Banana Bread with Espresso Butter | Australia

Traveling through NZ and Australia has made it very apparent that the US suffers from a dearth of good cafes (disclaimer: I have not yet been to Portland or Seattle which I imagine to be exceptions to this statement). Whereas Chicago maybe has a single cool café/coffee shop in each of its hip neighborhoods, Sydney and Melbourne have rows and rows of stylish coffeehouses, bookshops-come-cafes, cafes-come-bookshops and every type of caffeine dealer in between.

Every café proudly churns out organic foodstuffs, sweet and savory muffins, homemade breads and sweets. Drip coffee is non-existent. They push the hard stuff – espresso – in every form: ristretto, macchiato and other Italian names I am unfamiliar with.

In our North Melbourne hood, we passed the morning snacking on banana bread with espresso butter at Auction Room, an antiques showroom converted into an open café with a sunken bar in the middle. Banana bread I’ve tried, but espresso butter was new to the game. If the picture doesn’t tell you outright, it was awesome. The bread was lightly toasted, allowing the butter to wistfully seep into the bread’s pores as it melted. The espresso taste was apparent and its dark roasted flavor played the perfect complement to the sweetness of the banana.