Vicinity Dining, Alexandria – Rating: 17.5/25

Breakfast, lunch, dinner or something inbetween?  Vicinity Dining offers all of this and a full bar that starts the day with coffees and powers into the night with cocktails, beer & wine.  I’ve written about these super cafés before; offering the usual breakfast fair and great coffee, hosting parties and event nights as well as offering catering.

Vicinity is open plan with plenty of space and a classic design style.  Some tables outside benefit from their own fireplace which makes it easy to get very cosy.  The one thing you won’t find unfortunately is much sunlight.  Only late afternoon would some of the outside tables receive any.  The bar itself is long with plenty of service space and the beverage list is extensive.  For hair of the dog or a late night drink, they can accommodate.

The coffee is supplied by Morgans Handcrafted Coffee which I hadn’t sampled before.  It was superb, definitely memorable and one of the best in all my reviews.  I’ll get in touch with Morgans to find out who else they supply, for sure!

The smoothie flavour depends on the day.  On this Sunday, mixed berry was available and my example was excellent, full of fresh fruit and a good consistency.

Again, the fruit depends on what is available but as you can see they know how to serve freshly squeezed juices.

I had some reservations about this fairly simple dish mainly because of the textures.  Soft, soft and soft but it was all prepared well and it worked.  The eggplant salad is mildly spiced and compliments the sweet, fluffy brioche.  Some extra chilli wouldn’t have gone amiss but the well prepared bacon on the side comes highly recommended.

If you want to improve eggs, simply add chives!  As you can see, they were cooked perfectly.  They were served with a good amount of prosciutto which was smooth and probably better than you’re even imagining right now.  The toast was too tough so a steak knife would have been handy (or even better, some softer bread).

The breakfast menu is fairly short.  Based on the dishes I tried and the mere sight of some of the others, I would happily return to try the bircher muesli, soy milk, apple, yoghurt and almonds ($12), roasted vine ripened tomato, avocado, goats cheese and sourdough ($14) or the black pudding sausages, tomato salad and poached eggs ($16).

You won’t have a problem finding a table because there are loads of them.  I can see Vicinity booming in summer when the temperatures soar.  They also cater for parking with plenty at 100 Collins Street.