Beatrix, North Melbourne
A very late breakfast start, a lot of road closures in the CBD, and a quick reply from a friend all lead me to breakfast in North Melbourne this morning, at sweet little Beatrix cafe.
Look, if I’m being really honest, I’d heard about the brioche doughnuts and wanted to give them a try. But, unforutnately, they are only available on Saturdays. Sundays give up caramel pecan sticky buns instead – oh if I *must* …
Caramel pecan sticky bun
I brought that one home for afternoon tea.
Beatrix features lots of lovely cakes, big cakes, little cakes and biscuits shaped like moustaches and hula hoops. I tried a bit of the peanut “sandy” as I was paying my bill, and wished I’d bought a few of them to take home as well.
But first, breakfast. Savoury options on this rainy Sunday included granola ($7), Shakshuka – bakes eggs with peppers and tomatoes, fetta and mint ($7), Mushroom toastie ($7) and three sandwich options on delicious ciabatta from Lets-a-Loaf in Caroline Springs.
“The babe” – featuring 6 hour roasted pork belly, with cabbage, dill and apple slaw, with crackling ($13 / $11)
“Beet-rix” with baked beetroot, woodside goats cheese and hazelnuts ($10 / $8)
and the Bea-L-T Ottway Ranges bacon, cos and apple aioli ($9).
Although I was tempted by “The Babe” and I loved the idea of small serving “so you can fit in a piece of cake”! I ordered the Bea-L-T even though, as we were at the end of the season, the tomatoes had been replaced by beetroot. Pfft – I think I like beets better than tomatoes anyway!
The Bea-L-B in this case
The bread was delightful – crunchy crust, but light and not too chewy on the inside. When the roll arrived I did think – ooo – that’s a decent sized breakky, but with the bread being lighter than expected, it was just right portion-wise. The apple aioli had a decent amount of garlic in it, and the beets were delicious.
The coffee is Allpress and the teas are from “The Art of Tea”. The cafe latte was good. I’m looking forward to an excuse to visit here again soon – early on a Saturday so I can grab my a brioche doughnut!
Lovely Allpress coffee
Corner of Lothian and Queensberry streets
Fabulous egg-beater logo
I especially liked that they changed the menu when the tomatoes were no good – there is nothing worse than out-of-season tomatoes, and the interesting selection of baked goodness.
Penny from Jeroxie has also written about Beatrix
May 22nd, 2011 at 2:33 pm
Well, if I’d known about the caramel pecan sticky bun, I would have forced myself to get out of bed and brave the rain! I’m definitely keen to try the mushroom toastie. Next weekend, perhaps. Or maybe tomorrow…
May 22nd, 2011 at 2:54 pm
This is definitely going to one of fav place to go to on weekends. So close by and so many goodies.
May 22nd, 2011 at 3:55 pm
Looks good. I think this shall be next on the ‘take the people in the outer suburbs to an inner urban adventure for breakfast’ list. Sounds very very yum.
May 22nd, 2011 at 7:49 pm
Damn about missing out on the doughnuts- but hey, I’m sure the pecan sticky buns should suffice ….for now! :)
May 23rd, 2011 at 5:05 pm
looks cute, always knew this part of West Melb was a sleeping giant but it has taken an age to awaken. Is it in your top five cafes? What are your top five BTW or is t too dfficult to choose?
May 24th, 2011 at 9:38 pm
@injera If I’d know the caramel pecan sticky buns were a game changer I would have mentioned it (maybe) :-)
@Penny and luckily you can burn off those calories riding there and back.
@deccles26 It is *very* small though – so have a back up plan!
@adrian – I can’t wait to try a doughnut… maybe this weekend?
@Steve – I couldn’t possibly narrow it down to just five….different places for different occasions – though if there were one 5mins from my house, that would be my favourite.
May 27th, 2011 at 6:23 pm
Thanks for visiting and the lovely comments! Hope to see you one Saturday for that brioche doughnut…:)
May 27th, 2011 at 8:43 pm
Hi Nat, thanks for dropping by. I’m hoping there will be a doughnut left for me after the market!
May 29th, 2011 at 4:58 pm
Oh yum.. I can never get enough of good brekkie spots..so I must visit this!
June 1st, 2011 at 2:07 pm
i ate a freshly made donut at Beatrix the another day..omg, not since i used to buy cinnamon donuts after school have i enjoyed one so much!! totally travel-worthy.
October 2nd, 2011 at 4:23 pm
[...] in May, Essjay wrote about Beatrix, a relatively new cafe in North Melbourne. I read the post and thought the place looked great, but [...]