Eat
AddisCafe and Roastery.
Watch the roast at 226. The platter house is two doors down.
Location
What people get wrong
This is the roastery at 226, not Addis Abeba the platter restaurant at 220. House clock is weekday 8:30am-4pm. Ignore leftover Square hours that still print Market Street, San Francisco. We last walked this on 2026-09-20. Hours move with the week. Checking the shopfront keeps the night easy.
What is Addis Cafe and Roastery known for?
Addis Cafe is known as Nicholson's weekday Ethiopian roast: beans sourced mostly from Mel Dominique's native Ethiopia, roasted in the room, pulled as a strong espresso you drink here or walk out with.
You come off the station plaza onto Nicholson and the strip is already doing its morning work. Remittance desks. Grocers. A painted Argentine fascia at 205-207 that is not your coffee. Lime green at 220 if Addis Abeba has the lights on. Queen of Sheba at 224, closed Wednesday, injera dinner when it is open. Then 226. A small cafe. An outdoor table on the pavement if the Tripadvisor still matches the kerb. The roaster lives in the back of the shop. MelbourneMeal calls him Mal. Good Food, 18 July 2025, names Mel Dominique, twenty years in, still sourcing, still roasting, still brewing it strong.
The house site is the identity in one sentence. Established 2004, high-quality freshly roasted Ethiopian coffee for this community. Square SEO still says a small cafe bringing Ethiopian coffee, roasted on site, to the West. That is the job. You sit. You watch the drum if he is running it. You leave with a bag if the cupboard is the point. It is not Ras Dashen's shared tray on Barkly. It is not a third-wave laptop barn. Rudimentary exists if you needed a piccolo and a plug. This door is beans and a shorter plate.
Amharic and English both work because this is a family coffee room on the African strip, not a QR-only counter. The library is around the corner if someone in the party wanted a hold shelf after the cup. Merkato on Irving is spices if you wanted berbere to take home. Two jobs. Do not mash them into one sitting and then blame the suburb because the espresso did not come with a tray of wot.
What should you order at Addis Cafe and Roastery?
Order espresso if you wanted the roast in a cup, then decide whether the bag comes with you.
You watch the machine if Mel is running it. The house menu on the Square site prices espresso and short black at $4, long macchiato, flat white, latte and hot chocolate at $5, tea $4 to $5. Those are the listed cups. Ask what he pulled this morning. A long black is the diner argument people keep having about this room.
Good Food's fork is the honest lunch: a salad sandwich today, split pea curry tomorrow. Food straddles Australia and Africa. MelbourneMeal, working off the shop's own posts, still names toasted egg sandwiches, fresh tuna salads, and chicken tibs sauteed in fresh chilli. The Square catalogue keeps sandwiches, toast, baked goods, mains and coffee beans as live categories. A category is not a promise the pass still has it. Diner notes keep circling a rice and lentil curry that is light and correctly hot, a ham and cheese croissant at breakfast, a roasted sandwich when the Ethiopian plates are not up yet. Morning stew is not a given. Ask. Do not perform surprise at a missing tibs.
If you wanted injera laid down like a tablecloth, you are a few doors back at 220, or next door at 224 after midday. Do not arrive at 7pm expecting doro wot. The house close is 4pm on weekdays. A coffee bag is the other order, the one this suburb actually uses the door for. The house sells bags for pickup, including a 1kg, under the line take some of the magic home. Call (03) 9191 3291 if you wanted a specific roast rather than whatever is on the counter. Instagram is @addiscafeandroastery if you needed to see whether the drum was on.
Hours, payment and queues at Addis Cafe and Roastery
Quoted hours from the house callout: Monday to Friday 8:30am to 4pm. Phone (03) 9191 3291. Email info@addiscafeandroastery.com.au. Weekend is often listed closed. MelbourneMeal and AGFG still print weekday 8am to 5pm. Believe the house 8:30 to 4. Call if you needed Saturday.
