Beatrix

WHERE AND WHAT

As 30Rock's Liz Lemon says: ''I believe that all anyone really wants in this life is to sit in peace and eat a sandwich.'' Fulfilment can be found at this tiny sugar-spun cafe, where chef Nat Paull (another Greg Malouf alumni) changes her menu of sarnies and sweets when her belly tells her. Open nine months, it already has a cult following.

WHEN TO GO

Opening hours are Wednesday to Monday, 8am until 4pm. But over Christmas, it's open New Year's Eve, then closed for three days until Wednesday, January 4.

WHERE TO SIT

Did we mention tiny? The bench stools are great for solo time, the side tables beneath the vintage cake beaters are for one-on-one catch-ups and bigger groups congregate at the tables on the street.

EAT

On a lively Saturday, it was the Brad, a ciabatta of silky, salty pork belly, corn-studded garlic mayonnaise and buttermilk-soaked coleslaw, scattered with shattered crackling. It comes small enough for two hands, or big enough to satisfy the hungriest trucker. Gluten-free bread on request. The vegetarian option, the Robert, is essentially an eggplant parma in bread and there's also the Shak, a roll filled with cumin-and-chilli-spiked capsicum stew, handfuls of mint and spinach and a fried egg. On other days, it might be the Banh Bea, a Vietnamese-inflected chicken roll, or the Kouta, slow-roasted lamb shoulder and kalamata salsa. Sweet tooths come for the arty tarts - such as the custard crumble variation - the princessy sponges, the luscious cheesecakes, the wholesome fruit pies and the gingerbread hula-hoops. Oh, and the Elvis - peanut butter and banana cupcakes with bacon praline - flew out the door too fast to try them. We can, however, vouch for the brioche doughnuts with sour cream icing.

DRINK

Allpress coffee or Art of Tea teas served in proper, fragile tea cups and candy-coloured teapots. Jostling for space alongside the soft drinks are stubbies of Machete, a cold-brew coffee bottled locally.

WHO'S THERE

Social-media enabled foodies who follow the daily menu updates on Twitter and Facebook and the locals enjoying Queensberry Street's foodie strip revival. For a quiet time, try before 11am or after 2pm.

WHY BOTHER?

Beatrix is like showing up to a friend's house, wondering what they'll fix you to eat.

Beatrix - 688 Queensberry Street, North Melbourne, phone 9090 7301.