I ♥ P+MJ

Porgie + Mr Jones

291 Auburn Road
Hawthorn 3122

Ph: 03 9882 2955

Synonymous recently moved out Hawthorn way and it had been a while since we'd caught up. Perfect, I thought; I could see my beautiful friend and visit a little cafe I'd been meaning to try for ages - since Matt Preston wrote it up for Epicure in 2008 - at the same time.

Tucked away between dry cleaners and newsagents on Auburn Road, P+MJ consists of three distinct "layers": as you first walk in, the vibe is casual, fast, takeaway. Walk through to the next room and it becomes instantly more grown up, perfect for a cosy dinner (the private dining room upstairs has just been opened and provides an intimate space for 12-18 patrons). S and I kept walking out to the cute little courtyard, a quiet, pebble stone haven.

First impressions of the (quite good looking) staff were good. All young but professional, we were quickly shown to a table, their nature casual but very welcoming. When I faced my usual dilemma (two things on the menu sound particularly fabulous; I will now take half an hour to decide), and after a game of heads or tails failed to help, the waitress provided some very helpful advice.

"What are you choosing between?"

"The salmon or the risotto."

"Are you quite hungry?"

"Yes. Ravenous. Which do you like best?"

"They're both delicious, but the salmon is quite light, whereas the risotto is a large serve."

"Alright", I concluded, "the risotto it is then".

S was having breakfast - I was tempted, especially when I saw some of the P+MJ 'classics' like smashed avocado with thyme buttered mushrooms, marinated feta and torn basil on wholegrain toast, poached 'googie' optional - and I had a feeling this was a place that would do breakfasts well. But this blog could so easily become about nothing but breakfast with how often I crave a meal out in the morning, and that's not the aim, so with ravenous in mind I stuck with the "Lunchy Things" menu.

Risotto of pea and pancetta, herbed marscapone ($19.90)

A bowl of creamy, quite runny rice. The flavour was nice, but it was nothing stunning. The herbed marscapone added a nice kick and would have been better spread throughout the whole dish rather than lumped in the middle. The flavour of the pancetta was good but the little pieces of pork were hard, rather than the thin, melt in your mouth slices I was expecting.

Carman's bircher muesli with pear and cinnamon compote, honeyed yoghurt ($10.90)

S really enjoyed her Bircher; I'm not much of a muesli eater but I had a spoonful and it was creamy with a strong taste of fresh pear.

From a PR point of view, P+MJ are on fire. Their website and business cards are fabulous and continue with the cute theme that's found throughout the restaurant - blackboards on the walls with little messages of optimism, cute quotes on the menu ("...My tongue is smiling", claimed Mr Jones' 5 year old brother). Presentation of the restaurant itself is fabulous and service could not be faulted - the only flaw in the entire experience was my risotto and even that wasn't a 'flaw' as such, just a dish whose flavours were simply 'nice' and whose texture could have been improved.

Given how nice S's breakfast was, maybe breakfast and brunch is more their thing - I will be back to investigate this further.

Coda: 7 months later

Coda Bar and Restaurant
Basement, 141 Flinders Lane
Melbourne 3003
Ph: 9650 3155

It's been seven months since I visited Coda with my ex-flatmate and her family, and still no review. The pictures remained in a draft post, along with so many other restaurant experiences I am yet to write up. All this time later, I remember I had a fabulous night and the food, beer and wine was fantastic, but it's been too long to remember specifics. Here, instead - inspired by Eating with Jack's Amnesty post - are pictures of the beautiful dishes we ate for your viewing pleasure.

All talk?

Rowena Parade Corner Store
44 Rowena Parade
Richmond 3121
Ph: 03 9421 3262

When I think of those tiny little cafes and restaurants one sometimes discovers in Melbourne's many laneways, those hidden gems treasured by locals, I think of places with happy staff, fabulous food, consistently good coffee. I knew that to some Melbourne foodies, Rowena Parade was one such gem, so when I stumbled across it by accident I was expecting a unique, memorable breakfast experience.

