Creatures of Habit

It’s true that a good breakfast can really set you up for the day ahead, and on a work trip to Frankston I was very thankful to be able to get a good cooked breakfast at Creatures of Habit. I ordered the smashed avocado with fetta and cherry tomatoes, and added two poached eggs for an extra $3. Sadly they don’t offer fresh juice, but I had a bottle of Noah’s apple, peach, kiwi fruit, mango and lime bottled juice, which was delicious and one of the best, non-cold pressed bottled juices I’ve had in a long time. The food took a while to come out, and, frustratingly, I could see it on the pass waiting for service to deliver to the table for quite a while. Luckily, my eggs hadn’t over-poached and were still runny by the time I did get to eat them, and everything was still hot and fresh. The avocado and fetta combination was beautiful, and the toast was a good quality, dense (and filling!) bread. The cherry tomatoes did have an odd fizz to them, so I didn’t finish them, but overall it was just what I needed to keep me going for he day ahead.

Creatures of Habit, 435 Nepean Highway, Frankston VIC, no webiste

Space Kitchen

I know I’m a bit slow jumping on the Space Kitchen bandwagon, but let’s just spend a moment appreciating what a beautiful bandwagon this is. Located on the ground floor of Skypark, Space brings together industrial and urban chic, with a dose of Ricardo’s desserts thrown in for good measure. I couldn’t go past a fresh juice, so started with the orange, pear, pineapple and passionfruit combo ($6.9), which was beautifully balanced and sweet. To eat, I picked the super-Instagrammable (that’s totally a word) Space Benedict. Now don’t imagine your classic eggs benedict people, this is something on a whole other level. Obviously the presentation is to die for – Space sets the bar high, and the taste doesn’t disappoint. The perfectly poached eggs oozed out over the plate, mixing with the beetroot hollandaise to make a perfect sauce for the crumbed pork croquette that makes up the majority of the dish. Whilst rich, the pork is lovely and tender and has a great amount of flavour on its own, let alone with the hollandaise or pea puree, not to mention the addd textural elements of a crumbled brioche mixed with pork crackling. My only suggestion would be something else to help mop up all those saucy elements – otherwise, I’ll be back again soon!

Space Kitchen, Skypark, corner of Furzer and Worgan Streets, Phillip ACT, no website

Urban Pantry

Urban Pantry has undergone a refresh – both to its decor and its menu. The fresh, clean-looking space has made presentation a priority (as its Instagram account attests), so I met a friend visting from Melbourne there to try the new offerings. I ordered the Chef’s Pan ($18), with a poached egg, haloumi, spinach, roast tomatoes, asparagus and mushroom, which sounded like a delicious and healthy way to start the day. Our food came out quickly, and I was smitten with my dish before I took one mouthful, it was so pretty! I broke open the egg, which was dotted with quinoa, and the perfectly runny yolk oozed out to coat the assorted vegetables – mmm. I started with the good stuff – hello haloumi! It was lightly grilled, and had a nice, strong flavour without being overly salty. Winner. Next the tomatoes, which had also been perfectly seasoned and tasted like summer. Tick. I am a huge fan of asparagus and I adored this amount, steamed just right for me (not totally soft) and cut into bite-sized pieces. The mushrooms had a really deep, earthy flavour and it was great to lighten things up with some spinach. The fancy toast served on the side was fabulous too. So, delicious all round really!

Urban Pantry, 5 Bougainville Street, Griffith ACT, http://www.urban-pantry.com.au/

Double Shot

I have an incredibly awesome group of friends who will make pretty much any excuse to catch up – luckily breakfast is often that excuse. We gathered at Double Shot on a weekday morning – I started out with an apple, orange, pineapple and mint juice ($7), which was served in quite a large jar and was nicely balanced between the ingredients – there’s nothing like a fresh juice to start the day! I’d tried the mushroom dish before, so this time I went for the scrambled eggs with pecorino, grilled asparagus and truffle oil ($19). Our food was brought out mostly together (a short wait in between the first and last person to be served), and I felt like the presentation was a bit slap-dash, as though the ingredients had just been tossed on the plate, but I guess it’s hard to make scrambled eggs pretty! The asparagus was perfectly cooked and went perfectly with the fluffy, creamy eggs. The pecorino added a great bite to the dish (I liked that it wasn’t all melted into the eggs), and the truffle oil was in there working its magic. The toast was a bit too crispy for me, but other than that it was a lovely meal, both food and company-wise.

