Proud Mary

Proud Mary

172 Oxford St, Collingwood

(Ph) 9417 5930

Had been meaning to come try out Proud Mary for a while - rated ☆☆☆ by Cheap Eats Guide and 3 coffee cups by the Good Cafe Guide =) We came here on a Sunday morning, and to no surprise, it was packed =( There was a 30min wait - we were tempted to leave, but we had driven all the way here for it so we had to stay with our tummies grumbling! It's not a very big cafe and they don't cater for people waiting very well. There are only 3 stools for people to sit on, and since it was a cold morning everyone was huddling around inside - we were fully in the way of the waiters bringing food out and reaching behind us for the water and menus =/

Scales on the food cabinet with plates on the scales?

Finally we were seated! They have some pretty interesting decor around - large stereos with old school records! Who uses them these days?! =P It wasn't on so I wonder if it even works?

And on the other side of the cafe there's a thing that looks like a chemistry bunsen burner thing with a wheel on the side?! Maybe it used to be a machine to make coffee like a syphon?

We sat on some cute little stools - with a foot rest! P thought it was too high for his legs but it was very comfortable for me =)

We didn't want any coffees but P ordered a Strawberry Milkshake

Nothing too special - strawberry syrup frothed with milk. They had some strange flavour called Blue Heaven or something like that and we thought it was blueberry but it's actually candy flavoured - would have been even more sweet and artificial lucky we didn't order it =/

We had already decided what we wanted to order while we waited - they don't have a very large menu here so it wasn't too difficult to choose. P ordered Potato Hash - grilled bacon, spinach, a poached egg, bagna cauda (traditional Italian sauce of anchovies, garlic & cream) $16.50

Sounds very interesting, but it wasn't as good as we had hoped =( Firstly, since when do you just give a single egg on a breakfast plate?! Eggs always come in pairs! And secondly, you'd expect hashbrowns to be crunchy on the outside, that's what you order hashbrowns for - the crunch! The potato hash was a massive block of homemade hashbrown - quite bland in flavour and was barely crunchy at all, maybe because it was sitting on the sauce but was a bit disappointing. The sauce was quite interesting - quite strong flavours of anchovies and garlic, it did make the dish more flavourful so I guess that's a plus.

I got the Roasted Mushrooms - chipotle butter, brioche, whipped goats cheese & a poached egg $16.50

P thought I got jipped ordering a vegetarian dish but I love mushrooms and brioche so I couldn't resist! The brioche was quite good - slightly sweet and nicely toasted =) Would have been nicer if they were more generous with it though - there was way too much goats cheese to go with the small piece of brioche. The chipotle butter didn't feel like it fitted in with the dish, small block of slightly chilli butter - was quite clashing flavours with the whipped goats cheese. P and I both loved the whipped goats cheese - he stole some of it to go with his bland hashbrown =P The single poached egg is another boohoo =(

Food~
6/10 - maybe because we had high expectations of it, but both our dishes had their cons =( maybe we'll come back on a weekday and try some of their other dishes

Atmosphere~
2/5 - usual Sunday brunch feel =) the waiting area is way too small though - felt quite claustrophobic standing in the corner =/

Service~
2/5 - food came quite quickly once we were seated and ordered, but they really need to work on their waiting arrangements!

C.
xo