i found this place whilst looking for brunch spots on google. the age had recently done a review of the cafe as part of its five of a kind summer breakfasts, which opened about 18 months ago with little fanfare.
the premises is on busy bellair street in kensington. in other words, its a bitch to park. it also has two separate entrances in a funny L shape, one on bellair street and one on macaulay road. the brunch menu is limited compared to the larger brunch places like auction rooms, but it still has a great variety. it is also serious about its coffee, as can be seen from the coffee blackboard (see below). that day's beans were sourced from seven seeds and proud mary in collingwood.
for brunch on this lovely mild melbourne sunday, we had panfried sardines with preserved lemon, pinenuts, green olives, poached egg on toast, mine being gluten free toast ($16.50). the waitress was careful enough to warn me that the sardines would have a light gluten batter, but that was fine with me. at least she knew her menu - a pleasant surprise given some other reviews have questioned the premises' service mentality at busy weekend brunch times.
the sardines were cooked really well. the radishes, pine nuts and poached egg worked (i was skeptical). im not sure about the olives, but they tasted nice on their own... i guess the olives were there for the saltiness factor, but im not one for salty foods. i rarely have sardines because i dont like the feeling of the bones going down my throat, but im glad i ordered this.
to complement the savoury, we also ordered the special of the day - pancakes with homemade lemon curd, vanilla mascarpone and an almond crumble:
the pancakes were light and fluffy and the lemon curd was delicious. i liked the addition of the almond crumble for texture and presentation, but i dont think it really added much by way of flavour.
all up, a fun brunch place that is relatively good value. will i be back? yep, you betcha.
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