Axil Coffee Roasters,

At 9:00 am I was surprised to find Axil so quiet. A few tables were empty, though usually there is a wait time. Maybe it was a national sleep in day !

I decided on something different today. It was the Sweet corn and haloumi fritters. This sounded nice, served with avocado, a poached egg and salsa. Yummy. This was going to be paired with a Guatemalan single origin, latte, which was great. A smooth, nutty coffee, which had a distinct flavor. After yesterday’s Glen Waverly tragedy (I had a late night latte at a coffee joint in Glen Waverly. Didn’t expect much from it though), it was a welcome change.

The fritters came out, and it looked and smelled great. Though I was a little surprised at the texture of the fritters. It broke up a little too easily for my liking. Though the taste was nice, and the combination with the avocado and poached egg was beautiful. The poached egg was perfect in its consistency.

Overall a nice coffee and breakfast experience.

Othello

Well, lets be honest, I only came here for the 25% discount from the entertainment guide book. They mentioned on their website that they have started a breakfast menu. Being the breakfast person I am, I thought I would give it a try, located on south bank can’t be that bad right ? WTF ! Seriously. I was waiting outside the restaurant for a table, hoping the waitress would get me a seat. I waited for about 5 minutes as they walked in and out, just looking at me, and probably wanting to know why I’m standing there. Not a word from anyone. Finally the barista told the waitress to get me a table. The waitress sat me down and have me a menu. She walked away without asking whether I would like a drink. Hmm. Annoying. Now I am basically writing all of this while I am waiting to be served. I don’t believe I should raise my hand and say can I please order. If I just wanted to sit down, I would have sat on a park bench. Service is about knowing your surroundings, proactive service, rather than reactive. I’ll be honest, I have travelled to many spots around Melbourne, and even some of the “cheaper” places pay more attention to their customers. Anyway. I have written all of this and now and finally a waitress asks for the order. No, I am not a quick writer. I ordered the Othello Omelette and an orange juice. Regardless of the taste, I won’t be coming back. I’m signing off now. I guess my cheap ways got the better of me. Serves me right for being a tight arse.

The Pantry, Brighton

Melbourne turned it on today. 2 days in a row. The sun blaring out, 15 degrees outside. Fantastic. The cold mornings were indicators of a great day. With this in mind, i took my camera, and headed towards Brighton. Destination : The Pantry. Listed in the age good food guide as ……….., I was semi looking forward to this. It may have been the fact that I hadn’t had a decent breakfast in 2 weeks, unless you count cereal and milk as decent. The Pantry was a bustling place inside. The outside seats were empty, but only being 4 or 5 degrees outside, you couldn’t help but want to sit inside. Though they do have outdoor heating, and it wouldn’t be such a bad spot under a heater. Indoors though it was for me.

The waiting staff all had smiles on their faces, and provided good service. I ordered a latte as well as the herb scrambled eggs, with feta and slow cooked tomato. Im generally not a fan of tomato on the side of my breakfast, but it came free. I have to admit though, i was hoping to get some ricotta hotcakes on the menu to try again the Bistro Flor ones have really floored me ! After tasting the tomato, I immediately thought I need to look this recipe up.
The herb scramble, ( I’m not sure whether this was the menu item, but let’s indulge for now). The herb scramble was pretty darn good. The wry of feta, eggs and herbs was finely balanced. A good mix. One of the better I have had.

The Pantry is a good spot, and would recommend this, and being close to the beach, it’s a good spot to go afterwards and relax.

The Boathouse, 24th June

After the yesterday’s breakfast at Wild Dog Winery, I travelled the other side of the city towards Maribyrnong.  Today it was breakfast at The Boathouse.  The Boathouse os located right on the Maribyrnong river, and has a really nice setting around it.  Lots of parkland, the boat club  in the area, plenty of people kayaking along the river, and plenty of people running along the river in an effort to get fit.

Today, my aim, though not to gain weight, was definitely not to lose any !  I was seated at a table near the counter, and ordered the  Vegetarian breakfast and a latte.  This was in stark contrast to yesterday’s breakfast, which was basically 2 small poached eggs on a couple of pieces of toast.  This was more substantial.  The atmosphere was quite good, with a family friendly feel to the restaurant.

