Tinto's - Fulham, London

411 Fulham Palace Road
London, SW6 6SX
Website
How to Get There
Nearest Tube: Putney Bridge

So this is a sneaky entry before I leave for my holiday to Austria and South Africa...finally African entries inbound!

Fresh off the boat from South Africa, I landed in Fulham and found myself living there for 6 very happy years with my dear friend Tams. Tams and I have many things in common not least of which is a shared love of coffee and lazy Sunday's at home.

Almost on day one of moving in, I met one of my nicest neighbours...Tinto's.

Tinto's is a tiny, crazy little coffee place owned by a Colombian called Paul. Paul fills Tinto's with amazing Spanish and Colombian Staff who, if like me you are as much of a fixture as the papier mache deer head on the wall, will become firm friends within 3 visits.

Tinto's is to coffee what Cheers was to beer. Everyone in there knows your name and what you want without you even asking. Provided of course you've been there before...they aren't psychic (yet).

The coffee is amazing - let's face it who knows coffee better than Colombians? As by now you might have gathered I have a weird fixation with weak sweet coffee and so I always go for a single shot - two shots is guaranteed to put hair on your chest and quite possibly even your upper lip. They do all the usual great coffee options including iced ones for Summer and as Tinto's is located deep in Nappy Valley they also do BabyChino's to keep the Fulham Yummy Mummies happy.

Food wise, it's more sandwichy than hot plates but they do delicious bagels (my favourite is the egg mayo), toasties, quiche, muffins and bagettes. Iain swears but the Breakie Bagette. All guaranteed to fix hangovers.

So for 6 plus years I was in Tinto's a minimum of 5 times a week. Sometimes in my pajamas to pick up a desperate coffee fixer. Sometimes to meet friends for breakfast or coffee and cake. No matter what time of day It is always warm, friendly and full of happy people, dogs, laptops, kids and laughter.

Dropping in there today was like visiting and old dear friend that I miss loads. Do yourself a favour next time you are near the Thames in Fulham and pop in. Paul might even draw a heart on your cup for you.

...Oh and even after and 8 week absence they still remembered my order :0)

Ticking Tricking and Trucking in Shoreditch

Where we went...
Albion at Boundary
2-4 Boundary Road
Shoreditch
E2 7DD
Albion Website
Columbia Road Flower Market
Columbia Road Website
Sunday Shoots
Sunday Shoots Website
The Hoxton Hotel & Grill
The Hoxton Website
Nearest Tubes: Old Street, Liverpool


 Waking to another amazing London blue sky day, it was time to dig out the passport and head East.

Like the three Mustgetbeers, Melissa joined Barbara Squared in Shoreditch for a day of London Rambling. We kicked off our day at the Albion, one of the restuarants in the Boundary - a converted Victorian Warehouse. It's a really interesting development including several restaurants and bars plus a roof terrace which we will most definitely go back to in Summer.


Truth be told, the breakfast at the Albion was pretty average with a small selection of predictables, although the place itself is a trendy, pretty cozy deli style establishment.

Despite being accused of eating 'either Tick, Trick or Truck' (translation from Austrian - Huey, Lewey or Dewey to you or I) by a horrified Barbara P, I pressed on and tried the only vaguely adventurous thing on the menu - Duck Eggs on Toast. Tasted like plain old chickeny ones to me. But then I am a bit of a gourmet heathen. Melissa tried the breakfast sandwich and Barbara had the poached eggs and bacon. Both pretty standard stuff.

So in general, breakfast available to 12h30 - tick. BUT, No Eggs Benedict - Boo. No chefs specials or anything unusual double boo and a bit over priced to boot so sadly this is the first of my Room 101 flushes.

The rest of the day, however, was far more successful. From the Boundary, we wandered along to the Columbia Road Flower Market. Brilliant! We walked straight into an East End Christmas Tree Trader shitfight. I was offered so many deals I wondered if I had inadvertently stumbled into little Colombia by mistake. If you haven't been, I really recommend a trip on a Sunday. In addition to tons of flowers and plants, the local shops are fab - lots of quirky galleries, hole in the wall bacon butty stalls and fantabulous boutiques.

A word of caution though - at Christmas time it's not for the faint hearted. My quote of the day 'Watch your back love you might end up with a tree up your arse' yelled by a man narrowly missing me as he charged up Columbia Road with a Christmas Tree.

