If I had to name a favourite breakfast/brunch place in Melbourne, it would be an extremely difficult choice between Hammer and Tong and Two Birds One Stone. When I am paying close to $20 for brunch, excluding coffee, I want to know that there is no way I can ever make whatever I order at home. As a result, I avoid places that serve brekky fry ups with fried eggs, fried bacon, fried tomatoes, baked beans (from a can) and toast. And too many establishments that try to break away from that mould unfortunately are unable to execute something that requires a more delicate touch or a higher level of skill.
Until we discovered Two Birds One Stone, our breakfast choices were pretty much limited to the usual suspects like Chez Dre, Top Paddock, Campos, Three Bags Full and Fitzrovia - all of which are really quite good in their own right. I should qualify that these cafes are not places I would avoid, and I have even recommended them to friends visiting Melbourne wanting a taste of the quintessential Melbourne brekky. However, for some reason which I am unable to discern, Two Birds One Stone happens to top my list. It's not quite on the beaten tourist track and takes some effort for a non-Melbournian to find. It's always full of well-dressed affluent and powerful looking people who speak with no trace of bogan-ness in their accents.
Basic, simple decor that looks inexpensive but probably isn't
They serve Five Senses coffee (sadly not a fan), but somehow the barista manages to make it taste as good as Seven Seeds (yay!).
Their eggs ben is probably good enough to rival that of Top Paddock. The ham hock had amazing depth, and went so well with just slightly sour and beautifully creamy bernaise sauce - possibly the best breakfast at South Yarra.
The twice cooked marmalade French toast with oranges was a huge surprise; creamy French toast with a gorgeous citrus tang. We were sold.
Another visit a couple of months later saw us prepared to eat. A LOT.
The coffee was as good as we remembered.
We ordered two items from the main menu and one from the daily specials.
Ricotta-filled crepes with grilled figs and blood orange and candied pistachios- how good does that sound, and how much more amazing it looks like in real life!
Chai yogurt panna cotta with granola and dried fruit - it doesn't just look awesome, it was out of this world
It was almost impossible to get a good picture of all 3 dishes on the table at the same time
The hardest dish to photograph was the house smoked salmon with beetroot relish and feta.
It was also kind of the most disappointing dish, since the salmon arrived cooked instead of still semi cured. We were uncertain if that was the intention, but couldn't help wondering how much better it could have been if the salmon had been left out of the omelette, and just draped on the side subsequently after the salmon was done. The beetroot and feta cheese was great though. Just that we were thinking of moist orange slivers of cured smoked salmon.
Another view of the bruleed figs and crepes; our favourite dish that day.
Website: http://twobirdsonestonecafe.com.au/
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