Eat. @ The Vertue of the Coffee Drink

8 Raffa Place, Carlton 3053 ph (03) 8060 6987

You've got to love Melbourne.  We have no end to the list of great coffee and brunch places to try out.  

A couple of weekends ago the Eat.Play.Shop. family took advantage of the lovely Melbourne Autumn weather and ventured down to Carlton for some brunch before we headed off for a play in the Gardens.  Brunch destination - The Vertue of the Coffee Drink.

Finding the cafe itself was a fun game, since it's well hidden in Raffa Place behind the shops on Lygon Street.

Inside we found a lovely space filled with all kind of coffee paraphernalia.

We of course started with our usual mochas ($4) which was pleasant but slightly watery on the day.

The kids ordered the young whole coconut ($6) which was very refreshing and surprisingly full of juice, and also tried an Ice Chocolate ($6).  I had some of it and am happy to report that this had a good dose of chocolate, which I find lacking at a lot of places.

I had the Smoked ocean trout, ($21) which came with curried arancini, soft duck egg and a mango and chilli jam.  Loved every element of this dish, the duck egg is a nice change from the chook, the arancini were packed with flavour, the ocean trout beautifully smoked and the jam gave the dish a sweet and tangy punch.

The best thing about late brunches is that you get to order from both the breakfast and lunch menus!  Hubby wanted to try the Smoked Fish Chowder ($18), with Old Bay spiced squid, Port Arlington mussels, quail egg and barbequed corn.  I'm not usually a fan of fishy chowders but this one was wonderful, the ingredients fresh and "not-mushy", in a flavoursome thick chowder.  And a really pretty dish to boot.

Mini Me (sharing with her Daddy) ordered the Meatball Sub ($18), with pork meatballs, brioche roll, napoli, provolone, jalopenos, pancetta, sage, an apple slaw and beer battered onion rings.  Quite a substantial serve of food, they loved it.  Those onion rings were awesome!

Bubs had a dish from the "Little People" Menu, with the Kids Scrambled Eggs and Brioche soldiers ($6).  I love that cool coffee cafes now cater so well for the kidlets.  The scramble was beautiful and fluffy, and the brioche soldiers were fun and went down well!

Macaron Monster is a super sweet-tooth and tried a little of our dishes, but was really just hanging out for dessert.  We ordered a couple of the doughnuts from the baked goods display, although it was so difficult to choose between all the goodies there!

I'm pretty sure these were from Cobb Lane.  The salted caramel doughnut was ace, with that super oozy, sweet decadent caramel.

Whilst the raspberry and lychee custard one was a much more refined affair.  

The service was friendly and efficient and staff were accommodating for the kids.  We loved our visit to The Vertue of the Coffee Drink and will no doubt be back on a regular basis.