That Jess Ho

I usually reserve Sundays as me-time.  As time to read, reflect, drink on my own, recover or wander about aimlessly and secretly creep into a gym and sweat off the previous night’s discretions.

This weekend saw none of that, ok, maybe the very controlled exercise, but I finally had a belated catch-up with my favourite cousin.

And yes, I have a favourite cousin, people claim they don’t have favourites, but they’re lying.  They’re all lying and I can admit that I am shallow.

It was all planned, a late afternoon breakfast/lunch depending on how disgusting we got the night before.   That being said, a 3pm breakfast was had.  Originally planned for the Gertrude St Enotecta (which has become a very regular haunt for me now), I realised that I had an organisational fail.  I had memorised all the openings and closings of cafes, restaurants and venues on a Sunday in Carlton and the CBD, but since the move, haven’t bothered to check up on all of these.

So, we defected to Birdman Eating, which I have not been to for a very long time.

My hairy-dog.  A bloody mary that almost never was.  Apparently they ran out of mix, but no, they didn’t.  One thing that I have noted here is the drop in attention in the staff and how in a non-busy period, an order was forgotten. I like their bloody marys, but somehow, I missed the ice in this one.

They let you have a bloody mary & baked egg combo for $19.50, which is what I had.  the also failed to mention which of the baked eggs had run out until I ordered. Blah.

Admittedly cute presentation, using a page of a book instead of a napkin as a liner.  I settled for the corn and asparagus baked eggs with feta.  There was a little too much feta and it overpowered the sweetness of the seasonal ingredients, but the eggs were nevertheless, mostly well cooked and didn’t suffer from a rubbery top from being under a salamander, such as those from Min Lokal.  The odd thing here though, is that I had one perfectly oozy egg yolk, and the other was just set.  The same thing happened for my cousin as well, who ordered

the cheese kransky with hash, poached eggs and relish. The tomato relish was a stand out, actually tomatoey and not over sweet, which is what happens with a lot of cafes when they make their own.

And, L had the steak sandwich.  He actually didn’t say much about this but it was gone before I was even half way through my meal.

So, in the end, Birdman Eating is still good, not as good, but still good.  The service is a little more casual and they’re still better than most of the places in the Collingwood/Fitzroy area by a mile.

Just beware the hipsters and go in the mid-afternoon, when they’re back hibernating.

Birdman Eating

238 Gertrude St,
Fitzroy, 3065
(03) 9416 4747