Posts Tagged ‘Breakfast’
February 6, 2010 | 
Author Hardware Societe
120 Hardware St, Melbourne
03 9078 5992
First of all I would like to thank Tummyrumbles for introducing me to this cheery little place between Lonsdale and Little Lonsdale St. Splashes of yellow brightens up the place, and rows of baguettes, puddings and tarts made me drool.
My poor breakkie buddy Pannacotta have been dragged here one early, too early morning, and ordered 2 coffees at once. A big Illy fan, she was pleasantly surprised by the smoothness of the brand Hardware Societe used, which is called Supreme- must have certainly been supreme cos Panacotta soon ordered another one! Of course it doesn’t hurt that there was this morsel of mini bomboloni sitting prettily on the side plate. Pannacotta was nice enough to let me have one and it was soft, not very sweet and extremely yummie. I secretly wondered if I could grab the bowl full of these mini-bombolini which is just sitting on the benchtop and do a runner…
I would highly recommend their hot chocolate too-it’s a yummie big jug of melted good quality chocolate- YUMO!
For breakkie I ordered the boiled eggs with 3 soldiers $12- oh it’s just some old boiled eggs with measly soldiers- NOT! It was such a beautifully presented feast for breakfast for such a small price.
I am always a little wary of soft boiled eggs, at times they are way too runny, and other times it has this weird aftertaste to it. Well, not the ones in here- the eggs are fresh and it has just the right firmness to it.
The 3 soldiers are just exquisite- From right to left soldiers: salmon roe, jamon and frittata. The salmon roe was a fresh little burst of saltiness and sweetness; jamon is dressed with a fig syrup (I think) and it was beautiful. The frittata- what can I say? The egg and potato combo may be a bit chunky on a slice of baguette but it was so yummy that I don’t care.
On another occasion in their Saturday Brunch, I had yummie scrambled eggs with a smoked salmon noisette baguette. I still like the boiled eggs the best, but this is really awesome too!
Hubby had a Bircher Museli with Berries, stone fruit and nuts like pistachios- everything was so fresh, it tasted really good on the first bite, however, it tasted really sour the more you eat it! It would have been nicer if it was sweeter.
I would love to try Hardware Societe’s Lunch menu but sadly I work too far away for that. Fingers crossed that Saturday brunch would eventually have some of their awesome sounding lunch menu items for me to try!! 9/10!
Posted in 
Tags: 
Little Larder
76 Moray St, New Farm, QLD
07 3358 2024
To be honest, Little Larder was not our first choice. I’ve been to Little Larder before and while it was great, we were extremely keen to try Au Cirque. Disappointingly, Au Cirque had a power failure, which meant that not much was available and so we had to go to Little Larder.
Thank goodness Little Larder did not disappoint. Whilst the service was a bit abrupt at times, they generally deliver efficiently in a Saturday morning mad rush. We had two breakkies between the three of us, as the servings are quite big.
Pesto scrambled eggs $13.5- I love, love, love pesto so as you can clearly see- green colour of the eggs = lots of pesto! YUMMM! The scrambled eggs are creamy and salmon compliments the pesto and eggs well (actually, what DOESN’T compliment eggs?), kudos also to putting toast on top to the scrambled eggs, so it won’t get as soggy- the only glitch was that it needs a little teeny bit more salt- then it’s prefect.
We also had a polenta served w/ poached eggs, avocado, spinach and dill mayo $13. Ok, polenta may sound like a dull, healthy, tasteless snack but you’d be amazed what it can taste like with good seasoning. The polenta we had in Little Larder was crispy and I can safely say that it’s almost as yummie as a hash brown!! The dill mayo is just awesome with everything and the only complaint I have was that the avocado has these sad dotted brown spots all over it.
On such a hot day, I also had a watermelon, mint and apple juice- which not only cools you down but invigorates.
I still want to try Au Cirque just because I haven’t tried it before, but Little Larder is definitely a good choice if you’re hanging around New Farm. 7/10
My new hubby and I were wandering the streets of Byron Bay on our honeymoon looking for a good coffee and yummy breakfast to start the day. Not being very familiar with the area I picked a nice little cafe that looked busy and popular, hoping that was a sign of good things to come. This has been in my book for a while as a good way to pick a place to eat. If there is a busy restaurant and a deserted one, pick the busy one. It sits next to the rule that if there are two Chinese restaurants and one is filled with Chinese diners and in the other there isn’t one in sight, pick the one the Chinese are eating at. Following my own advice turned out to be a great decision.
