Eat. Play. Shop.: Eat. @ Proud Mary

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Eat. @ Proud Mary

172 Oxford St, Collingwood 3066 ph : (03) 9417 5930

Proud Mary is the next destination on my quest for trendy cafes that you can take your kiddies to. Again like Three Bags Full and Seven Seeds, it is a hidden gem in this factory-converted-apartments filled area in Collingwood. Its status as a popular local coffee mecca is affirmed by the number of people sitting at the sidewalk tables on an average weekday morning.

For once I ordered a lunch item for my brunch, this being a pork belly sandwich with paprika relish and a side salad of greens. The pork belly is melt-in-the-mouth soft, and even with some of the fat cut off (gasp, I know, but that post-baby weight...!!!) I could only manage to eat half my sandwich and the salad. Seriously I was full for the rest of the day!

Having had a rough night of sleep, I had already downed a morning coffee. Without realising that the mocha here is about 1 1/2 times bigger than the average drink, I ordered one, and was ready to bounce off the walls by the time I'd finished. Fortunately it was a very nice mocha, with more chocolate than the ones in the aforementioned cafes, but went well with their pretty strong coffee!

Ricotta hotcakes are the new "pancakes" at all the cafes right now. The serving at Proud Mary is pretty generous.

The staff at Proud Mary was very helpful in terms of finding appropriate seating for me and my pram. The lady who served us was friendly and very helpful as I didn't want to be in the way of all the other busy brunchers. The entrance to Proud Mary is one step up from the pavement so be prepared to manoevre your pram, but this is easily managed as the sliding doors are kept open.

All in all I had an enjoyable time at Proud Mary and would come back to sample the other items on the menu. Maybe the chipotle beans with pork belly that is one of its best known brekkie dishes?