Apricots on the Nile- a memoir with recipes

I have been moved.
Deeply moved.
By images of mango trees, hot days and markets seething with hawkers and melon sellers.
Images of Cairo and Egypt in an era passed- where manners and strict class division separated the well-to-do from the working classes. I have been carried away on a fragrant story of one woman's formative years and her longing to see it all again.
Apricots on the Nile is the story of food writer Colette Rossant's childhood in Egypt. And it is a beautiful book. At 178 pages it's easy to devour almost in a single afternoon- with recipes to try out at dinner time.
A story of summers spent at holiday houses in Alexandria, of a mother who constantly left her behind and of the kitchens where she found solace in the company of the family cooks and their food.
Rossant writes of an Egypt that is no more- but she does it with such eloquence, such passion and such evocative description that you almost breath the same air as her memories.
It's a beautiful book, full of recipes and charming anecdotes that remind us that garlic should be eaten in great quantities and that a party is not a party without party food.
It's a book that made me hungry for life. A book that made me long to delve into my own memories of food. But above all it was a book that made me want to play in the kitchen.
What a memoir!
And it got me wondering... 


What are the recipes that really bring your childhood to life?


What are the defining food moments that are an intrinsic part of who you are? 


Where did those recipes come from and which ones will you one day pass on? 

I'm going to start documenting this question and ask it to whoever I can. Better yet, if you have a food memory or recipe from your childhood that you would like to share, feel free to pass it on. I'd love to hear about it.

High Tea: The Australian's Women's Weekly- Cookbook Review

High Tea: The Australian Women's Weekly


"I’m having a really tough time not squealing with giddy excitement. And I’ll be honest and say that I’m generally not prone to fits of girlish glee- for fear of blowing my cover as an independent and formidable feminist.

Still- when the Australian Women’s Weekly ‘High Tea’ recipe book came my way- I could literally feel my sleek black outfit morphing into a frilly apron, lace collar and bustled skirt."

-Writes Jane de Graaff
Read the full review here.

Note: Review featured in the Girlie Gastronomy pages of www.sassisamblog.com

MoVida Terraza: BreakfastOut Review

MoVida Terraza- Spanish Breakfast on the terrace:


"You feel like running with the bulls or maybe throwing some tomatoes, only problem is that despite what the menu and your brain are telling you, you're not in Spain." 


By: Jane de Graaff

Review for the brilliant www.breakfastout.com.au

Single Origin: BreakfastOut Review

Single Origin: BreakfastOut Review

"It might be single origin, but it's multiple happiness..."

By: Jane de Graaff

Review for the brilliant www.breakfastout.com.au

BreakfastOut Review: Kamel

Breakfast till 3pm is always a good idea- and so's a trip to the roughly Middle East...

Breakfast Out - Kamel: 

Would you get out of bed for a trip to the Middle East?

-By Jane de Graaff

Review featured on the lovely and very useful www.breakfastout.com.au  website.

Because everyone deserves a treat: Cookie- Melbourne CBD (Review)

I'd like to be very clear. 

I'm a fan of Cookie. 

For one very simple reason: 

It's always fun. 

From the minute you climb the inner city ribbon-round-the-lift staircase and enter the non-descript door, there's just something so lively about the bar/restaurant space with it's noise, clamor and mural drenched walls. It's noisy, yes. But in a 'we're-the-life-of-the-party' kind of way. And when you ask to see the wine list and are presented with a veritable bible of a book, then you know you're in for a good night, and the noise level is understandable. 

There's also something really pleasing about the almost too casual service and the fun flirting of the bar staff. Let's face it, what girl doesn't like to batt her eyelashes when she places an order? And it's easy... once you've had dinner, you can just about roll from the restaurant to the bar on the other side of the partition continuing your conversation all the way. 

But Cookie didn't just win my heart for its obvious style and convenience. It backs it up with consistently good food. So they might not rotate the menu to maximise seasonality or to catch the latest trend, but it's a reliable Thai fusion feel with signature dishes that never fail to impress. 

This visit, I had a friend from Sydney in tow and as well as a Melbourne local, which brings up the proverbial 'you can please some of the people'- but on this occasion, we were 'all of the people' and we were all pleased.

Dishes are best shared and come in the small, medium, large variety priced from $8.50-$38.50 and it's easy enough to add dishes as you go. 