Retrospectively, we should have just had a bacon butty there or stopped at one of the little cafes lining the road or hidden inside the galleries. Ah well you live and learn.

We also discovered a brilliant playroom for the slightly narcissistic. It's the studio of Seamus Ryan, just off Columbia Road. Every Sunday, he invites members of the public to come in and take part in his 'Sunday Shoots' project. After having damn near broken his Slipstream Glamour Photo Booth, complete with wind machine and beauty lighting no less, we braved Seamus and his camera. The Jury's out till tomorrow but at least we didn't break his camera...

Once we'd worn out our welcome taking our own pictures, we headed back to Old Street and as clouds had come over and the temperature suddenly plummeted, we treated ourselves to an open fire, coffee and dessert at the Hoxton Hotel. I had a cheeky peek at the Hoxton Grill's breakfast menu and with things like bolied egg and soldiers, the ubiquitous Monsieur's Benedict, Florentine and Royale, quite honestly you could do worse than to stop off there on your way to Columbia Road...

A Spilloige Breakfast Special

Special Guest Author: Matthew Spiller (Spilloige, Signagezz, Maffew)

So how do I begin to describe Matt? I don't think my writing skills can do justice to one of the funniest, most talented, nicest, grubbiest, most genuine people I know.Oh and did I mention just a little bit mental? During my time on the road with the Red Bull Air Race, Matt was one of the founding fathers with me of the now infamous FOH team and on those ridiculous days when all else was failing, his sense of humour and ridiculous grin never did. He can also proudly claim evicting a chicken from site (amongst other stellar achievements).

Maffew's Top Tips

Ok Bazza, here goes....the magical morning grub up a la Spilloige would go a little something like this...

Home
On a warm weekend morning it would be two pieces of toasted sourdough, vegemite/marmite spread finly on the toast, half avocado mushed and spread, sliced cherry tomatoes, rock salt and a touch of lemon juice...yummo

Cooking for Friends
This was a favourite at the caff, named the Bristolian* it had a loyal following...

Toasted buttered bagel, two poached eggs, wilted spinach, roasted tomatoes and artichokes. Mushrooms baked with garlic and thyme. Home made hollandaise sauce tops it off, nice.

Out (Sydney and Wellington) 
Fundamental Fresh Food 266 Darling Street, Balmain NSW 2041, Australia

How To Get There
Cafe Berlin
249 Darling St, Balmain NSW 2041, Australia
How To Get There

The Little Marionette
1A Booth Street, Balmain NSW 2041, Australia
How To Get There
Fuel Espresso
Locations and Website

Living in Sydney you can get a little spoilt, so I will give you the regulars, Cafe Fundamental on Darling Street for the big brekkie, $16 include freshly squeezed juice and coffee, or Cafe Berlin for their Bacon and Egg baguette, classic, again on Darling Street in Balmain. Beverage

Coffee, coffee, coffee, recent favourite is Fuel in Wellington, tis a chain but they seem to have got it right with their little hole in the wall outlets, always good.

Sydney - The little marionette makes a nice strong brew,again in Balmain. Anywhere you see Campos coffee you should be ok. Little tip would be at the QVB where the buses leave from in the city you can pick up a pretty good flat white for $2.50 from one of the funny little kiosks.

Of course, the people, day, weather all contribute to the experience so a little advice to make it the chilled out start to the day that you want, would be to avoid American hotels with anyone from Austria in the morning when they ask for coffee

Order up!

Maffew

*Note from Beedub: Matt is too humble to admit the Bristolian was his Cafe. Wish it was still his so we could visit!

The Breakfast Club, Soho, London

33 D’Arblay Street
W1F 8EU
Website
How to Get There
Nearest Tube: Tottenham Court Road, Oxford Circus

Realising that ye old Blog was woefully neglected and having endured weeks on the recruitment merry go round (with the odd cheeky weekend in Austria thrown in), it was time to bust out and hit the breakfast circuit again.

Blue sky in London in Winter can only be a good omen and so with a pasty sun on our backs we set off for Soho. Seemed like a good direction based on a secondary requirement to good grub - interesting photographic subjects. Melissa, one of my co-pilots, is now the proud owner of a fandabulous camera and needed to test drive it.

