If you’re a freelancer, self-employed or a writer, you’ll know the importance of finding the perfect café to simply sit in for an afternoon and type, whilst guzzling cup after cup of coffee. Melbourne has an incredibly large café scene, which should make it easy to find somewhere great to settle – in theory, but in reality being spoilt for choice often means we don’t know where to pick. So if you like your coffee just right and your atmosphere inspiring yet tranquil, here are the best places in the city for you to work.
Perhaps the most well-known working haven in the city is 1000 Pound Bend on Little Lonsdale Street, but it’s for good-reason that it’s famed among the freelancing community. This former motorcycle repair garage-turned warehouse-style coffee shop is laid back and entertaining at the same time. In fact, it’s actually a combined café, exhibition and cinema, so there’s plenty to entertain (or distract) you when you want to take a break to stretch your legs. The décor is both fresh and modern but with a romantic twist, the perfect setting for productivity, and you can simply slump into one of the mismatched vintage chairs and make camp there for the day. Find delicious coffee here as well as a sizzling hot food menu to keep you going. You can even park your bike in their indoor holding area.
But if you’re looking for something more off the beaten track, try Flipboard in the foyer of Brolly Studios instead. This place is tiny, just five square metres or so inside, but they use their space incredibly well – and the nooks and crannies make for the most private workspaces in which to hide. Finds rows of cupboards outside that open up into sitting booths and flip-down wall panels inside where you can sit and take in the ambiance, as well as small platforms with further seating on them upstairs. And even with all the privacy of your own pop-up (or flip-down) office space, you can enjoy some of the best coffee in the city which, for once, isn’t too bitter or too sharp.
If you’d rather sit alfresco, which visitors to the city often do, there’s a range of perfect cafés for this too. Aside from the classic haunts of the lane-ways, try the Station Street Trading Co. near North Port train station. Less hipster and more down to earth, this heritage street corner cottage has comfortable outdoor seating under a verandah on the footpath near the park, so you get the best of tranquillity and bustling city inspiration at the same time. The main reason this makes the list of best spots has to be the food, though, as their delicious smoked salmon salad of capers, zucchini, rocket, poached egg and fennel jam is divine, and there’s a range of other options to nibble on all day long. The coffee isn’t bad, either, coming from the wonderfully nutty beans of Sydney’s Allpress.
For something completely different but entirely inspiring, go off the beaten track in St Kilda to the Community Gardens, also known as ‘Veg Out’. Grab a takeaway coffee from Fitzrovia around the corner and pre-load your webpages on your laptop before entering into this natural, unspoilt wonderland. The gardens are the quietest place that I’ve found so far in the city, save for the peaceful sound of the birds in the trees, and if you walk along the path you’ll find a set of comfy tables and chairs under a verandah, where you can sit for hours without being pressured into buying something from pushy café staff. The place is full of life and in your entire time you might just see one or two humans pruning or pottering around the lots, who’ll simply smile at you and maybe even offer you a basil sandwich (you’ve got to see it to believe it). The perfect place to cure your writer’s block.
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