Arcadia

Firstly, welcome back Champion of Breakfast Sally who has missed the last two.

On this cold, rainy and just depressing Monday we trekked out to Fitzroy to sample the cafe goodness of 'Arcadia' (which this blogger had been recommended but an excited family friend).

Most of the parking was 1 hour on Gertrude street but after many a U-turn we were able to find a cheeky 2-hour park so we could enjoy our breakfast without having to rush off. I'm not sure if we would have had as many options on the weekend though.

We found Arcadia easily and walked in excited at the breakfast to come only to be met with... well not much really, a coffee machine and a glum looking barista. I had to hold back my inner cafe worker hospitality which quickly turned to us standing in the door way feeling a bit awkward, 'Do we sit down?', 'Should we ask for a menu?', Damn those muffins look good'. Sal took some initiative and found the nearest two-seater.

The Menu we discovered was written on the walls.

As we worked our way down the list it quickly became apparent what our problem was going to be... choice, everything sounded great and we were weighing up the pros and cons.

I would like to add that by this stage we hadn't been greeted yet...

After some glances at the young man who we assumed to be our waiter we got a drink order in.

Mmmm coffee!

My latte was a bit awesome actually and I would have happily had 3 or 4. For all you connoisseurs out there single origin beans were available.

When our coffees were dropped off we made our food order (half hungry/half scared that it would take a while to get the waiters attention again)

So as to avoid the 'food envy' monster which has reared it's ugly in the past we both ordered the same breakfast.

The Decision was made, and after a considerable wait (in the world of breakfast anyway) our breakfast....

Corn Fritters!

Corn Fritters with salmon, fresh rocket, poached eggs (deliciously runny) with a chilli, coriander yoghurt dressing to top it off.

The negative thoughts about the service washed away in each fantastic mouthful, I'm still drooling now! Generous with the salmon, perfectly runny eggs, we couldn't fault the food at all.

Next was the 'Baked goods' section of our meal... Possibly the best bit.

Who doesn't like a freshly baked muffin??

I want my muffins served this way in future!

Along with coffees we chose a blueberry, chocolate and coconut muffin.

I was thoroughly impressed when they put our muffin on the table: They had cut it in half, sprinkled it with icing sugar AND warmed it up. That's how muffins should come, YUM. It was light and fluffy and just everything a muffin should be. Sally also told me that her triple shot flat white 'was lovely!'

So overall - the food was stunning and was the definite saviour, the coffee was great too. I would HOPE that the service was just a one time thing, the cafe wasn't jam packed though and they had a couple of staff working. It definitely soured the experience that would have been phenomenal otherwise.

'Arcadia' - 193 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy

Soul Food Cafe

My sister may never forgive me for picking the restaurant this time. Not only did she have to forgo her regular serving of chozorio/bacon, but her eggs were thoroughly disappointing which as any experienced breakfast goer knows, totally killed her buzz.

It was to be my last Breakfast of Champions on a weekday. And since my Tiffo works pretty much exclusively on weekends, it was to be our last breakfast out together for a while. So she graciously allowed me to pick the place. Wanting to try our more vegetarian places, I opted for Soul Food Café.

As much as I was super determined to be thrilled over a Vegetarian’s paradise there were a few unimpressive things about it. Firstly, it took ages for our food orders to be taken. Secondly it took ages for our food to come out. It did come out at the same time, thank goodness.

Coffee was good, and I finally got the bonsoy I so desired! Well after I realised I could have had it the week before and didn’t get it. The foam was really fluffy, good milk work guys!

I got the breakfast burger. I can’t express enough how much I love getting a burger out. Being a vegetarian makes this harder because lots of places that traditionally do burgers (read: pubs) don’t really cater for vegos. So to combine my two of my favourite things: breakfast and burgers – I was sold. It was delicious, as you would expect Turkish break, fried egg, tomato, mushrooms, spinach cheese and a side of hash browns to boot (hash browns sold separately). Those hash browns were really great, so glad I opted for them as a last breakfast (for a while) splurge. It was a bit mushroom heavy which is probably just a personal preference of mine, but mushrooms are easy to pick out so I was happy.

Burger for breakfast? Don't mind if I do!

Steph got the 'Monster Vegan' which was massively huge, and she finished it all, which left the rest of the table mighty impressed. It had scrambled tofu and it came with toast, hash browns, mushrooms, spinach, tomato and relish. It was her first time to scramble tofu and she is a total convert now!

