Auction Rooms Cafe

Auction Rooms has been on my list for a while now, but since I rarely venture outside the CBD, it's taken me quite some time to get there. 

And I wish I'd been sooner!

Breakfast board: grilled chorizo, ocean trout croquette, feta, avocado puree,
soft-boiled egg with rye soldiers and white iced coffee

The breakfast board has a little bit of everything you'd want for breakfast. Or brunch. Or given the time we got there, afternoon tea. 

The slices of grilled chorizo were crispy on the outside, and made up of fatty porky goodness with a little kick of spice. The soft-boiled egg was gooey and perfect for dipping the soldiers in. (If anyone ever told you not to play with your food, leave that rule at home.) The croquette was perfectly fried, crunchy outside, creamy inside. Little quinelles and dollops of avocado puree and feta were perfect condiments for not just the soldiers, but the croquette and the chorizo as well. The board was finished off with a light salad of green leaves, carrot slices and picked onion. 

The white iced chocolate came in a classic old milk bottle and was sweet and fragrant.

A perfect balance of flavours, textures and colours.

Seared ocean trout

Soda pops: apple & cinnamon, Old Auctioneer's lemonade

To finish off, we ordered two of the homemade soda pops. The classic lemonade was bubbly, lemony and refreshing, while the apple & cinnamon was a little more subtle, tasting very much like someone had taken a perfect apple pie and captured it's essence in a bottle. 

Our waitress was attentive and accommodating, and service was reasonably quick.

Definitely worth the trek outside the free tram zone!

The Grain Store

Location: 517 Flinders Lane, Melbourne
Phone: 03 9972 6993
Link: www.grainstore.com.au
Cuisine: Breakfast, Coffee, Modern Australian

I rarely go to the same place twice, let alone three times in one fortnight. But then I discovered a breakfast / coffee place that's got a menu that is different enough that I still want to go back and try more.

The Grain Store sounds like it might be just another cafe. When you walk past, it certainly doesn't look any different. Inside is kind of mod-Aus. It has that casual ambiance but reminds a little of Cumulus Inc.

But it's the menu that catches my attention.

On my first visit, I order the orange cured salmon with fried poached egg and truffle creme fraiche. It's a mouthful to say but it certainly hits the spot.

Slices of citrusy salmon is curled up and nestled in amongst a bed of green leaves. A cracker thin slice of toast is propped up between a gorgeous golden fried poached egg and a quinelle of that truffle creme fraiche.

Yes, you read right. Fried poached egg. Soft runny poached egg with a crunchy coating. I poke a hole in into it and the yolk is still gooey and runny as eggs should be.

The dish is a wonderful balance of flavours and textures. I would only suggest cutting back on the salad. It's a breakfast dish and the greens seem to clutter it a bit.

On my second visit, I go for the portobello mushrooms with potato rosti and poached egg.

No fried poached egg this time. But the egg is again gooey and runny. The mushrooms has an intense earthy aroma with an,almost sweet undertone. The rosti is potato-cake-y and not too heavy.

Third time around its just coffee but the mocha is good each time. I need to remember to stir it first, because I keep getting to the bottom and finding lots of excess melted chocolate - a sign of a good mocha.

The service is a little slow at times, and the food and coffee tends to come out at different times for the same table. The waiters are generally pleasant and friendly although in the middle of the peak morning buzz, there seems to be a crowd of people at the counter waiting for takeaway which causes confusion when trying to get the bill.

Overall Impression: 9/10

Orient East - Chef's Table Brekkie Smackdown

Location: 348 St Kilda Road, Melbourne
Phone: (03) 9685 2900
Link: www.orienteast.com.au
Cuisine: Malaya, breakfast

Back in Melbourne and a good return to the foodie scene. H managed to secure us a table at Orient East's Chef's table 'brekkie smackdown'. Essentially, this involved the restaurant serving us a series of breakfast dishes and the people's favourite dish would make it onto the permanent menu.

The setup is clean and modern, with bold colours and little decorations that remind you of Asia.

The theme seemed to be taking a famous or traditional dish from various Asian countries, and modernising them into breakfast dishes. And so that made up our seven course breakfast.

