Were You A – Tomboy?

To all my female readers, were you a tomboy growing up? Or were you more of a girly girl? I don’t know what I was hahaha growing up I was always active, had no issue playing rough and in the mud. But then at the same time, I loved playing with barbie dolls, dressing up and also having tea parties with my dolls… LOL

Anyhow, on the weekend I finally got the chance to catch up with Vien (We Dare Food), it’s been quite a few months since we’ve caught up, even though we chat daily through Instagram and Twitter. A quick introduction Vien is a very talented young girl who has just completed her Undergraduate studies and is an amazing baker and photographer I love her simplistic way of styling food ~

We wanted to do brunch so I suggested Tomboy in Collingwood, as it has been on my list for quite some time and because I have heard so many good things about their brownies, which they also supply to Seven Seeds. I brought Mr Bao with us, as we were going out afterwards and it would just make things easier that way Thank gosh Vien didn’t mind YAY!

We organised to meet up at 11am, perfect time for brunch. Tomboy is a relatively small cafe with limited seating, a couple of tables on the right a large communal table at the back and I think they may have some seats upstairs or the toilets were located there as some customers were walking up and down

I love the retro decor at Tomboy, on the left there was a large vintage glass cabinet displaying their tarts and housemade gluten free muesli, while on top was their famous brownies! I also loved the milkbar sign hanging on top ~

There was only one menu and it was written on large butchers paper and hung on the back of the wall, which makes it a little hard for some customers to read. I think it would have been a little bit more practical to put the menu more central in the middle of the cafe ~

Quite a few dishes caught our eyes and interests us Vien and I have great tastes because we both wanted either the yoghurt or the sweet peas, so it was perfect we could each get one and try both!

Orange Blossom Yoghurt with poached stone fruit, pistachio praline and pomegranate $9.50AUD

Starting with Vien’s Orange Blossom Yoghurt, it I didn’t know better I would’ve assumed it was like a Middle Eastern inspired panna cotta! Especially since it was molded into a round shape and with the pistachio praline and pomegranate seeds, gosh I was getting envy! I was just dying for Vien to offer for me to have a try hehe the yoghurt was super thick and smooth, it had the texture of Labna (strained yoghurt). I loved everything about this yoghurt and I really want the recipe for the pistachio praline!

Smashed peas and broad-beans with dill, mint and grilled asparagus with a crumbed egg $14.50AUD

My smashed peas and broad-beans with dill, mint and grill asparagus was definitely a summer-type breakfast dish It was light and refreshing with nothing oily or rich ~ perfect as it was a very hot 37 degree day! I liked the overall flavours of my dish especially the mint, but found the smashed peas and broad-bean to be slightly dry and I thought it would have been better it there was something to bind it all together ~ Love grilled asparagus so that made me happy.

But what really made me smile ~ was the crumbed egg! It was a poached egg coated in bread crumbs then fried and when you cut into it, runny egg yolk just spills out! Yolk porn does not get any better than this HAHAHA and most importantly it was not at all oily or greasy YAY!

Pancetta baked beans with Ciabatta with a poached egg $14.50AUD

Mr Bao ordered the pancetta baked beans with a poached egg, it was a simple dish and the baked beans was not baked in a ramekin, instead it was per-baked spooned onto two slices of Ciabatta. Mr Bao enjoyed his dish and really liked the strong flavours from the pancetta as opposed to bacon. However, we both thought that the baked beans were a little luke warm and it would have been nicer if it was hotter ~ once again the egg was poached perfectly! How do cafes make it so effortless?

Couldn’t leave without trying their brownies! They had a selection or peanut butter, original chocolate and raspberry brownie. We opted for the Peanut Butter one which strange, because I’m not really a fan but Mr Bao didn’t want a regular chocolate brownie lol We’re very good at sharing and all had a bite ~ it had rich chocolate flavours, but had a rather crumbly texture. While I like my brownies to be fudgey, undercooked and gooey.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Brownie $4AUD

Because it was a hot day, we didn’t want our usual hot coffees, and instead got iced ones I got my usual ice mocha ~ and flavours were great, it was a true iced mocha and not chocolate syrup with hot coffee then lots of ice to cool it down and dilute it Only issue was it was too small and was still served in a regular latte glass.

Iced Mocha – $5.5AUD

Mr Bao got an iced latte which he described it as being quite light as it didn’t have any ice-cream or cream and the coffee itself at floral notes ~

Ice Latte – $5.5AUD

Last by not least, Vien ordered a Soy Latte and I forgot to ask how she found it, but she finished it quickly so I assumed it was nice

Soy Chai Latte $3.8AUD

I enjoyed Tomboy for it’s simplistic and fresh approach to their dishes Everything was cooked nicely and perfect for a hot day. I am definitely gonna go back for more orange blossom yoghurt definitely dessert for breakfast!

Ps. They only take cash so don’t forget to stop by the ATM before coming otherwise, you’d end up like us hehe having to rush to the 7/11 store ~