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