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Just when you think you couldn’t love Melbourne more, you find yourself at a brilliant cafe in a semi-industrial street, 10 minutes from the airport.

Better than that, the cafe has turned a plain warehouse space into a cosy, vintage-inspired hangout: wood-panelling and plants, a communal table and couches, antique appliances and cosy vibes.

Best of all, the roller-doored venue is classified as outside, so you can play peek-a-boo with your neighbour’s dachshund while waiting for your dirty rose iced latte.

Bola Bake is the brainchild of chef Pakchima “Mini” Punapaprasurt, and she runs the 40-seat cafe with her husband, Scot Nottle. Mini developed her style of Asian-inspired brunching and beverages during previous head chef gigs at popular cafes Glass Den and Garden of Eden in Coburg.

In lockdown, while everyone else was obsessing over sourdough, Mini dove deep into shokupan, the fluffy Japanese loaf that’s great for squishy thick-cut sandwiches and gorgeous springy toast.

Her food offering at Bola Bake is marvellously problematic: everything sounds so good that I experienced piercing menu anxiety about all the things I wouldn’t be able to fit in.

There’s no way I was missing the honey butter toast. This TikTok-approved treat sees whipped butter, honey and brown sugar brushed over a fat slice of bread that’s then caramelised to form a crisp crust. Shatter it and you cut into the cloud-like crumb.

Bola Bake goes further, scattering the toast with cinnamon soil, then balancing a lovely-jubbly wobbly creme caramel on top. When you’ve gone this far, you might as well add cream and ice-cream, so they do. It’s an extravaganza.

I didn’t know what “blanket carbonara” meant but the words sound so comforting that I ordered it. If you could snuggle down under a doona with a plate of pasta, this would be your bedfellow. Ribbons of pasta as wide as the Tullamarine Freeway are tossed with a pecorino bechamel and bacon bits. An egg yolk lolls on top.

I adored it, but I was still jealous of those people eating the other pasta: squid ink spaghetti with a sauce of mentaiko, a Japanese salted roe.

I did manage the bulgogi sando, a jaw-extending Korean-style beef sandwich with delicious pickles and a tea-marinated boiled egg to balance the sweetness.

Filter coffee, espresso and tea are all made with care, along with speciality hot and cold lattes. Next time, I’m going wild with the tiramisu, a mascarpone float over cold brew.

If you’re here with your dachshund, they’ll beg for a dognut, an appealing treat made with almond meal, honey and peanut butter. You know Bola Bake is doing things very well when I even get FOMO about the dog snacks.