North by NorthSouth, South Yarra

To brighten up this drizzly Friday morning: some totally gratuitous breakfast food porn. Oozing.


NorthSouth Eatery
760 Chapel Street, South Yarra (map)
9827 6221
Sun-Tues 7am-5pm, Wed-Sat 7am-9pm

The food porn in question is a dish of two eggs poached at 60 degrees, salmon pastrami, dill and salmon roe ($16), enjoyed a few weekends ago at recent South Yarra addition NorthSouth Eatery.

I gotta tell you, this was one helluva breakfast. The cured salmon, sliced nice and thick, had a frosting made from a secret blend of herbs and spices along its edge. When pierced the slow poached eggs pulsated their yolks in slow motion across the plate, and the juicy salmon roe gave the dish bursts of texture and flavour.


No less impressive was my dining companion's dish, the leek, zucchini and taleggio omelette ($12). At last, a photo of an omelette on Melbourne Gastronome that doesn't look boring! The pretty, pretty zucchini flowers are a huge help.


NorthSouth combines the skills of Roger Fowler (longtime general manager at Stokehouse) and Ron O'Bryan (former chef at Church St Enoteca and SlowDown!@Harley Court). It's open every day for breakfast and lunch, and for dinner in the second half of the week. Having previously enjoyed Ron's food at Church St Enoteca, I'm keen to head back there soon to try the lunch/dinner menu. The wine list sounds promising too: it was put together by Jeremy Shiell (sommelier at the Royal Mail Hotel in Dunkeld).

The name NorthSouth suits given its location, at the very northern tip of South Yarra. DJ and I live only a stone's throw away across the river, and we consider anything south of Swan Street and north of Toorak Road to be in the 'demilitarized zone' in Melbourne's North Side/South Side culture wars. Yarra DMZ, represent!


As a bonus, NorthSouth supplies Sugadeaux Cupcakes (try the salted caramel, the red velvet and the Mexican chili choc) made by the Cupcake Queen herself, my good friend Jess. And don't let the photo of my wussy weak latte deceive you: NorthSouth makes excellent REAL coffee too!