Being a fan of hands on puzzle style food, I couldn't wait to order the betel leaf salad with smoked fish, chicken and roasted coconut. Presented on a floral plate the glossy green leaves make an eye catching and sticky-finger fun starter. We tried spooning sedate little heaps of smokey fish into the leaf wrappings, but quickly abandoned such decorum in favour of stuffing the leaves to bursting point and shoveling them into our mouths before they lost their guts. 

The mushroom salad was a cool and slippery-slurpy dish to follow- with coriander kicks. And the Thai sausage certainly delivers a chili tasty treat- thank god for the side of cucumber to cool burning lips.

But let me tell you about the pork belly. 

Pork belly is a carnivorous delight in any language. 

However, when you deep fry it and then smother it in fragrant and coconut-creamy red curry, laced with fresh peppercorns and crunchy green beans, well, then you've taken decadent and upped the ante. There's a crunch in your mouth, followed by an explosion of melted fat and curry. 

We licked that bowl clean. 

Lady like as we are... We. Licked. It. Clean. And then licked it some more... just for good measure. 

Cookie has been on the winners list for sometime and with such a mix of fun, food, inexhaustible booze (of every kind) and inner city chic, it's gonna be there for a while longer yet. Just make sure you book for dinner, order enough of the pork belly to go round and opt for a non-school night- so you can take full advantage of the wine list. 

The verdict? Like I said; all of the people, all of the time. What a treat.

Name: Cookie

Address: First Floor Curtin House, 

252 Swanston Street Melbourne CBD

Phone: (03) 9663 7660

Open: 

Mon-Thurs & Sun: 12noon-2am

Fri & Sat: 12noon-3am

Nooks and crannies: Von Haus- Melbourne CBD (Review)

Don't blink, or you'll miss it. 

Yep you guessed it, it's another Melbourne bar hidey-hole and it's sure as hell one cosy little place.

Picture this; you're skipping down Crossley Street in Melbourne's alley-wayed CBD when you spy a nondescript door with a cheekily small and tantalising 'Von Haus' sign- in Melbourne, this is an open invitation to find out if the door leads to a bar/club/artists loft/warehouse/sale or (worst case scenario?), strippers. Either way, you simply have to take a peek- otherwise where's the fun?

You wander down the short corridor, and through another studiously blank door to the left, you find it... possibly Melbourne's smallest bar. 

Von Haus is pretty much a single room with a large communal table in the centre and few other perches for intimate tete-a-tete's scattered round the edges. 

And it's lovely- right from it's distressed paint-peeling walls to it's wooden floorboards. The artfully cluttered open-kitchen view and shelves of wine and preserves create the feeling of a European lounge-room at dinner time, don't mind if we stumble on in.

Daily cakes and hunks of bread line the rustic counter with stacks of produce boxes underneath. Flowers perch on the mantle of the period fireplace and a chalkboard menu proclaims wines on offer by the glass.

There's a low humming buzz of muted conversation and a certain amount of arty-intelligence hangs in the air. Soak it up, soak it in. It's a lovely addition to a tin plate of cheese that might be organic Roquefort or farmhouse aged cheddar. Von Haus is open for breakfast and lunch, but it's the snacks and small plates from 2pm that lured us in. 

Try Sicilian anchovies with bitey fresh radish and fennel, or smokey trout and pear salad spiked with fragrant mint. 

If it's too hard to choose between nuts roasted with lavender and thyme, or goats curd and pickled peppers, then take a step back from decisions and order a Haus selection to see what rolls your way.  

But really, when you're squirreled away in a circa 1800's nook, with your Collazi Chianti and contemplating the kitchen splash-back made of wartime shaving mirrors, there's something quite comforting about the uncomplicated offer of bread and butter with honey or jam. 

It's cozy. It's simple. 

And a little bit like having wine with nursery tea. *Sigh* 

So let the mist snake on down the alley-way, snuggle on in to your selected spot and drift away on a European dream of Von Haus... 

Name: Von Haus

Address: 1a Crossley Street, Melbourne CBD

Phone: (03) 9662 2756

Tapas-tastic: MoVida Next Door- Melbourne CBD (Review)

Don't be confused. MoVida Next Door is not MoVida. Rather it is (as the name suggests) next door to the original MoVida in the brightly graffiti clad alley of Hosier lane in Melbourne's CBD. It's MoVida's little sister, baby brother or more casual counterpart. Of course, they may not be the same place, but they run on essentially the same fuel- chef Frank Camorra's exquisite tapas dishes, great location and atmosphere, and a glass or two of sherry in the mix.  

