This cafe is caffeine's answer to the Apple store

What happens when a coffee brand gets tickets on itself and decides to morph its HQ into an all-conquering roastery, tasting house and cafe? If the answer is anything like Veneziano, it's a damned good thing.

Since opening in August last year, the enormous red brick warehouse in backstreet Richmond has become caffeine's answer to the Apple store: a glossy-surfaced paragon of design where coffee is king, but the food doesn't get left in the third-wave shade.

The space

First impressions count, and at Veneziano you can almost imagine coffee nerds muttering, "the eagle has landed". The working roastery sets the pace on the way in, with a smelter's worth of stainless steel and worker bee hoo-ha sequestered behind noise-squelching glass.

There's a dedicated cupping space, too, but there's no beating the democratising appeal of the central counter, where solemn baristas ply their trade and ringside seats are the cafe equivalent of a restaurant chef's table.

The fitout by Techne embraces the huge proportions of the double-tiered warehouse and come up trumps with a well-spaced, calming room.

Food

A friend recently floated the theory that eggs benedict is the mark of a cafe, and the version here is pitch-perfect, with a crunchy potato rosti supporting whipped ricotta and stickily good smoked salmon ($22).

Fat buttermilk pancakes ($18.50) unapologetically bring dessert to breakfast with white chocolate and caramel, while pan-fried barramundi ($24) brings refinement with smoked bacon dashi broth. There is a wagyu burger ($22), naturally, and it's a good one. Ditto for the parmesan-crumbed chicken schnitzel ($21).

Slightly rubbery grilled calamari ($20) lets down its bandmates of a pesto-like broccoli studded with roasted pepitas and a salad of wild-looking greens that could have been plucked straight from a Richmond nonna's garden.

Dessert? Head straight to the glass cabinet to choose a brownie or escargot.

Coffee

File under "spoilt for choice". Pro tip: opt for the "barista breakfast" ($12), a triple-flight of house blend Bond St milk coffee (a two-bean blend of Colombian and Ethiopian that makes a mouthful of silky toffee), with beans for espresso and filter and cute cards with tasting notes. Or hit the reserve flight for $20.

Drinks

Strike one for the return of retro drinks with the Ovaltine milkshake. The only juice is cold-pressed orange, while organic soft drinks come from Melbourne Soda Co. It's also an excellent idea to see one-litre pitchers of organic sparling cordial in flavours such as apple with ginger and rosella or ruby grapefruit and lemon aspen. By the way, there's no booze.