Mr Tulk is located on the ground floor of the State Library near the corner of Latrobe and Swanston Street. Named after the first state librarian, Mr Augustus Tulk, the licensed cafe and bar is headed up by Chef Andrew Kubale who serves up a range of hot and cold dishes for breakfast and lunch, including porridge, pastries, daily cooked dishes, baguettes, toasted flatbreads and a rotating list of specials from the kitchen. Lighter snacks range from olives, fried potatoes and pizza by the slice to meatballs in sugo and battered sardines with salsa verde. Drinks include coffee, juices, soft drinks and milkshakes as well as beer, basic spirits and wines by the glass and bottle. Around 80 people can be served inside, while the outside terrace caters for another 50 or so people.
It’s a foodie bookworm’s dream, hidden on the north-west corner of the State Library of Victoria. You’ll find some very good coffee and orange syrup cake or a nice cheap lunch at Mr Tulk, a smart city cafe squatting along the LaTrobe Street wall where outdoor umbrella tables bask in a sun trap. The man himself, Augustus Henry Tulk, was the building’s first chief librarian. Indeed, it feels a little like a library inside partly as students laze around the communal table ‘studying’ under the angle poise lamps. These guys are already clued-in to the quality cheap eats like battered sardines with salsa verde and crispy salad including walnut and beetroot. Hearty soups of the day are a good bet too. Light floods into the long and high-ceilinged cafe from elegant heritage arches.
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State Library of Victoria, State Library Of Australia, 304-328 Swanston St, Melbourne, VIC, 3000
Closed until Mondaysponsored listing
