Melbourne Food Reviews

Hungry Birds

242 Victoria St, Brunswick

She Says

A while ago a friend recommended brunch at Hungry Birds. After she talked up the quirky location and fun, mexican-inspired brunch menu and I was sold. So last weekend I suggested to Gerard that we brave the cold and rain to make the trek out to Brunswick, while any kind of mexican food is always a draw for him there was also the bonus of the cafe’s free NBN wifi to get him excited.

After managing to leave a warm house and warm car to get to Hungry Birds I was a little disappointed (read annoyed and shivering) when I realised that the seating is 100% outdoors. In the cold. And rain. The lone gas heater tries its best but there’s not much you can do to keep such an open (and when we visited, wet) space warm. Having made it out of the house we decided to just harden up and deal with it, and I was glad we did. I quite liked the food and the atmosphere. I also really liked their wall hung plant pots (I’ve been looking for some for home, the black ones on the left of the photo below were from www.wallgarden.com.au, sadly they only come in black and packs of 10).

He Says
When Marg suggested we hit up Hungry Birds for our Saturday Brunch adventure, I stared off into the distance. The name sounded so familiar, but I couldn’t place where I’d heard it before. I spent a good 30 seconds completely oblivious to the outside world; and then it hit me – it’s the first café in Australia offering free NBN Internet wifi. For those living under a digital rock, the NBN is a controversial government initiative to rollout high-speed Internet to the entire country, but lets not get into that here. What’s important is that one of the test sites is in Brunswick, and Hungry Birds is located right in the middle of it.

I went straight to the gadget bat cave and selected my trusty iPad (v3) to test the glorious NBN access. I wanted to try it out, but I didn’t want to look too keen. That, and it’s very hard to have a conversation with someone when a laptop is third wheeling between the eggs. So we arrived at Hungry Birds, and I nonchalantly asked for the wireless password. I typed it into my iPad, and then ran the obligatory speed test app from SpeedTest.net. The iPad visibly groaned under the pressure, managing 20.98mbps down and up to 33.00mbps up, with a 9ms ping. It effectively was as fast as the app could download it (the iPad was the limiting factor, we’ve seen reports online of someone with a laptop getting over 90mbps). I let out a little chirp, and content with having seen the future, put my iPad down and waited for our food to arrive.

So three paragraphs in, and I haven’t mentioned anything about the café besides that it has NBN access.  Obviously the NBN is a massive marking draw card, but there is definitely more to Hungry Birds than fast bytes (pun intended). It’s in a quirky location, the staff are friendly, and the menu has a Mexican inspired vibe. What more can you want while you wait for your hoverboard?

We Ate
I had one of the specials, the chicken pasilla crepes – two crepes filled with chicken, baked in chilli sauce and served with cream (sour cream?) and lettuce ($16.50). These were great, I loved the sauce and thought it was really well balanced by the cream and the freshness and texture of the lettuce.

Gerard had the eggs rancheros – fried eggs with ranchero sauce, tortillas, beans, cream and lettuce ($14.50) with a side of bacon ($4). Gerard enjoyed the eggs but thought the chicken crepes were ultimately the better choice. He also (uncharacteristically) thought that the bacon was a mistake and would have preferred the dish sans-meat.

To Conclude
Good food and good internets, what a combination! Enjoy it when it’s not raining.

Cumulus Inc

45 Flinders Ln, CBD

She says
A couple of months ago my office moved from the King St end of Collins St up to the decidedly classier Paris end. It’s been a nice change, partially because the offices are now all shiny and new, but mainly because my food options have greatly improved. I’ve found that one of my favourite lunch options is a sandwich from Cumulus Inc.

Before the big move I never knew that Cumulus sold sandwiches, but they do, and they’re delicious. The sandwiches are generously sized and will set you back $10. There are generally 4 flavours on offer each day – typically 3 carnivorous and 1 vegetarian (sometimes the vegetarian option is available for the Cumulus-bargain price of $8). The flavours change often, which keeps things interesting. I’ve had a variety including a couple of takes on chicken, a lamb shoulder and pork; none of them have let me down. The only catch is that the sandwiches are take away only, sadly $10 doesn’t buy you a table. On the plus side it makes them a great option for a eating at your desk while madly trying to get work done on time day.

