Following the success of Apte and Liar Liar, business partners Nathan Toleman, Diamond Rozakeas and Ben Clarke have brought Abbotsford their third bag full of awesome.
Located just off of pho-tastic Victoria St, it’s the strong-black sheep in a weak latte flock, and their philosophy is simple: your food should be as good as your coffee, and your coffee should make tea feel embarrassed for existing. Clearly, this is the mantra that local caffeine addicts with foodie partners have been waiting to hear, as the ex-hat factory is so busy on a weekend you would think that Jesus himself was working the espresso machine.
With tea cups as light fixtures, street signs for seats, and a backdrop of warm wooden panels, the décor is what you might expect if Andy Warhol was let loose in a Swedish ski lodge. Colour and foliage soften the industrial aspects of the building, making Three Bags as cosy as a hug from your nanna, and an easy Monday through Sunday hangout for soloists and team players alike.
Keeping it green, the menu, tables, pot-plants and coffee can all be traced to either recycled, sustainable, local or organic sources. This however, is as conservative as they get. Portion sizes resemble the heaving plates that weight loss reality show hosts tut at, and the term ‘breakfast’ is used loosely, covering everything from crisp corn, pea and feta fritters with beetroot cured salmon, ($15.50) to slabs of sticky gingerbread engulfed by mascarpone, compote and praline ($14)- giddy up. Expect to find breakfast’s greatest hits on offer, (gourmet muesli, porridge, benedicts) but always with that extra somethin-somethin. Orienteer your way through the towering avocado on toast ($13.50), with soft hunks of Persian feta and enough pepitas to make your coat glisten like a pedigree.
On the caffeine front, they haven’t joined the coffee roasting club (yet), but with two unique blends designed specifically for the venue by the 5 senses crew, a Clover system, and baristas who can throw about a mean rosetta, Three Bags could face off with any of the big boys in town. This little crew have been kicking ass and taking names wherever they stick their blackboard, and we suspect that this is far from the last chapter in their tale. We’ll be first in line for the next instalment.
