Mercedes me Store Opens In Melbourne

[content_slider]

[content_slide]

[/content_slide]

[content_slide]

[/content_slide]

[content_slide]

[/content_slide]

[content_slide]

[/content_slide]

[content_slide]

[/content_slide]

[content_slide]

[/content_slide]

[content_slide]

[/content_slide]

[content_slide]

[/content_slide]

[content_slide]

[/content_slide]

[content_slide]

[/content_slide]

[content_slide]

[/content_slide]

[content_slide]

[/content_slide]

[content_slide]

[/content_slide]

[/content_slider]

This post was sponsored by Mercedes-Benz. Click here to read The City Lane’s policy on sponsored content.

MELBOURNE | Mercedes-Benz is a name that’s known the world over for cars, but what about cafes, restaurants, and bars? The Mercedes me Store Melbourne is the seventh Mercedes me concept store in the world and sees the German car maker team up with Melbourne coffee maestros St Ali to create a space where “café culture meets Mercedes-Benz lifestyle”.

What does this actually mean? Think a cafe that’s very much in line with what you expect from a great Melbourne cafe, but with a Mercedes-Benz twist. We visited the cafe on opening day, and walked away very impressed by the space. There’s always a risk with this sort of thing that the branding will be in your face, gimmicky or over the top, but the way it’s all been put together works well. Indeed, if you ignore the Mercedes-Benz aspect, there’s still a lot of reasons to visit.

The space has been designed by Melbourne architects Jackson Clement Burrows and is influenced by the Mercedes factories of the 1940s and 1950s – lots of clean lines, steel and wood, and greenery. Downstairs is the main cafe space, which tables, booths, and benches, which can be reconfigured to host events. It’s also home to a feature car, which will change from time-to-time, a wall of televisions playing various Mercedes related footage and a cool area called “The Garage”. The Garage features a wall of models of some of Mercedes’ most popular cars from its history. Press the engine button underneath the car you’re interested, and a screen starts playing a video about that car.

Walking up the staircase are three booths, the Sea Booth, the Land Booth, and the Air Booth, which contain facts about Mercedes’ three pointed star logo, and are great spots to chill and enjoy your food and drinks. Upstairs, there’s “The Library”, which contains a range of books full of info about the brand, and is probably the most laid back part of the venue. Upstairs also houses a ‘Meet the Maker’ space, where local creatives like milliners, watchmakers, gin distillers and more will run demonstrations.

What about the food and coffee? Well as you’d expect with St Ali’s involvement, both are fantastic. There’s an on-site coffee roaster that’s been re-engineered by Mercedes with some of their car technology, which is used to precision roast the coffee sold on site – AMG Blend – a strong espresso roast, S Blend – a smoother roast with notes of orange, chocolate and hazelnut, and A Blend – a floral Ethiopian roast. We had a flat white and an espresso which were made using the S Blend, and both were fantastic. If you don’t want coffee, there’s also teas, juices and the like.

Food wise it’s an assortment of breakfast (available all day) and lunch dishes with a focus on seasonal ingredients and freshness, with a few German influences here and there. We were particularly impressed with the “My German Cousin”, a riff on St Ali’s most popular breakfast dish “My Mexican Cousin”. It contains grilled kransky, fried potato, maple smoked mustard, fried egg, sauerkraut, and Gouda. Well balanced flavours and a nice array of textures. Also check out the “Housemade Waffle”, a spelt and wholemeal flour waffle with stracciatella and confit blood orange. For lunch, think steak, a burger, salad, and fish.

At the moment the Mercedes me store is open on weekdays from breakfast until late afternoon. By night, it transforms into an event space, showcasing art, food, fashion, sport, design, innovation and collaboration, and will also harness existing Mercedes-Benz partnerships such as the National Gallery of Victoria, the Australian Grand Prix and Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia. Definitely one worth checking out, whether your into cars, want to check out a great new cafe, or both.

Mercedes me Store

525 Collins Street
Melbourne
Victoria 3000
Australia

Telephone: (03) 8568 0400
E-mail: [email protected]
Website

Open
Mon – Thu: 7:00am to 5:30pm
Fri: 7:00am to 6:30pm