Photo: breakfastout.com.au

First impressions were good. On a warm morning, the windows were wide open, and tables of what seemed like regular customers almost filled the room. The "cafe/milkbar/continental deli" has a Greek theme, with a huge picture of Santorini on one wall; above the counter, a big sign reads "Mamma's takeaway", and cute little messages are found all over the room (above the counter, a blackboard reminding patrons that "For every minute you're angry, you lose sixty seconds of happiness"; beneath a bell, a stern warning to "Under no circumstances ring this bell").

We found a good selection of basic breakfast and lunch dishes on the menu and specials board, with a few traditional Greek dishes featured.

Kaski, from Neveska in Northern Greece: Roasted red peppers, cooked in tomato reduction, with fresh ricotta, fetta cheese and a hint of chili, served with organic Turkish toast ($8.50)

I considered a BELTAC (bacon, egg, lettuce, tomato, avocado, cheese - Rowena Parade's super take on the BLT) but decided I was having an "It's-too-early-for-eggs" morning so instead, my little ramekin of tomato and chili was an excellent start to the day. Yes, the presentation could have been better - the dish was a bit of a mess. But it was creamy and rich with a subtle kick of chili and went well with the Turkish bread.

Two free range eggs on Turkish toast ($7.00) with mushrooms, tomato, avocado ($2.50 each) and bacon ($3.00)

A simple big breakfast, and what a disappointment. Bf, a man who has no chef training and cooks beautiful creamy scrambled eggs at home, is constantly amazed at how often kitchens ruin breakfast. The eggs he was served were a dry, bland, solid lump. The sides consisted of a flavourless half tomato, extremely crisp (in fact, black) bacon (which was cooked to bf's liking - we both like our bacon very crispy - but we both agreed the kitchen was taking a risk here), the tiniest portion of an average tasting avocado, and some mushrooms which were the only decent thing about the meal. He was also served a warm strawberry milkshake.

Bf was very unsatisfied, and I must say that my expectations of the place were a lot higher. Rowena Parade has so much charm, you would think the service - wait staff had zero personality - and food would match. "Good Things", reads a heading at the bottom of the menu, above a paragraph explaining that their eggs are free range, their bread is organic, they source local produce wherever possible. But is it all talk? It's one - very important - thing to source the freshest, best produce you can find. What you do with it is another matter. Rowena Parade is good on paper, but in practice things are very different.

Breakfast on Bridge: Grace Food and Wine

Grace Food and Wine

306 Bridge Road

Richmond 3121

Ph: 03 9429 8929

As Bf and I sat in the very pleasant outdoor veranda one morning at Grace, looking through the extensive breakfast menu, I thought it might be time to ditch the usual Big Breakfast or Eggs Benedict in favour of a breakfast dish a little less mainstream. Unfortunately, by the time I'd finished my meal I was feeling unsatisfied and seriously craving that big breaky.

Grace cassoulet of chorizo, spicy beans and poached eggs with a parmesan crust, avocado salsa and sour cream ($16)

This was my first breakfast cassoulet. I'm not in any hurry to try a second. It was a fairly flavourless bowl of mush with a dry, bland "parmesan crust" which really just tasted like breadcrumbs. I enjoyed mixing the beans, sour cream and avocado salsa towards the end of the dish, but I was after breakfast, not Mexican burrito filling.

Grace big breakfast of poached eggs, bacon, sausages, tomato, mushrooms, beans, spinach and a hash brown on toasted Turkish bread ($17.50)

Bf, on the other hand, had "one of the best big breakfasts" he's had, trading the poached eggs for creamy, light scrambled ones instead. The tomatoes, a breakfast side that can sometimes be a bit dull, were strong in flavour from the fresh herbs sprinkled on top, and were given a smokey flavour from, I suspect, being cooked in the same pan as the bacon fat.

