Operator25: Review
25 Wills St, Melbourne
Hours: Mon-Fri 7am-4pm, Sat-Sun 9am-4pm

Wow. And oh my goodness. Mmm. And.. why have we not been here before? Little else was uttered during our time with food in front of us at Operator25. Isolated down a quiet laneway in the business district of the Melbourne CBD, it is in an area you would never stumble upon by accident, though this seems to be the case with a significant proportion of the best food finds around at the moment.

The common and potentially overused cafe design of exposed brick walls and industrial-style ceilings is encountered again at Operator25, but saved by its elaboration with quirky fluorescent signage (yes, it “brew my mind”) and copper light fittings, a sleek central hub with “over here!” & “pick up line” options, communal bench tables and overhead hanging wiring serving as a reminder of the building’s heritage status as Melbourne’s first telephone exchange company. Just being the two of us, we didn’t need to wait for a table (unusual for a Sunday morning), but it would be better to avoid peak weekend brunch hour if waiting isn’t your thing.

The food is unique. Executive chef Valerie Fong and Head chef Felipe Guedes have combined international fusion cuisine with contemporary Australian cafe fare, utilising more unusual ingredients and complex flavour combinations than those seen on the majority of the city’s brunch menus while maintaining a cafe price-tag. For breakfast, smoked sardines are served on miso sourdough with pickled cucumber, sour cherry, manchego cheese, parsley, rocket, dill & poached eggs ($17), polenta soldiers are coupled with broken egg, wilted greens, corn & tomato pesto ($17), and a breakfast couscous salad brings together toasted walnuts, fried duck egg, morcilla, green harissa & an apple-mint jam ($19). Lunch is another all-day offering with an Asian twist: pick from Balinese marinated pork on squid ink brioche with coriander labna, poached egg, fried shallot & Balinese sambal ($20), the roasted Japanese pumpkin on parsnip cream with broccolini, beetroot, leeks & chorizo dressing ($18), or even five-spiced duck leg on barley puree, asian greens, confit shallots, shiitake mushrooms & szechuan jus ($22).

Let’s just say that ordering wasn’t easy.

We started with savoury: the braised eggs ($18) fit the wintery (or cold Spring, to be precise) Melbourne morning perfectly. Served in a ramekin, the tomato-based sauce, warmly spiced and filled with lentils and chunks of roasted sweet potato, encases two still-runny braised eggs and is topped with crunchy smoked almonds offset by tangy goats curd. Hot toasted flat-bread accompanies the Middle-Eastern style breakfast, ideal for mopping up that extra sauce and yolk. Our ramekin was preeetty clean by the time we were finished.

The Sweet Marty was next ($16), where toasted Dr Marty’s crumpets (the best in Melbourne, I’m sure) are topped with poached corella pears, a generous serve of berry compote and roughly chopped hazelnuts. A small jug is on the side: thick, sweet and caramelised banana butterscotch which, though you might not think it, marries perfectly with the berries and crumpets. Just be warned that this dish is very sweet – perfect for sharing, but I would only tackle it on your own if you have a major sweet tooth! The pears would also have benefited from roasting, rather than being blandly poached, for the extra flavour and texture it imbues.

Next (nope, still not finished) we couldn’t go past the sweets menu. Hold-A-Mis-U ($14) was our dessert, and honestly one of the best I have eaten. I could easily have finished this one off on my own: not too sweet, yet sweet enough, it combined a multitude of layers of flavours and textures into mouthfuls of bliss. Coffee infused sago, silky pearls that packed a punch of espresso flavour melded into the smooth, creamy Pepe Saya mascarpone above it and the surrounding chocolate textures, with the topping of berry compote, textural crunch of salted milk crumb and intense freeze dried raspberries pulling it all together. Go and eat it all yourself. I dare you.

Service was fast and efficient, the staff were friendly, the atmosphere was buzzing, specialty coffee is offered, the food was creative and every mouthful was savoured. Operator25 is a winner, and should be your go-to CBD cafe. And that dessert? An attempt at recreation will happen these summer holidays – watch and wait to find out if my version measures up enough to make it on here!

Rating: 8.5/10
Do: order the Hold-A-Mis-U dessert. Make room.
Don’t: arrive at peak hour on the weekend and expect to be seated straight away.
Features: specialty coffee, Dr Marty’s crumpets, bookings for 6+ Mon-Fri

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