A BOOTH WITH A VIEW @ BELLE'S DINER

Belle's Diner's Fried Green Tomato Burger ($17)

Yalei and I hit up Belle's Diner a few weeks ago. I'd actually been here a few nights after it opened, but my camera died (trust) just as the food arrived. Belles Diner is the newest place on Gertrude Street, and is a contemporary take on the traditional American diner, without all the '50s crap that is usually associated with such places. Instead, the interior feels like a set from Mad Men, with a stainless steel counter and sleek wooden booths that sit with large windows overing a street level view of Gertrude Street.

On our first visit, we put our names on the door an hour before they let us know we could be seated and the place was heaving with the young crowd you would expect around the area. The next week, we arrived for lunch, and still had to wait for a few minutes for a table, because we weren't keen on eating on the counter.

For lunch, I ordered the fried green tomato burger, as above. It was good, but a vegeburger would have been much more satisfying. Instead of a pattie, a large slice of deep-fried green tomato sat in the burger with crisp lettuce, cheese and pickles. However, the tomato just didn't keep it's shape as I progressed through the burger, and by the end,  developed into tomato mush. The bun though was sweet and the fries were well seasoned and tasty, so it wasn't all bad. While there for dinner, my meat eating friends ordered the Waguy burger and judged it to be 'Good, not as good as Huxtaburger but better then the burgers at the workers' which is a good indicator of a satisfactory burger.

Yalei ordered the clam chowder, which I had also tried when I went last time. She summed it up pretty well, when she said it was 'kind of like pumpkin soup, but with clams'. It was good though because her size was much bigger then the one I had received the week before for dinner. My verdict was that the soup was good (who doesn't like pumpkin soup?) but a little bland and the clams were a nice inclusion, but did more for the texture component of the dish then the flavour part of it. I was a little disapointed as I remembered clam chowder to be creamy and more sea-foody then the chowder at Belles. More like a calorific-cream based soup, then the more healthy vegetable based one served here.

The Clam Chowder ($15)

Cost-wise, the meal kind of just sat at $20, which was fine, but not brilliant. Belles Diner seems a little style-over-substance. On arrival, the cafe is neat and very well presented, but the food wasn't anything that got me too excited. If they are going to run with the American theme, I think it deserves that extra push, because there wasn't really anything that you couldn't get at the majority of restaurants in Melbourne and there is much more interesting dude-food to be found for the same price.

 The Wagyu Beef Burger with Fries

I would return to Belle's diner, but maybe when they have worked on their menu a bit. Since my visit/s, they've added a 'Salted Caramel Milkshake' to the menu, and I'm also keen to try the Sundaes and Key Lime Pie from their desserts, as well as the Chilli Beans and Lobster Roll. For lunch though, not eating meat meant choosing dishes was way too easy when I had maybe three things to choose from, which always kind of sucks a little - although, I do remember having more options over dinner.

Staff at Belle's are friendly, although a little disinterested, but I liked the music and generally the vibe of the Diner is lo-key and relaxed during the day, and lively but laid back in the PM times.

BELLE'S DINER

150 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy

Tuesday - Sunday 10am - late.

Good for: Casual style dining for small or large groups.
Vegetarians: Have options, but they aren't too expansive, especially for lunch.

Seats: Lots of booths, and tables available.
Wait time: About 5 minutes for the two of us for mid-week lunch. The previous week, a larger group of about 8 of us were wait-listed for an hour until they called us to let us know we had a table - but the restaurant was packed, so this was fine. 
Food waiting time: Around 20 minutes for lunch, around half an hour for dinner.
Cost: Including drinks, both our meals sat just under $20.00.  

LITTLE PAUSE @ LITTLE KING

I march almost daily these days up Flinders Lane, on my way to work, and Little King has become a welcome, regular stop on what has in turn, become a pretty shitty jaunt.

If you haven’t visited, Little King is a pretty little cafe tucked away in a small alcove, sheltered on one side by one of Melbourne's oldest buildings, St Paul's Cathedral. Little King's outside seating area sits privy to to a view of Melbourne that you don't expect to see on the sheltered route that is Flinders Lane, until, on turning the corner towards the cafe, you are hit with a force of light that looks towards Federation Square.

