It seems like we’ve reached a fork in the road. In their search for the next great idea, Melbourne’s cafe operators are going one of two ways: bigger and bolder like Liminal. Or back to basics like Lobbs, Brunswick’s newest cafe.

Yes, Lobbs has a handsome dark-turquoise facade and a spacious interior by in-demand architecture firm Technē that mixes corrugated polycarbonate sheeting with dusky pink cushions and somehow looks … actually really nice? But this is not a destination cafe. It’s not going to dominate your Instagram feed for the rest of 2018.

The idea is simple things done well. This is harder than it sounds, but brothers Kael and Matt Sahely are up to the task. Together they’ve founded and sold some of Melbourne’s most popular cafes, including Touchwood, Pillar of Salt, Bawa, and Barry (they left well before the wage scandal). Today they run colourful CBD coffee shop Vacation and East Melbourne’s stately Square and Compass.

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At Lobbs the brothers and their business partners (Matt Stribley, chef Jeremy Fraser and dad Elias Sahely) have applied all the small learnings of their careers so far. The community noticeboard by the front door, for example, is an idea first trialled at Barry. Next to that, tram commuters sip Vacation coffee roasted at Bureaux Collective on a spacious bench that’s far more enticing than the weathered timber alternative five steps away.

Inside, free newspapers are scattered about and huge Tom Ross photographs of local characters – nonnas and shop owners, not celebrities – loom over the 110-seat space. “We’ve got about 10 of them, which we’ll rotate every month,” Matt says. The weirdly imperfect font on the menus and façade is called “Brunswick Grotesque”. Designer Dennis Grauel wanted it to reflect the area’s “progressive multiculturalism, diversity and informality” and the “typographic gaffes spotted variously in the landscape”, which it does. The cafe itself is named after William Lobb, who owned farmland here in the late 1800s.

You catching the local vibe here? It’s not as contrived as it seems on paper. The Sahelys grew up in the eastern suburbs, but Elias – a career chef with Lebanese heritage – has spent the past few decades visiting this particular stretch of Sydney Road, near the corner of Albion, for fresh produce and hard-to-find Middle Eastern specialties at places such as A1 Bakery.

The menu is where you’ll find the most imports. Sahely superfans will recognise mainstay dishes such as the chilli scramble, the superfood salad and the crunchy peanut butter and cherry tomatoes. Newer entries – some inspired by cult LA cafe Sqirl – include a fried egg and kaiserfleisch sandwich, buckwheat pancakes with raw cacao pudding and whole roasted sweet potato with cashew cream. Presentation is sparing – maximum taste is the aim, rather than maximum Instagram likes.

Lobbs is also licensed and the team plans to trial night-time trade soon. If the area doesn’t respond to it, the crew will try something else. It’s all about getting to know the local community which, it should be said, already has a plethora of great cafes to choose from.

Still, as Matt says: “Once you pass Blyth Street, it’s a different world.” Sydney Road’s near-constant traffic can make even short trips southward (to Wide Open Road, say) a drudge. “Once you get up here, it’s us and Kines, and they’re a different offering.”

Lobbs
589–591 Sydney Road, Brunswick
No phone

Hours:
Mon to Thu 7am–4.30pm
Fri 7am–5pm
Sat & Sun 8am–5pm

instagram.com/lobbscafe/

This article first appeared on Broadsheet on November 30, 2018. Menu items may have changed since publication.