Porgie and Mr Jones

September 24, 2011

Cindy and I usually keep our breakfasting out pretty close to home. Being car-less and hungry means that a long journey for brekkie is likely to end in grumpiness and impatience rather than relaxation and contentment. This explains the three years it has taken us to make our way out to Hawthorn to try out one of Melbourne's most raved about cafes: Porgie and Mr Jones. Thankfully, the buzz has died down a bit over that period (in part due to the ongoing expansion of the P&MJ empire), meaning that we didn't have to wait for a table, a fact that made me and my caffeine addiction very happy indeed.

Porigie and Mr Jones expands TARDIS-like from a stylish front area into two big back rooms decked out in a more homely fashion, and a courtyard beyond the kitchen.

The white tablecloths give things a fancier feel than I think they're going for, but the staff are relaxed and friendly and the general vibe is pleasant. Coffee orders were taken immediately and I was caffeinated quite soon after we sat down. Breakfast is a decent mix of eggy savouries and a variety of sweeter options - I was in the mood for baked beans of some description but they were a surprising menu omission. Still, there was plenty to choose from. Following our typical approach to breakfast, I leant towards savoury while Cindy couldn't go past the sweets.

My dish was something of a Jones-family staple turning up on the menu at all three of his establishments: Mr Jones' golden 'folded' scrambles with fresh herbs and holy goats cheese on wholegrain toast ($12.90), with added avocado ($3.50).

These are very lightly scrambled eggs, falling pretty close to omelette territory. Either way they were delicious, dotted with creamy chunks of goats cheese and a scattering of fresh basil leaves. The avo was smashed to guacamole texture, but was at least ripe and fresh and the bread reaffirmed my desire to visit Noisette one day. Not too shabby at all.

Cindy went healthier: Fruits of the season with rosewater, Cleo's yoghurt, honey and oat crumble ($11.90).

The fruit and yoghurt were excellent - it's nice to see a fruit salad that offers up a good variety, but Cindy didn't get the rosewater hit she was hoping for (a shame given her obsession with it) and the crumble was very fine and not particularly oaty. It was all satisfactory but I think she left with a vague sense of disappointment. This was somewhat alleviated when I grabbed an excellent brownie to takeaway with us as a treat for the journey home. It didn't survive long enough to be photographed I'm afraid.

The menu and the vibe of P & MJ are very similar to their sister-venue Friends of Mine and, unsurprisingly, our feelings about this brekkie were about the same as our thoughts on Friends of Mine - both have decent coffee, good food and friendly service, but neither wowed us enough to get us back on an early morning tram across town in the near future. Vegans aren't well catered to here, but coeliacs will be happy with the offer of homemade gluten-free bread ($1 extra).

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In contrast, the blogosphere is giddy with P & MJ love - check out rave reviews from: Food Chee, Two Fat Buns, Almost Always Ravenous, I'm So Hungreee, Food Rehab, Melbourne Gastronome, Let Me Feed You Melbourne, Eat and Be Merry for Tomorrow We Diet, Uey Loves, Never Trust a Skinny Foody, Ronnie's Spots, Second Helping, Melbourne Dining Experiences, The Breakfast Blog, Kate and Zoe, Home Sweet Home, Nouveau Potato, Two Munch, Eat Play Shop and Iron Chef Shellie

Let's Get Fat Together, Zinnamon and Feed Melbourne had similar experiences to ours: nothing to complain about but not quite measuring up to expectations, while Eat Almost Anything at Least Once was pretty disappointed.

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Porgie and Mr Jones
291 Auburn Road, Hawthorn
9882 2955
Breakfasts: $5.00 - $18.90
http://porgiemrjones.com.au/

Accessibility: There's a small step up into the fairly crowded front room. There's a bit more space in the back area, although there's another step to negotiate here. The place is well lit and payment takes place at the relatively low front counter. Toilets are up a flight of stairs.

October 16, 2010: Plush Pizza III

On Saturday night we ate at Plush Pizza with four friends - this was an excellent opportunity to try a few more flavours while revisiting some favourites. I was adamant that we'd have the Potato Swoon ($13.50), which Fiona recommended to us. Unlike your typical potato-thins-and-rosemary pizza, this one has perfectly tender roast potato in chunks, the obligatory rosemary, red onion and chives (there's also mozzarella and sour cream on the non-vegan version). It's very nice indeed, though one of the less bold options.

We ordered the Chunky pizza again ($18.50) - I still can't quite believe that pickles and canned pineapple can work so well on a pizza!

Toby let me in on the secret to a vegan-friendly Barbecue pizza ($15) - have the honey-riddled barbecue sauce replaced with mustard. I was a big, big fan of the original and a mite skeptical but, heck, this was still amazing.

Ben Special ($17) was charming as ever - still not much hint of the promised spices, but mushrooms and avocado can do nothing wrong in my eyes.

The Satay was new to us (and comes recommended by Bec) - the thin layer of satay sauce is topped with button mushrooms, red onion, roast zucchini, fried tofu, fresh coriander and sesame seeds ($16). It's not too gluggy and another perfectly complementary set of flavours.