The joy of MoVida Next Door is that you don't have to book weeks in advance for your Spanish themed taste odyssey, rather with a no booking policy it's a walk-in diners paradise, as long as you pick your times right.

I've learned the hard way that if you're really hungry and not prepared for a wait, 7.30pm on a Saturday night is not a good time to try your luck. 7.30pm on Tuesday however saw room for two at the bar and 6pm on a Friday once got us a prime corner table peering out to the lane way- very nice.

But despite the hit'n'miss seating, it's always worth checking out, because if you do get in, it's one of those happy surprises that makes the rest of your evening.

The menu is not huge, but don't forget to look above the bar for the chalkboard of specials- I forgot to last time and missed out on the prettiest baramundi dish with beetroot crisps you have ever seen. 

Paper-thin disks of dusky pink rings in varying shades... thankfully the friendly guy next to us was more than happy for me to peer at it, and even noted that it was just as tasty as it looked. *sigh*

We settled instead for the celebrated Anchoa Con Mato: crumbed and pan-fried fresh white anchovy on house-made curd, with a perfect combination of crunch and cream. It's tiny, but perfectly crafted silk and salt. The calamari and artichoke dishes were exquisite with their soft and crackly textures respectively, but the anchovy is a tough act to follow.

Pincho Moruno, Moorish lamb skewer cooked on charcoal, holds its own however. Long, thin and smokey, it's hard not to pick up the empty plate to lick up the left over meaty juices. I very nearly did.

But it's desserts that really get my juices going here. 

Churros done well are a thing of beauty I know, but this time we skipped the Spanish doughnuts in favour of Torta De Aciete; an olive oil crisp the size of a side plate, topped with a nipple of vanilla ice-cream floating on a fluffy pool Pedro Ximenez (sherry) foam. 

It sounds a bit porny. 

It was more than a bit sexy. 

We loved every mouthful of creamy delight followed by the jarring snap of the fennel studded olive oil crisp.

We wanted more. 

But like good girls, we decided to quit while we were ahead.     

And the drinks? The wine list often has me batting my eyelids and asking the waiters for advice; I just don't read Spanish and with food this good, I'm not about to take a stab in the dark. Helpfully the waiters know their stuff and this time I ended up with a glass of crisp verdhello that met all my needs without overshadowing the food. Good call from the waiter, so make the most of their knowledge and skill.  

From the roof tile light shades, to the fresh seafood on display in the bar and the 'edge of laneway cool'- MoVida Next Door might not be MoVida, but it doesn't have to be. Sure it's next door, but it absolutly stands alone.  

   

Name: MoVida Next Door

Address: 1 Hosier Lane, Melbourne CBD, 3000

Phone: (03) 9663 3038

Open: Tues-Sat, 5pm- till late

Closed: Sun-Mon

Collected: Bar Lourinha- Melbourne CBD (Review)

The first time my mum came to visit Melbourne she said to me 'no-one ever throws anything out here do they? They just gather it together and decorate the walls with it'.

We were sitting at the polished wood counter at tiny Bar Lourinha, in Little Collins street. Looking at the walls crammed with paraphernalia from all era's and locations, I could see what she meant... the copper jelly moulds looked remarkably like some that my gran used to have... and the cabinet of souvenir teaspoons brought back childhood memories and thoughts of garage sales. There are horse shoes, portraits, ornamental deer heads and a huge string of chili's. From fans to fancy green wallpaper, the cosy space is chock-full of trinkets, bits & bobs. 

It's got a 'collector's' feel to it- each individual item intriguing and distinctive, but working in with the display around it. 

And the same can be said for the collection of dishes on offer. 

Sharing-plates are the MO here, each dish distinctive and spectacular, but like the curious collection on the walls, they also work well in combination. 

At a glance the menu does not appear to be huge, but the list of specials just about doubles what's on offer- and it's impressive every time the waiter manages to roll off a stream of them with hardly a glance at his notes. 

From wagyu 'carne cruda' to grilled king prawn with chili salt and lime, you'll be glad of the chance to share the little Spanish inspired dishes and taste as much as you can. Most items can be ordered by the half serve if you really don't want to share... but it's so much more fun when you pass it all around. 

Unless it's the lambs brains special. Then you'll be fighting to wipe the plate clean. The little fritatta arrives in it's own pan topped with thyme spiked aioli and laced throughout with shallot, all buttery goo and creamy, silky joy. It's an offal lovers delight, and smeared onto the accompanying hunk of hearty brown bread, it's a dish to dream viscous dreams about.