The breakfast itself was quite standard, nothing out of the ordinary, though the surroundings were quite relaxing, and overall was a good dining experience, even for breakfast.  Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t like it was a bad breakfast.  It was good, but nothing really spectacular.

I would recommend this place, not only for its food, but more so for the surroundings, along the river, a good buzz around the place.

The Vegetarian Breakfast

Wild Dog Winery, June 23rd

Today I had planned to join Richard, and old colleague and friend, at Wild Dog Winery, located in Warragul.  It was actually a good drive out.  Nice and relaxing.  It was a shorter drive than I expected though.  Listening to Whitney Houston on the way, I couldn’t complain.

I arrived at Wild dog, with not a car in the ca park.  I was a little worried, as I had book over the internet, for 2 people, and with bookings over the net, it is always a fear that the restaurant is not open at the time.

Though this was not the case.  We walked in, and the helpful waitress gave us a table with a view.  Fantastic view, looking over the winery and the farm.  We were the only 2 people in the restaurant.

The breakfast menu was a little light compared to others, though, I can imagine that in a far away place, it would be rather difficult to maintain a long breakfast menu.

I ordered poached eggs on toast, and Richard ended up ordering a full breakfast (I am not sure what they call this).  A breakfast with the lot.

The breakfast was ok, not a great standard, but really wasn’t expecting too much.  It seemed more of a dinner place than a breakfast spot.

To catch up with Richard was good.  The view was fantastic, and it felt to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city.

I did not get a chance to look at their wine list, but I would definitely give a dinner a chance at Wild Dog.  Not only for the food, but the atmosphere as well as the serenity of the surroundings  “ah…the serenity…”

A Wild dog Breakfast…

Bistro Flor, 17th June

It’s been a while since I have written something, but I have not stopped going to breakfast spots around Melbourne, just have been lazy updating my blog.

I did make it to Bistro Flor a couple of weeks ago, and sort of had some low expectations going in.  Its a small cosy spot, situated on a corner.  It wasn’t busy this particular  morning, and only a couple of people were in.  The waiter was friendly, and offered me a seat away from the cold door entry.

I ordered the standard latte, and something totally different for my breakfast.  I went away from the egg choice, and decided on Ricotta Hotcakes with poached pears !

Poached pears you ask ?  What is going on ?  Actually, it was one of the best breakfast I have had.  It was fresh, tasty, and, well fantastic.  Really was good.

I am now afraid to try another hotcake experience, incase I ruin the experience.

I am going to definitely going to try this again.  It will be worth another trip.

Fantastic – Ricotta Hotcakes with poached pears

Syracuse, Melbourne

Another chilli Melbourne morning.  Not as bad as the previous morning, were the fog had taken almost all day to lift, and even when we played golf, I don’t it lifted at all.  I joined one of my work colleagues for a coffee in the morning, and as I had the day off, I decided on having another breakfast from a page in the Age Good Food guide.  Syracuse it was.  I had planned to go there before, but got sidetracked, though not today.

After a coffee at 65 Degrees with my colleague / friend (a conversation about golf, work and photography), I made the cold walk towards Syracuse, located in the banking district of Melbourne. (to eat at some of these places, you need to rob a bank, so actually was in a good spot),  Traditionally though, breakfast at most spots are rather standard in cost.  Even Circa the Prince was only $22.50 for a breakfast and coffee, which wasn’t too bad.  Upon entering Syracuse, my frozen hands and face were glad to be in a warmer environment, and immediately started to thaw.

Syracuse has a very traditional place.  Spacious, comfortable seating, rather seemed like a relaxing place to be.  Though I am aware that in the evening, I would imagine that the town’s high flyers would be dining there.  Today though, it was poor me. !

I ordered scrambled eggs with a side of mushrooms.  Nothing special really, tasted pretty good, was made fresh, and really couldn’t spot much wrong with it.  I have to admit, I was expecting more of a treat, like Circa, or Cumulus, where they have these delightful baked egg dishes.  It was a good breakfast though, and I couldn’t complain.

