5 toast cafés around the world

Sick of cafés messing up your optimum toasting time? Never fear – Burnt Toast Cafe is the solution. With individual toasters on each table, here you can warm your bread to the perfect level of crunch and have it alongside your meal – traditional English fry-ups, pancakes or French toast, and freshly-roasted coffee are included on the menu. Burnt Toast bakes its own signature sourdough bread in-house, as well as a selection of cakes.

Crompton Coffee (Photo: Rachel Bale, departmentofwandering.com)

In Melbourne’s Richmond neighbourhood, Crompton Coffee is the city’s first toast café, having opened up in April 2015. Compton serves unusual toast toppings such as fig and ricotta, banana, tahini and honey, and blue cheese, pear and walnut – all on giant wedges of bread. You can get classic Vegemite and grilled cheese, too, if you have simpler tastes. The café also specialises in quality coffee, with granola, yoghurt and fruit plates on the rest of the menu.

The Millspecialises in two things: bread and coffee. Variations for toasting include Dark Mountain Rye, Whole Wheat Bird Bread, Country Bread, and a rotating Bread of the Week. The selection of toppings is simple but classic: cream cheese, honey, cinnamon sugar, almond butter, strawberry jam or homemade Nutella. These change every week, and new additions are frequently added to the menu. Wash your toast down with a cup of Four Barrell coffee, one of San Francisco’s most beloved coffee curators.

If having your own toaster on your table isn’t enough, Centre the Bakery in Tokyo actually let’s you choose from a selection of toasters; from colourful vintage-style contraptions to mighty modern four-slicers. Take your choice to your table, and enjoy toast served with butter and a selection of spreads and jams. This quirky bespoke toasting experience in Tokyo’s Ginza district has been an insider secret for years. The bread served here leans more towards standard white loaf rather than artisan, but the novelty of the toaster selection is the main draw.

Ginger & White (Photo: Jenny Zarins, The Ginger & White Cookbook, Mitchell Beazley)

While not exclusively a toast café, Ginger & White – which has two locations in London – is known for its sourdough, which appears all over the menu. Tuck into slices for breakfast with preserves, homemade peanut butter, or homemade baked beans, or for lunch topped with eggs and chorizo. Don’t miss all the café’s other delights, including a rather impressive selection of cakes and excellent coffee.


Main image: Toast with banana and chocolate (Shutterstock)