The tables outside sit on a little raised deck. We found a cosy table in the corner, with the warm winter sun smiling upon our backs. We were presented with Mohka’s “Egg Book” listing all our choices for breakfast. I was happy to find at the bottom of one of the pages, the perfect breakfast for me. The ‘Breakfast Tapas’ with a little bit of everything I like.
The Breakfast Tapas
Free range poached egg, grilled haloumi, spinach, avocado, springs smoked salmon and organic sour dough toast.
Plus, I couldn’t resist adding a side of fried potatoes to my meal, and yes it is even more delicious than it looks.
This was my favourite breakfast during our week at Byron. I wish I had made time to go back again. The potatoes had lovely crispy bits, a nice naughty treat with my breakfast (I was on holidays after all, and no more having to make sure I can fit into the wedding dress). The sour dough was nicely toasted and a good thickness. As I sat there making different combinations of food for each mouthful I enjoyed telling myself that the avocado and spinach was balancing out the fact that I was eating haloumi for breakfast. Such a happy start to the morning.
My newly wedded husband chose a Spanish omelette for his breakfast. There were lots of delicious bits of chorizo, potato and onion and topped with more of that tasty sour dough bread and a bit of tomato relish. Even after eating my own breakfast I still couldn’t resist stealing some of his.
It was a lovely little place to have breakfast and breakfast service was at a good pace, though if you are down in Byron hopefully it means you are taking a nice laid back break and are enjoying a relaxing pace. The beach is only a few minutes walk away too, very convenient for taking a lovely stroll to walk off breakfast. I can’t wait to go back.
Smolt
2 Salamanca Square, Hobart
03 6224 2554
I really really wanted to eat lunch at Smolt, which offer small Spanish/Italian influenced share plates but it was breakkie time and only breakkie was offered and I am really really starving.
![IMG_2305 [640x480]](https://www.bellygood.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/IMG_2305-640x480-300x225.jpg "IMG_2305 [640x480]")
I have this weird thing with brekkie, I always wanted both sweet and savoury food and I get really confused about what to order.
Thank god there’s hubby there and he has been extra accomodating on that day, so we shared a baked eggs and french toast, so we have a bit of savoury, a bit of sweet. YAY!
![IMG_2308 [640x480]](https://www.bellygood.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/IMG_2308-640x480-300x225.jpg "IMG_2308 [640x480]")
The food took a while, perhaps it’s because I am just STARVED, but when it finally came, it looks really really good.
Eggs are baked with white beans, sausage and tomato. It was really really yummie. You won’t find canned baked beans and rubbery sausage here- these are freshly cooked white beans, mouth-watering home made sausage bits- mmm this is sooo good with baked eggs. You can also choose mushrooms with baked eggs, which is what I would have chosen if I didn’t have to share with Hubby. 
Not that I am complaining
![IMG_2310 [640x480]](https://www.bellygood.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/IMG_2310-640x480-300x225.jpg "IMG_2310 [640x480]")
French toast is served with caramelised banana, candied fruit, cinnamon vanilla butter. Yes, it sounded awesome, but sadly it wasn’t as tasty as it looks. I think they must have used ciabatta or some other bread that’s really hard- I’ve never had such hard french toast before!
It’s really sad cos all the banana, candied fruit and especially the cinnamon vanilla butter is fantastic. What made it worse is that the day before I had french toast in Cafe Vue, and whilst Cafe Vue doesn’t have fancy butters and fruits, it has a truly awesome, soft spongy thick toast. You just can’t beat that. Smolt needs to get their basics right on the french toast.
Still, I must say I really really wanted to come back here for lunch or dinner. I’ve got fantastic reviews from Sharon just today, and I want to go back right now! 5/10
Trotters
400 Lygon St, Carlton
This is fast turning into a breakkie blog. We braved the constant threat of Swine Flu to try this piggy cafe- Trotters. There’s no real pigs inside, thank goodness, except me! Trotters is a warm cosy space packed with tables and chairs, you will have to squeeze past people everytime you walk through, but that’s what makes it really cosy.
I had breakkie here twice now, and this time I had Risotto Cakes with smoked salmon, poached eggs and wilted spinach $14.50. The risotto cake is not much of a cake than a pile, mixed with dill, which is extremely tasty. The poached eggs were great, although it could have been poached slightly longer by my standards, I like my poached eggs slightly runny only. The salmon was OK but the wilted spinach is a bit too oily for my liking.
