Popular and ever expanded Brunswick cafe and roastery Code Black has opened a shiny new cafe in North Melbourne, bringing yet even more quality coffee closer to the city.
Code Black North Melbourne is almost a mirror image of their Brunswick cafe, counteracting the jet black fitout with sleek white furnishings but still keeping the base open warehouse style. A mixture of vivid green and stained timber beams add some welcoming colour. Seating is a mixture of two person benches along one wall and some interesting angled tables along the other wall – one person is against the wall on a long cushioned bench with a round table mounted off the wall on an angle and the other person sitting in an angle to match. This smart design, although slightly confusing on first glance, allows for groups of 2 – 4 without taking up any extra space. The front counter and open kitchen form the centrepiece of the cafe.There is also an upstairs mezzanine with some more bench seating and some tables outside.
The modern clean industrial theme also carries across to the food menu which is written in the style of an automotive service manual. Amusing sections names such as “Oils and Lubricants”, “Clean and Detail” and “Engine Mechanical” separate drinks, breakfast and lunch food. Breakfast options consist of some creative takes on the usual choices, such as the Avocado Toast – seven seed toast with sliced avocado, rice wine pickled cucumber and sesame nori salt. Lunch choices are a mixture of salads, sandwiches and sourdough-based dishes.
On this visit I ordered the Hot smoked salmon, apple wood hot smoked salmon perched on a crispy citrus and herb potato cake and topped with a poached egg, watercress and an avocado and horseradish hollandaise sauce. It’s hard to fully describe how this dish looks and tastes in words alone, I’ll let the photos do the talking. An outstanding dish.
The coffee quality was as expected of a prominent cafe roastery with a range of blends, single origins available as espresso or filter. A small roaster also lives in the back corner of the cafe.
This stylish modern cafe is an excellent addition to the growing North Melbourne area and rivals the quality of its Brunswick, Docklands and CBD siblings.