Stagger Lee's

276 Brunswick St, Fitzroy 3065
Date visited: 21st September 2014


Typical Melbourne - always a new cafe popping up somewhere - not that I mind, that makes brunching out on the weekends exciting, never dull.  This one, from the owners of Proud Mary, is curiously named Stagger Lee's, after a pimp who shot his cell mate for stealing his hat.  Gee, must have been a really nice hat.  

Anyway, finally!  After weeks of saying we have to visit Stagger Lee's, MerlinFan and I finally made it there.  It was just after 1pm, and the cafe wasn't full, which I was very pleased about.  Unsurprisingly, we managed to snag seats straight away, which is always nice.

I went with my default Cappuccino.  Beautiful coffee art, great coffee as expected.

Cappuccino $3.80

MerlinFan felt like a juice, so she had the Nice pear juice.  This was a mixture of apple, pear and tangy lime with the lingering aftertaste of mint.  Very nice and refreshing.

Juice, nice pear $7.50

MerlinFan can never resist ordering a burger if there's one on the menu (never mind that we just had Grill'd the day before yesterday!) so she had the Stack & Billy Burger.

Stack & Billy Burger $16.50

This burger had a thick Black Angus Shin patty that was still juicy and nicely pink in the middle, topped off with cheddar, bacon, American mustard, catsup, aioli and pickles.  MerlinFan said it reminded her of a Big Mac with bacon.  It was nice enough, but admittedly, there are better in Melbourne.  The croquettes were delicious though, fully of smoky bacon flavour - they outshone the burger, to be honest.

I was all set to order the Coco pop and salted caramel French toast (had my name written all over it!!!) but I was starving after spending all morning at a workshop, so I painstakingly changed my mind at the last moment, and went with my second choice, the Shrooms 'N' truffles.

Shrooms 'n' truffles $17.50

This dish was everything hearty yet indulgent - earthy pan roasted local pine mushrooms, slivers of salty pecorino pepato and rich, creamy polenta fragrant with the perfume of truffles.  Don't forget the gorgeous yellow globe of the confit egg yolk and crusty, crunchy farmhouse toast on the side.  Absolutely delicious.

Argh, still want to try the French toast and their vanilla coconut rice pudding dish which sounds amazing... we were greedily saying we should order a third to share but we were too full.  Sometimes I wish I had four stomachs like a cow - definitely need to make a return visit soon!


P.S. Second visit here - had the amazing French toast and Frank 'N' Beans!


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