Le Pain Quotidien, New York

Sometimes I like to keep it simple...

Hotel Le Clos d'Amboise, Amboise

French breakfasts are typically carbs (bread, croissants, etc) and confiture (jam), with coffee or hot chocolate, of course. But sometimes you get lucky, and boiled eggs make an appearance. So we were very impressed with the breakfast spread at Hotel "Le Clos d'Amboise", 27 Rue Rabelais, Amboise, Tel +33 2 47 30 10 20. All the usual french stuff... plus ham and eggs. Very stylish little breakfast room, too.

Pushka, Melbourne

Pretty soon someone will be setting up a cafe in a sewer or an old lift well or a wheelie bin or something. Because the cafe down the alley off the laneway has been done. And one of the best examples is Pushka, Presgrave Place, Melbourne (that's the laneway filled with wheelie bins, milk crates and interesting wall art, out the back of the Capitol Theatre).



Pushka is ace. The serve cool stuff like coco pops, boiled eggs and soldiers, and "crazy toast" with vegemite and avo. And they do an impressive breakfast bagel called "The King" filled with cheese, prosciutto, avo, fried egg, mayo and something else but I forget what. Nice fresh bagels, which makes all the difference.

The ambience is best described as uber-grunge, with room for a handful of people inside, and a scattering of folding chairs, tables and milk crates in the laneway. There's a certain serenity to just sitting there, boxed in by buildings, sipping cappucino and staring up at the sky. It helps that they make an excellent cappucino (Coffee Supreme).

14/20 "crazy toast"

Pearl, Richmond

I've never been a big fan of caviar. Little salty explosions just don't do it for me. I think it has something to do with early childhood memories of being dumped in the surf and coming up with a gob full of salt water. But today I took the plunge and ordered the "famous" coddled egg toasty at Pearl, 631-633 Church Street, Richmond, Tel +61 3 9421 4599. Maybe fish eggs for breakfast ain't so bad, after all?



Luckily for me, the little splodge of Yarra Valley salmon caviar was easily scraped aside, allowing me to regulate the fishiness of the overall experience. And a good experience it was. Encased in a cube of toasty bread (who knows if it was fried or baked, but it sure tasted like fried bread to me), the coddled egg was just right. Perched on top was a second, perfectly domed egg, which must have been "poached" in one of those little concave dishes. Finished off with a crown of bright orange caviar and a few artistic squirts of some beige mayo-like sauce, it was all very pretty.

If there's one thing that stands out at Pearl, it's creativity. Apart from the aforementioned toasty, there's a French toasted chocolate sandwich with runny cream, soft boiled eggs with vegemite soldiers, and roasted wild mushrooms with sage and cheese melt. All good reasons for a repeat visit. I'll also be back to try the sweet corn cakes, which looked excellent (although apparently not as good as European's corn fritters, according to the bloke next door).

In terms of service, Pearl is first rate. Never has my water glass been so assiduously refilled in the course of a meal as it was this morning. Throw in a slick, modern venue, excellent coffee, a wide range of teas, and an impressive virgin mary, and you are pretty much guaranteed a great breakfast. It's a bit more expensive than average, but well worth it.

18/20 "best coddled"