Broadsheet recently featured the owners in a piece about female cafe owners, and it is very clear on entering the cafe, that this is a grrrl-run operation. The ladies who run Little King are refreshingly informal, and I don't know, maybe it's the size of the little cafe, or maybe it's their chatty natures, but you kind of feel like you're sitting in the kitchen of a Carlton sharehouse. The cafe is personable, sweetly decorated and the girls behind the counter are doing a great job at establishing a coffee spot with some heart in the CBD.

Which is great by the way. There are too many places in the city where you're just shoved along and  treated as the little more then the next customer. But here, as corny as it sounds, you feel like a friend. Isn't that just lovely? No, SRSLY, it’s really nice. Before Little King, small yet quality cafes so close to the tourist hubs of Flinders Street and City Square were annoyingly absent. Even somewhere like Sensory Lab lacks a 'cafe vibe' that most Melbournians look for in a coffee spot. So good job, Little King.

The first time I visited was with Antonia, and it was the first ‘hot’ day of the year. Little King was perfect, providing much needed shade, coolness from the concrete of the church aswell as a wonderful view of people enjoying Melbourne on the other side of Flinders Street.

Anyway, this is really only a half-post because I've only ever stopped for a drink. But if you're looking for some place to perch for a half hour or so in the CBD, which can be a pretty lonely place sometimes, Little King should provide enough company to settle the soul for some time.

 

LITTLE KING CAFE

4/209 FLINDERS LANE

Mon - Fri 7.30 - 3.30 

Good for: Good and prompt take-away coffee. A break from the chaos of the CBD.
Vegetarians: I just had coffee.

Seats: The cafe is only small, which suits as it's a coffee and quick lunch sort of place. I like sitting outside in the fresh air, but there are a few small tables inside too.
Wait time: There was not seating wait.
Cost: Standard Coffee Price. $3.50

COOL JAPAN @ Nama Nama

I had walked past Nama Nama on my way to work for so long before Yalei and I decided to hit it up last week. The younger brother of Izakaya Den reaks of Japan chic, and I'd wondered about this neat little eatery, tucked away in the corner of the city, for quite some time. Nama Nama fits in with Melbourne's CBD as much as it stands out, but is made particularly noticeable by the wooden tables and seats outside the restaurant, stamped in loud red, Asahi logos. Cute.

Inside, the cafe is quite beautiful, fitted out in kind of 'scanjapan' style - that is a mix, of woody and simple Japanese design, with more westernised furnishings and affects that I associate with Scandinavia. Staff are also really great, super friendly and very attentive. When Yalei ordered her second Japanese lemonade (they have those strange click, ball openings) they asked her if she wanted to 'crack it' herself, and when she did it, three of them cheered and clapped - Adorbs. Big props to the staff.

I don't know if it was all the natural light, or the relatively quiet nature of this restaurant compared to most of the city, but Nama Nama has really good, calming vibes. It's cool, but not nauseatingly so and there isn't a particular 'crowd'. Although I'm sure it gets busy during the lunchtime rush hour, there was also enough space to feel like you had a little privacy.  

I kind of feel bad for Japanese food, because it has so many cheap imitations here in Melbourne, but there is none of this 'smoked salmon sushi' here and not a single soy sauce fish could be found.  

Enticed by the delights that are displayed on the front counter, I choose a bento box. The deal is you choose your box, and then you select its components from the little selections offered. So, you pick   a salad, a raw choice, rice piece, a house specialty and a main, with the majority of the five componants displayed at the front - hence the name, 'Nama Nama' which translates to 'fresh fresh'.

I had wanted to choose the salmon, but they were out, so choose the eggplant instead. Eggplant isn't my favourite dish texture-wise, I find it kind of sludgy, so I wasn't quite taken with this one, although the sauce was appropriately zany with the rice, and they did pop the last little piece of salmon in too, which was tasty. I also had the Kingfish sushimi, which was leaf-wrapped and tasted fresh and easy. One salad, with fried noodles was light and fitting with the rest of the bento. My favourite part however, was a little mix of cold vegetables, a mix of raw snow peas, capsicum and corn in a kind of fried pastry, wonton style cup.

