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!