Toro, Boston

There are places in Boston that are popular for reasons I do not understand. And then there are places like Toro, 1704 Washington Street, Boston, MA, Tel +1 (617) 536-4300. Toro is popular because it is good. The food is good. The venue is good. The service is good. The coffee is not horrible. You can even get an Aperol Spritz.

Le Petit Dejeuner, Toronto

When in Canada, be sure to try some peameal bacon, ideally with poached eggs and hollandaise on top...

Trident Booksellers and Cafe, Boston

Despite its name, the potato chuckwagon is very good...

Hampton Coffee Co, The Hamptons

You wear clothes, so it's not breakfast. And you're not that hungry yet, so it's not lunch. It's the meal that won't commit.

Mystery Hamptons golfer comments on brunch

So, you're on your way to Shinnecock Hills, it's not quite lunch time, but you need a few extra carbs to power through 18 holes. Brunch is for pussies. What do you do? Easy. Grab yourself an egg and bacon sandwich at the Hampton Coffee Company, 869 Montauk Highway, Water Mill, New York, Tel +1 (631) 726-2633. Crispy bacon. Just the right amount of ooze from the egg. And a brioche bun as soft and fat as your worst bunker shot. Washed down with a freshly roasted house brew, it's the perfect pre-game pick-me-up.



Unfortunately I was on my way home from Poxabogue, rather than on my way to Shinnecock Hills, but the same principles apply. Sort of.

Auction Rooms, North Melbourne

Back in the good old days, bargain hunters went to auction rooms. Today, they go to eBay. Which leaves more room for people to open cafes, like Auction Rooms, 103-107 Errol Street, North Melbourne, Tel +61 3 9326 7749. In, you guessed it, some former auction rooms. Not only do they serve great coffee, they even roast their own beans.



They also serve interesting food, like hazelnut-crumbed lambs brains on saute bacon and spinach with sweet onion jam. Brains for breakfast. Not exactly my cup of tea. I prefer to avoid foods that give me mad cow disease and gout. But I'm sure some of you are far more daring than me. Knock yourselves out.

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%

At least The Guardian doesn't hate blogs

Unlike other blog-hating parts of the dead-tree media, The Guardian seems to like blogs. So much so that they've done a blog by blog guide to Melbourne for the travel section, including three edible/drinkable blogs, namely the Breakfast Blog, Tomato and the Melbourne Coffee Review.

Icoco, Albert Park

Coffee is the main event at Icoco, 143 Victoria Avenue, Albert Park, Tel +61 3 9690 7638. But they also serve a pretty decent breakfast. The Icoco Benedict, for example, was most enjoyable.



Not perfect. But most enjoyable. I had it with plenty of crispy bacon and a big serve of wilted spinach, topped with poached eggs and fresh hollandaise, and served on a couple of slices of sourdough toast. If you prefer, you can switch the bacon for smoked salmon and salted baby capers, or roasted flat mushrooms. You can also switch the sourdough for homebaked gluten free bread. Decisions, decisions.

I made the mistake of adding potato roesti as a side, which was far too limp, dark and greasy for my liking.

If you stray out to the back courtyard you'll soon discover why Icoco is a coffee-maven's paradise. They have their own fancy roasting machine, and big brown bags of beans stacked in every corner.

Cafe Bruce, St Kilda

Bruce Springsteen. Bruce Willis. Bruce McAvaney. Bruce Ruxton. Bruce Almighty. Bruce Beresford. Even the Australian federal electorate of Bruce. They all take their place on The Wall of Bruce, at a cafe called... you guessed it... Bruce, 134 Carlisle Street, St Kilda, Tel +61 3 9537 1088. A celebration of Bruce-ness to rival The Wall of Gaylord.



Unfortunately the breakfast offerings at Cafe Bruce are unlikely to rival its competitors in the Carlisle strip. Eggs come in two forms. Microwaved scrambles on toast. Or toasted pide with fried egg, bacon, rocket and relish (which was quite good). Otherwise it's toast, muesli, porridge or toasted ham, cheese and tomato.

Bruce is really an espresso bar, with a side line of toasted pide. The focus is on the coffee. So much so that the Barista (I'm guessing his name is Bruce), stands smack bang in the middle of the cafe in what you might call a coffee booth.

It seems only fitting to end with a tribute to Bruce, Monty Python style. Enjoy...

Bookplate, Canberra

You can actually get a half-decent coffee at Bookplate these days, which is quite handy if you're dozing off at the National Library. But what kind of stupid name is Bookplate? And why do library cafes always have such dorky names? They used to call the place Chapters. What next? Biblio's Bistro? Dewey's Diner? The Catalog Cafe? Gutenberg's?

Otis, Albert Park

On a nice day, you could do worse than to grab an outside table at Otis, 123-125 Bridport St, Albert Park. You can bring the dog. The service is very good. And it's not all cramped and crowded like the rest of Bridport Street.



