28 April 2008

Porgie & Mr Jones

291 Auburn Rd, Hawthorn
Ph: 9882 2955
Open: every day, 8am-4.30pm-ish

STOP press: the search for Melbourne’s best café is over.

At least in my world the search is over and, in an extreme stroke of luck, the café in question is within a hop, step and jump of my pad.

Porgie and Mr Jones is discretely tucked away in Hawthorn’s Auburn Rd shopping strip and has captured perfectly that illusive café vibe where everything is stripped back to basics yet still manages to ooze style. Many have tried to achieve this but I’m yet to dine in one that’s hit the mark as much as P&MJ.

Exposed brick, road signs hanging on the wall and terracotta pot plants mounted on steel holders start it off, a shelf of cookbooks behind the counter add to it and a cane basket of Noisette bread for sale near the door finishes the look off nicely.

It’s the kind of joint I’d love to be at the helm of but until my dreams turn to reality I’ll have to be content with being a regular customer.

And regular I certainly am. I visited three times last week and with each visit I fell more in love with the menu. P&MJ is open for lunch but I’m yet to tear myself away from the breakfast offerings.

I think my favourite so far is the signature dish of smashed avocado with thyme-buttered mushrooms and house-marinated fetta on toasted wholegrain bread ($13.90 or $15.90 with a poached egg on top, below). There’s plenty of avocado on the plate and the creaminess of the fetta almost rivals Meredith goat’s fetta, which is no mean feat.

The full breakfast with eggs, bacon, pork and fennel chipolatas, slow-roasted tomatoes and thyme-buttered mushrooms ($16.90, below) is a winner and while I’m yet to try it my sticky-beaking skills tell me the bircher muesli with cinnamon poached pears and cleo’s honeyed yoghurt ($9.90) is another gem.

But perhaps the most spectacular dish is the toasted banana bread with rosewater poached fruits, maple syrup mascarpone and crushed pistachios ($11.90). It is divine to look at, delicious to devour and, dare I say it, but it could well be Melbourne’s best brecky dish.

P&MJ even caters for the hung over with a glass of Berocca for $3 and the environmentally-aware and diet-conscious are looked after with organic, free-range eggs and – where possible – local ingredients.

I could rave about P&MJ forever. Instead (as much as it pains me to share this neighbourhood secret) I’m going to leave this review here and recommend as strongly as possible to check it out for yourself. It only opened in November and something tells me it’s well on the way to legendary status.

(Just in case you’re wondering the funky name comes from two of the three café’s owners: Georgina (Georgie) Smith and Jason Jones.)

10/10

- zoe

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