Takayama: Sosuke Minshuku - Breakfasts

1-50-30, Sowamachi, Takayama-shi, Gifu-ken
Website http://hida-yado.net/yado/sosuke/english.htm

We stayed at the most wonderful minshuku (family run guest house) in Takayama called Sosuke. Part of what made it so wonderful was the food; traditional Japanese breakfasts and dinners served in Sosuke's tatami'd dining room. I'll blog the dinners shortly, but following are three breakfasts we had the pleasure of consuming.

Breakfast on day one consisted of the essentials: Japanese pearl rice (to the tooth), small rectangular seasoned toasted nori sheets in which to dip in soy and envelop chopstick-full bites of rice, and an earthy reddish miso soup spiked with spring onions, wakame and blocks of tofu.

The extra day one items included slices of deep-fried firm tofu, slices of kamaboko (fish cake) beside a knob of wasabi, a dish of pickled hakusai (chinese cabbage), kinpira gobo (braised burdock root and carrot), and a dish of boiled and lightly seasoned azuki (red beans).

We also had this dashi poached egg in a ceramic dish, which came after I'd taken the first photo above (and after I had already dug in).

Day two breakfast consisted of the essentials mentioned above (athough this time you can see the seasoned nori sheets in their original packaging), with a sunny-side-up fried egg, steamed mirin/shoyu seasoned kabocha (pumpkin), blocks of silken tofu dressed with shavings of bonito and spring onions, plain boiled sansai (mountain vegetables) and the pickled hakusai (chinese cabbage).

Breakfast on day three provided us with one of the specialities of the Hida region; Hoba miso. Miso and sliced leeks are placed on a sun dried magnolia leaf which sits on foil over a little hibachi (fire bowl). Once the miso gets a cookin', the magnolia leaf imparts a definite pleasant fragrance to the paste, which was just delightfully salty and fresh when scooped up with a mouthful of rice.

We also had tamago, and oh my god, this was fabulous. For the uninitiated, tamago is a rolled layered omelette that is flavoured with dashi, soy, mirin and sugar. You sometimes see it cold and sliced thinly on top of sushi, but this version had been freshly made, and was juicy and flavourful in all the right ways. I must learn to make this myself one day.

Once again another little dish of sansai (mountain vegetables), this time dressed in a creamy white sauce (which was not mayonnaisey).

And lastly was a different sansai (mountain vegetables), this time braised with carrots.

One thing I love about Japanese breakfasts (like the ones experienced here) is the variety. I love having five or six little dishes to eat from - you feel that you are satiated on a physical, spiritual and nutritional plane. A little bit of protein, some vegetables, soy (in one or two different guises), rice and soup. A perfect healthy way to start the day.

Pancakes in a Jiffy

"Wouldn't it be neat to invent a product that would taste great and be so easy that a man could make it?" - Howdy S. Holmes, 58, company president of Chelsea Milling Company, producer of the Jiffy range of products

The Chelsea Milling Company of Michigan has been milling flour in the same family since the early 1800's. In the 1930's, Mabel White Holmes, grandmother of Howdy S. Holmes as quoted above, was inspired to seek a solution after watching a single father make rather indigestable biscuits for his kids. A few years of trial and error, and the first Jiffy baking mix was born. This my friends was the advent of the pre-packaged baking mix in the US, allowing the culinarily deficient to whip up cakes or biscuits, just by adding milk or water.

Jiffy baking mixes are still packaged in the same heritage forty-ounce blue box with the words "Quality and value since 1930". EG obviously couldn't resist the pull of nostalgia (he has a penchant for such things), and picked up this pack for a very reasonable and somewhat nostalgically priced $1.95 from the David Jones Food Hall.

This stuff is dead easy to make - all you need to do is add water, stir (but not too much), pour spoonfuls into a hot buttered pan, and voila. Fluffly maple-flavoured American style pancakes. Mmm. And if you're so inclined, the same mix will make waffles too!

But I did go one lil' step further by serving them in a short stack, topped with caramelised peaches and a tart natural yoghurt. The benefits of the yoghurt and fruit was possibly (or should that be absolutely) outweighed by the generous glug of maple syrup afterwards. But heck, what is a gourmand-girl to do :-)

Pushka

20 Presgrave Place, Melbourne
get there from Howie Place running between Little Collins and Collins street
Phone 0408 173 892

Pushka is a mouse hole of a place off a lane that's off a lane (although it does runneth over into the lane). It has all the hallmarks of somewhere cool and funky - it is slightly grungy, a little bit arty, it serves excellent coffee with kitschy teaspoons (Lady Diana from the royal family series is particularly popular), does good bagels and select range of patisserie, and it has crazy toast. It functions as part cafe, part bar (cheap beer!) and part art space. And it has fish. Yeah. Funky.

