Daley at Chimmy's, South Melbourne

I'm a sucker for a good sausage. So this morning I was easily lured to Daley at Chimmy's, 276-278 Park Street, South Melbourne, Tel +61 3 9696 7418. They make their own bunny bangers... What more can I say?



Admittedly, it's not the sort of place you'd take the book-club to discuss the finer points of Watership Down. But the meat-lovers will be very impressed. Tasty little rabbit snags, grilled smoked bacon, and black pudding. The breakfast meats were clearly a cut above average. I just wish they'd gone the extra yard with the condiments. Plain old tomato sauce didn't quite cut the mustard, so to speak. A spicy home-made plum sauce would, IMHO, make a real difference.

The rest of the food is also pretty good. My scrambles were fine (but not great), and the poached eggs were excellent. Even better, the hollandaise was spot on. Nice sauteed spinach too.

If I was to put a label on Daley's, I think it would be gastro-brunch. You know, the brunch equivalent of gastro-pub food. Fish lovers might be tempted by the smoked haddock, poached egg and seeded mustard beurre blanc. Sugar lovers can go for the muesli pancake with strawberry compote and buffalo labna. Or keep it simple and try the mature cheddar on toast with balsamic glaze. Fancy.

Service was somewhere between OK and good, and the coffee was excellent. It's also pretty well priced, unless you stack on the extras. Our brekky for two came in just under $35.

16/20 "bunny bangers"