CERES Community Environmental Park is arguably Melbourne’s hippie hub. CERES stands for Centre for Education and Research in Environmental Strategies and it’s a not-for-profit, sustainable urban farm located on the banks of Merri Creek in East Brunswick.

But whether you wear hemp fisherman’s pants or carry a designer label handbag, I think everyone would enjoy a trip to CERES. There’s an organic cafe, shop, nursery, community garden, adventure playground, bike shed, conference venue, function restaurant and organic markets every Wednesday and Saturday.

The CERES Organic Cafe is a great pit-stop for your visit to CERES. A big wooden hut houses the kitchen, which cooks mainly organic food with many of the ingredients coming straight of CERES‘ organic market garden. Seating is scattered around the cafe’s wrap-around verandah, under the plastic marquee or by the shade of tea trees within sight of the kids’ sandpit. Though it’s all pretty relaxed so if you decided you wanted to louche around on a picnic blanket with your kids and pets I think that’d be ok too.

To start – iced dandelion tea ($5). I wasn’t expecting it to come with ice cream but the sweet vanilla scoop was needed to temper some of the bitterness of the tea.

The breakfast menu is very eggs-heavy (there are chooks living on site) with the most interesting version being the Indonesian eggs ($15.60). What came out was a large wholesale selection of brown rice, Asian herbs, crisp salad greens, a sweet soy sauce and a sprinkle of peanuts, all finished with two fried eggs sunny side up.

Poke your knife through the cheerful yellow yolk, cut up the whites into bite sized pieces and then toss the whole lot together with the dollop of sambal for a breakfast that’s hearty, filling and a spice sensation. Having chilli for breakfast is not for everyone but if your stomach can deal with it, I highly recommend this dish.

While I was very full, I was intrigued by the fact that the muffins were $5. I haven’t seen muffins break the $5 barrier in Melbourne before and wondered whether there was a reason they were unusually expensive. A taste test of the milk chocolate and hazelnut muffin revealed that we would have been better off saving our $5 and the calories. Amongst four people the verdict was unanimous – the muffin was too solid and dense for our liking – maybe all that almond meal inside it was what made it such an expensive item relative to everything else on the menu?

Apparently their gluten free orange and almond cake is considered one of the best in town so I’ll be trying that next time instead.

The kitchen is open until 3pm and the lunch menu looks as healthful and appetising as the breakfast options. I will definitely be returning to CERES and the CERES Organic Cafe – it’s a great day out for urbanites wanting to get in touch with their inner hippie.

For other locations where you can experience the country in the city, try the Farm Cafe at Collingwood Children’s Farm.

CERES Organic Cafe, CERES Community Environment Park, Cnr Roberts and Stewart Streets, Brunswick East +61 3 9389 0100

Monday to Friday 8.30am – 4pm
Saturday 8.30am – 5pm
Sunday 9am – 5pm

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Carolina is a new cafe in East Brunswick where pram-pushing mums, bike riders and hip young things collide (or sometimes, in my case, I like to think I’m all three).

What was a former Italian shoe store called ‘Invicta’ has been transformed into a casual cafe with all the right elements to appeal to their three-prong target demographic. The owners have kept the shop’s original gold decal on the window so look out for the tiny curbside blackboard pointing you in the right direction.

For the hipsters – a small room with a smattering of tables, a high-walled bar and cosy wooden booths lining up one side. There are cute knick-knacks dotted around, including antique shoe moulds harking back to the premises’ original purpose.

For the parents – walk down the corridor and find yourself in a gorgeous courtyard with a backdrop of reclaimed wood. The spacious setting includes garden beds filled with herbs and vegetables, tangles of trellised vines and overhead, swatches of hessian that pull along wires to create shade where needed. In one corner, a clean little sandpit with toys!

For the cyclists – turn off the Capital City Trail near the bike shop Velo Cycles, take a left down the cobblestone laneway and enter the cafe through the gate for the back entrance. Plenty of space to park your bike or even wheel it in if you’re particularly precious about it.

Now, to the menu. The coffee comes from Seven Seeds and breakfast staples like eggs, muesli and French toast all make an appearance, but with a twist. I tried a half-serve of housemade fruit brioche toasted with poached peaches, a squiggle of orange blossom spiced syrup, a large dollop of marscapone and fresh mint ($6.50 for half, $13 for whole). The bread was quite dense, all the better to soak up the syrup which I would have liked more of. The mint was a welcome addition to a reasonably rich dish.

From the lunch menu, which starts at 11am, I chose the Tunisian-style brik pastry rolls filled with mozzarella, basil and pinenuts ($14). This was served with some summery ratatouille, the slight sharpness an effective foil for the cheesy, nutty, finger-licking oily pastries. I hope that in future they might let you choose one of their wholefood salads as an accompaniment – I particularly liked the sound of organic quinoa, roast pumpkin, apple, snowpeas and tamari pepitas ($9).

There is lots to like about Carolina – both the breakfast and lunch menus are wholesome and inventive, the service is friendly and the setting is wonderful. I’ll be back, pushing a pram or riding my bike.

For other kid-friendly cafes near the Capital City bike trail, try Farm Cafe, Small Block and Squirrel Cafe.

Carolina, 11 Nicholson St, East Brunswick
Tue-Fri 7.30am-11pm
Sat-Sun 8.30am-11pm

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Do you have a brother?

Does he make you coffee? Cook you eggs? Bake you muffins?

If he’s an annoying brother, then he might just do so.

Annoying Brother Espresso + Kitchen is a small new cafe that’s opened on the southern end of Nicholson St village on the corner of Bik Lane. I have no idea about the origins of the name but it’s catchy and I like the on-theme blackboard cartoon that comprises part of the cafe’s decor.

During my weekday visit it was popular with nearby office workers and most curiously, Irish construction workers in fluorescent orange vests! Guess there must be a site nearby and who’s to say that they don’t deserve better than builders tea?

As the name suggests, the cafe specialises in coffee – they roast and grind their own beans and there’s a rotating menu of blends to try. I have it on good authority from Miss Kish that the coffee is excellent! The food menu is a short affair of about a dozen breakfast items made from locally sourced ingredients – eggs, pancakes, muesli – and a handful of ‘lunchie’ things – a steak sandwich, fritters.

I love dukkah eggs when I see them on a menu and this version was two jolly poached eggs sitting atop a tomato and red capsicum chunky salsa, fresh spinach greens and sprinkled with spice mix ($14.50). I don’t usually comment too much about toast  (it’s just a base for toppings a lot of the time) but this bread was remarkable for its inability to yield to a steak knife. Absolutely rock hard and inedible.

I requested a side of buttered thyme mushrooms ($3.50) which was the opposite of the bread – soft, juicy, buttery and moreish. Next time I might go the Tetris instead –  a build-your-own breakfast of eggs done how you like with a choice of sides including the magnificent mushrooms.

For sweet things I had three house made options – banana bread, muffin and cookie. After asking the owner what he recommended I went with his favourite – the raspberry and white chocolate muffin.

As he took my plate away he asked me how he liked my breakfast and I was honest – I said the eggs were great but the bread was really hard and dry. He apologised, explaining that the sourdough was fresh yesterday but had hardened overnight, and then to my surprise when he brought out the muffin on the wooden platter he said that it was on the house. A small gesture but that’s the way to treat your customers – surprise and delight.

The muffin was a just-baked soft and fluffy ending, filled with gooey chocolate and oozing raspberries (and served with a pat of butter. Really? People put butter on top on their buttery, sugary, muffin?). On par with the muffins from Proud Mary, which I consider in my muffin-eating experience to be the best in Melbourne. Muffins that are definitely worth a return visit, gratis or not.

For other great cafes in North Fitzroy, try Mitte and Mixed Business.

Annoying Brother Espresso, 660 Nicholson St, North Fitzroy +61 3 9482 9494
Mon-Fri 7am – 4pm
Sat-Sun 8:30am – 4pm

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In Fitzroy, it’s another day, another new cafe….

Backstreet Cafe is the new project from the people behind Birdman Eating and it takes some of what’s great about that Fitzroy stalwart and extends it beyond – or more precisely below. More on that later.

The cafe is located in a corner spot in amongst residential premises, though it’s not exactly a ‘backstreet’ as such because it’s right on the popular Napier Street bike path. Prime position is definitely via the street front tables, breezy yet shaded by a wooden trellised roof and an open view of the dining room within. Street side also provides great opportunities for style watching, particularly for the cycle chic ambling past.

