Christmas is fast upon us which means the general peasantry comes out in force. Great for the cash register at the end of the day, but bad for your mental health and your own enjoyment of the festive season. This means a little bit of pampering is sorely required on the weekend. Not sure about yet another trip over the river though…

Circa, The Prince
2 Acland St, St Kilda

‘Have you booked a table for brekky?’. The only response I could muster on an already sweltering Melbourne sunday was ‘What do you mean I had to fucking book?!?’. And so began our highly anticipated journey to what is reputedly one of Melbourne’s finest on the breakfast scene. Friends have raved about Circa for as long as I can remember and I’m amazed I’ve never ventured in for dinner, St Kilda location notwithstanding. So it was with a certain amount of other-side-of-the-river sheepishness that I ambled up to the maitre-d looking for a table.

Let’s get one thing straight: this is an amazing space. Fantastic sun-lit views over Fitzroy St and the adjoining bay complemented by a sleek, minimalist white feel. White leather booth style seating for four people just made my day. And once again, there’s something special about eating brekky off white tablecloths. The restaurant was barely half full and helped to give us some privacy without feeling alienated. Not that we ever really need privacy but conversation tends to border on the tasteless, such is our sense of humour.

The brekky menu is short. None of this add whatever you like to your eggs - your choice is what they tell you it is, and not a single eggs benedict in sight. Lyonnaise sausage with gerkhins and (a) poached egg were a resounding highlight - there’s a lot to be said about quality pig and this sausage showed why Judaism would be very difficult for me. I thought I’d try the smoked salmon croque monsieur and while very tasty, it lacked that pan-fried buttery goodness the European consistently churns out. I did, however, appreciate that my sandwich was already cut into soldiers, but maybe that’s the Virgo in me shining through.

The scrambled eggs were a little bland (lacked salt) but skewered crispy bacon rashers more than made up for this. Presentation to die for. The Baghdad eggs served with spinach and ricotta fritter sounded amazing yet none seemed game when it came to the crunch of ordering. Perhaps it had something to do with the multitude of inappropriate jokes before we were enlightened by our waitress. The potato omelette looked amazing but she who ordered thought it would be like something else and didn’t turn out so. A polite way of saying she mis-ordered, not that anyone else got a chance to try it.

But the highlight? Warm cinnamon doughnuts with warm chocolate dipping sauce. These were absolutely amazing. Light fluffy misshapen balls, just lightly fried, and a european (read: very little milk) chocolate sauce that begged for you to dunk the whole doughnut. Quite disappointed nobody ordered the brioche with stewed rhubarb and creme fraiche (wish I had) but we file that one away under ‘next time’.

Service was impeccable, as I would expect from a top flight restaurant, with knowledgeable and unobtrusive staff. Just enough personality and a lot of professionalism. Coffee was quite enjoyable and extremely well made, but when I’m paying $4 for one, it better fucking damn well be.

If you don’t like paying entree prices for brekky ($30 per head is on the high side), then Circa is not the place for you. If you love your big brekky with a mountain of extras on the side and tomato sauce on everything, this is definitely not the place for you. Circa serves up restaurant quality brekky with restaurant sized portions (just enough to fill, not to stuff you) and the price tag to match. It was great but I wanted to be amazed, which is why we felt Circa deserved: