A Minor Place, Brunswick

Our weekends have been unusually full since well before Christmas making weekend breakfast a bit trickier than it used to be. Today, Prince Gobble Guts and I decided we'd have to carry the breakfast torch for the family otherwise this breakfast blog was going to wither away and die.

Today Prince Gobble Guts and I made our first foray into the weekday breakfast. It began with a long car ride in somewhat heavy traffic as we traversed greater Melbourne making our way slowly to the inner north suburb of Brunswick. This was the first difference we noticed--the traffic. It's quite relaxing sussing out a good breakfast place on a quiet Sunday morning, but in peak hour on a rainy Thursday it was not so enjoyable. Note to self: Weekday brunch might be the go.

Navigating the narrow and congested streets that form the arteries of Brunswick can be a very delicate exercise--especially in the rain. A Minor Place, the cafe that fellow breakfast lover, Kylie, had chosen, sits on Albion Street between Nicholson Street and Sydney Road--not that you'd ever know it. I'm sure I drove by it twice wondering where the bloody hell it was until I made the urgent call to Kylie to clarify the name and address. It was then that she mentioned the cafe sits in an old yellow house with a veranda out the front. No wonder I couldn't find it I thought, it just blends in with the rest of the street. That section of Albion is very residential so I kept waiting for the cafe to jump out at me, but it was well camouflaged.

Several U-turns later, Prince Gobble Guts and I found some parking on the street and hurried through the rain into the nondescript yellow house that A Minor Place calls home.

Kylie was well into her first cup of tea when we arrived and had nabbed a spot at a large square communal table in the front of the cafe overlooking the street. A quick glance around the room found three diners with laptops busily working away, plenty of understated retro decor and a clientele that looked as if they could all be stall holders at a really groovy Arts market. The feel was cozy with a bit of polish. Prince Gobble Guts was the only little person in the room. The rest of the diners looked to be somewhere in the 25-45 crowd.

As soon as we sat down, the helpful waitress stopped by to take our drink orders. I asked for a latte for myself and a babychino for Gobble Guts. The drinks arrived shortly after and the coffee was very good. Prince Gobble Guts seemed thrilled with the babychino as well and had the tell tale chocolate mustache that seems unavoidable when enjoying that warm milk treat. Kylie and I took a bit of time to look over the menu and both noted several dishes that looked worth a try. Kylie narrowed her choice down to the French Toast and I ordered a dish called The Mumbler which consisted of two poached eggs on toast with pesto, feta cheese, fresh spinach and tomato. I asked the waitress for a small side order of scrambled eggs for the Prince, but she informed me the kitchen only prepared items in one size--which meant it would be a full order of eggs for the Prince or no eggs at all. So I ordered a full order of scrambled eggs on toast with a side of bacon.

Kylie and I busied ourselves with the task of entertaining Prince Gobble Guts, but mostly he was entertaining us. The kid has a whole collection of facial expressions that he flashes indiscriminately melting the hearts of the most hardened onlookers. Oh and the eye lashes...he bats those around quite a bit too. He was really enjoying his moment in the spotlight with his usual competition, Princess Pancake, safely tucked away at Kinder.

At some point before the food arrived, an overly serious waiter who reminded me a bit of REM front man Michael Stipe, approached the table to set out our cutlery. He placed a serviette down next to Prince Gobble Guts and then said something along the lines of, "G'day there young fellow. I'm going to give you a knife and fork now." Then placed the cutlery on top of the serviette and walked away. Prince Gobble Guts was as puzzled as I was. It was becoming more and more obvious that A Minor Place wasn't accustomed to catering for minors. No small serves of menu items and now a knife for a 2 year old. Puzzling indeed.

I wouldn't say the food was slow in coming out, but I would say it was relaxed. Kylie and I weren't in a hurry so we didn't notice the wait, but I do think if you were short on time you might have been asking about your breakfast before ours arrived at the table. When the food did arrive, it looked lovely. Kylie's French Toast appeared to be quite the indulgence and had the taste and texture to back it up. She ate it all up, down to the very last bite!

My meal, The Mumbler, looked fresh and inviting with two of the most well poached eggs I've seen in a cafe in Melbourne in a long time. The pesto spread on the toast was delicious and the feta cheese was understated and not too bold. It was a unique and yummy combination.

Prince Gobble Guts' scrambled eggs were light and fresh with plenty of herbs mixed through them. He seemed to only have eyes for the bacon though and true to his name, gobbled it all down before his long suffering baconless Mum ever got a taste. I was pleased that it was Prince Gobble Guts who was faced with the herbed scrambled eggs because nothing phases this kid. My mind was shuddering at the thought of trying to sell the same meal to Princess Pancake. It would have been a disaster. Different strokes for different folks right?

Kylie and I enjoyed our meals immensely and Prince Gobble Guts had no complaints...he rarely ever does. After we sat and had a chat for a bit longer we decided more coffees were in order. Not one to have multiple coffees in one day much less in one sitting, I decided I'd order a decaf. Kylie quickly informed me that A Minor Place doesn't have decaf coffee. Bummer. So we settled for two weak lattes instead and another round of babychino for the little fella.

Several hours after we arrived in the light morning rain, it was nearly midday and the rain was coming down quite hard. We relinquished our spots at the communal table and headed to the bar to settle our bill. The kind waitress gave us our total and Kylie asked if we could pay for our meals separately. The waitress informed us that you can't split the bill at A Minor Place. So we did the maths and sorted it out, paid the bill and walked outside to say our goodbyes.

