Overview
A slice of effortless Scandi cool has landed in Windsor, by way of charming new daytime haunt Oppen.
Inspired by the owners' (husband-and-wife duo Zume Pham and Amy Vo) travels through Norway, Denmark and Sweden, it's a champion of elegant simplicity, combining smart Scandinavian design with a palette of dusty pinks and reds.
From the kitchen comes an all-day offering of brunch fare and open sandwiches, injecting those classic Scandi sensibilities with a modern Melbourne edge. It's considered and crafty, yet pulled off with minimal fuss.
For breakfast, that might mean a bowl of Nordic spelt granola, with skyr (an Icelandic cultured dairy product similar to yoghurt), sour cherry foam and a sprinkling of ymerdrys (a crunchy rye bread topping), or the buckwheat waffle, teaming saffron pear and cacao sauce with buttermilk foam and liquorice. Heartier appetites will appreciate the likes of the Scandi board, loaded with both sweet and savoury options, or the ham hock hash, featuring sauerkraut, leek, poached eggs and a chipotle hollandaise.
At lunchtime, it's the lineup of open rye sandwiches that reigns supreme — choose from toppings like rare roast beef with cucumber, watercress and spicy béarnaise sauce, or pork liver pâté matched with lingonberry ketchup, hazelnut and marble egg.
And, unlike your standard backstreet cafe, Oppen's booze game is strong. You'll find a healthy selection of cocktails, divided into drinks for 'pre-midday' (we're talking salted caramel espresso martinis, lingonberry bellinis and bloody marys) and post-midday (like the Nordkapp, blending gin, Lillet Blanc, grapefruit bitters and aquavit). See too the lineup of wines and craft brews, primed for those long summer lunches.
Find Oppen at 20/2 Maddock Street, Windsor. It's open from 6.30am–4pm Monday–Friday, 7.30am–4pm Saturday and 8am–4pm Sunday.