However, Yalei did enjoy her Udon. Apparently Nama Nama is one of the only places in Melbourne that makes their Udon by hand - or rather, by foot. This sounds kind of nasty, but kind of neat at the same time, because they wear a sock-type covering and roll the Udon into noodles with the bottom of their soles. I'd like to see this. Yalei reported that you can feel the imperfections in the 'grain' of the noodles, but couldn't taste much of a difference, but the tempura prawns were well cooked and the soup flavoursome.

Nama Nama's udon is it's own shining star. From my research, 6 months on from opening, Nama Nama remains the only place in Melbourne 'handcrafting' their own udon, which is pretty amazing. Also, Nama Nama is open for breakfast which also provides a pretty serious point of difference to the usual brunch spots in the CBD. It also has a bar upstairs that broadsheet has called 'moody' which is cool, i guess.

Although, I did like Nama Nama and considered it a positive dining experience, I do think it is over priced. $18 for a bento box is kind of crazy; although the options were certainly more interesting in comparison to your 'sushi sushi' shopping centre kind of bentos, and felt considerably more authentic. $15 for the udon is not too painful, but isn't exactly cheap at the same time. Generally though, for me, the portions just aren't big enough to justify the price, especially with the bentos, when the majority of the fillings had been prepared earlier and were cold, and it's really due to the rice that one feels 'full' after.

 

NAMA NAMA

31 Spring Street

Mon - Fri 7am - 5pm
Sat - Sun 8am - 5pm

Good for: Interesting and quirky Japanese food, and an uplifting lunch. I really enjoyed all-round simplicity of the venue, and the presentation of food. They also serve market lane coffee which is a bonus, and Japanese style breakfast.
Vegetarians: Are well catered for.

Seats: Customers should have plenty of seating options. Inside, outside, on the bench, on tables and even on more traditional Japanese seating arrangements. We sat at the bar, near the front window and that was fine.
Wait time: There was not seating wait.
Food waiting time: Around 10 minutes.
Cost: I spent $21.00 all up, including my Japanese lemonade and bento. Yalei's came to about $18 for her udon and drink. I didn't think the bento was amazing value, although I was glad I tried it. However, I would return to try the udon.

THE MOST BEAUTIFUL MEAL IN THE WORLD @ Collective Espresso

 

From the look of this blog, you probably don't believe that I've lost 95% of my precious mornings to work, but unfortunately they are now disappointing rare, and thus brunch is a very special treat. However, there was this one time a last week that Anties and I went to Collective Espresso for breakfast, and what a delight that was.

Collective Espresso is located in Camberwell, just up from the station, and was one of the first neat little cafes to pop up in the area. I have to say, as I grew up around here, a year or so ago there was quite a drought for a place that was still affordable, had really good coffee and the clincher, wasn't pram, or walking-frame ridden. But recently, more people have cottoned on to the fact that this was (and still kind of is) yummy mummy central, and now their kids have grown into young adults. So I'm going to start by thanking Collective Espresso for doing their bit to fill this void.

Good coffee. I was so in love with this meal

So we went to Collective Espresso on some nondescript morning to suss it out. We began with coffees, because it was 8am (ergh), and moved on to ordering (ahh!). You know how some places have a menu, and you just don't think about it, you pick and you order and it arrives and you eat? Collective Espresso is not like that. Simple dishes weren't part of the menu, which only added to that nice feeling of suspense after ordering. I didn't know how they would pull off the dishes so extensively described in the menu, but they did.   

The service was prompt without being annoying attentive, and came out about 10 minutes after. Good good. I chose the sake, orange and miso cured salmon, herb and zucchini pancakes and corn relish with poached eggs.

