Poached eggs

Two Little Pigs Charcuterie and Grind, Brunswick

~ culinaldi ~ Leave a comment

There is a tram stop literally ten metres from the front entrance of my apartment building where the No. 55 tram route travels along – from the Domain Interchange in St Kilda Road through to Bell Street in West Coburg. For the last few months, I’ve been dreaming about jumping on the tram on a Saturday morning and discovering new places to eat in Brunswick for breakfast. This week I decided to kick start that adventure but had absolutely no idea where I should be heading to. Lucky for me some friends of mine have recently moved to Brunswick, so after sending a “where do I go?” text late on Friday night, their response was “Two Little Pigs” on Sydney Road.

Two Little Pigs Charcuterie and Grind, Brunswick
Two Little Pigs Charcuterie and Grind, Brunswick

Many of us have a fondness bordering on obsession with cured meats and bacon, so I smiled when I saw the word “Charcuterie” brightly lit in brilliant yellow above the entrance. Despite being busy, when I walked in I had a choice of sitting inside, beside the counter or outside in the courtyard. With the promise of sunshine and warmer temperatures, I gravitated towards the outside.

Two Little Pigs Charcuterie and Grind, Brunswick
Two Little Pigs Charcuterie and Grind, Brunswick
Two Little Pigs Charcuterie and Grind, Brunswick
Two Little Pigs Charcuterie and Grind, Brunswick
Two Little Pigs Charcuterie and Grind, Brunswick
Two Little Pigs Charcuterie and Grind, Brunswick

The courtyard area provides plenty of shade and has a small garden and ample seating, although at first, I had the odd feeling that I had just made myself at home in someone’s backyard. The menu promises all manner of weird and wonderful meat-inspired dishes to choose from, although there are definitely vegetarian and gluten-free options available as well.

It’s exciting to see new and varied food on a menu although the difficult part is attempting to choose only one dish. After several read-throughs, I had narrowed down my selection to two dishes: Hot jam doughcakes with cinnamon muscovado sugar and caramelised bacon ice cream (yes, that is correct, bacon ice cream!) or Pea & Ham with crisp roasted pork belly, poached free range eggs, green pea veloute served with sourdough toast. It was an intense battle of the mind, however the pork belly won by the narrowest of margins.

Pea & Ham - crisp roasted pork belly, poached free range eggs, green pea veloute served with sourdough toast - Two Little Pigs Charcuterie and Grind, Brunswick
Pea & Ham – crisp roasted pork belly, poached free range eggs, green pea veloute served with sourdough toast – Two Little Pigs Charcuterie and Grind, Brunswick

There was very little wait on breakfast once I had made up my mind. Beautifully presented within a terracotta dish, the pork belly was crispy and decorated with finely shredded red chilli. I hastily devoured the hot, buttered toast and wondered where to start.

The green pea veloute soup was a bright and vibrant colour, deliciously sweet and thick, and not unlike tucking into Mum’s homemade pea and ham soup. The eggs were nicely poached but a little hard to pick up at times after sliding around in the pea sauce; I admit to using my coffee teaspoon maybe once or twice. The pork was well cooked but not too salty or fatty and the sweet fresh peas and chilli cut through the residual meat flavour. It was an unusual choice for breakfast but definitely a tasty one.

As for the “Grind” component of the café, the coffee at Two Little Pigs is outstanding. Deliciously hot and creamy with a roasted hazelnut flavour, the coffee is served in the signature bright yellow crockery that adorns the signage and interior trim. I couldn’t wait for the second cup as soon as I took my first sip. The service is friendly and efficient at Two Little Pigs, with the staff constantly doing the rounds of the main dining areas, taking orders and clearing tables so actually getting a second cup of coffee wasn’t a hardship.

I loved my morning adventure to Brunswick and discovering Two Little Pigs thanks to the wonderful recommendation from the locals. Now bacon ice cream … how does that taste?

