The main waiter we had was amazing. She referred to me and my friend as "lovelies". That's just the most amazing gender neutral collective pronouns, thankyou that really made our day. The food was also really nice.
The Vegan Green Essentials was really good. We both really enjoyed that, and the tofu add-on was excellent, but for $6.60, I would have expected a little bit more than 5 1.5cm cubes.
We really liked the smashed avo, but we feel like that should be a proper item on the menu, instead of a fairly small side in the build your own breakfast.
The other waiter we had wasn't as good. He took our order, and we specified the food needs to be vegan. He comes back 5min later, and is like the Turkish bread isn't vegan (which is sometimes the case, as sometimes yoghurt is used as a raising agent), and referred to us to the Gluten Free bread (gluten free bread generally contains egg, so that's surprising). Our friend asked what about the sourdough, and he's like, that contains less gluten.
I think he got confused with vegan and the gluten free fad diet. I know everyone has their days, but that's a bit concerning. Everything was sorted out by the time we got our food, so that's good.
Let me tell you….
While in Camberwell we wanted have lunch, we tried a few places till we find this lovely place, the service was great, the menu contains a variety of gluten free options and everything was nicely served and delicious. Thank you all, next time I know where to eat.
Our party was stoked to discover this gem of a place.
After an entire morning spent wandering the Camberwell market we went searching for a brunch spot with adequate vegan and gluten free options. Things proved more challenging than we expected from Camberwell until we came across Collective Espresso.
The first thing we noticed was the service; the staff were quickly keen to inform us of the options they had for vegan and gluten free options with an extensive knowledge of allergen requirements which was especially reassuring as we had a coeliac in our party. Armed with the knowledge that we would be accommodated, we sat down at the establishment.
All four of us were over the moon at the food we received. Without even copping a Sunday surcharge, the Espresso Collective gave us all a delicious brunch which was reasonably priced and portioned generously. I was especially happy that the "Collective Sigh" dish could be made vegan and that unlike many other cafes which would only remove the non-vegan items and then charge the same prices, Espresso Collective increased the portions of certain items and added more to the dish to my delight. The highlight of it all was their baked beans; they were smokey and packed with flavour.
Even with the good food and affordability, its the service we remembered most. The staff were enthusiastic, knowledgable, friendly and accomodating. With all that in mind, we definitely plan on coming back.
Overall, it was a pleasant place for lunch. However, the gluten-free bun my partner ordered was poorly toasted, and that lead to a declined in the experience. Still worth a trip!
I have been a regular customer at Hibiki for a few years now and often feel looked after as I have a few dietary requirements. I went for a jaffle on a busy weekend with my brother and was so disappointed. We are both coeliacs however they seemed to have changed the GF bread recently- it tasted so bad and it was basically a few bits of dry toast with a couple slices of mushrooms in the middle. The ham in my brother’s “jaffle” was inedible. This was our first disappointing experience here :( we didn’t get given the opportunity to give feedback at the end as nobody asked us how our meal was. I’m hoping this is just a one off!
Great ambience and great coffee. The food each time I’ve been has been delicious and the staff were polite and overall wonderful service. Definitely will go again. They also have some moreish cakes and pastries and the couple of gluten free ones they do hit the spot. Overall a great cafe.
