June 23, 2007: Inkari III

Inkari was one of the first restaurants Cindy and I investigated when we moved to Melbourne. It's an oasis of Latin America inspired food in a desert of mediocre Italian joints and we've made a return visit since for a cheap and delicious lunch. We admired the breakfast menu on both trips, but our only attempt to actually go there was foiled by our weekend sluggishness (the breakfast menu cuts off at some ungodly hour like 11:30). Luckily we made it out of bed before 9am last Saturday and stumbled along for our second Mexican-themed breakfast in 9 days.

For once, Cindy opted for a cooked breakfast - the Buenos Dias Inkari: pan-fried eggs, Ilapingachos (potato pockets), refried black beans, corn, tomato, grilled banana, avocado, sour cream and soft corn tortillas. Typically, Cindy was most excited by the potato pockets - honestly she'd have chips for breakfast, lunch and dinner if I allowed it - but less excited by the eggs and tortilla. The banana and the black-beans made a surprisingly good combination (particularly surprising given how evil bananas are) and the whole package was a satisfactory if not inspiring meal.

I opted for the Huevos Motulenios: a traditional Mexican breakfast of grilled eggs, chiltomate sauce, refried black beans, cheese and green peas served on fried corn tortillas. The corn tortillas were overly crisp, but everything else was spot on: spicey sauce, delicious cheese, mexi-flavoured refried beans and tasty, well-cooked, eggs.

It's not really a place that aims at a vegetarian clientèle (I had to get them to hold the ham in my breakfast), but it's local, reasonably priced (about $13 each) and pretty tasty - certainly a worthwhile breakfast option.

Read about our previous visits to Inkari here and here.

Edit 19/12/07: Sadly, Inkari appears to have closed permanently.