Creme, Port Melbourne – a great local hangout
An excellent, strong caffe latte
In those long-ago days of singledom, Greedy Girl used to love going out for brunch. Particularly when she lived in Sydney, brunch was a mainstay of weekend activity and there was always plenty of time to digest before she hit the gym in the afternoon.
These days, given dear gluttonous husband likes to bring her breakfast in bed most mornings, going out for brunch has lost a lot of its appeal. Over the summer, however, she’s been persuaded by pescetarian foodie friend Ms Divine (a sensational gym instructor in her spare time) to rouse herself out of bed on the occasional Sunday morning and do her exercise class. Not a morning person, there had to be a pay-off at the end of it, and that proved to be quite an excellent experience at Creme.
This is a fairly nondescript-looking cafe at the beach end of Bay Street in Port Melbourne. Even on a warm day, the wind whistles up the street making an external table a little uncomfortable. When the wind’s cold, it can be very chilly and when it’s hot, well it’s best to be somewhere sheltered. Anyone who’s experienced a hot Melbourne wind knows how enervating it can be. Greedy Girl and Ms Divine wanted to relax and enjoy a feed without worrying about the elements.
Greedy Girl had hoped for something half decent, given she’d already been to Creme for a coffee fix before her workout began. The caffe latte (pictured at left). was pretty much perfect. Strong, robust, full of flavour. It was just the jolt Greedy Girl needed before she headed for the torture, er, the challenge of Ms Divine’s class.
So, on the return leg and feeling rather depleted, we settled in for some eggs. Ms Divine had poached with spinach, tomatoes and a sticky balsamic reduction on sourdough toast. Ms Divine said the balsamic glaze in particular was yummy and the eggs were perfectly poached. A yum.
Poached eggs with spinach and tomato
Greedy Girl can rarely pass up eggs benedict (pictured at the top of this post). The menu had spinach listed as one ingredient. Greedy Girl asked if that could be withheld and chose avocado to replace it. While the hollandaise sauce looked a bit blonde, it had oodles of flavour. The eggs still had runny yolks (a big tick) and the ham was slightly grilled and a perfect thickness. Greedy Girl was exceedingly happy and polished off the lot. A bonus was that the toast underneath (a type of Turkish bread) was actually cooked! Greedy Girl used this to mop up the remaining sauce.
Wanting to prolong our morning, we opted to share one of the delightful little sweets lurking in the presentation case. This was a particularly good lemon tart with just the right mix of sweetness and tartness.
Lemon tart
Creme is a typical neighbourhood cafe and, by the hordes of patrons swinging by with their pet dogs in tow, a bit of a local hangout. It’s certainly a great stop if you’re in the area and looking for a quick and high-quality snack.
Creme
70 Bay Street, Port Melbourne
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