The inside decor is almost too sleek for Fitzroy – everything is shiny bronze and black and it all matches :–) I particularly liked the laser cut geometry of the unvarnished wooden floor. Please don’t wear stiletto heels inside ladies!

The daytime menu ranges from traditional breakfast-y options like baked eggs, muesli and porridge but done with a twist, to more lunchtime fare like sandwiches and salads.

If you’re a meat eater then may I steer you towards something cured, smoked or salted. Why? Again, more on that later.

For lunch I chose the Salty Pork Roll with green olive tapenade ($9.50) which was a soft white roll containing slices of porky, salty, fatty deliciousness. The tapenade heightened the saltiness of the sandwich while lending a sharpness and piquancy to every bite. While I wouldn’t hesitate to return for that roll I overheard one of the staff highly recommending the Golden Muffin (sausage, fried egg, scormoza and tomato sauce) so that’s where I’ll be going next time.

For dessert the friendly waitress told me that the avocado brulee was amazing ($11.50). A perfectly crisp burnt sugar lid covered the pot of smooth green-tinged custard and I liked the Birdman Eating-esque presentation of the musical note sheet. A sharp crack with the spoon revealed a distinctly avocado flavoured custard (so slightly odd) but with a hint of citrus and flecked with vanilla bean seeds (so more traditional). I’m not sure whether I’d repeat the experience but it was worth trying.

Other items from the menu jumped out at me – a pomegranate tabbouleh, braised chickpeas, pork and saffron and kassler, grunkohl, toast and sous-vide egg will all be taste-tested at some stage. I’m not sure whether the dinner menu will be the same or not but I’ll soon find out as they’re hoping to open for dinner from next week along with the grant of their liquor licence.

Besides the fact that Backstreet will be opening 7 days a week for breakfast, lunch and dinner, the most exciting aspect of the cafe is down the stairs. Not the toilets to the right, but the providore and meat fridge to the left.

Yes, salivate against the temperature controlled unit filled with hanging house-made charcuterie! Sadly none of the cold cuts will be able to be sold as take away (I did plant the idea of a Fitzroy-based cured meat black market) but in about 2 weeks there will be other items you can take home with you – jars of preserves, tins of anchovies, Calasparra paella rice, homemade sausages and a beaut idea for takeaway lasagne. Basically you pay a deposit for the ceramic dish that the lasagne comes in and when you return the dish you receive your deposit back. Though if it’s a Le Creuset I might just decide to keep it (and forfeit the deposit).

I’m really looking forward to raiding that food store and trying out Backstreet Cafe morning, noon and night. Welcome to my backstreet!

Backstreet Cafe, 152 Kerr St, Fitzroy +61 3 9417 1212
Mon-Fri 7am-10:30pm
Sat-Sun 8am-10:30pm

So the Queen just visited to Melbourne and Princess Mary came to town.

If you’re not royal-ed out, take yourself to visit the Duchess in Spotswood.

Duchess of Spotswood is a cafe is located in an unprepossessing strip of shops near Spotswood station and when I arrived at 9am on a weekend it was easily the busiest place in the street. I’m pretty sure not all of Spotswood had descended on the cafe in the relatively early hours of Saturday morning, which means (like me) people had taken a special trip to try it out.

Was it worth 30 minutes through the Westgate Bridge forever-in-roadworks traffic jam?

Yes.

Because Duchess of Spotswood does something unique with breakfast in the crowded Melbourne breakfast arena.

The cafe is cute, with the outside boarded up windows framing a painted outdoor landscape and the inside all cool mint green and overhung with a crystal chandelier. A very suitable parlour for dining.

Along with their grand moniker the tongue-in-cheek royal references continue in the menu, which is British-leaning with a twist. The regal family tree includes the Queen of the Dam, Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Pork. Giggle.

Eschewing the healthier options I headed straight to the Duchess of Pork, a thick slice of crispy pig’s jowl plus two fried eggs, truffle sauce and sourdough toast ($17.50). The waitress suggested that the hash ($4) was excellent with the dish, so why not?

I liked the tender saltiness of the slab of pork.  I liked the eggs fried just enough to set them and not enough to make them into rubbery frisbees. I liked the decadence of the shaved truffles. I loved the fried crispiness of the hash. The whole dish was like an extreme Atkin Diet start to the day and my stomach approved.

Every good meal should end with dessert. And so I made room for a slice of the just-made Bakewell tart, a triangle of buttery fluted shortcrust pastry spread with blackberry jam, covered with an almond frangipane filling then glazed with more jam. So moist and fruity and seriously delicious.

The service was brisk but friendly and while the staff by no means shunt you out after your meal, the line-up outside at 10am guilted me into not staying for a leisurely newspaper scan.

Because it’s only fair that other people get to take a bow at the Duchess.

My travel to this cafe was made possible thanks to the Holden Barina.

Duchess of Spotswood, 87 Hudsons Rd, Yarraville +61 3 9391 6016

When I worked in the CBD one of my shopping challenges was finding a good loaf of bread. I rarely had time in my lunch hour to travel to Queen Victoria Markets or battle the lines at David Jones Foodhall, which meant often I had to be organised enough to buy my bread on my way to work.

Fortunately, one of Melbourne’s best specialty bakeries, Phillippa’s, has now ably filled that gap by opening a cosy store in Howey Place, between Collins and Little Collins Streets. Just look out for the faux stone brickwork outlined onto the exterior of the shop, giving it a very European feel.

The city store offers  a selection of take-away provisions from Phillippa’s large range of products, including loaves of bread (yay!), packets of biscuits and slices, jars of preserves and their muesli and granola blends.

There are also ready-to-eat items which you can take with you or eat in at the mini tables at the back of the shop – a rotating menu of freshly sandwiches and mini breakfast rolls (highly recommend the crispy bacon and tomato), salads or soups depending on the time of year, cinnamony muffins filled with chunks of apple and cranberry, bite-sized morsels of Phillippa’s must-try caramel pear slice and breakfast cups of yoghurt, fruit and granola.

Note that there is no white bread available! The bread is made from wheatmeal, wholewheat honey, rye, grain and stoneground organic flours.

With Christmas coming up the seasonal range is also available in store. I am a huge fan of Phillippa’s pain d’epice which keeps forever and is great with cheese or on its own though I think there are better mince pies to be found in the city. On my next visit I’m also going to buy a canvas bread bag – these are great for keeping bread fresh.

Phillippa’s City Store, 15 Howey Place, Melbourne +61 3 9671 04030
Monday-Friday 7am-5:30pm
Saturday 8:30am-2:30pm

Miss Marie is a cafe with an inner-city vibe catering to the discerning suburban cafe set.

The first hint of its slightly left-of-centre sense of humour is in small shrub outside its entrance. The hanging child made me take a horrified double-take before I gasped in relief to see that it was only a doll.

Inside the large room is decorated with interesting paraphernalia, including some giggle-worthy vintage advertising signs, interspersed with bright floral arrangements and cheery yellow accents set within the timber tables and in the form of the oversized pepper mills. On the speakers, some old-school tunes – Elvis, The Beatles.

The two page menu lists all-day breakfast dishes on one side and lunch on the reverse. The breakfasts are a roll call of cafe standards – eggs, muesli, toast, hotcakes – while the lunch options are more towards the bready variety, with a few departures into an omelette, pan-seared salmon and a salad on the specials board (or door – pretty nifty idea wall-mounting an old door covered in blackboard paint for listing the specials).

Although it was more lunchtime during my visit I couldn’t resist ordering the French toast ($14.50) consisting of Noisette brioche, maple syrup, grilled banana and bacon.

Look at the size of the serving! I was most impressed by the generous thickness of the brioche and the plate contained one more slice of bread than I was expecting for the price. That’s the benefit of dining out in the suburbs :–)

As far as taste goes it ticked all the right boxes – sticky sweet syrup, cinnamon-y brioche, a smokey hunk of bacon and a nicely mushed ripe banana. I think the bread and the bacon could have benefited from more time in the pan/under the grill for extra crispness and crunch, but that’s a personal preference.

The glass domes of home-made cakes and slices looked really tempting (especially the dark chocolate and walnut brownie $4.90) but given my sugary lunch I thought I’d better ease off on the sweets if I didn’t want to fall asleep driving home.

