Three-milk coffee, Japanese breakfast sets: It’s all about the details at this ‘fine dining’ cafe

1 / 8The Japanese breakfast set includes grilled fish, rice, soup, something fried, something grilled, a little sashimi and pickles.Jason South

2 / 8Outside the Yarraville cafe.Jason South

3 / 8Sheung Wan noodles.Jason South

4 / 8Cosy interiors at the Anderson Street cafe, renovated in 2018.Jason South

5 / 8Fluffy shokupan toast with Earl Grey jam.Jason South

6 / 8A closer look at the Japanese breakfast set, $55.Jason South

7 / 8Buttery, fluffy shokupan bread is grilled over binchotan, a clean-burning Japanese charcoal.Jason South

8 / 8Vietnamese hot coffee blends condensed milk, evaporated milk and coconut milk with coffee that’s been dripped through a filter for eight hours. Jason South

There are countless details I could use to explain how special Coracle is, but let’s start with the toast. Not because it’s made from shokupan, the Japanese milk bread that’s cloud-fluffy and snow-white. Nor because the loaf is cut into fat blocks that greedily soak up butter. But because it’s grilled over binchotan, a clean-burning Japanese charcoal, smouldering in a benchtop burner at this utterly singular cafe.

As someone who has incinerated many slices of toast over a campfire, I’m well aware of the difficulty this entails. In a cafe setting, with the attention and patience required, the decision is astonishing.

Does this tricky toast method make a difference? Yes. The corners are crisp and defined, the bread catches wisps of smoke, the excellent butter – clarified in-house, just to add more work – glimmers like ice at bright dawn. Toast is an ordinary food; this transports it to unicorn territory.

Coracle is perhaps best defined as a fine-dining cafe. There’s coffee and tea, eggs and toast, soup and sandwiches, but everything is rendered with deep thought, pristine ingredients and exquisite care.

Owners Duong “Jane” Nu Duc Tam and her partner, Wong “Benny” Tat Ying are from Vietnam and Hong Kong respectively, and they’ve embraced a passion for Japanese culture and cuisine. Coracle fuses these influences, alongside a very Melbourne wrangling with the possibilities of the daytime diner.

There’s a beverage that speaks to the project. On the menu, it’s “hot Vietnamese coffee” but the drink goes way beyond the heart-starter you might find on the streets of Hanoi, a brisk mix of robusta and sweetened condensed milk.

Coracle uses condensed milk, along with evaporated milk (a la Hong Kong cafes) and coconut milk. This triple blend is mixed with coffee that’s been dripped through a filter for eight hours, releasing aroma and flavour. And then – this bit utterly amazes me – the four liquids are steamed together using the espresso machine wand to create a smooth, full-bodied drink. It’s served in a cheerful spot-dotted Vietnamese glass with a cleansing cup of pandan tea on a teeny wooden tray – an impressive level of detail layered over an already complex drink.

The bedrock dish is the Japanese breakfast set, a tray of many small dishes, including grilled fish, rice, soup, something fried, something grilled, a little sashimi and pickles. It’s a beautiful dance through temperature and texture, sweet and salt, nature and nurture. The price is another way that this stands apart from a regular brekkie. You can have the meal with toothfish, a sublime, sustainable deep-sea fish caught in the chilly waters to our south. It’s a premium product and this set is $55 to account for that.

There are many signals a cafe can send to its potential audience; price is just one. On its website and menu, and also in its calm mood, Coracle suggests this isn’t a place for the hurried, nor for those who love chatting loudly on their phone, have strict dietaries, or want to eat on the pavement with the dog. Like fine dining, “yes” isn’t always the answer.

The couple have been in these premises since 2013, initially taking over Chinese restaurant Happy Four and running it for three years, which gave them time to strategise about how to express their philosophy and experience in a place truly their own. Auction Rooms in North Melbourne was an inspiration in its elevation of brunch and brew. They renovated and reopened as Coracle in 2018.

It’s an open, simple space in muted tones, named for a small round fishing boat, traditionally woven in Vietnam from bamboo. As the menu states, the cafe “was built to carry. To hold what mattered. To find its way home, no matter the water.” There’s both humility and strength there, reflected in this site of everyday miracles woven with sincerity and joy.

Good Food reviews are booked anonymously and paid independently. A restaurant can’t pay for a review or inclusion in the Good Food Guide.