To begin with the obvious, the food was so wonderfully presented, it was like we were served up a section of someones freshly bloomed garden for brunch. Both dishes were wonderfully coloured, and looked fresh and vibrant. Antonia's even had flowers!! The portions were also really well done; enough fresh salmon, enough egg, enough of the amazing fritters. Do you know how rare this is? To get just the right amount of really great food from a good cafe?

Normally, I'm not such a big fan of corn relish, but the one with this salmon dish one was subtle enough (on the corn front) to be complementary to the fritters. I couldn't make out the 'cured sake, orange, and miso' component of the salmon, but all the same, it tasted wonderful, was textually diverse and a really, creative meal. Everything was just so good, and so pretty with tiny details on each plate, like the pieces of fried salmon skin to garnish.

Anties ordered the ricotta and blueberry dumplings with poached fruit, thyme sand, labna and mapel. It was so good, you guys. We were loving it. The blueberry dumplings were also amazing, surrounded by fresh fruit, with a smear of labna and a sprinkling of icing sugar. Apparently, they were like doughnuts but without the heavy, oily feeling.
 
Cost-wise, EC exceeded my budget. But this was brunch, and brunch is my favourite meal, so I will forgive it for the $1.50 that capped off the usual $20. And also, because I don't know if you noticed, but I really liked this place. 

I'm a bit hesitant to say this, but Collective Espresso may be my favourite brunch place in Melbourne. There is always another place to try, but I can tell this will remain in the back of my head when someone brings up early morning eating.

COLLECTIVE ESPRESSO

3 Cookson Street, Camberwell

Mon - Fri 7 - 4
Sat - Sun 8 - 4

Good for: Monday-Friday Breakfasts and super coffee. I haven't been here on Saturday but I would assume it gets crazy, and I don't think you'd even get through the door without a wait on market days.
Vegetarians: Have a good share of decent, creative options. I liked the sound of the 'Spiced vegan ratatouille cannelloni beans'.

Seats: I'm not a big fan of communal tables (is anyone?) especially in a smaller cafe like this one, so for us, sitting outside is fine, providing the people you're seated between aren't too loud.
Wait time: None. We found a table out the front right away. It was about 8am though.
Food waiting time: Around 10 minutes.
Cost: I spent $21.50 all up, so it's a little over budget but totes worth it.

 

FAST FEWD @ Miss Chu

Yalei and I braved the 9 to 5ers when we popped into Miss Chu for lunch a couple of weeks ago. The competition for table space, counter space, seats, lunch bags and attention from wait staff come 1pm is pretty damn fierce. For this reason, if you’re the more on timid the side, maybe hold back a couple of hours and try for dinner. This place is on high rotation, so you have to be quick.

But I’m not saying it’s not worth it. It is. I’ve been to Miss Chu’s a few times now, and it’s always in the back of my head when I want a simple meal in the CBD with minimal fuss. Sure, it’s always chaotic, and you’ve got to be quick on your feet to grab a table, but I am, so I feel like this restaurant and I are a good match.

Always a fan of house-special drinks, Yalei ordered the frozen coconut-mint drink, which is an icy concoction that you can also order with vokda. She got a virgin one, as above ($6). She also ordered the duck pancake ($3) which was a bit smaller then anticipated, but apparently tasted amazing. We shared the prawn and crab net spring rolls ($6) which are incredibly light and so easy to eat quickly. Instead of using thicker Chinese style pastry, Miss Chu’s thing is to use rice paper, so the skin is crispy and light with a fresh filling, without that really greasy feeling you get with most spring rolls. There is none of that miscellaneous green, "vegetable" stuff in there either. I ordered the seared atlantic salmon, which came with rice ($13) and light greens on the side. I always come back to this dish, because they hit you with a decent amount of salmon, and the vegetables are always fresh and cooked well. I also got a raspberry and apple juice ($3.5)

Prawn & Crab Net Spring Rolls 

I really like Miss Chu, and it’s the general vibe and the affordable, satisfying food that keeps me going back. There are a lot of good things about this place. To begin with, it’s all about fair trade and organic ingredients, and no MSG. I think it’s great the the owner tributes her Vietnamese-Laotian heritage by using her Australian visa photo from her childhood as the icon of the restaurant. They also have free WiFi (should you have enough table space to open a laptop) and deliver take-away orders within 1 km of the restaurant, which I should totally jump on now that I spend three quatres of my life in the CBD.

