Apte, Alphington

I'm not sure I can call it the perfect breakfast, but this morning I had my first 20/20 experience at Apte, 538-540 Heidleberg Road, Alphington, Tel +61 3 9482 2991. Excellent eggs. Equally great extras. Fantastic fritters. Schmick venue. Smooth service. No mistakes. Schwing!



Perfection, I fear, is an elusive beast. Jessica Alba may be 2007's sexiest, but is she the perfect woman? Derek Zoolander may have been born with perfect bone structure, but is he the perfect man? Robert Parker may have scored the 1986 Romanee Conti Montrachet 100 points, but is it the perfect wine? No, no and no.

So please don't get hung up on the whole perfect score thing. Just enjoy a truly delicious corn, pea and feta fritter, drizzled with dill-infused sour cream and topped with a mountain of Tasmania's finest smoked salmon (and some nice, ripe avocado). Or tuck into a beautifully balanced big breakfast, with eggs, bangers, bacon and house-made relish, plus mushies, spinach, tomato and organic toast. Or go sweet with toasted, house made banana and coconut bread (with honey labna, pistachios and roasted seasonal fruit). Yum, yum and yum.

20/20 "almost perfect"



Eggs & Bacon $10.40 BB100 +4%

Fat Little Fritters at Small Block

I think Small Block deserves an upgrade to at least 16/20, with full marks (3/3) for the "other" stuff, ie, things other than eggs. These were some fine corn fritters, with a tasty side of creme fraiche and some kind of chili relish. Good bacon, too.



The Small Block menu also deserves special mention for variety. Oodles of choice, and plenty of creative twists.

Pepper, Flemington

These days, 44 Pin Oak Crescent, Flemington is a cafe called Pepper, Tel +61 3 9372 2726. Back in the good old days it was known as Girdwood's Hygienic Library. Not a filthy, disease-ridden library where any old scum could poison the books with their nasty germs. But a nice, clean, private lending library where the books were fumigated with formalin between each read. I'm guessing Pepper smells much better than it did in the good old days. But you never know what you might catch off the communal newspapers.



With quite a few glowing reviews under its belt, I was hoping for a top tier breakfast. The sweetcorn hotcakes, however, were no match for Mart 130 or Replete Providore. They were good enough, but nothing to rave about. I quite liked the combination of crispy bacon, rocket, tomato and aioli. I was also impressed with the poached egg I ordered as a side. A nice, fresh, free range egg, poached pretty well.

Other food options worth noting include the Breakfast of Champions (eggs, bacon, sausage, mushrooms, tomato and homemade beans on toast) and the Pepper's Breakfast (smoked salmon, homemade potato latkes, tomato, spinach and tomato relish).

Service was a bit slow, but friendly, and the Monte coffee was good (for an extra 20 cents you can upgrade to an organic East Timorese brew). Weather permitting, they have a few tables on the street outside, where you can fumigate your lungs with Marlboro Lights.

14/20 "latkes"



Eggs & Bacon $8.00 BB100 -20%