Dukes Coffee Roasters + Brother Baba Budan

Tuesday, 22 January 2013

Dukes Coffee Roasters + Brother Baba Budan - Walking in My Shoes

Following my stop at LuxBite in South Yarra we walked 2.2km through the heart of Prahran via Chapel Street and found the entrance to Dukes Coffee Roasters near High Street on the border of Windsor. Summer, Sunday mornings and televised cricket matches have encouraged me to eat a balanced breakfast mainly in order to prepare myself to scream and shout about Micheal Clarke's frivolities as he runs between wickets in the afternoon so this seemed to be a suitable stop.

I was rather hungry by the time I got to Windsor by foot. I knew that Dukes was a popular place and a bit of a haunt for the locals in the area however I was very pleased that people were not spilling out of the restaurant and onto the footpath and ecstatic that there were a few seats free. I was even happy to take up residence at one of the communal tables near the front of the place in order to keep an eye on the wayward souls that roam Chapel Street however the newspaper and the attentive service would ultimately thwart my nosiness.

Quietly happy that the morning had evolved into the afternoon and despite Dukes offering an all-day breakfast on the weekends (they close at 4:00 PM) I got stuck into the lunch menu. Secretly I was pleased that I did not have adhere to best practices for my body and instead ordered a Cuban pulled pork sandwich and some coffee.

The name of the business says it all. Besides selling food and drink, they also produce coffee and flog bags of beans. The wood and steel industrial ambiance with exposed ceilings and the benefit of air conditioning provides a working backdrop when you visit and the fresh flowers scattered on various tables is a nice touch.

Although the place remained consistently busy with a soundtrack playing that was barely audible over the buzz, the service operated like a well maintained BMW M3. You get the pleasure of making the acquaintance of multiple members of service as each one apparently serves a specific role. One fills water, one takes your order, one delivers beverages, one delivers food and a different one will bring the bill. The last time I saw so many people attend to our needs, which frankly were quite basic and banal, was at Jacques Reymond.

Everything fit into place and was good enough that I would stop around if I am in the area again to reacquaint myself with service and their coffee. Although Dukes has alcohol on offer, we decided to suppress our thirst and instead retreat to the Lucky Coq Bar, which is a few metres away instead.

On the topic of coffee, although it was not a destination on this epic wander around our great city, yesterday I found the most interesting place that sells the best coffee in the Melbourne CBD in quite some time. Although I am a fan of Toby's Estate and now Dukes Coffee Roasters for that matter, Seven Seeds are flogging their beans at Brother Baba Budan on Little Bourke Street near Exhibition Street. It is a small shop and not really suitable to having a meeting or doing any business but hipsters and students have found a way to hang out there. Chairs dangle from the ceiling and there is a steady flow of traffic ordering what is perhaps the most intriguing tasting coffee that I have experienced yet in a very indie setting. The person that I was with ordered an iced coffee and said that it is the best one that he had the opportunity to enjoy in Melbourne. Regardless, Brother Baba Budan is worth a visit if you are in the CBD and need a hit of caffeine. The details for this place are at the conclusion of this post.