Final Verdict on A Minor Place:

While I found the cafe itself to be charming in a retro-too-cool-for-school kind of way and the food to be fantastic, I do think the service lacks a bit of hospitality. The wait staff are friendly enough, but the hard and fast rules on serving sizes and bill splitting was a bit annoying. While Prince Gobble Guts coped quite well in the environment, I don't think it is a particularly kid friendly cafe and the attitude of the staff bears that out. If you live in the area, take yourself a bit seriously and appreciate a good meal in a casual but hip environment then A Minor Place might just be the place for you. If you've got little people, leave them at home or go elsewhere--the vibe just isn't kid friendly.

A Minor Place

103 Albion Street

Brunswick

9384-3131

Elle Cafe, Canterbury

Our Sunday morning search for something special took us to the busy inner city suburb of Hawthorn. There is a place there we've driven by hundreds of times and said, "We must try that place one day." It's always busy and looks like it could be something very special as far as breakfast is concerned. Upon arrival, the place was buzzing and there simply wasn't a table to be had. So instead of waiting around, we decided to continue our adventure and search elsewhere.

Our second choice of venue was Elle Cafe at 80 Canterbury Road in Canterbury. Again, this is a place that we've driven by numerous times, but have never tried. We arrived at Elle Cafe at about 10:30am. It looked as if it had been quite busy early on and there were still some tables set with reserved signs whose diners were yet to arrive. Luckily for us, there was a table for 4 available and we grabbed it.


The cafe itself isn't that large inside. The tables are relatively close together, but there are nice views of the park across the road and plenty of light. We waited patiently at our table for one of the staff to bring us a menu. After a few minutes, it became clear that the staff weren't going to bring us a menu, so the Handsome Australian took it upon himself to source a few from the counter up the front of the cafe.

A quick look at the menu, and the Handsome Australian and I knew immediately what we'd be having...The Big Breakfast. We are often Big Breakfast people. During the week, it's All Bran and Muesli for us, the same boring breakfast every day. So on the weekends, we like to lash out a bit and have something a bit indulgent. This indulgence, more often than not, comes in the form of the Big Breakfast.

Once we sorted out what we were having, it was time to decide what to feed the little people. Princess Pancake had her heart set on...yes, pancakes. Unfortunately, there weren't any pancakes to be found on the menu. Good thing her happiness can also be bought with a greasy side of bacon. Normally we'd order her some scrambled eggs so she could pretend to eat them (she always asks for scrambled eggs and bacon, but never touches the eggs) but this menu had a few surprises...for the kids there were Rice Bubbles (aka Rice Crispies in other parts). At $3, they were a good gamble since we had no idea if Princess Pancake would actually eat them or not. As we discussed whether or not to throw the dice on the Rice Bubbles, we discovered that we've never exposed Princess Pancake to Rice Bubbles before. She's not a huge cereal eater anyway, but even so, you'd think she'd have come across them at some point in her four short years.

After a bit of umming and ahhing, we settled on Rice Bubbles with a side of bacon for PP and then the kid's breakfast for Prince Gobble Guts. If memory serves, the kid's breakfast was scrambled eggs and bacon on toast for about $5.50 (I did write all this down while I was there with the idea that this sort of info would be useful for the writing of this post, but I think Princess Pancake needed more drawing paper or something...needless to say, my notes were sacrificed for a greater cause. So, sorry about the approximations).

Whew! You think choosing what to have was time consuming--you obviously haven't waited at Elle Cafe for the wait staff to come and take your order. We were sitting there for quite awhile before the Handsome Australian caught some one's eye and informed them what we'd like to have.

In addition to our food, we also ordered two lattes and an orange juice. Elle Cafe has a separate juice bar next door to it presumably run by the same people. They have a special drinks menu which includes a large selection of freshly squeezed juices. The orange juice was about $5.50 and came in a really large glass. The glass was so large, that we actually ended up splitting it up amongst the four of us in the smaller water glasses they provided on the table. The juice was indeed freshly squeezed and was absolutely divine. It was a winner all round.


The coffee lived up to the Handsome Australian's very high standard. It was smooth, creamy and arrived very hot.

It seemed to take a bit of time for our food to come out of the kitchen, but luckily, there were large plastic containers filled with crayons and some drawing paper on a nearby bookshelf. Both PP and PGG spent the time waiting for their food trying to find their inner Van Goughs--the results were mixed.

Finally, the food arrived. Princess Pancake was amused with the Rice Bubbles and the snap, crackle and pop symphony emanating from them. Prince Gobble Guts was excited by his meal, his sister's meal and my meal. He had something from every one's plate...how do you think he got his name? He eats everything!

The Handsome Australian and I were pleased with our Big Breakfasts (about $16.50) which included 2 poached eggs, bacon, grilled mushrooms and tomato, chipolata sausages all on two pieces of thick crusty toast. The poached eggs were properly cooked--nothing annoys the Handsome Australian more than a poached egg that doesn't run. The sausages were very tasty and the bacon, mushrooms and tomato rounded out a very delicious meal.

Final verdict on Elle Cafe: The food, juice and coffee were all of a high standard. We were pleased to see menu items that catered for the kids. The atmosphere is bright and busy and our kids really enjoyed the diversion of the crayons and drawing paper. Elle Cafe's downfall is the indifferent service by the staff. We had to get our own menus and get a staff member's attention each time we wanted something. When we did get their attention, they weren't particularly friendly or helpful. It was as if they really didn't care if there were customers there or not.

If you live nearby or happen to be in the neighbourhood, Elle Cafe would be a decent place to have breakfast and is good for the kids--crayons aside, the lovely park across the road is a great place to visit before or after your meal. I wouldn't, however, go out of my way to have breakfast at Elle Cafe.


The outdoor seating area at Cafe Elle as viewed from the park.