Small Victories

(3/7/12)

Was tossing up between Coin Laundry & Auctions Rooms for Brunchon blog today. Then reading the Epicure happened upon the section -  unexplored territory, featuring a cafe 'Small Victories' in Rathdowne St Carlton Nth. It used to be known as the Rathdowne Street Food Store, & happens to be very close to my most favourite gift shop Belki! so it was a done deal the other two can wait until another day. :-) 

 It certainly is a nice bright, streamlined looking cafe that is split level, lovely wooden floors & a few nice little knooks with tables other than the window or marble bar seating.

Smiling, warm greeting by staff upon entering, there weren't many people dinning when we entered but by the time we left a lot of the tables were full. There are a number of eateries along Rathdowne St to choose from so the lure of people already in a cafe can be a definite draw card.

Breakfast is served until 4pm, Lunch from noon onwards.

Freshly squeezed Apple juice was choosen by my two companions at ($6), there was also choice of Harcourts Cold Pressed Apple Juice. They verdict was that the juice was very tasty.

Wide Open Road Blend Coffee (3.7)

Not a huge menu, but quite a few items you would not find on a lot of cafe Breakfast Menus, for example Black Pudding which along with the sausages are made on the premises. Also a really tasty alternative to potato rosti - a Leek & Cheddar Croquette with crunchy outer. There are a list of Sides you can order such as Bacon, Breakfast sausage, Oven Baked mushrooms, garlic & rye crisp, Baked Beans, Leek & Cheddar Croquette.

 The biggest negatives for the sides is the price! Most were ($6) with exception of Baked Beans, Croquette, & Wilted Spinach which were ($5). So if you order eggs on toast & couple of sides it would take your breakfast dish over the ($20) mark!!  There were no sides such as Tomatoes or Avocado (staple at most cafes) but maybe that was their decision to set them apart.

($15)

Waffles, Poached Pear, Chestnut butter, smoked muscovado sugar, fenugreek syrup & candied & caramelised chestnut. 

Yes today I got my sweet choice he he, Waffles that were so light & fluffy. However  they could have done with just a little more of the fenugreek syrup (fenugreek - plant used as spice in fake maple syrup) or chestnut butter as they were a little dry on the outer. The Chestnuts crumbed, candied & caramelised added a really nice crunch to the waffles.

($10) + ($6) + ($5)

Scrambled Eggs on toast, side of Bacon & side of Baked Beans

The plates used for the meals were a lovely deviation from the standard white used in most cafes, they were a type of stone ware. The only problem with breakfast above was that most of the said plate was covered with food & with the raised sides it was a little tricky to eat, but don't worry he ate it all!  Only negative apart from the hefty price of the sides was that the bacon was a little under cooked & a little rubbery, otherwise was a lovely smelling & tasting dish.

($18)

Small Victories mixed Grill: Sausage, Black Pudding, Croquette, Streaky Bacon. Baked Beans

Having never had Black Pudding before there was a little hesitation with choosing this dish! ..... it has what in it ??? Always the adventurous one he stuck to his choice and wasn't disappointed.

The dish was also stoneware & was  served on a wooden board that had the slice of crunchy toast on it, very attractive presentation.  The croquette was extremely nice, and even the Black Pudding went down well.  As with the above meal the only criticism was the Bacon was a little undercooked & bit rubbery.

We finished off with another coffee & a Green Tea. Very friendly staff, nice atmosphere, just a little expensive, hopefully it wont be too much of a negative as they deserve to do just as well as all the cafes around them. :-)

Dukes

(26/6/12)

To head to Chapel Street or not to head to Chapel Street? That was the question, parking is usually an issue in this neck of the woods! Lucky for us we found a park in a side street fairly close to the cafe :-) We were also lured to Dukes by a very cute waiter we all know that works there! So glad he did as bonus for us was that said person was working & secondly its a really cool cafe.  It was certainly humming along when we got there. Luckily there was a bigger table towards the kitchen end that could seat 4 of us. The only problem we encountered was some dust/dirt etc that was falling from one of the exposed rafters above table, when ever there was some wind outside. Luckily none fell in our food!

It is obviously a very popular cafe with locals & Swinburne uni students, there is an entrance at the  back of the cafe which makes for easy access from uni. There were lots of staff working like a well oiled machine, sometimes when there are a large number of wait staff they can over service you or overlook you! Upon being seated by smiling waitress, drinks were ordered a coffee, two Emma & Tom's Cloudy Apple juice & a Radical Action juice!($4)

Its a very good use of the space with wooden tables positioned up one side of cafe, and not too close together & with random number of seating options & the standard of many cafes the communal table (which was getting very good use today). The La Marzocco Mistral coffee machine taking pride of place on the counter top at the front of the cafe. :-)

Dukes Coffee ($3.8)

Breakfast is served until 12.30pm weekdays and the menu offered dishes such as Bircher museli, smithies apples & yoghurt,  Porridge with grenadine & vanilla poached rhubarb, Omelette, goats cheese & chives or N.Z. King Smoked Salmon on rye w ricotta & salsa verde! to name a few!

Baked eggs in slow cooked tomato & capsicum sauce, smoked labneh & grilled pita bread

($17)  + (side of bacon $4.5)

This dish which must I say looks stunning, tasted as good as it looks. Labneh is a soft cheese made from yohurt & is commonly served in the Middle East for breakfast. So was very fitting in the Baked egg dish. The grilled pita bread was a fitting accompaniment, but was a little tricky to cut as the plate under the baked egg dish was slightly curved. Having said that he still managed to consume it all & additional bacon!

 

Avocado Hummus toast, poached eggs, honey candied bacon & dukkah

($18)

I would have loved to have tried the Buttermilk pancakes, citrus segments in toffee syrup, vanilla bean mascarpone, but my Personal Trainer son suggested it was possibly not the healthiest option given that I have just started back at gym, damn might have to give him the flick occasionally (joking  <3)

So I chose the above dish which was extremely tasty, although I have a feeling as yummy as it tasted the fat on the honey candied bacon was not entirely harmless!!

This was our Gluten Free guests brunch for today, a GF bread ham & cheese toasty that is declared very tasty & has been consumed on the premises  more than once before today  :-)

I can not tell you the cost of it as I think it may come from the lunch menu.

Corn & Zucchini Fritters w spicy tomato relish, manchego cheese, spinach avocado & fried egg

($17)

This is such a pretty dish, it was sad to destroy it, but my brunch companion did just that with gusto! The spicy tomato relish had just enough bite in it without producing a sweaty son.  The Manchego cheese (which is a Spanish sheep's milk cheese) combined with the avocado & spinach proved a winning combination.  The addition of the fried egg topped the dish off, so to speak.

Meals complete, we ordered a second yummy Dukes coffee, two hot chocolates &  Organic fair trade Sencha green tea from our favorite waiter. Stomachs definitely satisfied, a most pleasurable experience, thanks Dukes, we will return! :-)