The previous time I had baked egg hot pot with mushroom, tomato and spinach $13, which is extremely satisfying in a cold day. It’s not as good as the one I had in the European though!
I couldn’t resist the choc banana muffin $3.5 that sits so invitingly near the cashier so I took one home for hubby, unfortunately it’s not really that great, a bit too clumpy for my liking.
Service-wise, it can be a bit inconsistent. The first time I went the waitress was very friendly and prompt, the next time I’ve been, they forgot our jam, told us they don’t have marmarlade but they actually had cumquat marmarlade, and they tried to take our plates before we finish eating!
Still, I quite enjoy my breakkie there, the serving is so large that you could probably share. I would dearly love to try lunch there too and I’ve already picked out a few dishes I would like to eat there! 6.5/10
Beetroot
123 Hardware St, Melbourne
(03) 9600 0695
Dark chocolate w/Persian fairy floss
Beetroot used to be my favourite spot for breakkie, however the last two times I went for breakkie and lunch, I was slightly disappointed. The service is the friendly usual- the boisterous owner greeted me heartily with a bottle of water. There are lemon ricotta muffin that tempted me- unfortunately unforgivable erro
r made me wonder whether go back again… but then again, the food is just so tempting and the atmosphere so cosy, it’s hard to stay away.
Well, let’s go to breakkie first. In my point of view, breakfast takes the medal here- it changes seasonally, and it always have something interesting, museli with fresh fruit which comes with a teeny tiny jar of milk, porridge with poached pear and cinnamon and of course, the usual favourites.
Dark chocolate w/Persian fairy floss is the irresistable choice, especially
when you can choose between dark, milk and white chocolate. As usual I chose the soy dark chocolate- a dash of hot soy milk melts the dark chocolate bits, but it doesn’t melt entirely, so you need to stir it a bit 
The hot chocolate is not too sweet, but the fairy floss makes up for the sweetness.
Timing-wise, it took them a long long time for the food to come out, at both lunch and beakkie. We had the blueberry pancake with berry compote $12, it looks pretty enough, but the pancake seemed to be premade and then microwaved (Tigerlily and I BOTH heard the microwave beeping), and it wasn’t even hot, which was quite disappointing- and why would it take so long (20mins) if it’s a microwaved pancake?!
The poached eggs with salmon and avocado ($13.5) was much much better, the eggs were perfectly poached, hollandaise sauce is creamy and just the right portion, avoca
do and salmon dances a perfect harmony with each other.
LUNCH. WELL. This is interesting. I felt like something warm and hearty, so I chose the celery and bacon soup $7.5. It was just what I needed,
as MC would probably say, “a nice, simple cafe style food”. While I am taking another bite, I thought the bacon felt really, REALLY chewy. I chewed a bit more and had to discreetly spit it out- it was a half chopped up rubberband. BIG MISTAKE. Aaaarrrggggghhhh…!
Pannacotta had a vegetarian lasagne and THAT was really good too! Pity about the soup! Everyone else had nice meals!
Other lunch selection includes vegetarian quiche, a giant sausage roll and salad selection. Most mains comes with garden salad also, which is very fresh.
It just frustrates me in the two seperate occasions I managed to find something wrong with Beetroot, especially when I’ve been a couple of times and it had been fine! Maybe I’ve gotta go there again to check them out again….I really want that lemon ricotta muffin… 4/10
Soul Food Cafe
10 Equitable Place, Melbourne
96425660
If you, like me, ate too much oily food and need to detox, but can’t be bothered making your own breakkie or lunch, this is the place to go- Soul food cafe!
No, this is not a sundae, as I say, this is healthy food territory. Soul Food cafe does healthy vegetarian food, at lunch time they have salads, healthy chickpea wraps and for breakkie they have berry museli yoghurt cup (above), breakfast wrap (with egg, tomato relish, avocado). Mmmmm yum yum yummmm. Berry museli ($4.8) is my favourite- they make it fresh on request, and it’s pileful of goodness- the museli is crunchy, with poppy seeds, dessciated coconut and sometimes hazelnut or walnuts. The yoghurt is the natural variety, which means my lactose-intolerent tummy is loving every bit of it. YUM!
