Just Open: Lot 3, Ripponlea

Barrel down the exit stairs of charming Ripponlea Station and you'll stumble on to Lot 3, an old station master's house and the lone building on the rail side of Glen Eira Avenue.

Venture inside and you'll find an exercise in gorgeous simplicity – an unfussy space with an open kitchen, wooden stools and a hefty communal table adorned with daily papers and potted herbs.

The menu is similarly uncomplicated – just excellent sandwiches (maybe eggplant, mozzarella and basil or smoked chicken and pancetta on bread from Balaclava's Baker in the Rye) served on cute tin plates, a daily pasta dish, pastries, sodas and Proud Mary coffee.

The work of former Attica owner David Maccora and Michael Bascetta (ex-Attica, now also part of Bar Liberty), it riffs on Bascetta's Sicilian roots with an understated cafe ease and a pride in making almost everything (apart from the bread) by hand – from the pasta to the soda syrups in flavours like pineapple ginger to the crostoli and the pickled green tomatoes courtesy of his grandmother's garden.

Open Mon-Fri 7am-4pm.

3 Glen Eira Avenue, Ripponlea (no phone)