Two Little Pigs Charcuterie and Grind on Urbanspoon

The Kitchen at Weylandts, Abbotsford

~ culinaldi ~ 1 Comment

Apart from my penchant for good food and fabulous wine, I also love decorating and interior design and get somewhat excited about furniture stores and all manner of homewares and kitchen products. Having just moved into my new home in the city, I’ve been busy planning, perusing shops, websites and magazines looking for fresh ideas and came across a new store from South Africa that had recently opened in Melbourne and also features an onsite café. Dispelling all comparisons to IKEA in nearby Richmond, I eagerly went in search of The Kitchen at Weylandts to have breakfast and to check out their product range.

The Kitchen at Weylandts, Abbotsford
The Kitchen at Weylandts, Abbotsford
The Kitchen at Weylandts, Abbotsford

Despite a two tram trip and a couple of blocks of walking, I arrived at Weylandts right on 10am which was good fortune as the store and café had literally only just opened, so I was able to walk in and find a table that gave me a view of the entire floor space. The design of the café, which is located at the front of the store, is aesthetically beautiful with large windows on each side to maximise the natural light, accented by the pale timber furnishings and a white walled interior.

The Kitchen at Weylandts, Abbotsford
The Kitchen at Weylandts, Abbotsford
The Kitchen at Weylandts, Abbotsford
The Kitchen at Weylandts, Abbotsford
The Kitchen at Weylandts, Abbotsford
The Kitchen at Weylandts, Abbotsford

Within the space of fifteen minutes, people appeared from everywhere and the café was more or less full to capacity. Soon after being seated, the skinny latte I had ordered promptly arrived on it’s own wooden palette and I would have to say that it was undoubtedly the best coffee I have had for a long while. Deliciously creamy and hot, the coffee alone was worth the journey to Abbotsford.

The breakfast menu is contained to only one A5 page and offers things that are traditional fare in South Africa such as Kaiserfleisch bacon and Boerewors sausage. I was sorely tempted by The Kitchen French Toast but decided to try to be a little more adventurous after my efforts to get there that morning. There were also a couple of breakfast specials on the blackboard in front of me that caught my eye, in particular the Roesti topped with poached eggs, chorizo and smokey home-baked beans which would be perfect sustenance for a cold wintery day. After finding the Trout gravlax and Sweetcorn Fritters on the menu, tantalisingly described as ‘cured sea trout and corn fritters stack with soft poached egg, charred corn, cucumber salsa and lime-horseradish crème fraiche dressing’ I knew that I had found what I was looking for. Ironically, just after I had ordered, a serving of the French Toast was delivered to the table next to mine and it looked exquisite. I thought long and hard about changing my order but held on to the courage of my convictions.

Trout Gravlax and Sweetcorn Fritters - The Kitchen at Weylandts, Abbotsford
Trout Gravlax and Sweetcorn Fritters – The Kitchen at Weylandts, Abbotsford

Although I kept looking longingly at the French Toast beside me, my own breakfast looked quite impressive when it did arrive with lots of bright yellow corn kernels decoratively adorning the plate. Apart from looking extremely inviting, everything on the plate was absolutely delicious. The key was the abundance of sweet corn which gave lots of moisture and flavour in each mouthful, although my favourite component of the dish was the lime-horseradish crème fraiche dressing. There didn’t seem to be any restraint with the inclusion of horseradish because you could actually taste the flavour for a change, which wasn’t overwhelming and complemented all the individual elements of the dish.

The staff are friendly and affable but don’t seem to be all that “switched on” and appear to be unprepared to cope with the sudden change in demand. The person who was originally looking after me, walked directly past my table three or four times to get to another section towards the back of the café, but didn’t glance in my direction or bother to clear an empty coffee cup or dirty plate on the return trip to the kitchen, which was particularly frustrating when there were no other tables opposite to where I was sitting, both hands were empty and I was desperately trying to get their attention so that I could order another cup of coffee. When paying at the register, the person on the till seemed to be a little flustered but asked if I enjoyed my breakfast, to which I replied favourably. When processing the payment a moment later, he asked again if I enjoyed my breakfast, and then replied to his own question “Oh yeah … I’ve already asked you that, didn’t I?” I guess as the saying goes, just because the lights are on, it doesn’t necessarily mean that someone is at home.

The Kitchen on Urbanspoon

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.

Dimattina Coffee on Urbanspoon