ith the rejuvenated Grace Darling, Tokyo Bikes and Japanese eatery Aka Siro already present, the team from Cibi, Zenta and Megumi Tanaka, have just created café Mina-no-ie – Japanese for ‘everyone’s home’.

Taking over a long vacant warehouse and sharing the space with new curated men’s store Epatant, Zenta has further articulated its lovely industrial bones with touches like blackened steel trestles that prop up recycled wine barrel boards reconfigured into beautifully textured tabletops. Running through the main spine of the cafe are two timber communal tables that are irreverently organic in their shape and soap-finished to provide their surface with a subtle off white hue. This subtle textural interplay also extends to the choice of handmade porcelain cups, saucers and plates created in collaboration between the Cibi team and local potter Shane Kent, a dynamic that recasts the everyday act of drinking coffee as a wonderfully tactile experience. These cups, along with other beautifully considered everyday products, will be on sale soon at Cibi’s select store, which increasingly will shift to be a hub of design led thinking.

Megumi, the heart and soul of the space, will soon have a menu that draws upon the kind of heart-warming food that we have all come to enjoy at Cibi cafe. Harking back to the nourishing Japanese home-style food that she grew up with in rural Okayama, Megumi’s food philosophy at Mina-no-ie is as much about the notion of providing sustenance as it is about the balance of flavours. An ever-evolving food offering that relies on seasonality, organic produce and the environment that surrounds, the first menu will be ready by August.

Coupled with the green tea cakes and great coffee already being served, it will further articulate Mina-no-ie as a perfect space of respite from the grey surrounds of wintery Melbourne.

Mina-no-ie
33 Peel Street, Collingwood

Hours
Tues to Fri 8am–4pm
Sat & Sun 9am–4pm