The start of cafe hopping – The Grace, Fitzroy

If your mission was to go to all the cafes in Melbourne, you’d never finish. You would be visiting cafes for all eternity. Not that this would be a horrible fate. I could think of a lot worse. In my short time in Melbourne I have tried to hit up quite a few ones and the last few weeks I have been to some lovely little ones and discovered that I have become a regular in two! As I am not travelling per say at the moment I figure a few short and sweet blogs about cafes around Melbourne is not a bad supplement. So here is the first one of a few.

Michelangelo’s painting of Gods and Adams hands stretch across the facade of the small concrete building along with Da Vinci’s Head of a Women (la Scapigliata) or Cinderella if you are a fan of the movie Ever After. That alone marked The Grace, Fitzroy as somewhere I wanted to check out but the wide verandah out front inviting you to sit out and chill helped too. It has taken me almost 5 months to get back but I finally popped into The Grace to taste the goods and wasn’t disappointed. The excuse, visit the Rose St. Arts Market that is only next door. Albeit small, the market is chockerblock with tempting jewellery, art, clothing and amazing terrariums that make me wish I had a house to hang one in. After a good wander a coffee stop would be plainly required and The Grace is perfectly situated. When we walked in the front door and eyed the counter that was jam packed with baked goods we figured a treat might not be such a bad idea too. We split a rich dense chewy brownie and a thick, creamy and perfectly sweet caramel slice and sat out back in their little garden; complete with picnic tables, graffiti, and an open shipping container to sit under with cute little chairs and a dresser. It’s adorable and has a relaxed vibe that makes you feel you could sit for hours. There were even paper flowers on the tables. Their brunch menu looked well worth another trip. Their slices definitely are. I will just have to make sure it doesn’t take me another 5 months to get back.