It's interesting to note that this place is pretty white-washed, despite the owner being of the same origin, and each time I’ve visited, is providing non-offensive Vietnamese fair to a large majority of white, young profs in a contemporary setting.

The only downside is that the service is a bit iffy, and the waitstaff have a tenancy to throw your meal across your table at you, Shanghai-Dumpling-style. Rush times are kind of a bun fight where you have to look out for yourself, because the wait staff are too busy to be escorting you anywhere. But you can tell that this is more under staffing and a lack of space and even perhaps a lack of commitment to customer interaction that makes the service a bit dicey.

The Seared Atlantic Salmon with rice and greens

MISS CHU 

297 Exhibition Street, Melbourne

11am- 10pm daily 

Good for: Easy, fast and informal dining with groups of up to about 4 people. Would be perfect to visit before a gig or a show, but probably get in before peak hour to avoid a wait.
Vegetarians: Have lots of options, as do the health conscious.

Seats: Try to get a table, although you may have to share with another group. The counters are a good idea to save space on the restaurant floor, but sitting there isn't ideal, especially if you're there to eat with other people.
Wait time: It was about 5 minutes before we spotted a table and nabbed it.
Food waiting time: Around 7 minutes- very quick.
Cost: Good value, and one of the cheaper lunch or dinner options I've encountered in Melbourne. My share of the spring rolls, the salmon and the drink clocked in just under budget at $19.50.

 

OMG YUM @ Tree of Us

Last week I got an email from Christian, of the new Richmond cafe 'Tree of us' inviting me to come and visit. Tree of Us stands out from the formally industrial, now residential area of Richmond, thanks to a great tree and rooster artwork painted on one side of the corner cafe.

Inside, with two walls of the cafe windows, Tree of Us is a  lightfilled and cheery with potted plants hanging from the ceiling, and a church pew lining the solid wall. We were lucky enough to arrive on a quiet Monday morning, and the cafe had a easy vibe, welcoming us to the start of a busy week.

Cost wise, Tree of Us sits perfectly in the Poor Student Eats budget. My omelette sat well at around $14, and you can’t really beat a sit-down sammich for $8.

Although I debated between the smoked salmon and beetroot salad, I thought I'd live on the edge and ended up ordering the omelette with mushrooms, spinach, goat's cheese, and thyme. Omg yum. Textually, the omelette was spot on - soft and light without being firm or rubbery. I hadn't had mushrooms for ages, but this omelette has convinced me to return. Each component in the dish was well and truly present, complementary and flavourful without being too rich. I also enjoyed a substantial amount of goat's cheese hidden beneath the omelette's folds and there was just enough thyme to give a pleasant aroma to the meal. Top notch.

Antonia went for the less conventional pick of the 'chef's choice' sandwich, filled with peanut butter, honey and banana. A passionate banana detester for a long time, I never would have made this call, but a difference in preference is what friends of food bloggers are for. She really enjoyed the sandwich and its kooky combination of fillings, but said it would be nice to have another sweet element there as well, like strawberries for that added punch.

What I really liked about Tree of us is that it kind of bucks the trends most Melbourne cafes are following with vigor. The chairs have backs! The inside is warm and green, instead of cold and industrial! But the basic ingredients of a great cafe remain through their menu of quirky little dishes, great coffee and service that is informed and friendly, but allows for conversational-space too.

The Chef's choice sandwich

Both my friend and I agreed that it was great to see some new things on the menu. After a while, the brunch options from cafes begin to mimic each other - even with the quality ingredients they may contain. Sure, there are breakfast favourites that remain universally popular, but, to quote Antonia when everyone is serving 'smashed avocado with Meredith fetta' you can feel like you've read a menu once, twice, or three times before - but not so here. The simple dishes aren’t too foreign and you should be familiar with most of the offerings, but each is done so in a way that will bring new light to a old favourite.

