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Birdman Eating

Birdman Eating (238 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy) is one of those places I've been to for coffee or walked past heaps of times, without ever thinking to try the food. My new housemate informs me whenever she goes there, the breakfast special that always sounds really good has sold out, and she ends up getting the next special, which never sounds as good but is usually still yummy. I'd attempted to go for brunch here recently but it was packed, so we'd relocated. This time, it was happening! In a hangover-induced, zombie-like caffeine mission, we trudged in and sat ourselves at the window. It was hot and noisy outside, so we tried to swap to one of the footpath tables when someone left, but it had already been allocated so we had to wait. Third time lucky, we finally got a table outside (such a mission!) and our Espresso Syndicate coffees arrived quickly.

Our friend simply wanted a manly plate of eggs and bacon, something sadly missing from Birdman Eating's offerings. All the food sounded nice, but more 'bitsy' - definitely aimed more at girls, or people of short stature and small stomach. He ended up getting scrambled eggs with toast, which looked good, if simple:


I scored the vegie breakfast special, baked eggs with pumpkin, zucchini and pine nuts - tasty, but quite rich:


I liked how it was served on a bit of printed paper. Call me kitsch. The coffee was so good, I had two.

My housemate had the house-made crumpets, which looked, and apparently were, amazing:


For such an over-hyped, well-known hipster establishment, I'd expected a bit more from Birdman Eating. Something about the layout inside and the slightly snobbish attitude from staff made it not quite as enjoyable as it could have been. But the food and coffee certainly hit the hangover spot. Plus, it's local, and I'm intrigued about further breakfast specials! I'll go back.


Note: 12 June 2013

I discovered over this weekend that Birdman Eating is owned by the same crew that runs Backstreet Eating in Fitzroy, a place I very much enjoy. Read my blog post about it here.



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