In the streets of Brunswick, we stumbled across Neon Beatniks
If you take a little walk down Glenlyon Road between Sydney Road and Lygon Street, this little residential street is going to surprise you. While visiting local upholstery guru John, we stumbled across
Richard, could you tell us how Neon Beatniks came about?
This is my wife, Kirsten and I’s second born child. We have another cafe over in Fairfield, Kirsten has been doing this forever but usually for other people and we decided it was time to do it for ourselves. A year into our first cafe we saw this site in Brunswick and we fell in love with it. We wanted to be off the main strip, we both follow the Melbourne Cafe scene closely, we always get a bit of kick from the places off the beaten track. We have now been open for a year and a half.
What do you love about being in a neighbourhood like this?
It’s cool to see a building, we like that it is a stand-alone building. We are customer orientated and want to have a close relationship with our customers, having the cafe more on its own allows us the opportunity to do that.
Obviously, you have a passion for coffee, what coffee do you use here and what coffee do you drink?
We use Symmetry Coffee Roasters, we love their coffee, and they have been really supportive of us. Their coffee is a single origin filter. We know coffee is important in Melbourne and we wanted to step it up. I drink a double espresso with honey, some people stick their nose up at the honey but I love it, strong short and black.
Could you talk a little about your menu?
We work really closely with our chefs, I’m a keen cook myself and I have worked in commercial kitchens. The main thing for us is that every dish tastes freaking awesome, while some of our dishes may not look Instagram friendly, we aren’t just about eating with your eyes, it’s all about flavour. We try not to be pigeonholed as one style of food, we have a mixture of Asian inspired food to Middle Eastern. It’s a brunch menu. All our dishes are considered brunch, we believe the places that do food well are the ones that think about it, it’s not just about adding poached egg for the Instagramable breakfast. We are a cafe that focuses on multiple aspects, what’s the point of having good coffee if your food doesn’t taste nice.
What’s one of the favourite dishes on the menu?
We have had a dish from the start called the Kimchi bowl, we can not take it off the menu, it has such a strong following. Its organic wild black rice, Korean chilli paste, seasonal Asian greens, twice cooked pork belly two fried eggs and some deep fried enoki. It’s just a heart warmer, really big on flavour, everyone loves it.
If you are after good coffee, good food and customer service that feels personal, go for a walk down Glenlyon Road and drop into Neon Beatniks, Richard, Kirsten and their team will welcome you. Come for brunch, the food is too good to miss.