Miss Marie is a great little local cafe for Rosanna residents. As it’s across the road from the train station I expect that the pre-work crowd come in droves for their coffee and muffins. The coffee is made from 5 Senses beans using a Synesso and my sources tell me that it is fantastic.

Thanks to Miss Rosanna for the tip! My travel to this cafe was made possible thanks to the Holden Barina.

Miss Marie, 45 Beetham Pde, Rosanna

At last count, there were 19 blog reviews of Pope Joan on Urbanspoon. So I’m far behind with my visit and now I’m not sure why I’ve waited so long.

Pope Joan is the kind of neighbourhood cafe for which you’d be willing to travel. Which is why it has found success despite being located in the most non-descript, smoggy section of Nicholson Street. The names behind it probably help draw in the crowds too – Ben Foster (ex-Kent Hotel) and Matt Wilkinson (ex-Circa) own it.

There are lots of different spaces for diners depending on your mood. The front room is cosy timber and houses the most amazing carved lantern from the centre of the ceiling. Through the sliding doors is an undercover corridor of high wooden benches, communal picnic settings, wrought-iron park benches and Astroturf, with a cul-de-sac kitchen garden blooming a giant rainbow chard centrepiece.  The crowd is just as eclectic, ranging from families with young kids to ladies-who-lunch to construction workers.

The menu specialises in breakfast/brunch/lunch options, with a whole section dedicated to eggs proudly sourced from Green Eggs. On my lunch visit I decided to bypass the eggs for a sandwich – it was a difficult choice but you had me at ‘slow cooked’ then ‘pork’ then ‘Cuban style’ ($12). Next time I’m trying the The Cornish: Milawa chicken, stuffing, jalapeno pepper ($12).

On the plate was a fat La Madre ciabatta stuffed with tender roast pork, lettuce, carrot, gherkin and some sort of mayonnaise/aioli. It was a-mazing. Really. I could have had a second one.

But instead I decided to fill up my remaining appetite with bread and butter. Not just any old bread and butter, but two slices of spiced, lightly toasted gingerbread with a pot of smoked maple butter (although I confess I couldn’t taste or smell any smoke or maple flavour).

The cake cabinet presents more temptations from brownies to muffins to cookies. I nursed home a high-topped carrot cake ($4.50) which was very moist and nutty with a sweet lemony cream cheese frosting.

I will be sure to return to Pope Joan – the menu is a step away from standard brunch fare and it’s obvious that they care about the quality of the ingredients they use. They’ve just received their liquor licence for the next door space (to be called Bishop of Ostia) and will be opening for dinner soon.

Pope Joan, 77-79 Nicholson Street, Brunswick East +61 3 9388 8858

I’m not sure whether Mitte is named after the district in Berlin and the German word for ‘middle’ but let’s just say at the outset that there are no German references in the menu, decor or service of this neighbourhood cafe.

It’s in a little hideaway location on the corner of two residential streets in North Fitzroy and serves breakfast and lunches to a loyal local crowd, who sit inside the cosy interior or spread out on the outdoor pavement tables.

I parked myself on the bench on the sunny side of the street and was immediately greeted with a smile, a menu and a request for a drink order. Having puffed my way up the street on my bike the homemade ginger and mint refresher caught my eye ($6) and while I debated whether to have breakfast or lunch at 11am a tall tumbler of icy mixture of ginger beer, fresh mint and soda water arrived. A delicious variation on the ubiquitous commercial soft drinks.

Hedging my bets on the menu, I decided to try the Middle Eastern style meatballs from the lunch menu ($17) and breakfast crumble from the breakfast menu ($10).

The meatballs, an interesting combination of toasted pistachio, fig and spices, came drenched in a rich tomato sauce and were perfect smeared with yoghurt and a nibble of coriander. The Dench sourdough was best used for mopping up the leftovers – you’ll want to lick that bowl clean.

If you like sweet breakfasts (or a lunch dessert) then I highly recommend the breakfast crumble. This would be better termed the ‘anytime crumble’ because I’d eat it at any time of day! The generous bowl of sticky vanilla and cinnamon poached pears and apples topped with a sweet granola crumble and a dollop of marscapone has guaranteed Mitte a return visit.

For other breakfast/brunch/lunch venues in North Fitzroy, try The Green Grocer and Mixed Business.

Mitte, 76 Michael Street (cnr Rowe Street), North Fitzroy

Mon,Wed-Fri 7:30am-4:30pm

Weekends 8am-4:30pm

Oh Demetri’s Feast.

If only you weren’t so small. If only your food wasn’t so good. If only your service wasn’t so friendly. If only you weren’t so cool.

Then it’d be easier to visit you all the time.

Demetri’s Feast was crowned Melbourne’s best breakfast in The Age’s Cheap Eats 2010 and that accolade has no doubt brought the crowds in. But I’m sure it wouldn’t have retained its favourite status with the local clientele if the Greek food wasn’t so darn good.

Kat and I visited for lunch one weekday and were lucky to be snag a table just before the lunch crowd arrived. At lunch time there is a daily ‘feast’ consisting of a soup, salads and sandwiches. But the Wild Spanakopita from the standard menu caught my eye – hand made filo pastry rounds combined with wild greens, herbs, ricotta & feta ($10) served with a side of the day’s salad of roasted pumpkin, rocket, onions and feta ($5.50).

This was the best example of a spanakopita I’ve had in a long time. So often it’s a soggy, oily mess, but was a beautifully presented spiral of the lightest, flakiest filo pastry with just the right proportion of filling. It’s a spanakopita worth crossing town for.

We also shared the semolina dusted calamari with ouzo aioli ($16) as our first choice, the crispy whitebait, wasn’t available. It was a moreish plate of lightly fried calamari rings, tender and fresh, though I would have preferred the aioli with more of a garlicky bite.

Their breakfast menu is available until 3pm and what a fantasy of interesting breakfast dishes it contains. Nothing is run-of-the-mill here, with most dishes showing some Greek influence in the ingredients.

If you like sweet breakfasts, the baclava french toast or the semolina pancakes are the dishes to try (each $14.50). We ordered both and each preferred one over the other. I liked the french toast with the bread soaking up a subtly fragranced orange blossom syrup and especially the liberal dusting of crunchy walnuts praline for added sweetness and textural interest. Kat preferred at fluffy pancakes which came with rose jam, pistachios and the same syrup. Both come with a dash of yoghurt which offset the sweetness of the dishes.

Demetri’s Feast states that their food philosophy is, whenever available, to use seasonal, organic and free range products. This attention to the provenance of the produce shone through in quality of the dishes we tried. Combine this with friendly service, reasonable prices and cute courtyard seating for sunny days, and it’s a winner.

PS They are cash only but there’s a NAB ATM right next door.

For other great cafes around Swan Street Richmond, try Pillar of Salt and Espresso 3121.

Demetri’s Feast, 141 Swan St, Richmond +61 3 9428 8659
Tuesday to Saturday 7.30am to 5.00pm
Sunday 8am to 5pm

Small Block is a cafe particularly well suited to the urban professional/hip and arty/young parents demographic of East Brunswick.

To whit:

• attention to coffee – the blackboard shows the single origin bean of the day and gives a description of its particular qualities;
• an extensive all-day breakfast menu which has the locals lining up on the weekends;
• functional industrial chic decor, from the wooden tables to vintage metal and wood school chairs. The seating ranges from tables, benches and a narrow outdoor area with stools;
• dedicated bike racks for cyclists, of whom there are many in the City of Moreland; and
• child-friendly features such as a toy box, high chairs and change tables to cater for the Brunswick baby boom.

Local resident B and I met up for lunch during a weekday on B’s recommendation. She’d tried a lot of the items on the menu and decided on an old favourite, the Summer Breakfast – eggs on toast, avocado, spinach, persian feta and beetroot relish ($15). The waiter asked her how she wanted her eggs cooked (scrambled) – a refreshing change when menus commonly take an opposite approach and warn that there are to be no substitutions.

When I see corn fritters I inevitably order them and so it was this time – sweet corn fritters with bacon, rocket and tomato chutney ($14.50). The lunch menu also features four different sandwich fillings, a pasta of the day, a soup of the day and two burgers (lamb burger and steak sandwich).

The Summer Breakfast looked like a very satisfying vegetarian option, with a steaming mass of scrambled eggs atop a chunky piece of toast, a large hunk of feta and vibrant red relish. B gave it a thumbs up.