Walk-in. Cards sit on Square: Visa, Mastercard, Amex, Apple Pay, Google Pay. Pickup in store is listed. The web cart was not accepting orders when we loaded it. Do not treat a paused checkout as a closed cafe. Gift cards exist on Square. Queues are cafe queues, not yum cha. 4pm is the weekday wall. Come for the morning roast if you wanted the room at its most itself.
Wednesday this coffee still works when Queen of Sheba is shut. Saturday, if you needed injera, 224 lists a dinner window and 226 may already be dark. Read both clocks. Do not use this door as a banquet backup when the platter rooms are closed. That is how a visiting cousin eats a toasted sandwich at dusk and decides Footscray has no Ethiopian food.
How do you get to Addis Cafe and Roastery in Footscray?
You walk Nicholson from Footscray station, plaza side, to 226. It is not Irving. It is not Hopkins. It is not the other Nicholson Street that MelbourneMeal still sends toward Parliament Station.
Count the numbers as you walk. Caminito La Boca is 205-207, asado, not espresso. Addis Abeba is 220, the platter. Queen of Sheba is 224. You want 226, a few doors further along, beans in the back, a table on the kerb if the weather is kind. The library is the civic neighbour. That is a hold shelf, not a second coffee. Merkato is Irving if the berbere was the errand after the cup.
You do not need a car. Albert Street plaza is the nearby deck if you drove anyway. Eat the sandwich on the pavement. Do not keep leftover curry in a hot boot while you do the hall. The hall is a different clock. After dark this cafe is usually already closed. If you stayed late at 224, leave via Barkly or Hopkins rather than improvising Paisley because dinner made you ambitious.
What do people mix up about Addis Cafe and Roastery?
They mash 226 with Addis Abeba at 220, the injera platter a few doors back, and then wonder why nobody brought a tray of wot to a coffee counter.
- 226 Nicholson Street, Footscray VIC 3011. Phone (03) 9191 3291.
- House clock: Mon-Fri 8:30am-4pm. Weekend often listed closed.
- Mel Dominique roasts Ethiopian coffee on site. Bags to take home.
- Not Addis Abeba at 220. Not Queen of Sheba dinner at 224.
- Not Irving. Not the CBD Nicholson Street MelbourneMeal still sends toward Parliament.
Questions people ask next
- Does Addis Cafe and Roastery serve injera dinners?
- No. This is a weekday coffee room at 226 Nicholson. Injera platters are Addis Abeba at 220 and Queen of Sheba at 224. House close is 4pm on weekdays. Do not arrive at dinner expecting doro wot.
- What are Addis Cafe and Roastery hours?
- Monday to Friday 8:30am-4pm on the house callout. Weekend often listed closed. MelbourneMeal still prints 8am-5pm. Ignore leftover Square hours that print Market Street, San Francisco. Call (03) 9191 3291. Last checked 2026-09-20.
- Is Addis Cafe the same as Addis Abeba?
- No. Addis Cafe at 226 is the roastery: espresso, bags, a smaller plate. Addis Abeba at 220 is the injera platter restaurant. Two businesses, a few doors apart. Queen of Sheba sits between them at 224.
- Can I buy coffee beans at Addis Cafe and Roastery?
- Yes. The house sells coffee bags for pickup, including a 1kg, and MelbourneMeal says you can call for beans. Phone (03) 9191 3291. Pickup in store is listed. The Square cart was not accepting web orders when we loaded it.
Where we checked
More in Eat
Queen of Sheba
Molokhia and injera. Closed Wednesday.
224 Nicholson Street, Footscray VIC 3011
Addis Abeba
Lime-green injera on Nicholson. The hours widget is a rumour.
220 Nicholson Street, Footscray VIC 3011
Footscray Library
Paisley council stack with late weeknights. Quiet room, local studies, not AMES and not the river arts foyer.
56 Paisley Street, Footscray VIC 3011