Lunch at the Grain Store – Melbourne

After exploring Melbourne, mostly on foot, we worked up quite an appetite. We ended up in the more business end of town that left us with limited options. A quick google of what was close by the Grain Store looked to be the best option. After initially walking straight past the Grain store, we backtracked before heading inside. After being advised of a 15-minute wait we headed out to the hallway where we were greeted with two long benches. I think we were all exhausted as we were all head down in our phones.

The 15 minutes went by quickly and before we knew it, we were being guided to our table. My partner and I were still fairly full but we wanted to try both the savoury and dessert options on offer. So we opted to share a savoury dish and get a dessert each. Afterall we were on holiday. For the savoury dish, we selected the Portobello Mushroom & Gruyere Oitatie Rösti. Unfortunately, I can’t remember what the two cakes were that we ordered. For drinks, my partner ordered a Skinny Cap and for myself, I ordered a Chai Latte.

Need more Chai

Our cakes arrived first. Shortly afterwards the drinks for the table arrived. I left my chai to brew for a little while longer whilst pinching a sip of my partners coffee, The coffee was pretty good and exactly what is expected for Melbourne Coffee, of which I’m yet to have a bad one.

After waiting what I thought was long enough I poured out my Chai. The colour was quite a bit lighter then what I am used to. I gave it a try and found the chai flavour to be quite weak. So with my friends watching in anticipation of me making a mess, I poured the milk back into the pot without spilling a drop. Which even I was amazed to have achieved. After a short while of waiting and not seeing any improvement, I noticed that the milk was so low that it barely touched the chai tea. So I re-pored the milk into my glass and held the sift containing the chai in the milk. This helped to add more flavour, however, it was still quite weak.

When our table was cleared we were asked how everything was. I gave feedback about the weak chai. I hope they took this on board.

Food Time!

Our main meal arrived just after I had given up trying to make my chai stronger. This was perfect timing as the cakes were looking rather tempting.

I carefully moved the poached egg onto my side plate, as my partner doesn’t like egg. Following which I separated the other parts of the meal to share with my partner. I was quite disappointed by the Rösti part of the meal as I was expecting a traditional German Rösti. However what we got was more of a hash brown. The other parts of the meal were nice though.

The Banana bread also looked amazing and the presentation really brought it up a notch.

After the meals, a friend decided to order the fresh baked cookies. They smelt amazing! It was so cute that Grain Store included a glass of milk with the cookies.

Overall 3/5

Whilst most of the food was nice, the disappointing chai and Rösti have lowered the score given to The Grain Store. However, I will call out that the service was great. It was great to be asked how everything was. For restaurants, I feel this question is vital to ensure that improvements are made and that the customer has the chance to voice any issues.

Check out more of my Melbourne Adventure here: 4 Days in Melbourne