Drinks here are good; I had a beautiful creamy chai latte and Bf enjoyed his strawberry thickshake. I felt like I hardly saw the wait staff, as though service was just fine but not outstanding, but this could just be because we were outside, away from the action. Despite my cassoulet disappointment, Bf's breakfast has given me confidence in the rest of the menu, and I'm very interested in going back to sample one of the $9.00 lunch specials.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! Here's what I'm eating today...

Basil, goat's feta and fresh tomato toasts

Salt and pepper calamari, served with a lemon aioli

Spinach, green bean and almond salad (Instant Entertaining, Donna Hay)

Above and below: Coquille St Jacques (Doyles Fish Cookbook, Alice Doyle)

Oven roasted garlic and vegetables; wilted bok choy with balsamic

Mum's famous potato salad

Asian noodle salad

Barbequed Char Sui marinated french lamb cutlets

In search of a hangover cure

Thy Thy House
118 Victoria Street

Richmond 3121

Ph: 03 9429 8668

I've often heard people talk of spending lazy Sundays eating cheap, tasty little dumplings to cure a hangover. I used to swear by a can of tuna and a cup of tea to soothe me through the morning after but this odd combination doesn't seem to work anymore, so figured the day after my work Christmas party was a good time to test out the theory.

Steamed prawn wontons, $8.00

Despite being steamed, these wontons were covered in a greasy dumpling wrapper rather than the smooth, oil-free skin I was expecting. Still, the prawns inside were unprocessed, thick and juicy, with that little bit of crunch that fresh prawns have. Don't bother with the accompanying sauce though: its a thick, gluggy brown mixture that tastes like the flavouring sachet from a pack of two-minute noodles.

Scallops in chili and lemongrass sauce with rice, $8.00

This dish was part of a selection of $8.00 lunch specials; it had a bit of a kick from the chili but overall was quite bland. The vegetables were fresh and crunchy but the scallops were thin, old, and served without the delicious orange roe.

Service was provided by two young Asian boys with Aussie accents. I arrived and found them eating and watching The Nanny, but whenever I required service it was quick, attentive and warm. With a delicious Vietnamese beer (333, $6.00) lunch cost me $22 - good value for the quantity served, but the food itself was not remarkable. It's one of the more flashy looking restaurants along Victoria Street; perhaps next time I'll stick to one of the more authentic, grungy looking places. Still, those little prawn parcels, and all that rice, did indeed leave me cured of my hangover.

For a quick all rounder

Blue Train Cafe

Southgate Complex
Southbank

Ph: 03 9696 0440

It was a beautiful warm day, and we needed a sunny balcony to sit on. Mum and I headed over to Southbank, walking past the endless rows of snooty-looking restaurants and headed up to an old favourite in the Southgate Complex, Blue Train.

Seared salmon fillet: soba noodle salad, soy dressing ($19.90)

You know a dish is truly fantastic when you cant stop thinking about it for days; that's how I felt about this salmon fillet. The crunchy noodle salad was a great accompaniment to the soft, melt-in-your-mouth texture of the salmon, and the soy dressing was strong and flavoursome without being too salty or overpowering.

Tandoori chicken salad: tomato, cucumber, Spanish onion, steamed rice, papadums, yoghurt raita ($19.90)

The papadums that came with Mum's meal were wholegrain, adding some interesting flavour and texture. Mum's meal was fresh and light but the tandoori chicken was quite dry with an almost stringy texture. Pairing it with the cool, creamy raita helped.


One tiny little critisism: the menu is divided into sections entitled "small plates" and "big plates", and goes on to list quite an extensive selection of "plates". This made the menu hard to read, as I was overwhelmed by the choice and it took me a while to gather what I had to select from. Service is not bad but not fabulous - when we had clearly not even touched our meals yet the same waiter who brought them out came and asked "How is everything?" - but overall Blue Train is a great spot for contemporary meals served fast and at reasonable prices; and a seat on the sunny balcony is the perfect spot to relax after a hard day's shopping.