Artisanal coffee and inventive brunches in a trendy warehouse space with edgy, distressed decor. Come with us on a journey through space and time ... Like the discovery of most commodities, coffee was highly prized, mostly misunderstood and appreciated for its medicinal purposes. We’re talking about the 15th century, here. Fast-forward a few hundred years past the Y2K and you’ll see the beginnings of the ST. ALi Family in South Melbourne in 2005 placing a strong ethos on quality beans and unique brewing methods. Yes, we take our coffee very seriously- serious enough to be named one of the most pretentious things ever in a Buzzfeed listicle in 2013. But, that’s not all we’re known for. Head Barista, Matt Perger placed first in the World Coffee & Good Spirits Championship in 2014; Second in the 2013 World Barista Championship for his redial, rethink on filter coffee- a paradigm shift in the category- as well as winning first place in the 2012 World Brewer’s Cup. Matt Perger and his coffee disciples or boy band counterparts have toured all over the globe starring in pop-up cafes, master classes and merchandise signings. Now, you’ll find our family has expanded from our warehouse-chic flagship in Yarra Place to Sensory Lab, Clement, Tom Thumb, Plantation and Deadman Espresso. But that’s not all… Food is pretty damn important too! We thought that cafe food could be more than just some avocado on toast, and serious coffee deserves serious food. The early days saw pan-Asian influences from Benjamin Cooper (now at Chin Chin and Kong), dishing up sticky wings, grilled kingfish heads and zingy glass noodle salads next to your plate of poached eggs and corn fritters, ultimately inspiring “ST. ALi Nights,” which John Lethlean described as, “stimulating, thought provoking, and (for me) one of the most successful bits of hospitality-industry lateral thinking Melbourne has seen in quite a while” Today, we have Executive Chef Andy Gale in charge of the pans. Gale is known for his dishes with punny names, Oxford commas and wizard-like abilities to make offal sought after in a breakfast- clear signs of his British upbringing and culinary path under Pierre Koffmann, Bruce Paul and Gary Rhodes. With Gale at the helm, food is no second fiddle; he has turned up the heat to create a truly inspired hybrid restaurant-cafe menu, so good that in 2013 he bought home the Best Food prize in The Age Good Cafe awards. In the next chapter- twenty fifteen and beyond- we will be moving into our new kitchen, turning the food up yet another notch and re-birthing ST. ALi Nights but this time with Gale leading the pack. Things may be a little left of centre at ST. ALi, but never done by halves.