seven:am
155 Bay Street
Port Melbourne
web: http://www.sevenam.com.au/sevenam.htm
I got some free vouchers from work to use up on massages in the Port Melbourne area (I know, it’s a hard life) and thought I would donate two of them to Mr Behemoth as a reward for cramping his gigantor frame in a chair and studying financial analysis intensely for the last few months. This also provided an excuse to check out Bay Street, although it was a drizzly and bleak sort of winter’s day.
Also? We had no food in the house. Not even milk. Our only option was porridge with water, and the day was already miserable enough. We decided to have breakfast at seven:am.
The breakfast menu was short but interesting. I couldn’t go past MY favourite things, poached eggs and smoked salmon, and promptly ordered our favourite things, which was potato cakes with two poached eggs, salmon, rocket and a sprinkling of dukkah on the top. I always seem to be ordering poached eggs, basically because the one time Mr B and I tried making them at home, all we made instead was a whirlpool of stringy, spidery egg whites, and one very sodden yolk. Now we pay the professionals.
My favourite things, definitely: poached eggs, smoked salmon.
The potato cakes were hidden under the picture above. I was hoping they would be a little crunchy, like roesti, but they were soft and textureless like fish cakes – but without the fish. (I guess the smoked salmon was external.) It was all very soft and I hoovered it up way too fast.
Pimp my breakfast dish: I would have preferred this dish with a couple of great big pieces of sourdough, although then I guess it wouldn’t be that ‘different’ or ‘special’. Some contrasting textures (like crisp toast or roesti!) would be good. The dukkah didn’t really add much to taste but it did look good sprinkled on top. Some sort of relish with a Middle Eastern tone could be good on the side, to tie in that dukkah with the rest of the dish…
Mr B went for the bean, potato and egg bake which came with feta and capsicum in a cast iron dish, and had an optional side of chorizo which I think he forgot to order. I think the chorizo would have made all the difference to the flavour, which was a bit bland. Our mistake! Mr B was a little aghast at the size of the dish – only about the size of a bread and butter plate, he instantly complained of being still hungry when we left the cafe. (The provided sourdough on the side was one slice cut in two, not two slices! We carb lovers notice these things.)
Bean, potato and egg bake with fetta and capsicum and one slice of bread (halved)
This review sounds grumpy, but it’s not – the place is warm, the staff are super friendly, but we found the breakfast a little small and underwhelming for the price. Maybe that’s a Port Melbourne thing. The coffee was fantastic and I saw a large omelette from the specials blackboard go out that looked superb. I think we perhaps ordered the wrong things, but this definitely wasn’t the worst breakfast we’ve ever had. I’d return if I was in the area, but I doubt I’d make a special trip.
Bryan from Let’s Get Fat Together has also reviewed seven:am, albeit a while ago, and liked the food. He actually had quite a similar dish to mine, albeit with two pieces of toast! Bring back the toast, seven:am!
Fresh Bread 