Author Archives: gem

About gem

Born in London, lived in the Philippines, current Melbourne-based writer.

bonus breakfast lust

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Today, a beery post was planned for publication. Alas, technology and that silly real life thing got in the way. Have a bonus breakfast post instead?

I was thrilled when I read on …it pleases us that there was a joint called The Breakfast Club that wasn’t too far from where I lived, in the oh so trendy Northcote. Quite some time ago, I forced myself out of bed at a ‘regular person’ hour and paid a visit.

I love it when bunnies tell you what’s special. I was so tempted by the rice porridge special on the board but needed a savoury fix badly.

specials

I also love it when teapots come in cosies.

cosy tea

I ordered ‘Tones creamy baked eggs’. Baked and creamy as promised and surprise savoury goodness – you never knew what you’d get in each mouthful, yum. There were all sorts of savoury things in there!

baked whatsit

T ordered ‘Something fishy for Marce’ – beautiful tomato and sardine toast. Even now, looking at the photo, it looks so fresh that you could reach through the screen and just grab it to eat!

sardines on toast on a plate

Let’s not forget the side of Mexican beans! I suspect these were just baked beans out of a tin with the addition of chilli or tabasco and other such things…

mehico beans

I vowed to return: there was a toastie called ‘the Ringwald’ that had my name on it. I decided to drop in this week alone months after my first visit to catch up on some reading. Gush!

Actually, I read the article before on Obama: I merely stared goggle-eyed at the photo of Gaiman (hey, most of you would do the same!).

Oh yes, breakfast! The Ringwald – melted brie, quince paste, basil and cracked pepper.

the Ringwald

Wait…that’s it? Where’s the basil…? *pout*

The lovely new waitress came over and apologised profusely, explaining she was new and forgot to add basil. She handed me a small bowl and a pepper grinder to add.

That’s better!

the Ringwald properly adorned

Alas, it should have had more brie and less quince. I’ll probably stick to their fantastic baked eggs selection in the future.

I also had a pot of soy chai and got to see another tea cosy in action.

yet another tea cosy

The cafe is dotted with all sorts of cool retro knick-knacks. I especially loved this salt and pepper duo, straight out of the 70s.

salt 'n' peppa

The Breakfast Club is a little out of the way on St Georges Rd rather than on High St but that makes it quieter. A good thing as it’s teensy! The service is lovely and it’s a fab breakfast and brunch spot. Just make sure you bring cash as they don’t take plastic. I’m also really keen to try out their restaurant next door, creatively called Next Door Diner.

Oh Northcote, so not hungover. Well, not this time (yea craft beer!).

The Breakfast Club on Urbanspoon

op shops and laneways

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If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, then you know that the part of Melbourne that I live in is not exactly brimming with culinary goodness. However, if you venture up to Eltham, in Melbourne’s north, there are a few noteworthy exceptions: Montsalvat, a beautiful medieval-style artists’ colony that also used to house a jazz festival but also has a small French restaurant (you can see some photos of a visit made to Montsalvat here). Then there’s Mercer’s which has made it into The Age Good Food Guide a fair few times (post on a visit coming soon!).

Then there’s a tiny former op shop that’s been converted to a cafe during the day and a bar by night called The Lane. It is opposite the fantastic Eltham Bookshop which is very supportive of its local poetry scene. The Lane had made it into The Age Cheap Eats and as T and I are fairly local to the area, we sought to check it out.

The breakfast-brunchy options are quite nice, and indeed quite cheap – the big breakfast being the only item over $15. The first time we went, T got sautéed spinach and poached eggs on toast with citrus mayonnaise. As you can see, it’s a fairly generous serve and T was more than sated.

Citrus poached eggs

I ordered the French toast with stewed apple and maple syrup. I asked for an additional side of bacon. How good is bacon, French toast and maple syrup, seriously?! I loved it. Sorry about the blurry photo – this is quite old and taken when I wasn’t so…careful (read: food blogger wankster)!

French toast with stewed apple

The next time we went there was to catch up with T’s mother who also lives in the area. I was very pleased to learn that The Lane participates in a programme run by the Australian Poetry Centre called ‘Cafe Poets’ – where a cafe ‘adopts’ a poet. When we arrived, T’s mother W was reading a book by the poet. You are also encouraged to write your own poems and drop them into a box there for the purpose. I want to go back and write something!

On this occasion, T got the big breakfast – it looks gorgeous, but T said that it’s really just as good as a big breakfast you can make at home yourself. That’s a bit disappointing.

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Sadly, I slightly echoed T’s sentiments with my choice of the scrambled eggs and ham with seeded mustard. The scrambled eggs weren’t quite fluffy enough, though the dish was still yummy. I must remember to have to ham and eggs together more often. It feels less guilty than bacon!

