Mitte, North Fitzroy

For Melbourne's best poached eggs, go to Mitte, 76 Michael Street, North Fitzroy, Tel +61 3 9077 7379. I'd like to say the world's best poached eggs, but there are two good reasons not to. First, I have not yet tasted every poached egg the world has to offer. And second, I try to avoid saying things that make me sound like a total pillock.



But trust me. These were some seriously good eggs. Nice shape. No puddles of poaching water. Deep, dark golden yolks, oozing to perfection. And a taste so good you'll want to eat these fellas nude. Just shove a bit of pure, unadulterated egg in your gob and enjoy. Or maybe smear it on some Dench toast. But don't dress it up in too many fancy flavours. Try to enjoy the simple pleasure of a fresh, free-range egg.

Which is not to say that Mitte doesn't also give good flavour. Having savoured some naked egg, you can move on to a very tasty chick pea bake, some goat's fetta, a leafy herb salad, half an avocado and a squeeze of lemon. All served up with a couple of slices of very fresh Dench sourdough toast. Ausgezeichnet.

The flavour continues with the Cheap-Eats-Award-Winning potato and chorizo omelette with Collingwood College kitchen garden tomato and fennel chutney, and a tomato, buffalo mozzarella and basil salad. Or for those who like to start their day with dessert, the "breakfast crumble" of cinnamon poached pears and apples topped with a crunchy-granola-ish toasted macadamia crust. Personally, a gut full of such sickly goo first thing in the morning would make me want to barf. But each to her own.

Less sickly, but still sweet, are the pikelets, which I can highly recommend with lemon curd, fresh lemon, brown sugar, maple syrup and marscapone. Really, really good. You can also have them with berries, or with the exotic-sounding middle eastern fruit compote (although this has been said to lack a little zing).

I am, quite frankly, amazed this place has not had the gushing, raving praise it deserves (only Cheap Eats has stuck its neck out with a gong). The food is great. The Atomica coffee is excellent. The venue is a cute little white box in a quaint little corner location. The staff are polite. About the only thing wrong with Mitte is that you have to wait a bit. But that's what happens at good places. If you want fast service, go somewhere bad, where there are no other patrons to get in the way.

19/20 "poached egg perfection"

Dench Bakers, North Fitzroy

For some reason, every time I see a Bomboloni my subconscious starts singing that old Gypsy Kings tune... Bomba-lo-niiii... Bomba-lo-niii... la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la laaaa... As you can see, Spanish is not my strong point. The other thing that happens every time I see a Bomboloni is that I eat one. This morning, this happened at Dench's Bakery Cafe, 109 Scotchmer Street, North Fitzroy, Tel +61 3 9486 3554. With places like this, it's easy to see why our friends from Sierra Leone might want to stay in Melbourne.



In truth, I didn't really need a Bomboloni. I had just wolfed down an excellent plate of creamy, chive-scrambled eggs on toasted brioche with a side of bacon and avocado. But in the interests of giving this review greater depth, I decided I should try something other than eggs.

As you'd expect, Dench's excels at pastries and toast: croissant (plain, chocolate or filled with ham, cheese and tomato); sweet and savoury muffins; egg and bacon pie; mushroom and thyme pie; stoneground toast; raisin toast; olive toast; fruit bun; escargot; and more.

The venue has a good buzz, but it's a tight squeeze and probably not ideal for groups bigger than 3 or 4. And I challenge anyone not to buy a loaf of bread as you leave.

16/20 "sourdough heaven"



Eggs & Bacon $8.50 BB100 -15%