Melbourne Eats: Auction Rooms, North Melbourne

There was a lot of hype about this cafe some time back, and I vaguely remember reading about the place being packed and patrons having to queue for a bit before being seated. Oh, and not to mention that their coffee was great.

It has been a while since we ventured out into the city for a bit of a gastronomic adventure so we thought, what the heck, better get out there and try some place new. 

We were seated at one of the tables at the front window.

Auction Rooms
103 - 107 Errol Street
North Melbourne, VIC 3051
Links: Urbanspoon | Website | Facebook

We ordered a cappuccino and a latte, although we already had coffee in the morning. One has to taste the coffee due to its rave reviews, no?


I really must not order latte anymore because milky coffee is not what I want. The latte I was served with was more milk than espresso, and the cappuccino was no biggie. Hmmm.

Top: Cappuccino.
Bottom: Latte.

Our food came in huge plates. One of the items which we initially wanted to order had run out, so we decided to go with the today's special and a baby cos lettuce salad.

I felt like a real grown up eating fancy looking food!

 How utterly clueless I am! 

It goes to show that I don't eat out much. Bwahaha! :)

Is that a giant Caesar salad?

As the waitress served the dish before me, I felt overwhelmed by the cos lettuce which occupied most of the plate space.

I was curious about the duck and chicken terrine (after seeing seasons of Masterchef Australia!) thus ordered the dish. With a poached egg, Grana Padano and Glenora Farm baby cos with coddled egg dressing, I told the hubs that it looked like a Caesar salad to me.

Oh, and croutons, too!

With the need to cut the lettuce into appropriate bite size pieces, I felt that it was a lot of work to do so and making sure that I didn't splatter some dressing onto my face as I put the said bite into my mouth!

The terrine was okay, just some salty duck and chicken meat put together. I don't know how else to describe it!

This dish is priced at AUD$17.00.

  

The special for the day.

The exact description was not on the menu, but I managed to have the waitress tell me (again) what was the dish. Hangar steak with kale dumplings and a poached egg, with Jerusalem artichoke puree.

The hubs enjoyed the puree and the kale dumpling, and I agree that the two are the most exciting bits of the dish.

Since our visit on 24th May 2014, I have been trying to find a recipe for kale dumplings but to no avail. I am on a mission to come up with a recipe for it, and hopefully I will present some kale dumplings similar to what we were served.

The steak was nice and juicy, but it may have been too much for my tummy. 

I had an upset tummy for the rest of the evening while the hubs didn't have such a problem.

This dish is priced at AUD$18.00.

We were both stuffed from our meal that we decided to walk back to Melbourne Central.

Most of the reviews say that 'while people are usually drawn to their food, most of them stay for their coffee'. I suppose it is a hit and miss, depending who your barista is for the day. 

The receipt for our bill proved that I was right about my dish being a Caesar salad, as that was the description on the receipt. For the special? It was stated as "steak and egg". Hehe.