Hammer and Tong 412

Recently opened in February this year, Hammer and Tong takes over from Brix 412, the previous cafe in this space. The new owners met while working at Vue de Monde, so while they've retained the stylish interior design, they bring a whole new level of quality to the food - and the food at Brix was already pretty good!

When you boil it down, the menu options where pretty standard for breakfast, muesli, porridge, eggs benny, corn fritters, and baked eggs. But they were all described in such tempting language and the presentation of the food couldn't be faulted!!

I had the corn fritters with paoached egg, it was amazing! Reid's baked eggs looked great too, but weren't the best ever. 

The coffee was also beautifully presented, including stylish crockery. Coffee tasted good, although, I have definitely had better.

Reverence

There are a few cafe's opening in Ascot Vale on Union Street. And Reid is off to the Penny Arcade expo at the showgrounds so I thought we'd check out one of the local spots. 

Reverence is good on paper, and there are several individual components that are good, but overall it's a bit disappointing.

The staff are friendly but too efficient, in a chaotic type of way. High speed walking from table to table. 

The furniture is old style but it's all actually new so the vintage affect is lost.

The layout of the tables is a bit clinical so I felt a bit exposed. A better design might have created a more intimate setting. 

The menu is good, simple, but a bit pricey. I paid $19 for tomato, avocado, feta, and a poached egg. Reid's chilli beans were a bit lacking on the chilli side. 

It has potential but it doesn't seem to come together that well

More tequila

At Mesa Verde

Touché Hombre

Dinner & drinks 

Piano Piano

Piano Piano is a tiny cafe on Nicholson Street, but it churns out hearty sized breakfasts! 

Three super friendly chatty staff work the smallest of kitchens, and everyone seems to know each other.

If we lived in the area, this would make a really nice local. Good coffee too!

Backstreet Eating

Nicely styled with chilled jazz playing and a hearty menu. 

With a lingering hangover the extra salty pork belly bacon, roasted tomatoes & Brussels were a bit rich for me. Reid enjoyed his - fried eggs, black pudding, and cabbage.

Coffee was good!

Their appreciation of an animals offering to us was a bit self indulgent!! On the menu was a blurb about their selection of animals, what they're fed and how they're treated, and what they offer to us - like the animal somehow had a choice

Pearl Oyster

A nice little local suburban cafe in the back streets of Thornbury. 

Lots of really good breakfast menu options, all with eggs of some kind

I had the lean green poached eggs with humous and labne. Reid had the bada bing poached eggs with pork sausage, tomato & capsicum sauce, and goats cheese

Simple interior design, great coffee

Seamstress

End of evening cocktail at Seamstress

East Elevation

I've conned Reid into coming here so I can buy dark chocolate! 

We've been here before but it's had a name change since then

My coffee was pretty small & luke warm and my food didn't look to appealing but the goats feta was tasty. Four dollars for a sliver of avocado is a bit steep!! Reid's breakfast was pretty good tho! Substantial!

St Ali North

With sharp interior design, a nice outdoor area, plenty of space, and own brand crockery make St Ali a pretty cool spot.

Not to mention, the food is pretty good too and well presented!!

Pope Joan

Back at an old haunt to find Pope Joan taking over the block. They've opened an adjoining bar and a deli/grocery shop next door. The outdoor area has also been revamped and it looks quite fancy.

The menu is, as always, unusual and I'll guess, trend setting 

I had the Thai curry omelette & Reid at the goat meatballs. Presentation was a bit off but the food was tasty

Twenty & six espresso

Yummo! The menu is more lunch than breakfast so at 10am on Saturday morning I opted to build my own breakie from a collection of sides. I did feel a bit silly, essentially having bacon and eggs, when the other menu options were so amazing sounding. Although, my food did come out presented beautifully as if it was a regular on the menu! Reid had the slow roasted pork bao - it looked and tasted fantastic! Great food & coffee!

Gorski and Jones

Great food, creative menu options, nice presentation!

Tre Bicchieri

Tre Bicchieri has a cosy old style Italian interior and the menu is quite basic.

But the food is tasty and expertly prepared in a tiny kitchen by a single guy working furiously away!

Coffee is great too - by Coffee Supreme

Dood 328

I was a bit anxious about coming here, Reid had selected Dood 328 from a random search on Urban Spoon & there weren't any results on my usual website for cafe selection - broadsheet.

We got here about 11.30am, peak Saturday brunch time, and the place was relatively empty - another warning bell!!

Then! the menu - hard laminated card with lots of generic choices, with the occasional out of place funky option - this would usually be enough to turn us away. But it was too late - we'd already ordered coffees.

However! I had one of the funkier menu options; poached eggs rolled in dukkah on top of a potato & pumpkin rosti, with chili jam! And it was YUM!! Well presented, good portion size, perfectly cooked eggs.

Reid had the vege big breakie which also looked great, but - it lacked flavour and needed a sauce or something to give it a kick

So overall, it was alright, but we won't be rushing back

Coffees weren't great either

Little Henri

It was very pleasant sitting in the back courtyard in the autumn sun

My eggs benny was tasty, lots of hollindaise and super thick slices of ham off the bone.

Reid, on the hand, votes this as worst breakfast he's ever had! Worse than a time he had hollindaise from a tube. He had baked eggs with cheese and a garlic, salt crumb. The garlic was so overwhelming it had permeated everything and was inescapable. It put him off eating. Plus the eggs were overcooked!

Giddup

Sunday brunch in south Melbourne after a visit to Chef's Hat & the market

Giddup was nice - it's a little unassuming spot on Coventry St with only a few tables inside and a scattering of tables and crates outside.

Friendly service, minimalist design, quality menu classics, and decent coffee

Mama Bear

Mama Bear is a new cafe in Flemington, the decor and furnishings are pretty cool, it feels like a little bit of Brunswick out West (no hipsters tho!)

The coffee today was amazing - single origin from Brazil - it tasted like chocolate!

The food was pretty good too with great options. Some a bit creative others a quirky twist on the classics (eg Mr Benedict with bacon and apple cider hollindaise). Everything was well presented and very tasty!

But!! And there was quite a serious but!

The food took forever to come out. We did get a warning when we ordered that it would be about a 25 minute wait - which would have been fine if it was true!! 45 minutes after ordering and an hour after arriving we were finally served. To their credit they did check in a couple of times to let us know the food was "coming". Although at the same time they could have asked if we wanted another coffee or topped up the water.

Also - my eggs were a bit undercooked and Reid's were a bit overcooked! And I'm pretty sure they weren't free range!

Plus there were lots of flies inside - which was a bit weird & gross!

Auction Rooms

This is another specialty coffee spot with pour over, single origin, and fancy coffee making devices that make it look like a chemistry lab!

It's super popular with a continuous queue of people outside waiting for a table

Inside is cool decor and friendly staff

The food is amazing, so well presented and great flavours - I had eggs with goats feta and hollandaise, the perfect flavour combo. Sides were served in cool glass jars

Coffee was pretty impressive too!

Overall awesome!

Secret park

We finally went to the secret park for a picnic - it's Cliff Allison Park and it's hidden from any main road right behind our house!!

http://m.google.com/u/m/-Wx6yl