Healthy vs Unhealthy Brunch at The Mess Hall

So the holidays began last Friday for me. By the second day, I was bored out of my mind. Thank god for people like Demie who has time to have brunch with me =s.

The Mess Hall
51, Bourke St, Melbourne VIC

03 9654 6800
http://www.themesshallmelbourne.com/
Mon-Fri- 7.30am-late, Sat-Sun, 8am - late

Decided to go somewhere near the gym on Bourke St. I know eating right before a workout isn't the best thing to do, but it was motivation to choose my food carefully. And besides, there isn't much jumping around in RPM (spin) anyway.

It's a short walk up from Exhibition St, just a few minutes walk away from Virgin Active. It's a little hard to spot, their sign is really high up. Or maybe I'm just short.

The front part of the café/restaurant was more spacious than your average café, and slightly dimly lit. It was really cosy, and it just gave off a very chilled aura.

Jason, Demie and I were shown to the back portion of the café, where it was brightly lit because of the stairwell (yay for natural lighting for photos!), right next to the kitchen.

The Mess Hall serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. I'm not too sure if their breakfast is all-day or not though. Damn, forgot to ask. The items on the menu were pretty reasonably priced, which is a sight for a sore wallet's eyes (like mine).

Say hi to the chef and the sous chef!

Generally, they serve Italian food for lunch and dinner, but their breakfast menu had what you'd typically have in a Melbournian café's menu.

Jason's strong latté, $3.80 and my soy latté, $4.30.

To be very honest, I didn't like the coffee. It was very well made, that's for sure: the milk was frothed perfectly and it was the right heat. What I didn't like was the blend they used. Jason described it as a very, very chocolatey taste, but it didn't taste at all like chocolate to me!

Poached asparagus with scrambled eggs and shaves parmigianno, $12.50.

Funnily enough, I somehow confused parmigianno and proscuitto. My own mistake, but I stayed true to my promise to myself: keep the portion small. 

The asparagus was surprisingly cooked really well: it was soft but it still maintained it's integrity, and seasoned well too. I love my scrambled eggs and this time was no exception. It was fluffy and had just the right amount of seasoning. I'm really picky with how well my food's seasoned.

Corn fritters with avocado, cherry tomatoes, cream cheese and dill, $13.50, with bacon,  +$3.

Demie's brunch choice was very pleasing to the eyes. So colourful! Loved it. She gave me one corn fritter cause she was so sure she wouldn't be able to finish it, And it was good. The fritters weren't overpowered with doughy flour, but there was a very strong peppery taste to it that some people might not like. There was also a bit of what we reckoned was pumpkin at the bottom, which too had a strong peppery taste.

I've gotta be one of the few people in the world who doesn't like bacon. It looked good though.

Hollandaise with poached eggs, ham, spinach, and dukkah on a sweet bun, $16.50.

The poached egg was slightly overcooked, but it still had a lot of the watery yolk thing going on. Jason really liked it and that it was a lot more filling that it really looks. The ham was tasty and not too salty, and the spinach was cooked really well. What he was really happy with was that he was finally able to try hollandaise (yes, we both have never tried hollandaise).

I hope you enjoyed your day out with your boy today, Demie! Brunch again soon for you to spill. =p

Food: 8

Coffee: 7.5 (how it was made), 3 (for the blend. I really didn't like it! =/)

Ambience: 8

Value: 7

Staff: 6

I'm not used to being on my own during the day. I've got so much free time now that Iryan, Adam and Zack, typically the people I hang out with the most, are back home in M'sia, and Jason's started work again. Thank god my cousin Jacq and sister Dr. Ping are coming on two separate occasions to visit me.

It's great to be back. I've got so many places to blog about!

may.