5 & Dime

Australian bagels just weren’t cutting it for Zev Forman. The New Jersey native grew up with the good stuff, so the local interpretations left something to be desired.

The now proudly Melburnian chef began baking his own and selling them at markets such as Flemington and Coburg Farmers’ Market. Turns out people liked them.

5 & Dime is a dedicated bakery and a snappy, deco-style cafe which stays far away from Yankee cliché, fitted out by Brand Works and Beyond the Pixel

True to its American origins, though, 5 & Dime serves batch-brewed filter coffee – though it’s made to Australian standards. Offering rotating single origins, the coffee’s taken care of by Collingwood’s Promised Land. There’s no customer-wait time because it’s immediately available to serve.

But really, 5 & Dime’s all about the bagels. It serves plain, onion, rye, poppyseed, sesame, cinnamon and raisin, dill, or salt varieties. Forman also smokes his own salmon, cures his own gravlax and uses Goldfields Farmhouse’s real cultured cream cheese.