If you opt for the churros and dulce de leche dessert, be warned that when Spanish-doughnuts and chocolate sauce are this good, you might try to drink the left over sauce straight out of the dish. And Blanca's alfajores? Think shortbread, but not as you know it- filled with lemony caramel and dusted with coconut, they're little bombs of bright and sticky delight. Thank Blanca for sharing the recipe with chef Matt McConnell.   

Apart from lunch bookings and special dinners in the private 'chapel' room, it's first in best dressed here. So be prepared to have a short wait at the bar on a busy night. Thankfully the wine list is long, so any wait at the bar can be great fun. With a glass of sherry,friendly chatty staff and a chill soundtrack gently pulsing in the background, you might even be grateful for the extra chance to appreciate the walls of thing-a-me-jigs. 

It gave me a chance to ask about the terracotta 'half pig's'- apparently they are used for serving flaming chorizo sausage for Tuesday's 'Chorizo Diablo' lunches. Eh, who'd have guessed it?  

With a regularly changing menu and it's tucked away collectors feel, Bar Lourinha is great fun for a wine filled, friendly sharing meal- just don't make up your mind until you've heard all the specials!

Name: Bar Lourinha

Address: 37 Little Collins Street, Melbourne

Phone: (03) 9663 7890  

Open

Mon-Wed: 12noon-11pm

Thurs-Fri: 12noon-1am 

Sat: 4pm-1am 

Any Advances: Auction Rooms- North Melbourne (Review)

I'm a big fan of slavage. 

Taking something old and disused and giving it a second life. It could be a bottle, a jar, perhaps a previously loved jumper. 

Or like the Auction Rooms, it could be a building. 

Exactly as the name suggests the 'new' Auction Rooms (for dining) are the 'old' auction rooms (for auctions) of North Melbourne- the WB Ellis Auction House to be precise. The lovely thing about salvage in this case is that there's plenty of reference to the original purpose of the buildings and despite modern fit-outs, much of the charm and romance of the auction house remains. 

It's all in the details; Heinz pea & ham soup tins for sugar bowls, signs for valuers posted on the walls, the exposed brickwork and beams of the warehouse structure, a wooden gavel by the till. It's made more obvious again by dishes like 'the opening bid' listed on the menu. But despite the touches of nostalgia nodding to the buildings heritage, it's not all backwards glances and reverie. The menu is certainly not out of touch and the creative new aspects like PVC tubing chandeliers, a 'roof' of suspended milk crates in the back courtyard and the addition of modern lead-light details on the huge front windows, pull this baby squarely into the now. Ok, so you get it. It's a great space... but what about lot no. 20... the food?       

Brunch is the winner in my opinion here. Anyone brave enough to offer brains and sweetmeats gets my vote. But the house-made muesli is a great option too with a huge dollop of vanilla yogurt and poached fruits. Maybe a fishy start to your day is in order with sardine crostini and fennel sauerkraut? Or you could ease into the morning with poached eggs, avocado and ricotta on sourdough, tiddied up with fresh mint and chili. Brunch can easily roll-on-into lunch and afternoon beers here, with drinks on offer from bubbly to coopers.  

Don't forget to ask what the coffee of the day is and keep an eye on the boards by the retro-red-small-batch-coffee-roaster to see what the roasting team's been up to.

There's a a siphon coffee of the day on offer too, and the bong like contraption that brews it is great fun if you like your coffee a little more intriguing than most. It certainly beats a flat white with one. 

True you can feel a little lost here on weekends when the 'waiting for a table' and the 'waiting to pay' queues get mixed up- but any of the passing staff will be happy to point you in the right direction and throw in a smile for free. Yeah there can be a wait on Saturday mornings, but with so much visual stimulation, you hardly notice the time fly by.     

So pace the wooden floors and make the closing bid on that corner booth or seat by the window. 

Name: Auction Rooms

Address: 103-107 Errol Street, North Melb, 3061

Phone: (03) 9326 7749

Open: 

Mon-Wed 7:30am-4pm, 

Thurs & Fri 7:30am-10pm, 

Sat 8am-10pm and 

Sun 8am-4pm

Fully Stocked: Richmond Hill Cafe & Larder (Review)

It's rare that I dream of going back to a place for one particular dish. It's rarer again when my partner raves about a breakfast that he just can't get out of his head. 

