Hammer and Tong, Fitzory, Melbourne

What an experience!  Delicious food, great coffee, friendly staff, and buzzing atmosphere, I think I have just found a new favourite place for Sunday brunch!  I have been searching high and low from East to West for that perfect brioche for a long time and here at Hammer and Tong I think I have finally found it.  The brioche was buttery, light and fluffy, not too dense or crumbly, oh it was heavenly.  Overall the duck with asparagus, truffle butter and Parmesan briont was fantastic and the flavours were very well balanced.  The richness of the duck egg yolk with the creamy truffle butter served on top of the thick sliced brioche was perfection on a plate.  My belly was definitely satisfied with all the richness goodies but if you have a bigger appetite, this dish may not be filling enough for you.  My friend had the French toast, peanut butter, raspberry yoghurt ice cream, banana caramel, although I didn't sample it personally but she say it was very good.  The menu selection might be small but every dish sounds very appetising, I will definitely have to return to try out their egg's Benedict's and soft shell crab burger!

OVERALL

FOOD: YUM! That's all I need to say.

PRICE: Reasonable cafe food price.

SERVICE: The service was top notch here, tentative and very friendly.
ATMOSPHERE: A lively little place with great vibes. 

Summary:  One of the most memorable cafe I have been to for a while, will definitely come back to try out other things, very soon!

Hardware Society Cafe - Hardware Street, Melbourne CBD

There is nothing better than a good brunch in my book.  The Hardware Society Cafe came highly recommended by several of my Melbourne friends.  This place is fully packed during the weekend so be prepared to wait for about 30 min for a table!  On a weekday morning this place was absolutely buzzing so naturally I was very excited when I arrived. The decor of this place is really amazing, it is warm and rustic and just full of character.  You will feel relaxed and comfortable while you read a newspaper and drinking your coffee.  The staffs here were really friendly and it was great to see them kindly addressing the family sitting next to us that they were in fact putting salt instead of sugar into their, and a new pot of tea (minus the salt) was immediately brought over!

We ordered the baked eggs with chorizo and scrambled eggs with chorizo.  The food arrived quickly and I really like how they served the food - baked eggs came in a small cast iron casserole and the scrambled eggs was served in a mini iron skillet, both placed on top of a block of wood lined with baking paper.  Rustic and yet classic, just love it!  The scrambled eggs were just under-cooked, the way I like it with delicious and not too spicy chorizos, though could do without the cold sandwich that came with it, for me I would much prefer the sandwich to had been toasted or at least warmed-up.  The baked eggs was awesome and hits just the right spot in my belly - if you like egg and chorizo, this is definitely the dish for you.

A cup of coffee from a cafe means a lot, and here is just me being fussy.  I did like their coffee, it was good but wasn't great - this is just something personal as I find the coffee from Cafe Andiamo on Degraves Street suiting more my taste.  Their hot chocolate - WOW! It was served in a cup filled with melted milk chocolate accompanied with a pot of warmed chocolate milk - absolutely loved it!  To eat or to drink the chocolate, that is the dilemma I will leave for you to solve.  Both the coffee and hot chocolate came with a mini deep fried doughnut coated with cinnamon sugar - YUM!

Next time if you have a lazy morning to spare, definitely head to Hardware Society Cafe, give them your name and go for a 30 min stroll (while you wait for a table) then come back and enjoy a fabulous brunch ^_^

Hot Chocolate

Scrambled Eggs with Chorizo

OVERALL

FOOD: Delicious cafe food and love their hot chocolate.

PRICE: Moderate pricing for cafe food.

SERVICE: Friendly.

ATMOSPHERE: Warm and relaxing, and can be quite busy.

Summary:  A great place for a lazy morning brunch and you will walk away with not only a satisfied belly but also an unique experience.

Breakfast for Champions - Scrambled Eggs

In a large iron cast pot, the eggs and butter are gently
and continuously stirred to get that great scrambled effect.

You may wonder what is breakfast fit for a champion?  I would have to say EGGS!  Here I share with you one of my favourite egg recipe - THE SCRAMBLE EGGS!  If you like to learn more of the nutritional side of eggs read on, otherwise jump below for the AWESOME scramble eggs recipe.

Imagine an egg has the essential nutrients to create a life - "it has all the essential amino acids (which are building blocks for proteins) for human, with several essential vitamin and mineral and high choline".  Most of people are familiar with protein, vitamins and minerals, but you may wonder what is choline? and why is so important that I mentioned it here.  "Egg yolks are the most concentrated source of choline in the American diet..." Choline has been identified to be a vital nutrient that most of us these days are not eating enough of.  Studies have shown an elevated demand of choline during pregnancy and lactation and in elderly study found below Adequate Intake of choline intake has be associated with "Fatty Liver/Liver Dysfunction".  So it is important to ingest sufficient levels of choline, although through eggs would be the easiest but this is by no means to start eating lots of eggs.  Liver is another concentrated source of Choline, however if you don't like either eggs or liver check out USDA Database for the Choline Content of Common Foods for other sources of food with choline.

There is only 4 eggs here but 5 yolks!  I do like double
yolked eggs - this was a pleasant surprise ^.^

Life is about balance, you cannot eat too much of one thing.  Yes, there are potential risks to watch out for as well with eggs.  There are ongoing debates regarding the potential adverse effects of cholesterol and fat from egg yolks.  Conflicting studies have suggested both beneficial and detrimental effect of eggs with Cholesterol and Type II Diabetes.  Basic rule of thumb - if you start including eggs in your diet and finding that your cholesterol and sugar levels tend to elevate then watch out and eat in moderation.

Rachel's Scramble Eggs

As a fencer, I use to travel a lot especially within New Zealand.  I use to stay with a foilist name Rachel Rowlands down in Christchurch, New Zealand, like myself, she is an absolutely foodie.  This is the recipe for scramble eggs she cooked for me for breakfast once, and served with grilled honey streaky bacon, toasted bread and grilled tomatoes - YUM!

6 eggs 100 g butter Salt and pepper Chives for garnish

1.       Start off by cracking all the eggs into a medium cold pan.  Roughly cut up the butter and put it in with the eggs. 2.       With a low to medium heat gently cook the eggs while stirring with a wooden spoon until glossy and lumpy.  It is vital to constantly stirring the eggs to accomplish the lumpy finish.  Always undercook the scramble eggs as it’ll continue to cook even after you’ve removed it from the pan. 3.       Serve with garnish of chives.  Can be serve on toasted (and buttered) bread or crumpets and with grilled bacon, sausages or salmon.

The garnish is not essential, do not add it if you do not need it or have it.  Some people may find chopped up spring onions a preferred garnish.  I sometimes find that a few tear-up fresh basil leafs is a good garnish if I am also having grilled tomato with it.

Tip:  I tend not to salt/pepper my scramble eggs when serving to others as everyone has like their salt and pepper to different degrees.  It is easier to add more salt and pepper and extremely difficult to remove it.  Also I usually leave my scramble eggs a little bit under done, though not everyone's cup of tea, you can leave it in the pan a bit longer for those who likes it well done.

Cheesy Variation

Add a handful of grated cheese at the very end while the egg is still in the pan and just before serving. 

NOTE:  A good choice of cheese would be a strong cheese with low melting point.  I’ve found Tasty cheese a good choice but often require finer grating to ensure sufficient melting finish.  Parmesan is always a classic.  For something different mix equal quantities of mozzarella cheese with parmesan for a stringy effect.  For a strong finish, a few small knobs of blue cheese.