My corn fritters tasted just as good as they looked – densely packed corn kernels, crispy (but not too crispy) bacon, a generous handful of fresh rocket and a very sweet, almost apricot fruity, chutney.

While the tarts and cakes in the tall cabinet sounded appetising (particularly the lime syrup cake) frankly I was up for a second course – so I doubled back to the breakfast menu to order the ricotta hotcakes with saffron pears and barbados cream ($15). The hotcakes were not as fluffy and light as I would have liked (maybe it was the buckwheat flour I think they used?) but the mixture of pears and cream whipped with yoghurt and brown sugar did hit the sweet spot.

From my reading on the internets it seems that people’s experiences of the service at Small Block varies widely. I found the service to be very friendly and prompt. When I entered I was immediately asked for a coffee order and given a glass of water and when B arrived our waiter came to ask us for our order three times before we were ready because we were too busy chatting.

For other great cafes in East Brunswick, go further up the road to L’Atelier de Monsieur Truffe.

Small Block, 130 Lygon St, Brunswick East +61 3 9381 2244

Open Weekdays 8am-5pm; Weekends 8:30am-5pm

You had me at hello.

There are some cafes which just grab you by the coat and give you a big bear hug, providing smiles and instant comfort. I loved Bluebird Espresso from the moment I spotted it – a retro blue bike chained to lamp post, colourful tulips bravely wavering against the grey grunge of Johnston St and a wide padded bench seat in the window. Then when I stepped inside – Dave Brubeck’s Take Five on the speakers and a bright smile of welcome from the waitress. LOVE.

The cafe is pretty small, filled with kitschy prints of Tahitian women, cute knick knacks and with the pantry becoming a decorative feature with tins of tomatoes and black beans lined up neatly on a bookshelf. There’s a spacious communal table towards the back of the room and an Astroturfed courtyard thoughtfully stocked with woollen rugs for breezy days.

Their breakfast menu is very eggs heavy but it’s eggs with a twist. I’ve tried both the Harissa eggs with chorizo ($14) and Mexican eggs ($12) and can highly recommend both if you like a bit of spicy heat in your belly in the mornings.

On both occasions – perfectly poached eggs running their yolks around some interesting flavour combinations – with the harissa eggs it was firey strips of  roasted capsicums and tangy rocket ladled on top of crusty Noisette bread, with the Mexican eggs it was black beans and spicy salsa on a flour tortilla. With the mouth-panting chilli on the plate I was thankful for sips of my excellent fruit smoothie ($5.50) to temper the heat.

The service was super-friendly, with the owner Anthony manning the La Marzocco coffee machine and chatting to the regulars.

Bluebird Espresso is a little gem. Don’t miss it.

For other excellent breakfasts in Collingwood, try The Bell Jar, Cibi and Proud Mary.

Bluebird Espresso, 134 Johnston St, Collingwood +61 3 9078 7047
Mon – Sat: 8:00 am – 4:00 pm
Sun: 9:00 am – 3:00 pm

squirrel /ˈskwər(ə)l/
Noun: An agile tree-dwelling rodent (Sciurus and other genera, family Sciuridae) with a bushy tail, typically feeding on nuts and seeds.
Verb: Hide money or something of value in a safe place: “the money was squirreled away in foreign bank accounts”.

Squirrel Cafe makes the most of its name by taking both those meanings at once.

It is squirrelled away in a quiet side street in residential Clifton Hill, the site of a former milk bar and corner shop (the sign for milk has been retained for nostalgia’s sake). Inside it’s been revamped to become a homely, comfortable little nook of a cafe and in the two rooms the squirrel artefacts abound everywhere.

The owners must have had a lot of fun scouring vintage and antique shops for all their squirrel-alia!

It opens on 7am on weekdays and while it is quiet it is the perfect place to draw up a chair, sip a hot drink and browse the day’s papers. From about 7:30am the first customers come loping in for their morning coffee and by 8am there’s already quite a crowd waiting for their takeaway lattes.

As befits a place that caters for the breakfast crowd, the breakfast menu is pretty extensive. Two pages list sweet and savoury options, including a whole 3/4 page dedicated to eggs, eggs and eggs. A little befuddled by the number of egg choices I went for the easy (sweet) option – hotcakes with marscapone and berries ($12).

Basically these were pikelets but that’s not to say that they weren’t good. The plate contained four fluffy rounds topped with luxurious marscapone muddled with berries and syrup – a very sweet treat. So sweet in fact that I felt the need to chase it down with something savoury such as the breakfast roll ($4). This was actually the perfect end to my topsy-turvy breakfast – a small Turkish roll with fried egg, tomato, cheese, avocado and fried bacon in the middle.

I get the feeling that Squirrel Cafe has a devoted cast of regulars – nearby residents who love it for its laidback ambience, retro-fabulousness, solid food and (judging by the lineup) good coffee. It’s near the bike path and there are tables outside for warmer weather so I’m sure I’ll be back.

Squirrel Cafe, 23 Groome St, Clifton Hill +61 3 9489 2077

Open Weekdays 7am-4pm; Weekends 8am-4pm

There are certain cafes that are the perfect weekend haunts for nursing a hangover.

The requisite criteria? Huge servings of hearty breakfast, lashings of coffee, nothing too fancy or complicated and good value for money.

I think one of the places that does ‘hangover food’ really well is Green Refectory – and judging by the lines at the counter on a Saturday morning, Brunswick locals agree.

Sidling past the loved-up couples in trackie-daks and gung-ho morning exercisers with their takeaway coffees, I sneaked a seat in the communal table in the front room and waited for my breakfast stack.

What arrived was an Everest of alcohol-absorbing food – a potato cake (better described as mashed potato pushed into a circular patty), grilled tomato halves, bacon, a thick hunk of haloumi, spinach and topped with a poached egg. The perfect way to start your Atkins diet for a mere $10.

The other equally popular menu item appeared to be the pancakes. It’s worth mentioning this dish even though I didn’t order it because my jaw dropped at these pancake frisbees. We’re talking huge rounds topped with berries and a whoppee cushion sized scoop of ice-cream!

Wash that down with some warming chai ($3) and you still have change left over from a twenty.

Green Refectory isn’t somewhere that I’d necessarily cross town for and fine dining it ain’t. But for nearby residents I think it’d be a reliable standby and I enjoyed my cheap and cheerful breakfast there.

For more reviews of Green Refectory, read I’m So Hungree and Miss Adriennely.

Green Refectory, 115 Sydney Rd, Brunswick +61 3 9387 1150

Ex-industrial factory space – check. Stripped back brickwork and exposed beams – check. Wood, lots of it – check. Cool bikes – check. Young and hip waitstaff – check. Killer coffee reputation – check.

In addition though, some more quirky design elements caught my fancy. The tyre swing hanging from the bow of a huge sweeping tree. The streamlined filtered water station that I want in my house. The two cosy U-shaped nooks built into one side of the wall.

The coffee comes courtesy of a blush pink La Marzocco machine brewing Coffee Supreme beans and is served with a kitsch souvenir spoon – wonder who’s been to Pakistan lately?

Port Melbourne local M said that her coffee was pretty good though she probably wouldn’t travel out of her usual Beach Road/Bay Street route, preferring the coffee at Third Wave Cafe.  This cup had a hint of bitterness to it.

Their breakfast menu is what I’d call classic with a twist. So free range, organic eggs come in the form of Benedict, Atlantic and to M’s choice, dukkah crusted ($15). Her eggs were perfectly poached with a pocket of white releasing a runny yolk with a stab of the knife.

My first breakfast choice consisted of house-made bean which weren’t available so I switched to the Northern breakfast ($18), otherwise known as a big fat fry-up.  The sausage and bacon were j

uicy and the vegetables – grilled tomato, avocado, sauteed mushrooms – were fresh and flavoursome. I’m not much of a fan of black pudding so I can’t comment much on this version other than the fact it was chunky – is that’s usual?

The surprising element in the dish were the eggs. Instead of poached eggs I asked for scrambled and what came out was sort of like chopped up pan-fried egg – as you can see the white and yolks hadn’t been combined together before being poured into the fry pan.

As we finished our meal at the tail end of breakfast they were just putting up their blackboard lunch menu. There were at least two or three dishes which sounded great and I’d venture to say that the lunch menu is more interesting than breakfast. So next time I’m definitely returning for lunch….and steering clear of scrambled eggs.

For more reviews of Salford Lads Club, including some fantastic pictures, check out Espresso Melbourne and Addictive & Consuming.

Salford Lads Club, 1 Fennell St, Port Melbourne  +61 3 9900 1234
Weekdays 7am – 4pm
Weekends 8am – 4pm

Three words to cheer up your Monday.

New. Chocolate. Shop!

Collingwood favourite Monsieur Truffe has opened bigger and brighter establishment in Brunswick East and it has all of the charm of the original plus more.

Thibault Fregoni, the ‘mister’ of Monsieur Truffe, has set up his own old-fashioned cocoa bean roaster and bean press, which means that he will be making his own chocolate. The machinery takes a good chunk of the exposed brick room (you can draw up a seat by the glass and watch the process at work) and there are plans to offer tours at a later stage.

For the moment though, look out for the come-hither lipstick red door which opens out into the bustling cafe. There’s indoor, undercover pram/bike parking at the entrance (yeah!), wooden communal tables prettily adorned with cherry blossom branches and depending on what time you go, a bit of a wait list. Don’t worry though, the warm aromas of chocolate will keep you company.

Of course, the thing to order is one of their wonderful hot chocolates. You can choose between 69, 70, 74 and 85% cocoa (ranging from $4.80 to $5.20), with 70% being the house blend and the most popular mix. I went for the 74% Santo Domingo (was too timid to try the 85% African blend – next time) and it had definitely had a more intense, savoury note than the 70%. All the hot chocolates are served in gorgeous Japanese ceramic hug mugs and carved wooden spoons for licking the chocolate that’s coated on the very bottom.

There is a short savoury and sweet all-day menu with a French influence (with some interesting options for little tummies and fingers). I ordered the field mushroom brochette ($16)- sort of a miniature mushroom burger with olive tapenade, braised cos, melted scarmoza bianca cheese and all speared with a sprig of rosemary. I’m stealing that idea for my next sandwich!

RM devoured his French toast in record time, probably so I wouldn’t get to it first. This wasn’t just eggy bread but an unusual combination of baby apple sous vide, bacon foam and mandarin syrup ($14).

On your way out you can pick up a bar or bag of chocolate or continue your indulgent French experience with some of the cakes and pastries displayed in the glass cabinet. My recommendation is the wonderfully rich and moist flourless chocolate cake and the best pastry (yes it’s true) in Melbourne – the buttery, flaky, chocolatey delicieux.

L’atelier de Monsieur Truffe, 351 Lygon St, East Brunswick, +61 3 93804915
Tuesday to Friday 8am till 4pm
Saturday 8:30am till 4pm
Sunday 9am till 4pm

Thankfully, my coffee-drinking friend M has returned from overseas and is a ready and willing eating (or drinking) buddy. Without her I probably wouldn’t have dared go into a place called ‘Third Wave Cafe‘ as no doubt coffee would be high on the agenda.

Third Wave Cafe is marked by a black and white style striped awning reminiscent of a Cote d’Azur beach umbrella. Inside there’s a communal table and several small tables but the decor is generally unremarkable. If it hadn’t come with a recommendation I probably wouldn’t have given it a second glance.

Their website makes the grandiose claim that it’s the best food and coffee in Melbourne or it’s free. I think that’s an extreme bit of puffery but what does makes this cafe less run-of-the-mill is that it’s owned by a Russian woman. This  means that their menu incorporates breakfast dishes which are a departure from your usual eggs, muesli and toast (though these are still included in the menu for breakfast traditionalists). I was most excited to see sour creme pancakes and cream cheese blintzes on offer.

Coffee comes courtesy of Five Senses, with two different coffee blends and a third Single Origin option. M declared her latte excellent (she’s been living on a Carribean island for 4 years and dying for decent coffee) ($3.80). My chai latte ($4.30) was very foamy and milky and too light on the spice.

One of their recommended dishes from the page-and-a-half breakfast menu is the yoghurt breakfast parfait ($10.50). This is a conical glass layered with yoghurt, granola and berries which was so enormous that M was unable to finish it. Her only issue was that she wished the berries were fresh and not frozen but of course in winter berries are mostly out of season. I suspect it’s one of those dishes which looks like the healthy option (berries, cereal, yoghurt) but tastes too good to be completely good for you :–)

My cherry cheese blintzes ($14.50) were thin crepes with a cherry cream cheese filling accompanied by a cute little jar of blueberry jam for extra berry-ness. The crepes were pliable and not too doughy and the dish was sweet without being cloying, even when smeared liberallky with jam. A dish worth returning for.

As it was almost lunch time by the time we’d finished our brunch I thought it was acceptable to order a second breakfast. The menu declared the brekky muffin ($6) to be ‘the best people had ever tasted’ so with that accolade how could I not try it? A fluffy English muffin, almost like Turkish bread, sandwiched some lightly scrambled eggs, bacon and swiss cheese. A far cry from the version from the golden arches.

Third Wave Cafe is an unusual beast – a Russian-focused cafe in a beachy suburb. But in a way it fits right into Melbourne town for its focus on good food and great coffee.

Third Wave Cafe, 1/189 Rouse Street, Port Melbourne +61 3 9676 2399
Weekdays 7am-3:30pm; Weekends 8am-3:30pm

With so many excellent restaurants to choose from in our city, Melbourne never really had a place in its heart for the Hard Rock Cafe.

So the American chain’s prime location on the corner of Bourke Street and Spring Street has now been transformed into the chic space known as Wallis & Ed, named after, of course Wallis Simpson and Edward VIII.

Despite the nod to Windsor royalty, the cafe and bar is not part of its neighbour, the Hotel Windsor. For one, there is a separate entrance. The decor also doesn’t share the olde worlde stuffed cushion-ness of the Windsor and is more neutral with light wood tables, dark bentwood chairs and matching banquette seating. A long glass panel faces the banquette which gives an interesting effect – you can see your own face in the mirror, floating above the bobbing heads of commuters rushing along Bourke Street.

The breakfast menu is short and sharp – muesli, porridge, toast, eggs. Everything is well-priced, with my house-toasted muesli and almond crunch costing $8.

I don’t care what the dieticians say – toasted muesli tastes better than regular muesli! Wallis & Ed’s version is a very fine crumbed sweet muesli and it tasted like the top part of an apple crumble (which is the best bit, really). If you want to have an even bigger sugar hit in the morning you can have your muesli served with orange juice rather than milk.

What the cafe does share with The Windsor is a pastry chef and I urge you to try the pistachio financier ($1.50). It’s a moist little sweet morsel which will go perfectly with your Five Senses coffee. On the other hand, the cherry clafoutis ($1.50) is a shocking alcoholic kick for that early in the morning.

Wallis & Ed also serves lunch and dinner with a French feel (chef is Frenchman Jerome Tremoulét) and the bar of course can provide you with a classy, sedate destination for after-work drinks.

Wallis & Ed, 1 Bourke Street, Melbourne +61 3 9633 6265
Mon-Sun 7am to late

Last week The Age’s Melbourne Magazine published its list of top 30 Melbourne cafes. Obviously such a list is going to create some controversy  but as I scanned the names I nodded in agreement with most of their choices. Then I got out my diary to make a note of the cafes that I had yet to visit and made a date with myself at Julio.

North Fitzroy is very close to where I live, so I was surprised that I’d never heard of Julio – I thought I’d pretty much covered the suburb before. It’s a little cornershop premises overlooking  Merri Creek Primary School on a residential street and as I pulled up to the brightly coloured outdoor tables on my bike I thought that Julio could become my go-to lunch stop off the Merri Creek bike trail.

The Melbourne Magazine article said that they judged the cafes on the standard of coffee, service and an ‘x factor’, though in their little blurbs they often described the quality of the food  as well. Not being a coffee drinker I can’t say anything about their coffee (though I noticed they use an impressively shiny La Marzocco machine), but yes I agree that the service was friendly and welcoming and the place was cool enough to fit into its inner city locale without being so hip as to be intimidating. Cue vintage schoolyard furniture, high communal tables and a retro rotation of tunes – the cafe is named after a Paul Simon song ‘Me and Julio down by the schoolyard’.

The Melbourne Magazine also got it right that it’s great for kids – there are games and storybooks available to amuse the little ones and the menu has plenty of kid-friendly choices. I imagine they get a lot of business from parents of the nearby school doing the school run.

So….why have I given Julios a NOT? Basically because I didn’t like the food. For lunch I had baked eggs with chorizo, peas and coriander ($14) and the ceramic dish that came out contained a tomato/chorizo mixture with a pair of cock-eyed eggs – as you can see, one with a soft yolk and the other with a yolk cooked to a solid ball. I also thought the whole dish was thirst-inducing salty though I’m not sure whether it was the chorizo’s fault or whether the dish had been overseasoned. (I actually replicated the dish the next day in my own kitchen just to see whether I could get the eggs and seasoning right and frankly enjoyed my version much more).

Reserving judgement for the moment I moved onto the quince and almond tart ($6). I like almonds but this tart was too nutty and dry and it contained the merest smear of quince. If you had told me that there was nothing involved other than crushed up nuts and melted butter pressed into a tart shape I’d have believed you.

So overall, a disappointing experience. I’m a little perplexed by what I’ve missed that The Melbourne Magazine loved so much and I’m sure I’ll receive comments rising to Julio’s defence. If I lived around the corner, then I would probably return to Julio purely for convenience. But was it worth my 20 minute bike ride to get there and would I recommend it to my friends? Probably not.

The Melbourne Magazine also listed the following places which I’ve reviewed as HOT previously and which I wholeheartedly recommend: Proud Mary, Three Bags Full, Coin Laundry, Monk Bodhi Dharma, Auction Rooms, Penny Farthing Espresso, The Hardware Societe, Liasion, St Ali, Coffee Darling and Pillar of Salt.

• Julio, 171 Miller St, Fitzroy North +61 3 9489 7814

Friends of Mine is the culinary equivalent of a friendship circle. Everything in the cheery establishment, from the produce to the artwork to the furniture, has been sourced from friends or friends of friends of the owner Jason Jones – hence the name. Isn’t it great to see a cafe really embrace the philosphy of supporting local producers and businesses?

A cafe located in the arse end of Richmond must be really good for it to become a destination in itself – and judging by the number of blogs that have reviewed and loved Friends of Mine, Jones, of Porgie and Mr Jones in Hawthorn and Snow Pony in Balwyn, has really succeeded with his third cafe.

So let me join the chorus.

A wet afternoon had me ducking into the cafe to find it surprisingly packed. I guess there are office building around and Burnley train station around the corner, but given its location (with zero foot traffic) the large space, divided into three rooms, was pretty busy for a weekday lunch hour.

I asked for a table in the dining room, which was quieter and more formal than the rough-and-tumble of the front room with its school chairs and wide window bench. In contrast the dining room was decked in classic Bentwood chairs, with a prime corner spot dominated by two throne-like high back leather armchairs.

The menu was extensive (with a long breakfast list) and I found it really difficult to decide. In the end, given the wet weather and my penchant for beans, I went for the cassoulet with parmesan crust served with a side salad ($26) from the ‘Bigger Plates’ section of ‘Lunchy Things’. The ramekin held a pretty good representation of the classic French dish, with large chunks of white sausage and plenty of herby aromas in the beans. The best thing though was the non-traditional layer of cheesy crust.

The brulee lemon tart with Jock’s rum and raisin ice-cream called to me for my dessert. While extremely pretty (the waiter said that he wanted one as he put it down in front of me), the pastry casing was extremely hard. I actually had to put the weight of my shoulder into my knife to hack a piece of the pastry away, half afraid that a piece of pastry shrapnel would lodge itself into the opposite wall. On the other hand, the swirls of lemon curd inside the casing were divine – a perfect balance of tart and sweet with just a slight hint of a brulee crust.

Despite some reports of patchy service from other bloggers, I found the waitstaff extremely friendly and helpful – bringing me the newspapers when I was trapped in my seat by a baby capsule and apologising profusely when they forgot to bring me a top up bottle of water.

From June Friends of Mine will be serving high tea in the dining room on the last Sunday afternooon of the month. The $45 price tag includes a glass of sparkling and given the popularity of the cafe generally, I’d be making a booking asap.

To read more reviews, check out “…it pleases us”, The Very Very Hungry Caterpillar, Melbourne Food Files and Gourmet Chick.

• Friends of Mine, 506 Swan St, Richmond +61 3 9428 7516

What do you expect to find in a supermarket carpark? Cars, trolleys, a rubbish skip and maybe some delinquent kids? Certainly not the coolest cafe-in-a-brick-shed in town.

Monk Bodhi Dharma sounds like the temple for some Eastern cult, but in fact it’s a fabulous rustic cubbyhouse cafe nestled away from the bright flourescence of the nearby Woolworths. It takes a bit of finding but is well worth the search.

The vegetarian kitchen specialises in healthy eating and kick-ass coffee and tea. The cafe drinkers amongst my friends loved the smooth and creamy inhouse coffee blends. Being the outcast non-coffee drinker, I went for the chai latte, a very spicy mix steeping an unexpected heat into the soy milk. It came presented in a lovely Japanese glazed earthenware teapot and a hand-warming handleless tea cup.

The stripped back brickwork and imposing communal table Where’s makes the space cosy for the people supping on the special stews and soups and the standard menu extending from breakfast to 3pm through to lunch. I went for the Mexican bean mix and crusty seeded bread, a filling and warming dish enhanced by the fiery homemade chilli jam.

J’s banana bread was moist and studded with walnuts while the accompanying lemon ricotta was an indulgent yet light spread.

In need of dessert, I decided to backtrack to the breakfast options to order the Madagascan French Toast ($16). It’s quite appropriate as a dessert – a very sweet mix of eggy bread flavoured with cinnamon and cardamom served with sticky poached pear, that moreish lemon ricotta again, crushed pistachios and drizzled with syrup. It was delicious but my one complaint is that I didn’t like the baguette used to make the French toast, as it was very hard to cut through the crust and overly chewy.

Service was super-friendly and the waitress was very understanding and accommodating of the various accroutrement of new mothers – prams, capsules and nappy bags.

A nice final touch came with the bill – their business card not only lists their contact details, but recommends other places around Melbourne that they like (including Auction Rooms, De Clieu, Proud Mary and Three Bags Full). I love a place that spreads the love!

For more reviews, check out Espresso Melbourne, Where’s the Beef and Backseat Baristas. Monk Bodhi Dharma occasionally hold breakfast degustations which sounds like a good reason to get out of bed and cross town – read Eat, Drink, Stagger to find out more.

• Monk Bodhi Dharma, Rear 202 Carlisle St, Balaclava +61 3 9534 7250

At first glance, the sign for The Maling Room looks like The Mailing Room. Which is an apt name for the airy cafe housed in a Victorian era former post office, its faux majestic columns hailing the entrance to the little village street known as Maling Road.

Maling Road is a favourite pram-pushing destination for Eastern suburb mums and the clientele of The Mailing Room reflects that popularity. This is no inner-city bolthole, with wide corridors of space between tables for prams and kids to run around under the high ceiling (which makes it pretty cold in winter, by the way).

Their menu is also mum friendly, with a large list of breakfast options (trust me, when you become a parent breakfasts become the new dining out option) and sandwiches for lunch. All the dishes are fairly conservative options, reflecting the prevailing demographic for the area.

Their main claim to fame though is their coffee – they have a couple of Synesso machines and make a special note that their milk is heated at the optimum 65 degrees, so if you want a hot coffee you’ve got to ask for it. Their roastery apparently supply most of the cafes along the Maling Road strip. The coffee menu listed three options for specialty coffee and food blogging mum Kat‘s Costa Rican Finca de Licho blend ($4) looked very pretty from my non-coffee drinker’s perspective. It was described as ‘a complex and vibrant coffee offering brown sugar sweetness. Shows notes of citrus, berries and dried fruit such as apricot’. Kat confessed that she was not a coffee connoisseur and rates her coffee as ‘good’ and ‘not good’ (much like HOT or NOT!) – this one got the thumbs up.

Kat and I met up for lunch and each ordered a dish from the breakfast menu – truffled eggs with juicy mushrooms and cherry tomatoes for her ($16) and smoked salmon, avocado and beetroot relish eggs for me ($16).

The breakfast was large and filling and fairly well done – not particularly exciting nor terrible. The big tick went to the just-set creamy scrambled eggs (nothing worse than scrambled eggs heading towards being omelette-like) though a minor quibble was that the toast could have been toasted for longer as under the weight of the toppings it became rather soggy.

