Amici Bakery Cafe

I visited this cafe during the quieter part of the day, so I received my meal quickly. I ordered the chicken caesar salad which was reasonably priced and full of flavour. One of the best salads I've had in recent memory. Would definitely recommend to those visiting the area.

Approximate cost: $19

Friendly service and fresh and yummy food. Staff are friendly and efficient. The eggs I ordered were steaming hot and delicious and coffee was great too

Had breakfast here the other day and I was quite impressed. Quick service and helpful staff. I was impressed with the size of the meal and also they had free wifi for customers

This place is great for breads and pastries, although their breakfasts aren't as cook quality or generous servings as they used to be. They seem to be moving into more of a casual dinner market now, with cheap drinks and dinner deals (such as $15 parma on certain nights). It's not really the place for a 'dinner' or 'drinks' atmosphere but if the weather's nice and you sit outside on Chapel St it's alright.

A very high standard. They have a strong interest in their customer service with quality food. They changed management recently and we have returned a few times already.

Approximate cost: $25

I've been here a couple of times on the weekends and been ok, nothing fantastic but acceptable. However decided to go during the week and had a disgraceful experience. Ignored on entry, had to ask for menus then after 20 mins still ignored, no one had bothered to come over and take our order. Another customer came in and sat next to us and also had to ask for a menu but then served. We still were ignored. We walked out after telling them their service sucked.

Approximate cost: $17

A rather decently cooked breakfast is available at Amici. Thick Spanish style omelettes served with spicy chorizo are the go here, and other juicy and fresh ingredients. Coffee is up to par, and makes this place worth another visit.

this place has a wow factor for all the wrong reasons. after sipping my soy chai latte and feeling like i'd just made out with a woman composed entirely of cinnamon and honey who bite my tongue off, rolled it around her uber sweet body, dipped it in a bag of cinnamon then shoved it back inside my mouth, i was a little surprised, so i headed back to get another one. as it turned out, the girl had actually put honey in it when i didnt ask for it, without checking, and with extreme prejudice by the taste of it. so i told her, forget the chai, make me a normal soy latte. then as i was leaving the restaurant she cries out "oh! thats not soy!" just after i'd taken the first sip. that was kinda the final straw, i just asked for my money back at that point and left never to return.

Beautiful food and great coffee - Amici is my favourite Chapel St Spot.
They do great food - and made the best cake I have ever eaten (my wedding cake - dark chocolate raspberry cake with dark/raspberry chocolate ganache.. it was amazing!!).
There's good pram access, highchairs and free baby-chinos for the little folk :)

Came here for breakfast last week. My partner had a very nice coffee. I ordered a freshly squeezed apple juice, it was amazing, best apple juice i have ever tasted. Also had some toast. Customer service was good. The place is modern. It was a little overpriced, but i didnt mind.

I went here for lunch today and sat outside in the sun. Service was fast and friendly. Coffee was good and my smoked salmon,salad roll with sesame seeds was fresh and yum, too much for me to eat really and very good value. Couldn't fit in the cute side salad. Highly recommended for a lunch with friends on Chapel St.

I haven't visited the Prahran cafe, but Amici runs a stall at the Bundoora Farmers' Market, and I visited their stall last weekend for the first time.

I agree wholeheartedly with @Reeces's review of the Portuguese custard tarts. Now, be aware that the traditional Portuguese tart is a rustic-looking object that won't win any beauty contests at the best of times, and Amici's tarts are even more ordinary-looking than most. They have dull, pale yellowish-beige tops, and thick pastry that one initially suspects (based on unpleasant past experience at other bakeries) might be stodgy and unappetising. I looked around Amici's website for a photo of them, but couldn't find one; perhaps the Portuguese custard tart has been deemed not pretty enough even by its makers, and pushed aside to make way for its more photogenic brethren.

But do not be put off by appearances. I decided to go ahead and buy a Portuguese tart anyway, based on @Reeces's praise of the product.

Despite its rustic appearance, the pastry isn't the least bit heavy or stodgy; it's actually crisp, flaky and delicate. And the custard is beautifully rich, creamy, and not too sweet or cloying. This little ugly duckling is indeed a swan: a first-class product which I can highly recommend.

