Sun Moth

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28 Niagara Lane, Melbourne, 9602 4554

My score: 3.5/5

Why do we love hidden places? It’s the childlike thrill of hide-and-seek, the explorer’s victory of discovery, the smug feeling of being somewhere that not everyone knows about and, more soberly, the satisfaction of being part of an urban environment that’s well used.

Melbourne disdains Casa Obvious. Our laneways were colonised first, our rooftops were next, with places like Madame Brussels and Jimmy Watson’s Treetops unguessed at by prosaic street-level eyes. Now secret doorways give onto subterranean hideouts (Fall From Grace) and obscure bars (Jungle Boy, Bar Exuberante), and unassuming staircases lead to surprisingly expansive salons (The Den at Atlantic).

Sun Moth is of the cobbled laneway “are you sure it’s down here?” breed of hidden restaurant. (Psst, look for the potted plant.) It’s an all-day canteen which strolls in friendly fashion from excellent coffee to fine salads to knock-off drinks to tasty dinner to “one more craft beer, please”.

It’s professional but easygoing, the food is good and well-priced and the whole package is customer focused and inclusive, exemplified in no better fashion than by a ‘now hiring’ poster on the window which urges regulars to “tell your mates” about the jobs on offer. I even like the order-at-the-counter modus because it forces people to hop up and engage.

Come for breakfast, juice up your phone at a tableside USB port and mainline muesli with crunchy coconut topping. Duck in for a lunch meeting, free wi-fi and stout-braised beef cheek sandwich or kale salad (in a bowl or in a sandwich – yes, kale sandwiches are among us). Don’t eat all the bread because I need the fried bread that’s a night-time snack: it’s salty with green olives, spiked with chilli, pungent with garlic and cheese, golden-crunchy from frying and basically designed to make a person happy.

You might also nibble on vibrant pickled vegetables with dukkah-style dipping salt, or dig into a white bean stew (shredded ham hock optional) that’s more like an abundant, piquant spring minestrone than the ‘stew’ moniker suggests.

Eggplant parmigiana is indicative of the Sun Moth approach: it’s nothing you couldn’t attempt at home, if only you’d done the shopping and had the time, energy and composure to cook. But you didn’t, and it’s here and it’s $16 and it’s vegetarian and gluten free, and you can eat it while drinking natural wine and blissing out to surf films projected onto the wall.

The owners of this urban playground are Luke Mutton and Kylie Mackinlay, previously of Deadman Espresso (South Melbourne) and Common Galaxia (Seddon). Their organic aesthetic flows through, but there’s a welcoming city lounge-room feel to Sun Moth, even better because you found your way down a narrow laneway to get here.

See their website.

More hidden gems:

Manchester Press, 8 Rankins Lane, Melbourne, 9600 4054.
You’d never guess that this big, breezy cafe is hidden down a lane off Little Bourke Street. Specialty coffee and bagels are the big deals here.

Treetops, Jimmy Watsons Lane, Carlton, 9348 0385.
Out the back of Jimmy Watson’s Wine Bar is Wolf’s Lair, a hangout with shades of gazebo and granny flat. The astroturfed Treetops is on its roof ready to dole out snacks and pizza.

First published in The Age, November 9th, 2015.