Tuesday 22 January 2008

A Tale Of Two Breakfasts (part 2)

After whining and moaning and sleeping most of Saturday, I had a severe case of cabin fever. Despite the fact my back was aching like a beeotch, Furry convinced me to jump in the car and go for a drive. The original idea was to head down to Sorrento and do a pie tasting for the new collaborative blog I am proud to be a part of, Piecon.

Sadly, it was not going to happen. 10 mins into the trip, my back was in spasm and I was sorely missing my Nurofen. So we ended up at a new venture in Dromana, D'alia.

D'alia is in the building that used to be the local hardware. And despite an extensive refit, it still feels like it. The space is too big. And it reeks of "let's reap the massive Summer tourist dollar", right down to the kids playground at the back.

Good on them, I say.

The decor is generic trend. Monochromatic mission brown and white.

I ordered the eggs Benedict. And, as you can see from the photo, it arrived sans garnish of any sort. It looked strangely bland. And tasted the same. One of the eggs seemed to not have a yolk. No cracked pepper was offered, but there was a pepper shaker with nasty generic white pepper in it.

The muffins were not toasted... naaaasty. The ham was so thin, as to be tasteless. The sauce was weird. Creamy.. not eggy. I don't know if commercial pre-prepared Hollandaise sauce is available, and bugger me backwards with a spoon id it WAS cooked there and then on the premises, but it tasted pre-fab.

It came with a hash brown, which I thought was overkill.

I am putting it down to being the newbies on the block, but it wasn't noice.

On the up side, the breakfast menu was very comprehensive. A big breakie includes the usual suspect, tomatoes, mushies, spinach, snags and umm.... scotch fillet.

The best feature however, was one that few breakfast places offer. Simple Bacon and eggs on toast. No trimmings, no jus, no chutney, no organic free range chevaps, Just. Bacon. And Eggs. On toast.

For $7.50, this was the highlight of the menu.

9 comments:

stickyfingers said...

Who stole the yolks and why? My God that albino hollandaise looks like there are no yolks in it either. Not one to put in the Melb Brekkie Guide then?

Hope the back's eased up. I know a good Chinese quack in Box Hill if you need some natural assistance.

Anonymous said...

furry's version beats this anaemic looking brekkie hands down!

xx

sg

Anonymous said...

Sadly I happen to know that pre made Hollandaise is available & beleive me, far too many places reach for the scissors to cut its tetra pack during a busy brekkie.
Gee, whatever happened to like getting egg yolks, melted butter & bit of lemon juice together?

purple goddess said...

See, I reckon Hollandaise is the benchmark of a breakfast menu. If you're gunna offer it, get it right.

The more I muse over that sauce, it tasted like warmed Best Foods or Thomy mayo.. sorta.

It was my post on M Bar all over again, right down to the "trendy" brown and chrome decor.

**sigh**

stickyfingers said...

Ah - the lost art of using eggs. To Gobblers point, I find Hollandaise, custard and mayonnaise easy to make, but that's because the eggs I use are so fresh. If you're one of those silly saps buying the old commercial ones you have a snowball's chance in hell of making them congeal.

These slick cafes are the vestige of the McMansion dwellers. All contrived looks with no substance, no art and no heart. Their clientele have no idea of what's good, it's the look of the place that counts for them because they are all show.

Whereas the provenance of Furry's brekkie would make it a sure fire winner, made with care and consideration.

purple goddess said...

It is indeed all the McMansion owners and the bloody yummy mummies.

And THIS is why:

http://www.marthacove.com.au/about-martha-cove/

A freakin scar on the face of the MP, if you ask me.

Altho, they'd prolly flock to my deli.

Furry and I have thought about selling our souls and starting PG's down there.

grocer said...

Love the presentation LOL!!!
egg and "sauce" strewn over the plate and hash brown.
Can you judge a book by its cover?
Usually!

grocer said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Squishy said...

Well that brekky looks disgusting and yes the pre fab hollandaise is widely available and is totally gross. I only recently found this out. I was disgusted.