Month: July 2014

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The Fair Foodstore – Richmond – Sunday 27 July 2014 – Breakfast

Poached eggs and bacon

Poached eggs and bacon

Even after an absence of several months, going to The Fair Foodstore is like catching up with an old friend. It’s easy to forget how comforting it is intimately knowing a cafe when you are eager to find the next big thing.

It hasn’t been around for years and years. Yet the script is assured and measured. Great coffee provided by Wide Open Road in Brunswick; excellent food featuring fresh, quality ingredients; and a small room with six tables surrounding a communal table in the middle with some bench seating on the window.

I’ve tried several dishes on the menu and they’re all good but what I go back for is the cafe staple of bacon and eggs. At The Fair, the consistency in a dish that is as easy to cook, as it is easy to mess up, is first rate. The poached eggs are always perfect and oozy. The bacon, which I order crispy, is always deep in flavour and of great quality. The toast is always generously buttered artisan sourdough.

The smashed peas, the pulled pork roll, and everything in between are great breakfast and brunch dishes. While the staff do change, service is consistently good, and the consistency out of the kitchen suggests the chefs haven’t changed since the beginning (or the handover has been first rate!)

The Fair is every bit as good as Friends of Mine and Touchwood which are among Richmond’s busiest cafes. It might not necessarily be the place to “be seen” but the food and coffee speak for themselves and have good looks to boot.

The Fair foodstore on Urbanspoon

Post script

We were back at The Fair for breakfast recently and I particularly enjoyed one of the specials offered. The black pudding with duck egg was incredibly decadent. The consistency of the duck egg was quite glutinous, holding together to provide some sauce for each bite of the generous serving of black pudding. Fried chickpeas added great texture and a burst of flavour and the onion wasn’t overpowering, adding a good dose of flavour too. If it is offered when you are dining there, make sure you give it a go if you like black pudding!

Black pudding, duck egg, and fried chickpeas

Black pudding, duck egg, and fried chickpeas

Catherine had the smashed peas and broad beans with ricotta on pumpkin bread. This is a breakfast classic and one of Catherine’s favourite dishes full stop.

The Fair foodstore on Urbanspoon

Pea and broad bean smash

Pea and broad bean smash

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Spread Eagle Hotel – Richmond – Saturday 19 July 2014 – Lunch

Classic parma

Classic parma

Twelve dollar parmas. There was a time when on a Sunday night you could get a very good classic chicken parmigiana for $12 at the Spready in Richmond!

These days that great deal that lasted most of my first five years in Melbourne is sadly gone. The Spread Eagle Hotel has been around long before I arrived though. It was a place of ill repute for some time based on what I’ve heard and one of the first instalments of the Underbelly series. It is still loved by locals but thankfully for different reasons!

On a normal day it is as likely I’m there for beer and the footy as a feed. Lately more the later. Though today it is a final catch up (for a while) and there is an air of reflection.

There is a pub like this in every area, sometimes on every corner of a suburb. The food and service is much the same. Solid stuff, completely enjoyable, fulfilling too, but not necessarily anything you can’t have a go at yourself.

My parma wasn’t as quite as good as I remember it can be here, but memories are so often recreated with fondness as time goes by. This was more about the company I was sharing and the atmosphere of the pub. I finished it and enjoyed it. It won’t be my last try either.

The chicken itself is a good size and cooked nicely. The crumb was a touch soggy despite being kept afloat on great slightly beer battered chips. The sauce and topping of cheese were tasty, but a little stingy, which pronounced the issue with the crumb. They do a nice salad here, but it is not the guest of honour!

I don’t really make a habit of writing about pub food. There are few places that without the crowd, the footy and the beer that you would be going back to purely for the food. That’s not to say that it can’t live in your memory and be special in its own way.

Spread Eagle Hotel on Urbanspoon