May 21, 2011: Friends of Mine

Friends of Mine opened about six months back in a burst of hype and excitement. The place was run by peeps with impressive cafe pedigrees (Porgie and Mr Jones, Snow Pony - both unreviewed by us despite vague intentions to visit since about 2008) and was on a section of Swan Street that was desperately short of good coffee options. They also used their twitter account smartly, generating enthusiasm without just being boring self-promoters. So, predictably, they've been overrun by Melbourne's buzz-conscious foodie set.

We put them on our list of places to visit once the hype (and queues) died down and this Saturday, with a trip to Richmond on the cards anyway, we decided it was time to give them a shot. We turned up at about 9:30 to find swarms of people blocking the door - luckily they were mostly in search of takeaway coffee, so we were able to grab a table without waiting around (just a month back, Nouveau Potato waited 25 minutes for a table!).

It's a pretty big place that hums with activity - staff swarming about everywhere, customers coming and going and a constant stream of takeaway coffees being served up. The fit-out is varied: we sat in the middle section - all concrete and quirkiness, while the dining area furthest from the front had a more formal white-tablecloth vibe going on.

The menu (which rather weirdly tells you, "you are beautiful") is fairly standard for a place like this: some vaguely healthy options (muesli, porridge), toasts, eggy dishes and a few other bits and pieces. There's also a whole bunch of lunchy dishes and some desserts, but we stayed focussed on the breakfast section of the menu. The breakfast style sweets weren't too abundant (no French toast, no pancakes) so Cindy went savoury: herb and cheesey toast with eggplant kusundi ($11.90).

I thought this was excellent - generous cheese, perfectly melted on delicious bread and a salty and spicy eggplant relish to cut through it all. Alas, from Cindy's point of view it was all a bit heavy on the cheese. She's a more delicate appreciator of melted cheese (we've had some long and fruitless debates about pizza before), so this ended up being a bit much for her.

I ordered the smashed avocado with thyme buttered mushrooms, marinated feta and torn basil on wholegrain toast, with a poached egg ($18.90).

This was a pretty excellent rendition of avocado on toast - no skimping on the avo (with some nice bite via a good squeeze of lemon juice), fragrant and beautifully cooked mushrooms, salty fetta, bursts of basil and parsley and a perfectly poached egg on top. It's worth mentioning that the bread they use at Friends of Mine (courtesy of Noisette) is excellent - soft and crusty in perfect proportions.

Unlike a few other bloggers we had no service issues at all - in fact our food came out remarkably quickly and multiple staff were always on hand when we wanted them. The coffee good and Cindy enjoyed her orange juice, but both of us walked away feeling a bit uninspired. I think my issues were price-related - $18.90 is getting a bit ridiculous for a breakfast which, although excellent, doesn't tower above some cheaper options closer to home.  And given its popularity, it's not currently a place to linger over the newspaper.  To be fair, I probably have higher expectations for places that take more than half an hour for us to get to so I may be holding Friends of Mine to higher standards than our local favourites. Based on our experience, you'll get great service and good food at Friends of Mine and if you're in the neighbourhood you'll not be disappointed.

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Friends of Mine has been raved about all over the blogosphere: Saturdaymorningsinmelbourne, The Guilty Stomach, Once a Waitress, The Neff Kitchen, Melbourne Food Files, Addictive and Consuming, Melbourne Food Tales, ... it pleases us, Juggernaut's Foodie Thoughts, Gourmet Chick, Social Marketplace, Very Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eat This, The Food Designer and Pete Can Cook were all pretty impressed, while just Melbourne Culinary Journal wasn't wowed.

Vego bloggers Nouveau Potato and Ballroom Blintz were also fans (although it should be noted that vegans will struggle to find anything on the menu they can eat).

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Friends of Mine
506 Swan St, Richmond
9428 7516
Breakfasts: $5.50 - $18.90
http://www.friendsofmine.com.au/ (beware of seemingly unstoppable autoplay music)

Accessibility: Friends of Mine has a fairly wide and flat entry and is fairly spacious around the communal table.  Things get more crowded and difficult around the check-out and in the dining room area.