So to Soho we went in search of the infamous Breakfast Club. Having been there previously for coffee, its been on my hit list for some time.

Now, any place called The Breakfast Club and which serves breakfast dishes all day, every day, can't really go far wrong in my book. We arrived to find a queue outside - clearly we weren't the only breakfast freaks. I am not sure who was more relieved when they let us inside - us or the poor people seated at the table next the window who had had to endure us pressing our noses against the glass oggling their food.

Inside, The Breakfast Club is kitsch and cozy and rammed. We were seated cheerfully on top of each other and beneath a gorgarse picture of The Hoff resplendent in Speedo and Santa Hat. We had already wrestled a menu off one of the other desperados camping in the queue outside and so we all knew exactly what we were having. The menu had me at Eggulars. But to be fair, I would happily cheat with the Mr Big Stuff section or one of the little beauties in the And Finally bit. 

Although I was really tempted by the Green Eggs and Ham (see the entry on Huckleberry's, LA for why), how could I resist a dish called Ham Very Eggstatic? Retrospectively, I should have waited for the monster of all hangovers to enjoy this beastie - a stack of pancakes laced with ham and cheese and topped with a fried egg. Oh and drowned in maple syrup to boot - apparently inspired by some bloke called Roger on Twitter. As (for once) I wasn't experiencing the stomach turning, grease craving clutches of a post mojitto overdose, it was actually too much for me and I would happy have swapped with Melissa who had the All American Breakfast (another but slightly less rich mix up of pancakes, bacon and eggs) or gone for one of the yummy French Toast  tasties.

Iain had the Full Monty. A most definitely man sized full English breakfast feast to be found in the Mr Big Stuff part of the menu. And Full Monty it was. He was still staggering around with a pot belly 4 hours of Soho rambling later.

I was gutted not to be able to have the Chocolate Orange Latte in the special Christmas drinkie section but they passed my stupid latte order test and made me a suitably milky vanillary concoction which passed the Beedub standard with flying colours. As did the fresh orange juice. So add to that the fact that you can eat Breakfast all the way until 5pm AND they have Eggs Benedict, Florentine and Royale, The Breakfast Club is most definitely a must.

There is no question that I will return soon, but I might wait until that special Sunday morning which dawns foggy with a hint of headache and a desperate craving for a gigantic eggy feast...

PS not to mislead those healthier than I, there are also loads of healthy choices and the smoothie menu looked lush

The Elephant House, Edinburgh, Scotland

Special Guest Author: Barbara Proske (Barbarazzi)

I can't believe that this lady managed to find the time to write me a review considering her crazy schedule. But then she does wrangle F1 Racing Drivers for a living. Barbarazzi is a kindred spirit, global nomad who travels full time and she is the only Austrian I know who loves English Builder's Tea...

The Elephant House, Edinburgh
21 George IV Bridge
Edinburgh EH1 1EN
Website

Elephants and Harry Potter, how does this go together?

Meet the place where inspiration came from and where the words have been put on paper.
In this cafe which is located in the historic part of the city, it is said that the author J.K. Rowling spend endless hours writing her first Harry Potter novel. Unfortunately she has had too little money to get beyond an ordinary coffee - 'poor' her as she missed out on some culinary pleasures.
When you will get there yourself you won't be surprised how easily you can spend a lot of time in there enjoying the nice atmosphere with friends and the stunning view over the Edinburgh castle, which you might climb after having stuffed loads of food into your face.

You wouldn't find this anywhere else. Take a seat on one of the massive wooden elephant chairs, enjoy the good atmosphere and choose between Scottish, English or 'normal' breakfast or anything else from the menu - whatever you feel like. The choice is easy, straightforward and tastes yummy - piece and quiet is free of charge.
We had eggs on toast and the scrambled egg with salmon which will be enough for the little appetite. If you go big you might want to order more out of the daily breakfast menu.
A must try is the menthe tea - the aroma of the fresh menthe leaves will make you want to relax, sit back and enjoy yourself in this special place.
Loved the short bread as well, but didn't like queuing at the counter as the girls were a bit slow - but hey, it's not about putting down a track record, it's about enjoying yourself and the ambient and having a relaxed and laid back morning which might very well extend until well over midday :)

Picture taken from inside the cafe over Edinburgh castle

Milkd - Maylands, Perth

Special Guest Authors: The Esteemed Queen and Princesses Wood

Shani and her daughters live in Perth. Or should I say they rule Perth. Shani is one of my dearest friends from Red Bull Air Race who I consider a both a mentor and inspiration. Milli and Tildi are her fabulous daughters who I plan to employ as my right and left hand just as soon as they are old enough...