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W chose the homemade baked beans on toast and she really seemed to love it. Baked beans sometimes just hit the spot.

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I probably won’t be suggesting inner-city types jump in their cars to head to The Lane (or worse still, grab a Hurstbridge line train…it’s not too far from Eltham station), but if you live in the area it is worth the visit. Sometimes you just want to head to a quiet local that hasn’t been hit up with ThreeThousand-reading hipsters or food bloggers hungry for that next breakfast fix. But as if you guys would head up to Eltham…

The Lane on Urbanspoon

breakfast, bee stings and beer at Bright

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Weirdly enough, there weren’t as many sore heads after the Bridge Road Brewery / Tanswells pub jaunt. Most of us managed to stumble on down to help ourselves to breakfast. The plan was then to get back on the bus and head to the Bright Brewery, which is conveniently located in the town of Bright.

A few of us took the opportunity to use our post-breakfast time to have our wallets violated by the local Beechworth Sweet Shop. The fudge from there was delicious and comes in all sorts of flavours but I was attracted by the more gimmicky fare on offer…

Pop Rocks

They did have a lot of other things that took me back to my British childhood. I safely opted not to buy such sweets so as not to cause financial and dental ruin.

Seeing as that wasn’t enough, we also bought out all the large fabled Beechworth Bakery bee stings (good work, Ryan!). I’m not much of a sweet tooth (anymore) but I bought a small one to see what the fuss was about. I’m really glad I got one – they’re actually not that sweet. They have a cream filling and have honey on top which is then sprinkled with almonds. If you’re in the area, you should definitely have one.

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We headed back to Bridge Road Brewery around the corner and waited for the buses to pick us up. It turned out that we had managed to ‘lose’ two of our party. Not being able to get in touch with them, we circled some popular spots in Beechworth before deciding we really had to leave for Bright – but not before everyone stocked up with ‘travellers’. I can’t believe people were actually finishing 6-packs en route to another brewery. Some of these folks have stamina.

When we arrived, the head brewer Scott Brandon was on hand to greet us and give us a tour. It’s a very different set-up to Bridge Road Brewery. Most of their equipment was purchased secondhand from a Japanese brewery that had shut down. Pretty cool!

dave from bright brewery

At this stage, I will confess that it was very hard to concentrate – having to ‘enjoy’ a tasting paddle in a somewhat rushed time period may have been responsible for this…no doubt the staff had to work their arses off for thirty hungry and thirsty punters.

When you get your paddle, start with this side. Lightest to darkest is usually a good rule of thumb! From left to right we have: Hellfire amber ale, Bright lager, and Razor witbier. I have to confess that these didn’t do much for me, even though I’ve enjoyed the Razor on several occasions.

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What can I say, I like darkies.

From left to right – Staircase porter (my favourite drop from Bright Brewery), Fainters dubbel (this one will hit you for six!) and the Brewers’ Choice (Winter Warmer stout). Ale Tsar Shandy got his growler filled with Staircase porter which was an excellent choice. Too bad the manky whatsit didn’t share on the way home…

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The only thing soaking up the beer was nachos. Most people chose pizza as there were several flavours to choose from. Having had pizza the day before, I wasn’t in the mood for it. It’s a sad day when you realise just how much of a food blogger wankster you’ve become. Anyway, nachos – delicious. Enough for two? You bet! I know the brewery’s not really set up to feed so many people so quickly, but there were a fair few road trippers who waited a very long time for food. Our friend R didn’t get his kransky at all though was refunded. Naturally, there was much joking about a man and his wait for a sausage.

nachos

But wait, that’s not all! Scott, the head brewer, decided to treat us all to a special drop. It was sweet and had hints of stronger spirits and their barrels. As requested by the brewery, you didn’t hear it from me… *wink*

One reason Bright Brewery is worth visiting is that they have these fab mini-kegs that you can buy and take with you! I really wanted to get a Staircase porter one, yum. One of the benefits of the mini-keg is that the beer is super fresh. When possible, beer from a keg is always nicer than from the bottle.

It was finally time to head off home to Melbourne but not before a stopover at Milawa for some serious cheese tasting and shopping! Some other men bought sausages. Shandy proclaimed quite loudly that the procuring of beestings and cheese would result in some pleasures of the flesh.

Our faithful drivers safely deposited us elsewhere as they headed back to St Kilda. I freaking love The Local Taphouse, in case you couldn’t tell. So much so that I’ve decided to include a ‘we love beer’ widget on the blog so you can check out not just The Local Taphouse’s blog (and you should if you enjoy attending beery events), but also to other well-loved (by me at least!) beery folk.

Beechworth Bakery on Urbanspoon Bright Brewery on Urbanspoon