Common Room Co

Common Room Co runs from the base of an apartment block at 257 Alma Road, Caulfield North, 7am to 3pm on weekdays and 8am on weekends, with the kitchen winding up around 2:30pm. The room is polished concrete and timber with greenery threaded through, and the owners, Antony Wallace, Anthony Abazis and chef Nicholas Pettigrove, built it as a community gathering spot first and a cafe second. Coffee is made on locally roasted Ottimo beans, and the short menu does familiar brunch dishes with real flourish.

The dog setup

This is one of the few Melbourne cafes with an actual dog snack menu: the Herald Sun covered its launch, and The City Lane's review singles out the doggie snack menu by K9 Katering that sits alongside the human brunch list. Dogs are welcome at the outdoor street-side tables, water bowls are routine, and the kitchen's eggs Benedict arrives with smoked pork belly steak and a potato and confit onion rosti topped with apple and pork crackling, which tells you the food is not an afterthought. The chilli scrambled eggs and coeliac-friendly options keep the regulars loyal.

Getting there and parking

Alma Road is the spine between Caulfield North and St Kilda East, with the racecourse a few blocks south. Street parking is available along Alma Road and the side streets, and the cafe is also an easy ride or walk from Caulfield station for anyone pairing it with a park lap.

Close by with the dogs

Caulfield Park's dog off leash area is the natural pre-brunch run, close enough to walk off the zoomies before sitting down. For a fully fenced option, Pawfield Park in Caulfield East is a short drive east on Booran Road. If the morning becomes a crawl, VIC cafes and the Caulfield North destination guide point to the rest.

Pepsi: order from the K9 Katering menu and watch the dog get better service than me