Breakfast roundup #2 – Replete Providore
Having breakfast after working all night is akin to getting a hangover cure. In both instances one has hardly slept, though obviously differentiated by levels of circulating ethanol.
This suburban gem has been at the heart of Hawthorn for quite a number of years now, and so leads one to think naively that it would be easy to get a table on an early weekend morning. How wrong am I.
My first visit was an epic fail, with absolutely no tables available. Sure I could have waited 30 minutes, but having an excessively inpatient hunger hovering, I hopped over to another place…
The second visit was a midweek morning, which still carried steady swarms of hungry suburban brunch goers, but just enough table space to get us in without much of a wait.
Replete Providore creates in a small-ish space an uncrowded but cosy enclosing, scattered with shelves of gourmet delights to tempt your fancy.
Orange juice / Latte / decaf latte. On this particular day, I don’t recall which blend of di bella beans were being brewed at the time, but the coffee was particularly astringent with a sour aftertaste.
Fortunately there was a good recovery from what was to come with the Replete corn fritters. Two variations on the corn fritters were available – we ordered both. In both instances they were delightfully wholesome and scrumptious with juicy bites of corn, not to mention very generous in portion. Crispy istra bacon, with a sweet chilli avocado salsa lined the tastebuds on the first option, whilst quality smoked salmon with a tomato chutney and poached egg adorned the second.
Replete breakfast – your typical big breakfast option with nicely poached eggs, Spanish sausage, istra bacon, hash brown, roast tomato and field mushrooms.
And finally for the much raved about Ricotta hotcakes – thick stratums of fluffy pancake sat atop a generous drizzle of sweet berry sauce; replete with lemon curd, wedges of fresh strawberries and a crunchy scattering of pistachio praline. It is big, bold, and sweet; possibly a little too sweet.
Rating: Yummy +0.5. Some demerits have to penalised against Replete for the coffee, however with its lively breakfast options it certainly deserves the accolades as a suburban brunch gem.
You may also like other Breakfast round ups >>> De Clieu. Other roundups to follow … Fandango, Proud Mary, Babka.
[Replete Providore]
Where: 302 Barkers Rd, Hawthorn
Contact: 03 9818 4448
Note: please make a table booking, or be early.
Those ricotta hotcakes have me drooling at my desk. Please let it be home time soon, you’ve made me rather hungry!
FOODPORNO!
You had me at pistachio praline. NOM!
Ooh, I’ve always had the crispy bacon corn fritters, but the ones with salmon look pretty good too. Love your up close and personal pics! Yum!