Arepa Days

April 19, 2026

 

   

 

Arepa Days has been on our wishlist since it opened, it being a sibling to Michael's beloved Sonido. (The list ticks over slowly, with Arepa Days opening back in 2018.) At long last, I found my excuse to meet up with a friend there for Sunday brunch! I love the cafe's relaxed fit-out and splashes of colour, though I'd rather more of the seats had backs. Thankfully I was in early enough to grab a bench against the wall. 

 

The name clearly indicates the features here: a daytime cafe with a menu centred on arepas. The menu is mostly gluten-free, and the arepas are also vegan when not explicitly cheese-stuffed. They can be served simply, with just cheese, butter and salt or some corn, or built up with eggs, beans, pulled beef, even black pudding. There are rice bowls, too, lots of sides to customise your plate, and an attractive little selection of sweets at the counter. 

 

   

 

I was early and cold, and started with a chai ($6.40). It was milky and not too sweet; it could have been spicier but was nevertheless lovely to nurse.

 

   

 

When it came time to eat, I went for the huevos arepa plate ($18.10) with a side of beans ($5.50). It looked a little small but proved deeply satisfying, with lots of golden scrambled eggs striped with hogao and piled onto a soft arepa, the flavourful beans dotted with feta and everything scattered with fresh coriander leaves.

 

Staff were happy to let us linger, and I would have lingered longer still if I didn't have places to be. Arepa Days was everything I anticipated.

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Arepa Days has also been reviewed by Mamma Knows North. 

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Arepa Days

25 Preston St, Preston  

food, drinks 

https://www.arepadays.com.au/

 

Accessibility: Arepa Days has a wide entry with one step up. The interior is quite crowded with furniture, mostly regular-height tables with backless stools, and some benches along the walls. We ordered and paid at a low counter. We didn't visit the toilets.

Lankan Tucker II

April 12, 2026 

 

   

 

Michael loved our first visit to Lankan Tucker, but it just wasn't conveniently located for us to make many follow-up visits. Last year Lankan Tucker shifted to Carlton, nestled within College Square and invisible from the street, but Michael got wind of it somehow. We took refuge there for lunch on a day with dreadful weather, and were warmed by the staff welcome long before the food.

 

While the menu starts with eggs and toast, it's Sri Lankan flavours from then on: lots of roti, a biriyani burrito, tacos stuffed with black pork curry, and banana leaf rice and curry. There aren't any dietary markings on the menu, but the staff seem to know their stuff.

 

   

 

Michael relished the vegetarian version of kotthu roti ($26), a warming toss-up of shredded roti, veges and egg flavoured with soy sauce and chilli, nicely charred around the edges and garnished with curry leaves. It worked well with a fresh glow juice (carrot, apple and ginger, $10, pictured top). 

 

   

 

Sadly for me they were all out of Milo French toast (and now I think it's disappeared from their menu entirely!). I bounced back rapidly, having seen faluda on the menu ($10, pictured top). This one's a cheerful layering of rose syrup, milk and cream with a sprinkling of seeds, but no rival to the over-the-top versions I've previously enjoyed at Savour and Maalu Maalu. More unique was the veg pan roll ($7, pictured above), subtitled "the much cooler cousin of the sausage roll": here a warm vegetable curry is wrapped in a crepe, crumbed and deep-fried. The shell reminded me more of a Chiko roll, though it was much better, with this roll offering greater sophistication in its textures and flavours. No sauce needed!

 

   

 

Lankan Tucker are also doing quite a line in take-home products, from T-shirts to preserves, tea and ready-made meals.

 

It was so nice to be back at Lankan Tucker after so many years. Though they're tucked away, they've remained front of mind and I've already been back for another faluda-pan roll lunch! 

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You can also read about our previous visit to Lankan Tucker at its original location. Since then, its Brunswick West incarnation was reviewed on Melbourne Vita, Good Food, Good Karma, and Whatever Floats Your Bloat. 

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Lankan Tucker

570 Lygon St, Carlton

8000 3929 

food, drinks 

https://www.lankantucker.com/

 

Accessibility: Lankan Tucker has a flat entry and a heavy door. Furniture is medium spaced, mostly regular height tables and backed chairs. There is one large table located up two steps, and one large high table with backed metal seats. We ordered at our table and paid at a high bar. 

Masses Bagels

April 11, 2026 

 

   

 

Michael's been visiting Masses Bagels regularly with his run club and telling me, often, how much he thinks I'd like it. It took many months before we made use of an errand in Richmond to breakfast at Masses together on the way through.

 

The setting is a little stark, with brushed metal surfaces, concrete floors, and low-height backless seating. At least the staff make up for it in warmth! The bagels distinguish themselves by being wild fermented, and they're probably the thinnest, crispiest bagels I've experienced. There are also gluten-free bagels available (acknowledging the flour contamination risk), quark-based cream cheese and a cashew-based vegan alternative.

 

For eating in, there's an array of 'bagel tartines', most of which have a vegetarian option, and a few of which have vegan options. Michael loved the balance of the egg gribiche topping ($17), which is richly dressed, and cut through with gherkins, tarragon, chive and capers.  

