Melbourne cafe The Glass Den breakfast prices spark debate over what we’re paying to eat out

Some trendy Melbourne cafes are charging nearly $30 for avocado on toast — with one venue located at the old Pentridge Prison sparking heated debate over how much is too much for breakfast.

It’s been said Millennials need to give up their avo on toast if they want to save for a house, but it’s likely never been more the case than for young Melburnians right now — with some trendy cafes charging nearly $30 for the popular breakfast dish.

Cool cafe The Glass Den in Coburg — located at the entrance to the old Pentridge Prison — may just cake the cake (or rather toast) for exxey avo.

Its menu has sparked furious debate on Reddit, with many people shocked at what some people are willing to pay for breakfast, and others defending the prices.

One Glass Den diner “blown away” by the prices asked if they were normal for Melbourne cafes these days.

The Glass Den restaurant at the former Pentridge Prison site. Picture: Supplied

The interior of The Glass Den restaurant. Picture: Supplied

Another wrote “I’ve gotten up from cafes like this . . . I’m not paying $27 for eggs and bacon on toast”, while yet another said “looking at the description of each item, you’re clearly paying for the wankiness too”.

The trendy cafe charges $26 for its avocado on a bed of radicchio (with bread) dish and $23.50 for smashed avo.

Granola or porridge will set you back $22.50 and French toast $27.50.

Other Reddit commenters, however, made the point that The Glass Den was a trendy and highly Intagrammable venue, where the food was beautifully and imaginatively presented and most people seemed happy to pay the prices asked.

“It’s more expensive than normal but this place ain’t trying to be normal. Look at the pics of their food on Instagram, and their menu items and ingredients, and you can see why the prices are what they are. I can’t think of another cafe in Melbourne off the top of my head that does food that’s similar or looks similar. Whether it’s worth it or the prices are justified is probably up to the individual customer,” said one person.

Yet another said: “As someone who works in bulk food distribution — our wholesale prices are up about 25 per cent across the board since Covid. Even so, most these cafes are inflating the prices by 200 per cent. Sure they need to cover a lot of things most civilians forget about but generally speaking they are ripping people off and could sell things lower at a profit. We are all being taken advantage of, I advise ya’all protest with your pocket and make ‘organic toast/smashed avo’ at home.”

The Glass Den’s food is beautifully presented point out fans of the venue. Picture: Supplied

But a cafe chef chipped in to say: “Unfortunately this pricing is actually pretty fair considering ingredients. Some ingredients used (halal bacon, truffle, pomegranate etc) don’t come cheap. Depends on suppliers too and availability, but honestly this is pretty fair pricing. Also, nobody is making you buy the $35 meal, you can get one for $11.50 or $18. You all assume restaurants/cafes are just ripping you off, but you also forget that owners need to pay for: wages (even a small cafe usually employs 10+ people), food cost, coffee beans, milks, napkins, cups takeaway & in house (they break often) water, gas, electricity, rent (doubt they own the land), printing costs for menu, chemicals for cleaning, toilet paper . . . I could go on but the costs for running even a small cafe is super high, weekend surcharges are so we can all still skate by on minimum wage, missing out on weekends/nights with family & friends so you can all out eat every day whenever you like.”

The Glass Den has been contacted for comment.