And if you finish your healthy detox week, there’s also very yummy muffins waiting for you *drools* 7.5/10
Invita
76 Therry St, Melbourne (In Queen Vic Markets)
(03) 9329 1267
I’ve always walked past Invita on my way to the markets, salivating over their yummie looking quiches, fritters, muffins and soups, so when Nessy and MC decided to visit, I forced them to try Invita with me.
Turns out that this is an organic (where possible) vegetarian place (yay for me as Hubby would NEVER go to a vego place). We ordered a potato rosti ($10.50) The description said organic potato cake with cheese, onion, parsley served w/creamy mushroom and spring onion sauce. I don’t see any sauce, but the potato cake is a very thick serve with masses of potato shreds and quite a heavy dose of parsley. Though it was a tad bit oily it still tasted quite nice. The serve of mushroom was divine though and I can happily eat a whole plate of those mushrooms.
Other tempting choices are: buckwheat pancake served w/ strawberries, ricotta & organic maple syrup and scrambled tofu. Wondering whether I can con Hubby to go back next week?
Pearl Cafe
28 Logan Road
Woolloongabba
Ph: 07 3392 3300
I did say I would go back to Pearl Cafe again for breakfast and more cheesecake and it seems it happened sooner than I anticipated. Only a few days after my beloved breakfast companion arrived back in town we were able to make room for a breakfast double date.
So do you want the good news first or the good news? Well the good news is that Pearl Cafe’s breakfast was wonderful and the good news is that they had caramel cheesecake and even more good news is that I bought some and ate it and it really was an amazing cheesecake. I will even venture to say (and this is for Inga & Mati) that it was infact the best cheesecake I have ever eaten.
But breakfast first!
My husband-to-be somehow snuck an early drinks order in and managed to secure himself a cappuccino. I didn’t try it but he ordered a second one later on, so either I woke him up too early for breakfast or they were good coffees (lets say its a little of both).
Cherry Sarsaparilla – Sarsaparilla with cherry syrup with a whole cherry and slice of lemon. Quite refreshing with a really nice cherry flavour.
Citron Presse – A lemon soda drink.
My breakfast beverage of choice was a banana smoothie and it was creamy with a hint of honey. Brilliant.
The “Big Breakfast” – Two eggs cooked whichever way you like, some toasted bread, bacon, grilled mushrooms, sausage, crispy potato pieces and tomato relish. I think I have found my perfect big breakfast. Usually I have to get one or a combination of sides just so I can have hashbrowns or potatoes, grilled mushrooms and sometimes even bacon. The potatoes were nice and crispy on the outside and the tomato relish was really tasty with a hint of herbs and spices. There was the temptation to spread the relish on everything but I found it went best with the sausage. My eggs of course were scrambled and perfectly cooked.
Hubby-to-be had the same except with his eggs nicely poached.
Charles had the most amazing sweet breakfast. The “Eggy Bread” was bread cooked “french toast” style topped with berries, mascarpone, pistachios and dusted with icing sugar. Delicious and perfectly sweet but too overpowering for a morning meal.
When I went to pay for breakfast and my take-home slice of Caramel Cheesecake I spotted this display of yummy looking muffins and promptly asked for one of those as well. Turned out to be the most amazing pear muffin. Delicious pieces of pear throughout and it reminded me that pears are in season. Time to visit the fruit shop.
Didn’t try either of these (rocky road or brownie). But don’t they look yummy?
My caramel cheesecake and pear muffin! It’s hard to decide if you like the cake part or the base the most. I think it depends which bit you are eating at the time. It’s all good! Crunchy and sweet base with a fluffy, caramel everything else. Oh I want more!
Froggy bought a slice of peach and raspberry tart (and a pear muffin as well!) to take home.
I always seem to find a different dessert to try at Pearl Cafe. Not sure what’s next but its more than likely going to be too delicious to resist. And of course I will report back! You will find there can be a little wait at breakfast time. But there is a list at the door, so just put your name down and they will let you know when your table is ready (while you venture next door and shop.. hehe). I have read some other comments/reviews about Pearl Cafe saying that they didn’t like the service. But it was very prompt and mostly cheerful. Anything else can be forgiven as just staff trying to deal with a busy time of day. They’re not rude or anything, just in a rush! But that’s the way you will want it when you are hungry and waiting for one of the best breakfasts in Brisbane.
Roule Galette
Scott Alley, 241 Flinders Lane, Melbourne
(03) 9639 0307
This is one of my favourite French Crepe places in Melbourne. This tiny little place is very cosy and on this rainy day after a horrible run, we had breakkie here.
