Melbourne Eats: The Glass Den, Coburg

Melbourne Eats: The Glass Den, Coburg Review

Welcome back to another Melbourne Eats blog on Eats With Ash! If you’d like to check out some other ones, you can do so via the “Melbourne Eats” category. In today’s blog, we’re reviewing the cafe The Glass Den in Coburg. Luke and I went here for brunch on Monday, and it was spoiler alert: fabulous!

Location: 15 Urquhart St, Coburg VIC 3058
Opening Hours: M – F: 7:30 AM – 3 PM, SAT: 8 AM – 3 PM, SUN: 8:30 AM – 3 PM. Kitchen opens at 8 AM.
Price Range: $20 – $40, but more like $30 – $50 pp.
Cuisine: Breakfast/Brunch, and Google describes them as “Down-home prison-turned-cafe with outdoor seating serving elevated, health-conscious fare.”

All prices are in AUD and are approximate as the menu is not avaliable online (or I’m not looking hard enough).

What We Ate

Drinks

• Iced Taro $8.50
• Long Black in a mug $6 (I think)

Food

• Bee in the Garden $30.90
• The Glass Den Avo Rose $28.50 with added poached egg +$3.50

My Review

The Glass Den is a cafe that I’ve been wanting to try for AGES, and we finally got the chance to. Everything is as beautiful and aesthetic as you see online – including the rustic decor (it’s literally a glass den). The only downside is that everything is a bit more expensive than other cafes are, and you can’t really change anything on the menu. They did ask us if we had any allergies when we ordered, so I’m guessing maybe they can, and it’s just a disclaimer they put on the menu? Anyway, that’s really the only bad thing I have to say about this place.

The staff were lovely and there are so many food options (even VEG & Halal). I went for the Bee in the Garden, which was waffles shaped like a beehive, and you even get your own mini jar of honey – I felt like Winnie the Pooh in his happy place. A major nostalgia win for me there. The waffles were really light, and they didn’t taste unhealthy at all. The vanilla bean ice cream that came with them was divine, and I loved the extra detail with bees made out of meringue and a lemon curd to tie everything together—a great dish elevated by the magical storytelling of it, and oh so charming. I also ordered an iced taro, which is made out of the root vegetable, and the only other time I’ve had taro was back in NZ, and it was deep-fried, so I definitely wanted to give it a try. I think I should have ordered a hot drink because it was so cold on Monday morning, but it was really nice. It was kinda like drinking a milkshake made from taro (if you’ve never had taro, it’s like potato). Luke got the Avo Rose with a poached egg, and everything looked so perfect on his dish; he gave it a 10/10. Everything felt just too pretty to eat. And the long black was great as it’s Code Black coffee, which is a popular coffee brand around a lot of Melbourne cafes (especially Brunswick and Coburg).

All in all, this was a great cafe and we will definitely be going back here. Hopefully, next time it’s not raining and we can take Benji and sit outside (fingers crossed they have puppachinos).

I would also recommend avoiding this place on the weekend when there are markets on in Coburg, as it can get REALLY busy and overwhelming. Weekdays are your best bet. And if you can’t make it on a weekday, get there early on a Sunday morning.

Here are some photos! Enjoy x

Thanks for reading!

Ash xx