Steam junkies is located close to 'Anstey' train station (never even heard of it) in the Coburg end of Brunswick.
There is a sliding door that you have to carefully open to enter the cafe as it looks like it will fall apart.
Large glass windows are great for letting the sunshine in but may possibly be too cold to sit next to in the winter.
It's got a warehouse feel and lots of knick knacks around the place like a scattering of random magazines, a typewriter, and small terrariums.
When we arrived, the cafe was 1/4th full with a couple leisurely reading their individual novels over a cup of coffee, a couple bickering over current affairs, and another couple digging into their meals.
Prices are quite reasonable here ranging from 9 bucks for sandwiches to 17.5 with the most expensive being 18. However, the taste and the service is average.
We had a woman walk up to us and ask us if we were ok. I was like "huh". She then said "well you've ordered?" and I said "no". And then she said "so you had drinks" and I said "no". And she said "ok". And I said "we want to order though". And she goes, "that's why I'm here". What a bizarre conversation. Why not just come up to us and ask us if we wanted any drinks to start with. Isn't that how it works. She had one job and from the cafe being nearly empty by this time, I don't understand how she did not know whether we had ordered.
The coffees were very weak. I could barely taste the caffeine.
they had run out of the lamb pearl cous cous dish which I had been eyeing so we got the salmon egg benedict and the pork hash.
The salmon egg benedict had one poached egg with a small dollop of hollandaise, a radish leafy salad, one potato croquette and lots of smoked salmon. It was very unsatisfying and the bland puree barely added any flavour. Surely, more hollandaise sauce would have helped. The potato croquette was quite dry. A nice side of a chutney would have helped.
My friend liked the glazed pork but found the potato hash bland and he had the same radish salad in his dish that I had.
They do split billing.
It's got a lazy vibe.
Heaps of parking nearby. Close to train station. But I wouldn't go back. read more