Still in its first month, I look forward to seeing how Tree of Us grows in the future. They have strong the potential as a young cafe all ready to grow up. Pricewise, it’s spot on for a easy, hassle free breakfast, and I am looking forward to trying their dinner menu soon, and making a visiting their little courtyard for a Sunday session in the coming months. So if you ever find yourself in that strange divide between Bridge Road and Victoria Street, take a short walk down to Tree of Us for some good and wholesome brunchy fair. 

The hanging pot plants were super cute 

TREE OF US 

 

71 CHURCH STREET

RICHMOND  

 

Good for: Easy and informal dining with groups of any size, a solid cup of coffee, cruisy breakfasts, dinners and for doses of sunshine, when the courtyard opens. 
Vegetarians: Will be happy with the selection on the menu as it caters for most eating preferences, with lots of healthy breakfast foods like eggs, mushrooms, lentils, beans and a couple of meaty options.
Wait time: Nil- we walked right on in.
Food waiting time: The perfect amount of time- about 10 minutes. Just enough to time to settle in before eating.
Cost: Good value, and one of the cheaper breakfast options I've encountered in Melbourne. You could easily come home with change from a 20 dollar note. 

#YOLO @ Fitzrovia

I haven’t ventured out to the south with Poor Student Eats, so the end of ‘FREEDOM WEEK’ was the perfect opportunity and my friend Yalei and I visited St Kilda Cafe, Fitzrovia for a splash out, lets-celebrate-the-last-days-of-freedom brunch on Saturday. Fitzrovia is appealing a soon as you enter, with a delectable bench of baked treats lining the front counter. What could be more enticing then mountains of beautiful food on arrival?

The Saturday we visited was the perfect day to pop in,  as the cafe was drowning in sunlight from a warm afternoon. Fitzrovia is beautiful and spacious, with fantastic light fittings and interesting details; crates of fresh vegetables and bunches of flowers that give it modern-day general store vibe.

We found a table immediately and sat down for a few minutes before some staff realised we were there. I ended up ordering the haloumi and zucchini fritters, while Y ordered some kind of prawn pasta. We were both feeling flashy, so threw caution to the wind and ordered polenta chips to share. In hindsight, this wasn’t a great idea. Too much food. Not enough stomach. The worst of all first world problems, but Fitzrovia's menu is excellent and it's difficult to hold back.

The Zucchini and Haloumi Fritters; a meal that would serve me well for the rest of the day.

The haloumi fritters though, were a wonderful idea. Perfectly portioned and served with a poached egg and chutney on the side, they meal’s components were complementary to each other and when combined created a sweetly-savory dish. The chutney added a necessary moisture to the dry, but still crunchy fritters and went well with the slight zucchini flavour that gradually came through. My friend reported back that her pasta was really good, substantially sized and included plenty of fresh seafood.

With so many great places offering them, it’s hard to mess up polenta chips and Fitzrovia’s truffled polenta chips too were also v. good. Crunchy, beautifully coloured and sprinkled with salt and parsley, they were everything you could want in a polenta chip selection. But there was no sauce.? Come on, guys. We all love condiments and there aren’t many crunchy things that can remain enjoyable without some kind of moisture.

However, Fitzrovia checked all the boxes for my ideal brunch: A good, solid serving size, an interesting meal, a touch of sweetness and the requisite brunch 'egg'. Fitzrovia really demonstrates why I like to eat out - food like this isn't food I would regularly experience by cooking myself which was my favourite thing about this cafe. Do you remember a few posts ago when I was talking about how I loved that feeling of being excited after ordering a meal?  You get that feeling here and they certainly deliver on their menus promises.

If you're considering ordering juice; ask for ice on the side. Although freshly prepared, they are as think as smoothies.

Staff at the cafe were a little slow considering that we had just missed the rush and the cafe was quite empty, but were also quite friendly when we did see them. The wait for the food wasn't too long, but service could have been a little more attentive.