Jian Bing crepe, eggs, pork floss, crunchy Chinese donut, hoisin sauce

First up is the jian bing. The waitress tells us that this dish is already on their menu, but they wanted us to try it. And it was definitely a hit. A nice modern play on the traditional Chinese crepe which is usually rolled up and filled with meat floss. The flavours balanced nicely, with the dry semi salty semi sweet meat floss, sweet hoisin, smooth creamy egg and fresh coriander on top of a thin crepe. Torn up Chinese donut completed the dish with a nice crunch.

roti telur rolled with egg, lup cheong, chilli and spring onion

Course #2 was a Malaysian dish. Thin roti filled with egg, Chinese sausage, chilli and spring onion and rolled up like a crepe. A good balance of sweet and savoury, and the roti was nice and springy. The only thing it was missing was some sauce to go with it, perhaps a sweet chilli or a sambal.

banh cuon pourover - pork, shrimp, mushroom, cucumber rice roll

Probably our least favourite dish. This was a play on a Vietnamese rice noodle roll. The filling was mostly mince, which was a little bland. The general idea was good, but it just lacked seasoning. 

62 degree egg Samapan Congee, Schnapper cheeks, Chinese doughnut, ginger, spring onion, seasoned crispy flakes

This next course was a Cantonese classic - sampan congee. A dish often found in Hong Kong cafes and 'cha chan tangs'. A generous bowl of congee with slices of snapper, ginger and spring onion and topped with a 62 degree egg. Served alongside the congee was a bowl of Chinese doughnut (you tiao) and what we nicknamed 'cereal' (mostly because it tasted a little like corn flakes). We found the congee a little bland so we asked for some soy sauce. The much needed soy really lifted the dish. A perfect winter breakfast.

Mod Nasi Lemak - cocnut rice, sardine sambal, crunchy sardine frame ikan bilis, achar and fried egg

Another play on a traditional Malaysian dish that worked really well. The coconut rice was sweet and aromatic. The sardines were surprisingly crunchy that you could eat the whole thing head to tail. The achar added a nice sour tang to the dish. By this point I was starting to get a little sick of the egg, but looking at this dish in isolation, the egg added a nice creamy texture to the dish. The one thing this lacked was a sambal sauce that could be served on the side.  

super-phat chunky pandan Kaya Toast with coddled eggs

Another hit with the table, and apparently with the other diners too, as later that afternoon, Orient East announced that this was the dish that made it to the permanent menu. And why not? Two thick slices of toast were smothered in creamy sweet kaya butter and grilled, then topped with (another) egg.

$15 a head for seven courses of delicious breakfast - well worth waking up early for!

Overall Impression: 9/10

Grandma's Little Bakery

Location: 5796 Federal Highway, Collector NSW 2581
Phone: (02) 4848 0240
Link: www.grandmasbakery.com.au

Cuisine: Italian, Greek

Grandma's Little Bakery is a snug little cafe located at the Fedra Olive Grove, along the Federal Highway on the way to Sydney.

We haven't booked, and it turns out that they have a full house. We're given two options - get take away, or sit outside. The sun is shining, so we opt for sitting outdoors.

As luck would have it, it starts raining but the wonderful waiter finds us a table inside. Seated inside the cosy dining area, our dishes are brought out.

Wow. Out come two platters larger than we had imagined.

Grandma's gourmet lamb 'basket pie' served with side salad

So it turns out that the 'basket pie' is literally a 'basket' of crispy flaky pastry filled with a generous serve of braised lamb and beans. An assortment of sides are nestled against the side of the pie. A pesto, a tomato salsa and a fresh garden salad. 

slow cooked osobouko & Grandma's tomato marinade served with wild rice

Soft and tender pieces of slow cooked beef that literally falls off the bone with a light prod of the fork sits surrounded by a rich tomato gravy. The wild rice is textural, aromatic and soaks up the gravy beautifully. On the side are a slice of freshly baked bread and a minty pesto to add a refreshing contrast to the richness of the rest of the dish.

Overall Impression: 8.5/10

Urban Food Store + Cafe

Location: Cnr Edinburgh and Marcus Clarke Streets, Acton 2601
Phone: (02) 6162 3440
Link: www.outincanberra.com.au/urbanfoodstorecafe
Cuisine: Breakfast, Cafe

It's been a while since my last review, and it hasn't been completely due to the lack of eating. Although I must say, after two years in our nation's capital, I still haven't found much on the food scene that I've been that impressed with. There's a couple of 'regulars', but all in all, it's not Melbourne.

Something that has been a bit of a highlight over the past two years has been the lazy weekend brunches. If anything, these cafes can do a decent breakfast that's big enough to definitely cater for the two meals brunch is supposed to substitute for. And they've generally been worth waking up 'early' for.

That brings me to the latest brunch adventure. Due to the heavy downpour of rain (so much for it never raining in Canberra...), we decided against walking into the city and took a car to Acton.

Urban Food falls into the stereotypical category of upbeat cafe. Decent portion sizes, organic and fresh produce, good coffee and a mishmash of wooden and aluminium decor.

