Home Made Truffle Scrambled Eggs

As a result of the amazing truffle degustation dinner that we attended at Chiara, we each went home with one truffle that we knew we needed to save for a special occasion. The time came when we were staying over at a good friend's place, and had time to prepare breakfast. 

We had never handled an entire truffle before.

We put it in an airtight box with eggs for 3 days to allow the truffle aroma to infuse the eggs before scrambling them. 

And when we opened the cover - WOW. The truffles were super fragrant.

Ready to be shaved, but no of course we were too cheap to buy a truffle shaver. So we used a vegetable peeler instead. 

If the internet could transmit smells, this would be one photo that would need to be transmitted. The truffle smell had completely gone past the shells into the eggs. It was awesome. 

I beat the eggs up, then added some milk. Cream would have been perfect but we didn't want to buy any since we wouldn't have known what to do with the remainder. 

Getting the eggs cooked was super simple - just stirring them non stop in a non stick pan, with butter, watching the heat constantly to make sure that the eggs didn't overcook. 

And this was it - absolutely perfect scrambled eggs. Point to note from us cheapskates is that a vegetable peeler just won't do. Don't stinge on the truffle grater. The truffle slices were way too thick!

 

Not the best shot of our brekky, but it was a pretty amazing meal, with smoked salmon and dill on the side and toasted sourdough bread. 

Brunch in Melbourne Part 5: Two Birds One Stone, South Yarra

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/

Brunch in Melbourne Part 4: Fitzrovia, Fitzroy St, St Kilda

Fitzroy St in St Kilda was about 30mins walk away from our place in Prahran, and we would often head there en route to the beach or after running around Albert Park with the expectation of having at least a coffee along the stretch. (Thinking on a totally different tangent, it's interesting how Fitzroy St isn't in Fitzroy, Brunswick St isn't in Brunswick and, well, Ballarat Road isn't actually in Ballarat. But I digress.) 

Fitzrovia's probably our favourite cafe in St Kilda, and all our overseas visitors were most taken by the place, with one declaring that they enjoyed it "better than Movida" (which I cannot agree with). 

It's located partly in the new front extension to a conserved building, and partly in the heritage portion. This photo doesn't do justice to the interior, but it's beautifully decorated and has a great vibe. 

On our first visit, we ordered the creme brulee french toast with bacon and banana, and the cheese souffle with asparagus and additional cured salmon. We were blown away. 

In particular, it was the bruleed French toast that had us hook, line and sinker. Served with Istra bacon and vanilla verjus syrup (a fancy name for pretty damn good vanilla sauce), we had never tasted anything like it - the combination of textures and flavours were incredible.  

The cheese souffle was slightly less exciting, but only less so. We loved how everything came together beautifully in a very fresh and light way, in contrast to the French toast which admittedly would have been a tad heavy for some. 

Another view - beautiful colours 

It was just incredible how the surface was bruleed so beautifully, and the toast - oh my, so beautifully soft and creamy on the inside. 

This is a really bad photo of the cinnamon-dusted semolina doughnuts with nectarines, passionfruit yogurt and caramel - again, the genius of this place is in how everything contrasting ends up complementing. 

A simple Istra bacon toasted sandwich with mozzarella

The thick cut bacon with gruyere potato cake with a beetroot roulade and fried eggs - not the most elegant of dishes, but definitely very interesting

The other side with the bacon and potato cake - again, a faultless dish. We loved how everything was so unique and how so many different ingredients could come together in so many different dishes. Being good Asians, we had a bit of everything to share, which works way better since we get to try practically everything. 

The chicken salad was something I tried with healthy co-eaters - nice, but nothing terribly exciting and I probably wouldn't order it again because there are just so many other interesting things on the menu. 

Website: http://fitzrovia.com.au/

Hammer & Tong (Reprise)

After our first visit to Hammer and Tong, I became a regular visitor each time I was in the Fitzroy area. One Sunday morning I sat at the bar alone and tried the breakfast ramen ($15), which came with bacon, mushrooms and a sous vide egg. 

