Lunching in North Melbourne

While Internet access has been intermittent these past couple of weeks, eating experiences have not. So where to start? Let’s begin at the beginning, in Melbourne…

As a witty friend couldn’t resist commenting on Facebook, it’s amazing what you will find at auction rooms. Last week it was my long lost godson, at The Auction Rooms, a trendy new diner in North Melbourne. The front of the building, with its faded blue walls, was unprepossessing, but we discovered a hip new lunch destination within. The cafe inhabits the old WB Ellis auction house, an urban, industrial-chic interior and it is now a home for coffee aficionados and foodies alike.

You can’t reserve a table on the weekends at The Auction Rooms, but we had wandered in all the way from the south eastern suburbs via the Victoria markets to Erroll Street, North Melbourne, so we waited patiently on a bench for an available table and watched the bustling scene before us. It didn’t take too long before we were ushered to a lovely table in the window at the rear of the building.

We perused the drinks menu eagerly, and found our first decision easy. A reunion of such magnitude deserved bubbles, and we duly ordered an Airlie Bank, Coldstream Chardonnay Pinto Noir from the Yarra Valley. 85% Chardonnay  to 15% Pinot, it had lashings of citrus flavour and a subtle splash of apricot, and received rave reviews from us all.

It took longer to decide on lunch. No more will you find the Big British fry up, heavy in carbs and cholesterol, nor the more pedestrian breakfast of cornflakes, muesli, or toast and Vegemite. The closest we got to a familiar breakfast was “mixed grain and seed porridge with almond milk, macadamia crumble and poached fruit” or, with a nod to our British nursery heritage, a “soft boiled egg with rye soldiers.” Instead Persian, Cuban, Spanish and Japanese flavours fluttered across the menu, eclectic but enthusiastically healthy. And a few of the ingredients left us reeling, so we called our friendly waitress over for translations. Many dishes were topped with a poached egg, presumably to enhance the breakfast theme, and there were several vegetarian options, including a vegetable tagine and a pea and goats cheese frittata. And for the sweeter tooth: brûlée French toast with passionfruit labne, poached mandarin, macadamia crumble and white chocolate ganache!

The majority of offerings were included on the breakfast menu, but from 11am there was a small selection of lunch options. The Godson was tempted by a warm salad of confit duck, brussel sprouts, kipfler potatoes, and a 63° egg accompanied by Jerusalem artichoke crisps and a shiitake broth. A cosmopolitan combination indeed.

Our patient waitress, when asked about the 63° egg, explained that it is cooked at a lower temperature than normal, and the egg comes out glossy, cooked, but ever-so-slightly slightly sloppy. Such a description would have deterred me: I am not a fan of sloppy eggs, but The Godson was made of sterner stuff, and bravely made the call to try it. Fortunately he was not disappointed.

My One & Only chose a dish that sounded more like a bar snack or tapas, but was in fact quite a large and filling serve of chilaquiles (pronounced chee/lah/KEE/lehs according to the menu), which are described as toasted corn tortillas, topped with shredded pork, salsa roja, cheese curd, black beans and a fried egg. I helped out, as usual, and it proved to be a flavourful and crispy plate of glorified nachos.

I looked no further down the menu, once I discovered the seared ocean trout with potato and kale rösti, poached egg, salsa verde, horseradish cream and a ruby grapefruit & watercress salad. The trout was superbly cooked, the skin crispy, the flesh moist and firm. My egg, thankfully poached at a regular temperature, and therefore not a bit sloppy, was perfect. And I loved the salsa verde, which provided a fresh, tangy descant to the salmon.

When our plates were clean and the bottle of bubbles drained to the last drop, we started to murmur about checking out the cake counter. There we discovered a larger-than-life and irresistible – to me – marmalade friand and an even larger chocolate and walnut brownie that the Godson chose with alacrity, and we  gleefully succumbed to a little self-indulgence.

As we headed out we found atram stopped only moments away, to spirit us back to Franklin street station and the suburbs, totally satisfied with our jaunt into the city, and our family reunion. Next time, dear Godson, we won’t leave it so long!