When you mention Melbourne to someone from outside Australia, it will evoke images like street art, flat whites, and avocado toast. This simple dish is the symbol of Melbourne’s brunch scene. It is Australia’s most famous culinary export, despite its absence of Vegemite.
Avocado toast is available in almost every Melbourne cafe. Avocado toast is a favourite choice in Melbourne cafes. Australian-style cafes are also becoming more popular around the world. Melbourne residents should know that Melbourne has more to its cafe culture than one dish. Many cafes are open all day, and many transform into restaurants or wine bars after sunset. As important as the coffee is the food. On menus, you’ll see shakshuka or ramen. This is a sign of the city’s multicultural diversity. Some cafes only offer one type of cuisine such as Thai, Sri Lankan, or Japanese. Others offer many different foods and a more relaxed environment. Here, you can make nearly any dish into brunch.
Although it may not be fair to call an Australian cafe “cafe” if they don’t serve avocado toast, Melbourne cafes offer more. Here’s what Melbournians order as breakfast.
Ricotta hotcake
In 2013, Top Paddock introduced a blueberry-and-ricotta hotcake that inspired countless other versions; you can still find it there and the Kettle Black and Higher Ground at its sister cafes. These hotcakes can be decorated with edible flowers or colorful powders. They might look like they were made for Instagram. Ricotta batter is used to make thick, fluffy pancakes. Then, it’s covered with cream maple syrup, fruit, nuts, and flowers. Hotcakes are approximately the same size as large plates. You don’t have to eat them all. Share the hotcakes with friends as a post-brunch dessert.
Potato hash
Melbourne potato hash is similar to rosti or hash browns. It’s made of shredded potatoes. The potato hash is fried to crispy before being topped with slow-cooked beef and poached eggs. Proud Mary can be found in Collingwood. You can also enjoy crispy kale or short-cut bacon in the potato hash. Half of the tables are covered in the potato hash if you look closely. Addict Food and Coffee makes Fitzroy’s potato hash, which looks like a croquette. It is topped with mushrooms, onions, and an eggs.
Japanese breakfast set
Many Japanese restaurants can be found in Melbourne, including many cafes. Zenta Tanaka, Meg Tanaka, and Meg Tanaka designed the Japanese breakfast set. It includes grilled salmon and tamagoyaki, potato salad, miso soup, rice, and miso soup. Both are Japanese, and they met while studying in Adelaide. They moved to Tokyo after a while to continue their work. They moved back to Australia, where they opened CIBI. They combine their passions for design and food to create CIBI. In the afternoon, they offer miso-baked eggs as well as pork katsu sandwiches. There are many Japanese-inspired cafes located in Melbourne’s northern suburbs. Asako Miura and James Spinks reworked the Japanese-Australian cafe Ima Project Cafe. Sustainable produce and fish are the focus of the Japanese breakfast.
Crumpets
Crumpets are similar to English muffins, but were developed in the British Isles. They were a popular snack for many Australians growing up. Bouncy cakes are made with a flour-and yeast batter. Because of their small holes, they are ideal for spreading spreads. Cumulus Inc. is the home of Melbourne’s best-known crumpets. These crumpets are served with raw Rooftop Honey, and whipped Ricotta. Holy Crumpets is the city’s new crumpet café. You can choose from six honey varieties and many spreads, including passionfruit curd and ricotta.
Updated egg, soldier
British soldiers and eggs are made of slices of toasted bread that have been dipped in a soft-boiled egg. Australian cafes often make Vegemite soldiers by adding brown yeast and toasted bread to their toasted bread. This classic can be adapted in many ways. The buttered toast and free range eggs at Pope Joan in Central Business District (CBD), come with crispy bacon bits and buttery brown yeast. Hardware Societe takes it one step further, topping its soldiers with toppings like duck rillettes or potato tortillas.
Congee
Popular Melbourne brunch option is comforting rice porridge. It might not be readily available in all places, but you can get it at Japanese and Thai-Australian cafés such as CIBI and Oneyada. Magic Mountain Saloon offers Thai chicken congee, and coddled eggs with chicken. You can add condiments like ginger, chile, and dry anchovies to it. Wild Life Bakery in Australia is another Australian cafe that has adopted the trend. Congee is made with brown rice and mushrooms at Brunswick East cafe and bakery.
