Proud Mary

Location: 172 Oxford Street,Collingwood

Food rating: 7/10

Coffee rating: 7/10

Milkshake rating:9/10

A pretty busy cafe at 12.30pm on a Thursday. We still managed to easily get a table for 2.

After finding out that this place was so close to my work I got super excited due to all the hype that surrounds the cafe. Unfortunately the food did not live up to my expectations.

We ordered the pea fritter and the hotcakes.

The pea fritter was really tasty and a unique dish. It looked fairly small when it came out but it was very filling.

The hotcakes require 20 minutes to cook which wasn’t a problem. However, these were still undercooked in the centre which wasn’t apparent until halfway through the meal. As a popular dish you would think that they would have mastered it.

The coffee was fairly average which is disappointing as they are coffee roasters as well. The milkshake on the other hand was SUPERB!

The Fitzroy/Collingwood area is expanding so rapidly that I think there are too many good places for Proud Mary to compete against now. I feel this is what made it such an underwhelming experience. I’ll be back, just not before I try all the other places in the area.

Happy Brunching!

Gardiner and Field

Location: 43 Union Street, Armadale

Food rating: 7.5/10

Coffee rating: 7.5/10

A wonderful little cafe found on the inner streets of Armadale. At 9am on Christmas eve there were no issues getting a table for 2 people. Given that it is a little hidden, it tends to be more so the locals that visit the cafe. In saying that, there is no shortage of customers.

The menu is quite unique with multiple exciting options. As it was Christmas eve and we were preparing for a food filled day the next day, we opted for a lighter menu choice. Between the two of us we ordered the morning paleo salad and poached eggs on toast with mushrooms, spinach and avocado.

The morning paleo salad comprised of asparagus, crispy bacon, kale, artichoke, avocado, a poached eggs and some seeds to top it off. I am not into the whole paleo craze. I find it quite ridiculous but I must admit that the food is delicious and very filling. It was nice to have a brunch dish without any bread for once.

The poached eggs on toast with mushrooms, spinach and avocado was also very tasty albeit simple. One of the highlights was that for once you seemed to get a decent serving of the add-ons for that price that you pay. All elements were cooked really well and were packed with flavour.

I most definitely intend to return as there are several dishes that I still want to try. For example, the breakfast tacos and the pumpkin three ways dish.

Highly recommend paying this cafe a visit!

Happy Brunching!

St Ali

Location – 12-18 Yarra Place, South Melbourne

Food rating – 9/10

Coffee rating – 9/10

Service rating – 8/10

What better way to start the new year than with a delicious Melbourne brunch! We decided to finally try out St Ali given that it was one of very few places open on New Years Day! For two people at 10.15am there was only a 5 minute wait. By 11pm the wait was crazy though, so early was definitely a great idea.

This cafe always has very good reviews and is often recommended on websites. Usually this hype results in disappointment once finally trying the place as your expectations are set too high. Well, I must admit that this place is AMAZING and lives up to all to the standards set. I have been to many brunch places in the last 2-3 years and this is currently at the top of my list!

The strong latte that we ordered came out beautifully dark and perfect. I am personally not a coffee drinker but given the beautiful weather I opted for one of their homemade bottled iced latte. I really enjoyed it and that is saying something.

Between the two of us, we ordered the “My Mexican Cousin” and the “Koo Koo Ca Choo”.

The “My Mexican Cousin” was comprised of secret recipe corn fritters w poached eggs, grilled halloumi, corn & cucumber salsa, spicy tomato puree & green salad. We added the smashed avo and feta as a side. The dish was packed full of flavour. Although the servings don’t appear to be massive, they were very filling.

The “Koo Koo Ca Choo” included Crispy potato hash w mushroom ratatouille, poached eggs, shaved Gruyere & chlorophyll & truffle vinaigrette. The potato was smooth and creamy and was more so like a potato croquette. Once again, not a massive dish but extremely filling. The mushroom ratatouille was a wonderful addition.

The dishes were very unique and there were plenty of delicious options which force a revisit.

The service was impeccable considering how hectic it became as more and more people arrived for brunch. They had also increased the number of tables available in anticipation for the brunch rush. This means that they were working at maximum capacity.

I highly recommend this place!

Happy brunching!

Is It Cafe

Location: 11 Izett St, Prahran

Food Rating – 7.5/10

Coffee Rating – 8.5/10

Service Rating – 7/10

This cafe is a lot larger than it initially seems. There is outdoor seating at the front and back and a few seats inside. At 10.30am on Tuesday December 29th we had no issues getting a table for 3. We opted to sit out the back as it was such a beautiful day. Sometimes this means that you get forgotten but the service was wonderful.

Between the three of us we ordered the chorizo eggs, baked eggs and the superfood salad with mushrooms and chicken.

