Small is good!

AIX Café and Creperie Salon
24 Centre Place, Melbourne
9662 2667
Monday to Friday: 6.00am to 5.00pm
Saturday: 8.00am to 4.00pm
Mains $4 - $7
Unlicensed
No bookings

The sign sounds French, the owners are Greek, and the reviews say it’s very ‘Melbourne’ … whatever it is, it sure is small!

AIX Café and Creperie Salon is an intimate, elbow-to-elbow little place. It’s one of the many holes-in-the-wall that line Centre Place, a shadowy, narrow, graffiti covered laneway--filled with as much atmosphere as people--that runs between Flinders Lane and Collins Street. It’s a great place to go after a leisurely stop at the wonderful City Library in Flinders Lane.

AIX has made it in to the Age Cheap Eats guide two years in a row now, and for good reason. It's just what you'd imagine finding in a hidden laneway in Paris. Though it is small, there’s a family-sized table tucked away in the back, and the wait staff always make you feel at home, especially the kids. Their genuine welcome says stay as long as you like! And the red walls and soft red lights make it a cosy place do just that.

The lunch menu is a mixture of crusty baguettes and foccacias stuffed full with fresh ingredients, and an impressive lists of teas! But the draw card, especially for the kids, is the list of delicious sweet and savory crepes. All $4 to $7, they’re filled with mouth watering combinations like:

hot salami, goats cheese, capsicum and olive tapenade;
Peking duck, cucumber, iceburg lettuce and plum sauce;
field mushrooms and tallegio cheese.

Or for the sweet tooth:

chocolate hazelnut and double cream;
lemon and sugar;
banana, ricotta and honey;
mixed berries and rosewater yoghurt.

The ambience is relaxed, the music is great, the coffee is good (Grinders) and the price is right. Go ahead … squeeze in!