Mixed Business

On this breakfast of Champions, my fellow champ Sally picked Clifton Hill for our location. Some of you may or may not have heard of a little street in this busy suburb called…. Queens Parade! Sadly no queenly parades on this day, but what we did find was a little brunch establishment named ‘Mixed Business’. Earlier told that it boasted the best coffee in Melbourne… WE shall see!!!

With no parking available out the front, we ventured around a corner and found ample… Stress free parking is always appreciated by me. A short walk later we found the very unassuming entrance of Mixed Business.

Entrance!

In we went, and before us was one big room which included long tables for big groups, smaller tables for (you guessed it) smaller groups, a kitchen which seemed to separated by a temporary wall and a barista station/cake display/cash register. All in all a very chilled out and unpretentious vibe.

Champion Sally and I found a table near the window to watch the world go by, and to see if we could spot in Queens parading.

Menus, water, drink order taken, yay for quick service! Excellent variety on the menu also, I was struggling to pick between 4 until I saw an omelette daily special, SOLD. A delicious option (although probably a bit on the sweet side) was the ginger waffles that ALMOST won my heart… I wanted to try a baked treat later though!

Mmmmm Juice

Our coffees and juices arrived and we placed our orders. Much to our shock, the dish that Sal had FINALLY decided to order was unavailable, I could see her little heart breaking into a million pieces. She chose something else (with a big bottom lip), and decided that a little pre-warning of what was unavailable would have been appreciated.

Coffee!

Coffee… tasted without honey… … verdict: Drinkable without honey WIN, best coffee in Melbourne though… I don’t feel I’m qualified to make that judgement but it was good none the less.

Honey Stick excitement!

I did get a little kick out of the honey stick though.. is that what you call it?? J

FOOD TIME… Mmmmm sooo hungry.

Yummo Omelette!

My choice for the morning was a Omelette with mushrooms, fetta and spinach, accompanied by some good thickness multigrain bread. It was nice, admittedly not the most spectacular tastes but it was nice for an omelette, simple and full of goodness.

Salmon, eggs and beetroot.

Champion Sally decided on some free-range poached eggs (love a happy chicken egg) with smoked salmon, pickled beetroot, dill and crème fraiche. I enjoyed a cheeky taste of the beetroot and it was deeelicious. Sal enjoyed her brekky but I still think she wanted her previous choice.

BAKED GOODS…

Passionfruit!

Or baked good, we only shared one passionfruit cupcake, nice, not mind blowing though. The second coffee took a little longer to come also.

Overall, easy parking was definitely a plus; don’t know how it would be on the weekend though. Coffee was tasty and pricing was standard at $3.40, soy only 20c extra for all those soy lovers out there! Breakfast ranged from $6 for toast and Jams to $17.5 for a minute fillet steak with eggs (If that isn’t a hearty breakfast I don’t know what is). Service was good, attentive with water and clearing, the only slip up was not telling us what wasn’t available. The food was fresh and tasty. I would go back to Mixed Business if I was in the area and hungry for some good food or in the need of a tasty coffee probably won’t go out of my way to visit again though.

Mixed Business: 486 Queens Parade, Clifton Hill.

Liar Liar

It has been almost a month since the last breakfast of Champions so of course I was itching to get out to try some breakfasty goodness! So the dynamic duo (Sal and I) decided to revisit or very first Breakfast location. So early in the piece that I had yet to blog about it... Liar Liar, we remembered it as being awesome, but was it still 12 months on???

Down a little side street (Kinkora Road) off the main group of shops on Glenferrie road in Hawthorn we found this little Cafe. Parking was interesting and I found myself thankful that I had my small bug of a car. I squeezed into a spot, finding I even had a few centimetres to spare before I would have been invading someones precious driveway space, *phew!*

Off to Brunch we go!

Funky interior!

We were greeted as we walked in and shown a table. Menus, water on the table (yay), no coffee order taken though. Can I add here.. MASSIVE tables, my guess is they would have been cosy for 4 people but we had room to move, I felt like royalty with all this arm space.

Table space (This photo doesn't do it justice)

Onto the menus. We had quite a choice, a page and a half of delicious options I found myself tossing up between the roasted mushrooms with pesto and fetta or the Salmon Scrambled with goats cheese and chives.

Drinks menu!

First thing's first though. The front page of the menu is dedicated to a wide selection of drinks: Coffee (of course), smoothies, milkshakes, mineral waters, juices. Not just any juice, special juice, with names like 'Purple Sunrise' and 'Golden Pash', who wouldn't want to start their day with a drink like that????

2x Refreshers

Sal and I both ordered the 'Refresher' sadly the name wasn't as exciting as the others but god it was tasty: Apple, Watermelon, mint and strawberry, I had to keep reminding myself to savour it.

