Two Boys One Beagle and a Coffee Shop

Two Boys One Beagle and a Coffee Shop owners Mikaela Keysers and Jamie Bowmen met in 2005. She was a waitress; he was an apprentice chef. They fell for each other and they’ve worked together ever since.

The couple’s second baby was born less than a month before they opened their first cafe on a quiet, residential Frankston street.

That baby was 10 weeks old when they opened their second. The shop is named after him, his older brother and the couple’s beagle, Penelope, who also has a dish named after her – fennel and lemon-infused waffles with wood-smoked bacon, maple butter, whiskey and banana jam, and vanilla ice-cream. Fried chicken is an optional addition. It arrives neatly piled up on a pink plate.

There’s also pork belly with a fried egg, kimchi, saganaki, charred onion and fennel cream, and a grain salad with beetroot labneh.

Jalapeno and manchego croquettes are a good weekend option. They’re made with charred corn, avocado and finocchiona salami (a type of salami with fennel seeds that originated in Tuscany), served with homemade tomato jam. There are beautifully decorated cakes too, such as the flourless mandarin with vanilla mascarpone.

For kids, there’s Coco Pops, a simplified waffle dish with ice-cream and maple syrup, and fruit cups.

Commonfolk coffee is made in the pink La Marzocco, and there’s Mörk hot chocolate with house-made marshmallows and cinnamon-spiced chai too. There’s also kombucha in ginger, lemongrass or peppermint flavour.

The pastel-meets-plywood eatery has plenty of space to bring the kids – a stack of child seats (also pink) sits by the counter.