This is one of those rare occasions.

Richmond Hill Cafe & Larder stole my partners heart long ago with the breakfast Baghdad eggs- it's a simple trick of eggs fried with garlic, lemon, cumin and mint, served on grilled flatbread, and for once, it's eggs with a real point of difference.

Don't get me wrong, we're not hard to impress, but when you love eggs for breakfast and you just feel like something a little above and beyond the standard poached/scramble/fry options... this is the goods.

It's backed up by 'RHCL famous cheesy toast'- and my god, it's famous for a reason. If you love a good Welsh rarebit, then you'll feel like you've hit the jackpot with the famous cheesy toast, and why not? When the cafe also has it's own cheese room and larder, they're bound to get it right! 

But it's about more than signature dishes at the Cafe & Larder, it's about style, service and stocking up before you head home.

This is a so-frenchy-so-chic kind of cafe venue, on the Hoddle street end of Bridge road. So you can relax in the wooden floor, bistro-chair surrounds before (or after) your bargain-hunt on the shopping strip. Just don't be alarmed by the faint waft of really good mould as the cheese-room door opens and shuts... I call it ambiance! 

Service is friendly, polite and discreet- with linen and water materialising as needed. Lunch is certainly seasonal and might be rabbit bruschetta, or risotto of morton bay bugs- but just to really mess you up, that famous cheesy toast is also on offer at lunch... what to do, what to do?

Other temping treats include rhubarb with rose geranium, porridge with vanilla poached quince or eggs with tasmanian salmon.  

The cafe is not generally open for dinner, as evenings are reserved for special events. But the first Friday of every month is the exception to this rule, when the cafe hosts an evening soiree. Bookings are recommended for this and you can purchase cheese from the cheese room to eat on the premesis or take home... so why not stock up?

The wine list is long and varied with an option for every budget: $28-$248, you're bound to find something amongst the Jansz bottles lining the walls. And if cheese really is your thing, pick up a pamphlet on their next cheese tasting/matching/making course. 

It's food love from every angle, truly a well stocked larder. 

Address: 48-50 Bridge Road, Richmond, Melbourne 3121

Phone: (03) 9421 2808

Open: 7 days for breakfast / brunch / lunch

(Lunch from 11:30am and afternoon tea from 3pm)

Note: Check website for Friday night soiree details, dates and booking.

Get'cha Goat on with Friday night pizza at the Mountain Goat Brewery

It's a Friday night- and for me that means good company, good food and hopefully a bevy or two to kick off the weekend. 

That's where Mountain Goat Brewery comes in handy; with it's speak-easy location in the back streets of Melbourne's 'shades of industrial' Richmond, its mystery door with hardly a sign or a symbol, -aside from the slightly satanic looking goat's head on the roller door- and a relaxed attitude that says 'bring on the weekend'. This is not really the sort of place you happen to stumble upon when you're out bar hopping, so you better get the address before you go, and then keep an eye out for the bouncers by a non-descript side door...

Once you're inside it's a cross between a factory floor (which it is), a high-school basketball court (which it isn't) and a share house (thanks to the mismatched chairs and couches).

The great thing about Mountain Goat is its simplicity. There's just no beating about the bush, you come here for beer and a warehouse environment. The menu is small, with only 7 or so pizza options (S/L), but more than half of that is vego friendly and considering the tiny operation that puts the pizza's together, they arrive at your table (or bar stool) with surprising speed. I'm amazed by this, because for all the pizza orders being yelled across the bar, there's only two guys working on a tiny roll through oven, throwing ingredients onto pre-made bases as they go. It's cute, quaint and very down to earth. There ain't no cutlery here- it's finger food or nothing my friend, and that pizza and beer is a damn fine combination. 

The red and white wine offerings are few and only available by the glass ($7), but when your in a brewery, it'd be rude not to try their beer right? 

Mountain Goat has their 4 usual beer suspects on offer from pale ale to stout, as well as some one off batches and experiments available on the night for fun and variety. If you're not sure, your best bet is to order a $10 goat paddle with a selection of tasters on it and work out which one you'd like to continue the night with.

But the best thing about ordering a beer here, is looking across the crowded floor to the actual workings of the brewery itself. On full display are the huge silver tanks and vats, as well as cool rooms that are the makings of the beer in your hand- and it's nice to know that what you're holding, really was brewed 'just over there'. It gives 'the local' a whole new meaning. Occasionally the work-floor just continues to tick over and you can watch the Goat guys go about their business on the floodlit floor.      