The chorizo eggs were impeccable! This is probably one of the best brunch dishes that we have had in a very long time. The dish consists of a nice bit of bread with chopped up chorizo, a fresh salsa, cheddar cheese, 2 poached eggs and a chipotle hollandaise sauce. The combination of flavours was absolutely delicious. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this dish!
The baked eggs with the added chorizo was pretty good as well. Not as exceptional as the chorizo eggs but still very tasty.

The superfood salad with the added mushrooms and chicken was really tasty. The mushrooms made for a fantastic addition which I recommend. It’s a nice light yet filling breakfast. I would probably chuck on a poached egg next time but that is also because a breakfast isn’t quite right for me without eggs.

A little more expensive than your usual brunch spot but still worth a try.

Happy brunching!

From On High

Location: 412 High Street, Prahran

Food rating: 6/10

Coffee rating: 7/10

Service rating: 2/10

We had been wanting to try this place for quite a while as we had seen that it had decent ratings. Unfortunately, we were pretty disappointed. We had no issues getting a table for two at around 10am. The service to begin with was a little slower than it should have been but not too bad. As someone finally came to take our order, we ordered the baked eggs with avocado and the crispy polenta with portobello mushrooms.

The food took a considerable amount of time given that the cafe wasn’t that busy.

The baked eggs were really tasty and everything was cooked well. The eggs were perfectly baked and still nice and soft and all the elements of the dish worked well together.

The crispy polenta dish on the other hand was very underwhelming and was the culprit for all the bad service issues. The egg on the dish was panko crumbed and VERY overdone! Trying to get the attention of a staff member  proved to be very difficult as every time a staff member walked past they just happened to look the other way or not see me. After a good 5 minutes, a staff member finally saw me and gave me an awkward look as if to say “Oh you want something?” yet didn’t say a word and just stood there waiting for me. He went to ask the kitchen to redo the egg which was fine until 10 minutes later an egg comes out and goes to another table in which the people on the table were very surprised about yet accepted it nonetheless. When we told the guy that we thought that egg was for us, he said he would go check with the kitchen. He proceeded to make another few coffees before going to the kitchen and then finally came back to say that it will only be 2 minutes. I also had to request that the egg be underdone rather than overdone. Another 10 minutes later, the egg finally comes out perfect. Unfortunately, by that point I had been waiting 20 minutes for the egg so everything else was cold. Maybe the dish would have tasted a lot nicer if everything was hot but by the time I had it, it was very bland and the “crispy polenta” was very soggy.

Will not be back to this place! Service was just too appalling. Don’t waste your time when there are so many good brunch places around the area.

Also, panko crumbed eggs are very overrated and cafes should stick to normal poached eggs unless they can do it well!

Happy Brunching!

Two Lost Boys

Location: 20/2 Maddock St, Windsor

Food Rating: 7/10

Coffee Rating: 8/10

Brunching on Boxing day can be difficult as most places are closed for the Christmas period.  Fortunately Two Lost Boys have very generous hours during this period.

At 10am on Boxing Day we had no issues getting a table for 2 people. As it was quite cold and wet considering the previous day was stinking hot, it made for the perfect baked eggs weather.

Between the two of us we ordered the baked eggs and the breakfast burrito.

The breakfast burrito came with scrambled eggs, avocado and salsa. Unfortunately this dish was a little bit of a let down. They were very generous with the scrambled eggs but there appeared to be a scarce amount of anything else.  It would not be a dish that I would reorder.

The baked eggs were very tasty and came with beans, mushrooms, blood sausage, spinach and goats cheese. It comes out bubbling away and the eggs are cooked to perfection. I know that the idea of blood sausage can be daunting and disgusting to some people but in all honesty, in this dish with all the elements and flavours it contains, it does not taste any different to your regular sausage.

It is a place that is worth visiting if you have never been as they do decent food and good coffee and the staff are really lovely. However, having been there, I will not be rushing back.

Happy brunching!

Archie’s All Day

Location: 189 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy

Food Rating: 8/10

Coffee Rating: 7/10

7.30am on a Thursday morning proved to be no issue for a table of 2. In saying that though, the place did get very busy for a weekday.

A beautiful tulip was brought over to every table as a hint of spring to decorate the place.

We ordered the baked eggs with the added slow roasted lamb and the huevos sucio which was an egg with Chipotle mayo on a bed of potato gems with an added chorizo.

The huevos sucio was really delicious and a really unique dish. I absolutely love potato gems so having them for breakfast was great. Mix that with egg, chipotle and chorizo and well you can’t really go wrong can you?

The baked eggs were also quite tasty. I personally found that it had a slight charred/bitter taste to it. It was nice but not the best one that I have had.

