If you’re looking for smashed avo or a full English breakfast with eggs, bacon and hash browns, Sunhands is not the place for you.

Rather, this cosy Carlton venue offers meals for the more discerning diner. This cafe/deli/wine bar, on the corner of Elgin and Drummond streets, has a produce- driven menu featuring seasonal organic vegetables from Day’s Walk Farm in Keilor.

The Morning Plate is different every day. Mine was loaded with leafy greens, fermented salad vegetables, romesco, a slice of apple, fig, Manchego cheese, fresh Akimbo sourdough and a smear of salted butter. A warm bean and greens mix is an unexpected surprise and the dish is topped with smoked trout, the protein of the day. For the vegetarian plate it’s $19. Add protein and it’s $23.

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For a filling, healthy breakfast, it’s a good deal. The venue itself is relatively small, the earthy tones and easy tunes giving it an intimate, relaxed, neighbourhood vibe. Co-owners, Matt Roberts, Nathen Doyle and Ishella Butler have created an inviting space. At nearby tables a couple are talking philosophy, two colleagues discuss a workplace project and an older gent reads a novel. Outside on Drummond St a parent’s group is gathered, babies bundled in their prams.

The coffee queue ebbs and flows as young professionals collect their caffeine and say a cheery hello. Staff work in sync and are quick to greet and seat customers. They give a run through of the menu and a clear explanation of what is on the plate when it is served.

Even though I stopped in for breakfast, I couldn’t resist ordering the pickled octopus ($16) from the bar menu, available, as it is, from 10am. Pickled in-house by chef Pat Drapac, it comes in a zingy pool of olive oil, dressed in thin segments of lemon, slivers of garlic and onion, and chunks of green capsicum. Fresh, crunchy, tangy and delicious; it won my heart.

The deli cabinet is small but enticing; pâté sits alongside a Long Paddock soft cheese and a rainbow of pickle jars filled with zucchini, cabbage and coloured vegetables.

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Grab a cookie, a slice of chocolate cake (GF) or a cinnamon scroll, and a hefty, vegetable laden sandwich (ham off the bone with aged cheddar, curried egg and pickled veg or charred broccoli, romesco and veg) or a salad to take away for your lunch.

Wine magnums decorate the shelves, reminding punters that Sunhands becomes a bar later in the day. The positive experience starts the moment you walk in and continues until the door shuts behind you with a goodbye from the amiable staff. Sunhands opened in March 2023 and already seems to be running like a well-oiled La Marzocco espresso coffee machine.

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