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143 Victoria Avenue, Albert Park, 9078 0925
My score: 3/5
When I’m out for breakfast I often feel that my first coffee is fighting with the breakfast menu: one is trying to wake me up and the other strives to put me back to sleep. Menu lullabies include those well-known numbers ‘smashed avocado’, ‘corn fritters’ and ‘poached eggs’. It’s not that I don’t want to eat that stuff – sometimes I do – but I also want other options to keep me alert, interested and keen. The Guilty Moose, a three-month old cafe at the beach end of Vic Ave, has a jazzy menu with Asian-influenced brunches propping up the standard snooze of eggs, extras and avo. It also has a large partially shaded courtyard, doubling the space that’s available on the broad Albert Park pavement and in two cosy dining rooms.
There are no contrite moose here; the odd name came out of a Chinese whispers brainstorming session, though there’s another legend about a wayward drive through Canada. Pick your truth over a breakfast okonomiyaki, a savoury Japanese pancake that more or less translates as ‘put in whatever you like’. The Moose’s version has two types of cabbage plus carrot; there’s smoked trout, sweet mayonnaise and thick soy-and-ketchup sauce on the side. A Laotian-style omelette is filled with sweet, sticky rice and pickled cucumber; it’s great to have something fresh and spicy in the mornings. Banana bread is a lullaby classic but this version isn’t as sleepy as most; the bread is moist with crisp caramelised corners, and it’s slathered with lemon curd and a dollop of strawberry-laced crème fraiche. If you’re after dessert for breakfast, this is your guy.
The lunch menu is above average too with soft-shelled crab burgers and vegetarian chilli con carne keeping the summer roster lively. Take-home roast dinners are available weeknights till 10pm, proving that this moose stays awake at the wheel from morning to night.
See their website.
More courtyards:
La Condesa Taqueria, 234 Johnston Street, Fitzroy, 9419 5675
The rear courtyard at La Condesa is a street-stall-inspired hangout with juices, beers, tequila cocktails and – of course – tacos.
Sebastian’s Food and Wine, 303 Hampton Street, Hampton, 9533 4755
Head to the spacious, shady courtyard to enjoy Sebastian’s fresh, seasonal food. Try the haloumi salad with freekah and yoghurt pomegranate dressing and the reuben sandwich with house-smoked brisket. Ask about special dinner events.
Alleycat Cafe, 8 Theatre Place, Canterbury, 0417 002 403
Making the most of the recently refurbished Theatre Place, just off chichi Maling Road, this kid-friendly cafe does its best to recreate a European mood by serving crepes, pizza and cakes to shaded tables dotted around the bricked plaza.
First published in The Age, October 12, 2014.
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