My friend Suz runs a monthly workshop/jam-sesh called Melbourne Makers in Kensington and a few of us decided to meet beforehand for breakfast. At first we ventured to a very packed Social Roasting Company who didn’t have space for us (though the staff were lovely). Suz suggested we trot down the road to a place called Made Cafe.
Made Cafe do breakfasty basics and also have fair trade coffee. The menu is small and the staff are sweet. It’s very teensy and decorated wonderfully. In fact, there’s a Ghostpatrol work on one of their walls. We were all far too busy nattering for me to take a photo. I ordered tea to start with and boy do I love a good-looking tea service! Quaint spoons, saucer and teacup. The milk jug is just precious!
Suz had some toast with the standard array of condiments. I chose the bircher muesli in an attempt to pretend to be healthy. This can’t have been that healthy, it tasted far too good! Jokes. It hit the spot. Lots of yummy fruit and comforting oaty goodness. It recalls Ready-Brek warmth of my British childhood. Yes, I know, the British are weird but you would be too if you lived in such a cold country.
Tristan had the lemon avocado and tomato toast while I looked on jealously. I don’t know why my tummy and avocado have to be mortal enemies when they aren’t to my mouth. Instead of a plate, the toast was served on a wooden chopping board. Very sweet.
After a nice breakfast, some friendly staff and chatting, we were joined by another mate and we all set off for an afternoon of making things. Stop by sometime if you’re in the area. It’s reasonably priced, friendly and just near Newmarket Station. Thanks for the recommendation, Suz!
(picture is of some promotional posters snapped at previous evening’s beer showcase as part of AIBA)
Beer and breakfast.
No, it does not sound like a marriage made in heaven.
However, I’m not a stranger to having beer in early part of the day. When I used to live in North Melbourne, I lived with an excellent homebrewer who had kegs and taps and everything. I was living the drunkard poetaster dream. One morning (8am or so), two of us woke up to discover that due to roadworks in the area we had no water.
We got water back at 3pm. Shall I let you connect the dots?
So no stranger to beer and breakfast, I went along to the ‘Hair of the Dog’ Breakfast at Beer Deluxe hosted by beermen.tv. I’m an avid hater of long, talky podcasts (though beermen.tv are really a ‘vodcast’ – that term doesn’t have much popularity though) but indebted to Todd of beermen.tv for kindly e-mailing some beer tasting notes my way (the term ‘mouthfeel’ is actually starting to creep in to my beer vocabulary and it feels goooood).
Being a little late, we were rushed through the door and sat down – it was a full house. Upon arrival, a glass of Mountain Goat’s organic steam ale, a beer I’ve enjoyed plenty of. Argue with me if you like, but this beer tastes markedly different on tap to what it’s like from the bottle and I prefer the latter. Don’t stone me yet though. Better yet, go and buy a 6-pack of it to drink, and then pay the Mountain Goat brewery in Richmond a visit and compare.
First course was already up as we rushed to our seats. Everything was too fast and furious for me to take notes on the dishes, so I’ve cheated and pinched a bit of info off James’ blog post whose blog you should all be reading anyway. I feel pretty guilty about this, so James, if you’re reading, I owe you a drink…or three *wink*.
Behold, crepes stuffed with ricotta, mandarin and sultanas. Scoffing these down was easy as piss. I haven’t had stuffed crepes for ages.
This was matched with the Razor witbier by Bright Brewery. Like James, I too do not jump for joy for at witbiers but they’re a damn fine start for breakfast. Would definitely buy a 6-pack for some good old session beer drinking.
The second course was a slice of Spanish omelette with leek and prosciutto. I found this a bit dry and oily. Of course, that didn’t stop me from demolishing it.
It was matched with Murray’s Whale Ale. There were jokes from beermen.tv fellow Mark that they chose this for its cute label, giggle. This is an American-style wheat beer, but it doesn’t have the characteristics of a traditional wheat beer that put me off. Quite a refreshing drop, and I would drink it again.
For the third course of toasted rye bread topped with bratwurst and fruit chutney, we were given two beers in accompaniment. Pictured below with the course was Red Hill’s wheat beer (largely responsible for my palate deciding to give wheat beers another go). Apologies for the blurriness – the staff at Beer Deluxe were fantastically efficient! The second beer was Bridge Road’s Hans Klopek Hefeweizen. I wasn’t a big fan of the Bridge Road hefe the first time I tried it at a bar (at night, even). It seemed much nicer with food. My favourite breakfast beer and food match was this course and the Red Hill wheat beer, the beer being one of my least favourite beers from Red Hill Brewery, incidentally.
