Another Breakfast Bloggie?

The 2008 Bloggies are go. Vote early. Vote often. Actually, you can only vote once. Choose wisely, grasshoppers...

Top 20 Melbourne

It's been a while since I did the original Top 10 wrap-up for Melbourne breakfasts. So to make up for lost time I am now doing a Melbourne Top 20. Some clever-dick will probably nit-pick about Mt Macedon. Whatever. It's greater-Melbourne. Sort of. Breakfast Blog mavens will also not that I am listing them all as an alphabetical bucket this time, not ranked in any particular order. It's just coincidence that Apte comes top and also happens to have the highest score.

Apte, Alphington
Balzari, Carlton
Blue Tongue, Elwood
Botanical, South Yarra
Braeside Cafe, Mt Macedon
Circa, St Kilda
European, Melbourne
Fandango, North Melbourne
Filter Cafe, Fitzroy
Galleon Cafe, St Kilda
Greasy Joe's, St Kilda
Green Grocer, North Fitzroy
Harveys, South Yarra
Las Chicas, Balaclava
Mario's, Fitzroy
Mart 130, Middle Park
Panette, South Melbourne
Replete Providore, Hawthorn
Tom Phat, Brunswick
Walter's Wine Bar, Southbank

NZ008, Somewhere Above the Pacific

Normally I would be slagging off another airline about now. You know the drill. Crappy food. Crappy movies. Crappy seats. Blah blah blah. But not this time. Air New Zealand tramples on airline tradition and serves a very respectable breakfast of scrambled eggs with hot smoked NZ king salmon, chives, baby spinach and a potato cheddar cake. Fancy.

Chroma, Boston

The Paramount, Boston

Two things struck me as particularly un-american about The Paramount, 44 Charles Street, Beacon Hill, Boston, Tel +1 617-720-1152. First, they know how to spell omelette. Second, in this land of super-dooper-service, they offer virtually no service at all. And yet a long line of eager diners snakes up and down the counter where, after about ten minutes shuffling forward, they can place an order, wait for their food, then scurry for a table.



So why do people wait 20 minutes for no service? Because it's cheap. Not normally a word you associate with Beacon Hill. Not only cheap, but good. My triple stack of blueberry pancakes was, as the kids would say, fat. Fluffy, too. All it needed was a generous slurp of maple syrup to juice things up a bit. Only $5.50. Sweeeet.

The coffee was shite. But this is America, so you just have to force it down like a teenager learning to drink beer. Presumably, one day, you just wake up and suddenly it tastes good. Mmmm... what a fine brew this is... top me up girlfriend.

Cheapest of all is the breakfast special of two eggs, toast, home fries and coffee (the shite stuff), for a mere $5.95. A side of turkey sausage will set you back another $4. And most of the omelettes will fill you up for less than $8.

13/20 "self-service"

Charlie's Sandwich Shoppe, Boston

When the menu declares that the "best breakfast in America" is coming your way, expectations are set rather high. So I was very happy not to be disappointed by Charlie's Sandwich Shoppe, 429 Columbus Ave, Boston (South End), Tel +1 617 536 7669. I can't yet confirm the best in the America tag, but I can confirm that Charlie's is a way cool, old school diner...



The omelette was good. But the Turkey Hash is the award-winning dish to go for. Soft, mushy spud, onion and minced turkey, fried into a big fat cake with a nice crispy skin...

Dundas and Faussett, Albert Park

It's all about omelettes and eggs. No eggs, no omelette. And it depends on the quality of the eggs... Some are more expensive than others and some give you better omelettes.

Jose Mourinho explains why footballers are like eggs

Young players are a bit like melons. Only when you open and taste the melon are you 100 per cent sure that the melon is good.

Jose Mourinho explains why footballers are like melons

I think that former Chelsea coach Jose "The Special One" Mourinho may now be working in the kitchen at Dundas & Faussett, 111 Dundas Place, Albert Park, Tel +61 3 9645 5155. Who else would serve omelettes and melons on the same plate? And who else would serve a Portugese omelette?



Technically, I didn't order one of the omelettes. I ordered scrambled eggs. But it was cooked like an omelette, so I'll call it an omelette. I'm also calling the salmon croquette a hash brown, since it was more like a potato patty with a few trace elements of salmon spotted through the mix. And the "chive cream" was light on chive and heavy on dill, so I'll call than a dill cream. It was all OK. But what's with the melon-apple garnish?

Actually, it gets worse. Not content to garnish eggs with fruit, they offer a breakfast blog first: caramelised banana omelette. I dare someone to order than and tell me what it's like. I resisted the temptation.

The omelette frenzy continues with a "farmer's omelette" (potato, bacon, tomato and herbs), a "Portugese omelette" (red peppers, ham, tomato and basil), a goat's cheese omelette and, I kid you not... a prawn omelette. Or, you can design your own. Maybe prawn, banana, bacon and melon?

So, there you have it. Dundas and Faussett. A great place for freaky omelettes. And a great place for Albert Park poseurs to check each other out. Otherwise, not that great.

12/20 "banana omelette"