Wednesday, April 24, 2013

East Elevation II

Edit 02/01/2021: East Elevation is no longer trading as a cafe, but is available as a function venue.

April 18, 2013


East Elevation has already impressed us with their excellent breakfast menu, so their promise of a fortnightly ping-pong night with gua bao had me very enthused. The ping-pong setup is pretty sweet, especially if you get there early. We took control of the table and got about an hour of play in before other enthusiasts turned up and wanted a piece of the action. There's a ready supply of bats and plenty of balls (which came in handy as we shanked balls into unreachable parts of the cafe as we warmed up).

In between rallies we chowed down on some food - they've got a selection of four gua bao, including two vegetarian options. They're all $6, and Cindy and I ordered one each of the mushroom and silken tofu bao. 


These are pretty great (and both are almost certainly vegan) - fresh doughy wrappers stuffed with coriander, carrot and deliciousness. There are sides of pickled greens, crispy fried shallots and a great chilli sauce. The deep-fried tofu filling was the pick (of course) but both were excellent. I was worried that $6 was going to be a bit pricy for bao, but these were a good size and two was plenty to fuel an evening of high level ping-pong.


The whole night is a bit strange - the airy lightness of the cafe atmosphere becomes a bit warehousy and clubby. The vibe they're shooting for is Berlin ping-pong bar - they're even offering Club Mate cocktails ($8). Drinks are cheap, the music's pumping and we were a bit shocked to see people dancing by 8:30. Hardcore.


The East Elevation ping-pong nights are the first and third Thursdays of each month, so you have to plan ahead. But it's worth swinging by, particularly if you're a lover of both bao and the fine art of table tennis.

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East Elevation
351 Lygon Street, Brunswick East
9380 4915
veg bao $6 each
facebook page

Accessibility: Excellent. A ramp on entry, lots of space and a dedicated disabled toilet. Things are a bit dim in the evenings (particularly once the DJ turns up). We ordered and paid at a low-medium counter, and food was brought to our table.

12 comments:

  1. I went here recently for breakfast and had a really bad service experience. My friend and I left before our coffees came out (which had been about a 30 minute wait). I understood that they were busy, but the guy was so rude to us. I will never go back.

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    1. Hi Anon - thanks for sharing your experience. Hopefully it was an unluckly rarity, we've always received good service there (but maybe a slow coffee or two).

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  2. I grew up playing ping pong with my brother. I'd love this. Except with dessert, instead of bao... ;)

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    1. Hi Hannah! Michael's ping pong experience goes way back too. And I'm with you on the dessert. At the moment the closest they have is hot chocolate with rum. It counts only because they make it with actual high-cocoa-content chocolate. ;-)

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  3. $8 cocktails and ping pong? Think I'm sold!

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    1. You should definitely try it out, Ashley. :-)

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  4. Tried popping in here on Anzac day but they weren't accepting bookings.. Showed up, 10+ people already waiting for tables! Normally that kind of excites me but I was already too hungry and impatient. Will have to try again another time, it definitely looks good :)

    Nat x

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    1. Hey Nat! I didn't realise they'd become so popular in the morning. Good for them. Not so much for us, I hate queuing for my first meal of the day too. ;-)

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    2. Oh, yeah - especially 'round breakfast/brunch time!

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