Easey's Cafe (burgers in a train on a roof)

Easey’s Cafe (burgers in a train on a roof)

Have you been to Easey Street lately?  If you have, and you managed to look up, you might have noticed three train carriages perched on the edge of a building four storeys up.  Inside you will find some of the best burgers in town.

When:  Sun to Thurs 9am-10pm, Fri & Sat 9am-11pm.  Book ahead to ensure a table.

Where: 48 Easey Street, COLLINGWOOD

I heard about Easey’s Cafe a while back and have had it on the to-do list for ages.  In my mind, a train on a roof had to be mostly for the gimmick factor and little about the dining experience – but I assumed wrong people!  Yes, ass-u-me.

Don’t get me wrong, there is plenty of gimmick factor to be had – but the burgers were really good.  Melty plastic cheesy good.  If you really feel like upping the hardening of your arteries then there is the option to add extra things to your burger – like fried dim sims.  We dragged some friends along with us on this occasion and my cohort was trying to convince me that the dim sim potato-cake burger with the lot option would make a great photo, but I couldn’t go there.  I am sure if you #easeyscafe on Instagram you’ll turn up all sorts of burger-tastic action.  (FYI there is no dedicated kids menu – but they are happy to build a burger to suit).

Oh did I mention the chips.  I’m not mad for chips, but these were possibly the best I’ve ever had.  [Have you been?  Tell me I am right.]

Enough about the food.  How cool is the space!  Keeping in theme, the seating used is the old train seats and there are bits of the original train used throughout as well as nods to graffiti culture and public transport from the 1980’s.  I loved the attention to detail, it was fun.  Added to that a new view of Melbourne.

Oh and randomly most of the tables have an iPad built into them – on first glance I thought they were some sort of high-tech menu ordering system (but no that’s still done old school by actual wait staff).  Just turns out the iPads are there for fun… it was a distraction for the kids, but with no limits and connected to the internet we did have to get heavy with the parenting as they dived straight into YouTube and, yikes, there is some stuff you can’t unsee.

There is lift access to the rooftop – but it’s really reserved for disabled/pram access.  Heating and cooling is a little limited (there has been some air-con retrofitted – but back in the 80’s it was all about opening and closing the windows to cool down or keep warm).  There is an outside rooftop area (between the carriages) and there is also another dining/bar area on the ground floor where you first enter.

Finally – the desert menu was a bit limited.  The only thing that would have worked for the kids was doughnuts – now given it was a 33C day when we visited and we’d just eaten burgers and chips… the last thing anyone felt like was more hot gluten – so we walked 10 minutes up Smith Street to Messina for gelati, the perfect end to any evening.

The only downside to the whole experience?  Crossing town in peak hour traffic.  But it’s good to get out of the bubble occasionally  🙂

Messina