Le Traiteur

552 Lonsdale St, Melbourne CBD
Phone: 9670 0039
http://www.letraiteur.com.au/

I like to think I’m a morning person. Years of a nine to five job have made me almost unable to sleep in on weekends, and the skylight in my bedroom currently doesn’t help that. So when @jeroxie and the @eatdrinkstagger crew suggested an early morning breakfast at Le Traiteur – run by the people who brought you Libertine – I was quick to agree.

For some bizarre reason, I wasn’t able to sleep the night before, so I was up while it was still dark; it wasn’t the skylight’s fault this time. This turned out to be quite lucky, because it meant I was able to catch the tail end of a World Cup semi-final match! The day was looking good, and the sun wasn’t even up yet!

Braving the Winter morning, I rode into the city on my trusty bike, a little unnerved when I realised that where I was headed was half a block down from Goldfingers. Thankfully, it wasn’t SO early that the stragglers would have been leaving. The first one there, I settled myself at the big communal table, and took advantage of it to sprawl The Age out while waiting for the others.

I also had myself a coffee. Which was quite good. Please remember, peoples, that I don’t know anything about coffee, but I know what I like. It’s like my relationship with art.
It’s not a fern or a heart, but it looks sort of like a guernsey cow! A few minutes later, the others arrived, and breakfast was on like Donkey Kong!!! (Can you sense that I had finished my coffee by this stage? No, seriously, can you? I was quite excited, really. Really.)
I ordered the Croque Madame. It’s like a Croque Monsieur – ham and cheese toasted sandwich, sometimes (as here) with bechamel sauce – but with a fried egg on top. It was a bit tricky to eat, but full of oozy caloric goodness Mmmmm, bechamel. Next time I’d just go the Monsieur, as the egg wasn’t spectacular, and that might be easier to handle. I had a bit of a tough time figuring out whether to use a knife and fork, or go in with hands. For future reference, hands was the better option.

Penny (@jeroxie) had the confit egg with cured ocean trout and fromage frais on seed loaf. I snuck a quick bite of her toast with the fromage frais, which was pretty awesome – nice seed loaf – but we couldn’t really figure out how you’d get crispy edges on a confit egg if the oil doesn’t reach boiling point… perhaps there was a bit of a fry at the end?

Gem had the semolina porridge with poached fruit. It looked wonderfully smooth, and Gem was driven to wax lyrical by the poached cumquats, they evoked such strong childhood memories. Food is wonderful like that sometimes, huh?
When Tris’ pikelet stack with Calvados apples and creme fraiche arrived at the table, we all ooh-ed and ahh-ed. They looked mightily impressive. I’m sure they were too, though he didn’t say much… you’ll want to check out the Eat Drink Stagger post for more details.

I think I might have to get into the city for breakfast more often…

Penny’s take on Le Traiteur (jeroxie – consuming and addictive)
Gem’s account of breakfast (eat, drink, stagger)