Lost count of the courses and beers yet? We had started with beers with an ABV of 4.5% and slowly moving up the scale to 5% and this was in the space of about, ooh, thirty minutes? Work, kidneys and liver, work damn you!
I somehow managed to not get a snap of our fifth beer – Stone and Wood’s Stone Beer. I’d tried this the night before at the AIBA beer tasting in the Atrium, Fed Square and not liked it much. On this occasion, it was so much better. The fourth course nosh was baked lima beans with tomato and caramelised onion. The servings of this were huge and enough for me to get seconds! I looooove beans and seems like not everyone on my table shared this love. Oh well, more for me!
Two beers to go with the last two courses which were desserty – first the Sable Breton, my favourite course. These were just scrumptious! I found that the Holgate chocolate Temptress (a beer I could jolly well marry) went better with this than with the last course of Belgian waffles drowned in chocolate sauce. The richness of the Holgate and the fig were heavenly. Technically, however, it was the White Rabbit dark ale that was served with these pastries. The White Rabbit dark ale is far more sessionable drinking than the Holgate which I love as an after-dinner beer. I’ve knocked down a few pints of the dark ale and have to confess…I’m a little over it – it was my least favourite beer at this event. Good thing White Rabbit have a newly released white ale!
Everyone was a bit sozzled and full by the time the Belgian waffles in chocolate sauce came out. I still managed to force one down, hehe.
A fantastic event. We were amply guided through the beer and food with good humour by our lovely hosts Mark, Damien and Todd and I even got to meet Mark briefly which left me starstruck for the day! I think I would have liked the breakfast to be a bit more leisurely as we really were cramming down the food and beer pretty fast but that’s a minor issue – the staff at Beer Deluxe were flawless and our fellow diners were friendly and keen to share thoughts on the beer. It was twenty (yes, that’s all!) bucks well spent! I understand that the event was possible due to the extreme generosity of all brewers of the beers served and you could do no wrong to go out and get a 6-pack of any of these beers. I even got to chat to Tom from Mountain Goat and met James of Beer Bar Band for the first time – I swear this dude is my beer twin (we seem to love a lot of the same beers and have similar preferences).
I’ve mentioned before that out my way (northern greater Melbourne), there isn’t really much in the way of snappy breakfast places, but discovered another place not too far from my end of town, right at the termination of the 112 tram’s route. The little eatery is called Jackson Dodds and it’s on Gilbert Rd. Again, actual suburb is contentious – I’ve seen some say it’s in Thornbury, some say it’s in ‘Rezzo’ (Bogania for Reservoir, I believe). I’m personally inclined to place it in West Preston because that’s where the tram route says it finishes.
Location aside, it has fantastic breakfast and brunch options. The first time I went there, I chose to have kedgeree. There was no room in my belly for the toast provided. The rice was topped with mango chutney, and had smoked rainbow trout as well as a quartered boiled egg. I would have liked the rice to be a little spicier. But goodness, it was so good. I have never seen kedgeree on a menu anywhere so was quite excited to see, and try. The chutney is a little sweeter than I’m used to (the chutney my father has is usually more sour rather than sweet) but it’s probably suited to a more Western palate. Mmm, just thinking about this dish has my mouth watering. You need to try this.
The next time I went, with someone in tow, I agonised over the gorgeous menu options, but decided upon the pea and haloumi fritters, with tomato chutney and beetroot leaves. This is probably one of the most exciting brunch dishes I’ve had in a very long time. I couldn’t actually taste the haloumi, but totally didn’t mind – the peas were just out of this world. Imagine sweet, fluffy fritters. The chutney was sweet and had a little bit of chilli for kick. Personally, I love beetroot leaves as I find them really flavoursome. And then a side of bacon! Truly, this dish could do no wrong. I couldn’t stop thinking about it all day. It looks gorgeous too.
Equally impressive I’m told, was the dukkah eggs. They smelt delicious and wonderfully fragrant with Middle Eastern spices. I love the way the poached eggs appear encrusted in sesame and various spices. Partner said they were similar to the ‘lean green’ eggs dish at nearby Pearl Oyster, but even better.
I also have a really soft spot for the crockery used for tea. It’s like they chose the best stuff of its kind available at the op-shop, or Savers.
This place is unbelievable value for money – nothing is over $15 and the food is just phenomenal for the price. There are so many other things on the menu that I’m dying to try. It’s sometimes a little hard to get the attention of the staff and it understandably gets very busy. Even if you live closer to the city, it’s so worth the trip! So, when are we going? I am itching for a reason to return, and show it off to friends.