The meal was kind of horrific for my $20 budget. A good way to justify this is to say that it would be a long time until the next brunch, so I may as well buy two brunches in one sitting. As my total came to $30, this is almost what happened, except I’m never been very good at maths so my adding up can probably take part of the blame for the unexpected price hike. So, I’ve said it; Fitzrovia, as fantastic as it was, was not exactly a Poor Student Eats Eat, but if you’ve got the resources, it’s a great place to dine and has an excellent menu to boot.

Later, I read that it’s some kind of store policy that all ingredients used must come from within 100KM of the store. I felt slightly less guilty after hearing that. At least I’m doing my bit to support the Victorian economy. This was last-week-of-freedom-week after all. YOLO.

FITZROVIA

155 Fitzroy Street
St Kilda 

Tue to Sun 7am–11pm

Good for: A solid breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner. The menu is great. 
Vegetarians: Will be happy with the selection on the menu - it's fantastic, and caters for most eating preferences.
Wait time: The cafe was quiet when we arrived, around 1.30 on a Saturday. We walked right in and found a table.
Food waiting time: Not too long, but there was a considerable amount of time between arriving and receiving menus, which wasn't a great start. 
Cost: I paid around $30 for my fritters, a juice and half of the polenta chips. It was an expensive meal, but a great one and although it's a lot more then I generally spend, the food was really great. It's just a shame the service wasn't so snappy. 

 Somehow, we fit in dessert a few doors down at YO-GET-IT. Yam Yam.

SMALL FISH, BIG POND @ Three Bags Full

It’s funny how once you start food blogging, every social occasion becomes surrounded by food. Every catch up is another opportunity for a post, another meal with someone I love spending time with. This is the upside of writing this blog. The downside is that because I have so much on right now, I am eating and working more then blogging and thus, my little patch of internet has not been tended to for some time. I’m going to try and rectify this.

My mum and I went to brunch at Three Bags Full, which sit around that Abbotsford, Richmond area. You know how occasionally in American shows, when a place is really busy, someone will say something like 'It’s like Grand Central Station in here' ? Well, at 10AM on a Sunday, Three Bags Full is Grand Central station, for breakfast.

The vibe of the cafe was good and due the number of people inside and the levels of noise, the pace of the establishment is energetic, maybe even too energetic for a Sunday morning. It's a little dwarfing walking in It's also huge and is spread over the multiple rooms of a converted warehouse. Diners belong to no specific crowd and instead, there are just all kinds of bods, everywhere, on every table, and on every stool, eating, drinking or waiting to do both.

We arrived just- and I mean, just minutes before the cafe got seriously crowded, right on 10am.
 Not wanting to join the line for a table inside, we scooted outside in the slightly windy sunshine. At the rate Three Bags Full fills, if you find yourself in the same situation, I strongly suggest you do the same. You’ll also be able to hear your eating companion talk, which is always nice.

After a while pondering the menu, I ordered the Roasted pumpkin + sage fritters ($16) with grilled haloumi + a parsley, pinenut, parmesan + pomegranate salad, while my Mum choose the Roasted field mushrooms, garlic, rosemary, goats cheese + almond dukkah ($15)

I have to admit, I didn’t enjoy my meal as much as I thought I would. Although it looked great and was nicely arranged, it was lukewarm, and the fritters were dry. For this reason, I suspect it had been sitting on a counter somewhere for a while before it got to me. I love haloumi, I eat it like it’s a magical, wonder food, but halomui cold has the texture of rubber. That was kind of a bummer. - because if all the temperatures had been right, it could have been a great dish. Although for $16, I also expected it to be a little more substantial then it was.

My mum on the other hand, loved her choice of mushrooms. Her dish was sizable, and the mushrooms large and meaty.  You can see from the pictures that the goats cheese was also plentiful and according to her, the meal was a substantial and well cooked brunch.

I don’t quite know what to make of this eatery. The menu is fantastic- versatile, expansive, and presents lots of options for the variable modern day Melbourne eater. And, the coffee was good, but could have been hotter (I seem to be finding this a lot, is this a 'thing' now?)