Double Shot, 18 Duff Place, Deakin ACT, http://doubleshotdeakin.com.au/

Mocan & Green Grout

After a disappointing experience elsewhere, I promised that I wouldn’t order baked eggs again in a hurry. But when I arrived at Mocan & Green Grout for a catch up breakfast three days later, I really couldn’t go past it. I crossed my fingers and put my faith in the universe to redeem this winter favourite. Luckily, Mocan didn’t disappoint – far from it, in fact. I started out with a fresh orange juice, which came out really quickly in a large glass and was full of lovely fresh chewy orange bits. The eggs were beautifully presented in a cast iron pan on a board with a slice of beautifully heavy bread and a wedge of lemon. The eggs were lovely and runny, and mixed in nicely with the tomato sauce. The harrisa gave a great kick of heat that wasn’t too much so early in the morning, and I adored the smoky flavour that the Meredith dairy chevre added. The creaminess of the roasted eggplant elevated the whole experience to ‘super comfort food’ with the style and class I’ve come to expect from Mocan. My faith in baked eggs was restored tenfold.

Mocan & Green Grout, 1/19 Marcus Clarke Street, New Acton, ACT http://mocanandgreengrout.com/

Muse

It’s hard to keep up with all the new cafes opening in Canberra, but when I heard about Muse, a cafe/restaurant/bookshop, it went to the top of the list. We booked in on a Sunday morning and were all delighted by the space; despite the industrial feel with concrete floors, it wasn’t very noisy and fresh flowers added a nice style element. The menu had some exciting options, and I went with the most unusual – brown rice with avocado, beef tapa, chilli jam and a fried egg. As it came to the table, we could all smell the garlic rice aroma and I was delighted to see that the dish looked like bibimbap. I wasn’t disappointed flavour-wise – the beef was a bit sweet and tender, the fried egg was oozy and salty, and the garlic rice was a dream. I appreciated the fresh carrot to break up the heaviness of the rest of the dish. Our drinks arrived much later than our food, but I loved my fresh lemon and ginger tea – it was literally those two things in hot water and was the perfect digestive at the end of a lovely breakfast. I can’t wait to come back!

Muse, East Hotel, 69 Canberra Avenue, Kingston ACT  http://www.musecanberra.com.au/#welcome

Milk Crate Cafe

I rarely come to this end of Civic, but was happy to make the trek to try out Milk Crate Cafe, a slightly hidden but exciting new cafe bringing a bit of New York to Canberra. All of the seating is outdoors, spilling out onto the pavement in the little urban courtyard. The staff are really friendly and when I arrived there was a steady flow of people coming in for coffee. I ordered the Istanbul Roll, which came with poached eggs, sucuk (a spicy Turkish sausage), grilled haloumi and homemade tomato relish. The roll was presented unlike any I’ve seen before, with a crisp, flaky Turkish bread lining a tin, and the filling topped inside. Unfortunately the poached eggs were cooked through, but that was the only downside. The sausage was delightfully spicy and the tomato relish had a rich, deep flavour and stopped the dish from being dry. The grilled haloumi was thin as crispbread and had a fabulous salty kick, and I loved mopping up the relish with the unusual bread. Get the eggs right guys and this is a real winner – and at only $9.50, great value too.

Milk Crate Cafe, Shop 6, 12 Moore Street, Canberra ACT, http://milkcratecafe.com.au/