Definitely a place to return to, especially when I am craving the huevos sucios.

Happy brunching!

Oscar Cooper

Location: 160 Greville Street, Prahran

Food Rating: 6/10

A Cute cafe and not too bad. It’s was around a 30 minute wait for a table at 10am for 5 people. Service from the kitchen appeared to be very slow with a few people leaving as parking around the area is quite restricted and they had been waiting over an hour . Service in general was ridiculously slow resulting in an overall longer wait for a table.

Between the 5 of us, we ordered the baked eggs, smashed avo, fritters, eggs benedict and breakfast bruschetta. Everything was okay but nothing was spectacular.

The smashed avo was the best dish out of all. However, this was probably the most simple dish out of the five.

The Eggs Benedict was pretty underwhelming being served on a simple piece of toast. It was tasty but really nothing special.

The fritters, baked eggs and breakfast bruschetta were nice changes. Their baked eggs were different to the baked eggs you can get everywhere else. I probably prefer other baked eggs more but that’s just a personal opinion. It is nice seeing a change though.

Overall the food was fine but it was really the service that let the place down. Way too slow for an area that has limited parking. Maybe it was just a bad day for them but we won’t be back in a hurry.

Happy Brunching!

Square and Compass

Location: 222 Clarendon Street, East Melbourne

Food rating: 7/10

After being in Tasmania fo 3 weeks, it was so great to come back to a really tasty brunch meal.

This place has the facade of a victorian townhouse. From the outside you wouldn’t even realise it was a cafe yet on the inside it’s really modern and well decorated. For only less than 6 months old it was really quite busy.

A group of 5 of us went for a Friday lunch and had no issues getting a table. We sat at the communal table which was great as there was heaps of space but it wasn’t ridiculously oversized.

Between the 5 of us we ordered the pulled pork jaffle, red chilli eggs and the smashed avo dish.

The pork jaffle, although a simple dish was really satisfying. Jaffles are just one of those dishes that feels so homely and brings on nostalgia of childhood. This dish definitely ticked all of those boxes.

The red chilli scrambled eggs looked so delicious. They were packed with flavour from the chilli and bacon bits. This dish was well liked however it was quite a large and filling dish. Better than being too small though!

The avocado dish came with goats cheese, cherry tomato salad, beetroot relish, dukkah and kale chips. The combination of the flavours worked really well. It was nice to have something a little bit extra and interesting with the smashed avo. This is definitely towards the top of my smashed avo list. All poached eggs were done perfectly as well.

Overall a really great cafe and one to become a regular for lunch break outings. I highly recommend before it gets even more well known!

Happy Brunching!

Berta. – North Hobart

Location: 323a Elizabeth Street,North Hobart

Food rating: 7/10

Coffee rating: 6/10

After having a nice chat to the Fudge guy at the Salamanca market about Melbourne brunches, he suggested that I pay a visit to Berta. Tasmania has not yet developed a proper taste for weekend brunches but they are slowly trying. Berta is one of those cafes that could be placed in Melbourne and still do fine. I mean we are very spoilt in Melbourne so I won’t go as far as to say that would do REALLY well but they would definitely survive.

I must admit, my expectations of Hobart brunches were very low and with the mixed reviews about Berta I was a little hesitant. Thankfully I was pleasantly surprised. 9ish on a Sunday morning and the cafe was quite so I had absolutely no problems getting a seat for 2 of us

Unfortunately the coffee was a little burnt so had a bad aftertaste.

The food was really quite good. Between us we ordered the Huevos Rancheros (Baked eggs with a rich tomato based sauce with chorizo, potatoes and smashed avocado) and the Omlette which came with ham, shallots and gruyere.

The Huevos Rancheros was very yummy and the eggs were cooked perfectly. The only issue that I had (which wasn’t that major) was the use of potatoes. I don’t really get Tassie. They LOVE to use potatoes in their breakfast dishes. Don’t get me wrong, it is very yummy but I personally find it too heavy and despite that I would choose beans (cannelli, kidney beans, chickpeas, butterbeans) over potatoes any day.

The Omlette was very delicious especially with the added side of beetroot relish. Beware though, if you are sensitive to onions proceed ordering this dish with caution. This is also served with bread which I personally find unnecessary which just results in a waste of food.

Overall a great little cafe if wanted to have some brunch in Hobart. The wait staff were really good as well. Very friendly and chirpy for early on a Sunday morning.

One last note, the freshly squeezed OJ is VERY expensive! $6 for a small glass!!!! They better be some Magical Oranges! When I saw the table next to me get it, I was so glad that I didn’t get one. Completely overpriced!

Everything else was fairly priced though, a little on the pricey side compared to Melbourne but I guess if it’s your only option and there are no real competitors then you would pay the price.

Happy Brunching!