He says
When Margaret suggested our second weekday lunch in as many weeks, I viewed it as a sign that the impending rapture was finally upon us. So after telling the boss what I really thought, and giving away my vintage Kinder Surprise collection (still wrapped in chocolate), I headed off to meet Margaret for lunch.  She’s been going on for weeks about her discovery of the take away sandwiches from Cumulus Inc.

Melbourne winter weather is a cruel temptress indeed, and doesn’t lend itself kindly to eating outside. Parks are out, benches are out, eating on the run is out. So where do you go? Federation Square! It has an enormous undercover atrium, next to Beer Deluxe, which seems to be completely empty 90% of the time, except for a smattering of SLR wielding tourists, and inexplicably, a bunch of chairs. So with a roof over our heads, and a bespoke brown bag full of sandwiches we were ready to lunch.

We ate:
Gerard had a ham hock roll with apple, cabbage and mayo ($10).

I had the chicken sandwich with almonds, sour cream and pickled chilli ($10). The chicken sandwich was probably the tastier of the two. I really enjoyed it, the almonds made me particularly happy.  The bread also deserves a special mention, it’s seriously good. If you find the filling you want comes with a choice between the grain and sourdough, get the grain. Every time.

In the end
A great option for an upmarket sandwich lunch, helping people to bring a little bit of happy back to their desks.

Threefold

381 Flinders Lane, Melbourne

He Says
Although we both work in the city, we very rarely get to have lunch together. An endless merry go round of meetings, interstate jaunts, errands, crises and pre-rapture planning always seem to get in the way of a good old couple lunch. This week Marg put her foot down, and suggested a place that she’d been to a couple of weeks. That place was Threefold on Flinders lane.

Melbourne unfortunately didn’t share my enthusiasm for our lunch date, throwing down some of the worst weather this winter. Cold, wind and rain; the triple threat of awful weather. When I arrived, I found Marg huddling in the doorway of Threefold, waiting for a table. So we stood around, waiting, and about ten minutes later, another couple came in looking for a table. One of the waitresses, came up, gave them a menu, and then a couple of minutes later went to seat them at a recently vacated table. The front-of-house guy quickly intervened and gave us the table first. The waitress was genuinely apologetic, and quickly scrambled up some menus and water. Well played, Threefold. Well played indeed.

The only other hiccup of the lunch was that they had run out of mini-burger buns for the sliders, and had to serve them on baguette. More of an aesthetic complaint, because the baguette was delicious. Threefold was a great lunch, and would be perfect venue for any city-bound date. Tick tick tick.

She Says
Walking into Threefold for lunch on a hideously cold and rainy day was like wakling into a big warm hug, but better, because this is the kind of metaphoric hug that includes a big bench of delicious looking food.

I’ve been to Threefold once before and thought it was a great place for a proper lunch in the city, the kind of lunch where you sit down and talk to someone for a solid hour (or more) and eat something a little bit more special than the sushi roll from downstairs or sandwich from across the street. The menu offers a selection including pasta, salads, sandwiches, soups, pies and tarts. The menu changes frequently so there’s plenty of variety to support return visits. The food is also delicious which is a big plus, indeed the chicken sandwich was recently named one of Melbourne’s top 10 sandwiches by Time Out (along with the likes of Earl Canteen and Beatrix).

As I mentioned above one of my favourite things about Threefold is that it is the sort of place where you can actually sit down and have a proper break at a nice indoor table (which you can also book ahead of time). The atmosphere, particularly in the weather we’ve been having lately, is friendly, cozy and a little bit hectic. Just what I want from lunch in the city.

We Ate
Gerard had the El Tauro triple treat sliders (mini burgers): Pork & Apple, Chicken & Smoked Mozarella, Lamb & Feta ($15.50). He loved the concept but was a little disappointed when he heard they’d run out of mini burger buns. Luckily the disappointment vanished when the eating began. He thought the pork & apple and lamb & feta sliders were amazing. He wanted a bit more from the chicken though (maybe in part because of the chicken sandwich fame). In the end these little would be burgers left him with a smile from ear to ear though.

I had the roast pork belly and caramelised apple sandwich ($12). It was pretty great, I was intending to try the chicken this time but I couldn’t go past caramelised apple, and I’m glad I didn’t because it was the highlight of my day. Last time I visited I had the corned beef sandwich with sauerkraut, mustard & jarlsberg ($12.50), I don’t have a photo of it but I thought it deserved a mention because it was also a big morale booster.

To Conclude
Great food and the sort of atmosphere that makes you want to stay all afternoon.