With many of us hesitant to get out of our pyjamas and back into CBD offices, we need motivation in any form we can get. With Rustica’s latest CBD spot, that motivation comes in the form of specialty coffee, signature pastries, excellent grab-and-go food for busy city workers and a beautiful space to escape from the office.
Anyone familiar with the competitive Melbourne café scene has likely come across one of Rustica’s other successful locations including Chapel St, Highpoint, Melbourne Central or the Rialto Towers. At this latest outpost, a distinctively inventive menu (which we have come to expect from Rustica) includes offerings such as grilled peaches with basil, prosciutto di parma and stracciatella cheese with olive sourdough. One of the menu highlights is the avocado with charred corn, Mexican furikake, lime labneh, and grilled halloumi with seedy sourdough. If you need something a little more substantial to get you through the day, go for the buttermilk fried chicken burger with Korean hot sauce, aioli, pickles and cabbage slaw on a milk bun.
And because café royalty merits a prominent location, you will find the fifth Rustica venue on the busy corner of Little Collins and Queen Street. As with its predecessors, the new venue excels in its design and furnishings, with long-term collaborating architect Fiona Drago taking responsibility for the striking fit-out. Taking inspiration from the 'Gothic Bank' occupying the other corner of the precinct, Drago somehow manages to make Venetian gothic colours and details seem not-at-all out of place, with a deep red marble counter and tessellated floor tiles grounding the space.
The new corner location is serving its own retail brand First Love Coffee, with six different blends rotating monthly. If coffee wasn’t your first love, it surely is at least your most dependable. And if your first love is coffee, pastry must surely be your second. You will not be disappointed with the Rustica regulars on offer – Ferrero French crullers, Portuguese tarts and Iced VoVo brioche doughnuts.
Looking for more places for your daily cup of joe? Check out our round-up of the best cafes in Melbourne.