Sal and I both ordered the Salmon Scrambled and we decided to share the mushrooms and avocado sides. I know what you're thinking.. Scrambled eggs, I never have scrambled eggs, you're right, how can I judge? They were delicious though, this is how I would expect all scrambled eggs should be, light an fluffy and soooo much flavour with the salmon and chives mixed through, if I had ordered something else I think there may have been food envy (CRISIS AVERTED).

Salmon Scrambled

The eggs were served with nice thick pieces of sourdough (Mmmmmm sourdough), the side of mushrooms was yum, packed full of flavour. However the avocado was a bit hard, maybe a day off being ripe. But the eggs were so good that I didn't really think about it all that much.

BAKED GOODS!

Off I trotted to the delicious cabinet of deliciousness, with an assortment of sweet treats I didn't know what to pick but our friendly waitress helped with our choice, pointing out what everything was and taking our order after we had decided.

For all those carrot cake lovers out there, they did have carrot cupcakes that looked really dense and packed full of flavour but we made a different choice on this happy Thursday.

Baked goods!

On the left: A White chocolate raspberry and banana cake, light fluffy and packed full of yumminess.

On the right: A hazelnut slice with granita, smooth and creamy, my last bite of the day (FAVOURITE).

On our last visit they had these awesome muffins and I was looking forward to trying them again but they didn't have them today.

Latte

Long black

With our baked goods we enjoyed a coffee each, well done barista for taste and pretty pattern!

In total our bill came to $67 so $34ish each, and included, a juice $6.5, Brekkie $16 plus a side each $3.0, coffee $3.5 (Standard price) and a baked treat each. I was happy to pay as it was all good quality and quite frankly delicious!

Overall, the service was friendly and fast, the food was great, and the interior was funky and comfortable. The only downsides were that the bathrooms were outside and down an alley and parking could be a problem on the weekend. If they're the only negatives really, no excuse not to go people!

.....

If I said the place was bad I would be a Liar Liar!

(Haha, yep, I said it, I give you permission to roll your eyes)

APTE - A Place To Eat

Another School holidays edition of Breakfast of Champions took Emma and myself to APTE - A Place To Eat. Located on busy Heidelberg Road in Alphington, if you weren't concentrating you might drive past this little gem... My suggestion to you is turn off into that leafy side street next to APTE, find a park (in their very own car park) and enjoy a delicious breakfast!!

538 Heidelberg Road, Alphington

On this overcast but not too cold day we decided to sit outside, with the help of a very friendly waitress we found a spot over looking the rest of the under cover eating area.

Outside eating area - with HEATERS!!

We sat down, our coffee orders were taken, water was poured and we were left to peruse the menu and enjoy the surroundings. Can I say they were lovely surroundings, flowers, leafy trees.. I'm getting excited at the thought of going back there in warmer weather... until then, there are handy heaters!

Hot soy chai latte

I always appreciate coffee art!

Our coffees arrived promptly, admittedly mine was a little bit bitter, but honey soon fixed that (FYI: I went back to APTE a week later and there was no bitterness to be seen).

I'm told the Chai latte was lovely too!

The next big decision was what to order. Stand-outs were the ricotta-hot cakes and the banana bread which also came in a mixed platter for those who wanted a delicious combination of both. Another was the Smoked Salmon with corn, feta and pea fritters. However, I had a hankering for muesli. Not to fret all you egg lovers out there, I will be back to try those other delicious options.

Bircher muesli!

I was not disappointed, Bircher muesli served with honey yoghurt and house poached fruit. Hearty and healthy, I enjoyed every mouthful. I am a lover of bircher and if I was to say anything critical, I would probably ask for more nuts, other than that taste wise it was fantastic.

Semola porridge!

Emma, chose the warmer brekky option.. Semola porridge which was infused with honey, vanilla, raisins and currents. She also requested that it be made with soy milk. I was informed that soy milk makes this type of porridge. I had a cheeky taste (because I've never had Semola porridge before), I was pleasantly surprised, it was warming and really rather delicious, but I'm an oat porridge kind of a girl so I was happy to appreciate and then tuck into my bircher!

After breakfast we decided on a scenery change... Soooo inside we went, plus we wanted to perve on all of the baked treats :-)

Baked goods!

lots of big tables for groups

BAKED GOODS!

We shared a chocolate cheese cake brownie and a carrot cake.

The Brownie was lovely and fluffy. The carrot cake was definitely one of the nicer ones I have had with walnuts and spices. also the icing was not too sweet, bringing out my inner Goldilocks 'it was Juuust right!'

Overall, the price came to about $45 dollars for the both of us, which included the breakfast, baked goods and three coffees (two large). The coffee price is pretty standard, as are the brekkys, the most expensive item is the apte big breakfast at $17.90 which is pricey, but I guess you would save money by not having lunch! :-)

I have already been back to APTE and I plan on going back there again, I have my eyes on those corn fritters. I would definitely recommend this place, efficient and accurate service is hidden under a comfortable and chilled out atmosphere.

