diVine Cafe, Penola

Wagyu beef. It's the premier grand cru of red meat. The supermodel of the bovine world. In fact, I wouldn't be at all surprised if a few of these babies have serious coke habits. But what to do with the off-cuts? Say hello to the Wagyu Sausage. The highlight of my breakfast at diVine Cafe, 39 Church Street, Penola, Tel +61 8 8737 2122.



Despite the menu's promise of Wagyu sausages, I had to make do with just one. It was a very nice sausage. But it was just a sausage. It's not like there's any marbling left to admire. My scrambled eggs were good too. Ditto the bacon, mushies, spinach and tomato. A great way to fill up before a big day sipping (and spitting) Coonawarra cabernet.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of the smoked salmon eggs benedict. Hollandaise is a sauce, not a paste. And just because congealed butter solids melt when smeared on hot eggs, that does not make the resultant liquid a sauce. To their credit, diVine re-supplied the eggs without the butter dressing. But our waitress was clearly not happy that we dared to question their smear-and-melt methodology. In the end, the poached eggs and salmon turned out to be very good, with a generous splodge of roe making for quite a fishy dish.

At just under $20 a head for eggs and a very average cup of coffee, this was not a cheap breakfast. But if you avoid the Benedict, it's worth a visit. If only they served Hollicks sparkling merlot by the glass. That would be a real breakfast treat.

10/20 "wagyu snags"