All in all, our experience of The Maling Room was pleasant and as it’s set in a little strip with shops full of pretty things, it makes for a nice afternoon outing.  Though would I recommend that you cross town for the cafe? Probably not.

For more information about their coffee, check out The Weekly Review.

• The Maling Room, 206 Canterbury Rd, Canterbury

Sometimes a wrong turn can be the right decision.

I was cycling along the Merri Creek bike track one afternoon, intending to head up to CERES. However, at the junction for the path heading north I heard the loud rumble of excavation works and chainsawing and so I decided to take a right hand turn instead…and that’s how I found myself at the Westgarth strip of High Street looking for a place to have lunch.

I was attracted to Gypsy Hideout thanks to its bright, almost spartan, pine wood and white-washed brick interior. But then I spied the small courtyard out the back and slid into one of the jaunty outdoor industrial metal chairs, slipped off my shoes and felt the comforting ruffle of fake turf between my toes.

The crowd was your usual inner-city types, but with a little less polish than the increasingly gentrified Northcote. All the outdoor tables were occupied because there was more than your usual proportion of rollie smokers and I eavesdropped on an enlightening conversation about how to negotiate an agreement to have an open relationship when you owed the other person money.

Gypsy Hideout has an extensive breakfast and lunch menu and in order to sample as much food as possible I chose the Gypsy Plate ($17.50) while my curiosity was piqued by the Gypsy Elixir ($5). The scarlet concoction of the juice of red fruits – redcurrant, pomegranate, elderberry, red apple and grapes amongst others – was served in an Alice-in-Wonderland-esque vessel, a laboratory beaker. The drink, originating from Turkey, was very sweet with natural sugars, apparently high in antioxidants and deliciously refreshing on an unseasonably warm autumn day.

The quirky presentation of the Gypsy Elixir was carried through in other delightful details. Old-fashioned milk bottles were filled with tap water. The feta cheese on the Gypsy Plate was served in a doll-sized casserole dish and the olives were placed in a little cut-glass liquer glass. The plate also included Greek yemista (tomato stuffed with rice, herbs and feta), several meatballs, a few slices of toasted bread and some of the best baba ganoush I’ve ever had, with chunks of smokey eggplant punctuating the smoothness.

For dessert, I couldn’t go past another intriguing menu item – the Gypsy top secret hot chocolate ($4.50) – and accompanied it with the daily muffin of lemon, ricotta and rosewater. I had been advised that the hot chocolate was more like a dessert and it was sort of like a hot, liquidy chocolate mousse that you ate with a kitsch, souvenir spoon. I imagine it’ll be a very popular option as winter rolls around. As for the muffin, the rosewater aroma was strongly evident, lifting the cake beyond the usual cafe muffin offerings.

I was completely won over by the raffish charm of Gypsy Hideout’s food and presentation as well as their super-friendly service, so I will definitely be returning for more.

For other goodness on High Street, check out The Estelle and Penny Farthing Espresso.

Gypsy Hideout, 68 High St, Northcote +61 (0)4 3316 6248

I believe that everything must taste better when it’s eaten outside. How else to explain the popularity of alfresco dining in the freezing depths of a Melbourne winter?

The Farm Cafe is the ultimate location for relaxed open air dining. The sweetly rustic eatery is located in the bucolic surrounds of the Collingwood Childrens’ Farm – a countryside hideaway for city folk where you can pretend to be milkmaids and farmhands for a day.

The cafe serves breakfast and lunch and is particularly popular with shoppers at the monthly farmers markets (held on the 2nd Saturday of every month). All that fresh produce on offer can really get you working up an appetite, or maybe the early weekend start means a bleary-eyed coffee is required to kick start the morning. Either way, there’s no better place to appreciate the top o’ the mornin’ than sitting at a rough-hewn wooden table under the dappled sunlight, gazing out on the chickens and cows in the meadow.

Everything at the Farm Cafe is made on site with fresh, quality ingredients. This attention to provenance means my fritters burst with healthful flavours of green pea and zucchini, bound together loosely with melted haloumi. It came with a handful of crisp salad leaves and halved cherry tomatoes in all hues (tomatoes aren’t all red!) and a dollop of yoghurt ($14.50). Simple yet gorgeous.

I washed down my breakfast with a frothy kid’s size banana milkshake ($3.50) which unfortunately I think might have been made with some sort of syrup rather than fresh bananas as it had that artificially sweet taste to it like you get in those banana lollies. I did notice that the adult milkshakes came in steel canisters, as a good milkshake should.

I loved the food, the ambience and setting of the Farm Cafe and given I try to make the markets most months I’ve already got my eye on the brioche or slow cooked beans for my next post-market visit.

The Farm Cafe, Collingwood Childrens’ Farm, 18 St Heliers St, Abbotsford +61 3 9415 6581

So even though I spotted a waffle maker for $20 recently, I resisted temptation. Which is a roundabout way of explaining why, out of all the delightful items on the breakfast menu at Mixed Business, I honed straight into the waffles.

Mixed Business is a popular cafe in Clifton Hill that is worth a special visit for breakfast. While it’s at the very end of a strip of shops on Queens Parade, it’s not in a place with constant foot traffic (or parking), yet on a weekday morning it was consistently busy. It seems particularly popular with people with kids, as the airy spaciousness and quaint rough-and-tumble wooden furnishings make it an ideal place for young tots to roam around and with plenty of space to park prams. There’s also a sunny garden area where you can sit in amongst delightfully unkempt flowering herbs punctuated by the gentle rumble of the Epping line.

I sidled into the restored church pew padded with summer-stripe cushions that’s positioned against the communal table. A pixie-haired waitress immediately greeted me with a menu and a glass of water and I think I halfway fell in love with the cafe right there thanks to her huge friendly grin.

The breakfast menu contains items that are a little out of the ordinary. The aforementioned gingerbread waffles with vanilla bean ice cream, roasted apples and candied walnuts ($14) is listed amongst poached eggs with sourdough accompanied by half a dozen different sides – from ham hock white beans, pancetta, tomato and parmesan to potato and rosemary rosti with avocado (all $13.50). While normally I’m not much of an egg person I was very much torn between a sweet or savoury breakfast, but in the end compromised on sweet so I could take away one of their hot rolls.

Two freshly baked waffles arrived heaped with topping. I have a fear of doughiness  in pancakes and waffles but these two wholemeal rectangles were perfect – crispy on the outside, springy on the inside. The toppings provided contrasting textural interest, with cold, hot, crunchy and smooth all sounding out together.

For lunch that same day I had a toasted ciabatta roll tucked with salty corned beef, tomato relish, tangy Dijon mustard, Swiss cheese and rocket ($9). A classic 50s combination which was still satisfying after a couple of hours.

Given its popularity on a weekday I imagine weekends at Mixed Business can get very busy, but nevertheless I urge you to try it out for breakfast or lunch – you won’t be disappointed.

For more blog love for Mixed Business, check out Food Rehab, “…it pleases us”, Eating Melbourne and The Real Melbourne.

• Mixed Business, 486 Queens Pde, Clifton Hill +61 3 9486 1606

While I don’t yet have kids, there is a baby boom happening with my friends and acquaintances such that I increasingly have to consider whether or not a venue is kid-friendly when I suggest meeting up.

If you’re in a similar situation, then I highly recommend Babycino’s. Nestled in the back streets of South Yarra and set up pretty much in a mum’s backyard, not only is the cafe kid-friendly, it’s kid-driven. A much better option than the McDonald’s playground and a Happy Meal!

No one will turn an eye (or ear) if your baby wails, screams, needs to be changed or breastfed. Older kids are free to explore the play gym, sit in kid-sized stools to colour in and tinker with the puzzles and toys in the indoor games rooms. Basically, it’s a place where it’s ok for kids to run amok – giving their parents a breather to sit down on the covered deck to enjoy a coffee and breakfast or lunch.

The lady who runs the cafe, Marguerite, was very sweet and as you’d expect, a very maternal type with three kids of her own. For lunch C and I had a lovely fresh quesadilla and omelette prepared from Marguerite’s home kitchen – the food is simple and homely – what I’d expect if you were going to someone’s house to hang out in their backyard. Most of the food can be eaten in one hand in consideration of parents needing to hold or carry a child in the other arm.

The other good thing for parents is that there is plenty of Council parking just next door, even though the cafe is based in a residential area. Oh, and kids receive a free babycino.

