April 7, 2007: Cafe 3A

Update 31/12/2014: Cafe 3A is closed.

Easter Saturday dawned crisp and sunny - a perfect day for a stroll up to Sydney Road for breakfast. The original plan was to check out Mule, but they'd wisely decided to enjoy the beautiful long weekend and shut up shop. Luckily, Cafe 3A around the corner was open for business.

The menu makes for impressive reading. The savoury breakfasts are egg-based, but with a few intriguing variations from the standard fare. Slightly exotic ingredients like capers, olive tapenade and goat's cheese are dotted throughout the menu and you can build your own brekkie from a base of eggs on sourdough. I decided to skip the poached eggs for a change and instead opted for a vegetarian omelette (see above), filled with red peppers, goat's cheese, salsa verde and capers. It was quite tasty - the capers in particular providing tiny bursts of flavour as my teeth located them. Unfortunately it was all a bit dry - the toast came without butter (although I could have asked if I really cared), and the omelette seemed just slightly overcooked. I was hoping that the salsa verde would be a kind of sauce for the omelette, but it had instead been stirred though the omelette mix. It was fine (and quite cheap at $9.50), but the positive things I'd read elsewhere had me hoping for more.

Cindy spent a good while studying the sweet breakfast options on the menu - there were two wonderful sounding choices. First of all, turkish bread slathered with rhubarb, strawberry and nectarine compote, with cinnamon and juniper berries, organic yoghurt and pistachios (for a remarkable $6.50). There was also a french toast dish, incorporating sour cherries, roasted almonds and cherry syrup ($8.50). After much humming and hahing, Cindy bizarrely opted for something off the lunch menu: a vegetarian panini with plum chutney, avocado, goat's cheese and rocket ($8.50). I stole a tiny taste of the cheese and chutney, both of which were wonderful - it made me wonder where the goat's cheese had gone in my omelet, the flavour didn't compare at all. Cindy raved about the fresh avocado and she seemed very content with her surprisingly non-dessert styled breakfast.

Address: 3A Edward Street, Brunswick
Ph: 9380 4996
Licensed
Prices: Veg brekkies $3.50-$10, lunches $8.50-$10