Lolo and Wren Cafe

I always feel a bit of pressure to show off my foodie stripes when I have visitors. Melbourne is a city known for it’s fabulous food, great coffee and local knowledge gems so when I hear that a friend is coming to town I switch on my foodie radar for some great places to take them.

Lolo and Wren is such a place.

I first heard about it when amazing pictures of fairy-garden salads drifted through my Instagram feed. Thank you social media.

Lolo and Wren sits under a small complex in the middle of a residential area in Brunswick West. The space is quite large and has obviously developed a significant local following as there were only a few tables available at lunch time on a Tuesday.

Shortly after we were seated we encountered a major problem:

Too. Much. Choice.

The menu is large and everything sounds so good. They serve a huge range of hearty sweet or savoury all-day breakfast items as well as fabulous sounding sandwiches, burgers and salads. After much deliberation and some help from the waitress we decided to share the Aphrodite Halloumi Salad (aka the fairy-garden salad) ($17) and one of the daily specials- the Open Omelette.

The Open Omelette ($22.50) started the day with smokehouse pork cheek but had been so popular they had run out, so ours came with truffled salami (we were told this upon arrival). We were not at all disappointed.

The truffled salami was amazing, nice and meaty with some lovely truffly earthiness. The omelette was studded with mushrooms and baby spinach, and dollops of cider chutney added some balanced sweetness. A side of super cheesy cheese and bacon toast ticked every single one of the comfort food boxes.

We actually could have stopped eating at this point, but this beauty beckoned…

Too pretty to eat right?

Well yes, but that’s what food photography is for 🙂 This salad is a taste sensation. The salty richness of thick slices of pan-fried halloumi is offset by crisp watermelon, sweet peach and fresh little curls of cucumber. The roast tomatoes and caper and mint emulsion make this quite a savoury dish. Such a pleasure to eat; it feels completely decadent, especially with edible flowers scattered everywhere, but still falls into the healthy camp.

It’s the attention to detail at Lolo and Wren that makes this place so special. Balanced flavours, amazing presentation and beautiful tableware.

My friend’s espresso was served with a palate cleansing shot of sparkling water, I’ve not seen this done in Melbourne, but it is a lovely touch.

My chai latte had a good flavour concentration, was not too sweet and was hot but not scalding.

They are licenced too and stock a great little range of Victorian beers and wines.

Service was great, the staff are present but not intrusive. Food and drinks arrived in a timely manner and staff were very helpful with any questions including the aforementioned decision dilemma.

I really am so impressed with Lolo and Wren. It is one of those places you need to know about to find, a little off the beaten track.

But now that you know, you should go.

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