The service was as expected, nothing really pushy, but good, genuine service.

Maybe I might make the trip in an evening one day to really enjoy the delights of Syracuse.

Plain and simple

Sisters kitchen garden cafe

It was a chilli morning in Melbourne, one of the coldest we have had in a while.  I had been booked to play golf in Portsea in the afternoon and thought it would be a good opportunity to visit a regional cafe with breakfast.  I looked through the book and found a place in Sorrento.  The Sisters Kitchen Garden Cafe.  This was the spot.  I headed off.

On the drive, there was so much fog, it was had to believe.  Visibility was low, and passing Arthur’s Seat, I thought of looking at the view from the top.  Wow.  This was fantastic.

You would think you were on top of Mt Everest !

 

After finally arriving at The Sisters, none of them were good-looking (only kidding).  It looked like a small town cafe, with the kitchen aptly in the middle of the garden, and seating around.  It was busy, not many spots, but being on my own, found a chair near the kitchen.  I could hear lots of clanging in the kitchen, and some of it really sounded like plates dropping, cutlery flying and other noises that shouldn’t be heard in a kitchen (I wouldn’t think so anyway)

I ordered the 3 cheese omelette and a latte.

When the omelette came out, it really didn’t look appealing (it looked a little burnt), and maybe I had a preconceived idea that it would look different.  I started eating, and couldn’t help but notice that the edges seemed a little burnt, as per the look, though the centre part was ok.  It wasn’t a great omelette, I have had better, but then again, this was not a 3 hat restaurant, so what could I expect.  There was care in the way it was cooked, good service, and a decent enough coffee.  So in all, not too bad.

A little crisp around the edges

 

Middle Park Hotel, Middle Park

A coldish morning in Melbourne today, and with the prospect on a sunny day ahead, I headed towards Middle Park Hotel.  I have been in the vicinity before, with Nacional being just down the road.

I put my Whitney Houston CD on, and sang along with some her greatest hits, even if I didn’t know the words.  Some of the sad songs matched the gloominess outside.  She had an amazing voice I thought, as I was listening along.

I entered Middle Park Hotel, to realise that it actually a hotel, not simply a pub.  As I sat down, the waiter asked which room I was staying in.  Tempted to say room 103, I could not bring myself to lie, and simply said, “Just visiting today, I am not staying in any room”

Looking at the menu, there were a few options, nothing grand, though, seemed very British, if I can use that word.  I ordered the Stafford, which apparently was one of the Queen’s favourites, being a republican, I thought who really cares.

The Stafford was basically an omelette, filled with Gruyère cheese and mushroom paste (though this came out with tiny mushroom pieces).  It was topped with a Mornay sauce.

This was indeed nice.  It was rich and delectable.  I could recommend this dish to the Queen !!

Definitely worth having again, maybe sometime in the near future.  Overall, it was good service, good food, and ok  coffee.  If you are after a traditional english breakfast, then go along to Middle Park Hotel.

Fit for a Queen !

 

Omni Restaurant, Essendon

I travelled across the other side of the coty today to visit Omni Restaurant.  This was a n interesting experience.  There was no one actually in the restaurant, and I thought for a minutes that it was closed.  I opened the door, and shazam, it was open.  Omni seems like an evening spot, with limited business for breakfast.  The Breakfast menu has plenty of options, but nothing that cried out Signature dish.

I decided on the baked brown mushrooms with Spinach, Feta and poached eggs.  This sounded rather interesting.

The Latte I had was rather weak.  It was a rather a glass of warm milk with a hint of coffee.  I was disappointed with the coffee to start with, and therefore started to discount the quality of the breakfast before receiving it.  Expectation was not high !

The breakfast came out and I was a little shocked at the amount of spinach in the dish.  It was an interesting dish, with the mushrooms being baked with the feta and the eggs simply plopped on top.

It was ok, and imagine that the food would be ok here, but I do not think Omni was a breakfast spot.  It was a little simple, and really the type of food could be got anywhere.

The Omni Breakfast