It is child friendly (with a box of toys outside) so maybe if you are anti-children/nursing a killer hang-over give it a miss but otherwise.... APTE APTE APTE.

Palomino

On this cold and wet Thursday morning 4 hungry champions decided Northcote was our area of choice for breakfast goodness! The lucky cafe was 'Palomino'.

Palomino - 236 High Street, Northcote

There was ample parking on the street, although it was all 1 hour parking, it might not have been so easy on the weekend either... BUT it is currently school holidays at the moment so really... I'm not a good judge. FYI we found a cheeky 2 hour park down a side street, no one likes a rushed brekky!

Breakfast time, Breakfast time!

Having attempted to call up earlier in the week and book (because we initially were a team of 6, they don't take bookings), I was a little worried, but for our adventure we became a four and found a ducky little table in the window fit for four champions.

We sat and a waitress said hello and told us she would be there in a moment

.... .... *10 seconds*.... ....

she pops up with menus and water (YAY) and grabs our coffee order.

Baked goods etc.

Menu of delight

I know what you're wondering now... Yep, what's on the menu?!

And what a choice, two pages to choose from, a specials board and a cabinet of sandwiches, wraps tarts, pies and BAKED GOODs... Mmmmm!

The waitress came back with our coffees... mmmmm coffee. Good coffee too, I could have happily enjoyed it without my usual honey addition, but my sweet tooth always wins out! Sal informed me her coffee wasn't as strong as she would have liked though.

mmmmmm CHAI!

Emma (school holidays edition champion) said her hot soy chai latte was great, not the sweet sort of chai but how chai should be, I think she threw in words like cinnamon and nutmeg... Christmas in a glass perhaps??

As a tribute to missing champion and fellow blogger Lisa we all shared a blueberry BAGEL with cream cheese and strawberry jam as a Brentree (Champion Lingo for Brunch-Entree).

Such a good bagel!

After having enjoying our bagel we all had high hopes for the main event and I'm telling you, we were not disappointed. :-D see, THAT is my happy face!

Spinach Baked Egg.

My breakfast choice was the 'Spinach Baked Egg' - with lemon, fetta and fennel seeds topped with pecorino pepato with organic pumpkin sourdough toast. I also ordered a side of chorizo. It was delicious and just the right amount of food!

Pancetta wrapped eggs.

Sal and Mads both ordered the same thing, nobody like food envy. 'Pancetta wrapped eggs' - with tomato basil and pecorino pepato, served with spicy baked beans and fetta on organic sourdough toast. They both liked the sound of the pumpkin sourdough toast so they ordered that instead (Awesome by the way) and they both had a side of mushrooms each too (also delicious). The Beans although spicy I think had just the right amount of spice!

The only down side to the meal was the eggs were overcooked, but they were mixed in with all the other delicious ingredients so it didn't really affect our enjoyment levels.

Bruschetta

Emma enjoyed a tomato and bocconcini bruschetta with basil on organic pumpkin sourdough toast. She told me it was delicious and it looks fantastic, if mine wasn't so good I would have had food envy.

BAKED GOODS.

Probably my favourite part of breakfast really. We decided with the cabinet and jars full or delicious treats that we had to do a bit of a cheeky share... AND WE DID!

Baked goods!

Sally's must have was the Chocolate and raspberry brownie, Emma's choice was the carrot cake, and we thought something a little different to top it off, number three was a rhubarb and pistachio friand. To be honest it wasn't anything spectacular, but it was still really nice, and the pistachio and rhubarb friand was a surprisingly good combination of flavours.

hehe edible palomino

My total bill came to $27.40 which included the spinach baked eggs ($11) plus the chorizo side, two coffees, one of the baked goods and a cute little gingerbread horse which I saw at the register and I couldn't resist getting it... In my opinion.. $27.40 is a REALLY good price for a good hearty brekky, I was happily surprised actually.

Happy champions after brekky!

Overall, I really really enjoyed 'Palomino'. The service was fast and accurate, the coffee was great, the food was delicious and the value for money, wow, I'm still a happy camper!

I would happily go back there, especially in summer because there is this beautiful court yard out the back that would be fabulous on a not so cold and rainy day!

Pillar of Salt (revisited)

Pillar of Salt has already been documented here on BOC (the inaugural post I believe, ahhh memories) but seeing as though I went in at a much later time, sat in a different area, had all different meals AND had a really nice experience to boot, I think it deserves another wrap. I did go with the same people though, my wonderful friends Todd and KT.

Check out the colanders for light fittings!

