Eden's Backyard

As part of my usual weekend affairs I like to brunch, but instead of going with D this time, I decided to take Mum and Sis to Carlton, to try out Eden's Backyard. Eden's is one of the newer brunch cafes in Melbourne. Their Nicholson Street location is a great balance of the hip vibe in Carlton, but yet laid back enough to be away from the Brunswick Street.

We got there pretty late (around 2.30) and were all starving, so we got four things to share amongst the three of us.

Since Mum and I were both slightly sleepy (ok I will be honest, I was slightly hung over from the work Christmas party), we both got a coffee to wake us up, and Sis got a cold press (Eden's temptation). The coffees were okay, wasn't a stand out coffee. Sis enjoyed her combination of apple, pineapple, spinach, cucumber, lemon, banana and coconut water.

Mum chose the Bacon and Eggs. A classic which is a favorite, however instead of opting for sunnyside up, as mum normally likes it, went with poached instead. The egg was runny on the inside and had a generous serving of bacon on wholemeal toast.

Sis got the Kev's Secret French Toast. This had nutella, poached pear, berries on a brioche french toast and caramel sauce to finish it off. This is definitely one of those naughty breakfast. It felt like more of a dessert than breakfast (not that I mind). This is one for the sweet tooth.

I went with the Smoked Salmon Benedict. It came with Norwegian smoked salmon, poached egg, homemade hollandaise sauce on sour dough toast. This was the breakfast I needed to fill in the starving spot in my stomach. The sauce was good but there was too much of it. It also makes me ask...... should the menu really call the sauce "homemade" when it's more store or cafe made? I would order it again, next time I am in, but I will probably ask them to go easy on the sauce.

Finally we also got the Abang Apam Crepes to share. Actually this was the reason I took my Malaysian Mummy here. Abang Apam is actually one of her favorite things to eat and always says she wish she could get it more easily here in Australia. She tends to make her own at home, but since Eden's offered it, I had to bring her here to try it. It served with mixed berries, vanilla ice cream, oreo/peanut/oats crumbs. Inside the crepe there was sugar, peanuts and a bit of creamed corn. This was interesting and the first time I had it outside my Mum's house in Australia. It was a good change to the usual pancakes and waffles for breakfast. I might be bias here but I really enjoyed it and would recommend this dish.

Overall 17.5/20 I was pleasantly surprised and really enjoyed the things I tried. Service was friendly, the staff was a little slow but I think it might have to do with the fact, they were new. Only downside was the coffee, mum wasn't very impressed with the coffee. Though I think the items on the menu would still entice her back here for another visit.