It was a very pretty bowl, but somehow it was odd having bacon flavours in ramen. It was decent but I didn't quite think this was worth ordering again. 

What the menu looked like the next time I went back

After falling in love with the soft shell crab burger on the last visit, I knew I had to have it again. And so, I ordered it together with a lavender yogurt custard. 

My friend had the tabasco deviled eggs with bacon and guinness marmadale - it appeared rather strange and I don't think she enjoyed it very much. 

The lavender yogurt custard with strawberry and pineapple gel and berries was such a beautiful sight to behold, with a mixture of freeze dried and fresh fruit. Possibly one of the most gorgeous and visually stunning meals ever. 

Breakfast in Melbourne Part 3 - Hammer & Tong and Campos

Perhaps it might be a wise thing to keep going with the blogging momentum, while I'm at it. The neglect of this blog can be mainly attributed to real life being too much fun, compared to sitting in front of a computer in the office, which makes the thought of heading back to work rather intimidating after getting used to sauntering into a cafe for brunch around 1030 in the morning. 

But I digress. Our next brekky adventure was at Hammer and Tong, an outfit located along the once-uber-hip-but-still-hanging-in-there Brunswick St near the Alexandra Parade end, opened by two alumni of Vue De Monde. It turned out to be one of our favourite brekky places, with deceptively simple menu descriptions but super good food.

During our first visit, we were seated in the back room. It filled up soon after we arrived. 

Some of the stuff on the menu

What the husband and I ordered our first time 

The wagyu +7 beef tri tip with herb salad, sticky truffle and madeira ($24), which I noticed was off the breakfast menu 2 weeks ago. A strange thing to have for brunch, but it sounded so good that we caved in. 

Duck egg, oyster mushrooms, watercress, brioche soldiers and truffle butter ($18).

BBQ corn cob, popcorn butter, chipotle, shredded pecorino cheese and lime ($9). A tad expensive for one corn cob at 9 bucks, but it was well executed. Everything blended well with the grilled corn flavour. 

So pretty. 

According to wikipedia, the tri-tip comes from the bottom sirloin subprimal cut, and it was a really tender cut.

The subsequent time we went, we ordered the corn and zucchini fritters with avocado, salsa, spinach and a poached egg ($17). 

I didn't enjoy this as much as the other dishes; it seemed a bit oily but that didn't stop me from finishing the entire plate. 

My favourite dish from the entire menu, however, had to be the soft shell crab burger ($12). 

The brioche bun was tender and soft, the crab was crispy and the shredded cabbage and coriander worked so well together. It was an amazing dish. 

The husband ordered a sausage and egg muffin with maple butter.

The maple butter was yummy but I couldn't quite shake the idea of this being very similar to the sausage and egg mcmuffin at maccas for a quarter of the price, sans microgreens. So this doesn't make it to the cards for a second try for me. 

Another place with a surprisingly good brekky is Campos. They've got excellent coffee and it was surprising to find out that their food was seriously good too. 

The classic Campos leaf. We deduced that the trainees must have had heck of a lot of practice trying to get the leaf right. 

Pea and mint fritters with an avocado spread and a lemon creme fraiche spread, with haloumi ($18). 

The execution was on a completely different level compared to the Hammer and Tong fritters. They weren't oily, and were perfectly crispy on the outside. Perhaps it was the type of breadcrumbs used; I'm guessing panko.

The wagyu Reuben with corned wagyu, sauerkraut and gouda cheese ($18)

Very very tasty. The memory of melted cheese on toasted sourdough, with the tartness of pickles and sauerkraut against soft beef slices was unforgettable. 

Good value for 11 bucks too

I managed to spot mint leaves, peas and leeks. Perhaps some potato too. I'm gonna give this a go at home. It matched the lemon creme fraiche and the haloumi perfectly. 

Hammer and Tong - www.hammerandtong.com.au
Campos Coffee - www.camposcoffee.com