But organisation seems to be a problem, and getting things from the kitchen to the table quickly was certainly an issue that Three Bags Full needs to work on, especially in the case of my meal, and the coffee we had. I know that Sundays are crazy for most businesses, and I have an inkling this is may be an issue of staffing. The waitstaff in fact, were very friendly and weren’t slacking off by any means - the problem was that there just wasn’t enough of them to go around.

I was disappointed; I've read so many great reviews, and heard so many great things about Three Bags Full that it seems my expectations had been set a little too high. I suppose the obvious answer to this is that everyone else has read these same reviews too, and perhaps peak-hour on a peak day isn't the time to really enjoy this cafe.

THREE BAGS FULL  

60 Nicholson St

Abbotsford

Open daily: 9am- 5pm

Good for: A really great menu. Hopefully next time I visit, it will live up to its promises.
Vegetarians: Have lots of options for interesting and fulfilling meals. 
Wait time: Quite a while - I strongly advise visiting outside regular weekend brunching hours. 
Food waiting time: Quite a long time- Half an hour during peak time over the weekend. 
Cost: Including a latte, my meal sat at $19.50. Had the dish been delivered sooner, I would have considered it better value.


 

GLUTTONY COMES GLUTEN FREE @ Tomboy

With such an extensive cafe culture in Melbourne, I imagine that it must become hard to create a point of difference. Really good coffee, an innovative menu that caters for most eaters, and a slightly intriguing interior are considered the basics, but it’s the little things that now set each of Melbourne cafes apart. I'm always interested in seeing how newly opened cafes are making their mark, and so after the amazing experience that was Proud Mary, Antonia and I took the short walk down Smith Street, to Tomboy. I’d wanted to visit since it had opened, as the team there used to deliver these amazing little cupcakes and baked treats to my old work. Unfortunately, the didn’t have any cupcakes when we made our visit. Sad face. But full and bloated after breakfast, we soldiered on.

We only intended to try the cafe's coffee, however I took one for the team and ordered the chocolate and raspberry brownie. Rich and gooey, it was less of a brownie, and more of a raspberry-hinted chocolate cake. Highly recommend. Our coffee (Seven Seeds) came beautifully presented in one of their signature cut-glass jars and was as good as any well-travelled Melbournian would expect.

I thought the in-built counter speakers were a nice touch.

Tomboy's most impressive quirk is that their baked goods are all gluten-free. Apparently one of the owners is gluten intolerant, and creates treats that don’t compromise on health, texture or taste.
Most of the time, I associate gluten-free foods as being like the poor man's version of ‘normal’ foods, but this belief was shattered after delighting in Tomboy’s brownie. As one of the best cakes I have had for a long time, rich and flavoursome with a shadow of raspberry appearing after each mouthful, there was nothing poor man about it.

All in all, I liked Tomboy. It had all the components of a good cafe, and is somewhere I would go with friends to try the lunch or breakfast options. At the same time, the vibe within the cafe was pleasantly quiet and it certainly wasn’t a ‘loud’ cafe, probably because of the intimate size of the venue- which also means it’s perfect for a solo coffee. It’s probably worth noting that the selection of magazines they have for customers is also first-rate, with recent additions of I love you and Russh, which will always win extra points from me. I suspect Tomboy will do well on Smith Street, with lots of thoughful little details that are sure to keep the northern suburbs a’coming for some time.

We're in Melbourne, so there was the requisite clip-board menu

TOMBOY

356 Smith Street
Collingwood

Tue-Sat 7am-4pm
Sun 8am-4pm

Good for: Early morning Coffee (Opens at 7am!) or a quiet coffee with friends. Although I didn't stay for a meal, there are breakfast and lunch options too. The gluten-intolerant will love it.   
Vegetarians: Not sure, as I only ate the brownie. Although, that was vegetarian.
Wait time: We walked straight in and found a table at around 11am. The cafe was slowly filling, but not bursting.
Food waiting time: Not long at all.
Cost: I paid $11 for two lattes and the brownie- works out to be the standard $3.50 for coffee and $4 for the brownie.  Bonza.