MEADOW, a relatively new café in Odgers Lane in Civic, strives to be a meeting place and a home away from home.

It’s a place that comforts clients with its sustainable approach, early start and all-day brunch.

Manager Nathan Sami, who created the Meadow concept with Carlo Krikowa (from pallet furniture operation boyandgirlco), says the team respects the environment and works hard to reduce paddock-to-plate kilometres.

“We support small, passionate producers who care about what they do and how they do it,” says Nathan.

“We keep waste to a minimum, encourage the use of keep cups and use recycled materials. We think sustainability in all that we do.”

Meadow focuses on plant-based food, although reading the menu you don’t really notice.

“We offer great vegetarian cuisine for the non-vegetarian”, says Nathan, who is not a vegetarian himself but who happily digs into Meadow’s dishes.

Savoury lovers and sweet lovers are well taken care of. The taco is a winner, with refried beans, charred bell pepper, salsa fresca, avo and parmesan crisps all on a tortilla ($16). The signature Meadow roll offers up fried haloumi, poached egg, aioli and chipotle on a brioche bun ($13). Another winner is the Teriyaki burger ($18) with wild mushrooms, fried enoki, shallots, bok choy and sesame on a brioche bun.

A great start to the day is the quinoa porridge ($13), nicely spiced and served with crème fraiche, cinnamon crumble, house nut milk, nectarine and pear. A totally indulgent dish is the cheesecake pancake (short stack $14 and the double $19) – madeleines with maple comb, cream cheese mousse, ginger nut crumble and sambuca berries. It’s a wonderful combo of ingredients but not exactly light on the calories.

Yummy sandwiches, each $12, feature a three cheese, reuben and ponzu pear.

Meadow welcomes families and the kids’ menu makes life easy for parents. A simple peanut butter and house jam on sourdough toast ($5) is available or the young ones can dig into cheesy soldiers ($7), frog in a hole ($9) or a bento box of nuggets, veggies and cheese dip with a fruit salad ($12).

Juices and smoothies feature on the drinks menu. Coffee is sourced from Seven Seed, tea from Storm in a Teacup and chocolate by Mork Specialty Chocolate.

Meadow has live Sunday music sessions and hosts special events, dinners and workshops, taking full advantage of the laneway it calls home. Starting mid-February, Meadow will host laneway yoga on Saturday mornings.

Meadow, Odgers Lane, Melbourne Building, open Monday-Friday, 7am-2.30pm and Saturday, 8am-2.30pm.