I had a very pretty serve of corn fritters with tomato salsa and avocado, to which I added a side of crispy bacon. The flavours were great, but the fritter was quite heavy and greasy.

Her Fussiness had poached eggs with salmon and spinach and was happy enough but for one rather solid egg and some unbuttered toast. The house-cured salmon was very good. Much fresher and firmer than average.

Otis also serves gluten free muesli, and a rather strange-sounding "brunch plate" with scrambled eggs, bacon, salmon, toasts, cheese, fruit, dips and herb salad.

16/20 "house cured salmon"



Eggs & Bacon $11.50 BB100 +15%

Atomica, Fitzroy

Atomica is a strange name for a Brunswick Street cafe. I would have thought the Fitzroy crowd would be happier if the place was called "Windmills" or "Solar" or something less radioactive. But it seems the coffee is so good that the locals are willing to turn a blind eye to a bit of pro-nuke subliminal advertising. Good coffee will do that to you. And this place does seriously good coffee. The froth on my cappucino was silky smooth.



The eggs are good too. I was very happy with my benedict on bagel with a side of sauteed spinach. Eggs poached just right, bacon crispy but not burnt, and nice toasty bagel to give the dish some crunch. Another item to catch my eye was the three cheese omelette, with feta, mozzarella and parmesan, served on toasted sourdough. Have't seen one of those before and it sounded pretty good.

If you're the experimental type, you could have some fun with the Atomica pancakes. You get pancakes with maple syrup, plus any two of banana, bacon, natural yoghurt, berry compote, berry yoghurt, and fresh fruit. How does bacon and berry yoghurt sound? Molecular gastronomy for breakfast.

15/20 "nice coffee"



Eggs & Bacon $9.50 BB100 -5%

Cafe 3A, Brunswick

It turns out that size doesn't matter after all. It's all about performance. Admirably demonstrated this morning (this afternoon actually) at Cafe 3A, 3A Edward Street, Brunswick, Tel +61 3 9380 4996. The venue is tiny. The "Pistachio Poached" breakfast was very good. And the Ethiopian Gold coffee was superb.



I enjoyed my "lemon butter pistachio pesto spread on sourdough with two poached eggs, whipped ricotta and preserved lemon and avocado salad." But as good as it was, the the menu made it sound so good that the actual dish struggled to live up to high expectations. The flavour of the lemon butter pistachio "pesto" was too subtle. It lacked the tasty kick you get from traditional garlic-basil pesto. And neither the whipped ricotta nor the avocado managed to fill the flavour void. Call me picky.

I reckon a better option might be the Olivada Poached, served on sourdough with olivada, fetta and capers (a bargain at $7.50). Or maybe the scrambled green eggs and ham with salsa verde, bacon and slow roasted tomato.

15/20 "is small, is good"



Eggs & Bacon $8.00 BB100 -20%

Cafe Rosamond, Collingwood

It's a wonder anyone ever eats at Cafe Rosamond, rear end of 191 Smith Street (enter from Charles Street), Collingwood, Tel +61 3 9419 2270. First, you have to find the place, which is no small challenge given the lack of signage. Then, there's a giant killer tape-worm wall mural designed to scare you off. And finally, a less-than-welcoming staff do their best to make you feel like an intruder.



But if you make it past these defensive measures, the breakfast ain't half bad. I had a very good serve of scrambled "Kangaroo Island Free Range" eggs, which were just soft and very lightly flecked with chives. The side of house-made baked beans was also very good, served on crunchy sourdough toast with a few crumbles of fetta. The weak links were the bacon, which was OK, but under-grilled, and the lack of condiments. If you decide to take the low-service road (which Rosamond does, with no table orders and almost no table service), then maybe you should stick a bottle of HP on every table. I'm not about to go schlepping across the room begging for sauce once the food has arrived.

Maybe I was unlucky, but my experience was a million miles from Matt Preston's claim that Rosamond is "welcoming and unpretentious". The venue may be "old Fitzroy" and the furniture the spoils of a big night of dumpster-diving, but I found the place both unfriendly and quite pretentious. Too much contrived quirkiness. A poseur in vintage gear is still a poseur.



The menu stretches from classic cafe to retro. There's a touch of 70's tuck shop thanks to hot jaffles filled with spaghetti and cheese, banana and nutella, or bacon and banana. There's cinnamon toast, muesli, porridge and croissants. Or for something more exotic-sounding, there's baked eggs with chorizo, corriander and broad beans, or with asparagas, spinach and "special sauce". Mysterious.

I save my final comment for the coffee. Once again, where Mr Preston's coffee was particularly good, mine was particularly average. And since we're talking Genovese (normally excellent), and the coffee-guy is said to have worked at Genovese for 7 years, it's all the more surprising that my cappucino was over-filled, under-frothed, and borderline weak. How embarrassment.

11/20 "banana and nutella jaffles"