Next time, I'll be buying more than one, and I'll try some of Amici's other products as well. I'm actually kind of glad the Portuguese custard tart's appearance is a little off-putting; hopefully that means they won't sell out too quickly next market day, because only those people in the know will be buying them.

UPDATE 2 May 2012: The other day I found myself in Chapel St Prahran in the middle of the morning with two hours to kill between appointments. What to do? Not enough time to go home to Coburg and back again. Window shopping was out of the question; I hate shopping, window or otherwise, and only do it when there's something I desperately need. Then I remembered that Amici bakery is in Chapel St. This was my opportunity to try it out. And I was hungry; I'd had to leave home so early that morning, there had been no time for breakfast.

Amici is a slightly old-fashioned looking space - lots of timber, glimpses of bustling activity in the kitchens along one side behind the bakery counter, very much a working bakery - but fortunately the operation is far slicker than initial appearances might suggest. T was promptly shown to a table, provided with tap water without having to ask for it (instant big tick from me), and given a menu which turned out to be more extensive than I'd expected from a bakery cafe. Plenty of options here for a simple morning tea or a substantial breakfast or lunch.

As soon as I saw Green Eggs and Ham on the menu, I just had to order it. With a name like that, how could one not? It was essentially Eggs Benedict with a green twist: poached eggs, prosciutto, house-made English muffins, and a parsley Hollandaise sauce. I'd expected a fairly standard Hollandaise sauce with a few green flecks in it. What turned up was the most splendidly, violently green sauce I'd ever seen. Loved the look of it. Loved the taste of it. "I like, I like green eggs and ham. I do, I like them, Sam-I-am." And the eggs were perfectly poached, something that an alarmingly large number of cafes can't seem to get right.

Usually when I'm eating alone, I eat, pay, and go. But on this occasion I had plenty of time to kill before my next appointment, so I lingered over my mango smoothie and watched the waitress give the same smiling and efficient service to the other tables as she had given to me. A woman came in with a baby; the waitress promptly brought over a high chair. Another customer nursed a coffee and worked on a laptop. No one seemed in a hurry to move her along, or me.

I don't know whether things get more hectic at lunchtime, or at weekends - there's probably much more competition for tables, so people may be encouraged to eat up and go - but I can tell you that at mid-morning on a weekday, this is a very relaxed and pleasant place to linger with a newspaper or laptop, or chat to a friend. I wish it were my local cafe. I could see myself visiting it at least once a week, not least to try out all the other tempting things on the menu.

Finally, reluctantly, I took my leave, clutching a bag of Portuguese custard tarts. Couldn't possibly leave Amici without buying some of those.

I go to Amici almost every week for coffee or lunch. It is a very busy place, the food is always fresh and of a good quality and value formoney.

Approximate cost: $17

I LOVE this place!!! Awesome coffee, Great service( not stuck up like some other cafes)!! My absolute favourite are the rolls especially the salmon one! Service can be a little slow only because they are so popular so it's always packed.

Great coffee's and food.
Can be pretty slow on the weekends when busy. Much better setup since they have expanded the shop. Highly recommend breakfast there too.

I had some friends visit for a girls' weekend and we stumbled upon this place while shopping. We had lunch on the Saturday and it was so good we brought the boys back on the Sunday for breakfast - which was even better!
Prahran is a great location and this cafe blends in well - It's also a bakery and the cakes and pastries are just incredible.
It's another notch in Melbourne's awesome cafe belt - The food is definitely the highlight!

A great place to kick back for a late brunch or early lunch.

I hang out here quite a lot. It's one of those rare places you can go and hang out with a book and have a really good coffee and not get bothered.

The other thing I like is the freshness of the food. The quiches are particularly good, ask what's been freshly baked.

Approximate cost: $15-20

Amici is a great Melbourne Cafe. A blend of good food, coffee and a great bakery. Great breads, pastries and savouries. Bigger than it looks. It can get busy and slows the service. Takeaway coffee takes too long sometimes...