Shani happens to be a fantastic cook who offers her family custom breakfast orders daily at her house so this will be just the first (I hope) of many contributions from the Wood household. I asked the ladies to send me their favourite places and after a girls day out this weekend this is what they sent (thanks Tildi for the fab colours - I love them x)

Milkd 

32 Angove Street, North Perth WA 6006, Australia

Website

How to get there

Shani

Fave regular breakfast place is Milk’d in Maylands.  The food is fresh and the coffee brilliant.  The service is always consistently great and fast.

Every weekend the family heads here for a standard breakfast.  My fave is always the mushrooms with rocket and fetta and New Norcia Sourdough.  The rocket is always just so fresh and tasty and sometimes I add a poached egg – cost is $15.00.  The coffee is also always great and once you are a regular they know how you like it and always make sure you are happy.  Milk’d is also great for kids with games and yummy cakes if you feel like it later.

Millicent

My name is Millicent (Milli) Weaver and I am 12 years old, and from Australia.

I love Milk’d’s melts and drinks because everything is very fresh, and tastes really good. The iced chocolates have yummy ice cream, and sweet chocolate sauce with ice cubes in it.

The melts are really fresh bread with ham, cheese and tomato in between the bread. It tastes really good, and my sister and I always share one.

Matilda

Hi, my name is Matilda.

I live in Perth, Australia.

My favourite dish is a melt (from Milked.)

I am 9 years old and a live with my mum my dad my sister and my dog.

My favourite colour is blue and purple

Thanks

MATILDA LELIA WOOD WEAVER

Oz - Perth and Melbourne

Special Guest Author: Hannah Walter (Hansie/ Lil Lotta)
Hannah has been one of my surrogate family for the past three years as we travelled together around the World on an international event. We have stood side by side at so many bars and buffets I lose count and I have the hugest respect for her amazing ability to juggle the demands of a 300 odd strong crew queing at her office needing anything from arm length rubber gloves (don't ask!) to a hug for the homesick.

Perth
Millpoint Caffe Bookshop, South Perth

254 Millpoint Road
South Perth
WA 6151
Website
How to get there

One of the BEST hidden brekkie stops is at the Bookshop Cafe in South Perth on Mill Point Rd. They are open 7 days a week but get super busy on weekends.

They make coffee that even Wally* would approve of (and i think he did?!) and brekkie menu various in choices and prices, between about $8-$18. Smoothies and freshly made juices are also top picks - all produce is local and VERY fresh.

My fav choices are the gourmet scrabbled eggs with goats cheese and chives - joy! - and the blueberry pancakes that are so light that you can actually eat the whole lot and not feel like you just ate a concrete block. Those with a sweet tooth can jump into the homemade cakes selection... but then you may need a little push to roll down the street.

Its great because you can browse through the bookstore, sit inside amongst it or in a quiet leafy courtyard out the back. Parking is at the side or down the back plus you can walk about 150m to the foreshore. bliss.

 * note from Beedub - Wally is a guru of all things gourmet - living in Vienna, there is no one I know more knowledgable on outstanding coffee, food and especially wine so consider this high praise indeed...Incidently the coffee from this lovely Cafe kept me going for 2 weeks of being onsite. Its got an amazing atmosphere and the fact that it is always packed with locals says it all.

Photo taken from the official website

 Melbourne (or Melbs for those in the know)

The Coffee Roasting Warehouse

19 Leveson St.
North Melbourne
VIC 3051
How to get there

In Melbs, BEST brekkie AND coffee is at the Coffee Roasting Warehouse in North Melbourne. The name gives it away that the coffee is TO DIE FOR, you can select your bean and all the staff are pro baristas so the coffee is perfect. Brekkie is a mix of classic choices and a more unique menu - do not go past the indian eggs, which is poached eggs in a curry type tomato mix with roti bread and fresh corindar, AMAZING! Meals are between about $6-$22. Sitting outside in the rare moments Melbourne isn't raining or inside around the warehouse or in a small back indoor courtyard. Very cute and popular so go early!