Mart 130

107 Canterbury Rd, Middle Park 3206.

Date visited: 4th March 2012

MerlinFan, Chocolate Muffin and I went for brunch today at Mart 130, which was been another place I wanted to tick off my wish list for quite some time now.  None of us had been before but we saw the great Melbourne blogger reviews online and it seemed like a great place to catch up.  It was a Sunday, so there was free and pretty ample parking outside the cafe.

Now, Mart 130 is actually Tram 130 spelt backwards - it is located in an old station master's building at tram stop 130.  From outside, that's what it looks like - a train station.  It was packed when we got there - people were already sitting outside waiting.  We went in, waited a little bit before someone came and took our names and number of people in our party.  They told us it would be about 20 minutes wait, but we were outside for probably less than 10 minutes before our name was called.

There was a small sitting area inside, and I was glad we were seated in a table outside on the deck area.  There were a bunch of tables facing out into the gardens and tennis courts, I believe.  It was sunny today, so the plastic shades were up, and the sunlight came in through the trees giving the outdoor seating area a warm, sun-dappled look.

Chocolate Muffin had the orange juice, MerlinFan had the ice coffee and I had the mocha.

Orange juice

Ice coffee

Mocha

Chocolate Muffin thought her OJ was great.  MerlinFan said her ice coffee was really nice with a slightly sweet and almost chocolatey taste to it.  It also didn't have the slightly sourish tang she disliked (that some ice coffees have).

My mocha was fantastic - I had to have a second one, if that was a testament to how good it was.  It too had chocolate syrup in the bottom and came in a cute saucer that you associate with having at Grandma's house.  There was some coffee art on it - I think it was a heart shape but I was too busy talking I forgot and stirred it before I managed to snap a photo of it!  (BTW I saw the barista drawing faces on a latte with a little toothpick at the cashier as I was paying though, and found it quite intriguing)

Chocolate Muffin had the #1 free range scrambled eggs with chives, shaved parmesan, truffle oil, mushrooms and sautéed spinach.  She commented that the eggs and spinach were nice, the mushrooms were okay (as they were a bit big) and the bread was on the chewy side.

Mart Eggs #1

I wanted to try the french toast with pears, walnuts, vanilla bean mascarpone and maple syrup but MerlinFan also claimed it.  Sigh.  As usual, no point ordering two of the same thing, as she would never budge once she makes her decision.  I decided to go for the savoury and settled for french toast with grilled bacon and pure maple syrup.  

We got maple syrup for the table to share - it came in a brand new bottle that we snapped open ourselves :)  A nice touch.  And I love this Canadian maple syrup!  Sweet and just the right consistency - not too watery like how it can get at some cafes.

French toast with bacon and maple syrup

The grilled bacon was very tasty and crispy at the edges - I was guilty of eating some of the fat too, which I usually avoid for fear of early heart disease @_@.  The French toast wasn't the best I've had - it was crispy and light, but was a bit of the dry side in my opinion.  It was a good thing we had that whole bottle of maple syrup to drown the toast in, because then my french toast was perfect!  Really, really yummy.  The maple syrup somehow brought out a buttery, rich taste in the toast and was nicely balanced with the saltiness of the grilled bacon.

MerlinFan adored the mascarpone on her dish.  I had a taste as well - the vanilla mascarpone was beautiful - very sweet and fragrant, and the pears were perfectly poached.  I didn't try the walnuts, but MerlinFan said they were candied and really good.

French toast with poached pears, vanilla mascarpone and walnuts

A nice place to brunch, if you don't mind the queue.  There were lots of people waiting, and the three of us were there for a while - I even had my second cup of mocha, but the staff never made us feel like we had to leave.  Not only that, but I forgot to get a receipt for tax purposes, and when I went back to get one, they said they couldn't reprint me another because everything had already been inputed into the cash register, yet the guy behind the counter was happy to help by just printing me off a make-do receipt with the ABN and total price of my meal.  Very nice of them.

Overall, I would come back here just for the amazing coffee and good service.