Brunch & Co Event #11 - Brunch inspired by recent travels....and a trio of birthdays to celebrate!

Well, June was a busy travel month for Brunch & Co as we made a quick trip to Sri Lanka with my sister Jen as well as squeeze in a fly by visit to Australia.... It never ceases to amaze me how many more new cafes there are in Melbourne each time we visit. Just when you think it has reached saturation point, up pop 3 more totally awesome places! A bit like cafes & bakeries in Singapore! This time in Melbourne we managed to get to Pope Joan, Hoboken, The Foodrinkery & Seven Seeds - all jam packed with hungry patrons, each individually decorated with cool, quirky interiors, & each with their own individual take on the food they have chosen to serve the eager masses.

One of the MANY lattes consumed on this trip along with a brulee tart at Bourke St Bakery, Surrey Hills Sydney

With so many amazing new discoveries, Brunch & Co was inspired to recreate some of the fabulous dishes that we had whilst we were away for our July brunch.

We welcomed two lovely groups of brunchers today and enjoyed seeing the underground restaurant newbies come to grips with where they were and what they were doing in some stranger's apartment! It was great to meet such a fun loving and interesting bunch! 

For starters we served Matt Wilkinson's creamy rice pudding infused with vanilla beans I brought back from Sri Lanka, served with a tart rhubarb compote. We got to try this dish at his restaurant called Pope Joan in Melbourne. One word - divine!

Photo by Ron Lee

Next up, we served my idea of brunch heaven on a plate: 15 hour meltingly roasted pulled pork, served with a homemade spicy tomato sauce, chunky avocado salsa, sourdough toast (from Tiong Bahru Bakery) and the piece de resistance - a poached egg crumbed and deep fried but with a satisfyingly still gooey yolk centre.  It is not often that we are asked for seconds - but our brunchers couldn't seem to get enough!

Photo by Ron Lee

Photo by Ron Lee

Whilst a few guests did the obligatory seat swap/inbetween course tummy stretch, we served up a homemade coconut sorbet topped with mint leaves.

Styled by Ron Lee - taken by me!

For our finale, we served individual Bombe Alaskas - homemade chocolate cake doused with butterscotch sauce, topped with homemade vanilla ice cream swirled with blobs of salted caramel sauce and then covered under a layer of toasted meringue. Totally decadent and one of my all time favourite desserts - especially if you have leftovers and eat it the next day when all the ice cream has melted into the cake.... so good! 

Photo by Ron Lee

Well another bunch of happy brunchers fed and watered. Thanks so much for coming along - we really enjoyed ourselves and hope you all did too!  Happy Birthday to Linda, Sam & CY!

We look forward to seeing you all again sometime soon - perhaps at our exciting new event later this month - the Covert Cake Club launch on Saturday 28th July??!! (Check out the details on the events tab of this blog or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/events/460742890602914/)

Special thanks to Ron Lee for allowing me to post his amazingly beautiful photos on our blog - check him out at https://www.facebook.com/pages/EyeDeas-Photography/16253572012.  And, as always, thanks again to Baker extraordinaire Hwee Yin for all her support & help!

Until next time, Happy Brunching,

Louise & Mark