Hawk & Hunter

Friendly staff. Food was nice and varied. Caramel milkshake was awesome, although pricey for a small glass at $ 7!
Trick is finding the place– down the railway street, not the main road.

I used to come here fairly regularly to have the waffles. They were amazing. And then one day they stopped serving the waffles. And I was devastated. Until I tried the felafel, cauliflower and almond salad with rocket and pickled cabbage. Delicious!
Coffee is consistently good, and they offer a wide range of breakfasts and lunches. They have the ‘I Just Want to Have Eggs” option here as well, but I cannot go past the fried cauliflower.
Space is bright and airy and staff look like they fell out of Country Road ad. Enough said. Go there already.

This place rocks for breakfast I had the all day breakfast which included poached eggs, bacon, sausage & grilled tomato on toast it was heaven let me tell you but I was really hungry at the time I don’t know if that makes a difference lol.
The coffee was a little rough but not to bad for the money I paid which was only $ 15 for the meal & the coffee a bargain.

A friendly, busy café in Ripponlea. Good coffee, smallish menu but they have a rotating specials board. Look out for the cake counter on your way out, full of goodies. Best to get there early or be prepared to wait…

So hawk and hunter, i think you could go there 1000 times and always be satisfied with the meal, coffee and atmosphere you’re blessed with. Is it the best café in the world. Perhaps not the very best (I’m sure someone would beg to differ) but they are super good at delivering what you want and expect from a good café. You get your usual latte and it’s delicious, you continue to get some poached eggs and they are exactly what you expect from poached eggs. All your side and compliments are balanced and work beautifully with your dish. So whats it missing? Nothing really, it’s just not spectacular. Thats not bad but unfortunately when you’re comparing to Melbourne’s illustrious cafes on offer it drops a couple of points. But hey I’ll be the first to say I’m always happy to go there and would always recommend it as you know that you will get a good meal with some good coffee. It will always be enjoyable but maybe just not quite mind blowing like some of Melbourne’s offerings (but maybe I’m just spoilt).

Good points, bad points. The food was great — the fried eggs with the labne and the spicy paste were excellent. So was the coffee. The service, however, was terrible. Friendly, but very inefficient — I had to ask repeatedly to get things done: a second coffee, my bill, to place my food order, etc. I felt very ignored on the communal table. They really need to get this organised properly. As I said though, great food.

After working in the hospitality industry for about 10 years, it’s fair to say I’m a tough customer. But this was ridiculous. While the food was quite good (I had the avo on multigrain with smoked salmon with poached eggs added) the service was awful. Like beyond reasonable.
After sitting down outside (the host knew we were there as he brought an extra chair over), we were given menus and water, and not long after, had coffees ordered. My friend ordered a cappuccino in a takeaway cup, I ordered an Earl Grey tea. While my friend’s coffee came out about 5 – 10 mins later my tea was nowhere to be seen. My friend told the waiter who brought out the coffee that we were ready to order and he said he’d just get our waiter. 10 mins later, still no waiter, still no tea. I go inside to tell the host we’re still waiting to order and he himself came out to take the order a few mins later. He takes the order, I ask where my tea is, and my friend’s husband also orders a latte. My friend’s husband’s latte arrives before my tea. Unless they went to Sri Lanka to pick the tea leaves, I don’t understand what took so long to put some tea leaves in a pot with hot water. Never saw a waiter outside once, we may as well have been lepers.
Forget service with a smile. Forget speedy customer service. Like I said, the food I had was quite good, but pretty overpriced for what it was. Won’t be going back anytime soon.

Service is good, food is decent, coffee is ok, prices alright. 3.5

As a youngling, Hawk was not up to standard to be brutally honest. But giving it time, it has well and truly refined.
The coffee, excellent and the food scrumptious. Nice trendy vibe you’d expect with a name like Hawk and Hunter.
All in all brilliant.

Love the fit-​out of this trendy yet family friendly café. It seems you can have kids and go to cool places. In fact I’d go as far to say this joint is 110% set up for families.
I used all my will power to not order corn fritters like I always do. Most of our table ordered the Big Eds, scrambled eggs with lots of finely sliced fried bacon throughout the eggs, served with a lovely garlic focaccia bread. The salsa verde on the side was a nice refreshing accompaniment with the rich eggs. The eggs probably had a bit too much bacon in it for my liking.
The fit-​out is lovely and I spent a bit of time checking out the bits and pieces for sale around the counter and in the fridge at the front of the café. You can take some of the salmon gravalax home with you — we did!
The staff were so lovely, and if you ask nicely they might be able to make you a Bloody Mary with your breakfast!

Just thought I needed to redo this review. The coffee is actually quite nice and the place itself is cool and trendy. If you frequent Ripponlea Station, try this place out. It definitely worth it.

Excellent coffee, food and service. Plenty of room with a massive share table at the back so they can accommodate larger groups. This is firmly one of my default local venues now!

I’m torn between this café. I really want to like it, but each time i’ve been left feeling disappointed.
The menu reads well, but every single time the food wait has been 40 minutes + and no one seems too bothered by it. The coffee is good, but slow on arrival and the food is even slower.
Service is really slack and incredibly vague. Everyone seems to be walking around aimlessly when tables need service.
The interior however, is a modern and bright space boosting this café’s likeability.
I think this café has potential to become something great with a little more tweaking and refining.
Tip: It’s also a providore offering take home meals and condiments.

It doesn’t get more hipster than this, it really doesn’t.
But in this case it’s a great thing and welcome.
Sitting among the denizens of newly established upmarket cafes and
eateries, Hawk and Hunter is right on the money. Once tattoo’s were a taboo in hospitality presentation standards. Now days it seems that one can’t function without them at any newly established venue. It’s always intriguing when anti-​practises become de riguer. But it great to see change come about, instead of being stuck in the old daggy ways of the world.
I welcome it, but am surprised by it at the same time. it’s good we can move beyond limiting and outdated practises. Extroverts unite! Your strong personality and construct of identity is now a welcome tour de force.
It’s screamingly busy and rushed here; definitely a hive of activity and then some.
Hawk and Hunter is definately one of the better examples of how things are done in the hospitality industry these days. Exucution of the fit/​layout and design, along with the menu construction is great. They done a good job in giving a warm arty feel to the place. The service ethos is very modern, and very attentive. Staff don’t miss a beat and are on dime, on time.
Breakfast, brunch, a eggs section, sandwiches, salads, mains and deserts, along with sweets and soup are currently on the menu. Alcohol it would seem is soon to appear too. The sandwhiches with fries and aoili had me in rapture and tempation. Most of the food is pricey, but no doubt you get high end qaulity for the money. You will find all the current breakfast favourites here, as well as solid lunch offerings.
Hawk and Hunter utilise open space and light in this establishement to give maximum transperency, but also to make you feel a part of the whole.
This looks like becoming a nieghbourhood favourite as well as a Melbourne institution, and it’s sitting right across from Ripponlea station, I’m sure it’d be wortha week end train journey too.
Everyone is hanging out here at the moment’ it’s about time you joined them. A fast paced environment for fast paced induviduals.