Cibi

45 Keele Street, Collingwood
Phone 03 9077 3941

I quite like Cibi, and not just for its food. It’s a little bit off the beaten track, so you know the clientele are there because they know, and not because they just happened to walk on by.  It is also designer-cool, in a Japan does Danish kind of way. It’s part cafe, part art studio/gallery with an eclectic mix of furniture and homewares.

There is detail everywhere you look, from the cute little beaten aluminium Akao teapot (filled with wonderful organic genmaicha), to the lovely Studio 2000 spoons served with your coffee.

Cibi uses Romcaffe, which is my coffee of choice most mornings of the week. I love the heart too.

But on to brekky – and this, they only serve on Saturday.

The Japanese Breakfast ($14.50), while plated somewhat contemporarily, certainly pays homage to traditional fare.  To start with, perhaps one of the best bowls of miso I’ve had in this town, chock full of slivers of pumpkin and greens and heady with umami. On the main plate, a mix of brown and white short grain Japanese rice cooked to perfect stickiness, a small scoop of Japanese-style potato salad with a crisp leaf of immature cos, a lip smackingly good slice of shioyaki salmon – crisp skinned and salty, a small mound of wilted spinach sprinkled with sesame, and three slices of just cooked tamago (rolled omelette).

Oh, I do love a Japanese breakfast.  Why don’t more places offer it? And for those so inclined, they also do a vegetarian (with egg) version.

If you’re not into the Japanese thing, then you can choose from a range of birchers, toasts and potato salad sandwiches (yes…you read right!).

Check out the Cibi crew hard at work in the open kitchen, making our breakfast pretty much from scratch. I must say they were lovely, with a genuinely friendly approach.

But I MUST tell you about another of Cibi’s specialities, although I forgot to take a photo in my haste to consume it.  I spied some very appetising green tea muffins on the bench when I went up to pay, so decided to take some home for afternoon tea.  On devouring them later I was pleasantly surprised to find them filled with a delicious red bean paste.  Oh my…what lovelyness! I will crave these for sure for weeks to come.