I’d heard about the long waits… and well let’s be honest, it’s sort of in an out-​of-​the-​way place so it wasn’t exactly the most convenient place for me to get to.
I finally had my chance when I needed to be in this part of town for an appointment and arrive at noon on a Monday to a half-​filled venue and staff eager and happy to serve. I had a limited amount of time to eat and run and they assured me that it wouldn’t be a problem. Indeed I was out the door within 40 minutes of sitting down!
I should have expected the fit out to be amazingly gorgeous, but nothing prepared me for just how beautiful the space is. I love the bright and open interior and that there’s lots of nooks and crannies, making it feel a little smaller and more intimate than it is. My only criticism of the design is that it got very noisy as the lunch service wore on and I could hardly hear my dining companion speak.
The food was lovely. We shared a fresh/​cooked mushroom dish which was simple and delicious for lovers of the funghi, along with a kingfish dish which I was told was «salady» by the waiter but really wasn’t what I had expected. It was nonetheless delicious, with ripe tomatoes, avocado chunks and crisp potato. This isn’t a cheap café option, but you pay for the extra level of service, a beautiful setting and food that is creative and quick.

The venue had been beautifully designed, pristine white walls plenty of natural light and the big round mirror that has featured on so many photos is stunning.
Arriving at 10:30 there was a queue snaking around the corner. An hour wait for a table inside but no real wait outside so we grabbed a table there near the heater. The day was mild and this was very pleasant.
We perused the menu and decided eggs were the way to go. We ordered the salmon tataki with poached eggs and the chilli scrambled eggs with feta and air dried wallaby.
The food was delicious but the service left a lot to be desired. Our coffees came after our food and the managed to get one wrong, it happens but the right one came out as an accompanied with the bill.
Wouldn’t wait an hour but for 10 – 15 min wait great local. They even have a take away coffee bar for a coffee and cake on the run.

Albert Road has the unmatched and unparallelled ability to cram the most amount
of the world’s shittiest café’s all into the one stretch of road. horrible throwbacks to the days of early 80’s of café confusion, Albert road has quite possibly the most amount of ‘Dive Café’s’. That is until kettle black came along. Finally. The Kettle black is pretty much the highest end café I’ve seen for a while and boy are those queues long. Even whilst waiting outside at the coffee stall can be busy; it resembles a small train station platform at peak hour.
Sleek Modernist interior, well presented and laid out, and the Victorian era grand terrace is almost crushed beneath the huge development that towers above it. Inside the façade of period charm has remained, including the stained glass windows, but they have taken it up a notch with the inside. Seating sprawls out over many areas. Breakfast comes in more of a modern focus, breathing new life into old classics, or even establishing new dishes. No roll your eyes it’s served everywhere big breakfasts.
The pulled pork Benedict styled eggs are quite good, and I leaning towards some of the bigger dishes as well. Filter Coffee comes in at $ 6 and is quite good. Be prepared for a wait as the kettle black is swamped by corporates, working people, mother’s clubs, joggers clubs, over privileged school children, and everyone else inbetween.

All I can say is the hype is definitely worth it! As the new brother in to Top Paddock and Two Birds One Stone, The Kettle Black maintains the ceiling-​high expectations that comes with it, but being in an absolute ripper location. Its a beautiful, old white building with plenty of history surrounded by new high-​rises, a really gorgeous setting.
The menu is amazing. Much of the offerings are obviously going to be in a similar vein to what you would find at Top Paddock. The hotcake — note the lack of an ‘s’ there — was amazing. Just the right amount of maple syrup, crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside, and homemade ricotta baked into it! Even two of us couldn’t finish it. I had the pulled pork benedict. I don’t know why I always get sucked into pulled pork, as I always leave disappointed… But The Kettle Black’s version was just about right — just flavoursome enough and not too stringy and tough.
Coffee wise, we were able to try the filter and long blacks. They too were very good! Plenty of care has clearly been taken in this department. A mix of 5 Senses, Market Lane and Small Batch are offered, which is provides very hard choices to choose between.
The only downfall probably comes as a victim of its own success — it was very busy, and that was just four days in, and I cannot see that changing. A mini cart was set up the day we were there for take aways which is a great idea — but otherwise, expect a small wait.