Breakfast panna cotta
Italian pannacotta makes a delicious way to begin your day. You can find it in Melbourne cafes as an option for breakfast. Pannacotta breakfasts are often decorated with granola and fruits, as well as edible flowers. You can make this wobbly thickened dessert with a variety of flavors including basil, Oreo cookies, taro, and pandan. The Nutella pannacotta can be made with torched marshmallows at Elsternwick’s Penta, or the mango-and-saffron pannacotta from Northcote’s Tinker.
Shakshuka
Nearly every cafe serves a baked egg dish. The most popular is shakshuka. It is eggs that have been poached in tomato sauce and herbs. The eggs are then served with pita. Tahina, Northcote & Fitzroy has a green shakshuka made with zucchini, avocado, and broccoli. You can also choose from a white shakshuka with mushrooms, Jerusalem Artichoke and goat cheese. You can find Italian sausage and haloumi versions from Bowery to Williamsburg. Flatbread is baked with a spice mixture called za’atar.
From top left: Tinker, Michael Woods, Timothy Grey
Mushrooms on the “toast”.
If you are looking for something vegetarian/vegan, most cafes offer mushrooms. The “on toast” portion is the most interesting. Admiral Cheng Ho is a vegan cafe that roasts four mushrooms. They serve them on cornbread with almond cheese or chile oils. Short Straw serves wild mushrooms with crispy potato polenta. Two Birds One Stone offers them on soy- and linseed bread. If you’re visiting the city during winter, the red pine mushrooms (also known as saffronmilk caps) might be available on your toast.
Scotch eggs
Scotch eggs are prepared in a variety of ways. They can be hard-boiled or wrapped in sausage. Scotch eggs are often served cold in Britain, whether they’re being eaten as a snack or on picnics. Melbourne cafes do things differently, as you might have guessed. The essential ingredients (eggs, minced beef and breadcrumbs) are the same in Australia. The essential ingredients (egg, minced beef, breadcrumbs, etc.) are identical in Australia. However Scotch eggs can be prepared as a part of a prepared dish or straight from the deep fryer. Holla Coffee Roasters pays tribute to Richmond’s Vietnamese restaurants by offering lap-Cheong Scotch egg with heirloom carrots. The Egg Basket is Lights in the Attic’s most loved dish. It is made up of two Scotch eggs and a tomato-and-bean concasse.
Brekkie bowls
You will find bowls with yogurt and fruits on almost every cafe’s lunch menu. Serotonin Eatery has an acai bowl with peanut butter, banana, and coconut “ice cream”, while MatchaMylkbar’s Daily Ritual Bowl contains chickpeas as well as miso brown rice. Porridge is another popular option. Porridge is typically made with oats. But, bases like quinoa or chia are increasingly popular. To keep the dish vegan, you can use almond or soy milk instead. These are just a few suggestions: Vertue Coffee roasters’ Quinoa Ginger and Orange porridge; Grain Store’s Maple Syrup porridge; or At Home One’s Journeyman’s Chai porridge.
Breakfast noodles
All types of noodles are now available on cafe menus. Mammoth Cafe Armadale serves breakfast ramen, chicken broth and bacon along with an onsen eggs. Terror Twilight allows you to create your own bowl by choosing your noodles (soba or rice), broth (chicken and lemongrass, miso & Shiitake), and vegetables. Vietnamese restaurants in Richmond and Footscray serve piping hot Pho at 8 or 9. Oneyada Thai Cafe, Richmond, offers flat whites and soy duck noodles soup or Khao si. They also offer spaghetti in green curry.
Breakfast pasta
Breakfast pasta is different from Asian breakfast noodles. Pellegrini’s was first to offer pasta in the morning. It was founded in 1954 and boasted the first espresso machine in the entire city. You can still get a 9AM spaghetti Bolognese with an espresso at this place. This is where Melbourne’s cafe culture started. Brunswick’s Small Axe Kitchen started serving maccaruni, a breakfast pasta with guanciale, peas, salt, ricotta and mint. Other cafes followed their example and offered breakfast gnocchi and carbonara. It can be called breakfast if it has an egg.
