St Ali yum

During my recent visit to Melbourne, we caught up with Bree's sister Kelly, brother-in-law Mark and the divine Miss Zara (her niece) for breakfast at the much talked about St Ali in South Melbourne.

(You'll remember these groovers from the fabulous Little Birdie and Humpty Dumpty parties I've featured)

Lill's friend Tom said it was a must on this side of town (even though he's a loyal North Melbourne resident) and gosh, if the line up of people on the street was anything to go by, he was right!

Table water came out of long neck beer bottles, diners sat on bench seats at communal tables (which I love) and the vibe was brilliant - LOVED the styling of the warehouse feel.

My juice was 'the winter 3' - pear, strawberry and mint - and it was delish.

Kelly ordered the 'childhood memory' - plum and coconut bread with poached plums, coffee mascarpone and cinnamon dukkah.

Mark and Bree had the age old favourite of eggs and bacon (I'd hate to call them boring!)

I tried something different and opted for the 'corny baby' - creamed corn with poached eggs, green chilli relish, pinenuts and witlof salad on sourdough toast. It was so different and unusual and delicious, hit the spot.

Not a good pic, but we also ordered the corn fritters which were not what we expected - deep fried rather than pikelet style. Sounded ah-mazing in 'my mexian cousin'

 

Zara LOVED her babycino

And we had fun with her Qantas colouring in set and toys (PS. Loving my Liza Emanuele scarf on a cold Winter's day! I feel like someone in the circus!)

And how cool were these tulips? So clever and striking. These Melbournians never cease to ah-maze me.

Check out the menu here.

And if you're down that way, make sure you stop by - they don't take bookings, but the wait isn't normally longer than 10 minutes or so.