Come to Nox for the snacks, stay for the monsters

I'm at Nox, snuggling with stuffed soft-toy monsters and carefully (badly) pouring a shot of espresso into a huge ball of fairy floss.

At the counter, tradies from the Metro Tunnel works over the road are back for the "epic toastie" they order every day. I can hear the crunch of fried chicken from here.

To my left, international students eat "airport lounge" brunch trays and play with the Lego that's available for all.

Over yonder, a fashion-forward couple try to get the spectacular cheese pull from their soup-filled cob loaf to look as photogenic as possible. I love this place!

Nox is the brainchild of commercial designer Raymond Bui, who originally thought of the three-level building as Melbourne's next laneway bar.

As it turned out, lockdowns and the slow grinding of the liquor licence wheels meant it became more of a brunch venue and dessert hangout with a focus on Asian snacks, fusion dishes and photo-friendly offerings such as "cloud coffee" (actually butterfly pea flower tea topped with a giant orb of fairy floss), croffles (hybrid waffle-croissants with lavish toppings) and bingsu (Korean shaved ice desserts, available from 6pm).

It's all very visual, conceptual and built for sharing on social media but you can't write it off as gimmicky because the food is really good.

I especially love the airport lounge meal sets, called brunch but available all day with the same time-zone-agnosticism of a real airport.

You might head to Shanghai for congee, tea egg and pulled pork bao, or New York for bacon hot dog, loaded fries and coleslaw. 

Or do as I did and go to Hong Kong to eat instant noodles in broth with char siu pork and fried egg, plus French toast with peanut butter drizzled with condensed milk. They're all great value and nicely rendered. 

There's every kind of coffee: Vietnamese coffee is made with espresso and condensed milk, Hong Kong coffee is a blend of tea, coffee and condensed milk and a French frappe comes with whipped cream. If you want a boring old flat white, sure, they make a really good one of those, too.

Evenings are all about theatrical cocktails (the Unicorn Blood is one of many that arrive in drifts of dry ice) and bingsu, made to look like cute little monsters with chocolate buttons for eyes and tiny waffle cones for mouth and ears.

To make these adorable "Monster Bing", ice is shaved and mounded into a fluffy little mountain, soaked with syrups (I like the sesame and the coconut), decorated and served with toppings of your choice: there are various jellies, flavoured popping pearls and boba, the tapioca balls that are a feature of bubble tea.

These bingsu are fun to eat, and make an occasion of snacking, even if you're not sharing it on TikTok.

Nox is here for the hype, but it's backed up by quality and care: I've felt giggly and joyful every time I've wandered in, cuddled a monster and indulged.