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!

Red Door Corner Store Cafe

I was beginning to worry that all my reviews are too good. From my limited knowledge (on everything really), a food critique can’t like everything and has to be a bit harsh to be considered a food critique of any credibility, right? This was going around at the back of my mind.

This was until I went to Queensland. Now I don’t want to be terribly snobbish but in my two day stint ‘up north’ I didn’t really experience anything that could be described as fine culinary cuisine (and I’m not a proper foodie, so for me to be hating on their restaurants it’s got to be pretty average, right?). And whilst two days can’t really get me having an experience that should set the benchmark for all the food of a whole other state, but I was not impressed. Almost everything I was served up was reminiscent of bland old school RSL food, i.e. salads consisting of iceberg lettuce, and a few wedges of tomato. When I went out for breakfast I indulged in my recently renewed love of bagels that was reawakened during my trip to A Minor Place. The Queensland version of the bagel was served with the unlikely pairing of a side salad fitting the aforementioned salad description, plus it had unnecessary butter on it (my bad, as I should have checked but who puts butter on a bagel when you order it with cream cheese? Surely butter and cream cheese are mutually exclusive). Plus there was just a weird off taste that I’m attributing to the butter, my chai latte was too weak, and it was overpriced. Whinge complete.

In summation, I heart Melbourne Breakfasts.

Today we went to Red Door Corner Store in Northcote. Tiffo had discovered it the week before and upon arrival Peach realised she’d been here too. The just-rustic-enough interior is scattered with red kitchen appliances and such, the whole effect is very charming. I wish I’d taken a photo of the back outdoor area, which was a picturesque portrait of Autumn courtesy of the corner Japanese Maple that had thoughtfully scattered the majority of his leaves for my viewing pleasure.

Coffee: Really good. How sweet are the little plates? It’s like I’m back in the 80’s and using my mum’s good china (but mismatching it with a latte glass, which I’m sure no one in Melbourne had heard of in the 80’s).

Tiff and Peach picked from the specials board, the special: mushrooms, spinach, a poached egg, shaved parmesan and semolina gnocchi. Gnocchi for breakfast? Apparently fantastic. I reckon you could put shaved parmesan cheese on pair of socks and I’d eat it though, why is that stuff not on everything?

I almost forgot the shot of their traditional bacon on the side

BOC newbie M and I both had spicy chipotle bean tortilla with sour cream, topped with avocado, coriander and tomato salsa. We also added a poached eggs. It was like a Mexican themed breakfast party in my mouth and I wanted to invite everyone, and I was left with an insatiable lust for more sour cream in subsequent day which I have still not satisfied. This was just so awesome, I was so impressed. And even though it looked quite small when it was served up, I still couldn’t finish it.

Breakfast was finished off with sweet treats – banana and passionfruit muffin and chocolate mud muffins. Once again, not the adorable plates. Does everyone’s mum have a collection of these?

Peach got a chilli hot chocolate as well – just check out that presentation! It came with a cinnamon stick which she was able to sip through, although this was a bit intense. But the chocolate was great, not to mention massive.

All in all very good. Also I’m pleased to note that the staff were great, really friendly and relaxed. One small downfall – no EFTPOS. For the slightly more disorganised among us, we had to trek up the hill to get to the ATM on high street, but luckily it was a beautiful day and I must say that the walk did make me feel slightly better about all that sour cream, so not an entirely bad thing. But if it’s raining or if you have to rush off after your delicious breakfast, be sure to stop at the ATM on the way.