We were originally going to go to Amsterdam Café but it was sadly closed, and since we had enjoyed Pillar of Salt before we decided to go there again. Saturday was a balmy day for September and we sat out the back area to a truly cruisy late afternoon vibe. The staff were chilled out and helpful, and the menu selections were so good I could hardly decide, but I got there in the end. Phew!

The last time we were there, it was a busy Saturday morning and Richmond's trendiest folk were out in force. We felt out of place that we didn't have on heels and a faux rabbit skin vest on (all the rage a few months ago). Switch to the afternoon and the place has a much more relaxed feel.

So even though it was about 3pm, they had all day breakfast and I’m only human, I can’t resist that! Todd picked from the lunch menu but KT and I stayed in the realm of breakfast.

Todd got the coconut poached chicken salad, shredded vegetables, vermiceli noodles, asian herbs & nahm jim dressing ($15). It looked so great, it's times like these when it’s hard being a vego. Of course I didn’t succumb and had to take his word for it that it was excellent, especially loved the dressing. He also got some communal chips - that man knows the way to a girls heart, who doesn't love cafe chips!

mmmmm chips

Coconut poached chicken salad

KT, Todd's beautiful other half, got the homemade smoky borlotti bean bruschetta, with avocado & persian feta puree, served with a poached egg, parsley dressing & shaved grana padano ($16.50). I thought this sounded great but I don’t generally like smoky flavours so I passed on it. KT generously allowed me to sample a fair few bites and there was no overpowering smoke flavours, just delicious beans and cheese flavours so I think this is what I will get when we no doubt come again.

I got the corn fritters, smoked salmon, coriander & avacado salsa ($16 or with a poached egg $18). I asked for no salmon but the others jumped in, stating that they would kindly take the salmon off my hands. That is, after all, what friends are for. The helpful waiter said he’d put it on a side dish for for us, so it's not in this photo as it was eagerly plucked away by KT but I think you can see it in the chips photo above!

They forgot our coke but were mighty apologetic when it came out. The staff were preparing for an evening function but didn’t kick us out, nor did they mind when we stayed chatting for ages after our meals were finished. Overall a really nice afternoon with friends topped off by excellent food and relaxed atmosphere. Get yourself down there kids!

Chez Dre

My friend Linda who has her finger on the pulse with that’s going on in the land of, well everything, recommended Chez Dre to me, and clearly the girl knows her stuff.

Chez Dre is tucked away in a little alley off Coventry street and it kinda looks like not much from the outside, but once stepping inside I realized that was wrong. The place was pumping and BOC old hand Simon and were told we may have to wait 10 minutes for a seat. Not that we were fussed, as I had it on excellent authority that the éclairs were to die for. I took the opportunity to check out the facilities and when I came out, looking for Simon patiently waiting in line, he flagged me down from the seat he had already been given. While we were there I noticed that the many, many staff were super quick to wipe down empty tables and re-seat the next patrons.

We got there around lunch time but being loyal to breakfast had to stick to that menu. I got a really great soy cappuccino to start and Simon got an OJ.

I found it so hard to pick from the great menu, but eventually went for the breakfast sourdough with scrambled eggs. I’m all about the scrambled eggs lately. I also got a side of smashed avocado in order not to get food envy when Simon’s food came – see more below. The eggs were great, perfectly done and there was ample toast so that the egg to toast ratio was perfect. Plus, for something different, a little pile of grated carrot on the side. Different, but I love me some grated carrot, so I was happy.

I almost bagged out Simon, because the last time he featured on BOC that he got eggs Benedict. But he chose the slightly different Poached eggs on sourdough with house marinated smoke salmon and smashed avocado with goats cheese. And after I ate poached eggs for my first 10 odd breakfasts here, I would be the pot calling the kettle boring if I told him that var

iety is the spice of life! It did look lovely though, and once I heard he was getting the smashed avocado with feta I had to add that to my meal too, as the previous comment about food envy alluded to.

I don’t normally get a baked goods, Tiff and Sal usually look after that BOC tradition. But I was told Chez Dre had the best darn éclairs around so I had to. I sent Simon to the pastry case whilst I took one for the team and minded the tables. And bless his cotton socks, did he not make the best decision ever? Lemon tart to accompany our chocolate éclair.

This was one of the best lemon tarts I ever had I reckon (after my Mum’s of course!). The éclair was amazing, but soooo rich. Definitely for sharing.

Over all I was really impressed. The food was good, the place was getting heaps of people in and out but the service was prompt and the prices were pretty standard. Also, there was a cute French waiter. What’s with all these Melbourne breakfast hotties lately? (note: not complaining). Not our standard inner city funky small but well known Brunswickesqe café but sometimes that’s not always the best either *coughsnowponycough*. So well done Chez Dre! If I’m in South Melbourne I’ll definitely go back to try those Moroccan eggs. And have another lemon tart.