It’s the long weekend! Hooray!! Hopefully, you have a long restful three day weekend ahead of you!

As for us (The Boy, DD, DD’s hubby and myself), we are off to Tasmania for the weekend. So just in case you can’t stand the thought of being without us for that long a period, here’s a droolicious breakfast and lunch round up of Melbourne’s newest popular (must-go-to) cafe to tie-you over until we return!

See you next Tuesday! *snigger*

It is certainly true when people say that there’s only 6 degrees of separation to someone you know. Two weekends ago, The Boy and I were on our usual banter back-and-forth of who’s turn it was to decide our breakfast/brunch spot.

Luckily for me, The Grain Store was at the forefront of my mind and I suggested we head over.

As with most Melbourne CBD based locations, parking was a b**ch (pardon me). We went around the block a few times before The Boy declared “one more round and I’ll be turning straight home if we don’t find a park”. It was as if the universe heard him and provided us with a parking two blocks up from The Grain Store. 

Off we trundled to the cafe (which was packed to the brim, word gets around). Once we finished and walked out, I had a little giggle, as I had a friend of a friend (friend’s ex) send me a message on Facebook asking me to try The Grain Store out. A friend of his had gone into partnership with the owners of The Reading Room to open it.

Upon commenting on this message to two separate groups of friends (both who mutually know this person), I found out that not only was it a friend’s friend, who had open the store, but it was also another friends cousin-in-law. Luckily for me, I had nothing bad to say about The Grain Store and liked it very much *phew*.

What I’m trying to say with the above 6 degrees of separation story is this. You never know who you are going to meet next in life, so treat everyone with respect and care 🙂

Enough rambling! On with the food.

Coffees here are from St Ali and Axil. As is typical with most St Ali and Axil brews, the coffee beans are very strong and robust with their flavours. They have a range of coffees on offer, including cold drips.

Bacon Steak & Spiced Apple Fritters ($17.00) – with Egg Sunny Side-up and Gruyere Cheese Fondue.

When I saw that there was apple fritters on the menu, I envisioned something similar to corn fritters. It never crossed my mind that the apples were truly just battered and fried. Brilliant!

Also if you read bacon steak and thought, “Oh no, not gamon!”, please wipe that thought out of your mind. It’s not the same at all! Freshly cut bacon steak pan fried is completely unlike the school meals you might have encountered.

This breakfast dish was top notch and I highly recommend it.

Portobello Mushroom & Raclette Potato Rösti ($17.00) – with Poached Eggs & Chestnut Hollandaise. Added Dry Cured Bacon ($4.00).

My second choice for breakfast was the mushroom and rosti combination. So that’s what The Boy ordered. He added bacon onto his which was what I would’ve done.

The Boy said the chestnut hollandaise sauce was absolutely brilliant.

Also, we pause this post with the expected #yolkporn #eggporn action which is now a requirement for all our breakfast/brunch posts that involves eggs.

So impressed was I with the offerings of The Grain Store that I suggested it as a place for a client lunch.

The fun part of being a food blogger is, is that I have the final say on where we should go when dining out with clients and colleagues. The bad part of being a food blogger is, is that I have to come up with new and exciting places (which serves good food and is affordable) all the time *boo*.

The other good part of having most people at work know what I do on the side as a hobby is that nobody questions, when the crazy Asian lady in the group whacks out her large prominent DSLR camera and starts snapping pictures of their food before they can eat (I have them all well trained!).

Also, they find it:

a.) Amusing
b.) Fun to be mentioned in the post

So if you are reading this, here’s to the Lucky Cat Lunch Club 🙂 “Cheers! Where shall we dine next?”

Romsey Range Buttery Beef Cheeks ($23.00) – with Winter Vegetables, Russian Red Kale, Vanilla Parsnip Puree.

Allandale Farm Spatchcock Diable ($25.00) – with Broad Beans, Jerusalem Artichokes, Black Rice, Dijon and Thyme.

Slow Cooked Tasmanian Sea Trout ($23.00) – with Potato Fondant, Leek, Red Wine Glaze.

I was most pleased when 3 out of the four of us ordered different items on the lunch menu to try! This meant more pictures and I got to have feedback from everyone about their dishes.

Having heard mixed reviews with The Grain Store’s beef cheeks (sometimes tender, sometimes dry), I waited with trepidation as Lucky Cat President tasted his dish. Luckily for us, it was well tender and delicious! *phew*

Kimchi enjoyed her spatchcock and Ms Menace and I couldn’t be happier with our sea trout dish. I especially loved the toasted quinoa which crusted the top of the fish (very South American).

When it came time for dessert, the group couldn’t make up its mind on what to order. So we did what any sane people would do and ordered one of each that was available!

Mini Pear Tart Tartin ($8.00) – with Butter Caramel Sauce, Whipped Crème Fraiche, Rhubarb.

Chocolate Chip Cookies & Milk ($7.00). Baked to order, requires 10 minutes.

Feijoa Cheese Cake & Honey Chocolate Mousse ($10.00) – with Pistachio and Honeycomb.

All the desserts were good, with the clear winner being the Feijoa cheese cake. It was light, it was fluffy and it had the right amount of sweetness.

So if you happen to be around the Flinders Lane (and King Street) area of Melbourne CBD, or if you are looking for the next breakfast/lunch/tea spot, check out The Grain Store!

*Disclaimer: All food ratings are purely based on my own experiences and how I feel about the service, food and quality at the time of visit.

Food/ Cuisine: Breakfast, Lunch, Coffee
Dining Style: Cafe

Address:
517 Flinders Lane
Melbourne VIC 3000

Opening Hours:
Monday to Thursday, 7:00am to 4:30pm
Friday, 7:00am to 8:00pm
Saturday & Sunday, 8:30am to 4:00pm

Tel: (03) 9972 6993

Website: http://www.grainstore.com.au/

Twitter: @GrainStore517

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