Replete Providore, Hawthorn
I think Cheap Eats has been hijacked by some kind of sweet-toothed cult of pancake lovers. The 2005 edition is peppered with comments on pancakes, hotcakes, poached fruit and other sickly muck. This year's winner of breakfast dish of the year - Replete Providore, 302 Barkers Road, Hawthorn, +61 3 9818 4448 - illustrates the point. They got the gong for their ricotta hotcakes with lemon curd and strawberries. They should have won it for the corn fritter and bacon stack, served with tomato and avocado salsa and sour cream. Best corn fritters I've ever tasted. Magnificent.
Unfortunately for me, all I managed was a taste. My own order was the Replete Breakfast of eggs (scrambled with chives), Spanish sausage, hash cake (the drug-free variety), slow-roasted tomatoes (just average), bacon (well fried) and field mushrooms (the weakest link) on toasted Phillippa's bread with tomato relish. It was good, without being great.
The Eggs Benedict looked extremely good, with well-grilled champagne ham, nicely poached eggs, well-toasted muffins and great hollandaise. Once again, I had to make do with a small taste, but I reckon I've found another contender for best Benedict.
If repeat visits are an indicator of a great brekky venue, then Replete is top tier. I can already think of at least three good reasons to come back:
1. my own full serve of the corn fritter stack
2. my own full serve of the Benedict
3. to try the ricotta hotcakes and see what all the fuss is about
It was refreshing to be served by genuinely friendly staff (apparently with a tatoo that matches her ring), who handled every request without attitude or lip.
At just under $20 a head for a great brekky and excellent Grinders coffee, this place makes the trip to suburbia well worth your while.
17/20 "best corn fritters"
Unfortunately for me, all I managed was a taste. My own order was the Replete Breakfast of eggs (scrambled with chives), Spanish sausage, hash cake (the drug-free variety), slow-roasted tomatoes (just average), bacon (well fried) and field mushrooms (the weakest link) on toasted Phillippa's bread with tomato relish. It was good, without being great.
The Eggs Benedict looked extremely good, with well-grilled champagne ham, nicely poached eggs, well-toasted muffins and great hollandaise. Once again, I had to make do with a small taste, but I reckon I've found another contender for best Benedict.
If repeat visits are an indicator of a great brekky venue, then Replete is top tier. I can already think of at least three good reasons to come back:
1. my own full serve of the corn fritter stack
2. my own full serve of the Benedict
3. to try the ricotta hotcakes and see what all the fuss is about
It was refreshing to be served by genuinely friendly staff (apparently with a tatoo that matches her ring), who handled every request without attitude or lip.
At just under $20 a head for a great brekky and excellent Grinders coffee, this place makes the trip to suburbia well worth your while.
17/20 "best corn fritters"
posted by Jamie Wodetzki at 1:49 pm
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13 Comments:
I highly recommend Replete Providore. I sometimes go there for lunch during school (which is about 1 minute away) and have tried many of the dishes. My favourites are the Turkish pide and duck sausage roll. I only have one complaint (besides the fact that it is hard to walk around the cafe with a huge backpack), which is that the cranberry sauce that comes with some dishes is more like cranberry jam - it is sickly sweet and too overpowering.
I found this place too cluttered, with a shelf full of their produce, though presumably nice, for sale in the middle of the room. Could someone also advise them that dousing some unwashed rocket in low-grade balsamic does not a side salad make. Coffee: 5/10. The staff are quite nice, though.
Finally made it into 'Replete' for breakfast this week. I had decided to save Replete for a mid-week breakfast after driving past on weekends and seeing crowds of people waiting on the footpath for a table. Even with a modest Friday crowd, the restaurant felt crowded and noisy. The produce display in the middle of the dining area is a bad idea. I was disappointed to find that the corn fritter option described in the review had been removed from the menu. I tried the new 'asian' corn fritter option which featured a very thick-cut slab of marinated bacon, pineapple salsa and a heavy dousing of sweet chili sauce - a bit sweet and sickly for breakfast, but the fritters were quite good. My partner tried the benedict, which was good although the hollandaise lacked the 'bite' that I prefer. The coffee was fairly lack-lustre, and I would have to agree with anonymous' 5/10 for a muddy latte.
Unfortunately Replete Providore was too busy this weekend to give great service. When we sat down and asked for table water, the water came but there was a wait on glasses. Hmm. The cracker for me was that our meals came before our coffees did (15/20 minutes or so)! Later on, I heard the wait staff apologising to a nearby departing group, as they'd "run out of receipt paper." Brekkie was great and tasty, but I am always disappointed by slow-arriving coffee. A lovely place, I'm assuming it was just an awfully busy Sunday...
After visiting Replete many times a year or so ago, a very recent visit was unexpectedly disappointing. Is Replete under new management?
The previously chaotic but well meaning service had not improved (no kidding Hannah, our coffees turned up after the food on one occassion too!) but now the ricotta hotcakes, still wearing the laurels from 2005, were drier, and less cheesey than on the several occassions I'd eaten them previously. The breakfast bruschetta which I'd regarded as outstanding was difficult to love. Their orange juice was presented in a little stoppered bottle but was very obviously not freshly squeezed. I won't say Replete is in decline, but it can no longer be called consistent.
dear jack,
if you read replete's menu properly you will realise that they never claim to have fresh juice! They serve organic juice not 'freshly squeezed'.
And by the way - one bad day and you say they are not consistent anymore! my oh my, everyone has their bad days, even you i bet!
Dear 'Anonymous',
Point taken - their organic juice comes from a bottle half filled with organic water. I will examine your, ahem, I mean their menu more closely next time. My bad.
Not speaking as an affiliate of Replete myself, I think my criticism of their consistency stands (based on the word's definition), unless you are claiming they consistently have bad days?
My wife and I visited Replete today. Overall it was very good. Lovely selection of food and good service. The muesli trifle is excellent and their poached eggs and smoked salmon were perfect.
The poached eggs however came with the additional bonus of a small bit of shell. The coffee was not up to scratch on this day. Very poor barista skills. I would be ashamed to have this level of coffee presentation in my cafe. However the coffee blend used is more than good. Also the back area presents poorly.
Overall a good 7/10.
corn fritters were ok, too high ratio of batter:corn
bill granger's corn fritters way better.
sister's pan fried salmon with fennel salad was simple and not too bad.
coffees took forever to come even after reminders.
Enjoy the corn fritters and the hotcakes (although abit too sweet for me to eat a whole dish so i make someone else order them and then pinch bites!).
I've never tried to get in on a weekend but if you have a day off during the week i recommend it - quiet, relaxing and good service.
I wouldn't go back there as it is the only cafe where I have ever been asked to leave because 'we have people waiting for a table'. This was after we had been there only one hour and had ordered a full meal.
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