Seven Seeds

Seven Seeds ticks a lot of boxes with consistently great coffee and simple food all served inside a cavernous old warehouse. Just out of the city grid and close to the Queen Vic Market, it’s spacious and bright with exposed brick walls, shiny concrete floors and ply timber panelling. Mounted racing bikes and lights covered with red knitted beanies add some colour and quirk to the place.

Seven Seeds is all about the coffee: see the in-house coffee plants, coffee laboratory and temperature-controlled storage space. Do they make a good coffee? The answer, folks, is yes.

A small breakfast/lunch menu is not overly ambitious and allows quality ingredients to do their thing. The Bircher muesli is a pleasing rendition of this café favourite. Dig deep and you’ll find contrasting layers of crisp pistachio nuts, velvety natural yoghurt, soaked oats (with plenty of plump sultanas) and rhubarb compote with bursts of sweet raspberry. Tiny slivers of lemon rind and fragrant rosewater add an interesting depth to this meal that edges more toward dessert than healthy breakfast. A pressed sandwich uses dense, grainy bread from Dench Bakers and comes with a snappy little cabbage and carrot side salad flecked with curly parsley and sesame seeds. The sandwich is buttered on the outside, nicely browned and contains a thin egg omelette, a smear of tomato chutney and lightly melted cheddar cheese. More functional than outstanding, it’s a little too similar to what you’d make at home.

The service at Seven Seeds is exceptional though. Even when it’s peak hour, eagle-eyed staff ensure that no one is lost amongst the din. If you haven’t already been, get down there.