   

 

After considering the couple of sweet options (honey, peach and lemon verbena jam with quark), I swerved savoury and ordered the pickled green tomato ($18.50), which comes with parmesan cream, fermented hot honey and mustard leaves. The acidity of the tomatoes offset the bagels nicely, but the parmesan cream that I was eagerly anticipating didn't really shine through. My choice to drink an orange juice ($8) just dialled up the acidity further.

 

Masses Bagels wasn't precisely what I expected, but it was a nice time and I'm curious to try more. Given his frequency of visits, you'll be better off asking Michael for tartine recommendations in the meantime. 

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Masses Bagels

5 Smith St, Fitzroy

menu 

https://www.massesbagels.com.au/

 

Accessibility: There is a flat entry and clear path to the low counter. Furniture is a mixture of low tables with backless small stools and milk crates. We ordered and paid at the counter. We couldn't see any sign of a toilet.  

Knafeh Nabulseyeh

April 9, 2026 

 

   

 

Trying knafeh has been on my wish list for several years, and I finally made it happen at Knafeh Nabulseyeh in Coburg, after I had a medical appointment in the area. This modest cafe focuses on serving knafeh in the tradition of Nablus, Palestine, and it also offers tea and coffee, baklava, falafel, shawarma and chips.

 

Knafeh can be bought one slice at a time, by the plate and by the kilo (!), in both coarse and fine (kataifi/shredded pastry) varieties. I made my debut with one slice of the coarse style ($10.90), which was heated up to order and topped with syrup. The base layer of cheese was dense and springy, contrasting with the golden crunch of the pastry, and crushed pistachios added a fun stripe of colour to the top. the knafeh was rich and comforting, though I might have liked a pinch more salt in the flavour profile. I should have ordered a cup of tea, but made do diluting the sweetness with water.

 

Skipping out on knafeh that day would have saved me from getting absolutely smashed with rain on the cycle home, but I had no regrets - this was an afternoon tea to remember, and to revisit.

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Knafeh Nabulseyeh

442 Sydney Rd, Coburg

9569 4085

https://knafehnabulseyeh.com.au/

 

Accessibility: There is a step up on entry and an open area leading to the counter. Furniture is densely packed around the walls, with regular height tables, backed chairs and benches. I ordered and paid at a low counter. I didn't visit the toilets.

The Sporting Club Hotel V

April 8, 2026 

 

   

 

The Sporting Club Hotel was listed in the 2006 Cheap Eats guide, then became the Charles Weston around 2015, and has since reverted back to the Sporting Club name. Cheap Eats described it as "a bit like your best mate's lounge room", which was reasonably accurate. Some of my mates' lounge rooms have had upgrades since 2006, as has the Sporting Club, but the simile doesn't really fit any more. We first visited in 2011, moved closer a couple of years later, and have since stopped in several dozen times, I'd guess - it was our go-to casual hang-out spot in the 2010s.

 

   

 

In 2006 Cheap Eats mentioned chicken parmigiana and lamb shanks, but by 2011 the menu was more of a tapas-and-tacos situation. But I reckon vege burgers are one of the better ways to track a pub's trajectory. In 2012, the $20 portobello mushroom burger that Michael ordered earned howls in the comments for being too expensive. A year later, I mentioned the $16 crumbed haloumi burger, which I went on to order many, many times (raised to $18 in 2015) - it was beloved. At some point, it got switched for a vegan-friendly tofu burger, which I declined to try for several years in my haloumi grief, and then learned was actually also very good. The pub's food experienced a post-COVID dip, and then it had its makeover, and the Southern fried enoki burger with cheese and slaw ($26, pictured above) arose. This burger made a positive impression on Michael on our most recent visit - crispy, chewy and savoury.

 

   

 

Much as I did on our first blogged visit, I flitted around the sides list. The wombok, snowpea, mint and feta salad ($14) was fun, fresh and very finely chopped. What looked like raw red onion (which I detest) was actually radish, with the additional purple on top most likely sumac. The vegan-friendly roast potatoes with garlic and rosemary ($14) were unexpectedly served with the garlic and rosemary forming a viscous green goo all over the spuds. While weird to look at, it tasted brilliant, with the potatoes having been cooked to a rich golden brown before they were dressed.

 

The current Sporting Club Hotel isn't our favourite incarnation of the pub, but it's still a pretty good one. I've no doubt we'll continue to pop in for years to come, even if it no longer feels like a second lounge room. 

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You can read 2011, 2012 and 2013 posts about the Sporting Club Hotel, a 2015 post about the Charles Weston iteration, and then a 2025 post about the Sporting Club reversion. 

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Sporting Club Hotel 

27 Weston St, Brunswick 

9996 1869 

food, drinks 

https://sportingclubhotel.au/ 

 

Accessibility: The Sporting Club Hotel has a flat standard-width entry, an even wider flat entry directly to the beer garden, and plenty of space inside. There's table service in many areas, with ordering and payment also possible at the bar, which in our experience can be very loud. It's been a while since we visited the toilets; back then they were easy to get to but were just ordinary sized cubicles split by gender.