Proud Mary

Please don’t question why it took me forever to visit Proud Mary. Shame on me, I know. I’m not proud of it.

With so many new brunch spots constantly popping up in Melbourne, sometimes it’s easy to get caught up with the new and upcoming and overlook the brunch pioneers. But I’m here to make my amends. So to visit a golden oldie, it only made sense to check it out with some (golden) old uni friends.

Skinny Flat White

Ox Tongue

Mmm, ox tongue - so meltingly tender and flavours so wonderfully deep and rich, matching beautifully with peppers full of natural sweetness, crunchy smoked almonds, and crispy onions. Let’s not forget the perfectly poached egg that oozed liquid gold onto the crisp slice of hot sourdough toast. A playful dish filled with magical flavours and textures.

Proud's Granola 

My friend went for Proud’s Granola, a dish which seemed to be the exact opposite of mine. An energy-boosting house-made granola brought to the next level with lemon balm, coconut sorbet and almond milk.

Avocado

My other neighbour’s brunch choice was simply faultless. A mountain of creamy avocado on farmhouse toast, charred corn, green onion tabouleh, ricotta and roast baby tomatoes on a bed of harissa. A serious case of food envy from my end of the table.

Proud Mary was buzzing and deservedly so considering the inventiveness of their menu, generous serving sizes and hearty brunch fare. Delivered with pride - food, coffee and service were all spot on.


Proud Mary
172 Oxford Street
Collingwood, VIC 3066
http://www.proudmarycoffee.com.au/ 

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Jimmy Grants

The girls and I were ecstatic to hear that George Calombaris had just opened up Jimmy Grants in Fitzroy. Eager for a taste of Greece, we headed over to see for ourselves how good these souvlakis could really be.

The Bonegilla

This was ridiculously delicious. The pita bread was warm, pillowy and super soft. Both the chicken and lamb were tender, moist and absolutely moreish - with the right ratio of fats too. Wrap that all up with crunchy chips, onion, parsley and mustard aioli and you have the best souvlaki ever. 

Grain Salad

I fell in love with this salad - the flavour, the crunch, the sweetness from the raisons. An earthy salad of pulses, toasted slivered almonds, grains, herbs and greek yoghurt. It was doing everything right.

Iceberg Salad

A simple salad of iceberg lettuce tossed with oregano, lemon and olive oil. Though vey easy and not one bit complicated, the salad was refreshing to nibble on between mouthfuls of souvlaki.

Chips

Who would have thought? Chips, garlic oil, oregano and feta as such a killer combination. The crunchy chips themselves would have already done the job, but the crumbled feta and garlic oil made it much more special and memorable.

There is no doubt about it, I would return to this place in a heartbeat. I cannot express how excited I am for Jimmy Grants to open up in Ormond in the next few months. Please hurry. 

Jimmy Grants

113 St David St 

Fitzroy

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