The Fair Trader

I am not quite sure how I didn’t find this before!
Based right alongside the Fair Work Commission, The Fair Trader has given itself a good relational name. Serving St Ali coffee, they are a good place for a quick breakfast or a decent lunch. They are also licensed, and (although I haven’t given it a try yet) would be a great place for an after-​work drink.
Customer service is great, but the place can get extremely busy during the morning and lunch break periods, especially when waiting for a take-​away coffee!
Highly recommended if you are in the area. :)

Decent enough café but kind of coasts on being next door to the Fair Work Commission & therefore having a captive market of people who get 5 minutes during a hearing to grab food and the result is customer service which is somewhat lacking. The name is presumably a play on the Commission next door but I suspect many people assume it means their produce is of the fair trade variety. It isn’t.

The Fair Trader is a surprise winner for me. Having worked in the area for a while now, I’ve seen two cafes try work with the awkward and large space and failed. Both relied heavily on artificial light and also were lacking in the food and coffee being served. So when I saw The Fair Trader being fitted out when it was first being built, I had some level of scepticism that it would be similar to the two before it.
How wrong I was, The Fair Trader’s fit out makes great use of the large space while taking advantage of natural light from Exhibition St. Something that previous cafes didn’t quite get right. Another area where other cafes fell short was the coffee and food put forward. The Fair Trader is putting up good coffee (St Ali) and a range of food with a diverse array of salads and great mains that has something for everyone. One thing to note is that it can get quite busy so wait times may vary. But with a decent amount of staff on hand, they are generally quick and you won’t be waiting too long.
I’d recommend The Fair Trader for its friendly service and good food/​coffee.

Located in the heart of the city amongst fairly heavy café competition fair trader offers excellent coffee and a wide variety of lunch time options.
Spoilt for choice near work I still find myself regularly heading over here as it’s a great venue for group lunches with long tables.
The salads on offer vary in ingredients. My favorite at the moment is the superfood salad with quinoa, broccoli, avocado and pepitas. The lines at peak time can be out the door so there is no chance of stale old food.
Of course there is great coffee with beans from st Ali. For those with a sweet tooth there are plenty of delicious cakes and treats. From time to time the even create a croissant pudding in house which is so decadent but worth the treat.
Service is friendly and genuine particularly from the owner and his son. The only downside is a grumpy barista but that’s not enough to spoil the experience.

Ideal for business lunch, even for a group.
Good range of tasty food (salads, rolls, wraps and cooked dishes). Relaxed, spacious and light. Comfortably quiet even when bustling. Furniture has a slight industrial look. Even small chairs are comfortable.
My slow cooked lamb shank easily fell off the bone, though was a little too well cooked due to having been also sitting on a hot plate waiting to be picked. This meat on a bone with lots of mash potato was $ 10. Adding a smallish but fresh garden salad and vinaigrette was an extra $ 4.

This is a lunch time find and worth a little walk to get to. The servings are lunch with a great selection of roast meat, salads, burgers and soups. Seating small table and a few long tables with bench seats.
As others have mentioned, after work drinks here, especially during happy hour on a Friday, is very packed so if you want to wind down in a relaxed atmosphere maybe find a nearby roof top bar.

Coffee amaze. Wicked fit out but REALLY REALLY loud. The happy hour is great but its so noisy its kind of difficult to enjoy yourself. Cool staff, really great bar food (excellent tacos) but bring ear plugs. Best to take someone on a date who you want to impress with your strong vocal chords, ability to lip read and understand sign language.

This place has a little bit of everything: coffee shop, bakery, full bar, deli and grill. It was slightly overwhelming at first, but having the selection was great. A couple people in my group ordered burgers from the grill and loved them. I ordered a premade chicken pesto sandwich w/​avocado from the deli and chips (fries) and garlic aioli from the grill. The fries were only OK — a big overdone — but the sandwich was delicious! It was big too, so I got another meal out of the second half.
I’ve heard Fair Trader’s coffee is really good. And in general, the joint seems best fitted for lunch. If I was going to be in Melbourne longer I’d definitely go back.

The ‘Fair’ Trader in the ‘Fair’ Work Australia building… get it ??? :)… no me neither. This location has housed a few different cafes over the years, all of which have had excellent décor, not excellent food or service.
The St. Ali coffee is good (the beans I mean), but the end product is so so + it costs $ 4.50. I had a berry muffin (which is another $ 5) with most of the it stuck to the baking paper.
The service was also a bit ordinary, the waiter had no real idea what was available to eat for the day. I suspect the ‘boss’ was attending to the coffee machine, with the staff just doing as they pleased.
So I would suggest, you give the place a skip, it definitely does not represent, Melbourne coffee or breakfast at its best.

Serving all day breakfast, a massive selection of lunch options and St Ali coffee makes The Fair Trader a potential new regular for me.
We took advantage of the all day breakfast and although they delivered my order slightly wrong, (fried instead of scrambled) I didn’t mind when I ate it.
It’s a big space with an industrial style. There is a mixture of wood, metal and polished concrete. Take your pick of a big communal table, a little private table or the bench seats down the back.
I would happily do breakfast, lunch or an informal meeting here.