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Subscribe From Soft-Boiled Eggs to Cured Meats: Melbourne’s Best Breakfast & Deli Plates to Graze On, AM to PM
The ultimate way to savour soulful seasonal simplicity? Dive into one of these effortlessly delicious one-plate wonders.
Melbourne’s breakfast scene isn’t just smashed avo and flat whites anymore — it’s grown its own beautifully curated subculture. Enter the deli plate renaissance: Nordic-style morning spreads, layered with soft-boiled eggs, trout, pickled vegetables, and charred greens, or Euro-chic afternoon affairs, stacked with olives, cured meats, and slivers of cheese, made for apéro hour and a sun-drenched pour.
What began as a breakfast evolution has bloomed into an all-day ritual. Whether it’s a cafe slinging soft herbs and house labneh before noon, or a wine bar plating up an antipasto moment by dusk, these spots deliver with farm-to-table finesse, European sensibility, and unmistakable local flair. Melbourne, meet your most elegant way to graze. These are the best breakfast and deli plates in the city.
Florian
Florian is the kind of place you dream about. This pocket-sized, European-inspired brunch haven is where simplicity sings, and every detail feels intentional. Their cured fish plate is a quiet little masterpiece — silky salmon gravlax, buttermilk-dill cucumber, a soft egg, and toasted rye. Every foodie worth their salt has made the pilgrimage. Pair it with a fluffy French omelette, a perfectly flaky croissant with jam and butter, or the tomato toast, and you’re in heaven.
With glossy tiles, sunny corners, and blooms by the door, Florian is pure, edible charm, and one of the OG spots for a brekky-deli plate in Melbourne.
617 Rathdowne Street, Carlton North
Sunhands
A sunlit corner cafe-winebar where the Morning Plate is a canvas. Each day it’s a riot of greens and ferments: tender heirloom leaves, house-pickled veg, romesco, and a fig or two on toasted Akimbo sourdough, all dotted with manchego and a swipe of cultured butter. Often crowned with a sliver of house-smoked trout. (They even do nostalgic dippy eggs in chic cups.) By afternoon, it morphs into a mellow wine shop, featuring local natural wine, charcuterie, and cheese plates against a warm timber backdrop, bare walls, and mellow tunes.
169 Elgin Street, Carlton
Lenny’s Wine Room
Lenny’s Wine Room in Richmond is your go-to for golden-hour hangs done right. This effortlessly cool wine bar nails the vibe — relaxed, stylish, and seriously delicious. Sip a $12 Negroni during Aperitivo Hour (Monday to Thursday, 4pm to 6pm) and snack on the dreamy $25 deli plate, stacked with mortadella or prosciutto, hard or soft cheeses, pickles, dips, crudité, and crackers. Bonus: it’s dog-friendly, no bookings needed, and perfect for low-key dates, catch-ups, or solo vino moments in the sun.
327 Lennox Street, Richmond
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Fenton Farmhouse
Sitting dreamily on a sun-dappled corner of Carlton, Fenton Farmhouse is where farm-fresh comfort meets inner-city charm. With produce straight from their family-run farms, the plates here sing with seasonal soul. The Farmer’s Plate is a cosy, satisfying medley of fried egg, bacon, Boston beans, mushrooms, relish, pickles, and thick-cut sourdough. Or go green with the Garden Plate — featuring winter greens, creamy hummus, chive-garlic butter, a soft-boiled egg, and your choice of ham or halloumi. Every bite feels hand-grown, heartfelt, and exactly what mornings should taste like.
158 Rathdowne Street, Carlton
Ophelia
Ophelia is a dreamy hybrid of cafe charm and wine bar elegance, and is home to one of Melbourne’s most memorable brekky plates. It’s a curated spread of market cheese, creamy avocado, soft egg, zingy sauerkraut, house pickles, tamari-roasted almonds, and golden, house-baked focaccia with cultured butter — complete with your choice of smoked salmon or leg ham. Add a miso-butterscotch iced latte and soak in the vinyl-spun ambiance, and you’ve got yourself the most refined, feel-good start to the day.
85 High Street, Northcote
Liljana
For Melbourne’s finest deli and brekky plates, Liljana Eatery in Port Melbourne is an absolute must. Founded by Christine, who lovingly honours her Slovenian roots and her late Nonna, Liljana, this cafe serves up soulful, heartfelt flavours that feel like home. The sea plate is a beautiful harmony of house-cured salmon, whipped ricotta dill, crisp cucumber, soft egg, and tangy house pickles, resting beside crunchy sourdough. Their breakfast plate is a warm, comforting hug of kransky, black pudding, soft egg, buttery beans, spinach, goat’s cheese, and relish — with toasted sourdough to finish. Every bite feels personal, stylish, and utterly inviting.
169 Bay Street, Port Melbourne
Juniper
Juniper does breakfast like your stylish nanna might: nostalgic, generous, and just a little bit posh. Morning boards arrive layered with soft-boiled eggs, house-made pickles, radishes, gribiche, smoked fish or meats, dips, butter, and crunchy sourdough toast. It’s savoury, seasonal, and quietly showy in that very Melbourne way. Best enjoyed with their dreamy Greek-style frappe. Ugh, heaven. We’ll see you there.
269 Coventry Street, South Melbourne
Napier Quarter
On a hushed Fitzroy corner where foot traffic fades and the light hits just right, Napier Quarter does aperitivo the way Europeans intended — with Melbourne’s quiet swagger, of course. From 4pm, the vibe shifts: they pour wine and send out a rotating cast of charcuterie, pickles, and cheeses that arrive like old friends. It’s unfussy but deeply considered, in a charming pocket of the city where you lose track of time — suddenly it’s dark, you’re on your third glass, and every olive has been nicked from the plate.
359 Napier Street, Fitzroy
Gilbee’s
Found behind a leafy courtyard on lower Johnston Street, Gilbee’s feels like a wine bar you’d stumble upon in a European backstreet — if that backstreet were lined with tropical palms and poured a brilliant Aussie Gewürztraminer. It’s all low-intervention wines and high-flavour “picky bits”: think hunks of Comté, Olasagasti anchovies, Sicilian olives, whipped butter and pillowy focaccia, arranged with charming nonchalance. On Sundays, the snack plate goes rogue — maybe saucisson and pear chutney, maybe broad beans and pickled things. Either way, you’ll want to linger.
229 Johnston Street, Abbotsford
Brico
Brico is where the phrase “just some snacks” turns into a full-blown edible vignette. Their crudités are far from rabbit food — instead, you’re getting a gorgeous sprawl of crisp, in-season veg served with thoughtful little flourishes: snow peas with whipped bottarga, anchovy-stuffed peppers, maybe a zippy taramasalata on the side. It’s casual, yes, but quietly elegant — a Euro-leaning grazing plate that changes with the day, paired with wines that know how to hold a conversation. Drop in for one glass, leave three plates deep.
555 Nicholson Street, Carlton North
Whether it’s a protein-packed breakfast plate or a post-noon cheese fest, Melbourne’s deli plate culture is a celebration of produce, provenance, and pure pleasure. Grab a fork, bring a friend, and eat like the city’s watching. For more seasonal brilliance, explore these stunning regional diners across the state, or settle into one of Melbourne’s most beautiful new restaurants.
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