BarLume

We love breakfast rolls stuffed with hashbrowns, we love brisket sandwiches, we love spicy watermelon margaritas but most of all—we love it all in one place. And it goes without saying that a venue propped up by the crew behind the Grounds, Flower Child Cafe, and Happy As Larry, is a venue you need to visit, pronto.

The idea behind BarLume is pretty simple, in the best way possible—it’s a thriving foodie metropolis and a licensed cafe worthy of your next business lunch, catch-up with a mate, or post-work drinks. In other words, it’s completely and utterly fool-proof.

As the all-day concept behind BarLume suggests, the menu offering here is holistic, kicking off as early as 7.30am and even funnelling through to dinner on Thursdays and Fridays (which also calls for a generous happy hour too). 

In the kitchen is chef Jimmy Ru, formerly the head chef at Jamie’s Italian and The Morrison. For the early risers, you’ll find everything from granola combos and green bowls studded with freekeh, tahini, avocado, kale, and tamari, to loaded breakfast buns pummelled with housemade chilli-tomato chutney and hashbrowns. You can also grab these to takeaway.

Lunch is a solid line-up of healthy bowls, sandos (here’s where you can go hard on the slow beef brisket situation), and pasta as well. The pasta repertoire continues well into dinner with pan-fried potato gnocchi, ragu bolognese, prawn linguine, alla norma, and the OG beef lasagne with white and Pomodoro sauce. You can also lap up focaccia, crispy squid, steak frites, and a smorgasbord of local and imported cheeses, fig chutneys, muscat, and lavosh.

While the whole of the drinks menu deserves your attention, it’s the spicy watermelon margarita you absolutely have to order first up. This red-hot concoction is filled with blanco tequila, triple sec, watermelon, and lime and it tastes like a trip to the coastline of Tulum. On top of this, BarLume also stocks beer by the bottle and tap and a pretty neighbourhood-heavy wine list with a few exceptions from Italy and France.

Image credit: BarLume