The Green Refectory, Brunswick

Mmmm, mid-week breakfast on a day off work. Yay!

The Green Refectory is a modest looking doorfront place with no signage, but the huge mouth-watering display of muffins in the window instantly drew me in.

The Illy coffee was cause for celebration, as was the option of soy milk. Good coffee!

I was in a sweet mood today so I opted for French Toast, with yogurt on top and a full poached pear on the side. The toast was raisin toast, but the overall meal could have been better. The yogurt was a weird touch in my opinion. If I had cooked it myself at home I would be a little disappointed.

Friend #1 had a savoury homemade muffin made of pinenuts, pumpkin and fetta which looked great.

Friend #2 had the Breakfast Stack which was pretty impressive, which had a potato fritter topped with bacon, choice of poached or fried eggs, HALOUMI (expertly done) grilled tomatoes, a side of spinach, and housemade relish. Good food.

The cakes and salads on offer looked wonderful, and the staff were cheerful. You have to order and pay at the counter, there is no table service as such as far as ordering goes, but they did bring us water.

In all:

• Good prices for the budget impaired
• Illy coffee = great!
• Awesome range of muffins and cakey things
• Nice atmosphere, I like the rustic walls and easy-going vibe

I give the Green Refectory:

6.5 out of 10 muffin high tops!




The Green Refectory
115 Sydney Road
Brunswick
Ph. (03) 9387 1150

My Fruit Salad

Disregarding the mildly awful amateur photo, this fruit salad was superb! All fruit was bought by me on the weekend at the Vic Markets. It was so worth facing the crowds for the bargains! Be strong, yet polite, and the seas of people shall part before you!

It contained:
1 crisp fuji apple
1 banana
1 kiwi fruit
1 mandarin
A handful of red grapes

This breaky kept me going all morning, I was so impressed with my energy levels after polishing this bowl off in record eating time. I even missed my morning coffee, and was feeling ok til about lunchtime when my stomach angrily demanded more food, and caffeine.

Sometimes I forget the simplest things can be wonderful.

I rate my fruit salad - 8.5 out of 10 healthy pats on the back!

Breakfast with El Beardo& his Folks at Bistrot d'Orsay

Faced with the prospect of taking El Beardo's mum and dad out for breakfast on a blustery Saturday morning, and given the destination "city", I frantically scrabbled around until I came up with what looked like a suitable place: Bistrot d'Orsay.

Small-ish, dark, cosy - it was perfect for escaping the elements of Melbourne's wintery Saturday offering. The french style ornaments, pictures and beautiful painted ceiling lend the atmosphere a classy touch.

The breakfast menu is very simple - museli, muffins, fruit toast, and several egg dishes make it easy to choose. After a boozy night the night before, I couldn't face eggs, so I chose the muesli with fresh fruit option. And strong black coffee. NO SOY MILK is points off in my opinion.

The coffee was very good, just a little bit bitter on the aftertaste. But it was strong and flavoursome. We were served water without having to ask - excellent! Good service, if a little cold.

My muesli (toasted) was served with a jug of cold milk, but disappointingly not enough 'fresh fruit'. Just some thinly sliced strawberries and shaved apple on top. And a side dish of greek yogurt.

El Beardo had eggs benedict, which he described helpfully as "yeaaah, pretty good" which if decoded into the (un-forthcoming) longer conversation version, means, "tasty, yes, and filling, but nothing here is really striking me as phenomenal or worthy of searching out again".

In all, the verdict -

• Everything was well-presented
• The coffee was very good
  
• The atmosphere was very nice
  
• NO SOY MILK! GAR!
  
• Not my favourite place for a return visit, just compared to the high standard of other places I've been to.
  

I rate Bistrot d'Orsay:
5 out of 10 French inspired fresco ceilings!




Bistrot d'Orsay
184 Collins St, Melbourne
Tel: (03) 9654 6498

Breakfast at Galleon Cafe, St. Kilda

At Galleon Cafe, the settings are retro and remind me of my nan's 1950's dinner setting. Cute plastic covered chairs, nostalgic simple tables and rickety stools of varying heights are clustered around the reasonably spacious room. The kitchen is open and bustling.

Me and El Beardo Bacon Chops enter and spy that the only available space is a spot in the window on a couple of the stools. I tower over El Beardo on my slightly taller stool, but all is well, because the friendly staff spot us straight away and offer menus, water and coffee service. Great stuff!

Our soy latte and flat white arrive in good time, and are just above average in quality. I survey the room to sticky-beak on other people's food choices. The porridge with strawberries and banana looks creamy and comforting. The museli is generously enhanced with fresh fruit and yogurt. The savoury big breakfasts look huge and brightly coloured.

Unfortunately they have run out of rice pudding, my first choice. I choose instead the bircher museli. El Beardo goes for the Drunken Sailor breakfast option, which is eggs, bacon (of course), tomato, spinach and mushrooms on toast.

The bircher comes in a tall glass, with poached pears and yogurt on top, delicious! Just enough to fill me up, but if I was hungrier I would need to order another small dish. However, for $5 this is great value!

El Beardo's big breakie is certainly huge! The food is well cooked and fresh, with copious amounts of poor dead piggie on his plate. (BACON). I steal some of the mushrooms and spinach on a bit of toast, and it's good quality food.


In all, the verdict -

• Great value. Lots of cheap options for the budget-impaired.
• Coffee could be better. Not at all bad, but not near the best I've had.
  
• Perhaps an upgrade of the rickety stools would be good, I love the look, but I'm a clumsy eater, and a few lurches on my stool caused a few more spills than normal!
  
• Good staff.
  

I rate Galleon Cafe:
7 out of 10 rickety stools!


Galleon Cafe
9 Carlisle Street
St Kilda, VIC 3182
Tel: 03 9534 8934

How exciting! I made a BLOG! Welcome to technology, Nanna Jaye!

I have finally been inspired to share my breakfast culinary experiences after reading Cindy and Michael's fabby blog, "Where's the Beef?". I am a vegetarian, so that will influence my ratings, but my breakfast partner-in-crime, El Beardo Bacon Chops, is a full-on, grease-dripping carnivore so that should even things out. YAY BREAKFAST!