Despite the place bustling, we're seated within a couple of minutes, and menus are already on the table. I skip the first page of 'the usuals' and launch straight into the fancier dishes - if I'm going to pay for breakfast, I'm going to order something I can't make at home.

A couple of dishes catch my eye but I settle on the zucchini and corn fritters. It's a bit of a gamble, as fritters can sometimes err on the side of being too heavy,  but I've heard good things about Urban Food and am keen to see how they go.

zucchini and corn fritters, with bacon, poached egg, wilted spinach and smokey BBQ sauce

They live up to expectations. The fritters are light and fluffy but hold together enough to remain in a stack for presentation purposes. Flavour-wise, it's well seasoned and the corn kernels provide a fresh zing and different texture to the otherwise smooth zucchini and batter mix. The bacon is crispy but not burnt, and the poached egg is so perfectly poached that after cutting apart the whites, the yolk is still runny yet intact. The BBQ sauce is sweet and smokey and fairly strong, so I'm glad they've put it on the side. It works really well with the fritters, but you don't need much of it.

M orders the bacon, hash and eggs, with a side of lamb sausages. The dish looks great, the potato is seasoned with bacon pieces and dill. The sausages are nicely browned. Good feedback.

bacon, hash and eggs with lamb sausages and roasted Truss tomatoes

Service is pleasant despite the place buzzing with customers, and the wait isn't as long as one might expect from a place with so many customers and such an extensive menu. I'm no coffee expert, but my mocha has the same aroma as the one I had at Farmers Daughter, and I've been assured that it's what a 'good coffee' tastes like.

Definitely worth missing a sleep in for!

Overall Impression: 9/10

Farmers Daughter

Location: 27B Bentham Street, Yarralumla ACT 2600

Phone: (02) 6281 2233

Cuisine: Breakfast

Being stuck in Canberra on a long weekend is never fun. Being stuck in Canberra on a long weekend with temperatures more akin to winter, and three assignments to write, is even less fun.

So with that in mind, I sacrificed my usual weekend sleep in to go out to brunch with P and we headed to Farmers Daughter in Yarralumla.

Farmers Daughter is a fairly recent addition to the Canberra breakfast scene and has started to make a name for itself with foodies. Having been once before and found the lunch menu quite impressive (they stop serving breakfast at 11am and we arrived just after then), we decided to return this time for breakfast. 

And this time, breakfast was served.

mocha

First up, a mocha. Ever since starting work, I've picked up a bit of an amateur coffee drinking habit. Amateur in that I tend to play it safe by ordering mochas. The coffee used is Campos coffee (which might mean something to coffee connoisseurs out there). Not quite the mocha I'm used to, not enough chocolate, and needed extra sugar. I think I'll stick with Pork Barrel's 2-4-1 coffees.

'eggs how you like them' - scrambled eggs on toasted sourdough

P opted for scrambled eggs on toast. Can't go wrong with that.

'no ordinary soldiers' - (left to right) prosciutto & romesco,
parmesan & rocket, smoked salmon & crème fraiche

I was a little more adventurous. Having read some pretty decent reviews about the soldiers, I decided that despite my dislike for rocket, I'd give them a go and was rather impressed by the dish when it came out.

The sourdough soldiers were crunchy and toppings were very well matched - the perfect marriage of smoked salmon with crème fraiche and prosciutto with romesco worked as expected, and even the rocket wasn't too overbearing for me and balanced very nicely with the parmesan infused cream cheese. 

Whilst I'm on a roll with the reviews, here's a snapshot of what's on offer with the lunch menu from our last dining experience at Farmers Daughter...

BLT with dijonaise on caramelized garlic bread

The BLT was not your usual BLT. Served on caramelizeed garlic bread, P was thoroughly impressed with it. 

potato and bacon frittata with Caesar salad

My potato and bacon frittata was also quite tasty, with a nice crunchy crust on the top, and creamy potato slices in the filling. The bacon imparted a subtle smokey flavour through the layers of potato. Then there was the side salad. My experience with side salads has mostly been a measly pile of random green leaves and possibly a wedge of tomato or a smattering of shredded carrots. Not quite that at Farmers Daughter - here you get a choice of Farmers salad, vegetable salad or Caesar salad, and the serving size is quite generous!

macarons!

And as an added plus, they have macarons! (But don't expect the waiters to know what flavours they have on hand, it obviously isn't something that was included in their job description.)

The service is generally quite good, although slow at times given the place is fairly packed come midday. The waiters are pleasant and mostly polite, and the atmosphere definitely provides a nice and casual place to kick off a lazy long weekend.