Maddy and Tiffo both got the ‘Soul’s Big Brekie’, which is eggs any way you like it plus any 3 sides. I do like that option – too often I find cafes seem to over-charge for sides. Maddy had scrambled eggs, haloumi and a potato rosti. Tiffo got poached eggs, fetta, spinach and mushrooms. The toast came with butter or nutlex on the side, and was pretty thin for restaurant standards. Maddy’s was quite nice – gee haloumi is awesome, even after it’s gone tough. That salty taste, mmmm! I did steal a bit off Maddy’s plate for anyone who didn’t figure that out. Tiffo was less pleased with her meal – hard poached eggs and bland spinach. The fetta saved her meal, but overall she found it disappointing. Damn those overcooked eggs!

Lucky Tiff was able to get a chocolate truffle for her baked good, which met the delicious criteria – phew! Although I rushed her out of there so I could make my free massage on time (hard life!) so she had to enjoy on the go.

Baked good saved the day

So overall mixed reviews – Mine was great but Tiffo was thoroughly disappointed – and not just because of the lack of bacon, I’ve seen her voluntarily forgo bacon before! I may not rush to go back there but if other people wanted to go I’d go back.

Each Peach

Each Peach was the latest expedition for we Champions. There is no website that I can find – but this is the review that sent us there.

Each peach has the shabby interior that kind of mumbles I’m just scraping into inner city and I’m so hip that I don’t care. But it has charm and is obviously fully intended – it’s decked out in trimmings from no doubt the funkiest op-shops in the inner north, and to my own personal pleasure, there’s heaps of pink. Can you say trimmings when it does not relate to a Christmas tree?

We were seated in the upstairs area which is bright and roomy, with a long school camp reminiscent table with those long bench seats. I expect on a busy weekend you’d have to share them but it was lovely to have it all to ourselves on an semi-quiet Thursday. The menus are charming, and check out the kids play area. The little girl buried deep inside kinda wanted to go play with that doll house.

Pink dolls house, bless

My coffee was lovely. And to continue with the charm factor, isn't’ this cup just lovely. Reminds me of Nanna, but not too over the top. I didn’t see that the menu had Bonsoy until later when looking at the photos – totally bummed, Bonsoy is my all time favourite soy! Next time

I ordered the ‘Tumble Rumble' after the last time I had food envy over the chilli scrambled eggs at Tryyany of distance. This consisted of scrambled eggs with tomato, coriander a bit of chilli all on top of a hearty slice of sourdough toast. It was lovely, slightly too much egg vs toast for my liking, but I do like to get a good mouthful of toast and egg in one hit. The only downfall of the meal was that my order came a good couple of minutes before anyone else’s. I sat there awkwardly, wanting to eat but doing my best not to be rude. It got slightly ridiculous and once the comment was thrown out that I was being silly and my eggs would go cold, I tucked in. Luckily the rest of the meals came out then.

Alex, Tiffo and Maddy had the Ultimate BLT with various alterations: Tiffo went the standard, which consisted of thick cut free-range bacon , lettuce, tomato, chilli jam, a fried egg and aioli. Apparently delicious and the bacon was just the right amount of crispiness. Maddy had hers with avocado, and much amusement was had when we realised that it meant hers was a BLAT. Alex had his sans tomato which would have the much less entertaining abbreviation of a BL.

B.L.A.T!

Steph enjoyed the ‘Big greek baked beans' - slow cooked with rosemary and dill with sourdough olive bread and Meredith goats fetta. She reported that it was delicious and also wholesome feeling, for those who want to feel good after breakfast. Combining breakfast and sour cream is such a winner in my book, so I look forward to trying that next time. I would have had food envy again had my tomato chilli eggs not been so lovely.

For the traditional BOC sweet treat, Tiff and Alex shared a chocolate pecan pie. I stole a little, they had warmed it up which could have only enhanced how good it was. Brilliant.

Om nom nom nom

Additional fun aspects – awesome toilets. Blackboard paint and supplied with chalk? Don’t mind if we do!

Also they sell jams and preserves. Steph bought a fig and apple jam, and apparently it’s amazing. Really sweet and nice chunks of fig. Unfortunately no pictures of the jam shelf but it’s near the front counter if you’re looking out for it!