Best breakfasts in Melbourne

Cumulus Inc

Melbourne

Cut a business deal over a power breakfast of top-notch thick-cut bacon, smoked tomatoes and fried eggs, or wag work and spread out with some pals, a bottle of Champagne and baked-to-order madeleines (those little duck-foot shaped cakes) filled with lemon curd. We love how competitive the CBD prices are too. Read the morning papers in Cumulus’s bright gallery-like surrounds, armed with a soft-boiled egg, toast and preserves, yoghurt, compote, juice and a coffee all for $16.

Best for... An inner-city business breakfast
Eat this... Grilled sardines tarted up with tomato, capers and fennel
Perks... Breakfast in a beautiful space for a bargain

Silo

Melbourne

Silo is his no-waste CBD café run by Danny Colls, where every fixture is made from recycled material, and every ingredient is foraged or sourced direct from farmers, and crafted into life-affirming salads, soups and snacks. Try the oats – rolled to order before becoming your porridge and topped with truly seasonal poached fruits, or get the surprisingly rich salted, braised leeks with slow-poached eggs and toasted seeds. Start your day like this and just watch the good karma roll in.

Best for... A virtuous breakfast
Eat this... Leek, egg, seeds
Perks... You’re doing your bit for the environment

Birdman Eating

Fitzroy

This café has coffee that always kicks you in the pants; street seating for watching walks of shame; a hangover special – your choice of baked eggs with either a dry cider or a Bloody Mary ($20, not bad), and they make that Bloody Mary with wasabi – which could save your life. They’re also the kings of calorific breakfasts. Anyone who puts brioche French toast with marmalade-glazed bacon and cheesy Welsh rarebit on the breakfast agenda is a friend of ours.

Best for... Soaking up the weekend scene
Eat this... The hangover special
Perks... Lots of non-egg options

San Telmo

Melbourne

Come the weekend, this Argentinean restaurant can fix you up with a serious slab of flame-grilled flank steak with red onion salsa and eggs. If you’re feeling brave, add Argentina’s favourite boozy herbal remedy and party re-starter, Fernet Branca and Coke. During the week, sink into the super-comfortable leather bar stools for simple dulce de leche (caramel made from condensed milk) on hazelnut bread, with tart poached apple and thick buffalo milk labne. Delicioso!

Best for... Showing your hangover who’s boss
Eat this... Dulce de leche on hazelnut toast
Perks... They have the best bottom-embracing stools in the land

Besito

Footscray

Besito serves one hell of a Colombian-style brekky. Start with fluffy arepas – grilled cornmeal hot-pockets – with a simple notch of butter and some sea salt, or the rich rice pudding laced with seasonal fruits and arepique (milk caramel) before getting serious with eggs poached in coriander infused milk and a fat side of smashed chickpeas and guacamole. Pair it all with a single origin coffee or a thick hot chocolate and you’ll be fully charged for haggling at Little Saigon markets.

Best for... Something different
Eat this... Changua (eggs poached in coriander-infused milk)
Perks... They make everything from scratch

Common Galaxia

Seddon

Along with some couture coffee you will also get some sleek Swedish design and smørrebrød action. Smørrebrød, by the way, are open-faced sandwiches on rye. The fried whitebait number here is a winner. The classics shine – salmon is smoked in-house and served with baked zucchini fritters and a perfect slowpoached egg, but we’re all about the whole baked apple stuffed with figs, honey and walnuts and tempered by yoghurt. Fruit stuffed with fruit: doctor-approved.

Best for... Sexy décor
Eat this... The baked apple
Perks... A designer space to match your designer breakfast

Ora Specialty Coffee

Kew

We’re not sure what we love most about Ora. It’s a dead heat between the walnut eggs– two soft boileds, rolled in a walnut dust crust and flash-fried, before being bedded down in a finely spun pastry thread nest with spicy kasoundi (an Indian tomato chutney) – or the little coffee platter: three teensy glasses containing a cold-drip coffee, a piccolo latte and a soda cleanser. Perhaps it’s knowing that, whatever you order, it will be made from the best of the best.

Best for... A coffee platter
Eat this... Walnut eggs
Perks... They grow a lot of their own produce

Small Victories

Carlton North

Don’t plan on enjoying regular cafés after a trip to Small Victories. There’s a record player spinning vinyl next the juice machine, and along with the best black pudding we’ve had – all heavily spiced and rough textured – you can get a fresh beetroot juice or a pint of Harcourt cider. Your choice. Stretch out on the street amidst the throngs of silver foxes and bearded hipsters, and don’t miss the porridge, topped with sweet poached fruit, caramelised milk and a crunch of pistachio.

Best for... A pint with your porridge
Eat this... Black pudding and scrambled eggs
Perks... They have a sweet record collection

Twenty and Six Espresso

North Melbourne

We’re talking field mushrooms roasted with balsamic vinegar, poached with crème fraîche, fried with chorizo, and doused with pecorino cheese. Run by a pair of designers, this café is a concise piece of sexy, where great style meets a sunny herb-strewn courtyard and incredible food. Every little thing here is pretty, from the stencil art and custom-made glasses to a dish of black sticky rice, ringed with a moat of salted coconut cream and punctuated with a sweet cheek of mango.

Best for... Feeling like you’ve left town
Eat this... The Hunter (thrice cooked mushrooms with chorizo)
Perks... Everything is beautifully designed

The Dutchess of Spotswood

Spotswood

British to the core, this joint is a celebration of prime produce and offal, wrapped in a package of excellent service with great coffee on the side. Everything is made painstakingly from scratch from the rich black pudding and field mushrooms amped up with a sharp kick of Stilton cheese to the little ginger and treacle cakes. Pitch camp in the courtyard with all of the above and let morning coffees turn to afternoon beers. These guys push an unrelenting agenda of excellence.

Best for... Classic Brit dishes with modern flair
Eat this... The Duchess of pork
Perks... They do lunch and dinner so you can stay all day