Overall Impression: 9/10

Gus's Cafe

Location: Shop 8, Garema Arcade, Bunda Place, Canberra

Phone: (02) 6248 8118

Link: www.guscafe.com.au

Cuisine: Modern Australian, Cafe, Breakfast

The trouble with Canberra is the lack of decent restaurants in Civic. The positive side of that is that it's not too hard to decide on a place to go to.

Gus's was one of the few places I've been meaning to try for a while but more for breakfast than dinner.

First up was the steak sandwich. This was brilliantly done, and even better than the one at Gordon's.

Gus’ big steak sandwich: garlic foccacia with bacon, cheese, tomato, caramelized onion, seeded mustard mayo & garnished with sweet potato spears

The foccacia was nicely toasted and filled with a beautiful combination of flavours. The steak was well-marinated and cooked perfectly, The rest of the ingredients matched it well.

The sweet potato spears were more like crisps, but sweet, crunchy and not too oily - I could eat a plate of them!

Our second dish was a little disappointing.

Chicken breast linguini with roasted red capsicum & pine nuts in creamy basil sauce

Whilst the linguini was cooked al dente, the sauce was a little heavy on the cream and quite average in flavour. There wasn't much by way of red capsicum or pine nuts, which may have contributed to the disappointing sauce. Still, it was edible, just over-creamed.

Service: a little on the slow side, particularly since we went in early before there were many customers. Despite that, service was pleasant and the waitress was quite friendly.

Price: reasonable - mains mostly $16-$25

I've heard they do a very nice breakfast, so one day I'll be back for some brunch.

Overall Impression: 8/10

Lazy Moe's - Breakfast

Location: 320 Canterbury Road, Forest Hill, VIC
Link: www.lazymoes.com.au
Cuisine: Breakfast, Steaks, Modern Australian

After a big meal any time of the day (well, within reason anyway)? Head to Lazy Moe's. There are restaurants in five locations around Victoria so there's bound to be one near you! We headed there for brunch one late Friday morning. In fact, it would have been about lunchtime, but they serve breakfast until 4.30pm for lazy starters like us!

Moe's Big Breakfast - Two eggs, Bacon, Sausage, Tomatoes, Hash Brown, Mushrooms, Sauteed Onion and Baked Beans

Duckie ordered the big breakfast. Big is almost an understatement. This meal was massive. Everything was much better than the last breakfast we had at Issus. The bacon was decently cooked - not too burnt or dry but smokey all the same. The hash brown was crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside. There was an endless mound of scrambled eggs. The mushrooms were actually sliced instead of whole. The sausage was tasty, not too tough, although the skin was quite plastic looking and came off fairly easily. The onions were somewhat lacking (in amount) and the baked beans seemed to come straight from a can of Heinz, not that it was such a huge issue. The dish was quite greasy, as you would expect from the types of food on the plate, but it was altogether "very yummy".

Queen's Breakfast - Smoked Salmon, poached Eggs, Spinach and Hollandaise sauce served on english muffin

I decided to go for something different and ordered the Queen's breakfast. No bacon or sausages, but there was plenty of smoked salmon and the egg was poached nicely so that it sat well on top of the muffin but was nice and oozy on the inside. There was perhaps a little too much of the Hollandaise sauce (or they should have put it on the side) as it was a little too strong and took away the taste of the salmon. The spinach was a good balance.

Service was nice, atmosphere a little hot and stuffy. Outdoor seating doesn't have a lot of ventilation and under the sun it can get quite uncomfortable. Indoor seating is nice. One other random thing to note is that their water tasted strange. Not quite filtered / spring / mineral water, but not tap water either.

Great value for money, and perfect if you are hungry!

Overall Impression: 9/10

Issus

Location: 8 Centre Place, Melbourne
Cuisine: Breakfast, Café

Issus Big Breakfast

Serving size was very generous, but possibly too much bread. The whole dish was just plain average. Mushrooms were bland, bacon, eggs and tomatoes weren't anything special, and the bread...just too extensive, too thick and not crusty enough.

Eggs 'how you like them' with a serving of bacon

One of the most disappointing breakfasts I've had out. The eggs were not only burnt on the one side, but not quite cooked enough on the top side, even for sunny-side up. The bacon was dry, tough and chewy. The bread was awfully thick and not crusty enough. There wasn't much excitement in the dish at all.

The service was pleasant, but ridiculously slow. From the quality of the food, it seemed like they forgot about the food and overcooked it. Oh well, will not be returning here again.

Overall Impression: 2.5/10