Being in an actual factory, it can be quite noisy near the bar- but it's a big space and if you manage to grab a group of armchairs in a corner, with a little table full of tea lights near one of the big gas heaters, you'll be set for the evening and the noise of people unwinding on a Friday just becomes great atmosphere. 

So go on, grab your mates after work... and get your goat on!

Address: Corner North & Clark Streets, Richmond VIC

Phone: 03 9428 1180

Open: Friday only from 5pm till late

Note: Wed night sees the brewery open for tours, tastings & talks with the Goat guys.

Saintly St. Ali

I don't usually gush.

But sometimes there's good reason too. You've been warned.

I first fell in love with St. Ali about 2 years ago. I was new to Melbourne and as a Sydney-sider I wondered what all the coffee-crusaders were on about, touting Melbourne as having the best coffee around. I soon found out that they were right and now firmly stand myself in the Melbourne coffee camp.  

Not only does this city take it's black gold very seriously... it has a great time doing it and turns out places like St. Ali in the process. The trick with St. Ali is to make the most of the specailised knowledge on the floor. Staff really know their stuff when it comes to the beans on offer each day, and if you ask them, they can suggest the best bean for your style, from latte to short black.

Since those first wide-eyed days, I've become a regular at this roasting-warehouse come cafe, thinking it nothing to cross the city for a morning brew and a tasty breakky treat. I bring visitors from out of town and send gifts of St. Ali roasted beans to friends far and wide.

It's even survived a change of hands and still comes up with the goods.

Last week I took my mum there for a light lunch and a much needed coffee boost before we hit the South Melbourne Markets, warning her that the menu was full of treats. Still, we were both totally floored by the grilled sardines. 

Rocket, black olive paste, artichokes and pepper spiced mandarin, joined the little fishies on sourdough. At under $20, it's a breakfast/lunch that hits you with a salty-sweet combination that had us fighting over the last crumbs of sourdough to mop up the spicy mandarine sauce.

 Today I stopped by for breakfast- and was taken out by the pancakes. Previous trips have proved that the breakfast platter is a great way to start the day with Middle Eastern flair- think fruit toast, spiced labne, honey and nutty dukkah. Any dish involving their homemade baked beans is also a winner. But today, the pancakes were a new revelation. It's the first time ever that I've been unable to finish a $10 breakfast, and not because I didn't like it. Three thick and puffy pancakes came swathed in citrus scented syrup, with a glop of coffee mascarpone and a topping of stewed oranges. It's a dish to be reckoned with- rich and full of smokey coffee-citrus tones. Every treacly mouthful reminded me why breakfast can still be special without poached eggs and bacon. Washed down with a coffee-of-the-day latte, I was full, happy and buzzing. 

The space itself is also a drawcard. Now I know some people are over the 'converted warehouse space', but I'm not one of them. I love the open roofed, partitioned off, exposed brick, roller door feel of the place. And when the sun comes flooding in through factory style windows on a winter day, I couldn't be happier. 

I was happy to note that there are plenty of vegetarian options on the menu (above and beyond the mushroom offerings that seem to be the usual vegetarian fate) and that a small selection of beer and wines are also available should brunch roll-on into lunch...

And keep an eye out for the St. Ali degustation- I'm told once every three months they hold an evening class with coffee and wine matched to food. The next one is on August 7th, with room for about 100 people. 

Open- Contact: (03) 9686 2990

Mon-Sat; 7:30am-5:00pm

Sunday; 8:30am-4pm

Note: Check the board to see what coffee is on offer for the coffee siphon each day and don't forget to ask your waiter which bean they recommend for the style of coffee you like to drink.  

Breakfast Out

Ok, I admit it- I've been eating breakfast out. A lot. But in my defence, someone has to do it- otherwise how would we find the best places in town? 

What makes it worse is that I am a whore for breakfast, I'll eat it at any time of day, in any city.  Really.

How can you turn it down? It really is the best meal of the day to eat out... arguably. 

Some of my reviews are starting to pop up at the wonderful (and very informative) website BreakfastOut - you really should add it to your favourites... it might help you out next time you're in a bind trying to find that perfect way to start the weekend.

The Melbourne page is really pretty comprehensive and the Sydney stuff is on its way- I've been reviewing both cities... Like I said, I'm a whore for breakky.