For other kid-friendly dining options, try DOC in Carlton and Little Creatures in Fitzroy.

• Babycino’s Garden Cafe, Northampton Place, South Yarra +61 40233 3671

With so many great cafes on Gertrude Street, both old and new, it can be difficult to choose where to go. My advice? Just start from one end and work your way down :–) That way, at some stage you’ll make your way to the pine-tree stencilled windows of the excellent Arcadia.

Arcadia ticks all the right cafe boxes for me. A relaxed and airy interior. Friendly, it’s-your-neighbourhood-joint-where-everyone-knows-your-name kind of service (the girl behind the counter called me ‘love’ the whole time, which I found to my surprised that I enjoyed). Huuuge servings of good food.

My most recent breakfast at Arcadia consisted of Mexican eggs on rye with tomato, avocado and coriander salsa ($14.50). When I explained I couldn’t eat poached eggs, the waitress quickly suggested scrambled or fried eggs instead and I’m glad I went with scrambled, as the mound of brightly-hued eggy wobble was just gorgeous; the chef did not cross the fine line between perfectly scrambled and rubbery eggs.  My plate also came heaped with a man-sized serve of chunky chopped fresh tomatos and avocados, lifted beyond the norm with a piquant coriander and chilli-spiked salsa. For the gluten-intolerant, I noticed that you are able to exchange your bread to Fatto a Mano‘s gluten-free bread on request.

I accompanied my dish with a very good small mango smoothie ($6), chilled and made with fresh fruit.

As there was no room for a breakfast dessert, I opted to take home a freshly-baked sweet muffin ($4.50). The flavours of the sweet and savoury muffins change daily, a bit of a shame really as blueberry, white chocolate and shredded coconut was a delectable combination.

While Arcadia may not draw the crowds of De Clieu or Birdman Eating, it has obviously survived the competition in Gertrude Street due to a combination of chirpy service and delicious food made with fresh ingredients. So if the nearby breakfast queues are getting too long for your weekend brunch, why not drop into Arcadia instead?

• Arcadia, 193 Gertrude St, Fitzroy +61 3 9416 1055

Penny Farthing Espresso is a cute combination of the bygone era of top hats and handlebar moustaches with insouciant Northcote coolness.

The cafe first caught my eye because of the fabulous steampunk bicycle in the window. Apparently it’s a working apparatus, although the penny farthing enthusiast who built it has only ridden it twice…and fallen off twice. Nevertheless it’s a beautiful piece of art.

But if you’re not a bike fan, then Penny Farthing Espresso is a comfortable little spot with vintage wooden chairs and tables in the front room and a secluded courtyard in the back. Naturally the place is decorated with many minature penny farthings and other sepia-toned bicycle paraphernalia. It draws a crowd ranging from young families to pretty girls in vintage dresses.

The cafe has a page of all-day breakfast options and lunch options start at 10:30am, which means if you’re a bruncher rather than breakfaster there’s heaps of choice. For coffee aficionados the baristas make their coffee using Five Senses coffee beans using a Synesso machine, so I assume it means it’s good coffee? They also retail tea and coffee to take home. (To read coffee reviews, check out Backseat Baristas, Melbourne Coffee Review and Melbourne Coffee Guide).

Scanning the Spring menu, my stomach was drawn to two items: apple and rhubarb compote served warm with walnut ricotta infused with freshly shaved vanilla pods  and thinly sliced housemade almond biscotti ($10) and two slices of French toast drizzled with real maple syrup & topped with seasonal berry compote and garden fresh mint, with a side of Meander Valley double cream ($12).

I decided to go with the latter and not much longer a plate of eggy bread landed. It was neither the best or worst French toast I’d had, I just wish the plate had more than just a garnish of berry compote and the toast had been fried a little crisper. Next time I think I’ll go with the compote – the picture on the Penny Farthing Espresso website is pretty and mouth-watering.

For other Northcote cafe options, try the equally quirky Palomino.

• Penny Farthing Espresso, 206 High St, Northcote +61 3 9482 2246

De Clieu is the hottest cafe on the Gertrude Street strip at the moment and it was one of the reasons I’d avoided it till now. The crowd overspilling into the footpath tables and lounging in the frame of the large street-facing windows seemed too cool for school (or at least too cool for me) and there always seemed to be a line of people waiting to get inside – and when a pregnant lady is hungry she has to eat RIGHT NOW.

The second reason I’d not been hunting it down since it opened in October is because I’m not a coffee drinker – and De Clieu is the brainchild of the coffee maestros behind Seven Seeds and Brother Baba Budan. I wasn’t sure whether their food menu was a coffee afterthought and whether I’d actually be able to add anything to the blogosphere love for this place.

Well, I’m pleased to say for all you non-coffee drinkers out there, the food at De Clieu is top-notch. The menu is small (one page) but interesting and while yes, the atmosphere is definitely cool, it’s still friendly and welcoming.

If you can’t snag a prized street-side view, then draw up an old-school chair inside the corridor of brushed concrete, wood and white hospital tiles, a look which epitomises Melbourne’s brand of warehouse chic thanks to architects Six Degrees. If you sit in front of the cake cabinet filled with Little Bertha delights and croissants from Dench, you get an even better view :–)

My order of lentil and rice pancake with spicy coconut, pea and potato filling sand green mango yoghurt ($13) was a beautifully presented wheaten round encasing a spill of fragrant coconut sauce with a surprisingly high heat quotient. A highly recommend tangent away from your usual breakfast and lunch cafe fare.

I’m not sure whether it’s because I’m eating for two (ha!) but I didn’t feel quite full enough after it, so went for a second lunch course of thick cut grain bread from neighbour Fatto a Mano with balsamic roasted sardines, red onion, parmesan and squishy roasted tomatoes ($10.50). It was generally a satisfying two-hander sandwich but I had small two gripes with it – the filling was too cold and presented a not very pleasant contrast to the warmly toasted bread, and while it’s good to know that they didn’t just open a tin of John West for the filling, I had to extract two spiky fins while biting into my lunch.

Overall my lunch at De Clieu was relaxed and tasty and many reviews tell me that the coffee is excellent (such as Eat, Drink, Stagger, Melbourne Culinary Journal and The Age). The cafe is a winning formula for the Fitzroy set, fixies, skinny jeans and coffee-drinking optional.

De Clieu, 187 Gertrude St, Fitzroy +61 3 9416 4661

It’s a testament to the power of positive reviews that a small cafe on the opposite side of the river to me, hidden in a residential area, can capture my attention such that I’ll make a special trip there early on a Sunday morning.

Such is the pulling power of Coin Laundry. Just like the sparkliest, cleanest laundry, Coin Laundry is a crispy white and vibrantly bright cafe in leafy Armadale. The space used to be occupied by, you guessed it, a laundromat, and the owners Steve Rowley and Matt Vero have cunningly retained the previous signage for their cafe.

Inside there’s no hint of dank clothes or spinning tumble-dryers – the only real remnant of its laundromat past is the use of tea towels swagged in loops from the ceiling as a clever decorative feature. Everything else is has been stripped back and replaced with a warm touch in the form of a high wooden communal table, blonde wood Thonet chairs, clean white and green tiling and a sprinkling of floral arrangements.

I perched myself at the communal table on top of a surprisingly comfortable sheet metal bar stool and perused the one-page breakfast menu. Always a sucker for beans on toast ($12.50), Coin Laundry’s version was a ‘cassoulet’ without the sausage, duck fat or white haricot beans – rather fat broad beans baked with feta with a scoop of green olive tapenade. It came on a little wooden bread-board and a big huggable white bowl, perfect for scooping up in your hands while perusing the Sunday papers.

The dish itself was warming and filling, with the beans gently soft but not to mush. My only negative was that I thought there was too much tapenade, as when it was mixed in the dish became a little too salty (but not in a gasping-for-water sort of way). The thick tomato-based sauce was perfect for dunking in the accompanying hunk of Noisette bread.

By the time I left, it was still early but the place was really starting to fill up. I had a chat to one of the friendly staff and they said that they had great intentions to bake their own bread but the unexpectedly large number of people visiting them hadn’t provided enough time for them to start doing so. That’s a good news story I like to hear.

For more reviews, check out The Very Hungry Caterpillar, I’m so hungreeeee and “…it pleases us”.

• Coin Laundry, 61 Armadale St, Armadale +61 3 9500 1888