Eating Melbourne

Mixed Business, 486 Queens Parade, Clifton Hill

I’ve blogged Mixed Business in more detail previously, so I won’t waffle on again too much… only to say that, despite many breakfasts elsewhere, it remains my pick for the best breakfast in Melbourne.

Last time I went, I had a skinny latte (they use St Ali beans):

and the toast with hummus, tomato and sumac ($8.50, I think), which is a nice healthy weekday option – and also delicious. Perfectly ripe tomatoes, homemade hummus and a sprinkling of sumac on Dench sourdough.

I do like these new cafes that are sprouting up in the middle of residential streets, where the milk bars used to be. There’s Mitte in North Fitzroy, Red Door Corner Store in Northcote, and my latest outing was to Squirrel Cafe in Clifton Hill.

It’s on the corner of Groom and Noone Streets, and proudly displays its milk-bar origins:

Inside, it lacks the slick design of Mitte or Red Door, but is very homely (in a good way) – and best of all, we got a seat immediately, at 10.30am on a Saturday! (On the way home we drove past Mixed Business, which was so beyond full there were at least ten punters milling about outside waiting for a table.)

We ordered coffees straight away, which came within about 5 minutes. They serve Jasper coffee. It was reasonably good.

We perused the menu, which makes a note of the fact that they use as many local suppliers as possible, and also try and use organic, free range and fair trade. So they get some good enviropoints.

I ordered the “Acorn Porridge”, which came with plain yoghurt, granola, fruit compote and Mallee honey. I don’t usually order porridge – I do like it, but it’s always pretty boring – but I saw another customer with it and it looked tasty, so I thought I’d give it a go.

Pretty good! Certainly the most interesting porridge I’ve had. The only annoying thing was that there were chunks of cinnamon and lots of cloves in the compote that I had to keep picking out.

J. had the eggs on Turkish bread with tomato, avocado and lemon, plus a side of hash browns:

The hash browns were the frozen kind you get in the supermarket, bit disappointing. The avocado was all mashed up and runny, so the whole thing was sort of like breakfast guacamole. I think it would have been a lot better with slices of avocado; and maybe sourdough toast instead of the Turkish might have given it a bit more texture too.

They had some cute retro sweets there, including chocolate crackles, honey joys and rocky road. Very primary-school-fete! We didn’t try any but they did look nice.

Staff were friendly and efficient. Overall I would say Squirrel Cafe is pleasant in a rustic sort of way, but it’s a little rough around the edges to be a strong weekend-brunch contender.

Mixed Business, 486 Queens Parade, Clifton Hill

I’m going to come right out and say it: I love this place. I come here for breakfast once or twice a fortnight, have tried just about everything on the menu, and have never once been disappointed.

My favourite dish on their chalkboard menu is the poached eggs with pancetta, tomato and parmesan.

The eggs are perfectly poached (firm whites, oozy gooey bright yellow yolks), served on top of grilled pancetta and Dench multigrain toast, sprinkled with shavings of parmesan and basil leaves, and accompanied by a grilled tomato.

The thing I particularly like about it, in comparison to the usual eggs/bacon type breakfasts, is that all the ingredients are in the right proportion and complement each other so well. It doesn’t feel too heavy or too big. I can easily eat the whole thing and not feel Breakfast Regrets afterwards.

Other good dishes to try if you’re not in the mood for eggs: the muesli, which is home-made and served with rosewater strawberries and creamy plain yoghurt; the fruit toast (Dench, I think) with lemon and honey ricotta; or the wholegrain toast with hummus, tomato and sumac.

Great coffee here too. I often enjoy it so much I have to have a second cup, even though two cups of coffee in a row always make me feel queasy.

If this place has a failing, it’s that it can be next to impossible to get a seat on Saturday or Sunday mornings, and you’ll have to fight your way past the armada of prams and strollers. I usually come during the week when it’s not too busy.