Liar Liar, Hawthorn

I don't normally like sweet things, but...

Apte, Alphington

I'm not sure I can call it the perfect breakfast, but this morning I had my first 20/20 experience at Apte, 538-540 Heidleberg Road, Alphington, Tel +61 3 9482 2991. Excellent eggs. Equally great extras. Fantastic fritters. Schmick venue. Smooth service. No mistakes. Schwing!



Perfection, I fear, is an elusive beast. Jessica Alba may be 2007's sexiest, but is she the perfect woman? Derek Zoolander may have been born with perfect bone structure, but is he the perfect man? Robert Parker may have scored the 1986 Romanee Conti Montrachet 100 points, but is it the perfect wine? No, no and no.

So please don't get hung up on the whole perfect score thing. Just enjoy a truly delicious corn, pea and feta fritter, drizzled with dill-infused sour cream and topped with a mountain of Tasmania's finest smoked salmon (and some nice, ripe avocado). Or tuck into a beautifully balanced big breakfast, with eggs, bangers, bacon and house-made relish, plus mushies, spinach, tomato and organic toast. Or go sweet with toasted, house made banana and coconut bread (with honey labna, pistachios and roasted seasonal fruit). Yum, yum and yum.

20/20 "almost perfect"



Eggs & Bacon $10.40 BB100 +4%

Surry Bills

Actually, it's called "bills Surry Hills", 359 Crown Street, Surry Hills, +61 2 9360 4762. The 2nd of the bills franchise, or empire, or whatever you want to call it. Here you'll find the signature creamy scrambled eggs, corn fritters with bacon, and ricotta hotcakes with honeycomb butter and banana. So this morning I decided to see if the hotcakes taste as good as they look...



The verdict? Very good. Nice fat hotcakes with the odd lump of ricotta sealed inside. A couple of discs of honeycomb-speckled butter, which added grease but not alot of honey flavour. And some sliced up, bruised banana, which is forgivable given Australia's Cyclone-Larry-induced banana crisis.