Last year, I thought I would try and discover new breakfast destinations, courtesy of the Number 8 city bound tram. Whilst I was eager to visit all the cafés en route from the Domain Interchange through to Brunswick and Coburg, I also wondered what I would discover if I took a trip in the opposite direction. Its been almost a year to the day since I had walked up to Toorak village, and seeing as my days of living in the South Yarra area are almost coming to an end, I decided to catch the tram and see what new culinary adventure awaited.

A beautiful, sunny morning, it wasn’t long before I could see occupied chairs and tables outside on the footpath, and found an open and inviting café called “Townhouse”. The interior was stylish with touches of Scandinavian influence with clean wooden floors, chairs and tables, with an inviting dark grey, linen upholstered banquette seat opposite the coffee machine. I was captivated by the designer lighting over the counter area and secretly wished I had something similar in my pad.

I don’t represent myself as a coffee connoisseur, but I was in heaven upon first sip of my skinny latte. Without doubt, the best cup of coffee I have tasted in a long while, and you know that you are in the right place when you look up and see George Calombaris also enjoying breakfast there.

Townhouse, Toorak

Townhouse, Toorak

Townhouse, Toorak

The menu had the usual offerings of fruit toast, muesli, porridge, various bacon and egg combinations with accompaniments, smoked salmon with avocado and eggs, omelette and pancakes. I was intrigued by the description of the pancakes which sounded slightly healthy: Rye, Chia Seed and Blueberry pancakes with vanilla mouse and maple syrup. I can recall my Mum making a buckwheat version when I was a young girl and its taken years to blot out the memory of their terrible taste. Yeuch! Whilst I was a little apprehensive about the inclusion of rye and chia seeds, I was willing to try something new.

Although I had a case of food envy when a plate of Smoked Salmon on Dark Rye with poached eggs, avocado and preserved lemon hollandaise arrived at the table next to mine. The presentation was fabulous and I almost wished that was what I had ordered, and then my breakfast arrived. Also beautifully presented, with four pikelet sized pancakes and dollops of vanilla mousse artfully arranged on the plate. The mousse was extremely fluffy with faint hints of vanilla bean, slightly sweetened by the juice from the blueberries but had more of a foam-like consistency. The pancakes were moist and generously filled with blueberries and drizzled with maple syrup. I couldn’t detect any obvious taste of rye or chia seeds but the pancakes were extremely light and delicious.

The service at Townhouse is efficient, perfunctory and unobtrusive but dare I say it, there is a lack of genuine personal interaction. My coffee order was taken within thirty seconds of being seated; my plate silently whisked away as soon as I had finished and my empty coffee glass also wordlessly taken. I really wanted another skinny latte after having enjoyed my first cup, and the usual “Would you like another coffee?” wasn’t forthcoming. Before I could request one, the waitress had sped off. As there was nothing on my table, service staff had no reason to come near me, so my only recourse was sit and stare around the café until I gained someone’s attention. My payment at the cash register was similarly conducted with robotic precision and I walked out with the feeling that I was another transaction rather than a customer.

Aside from that, Townhouse is a lovely café with delicious food and I hope that it doesn’t take another year to wander up to Toorak village and enjoy breakfast there again.