Culinary adventures

Einstein’s Relative, South Yarra

~ culinaldi ~ Leave a comment

The first breakfast I had when I moved into the South Yarra area was in a café located in the Yarra Lane precinct, adjacent to the train station called Outpost Café. Let’s just say that after that dining experience, I avoided the place altogether and didn’t look in that general direction when I walked to the train station every morning.

Recently, I noticed that there had been a lot of activity in that area during the morning and weekend periods, with people dining inside the café, and spilling over onto the chairs and tables set up in the laneway. Curiosity got the better of me and I thought that I should go and see for myself what all the fuss was about.

The majority of the space is occupied with the open kitchen, with bench space for dining along the perimeter of the café. The exterior walls are made from floor-to-ceiling glass which makes the relatively small space feel open and filled with natural light. Interspersed throughout the café along the benchtops are a series of recent bestselling cookbooks. I devoured the mouth-watering dishes in Ottolenghi’s “Plenty” whilst simultaneously enjoying my breakfast. Small, glass beakers filled with God-knows-what on the tables, together with colourful caricatures of Albert Einstein and friends displayed along the front counter, pay homage to the great scientist and café’s namesake.

Einstein’s Relative, South Yarra
Einstein’s Relative, South Yarra
Einstein’s Relative, South Yarra
Einstein’s Relative, South Yarra
Einstein’s Relative, South Yarra

The coffee has a sharp, distinctive flavour that is a little too bitter for my palate but nonetheless beautifully presented in one of the café’s trademark stylish emerald-green coffee cups.

The menu is not extensive but has a combination of Middle Eastern and Mediterranean influences, in conjunction with exotic sounding offerings incorporating organic superfoods such as the Acai Wake Up Bowl and Quinoa Porridge. I have a deep love of haloumi so I was instantly drawn to the Haloumi Bruschetta with seeded sourdough toast, diced haloumi, avocado, radish, tomato medley and a tangy yoghurt dressing.

Haloumi Bruschetta: Seeded sourdough toast with diced haloumi, avocado, radish, tomato medley and a tangy yoghurt dressing - Einstein's Relative, South Yarra
Haloumi Bruschetta: Seeded sourdough toast with diced haloumi, avocado, radish, tomato medley and a tangy yoghurt dressing – Einstein’s Relative, South Yarra

The first thing that struck me about my breakfast was the amazing array of colours. From the vibrant red and yellow displayed in the cherry tomatoes, to the golden brown grilled haloumi, complete with touches of green in the mashed avocado and hints of purple from the micro herb garnish. It was a feast for the eyes as well as for the stomach.

The haloumi cheese, with a crispy outer layer and soft centre was delicious, even more so when covered with the silky smooth yet spicy yoghurt sauce. The medley of thinly sliced radish, tomatoes and herbs were fresh and tasty and a perfect foil for the spice in the dish. With a little more added spice thrown in for good measure, the mashed avocado was also plentiful and helped to ensure that all the combined textures and flavours worked in harmony with each other. The sourdough bread was also great but with all the moisture from the avocado and dressing, it didn’t resemble toast for too long.

It seems a little strange but poignant that my last breakfast as a resident of South Yarra should be in the exact same location as the first one, but at least I can say with absolute certainty that this breakfast experience was thoroughly enjoyable!

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Dimattina Coffee, South Melbourne

~ culinaldi ~ Leave a comment

I love discovering new places to eat and finding hidden gems. Walking through South Melbourne this morning, on a whim I saw a café within a historic looking building and decided to walk in. There is a sense of old world charm when you enter Dimattina’s from the street. Your eyes take in the quaint French bistro style chairs, faded and worn wooden tables on wrought iron stands, the cushions and banquette seating along the window, the beautiful copper-coloured pressed metal along the front counter, walls decorated with art deco style wallpaper, and the ornate ceiling rose and large antique chandelier overhead in the middle of the room. The series of black and white studio portraits and movie stills of the actors from yesteryear drinking coffee, adds another touch of class to the café.

Dimattina Coffee, South Melbourne
Dimattina Coffee, South Melbourne
Dimattina Coffee, South Melbourne

The wonderful thing that I have discovered about ordering coffee in the South Melbourne area is that if you ask for a large coffee, you really do get the super-sized version. The coffee blend is strong with distinctive malt and toasted wheat flavours on the first sip. The art of roasting and coffee-making is taken very seriously at Dimattina’s, with a coffee roaster on site in addition to a dedicated barista training area and specialist equipment showroom towards the back.

Dimattina Coffee, South Melbourne
Dimattina Coffee, South Melbourne
Dimattina Coffee, South Melbourne

The service is laid back and casual. The breakfast menu is up on the wall, which the staff will cheerfully tell you as you first walk into the café. The majority of the specialty dishes have a heavy emphasis on eggs for breakfast, with toast, muesli (including Bircher), fruit salad and porridge also available on the menu. It took me a few moments to decide what I wanted to order having had my fill of smoked salmon and poached eggs during the last few weeks, before deciding on the Eggs Benedicte with brown butter hollandaise, mint salad and yoghurt scone (sic).

