Pallet Espresso

It’s a well known fact that quality of coffee in a Melbourne Café can be assessed based on the amount of facial hair, tattoos and piercings adorning the baristas.
This method gives an apt ranking to Pallet; better than average, but not something you would travel across town to experience.
Sensory Lab coffee is consistently good, uses Jonesy’s milk, is reasonably priced and there’s no extra charge for extra shot, decaf or soy.
The succinct menu follows in the path of sister café Purple Peanuts and successfully puts a Japanese twist on standard burgers, salads and sandwiches. The flavours are interesting and there’s a few good options for vegos as well.
Service is always polite and friendly, but can be a bit chaotic and slow when things get busy. Perhaps the increase of facial hair in Movember will help to rectify this?
Overall, a reliable place to pick up coffee and a sandwich if you happen to be in the area.

Not into it.
I’ve been here twice now and I haven’t enjoyed a meal on either occasion. I ordered salads both times: They have all been either incredibly dry and tasteless or loaded with sugary sauce. My husband had a noodle dish that was so bland he almost fell asleep eating it.
They serve good coffee here and service comes with a smile but the food is lame. I’ll stick to Purple Peanuts (their awesomely good sister café) from now on.

A short review based on a takeaway coffee. I drink one in the morning. A triple espresso. It is surprisingly hard to get this right but these guys did. And they didn’t charge a stupid price for it either. Perfectly located between Southern Cross Station and the Collins Street tram stop. I think I’ve found my new regular.

Tasty coffee, prompt service. Being from Perth I didn’t bat an eyelid at the price until I remembered this was for the large w/​soy AND it’s on the bottom floor of my building. Caffeine addiction ahoy!