June 18, 2011: Mister Close

Update 11/08/2022: Mister Close is now closed.

Cindy and I needed to be in the city on Saturday morning, so we decided to tackle the CBD weekend breakfast challenge. Luckily, I'd recently read this review of CBD newcomer and Saturday-trader, Mister Close. The only problem was my inability to track down a breakfast menu - I didn't want to drag Cindy in only to find a whole load of bacon-y dishes with no changes available. A quick tweet-exchange later the guys from Mister Close had popped a sample menu straight into my inbox. A promising start.

The cafe itself is tucked into a CBD office block, next to a Starbucks and giving off a kind of food-court vibe. Mister Close has done a solid job of bringing trendy cafe design to a shopping centre space with a cute logo, lots of angular style and lighting that isn't as harsh as the fluoro glare coming from outside. Things were pretty quiet at 9:30 on a Saturday morning, so we tucked ourselves into a corner and sussed out the menu. Most of the big savoury options are laced with meat, while there's a good range of smaller choices and sweet treats (we weren't game to try chocolate French toast that early in the morning). The highlight of the menu though is the spiel at the bottom, promising to 'work a bit of magic' for vegans, coeliacs and the lactose intolerant.We gave our waiter the heads up that we were vego and he fired off a range of ideas and suggestions. In the end, we just took the two dishes we most liked the look of and asked them to veg them up for us. I went for the Piece of Resistance ($18.50, crispy mashed potato cake with mushrooms (instead of bacon), spinach, poached eggs, pesto & mayo).

This was a great combo of perfectly poached eggs, chunky mushies and a potato cake with crispy edges and a soft, mash-like middle. The bread got a bit lost under everything else, but the potato cake well and truly had the carbs covered.

Cindy also went savoury: sweet corn fritters with avocado salsa, spicy beans and roasted tomatoes, with the beans and tomatoes replacing bacon and tomato chutney ($17.5 - at least this is what the menu has listed for the equivalent meaty dish, I didn't double-check exactly what we got charged).

The corn cakes were a bit more pancakey than Cindy's ideal - she likes a high kernel-to-batter ratio - but their buttery flavour won her over... especially when smeared with surprisingly perfect avocado (is it in season now?) and some spicy beans.

The Campos coffee was excellent, as was the service. We suspect that they'd quickly figured out that we were bloggers but I don't think we got any special favours - the staff seemed naturally friendly and quickly and positively rectified a mistake with an order at a table nearby ours. Mister Close seems like it's destined to succeed - if only by adding a classy cafe to an area that's densely populated by office workers and poorly served by cafes.

It's worth noting that it's not a particularly cheap place - $18.50 for brekkie is probably pushing the boundaries a little, so order more modestly than we did or save it for special occasions. Or swing by for lunch (with a menu that changes daily), when you can get a sandwich, salad and sweet for $15. I reckon we'll be giving it a shot.

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Blog-wise, only New International Students seems to have reviewed this place so far, although it was 3000's review that inspired us to check it out.

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Mister Close

Shop 13, Midtown Plaza, 246 Bourke St, CBD
9654 7778
veg brekkies $4.5 - $18.5
http://misterclose.com.au

Accessibility: Mister Close is step-free and there's plenty of space between tables. Ordering and payment happens at the table. We didn't make it to the bathrooms.