Although the café wasn’t busy for a Saturday morning, there was a little bit of a wait before my order arrived, but I think that might have been attributable to the fact that there is only the chef in the kitchen and that there were three tables that happened to be ordering breakfast at the same time. I happily read the Saturday newspaper and continued to slurp on my bucket of coffee. When my breakfast did arrive, it looked great. Nothing fancy or pretentious but rather rustic with a hint of retro, with the addition of the twisted slice of orange on the side to garnish the plate. I did wonder what had happened to the mint salad as I gazed at the abundance of rocket leaves in front of me and then started attacking my breakfast with gusto.

Eggs Benedicte with brown butter hollandaise, rocket on yoghurt scone - Dimattina Coffee, South Melbourne
Eggs Benedicte with brown butter hollandaise, rocket on yoghurt scone – Dimattina Coffee, South Melbourne

The burnt butter hollandaise sauce is fantastic and has a sweet and nutty flavour that is intense but not overwhelming and the quantity is ample to cover the eggs, bacon, the crispy scone underneath, and even the rocket. The grilled bacon is lean and substantial enough to match the sauce. Actually I was rather glad that bacon was served with the dish as I don’t think slices of ham would have been an ideal pairing. The scone at the bottom of the dish took me by surprise. A touch of crispy, dry crust at the edges and not too large or thick, they had a slightly sweet flavour of their own. With a scrape of melted butter on top, they were still firm and moist to eat even without any of the other elements added. The yoghurt scone base really was delicious and not too heavy or stodgy on the stomach.

I’m excited to find that I have discovered something truly unique, a place with delicious unpretentious food and excellent coffee, with an ambience that harmoniously draws the past into the present.

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The Little Man Cafe, Seddon

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I really had to eat. Although I was heading off to a cooking class at Spice Bazaar in Seddon for four hours of hands-on cooking and eating at 10am, the five consecutive Body Pump classes I had subjected my body to during the week meant that my appetite when I woke up on Saturday morning was off the Richter scale. Surely a little something to eat beforehand couldn’t hurt? The last time I was in Seddon, I had a wonderful breakfast at Common Galaxia which was in the vicinity of where I needed to be and so I headed in that direction.

Walking along the shopping strip in Victoria Street, I could see Common Galaxia in my line of sight and then as I walked past a large window, I could see a communal table in the front with a small crowd of people seated, enjoying coffee and chatting in what appeared to be a new café. The sign on the timber door said “Closed” and I took ten more steps further before I decided to circle back and see if it was a café that was open for breakfast.

The Little Man Cafe, Seddon
The Little Man Cafe, Seddon
The Little Man Cafe, Seddon

Thankfully the place was indeed open and I was greeted by the counter and allowed to sit wherever I wanted. Located on a street corner, the café was full of light from the front and side windows. The brick walls have been painted white, complemented by pale timber floors and tables, white timber chairs, turquoise blue tiles and matching crockery accents all come together to create an elegantly designed dining space.

The menu is not exhaustive but has offerings of toast, baked eggs, scrambled eggs and the traditional Atlantic/Florentine/Benedict options. Yoghurt panna cotta and vanilla bean rice are wonderful substitutes for porridge or muesli and there is Mocha Brioche French Toast dish on the menu that sounds both exotic and delicious. With a fondness for haloumi, my ravenous appetite gravitated towards the Sweet corn hot cakes with smoked salmon, rocket and haloumi, and also took the option to add poached egg.

The Little Man Cafe, Seddon
The Little Man Cafe, Seddon
The Little Man Cafe, Seddon

The café tends to become busier as the morning wears on, however from the moment I sat down, I was well and truly looked after in the customer service department. The same person who greeted me at the door went to the trouble to locate a newspaper for me, replaced my cutlery as soon as it accidentally flew off the table (I blame the Herald Sun), took the trouble to ask if I would like another coffee and had the nous to ask how I wanted my poached egg cooked. Definitely two thumbs up.

The coffee is excellent and the barista is constantly busy but still manages to weave his magic in the presentation of each cup.

Sweet corn hot cakes with smoked salmon, rocket, haloumi and poached egg - The Little Man Cafe, Seddon
Sweet corn hot cakes with smoked salmon, rocket, haloumi and poached egg – The Little Man Cafe, Seddon

When you read something on a menu, your mind tends to conjure up an image of what that dish may look like. The presentation of my breakfast when it arrived exceeded my expectations. Three pikelet sized hot cakes filled with kernels of sweet corn underneath a handful of rocket, topped with slices of smoked salmon, poached eggs and wafer-thin strips of grilled haloumi cheese. Interspersed among all of those ingredients were thin slices of radish, tomato and the most finely chopped pieces of red onion I had ever seen.
The haloumi was crispy and due to its size it didn’t have its normal soft texture and taste but was delicious nonetheless. All of the textures and tastes worked well together, from the crispy cheese, soft egg, the smoky and salty flavour of the salmon, the bitter taste of fresh rocket leaves combined with the firm and slightly sweet hot cakes, made each mouthful an absolute delight. At that point I was rather glad that my appetite got me out of bed early in search of a hearty breakfast and that I found something special and unique in Seddon.

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