Hawthorn

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Hakata Gensuke – Hawthorn – Thursday 3 March 2016 – Dinner

Signature Tonkotsu

Signature Tonkotsu

Ever since the first time I tried Hakata Gensuke’s city branch’s ramen I have been yearning to go to the Hawthorn branch to compare, and hopefully escape the need to line up.

Extract from my city blog:

“The staff, the chefs in particular, shout their Japanese greeting at you as you walk in, which is traditional. Throughout the meal you find that the energy of the floorstaff and the chefs from their greeting sparks the atmosphere in the restaurant. You are presented with a piece of paper, and a pencil, and have a number of choices to make on the type of ramen, the noodle texture, its strength, and additions you can make.

Being our first time, we both chose the signature tonkotsu ramen, normal textured noodles, normal strength, spring onions, and I had an additional flavoured egg. Tonkotsu is made from pork bones and this makes for a rich broth, that in this case, is completely divine. Throw in some noodles, that from my experience, are very high quality in taste and texture; some thinly sliced pork (cha-shu), black mushrooms, spring onions, and a deeply flavoured egg; and you have one of the best Japanese noodle soups that you could hope for.”

Well, besides not selecting the flavoured egg this time, everything at the Hawthorn branch was just as great. The city buzz is softened by a mixed suburban crowd, but the staff are just as friendly. The broth continues to shine as the star of the tonkotsu, alongside noodles that are absolutely superb.

Our first visit was enlightening and our next has left me wanting more. With Hawthorn a much easier proposition on a weeknight I expect it won’t be long until we are back.

Hakata Gensuke Ramen Professionals Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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Porgie + Mr Jones – Hawthorn – Sunday 3 May 2015 – Breakfast

Golden folded scrambles with goats cheese, chilli + basil on grain toast

Golden folded scrambles with goats cheese, chilli + basil on grain toast with a side of bacon

It is okay that someone is on their second day of service. It’s not easy finding waitstaff and everyone has to start somewhere. Support should be given to the newbie, and mistakes corrected. Initial training wouldn’t go astray either, like familiarity with the food and drink offerings.

There is a gap here and I’m not blaming the new waitperson. I am going to blame the support, and overall structure of Porgie + Mr Jones which was once at the top of its game and seemingly now is resting on its laurels.

I asked what the single origin is and got a blank look so I said I thought I saw on the board that there is one offered. Our waitperson apologised and said they didn’t know what a single origin was and would check. All fine. When they confirmed there was one, I duly ordered it.

My golden folded scrambled eggs with goat’s cheese, basil, and chilli came out neatly presented. Each mouthful was delicious, especially those with a good helping of the gorgeous goat’s cheese. I had a side of bacon that was nice and crispy, and adding it certainly didn’t take anything away from the other flavours.
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Catherine and her Mum tried the McPorgie which I had recommended to them. A while ago I could have sworn these were cooked fresh to order, but these days they certainly are not. The flavours of the Emmental cheese, ham off the bone, and scrambled eggs, are still nice inside the muffin, but not amazing. The egg is a little greyish inside confirming they are not fresh, and they are not consistently warmed inside either. When I used to order them they came out almost steaming with fresh golden scrambled eggs (like mine today) that melted the cheese into a gooey consistency.

Prior to receiving our food I started to wonder where my coffee had gotten to. I ordered as we had sat down, even before Catherine and her Mum ordered their juices. It eventually arrived after I asked (the table seated ten minutes after us already had their lattes so I knew it had been missed) but the juices didn’t come until after all of us had finished or were close to finishing our meals.

The second waitperson we had asked just expected they’d arrived (fair enough), but realised they were missed again just after we’d had to ask a third waitperson. It couldn’t have been an issue on juicing with at least one because it was out of a pre-packaged juice bottle (for $7). While Catherine’s Mum’s green kale based juice didn’t leave a sour taste in her mouth, the wait left had one in mine. We don’t often get an opportunity to take her to breakfast, and were a little embarrassed at placing our trust here.

I’ve been to Porgie at least five times. It is generally good, and started off great years ago, but you can’t have issues like this, not offer any apology or explanation (between three waitstaff), not offer any consolation whatsoever, and expect for me to come back. This type of thing only slips through when there is a more prolific issue underlying the operation of a cafe. There are too many other great cafes around Melbourne to let this experience pass through to the keeper.

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