Finally, we tried the Tom Yum ($16). I was more curious about this one than I was actually expecting to enjoy it, but the first bite was a revelation! How did they get something as dry and chewy as pizza to taste so much like a soup?! The tom yum sauce was tongue-tinglingly sweet-and-sour and the toppings - mushrooms, red onion, capsicum, tomato and fried tofu - still had freshness and crunch to them. Just. Wow.

I'm repeatedly impressed at how gosh-darn smart the topping combinations are at Plush Pizza, as well as being enormously tasty. Rumour has it that this business is up for sale and I can only hope against hope there's a way for Plush to continue doing what it's doing, because it's doing it so bloody well.

Edit 10/07/11: Sadly, Plush Pizza has closed - Melbourne veg community will miss it terribly.

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You can read about our previous visits to Plush Pizza here and here.

This year, Plush has also been blogged by OK, we don't have sugar..., Vegan About Town (five times!), Seismic Change, In The Mood For Noodles and Cupcake Kitteh.

June 12, 2010: Plush Pizza II

Though we like to whinge about anything that drags us out of the inner north, Miss T's birthday bash out east provided us with a welcome excuse to stop by Plush Pizza for dinner with Toby. Toby's something of a PP veteran and he advised us by text message to order two medium pizzas to share between the three of us, one of them Chunky ($18.50). Though this topping combo wasn't high on my to-try list, it was terrific - jammed with mushrooms, capsicum, onion, tomato, sausage, tofu, olives, pineapple, gherkin and topped with fresh parsley, it had the heartiness of a supreme pizza with none of the stodginess.

In the comments on our previous Plush pizza post, I got a clear message that I needed to try the Ben Special ($17) - "pesto, button mushrooms, red onion, sliced roma tomato and a light sprinkle of our hot spice blend. Garnished with slices of fresh avocado, cracked pepper and a splash of balsamic vinegar". While I didn't pick up on the pesto, spices or balsamic vinegar as I ate, this really worked! The thinly-sliced avocado was a wonderful creamy alternative to melted cheese, and I always think it's the perfect partner for mushrooms.

I really dig what Plush Pizza puts out - bucketloads of veges, flavour and satisfaction without the oily, doughy ball of regret that takeaway pizza can leave in your stomach for hours afterwards.

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You can read about our previous visit to Plush Pizza here.

Edit 10/07/11: Sadly, Plush Pizza has closed - Melbourne veg community will miss it terribly.

January 9, 2010: Plush Pizza

It's been remiss of us to only make it to Hawthorn's Plush Pizza now for the first time. Actually, it's been remiss of Melbourne's entire veg*n blogosphere not to blog it more often - I've only been able to find two reviews, both of them from 2007. Plush has a lot going for it - the menu boasts 19 vegetarian pizza topping combinations, they're willing to veganise just about all of them and they offer gluten-free bases (although I hear that these aren't great). They're right on the #75 tram line and while they've a few seats for eating in, St James Park is a short stroll down the street with a gourmet beer purveyor on the way (just take a bottle opener if you want much choice).

And for all that, they turn out some damn fine pizzas (thank goodness!). Michael couldn't resist the Hothead (pictured above, $15.80), and had the veganised version with tomato sauce, 'mozzarella', tomato, capsicum, vegetarian sausage, fried tofu, jalapenos, tobasco sauce, parsley and spices. This was sufficiently spicy that Michael advised me not to try it. Alternatively, it may have been so delicious that he didn't want to share it. I did, at least, get to try a chunk of the vegan cheese. It was pleasant, if bland - if I were going vegan I'd probably request no cheese rather than paying out extra for the fake stuff.

I ordered the Barbecue pizza ($15), layered up with tomato sauce, mozzarella, baby spinach, red onion, vegetarian sausage, roast potato, barbecue sauce and shaved parmesan. It was THE BUSINESS. The barbecue sauce was super-smoky, the roast potato chunks were gorgeously tender and caramelised and the spinach and light hand with the cheese kept it tasting reasonably fresh. The only downer here is that the barbecue sauce contains honey, so isn't vegan-friendly.

Most of the menu items feature a similarly high number of toppings but they look thoughtfully composed - I'm looking forward to trying the Aztec, Potato Swoon, Satay Sublime and Tom Yum pizzas, as well as testing Plush on the sparser classics like garlic, margherita and pesto. And if Plush's ideas don't appeal, they also offer extra toppings of your choice for a price - you could probably build up almost anything you wanted from their margherita.

The bases were good stuff, too - quite thin and crisp, but with enough substance to support the toppings. They're not up to the high standard of, say, I Carusi, but they certainly edge out the typcial takeaway competition, such as Crust. If only they did home delivery!

Edit 10/07/11: Sadly, Plush Pizza has closed - Melbourne veg community will miss it terribly.

Address: 85 Burwood Rd, Hawthorn
Ph: 9819 1188
Unlicensed
Price: veg pizzas $6-$21, vegan cheese 50c-$1 extra
Website: www.plushpizza.com.au