Half consumed excellent coffee with kitschy spoon. Actually, has anyone else noticed the number of places that are doing kitschy spoons at the moment? It seems to offer a bit of street cred these days ;-)

This is one of the toasted bagels - from memory called the King. Whilst they don't use the traditional dense New York style boiled bagels, these ones are good. And their fillings are top notch - a sprinkle of maldon salt for the tomatoes, good prosciutto, fried egg, excellent cheese.

They also serve a range of baguettes, and as mentioned previously, crazy toast. Actually, I have quite fallen in love with crazy toast, and am now doing crazy toast at work for lunch on my days in. It is a split bagel (or Burgen is a good choice too), smeared thickly with vegemite and avocado. Mmm. Whilst it won't have the men in white coats knocking at your door, it is a slightly ingenious take on adding salt to your avo's. I love it.

And this is how Pushka spilleth over into the lane. Don't be scared by the guy who looks so pointedly at you from the window directly ahead. It is a cardboard cut out, and it has freaked me on a number of occasions ;-)

Beetroot for breakfast

123 Hardware Street, Melbourne
Phone: (03) 9600 0695

Okay, this post is going to reveal how dedicated I am to this all this food blogging business. See, I have developed a fascination with a certain cafe that has a fabulous autumn breakfast menu. And I have made it my mission to work my way through it - to have everything at least once (...or twice, in some cases ;-), before they move to their winter menu. And goddangit if I ain't gonna do it too!

So why do I keep returning? Could it be for the absolutely amazing spanish milk rice with cinnamon and orange infused raisins? Go on, look, it is pictured above. When I get this I feel like I am having dessert for breakfast :-) And see the cute little bottle of warm milk you get on the side? I could almost coo in delight.

Beetroot is only open Monday to Friday (damn them - I want a good weekend breakfast!), and only then for breakfast and lunch. But this has its benefits. The same staff are able to work, day in day out. There is continuity. There is developing customer relationships. There is the fact that half their patrons are on a name by name basis. I like that. I hate being lost in the experience. I like to be welcomed and enveloped by one instead.

And this is what Beetroot does so well. It is the little details that make it for me. The fact that my coffee comes with a chocolate freckle or a muffinette, or that after our third visit, they know exactly what coffee EG and I order (and that I have a particular sweet tooth when it comes to breakfast). I love their faintly square coffee cups (the espresso cup is just adorable), their little jars of sugar cubes and crushed pepper. Home made jams lining the walls. Personal postcards and photos pinned up on the other. The banter is friendly, and I feel like I am in someone's home.

The bircher muesli is one of the better ones I've had in this town. Rolled oats and plump raisins are made tender by yoghurt, and it is sweetened naturally with house-made poached fruits, a berry compote and whole pistachios. The actual components of the bircher changes on occasion - I guess utilising whatever is best in season. Peaches, plums, nectarines and blackberries have all had their go at playing protagonist. The pistachio nuts seem to be a regular player though, which is fine by me considering I love pistachios.

The scrambles, infused nicely with pesto, are wickedly good. I know some think it sacrilegious, but I kind of think it has become a bit of a Beetroot signature. The bacon, as you can see, was perfectly cooked - not underdone (eww), but not charcoaled to crispness either. And it was all served on a hunk of barely toasted turkish bread, which again, is up for some discussion. But I like it.

Now this is a breakfast that is up there with the best (...and leaves bills hotcakes for dead). French toast with banana, dark chocolate and vanilla mascarpone. This is the play by play. Turkish bread halved and stuffed full of banana. Dip in egg and fry in butter. Drizzle with a dark chocolate sauce. Sprinkle with icing sugar. Top with a generous dollop of sweetened vanilla mascarpone. Oh. my. god.

Okay, I've had this twice now. I couldn't resist. It is THAT good (...and if I wasn't so keen on completing the Mission: Autumn menu, I would have had it again, and again, and again...)

Now if you are wanting a healthy option - and yes, even I am prone to bouts of altruism, one can go the porridge. The toppings change regularly, in this instance it was stewed rhubarb - a nice tart accompaniment to the rib sticking oats.

And this is the baked beans infused with maple syrup and bacon. The beans are firm and bitey in the way that only good home made baked beans can get. And the infusion of maple syrup is no lie - it is quite discernable and goes so well with the bacon (yes, I did spend a little time in Canada developing a penchant for bacon and maple syrup).

You can also get plain toast (well...turkish bread or a gluten free option bread) with your choice of spreads, or the wonderful Flinders fruit loaf. They also do a range of fresh baked muffins if nothing else on the menu excites (which I assure you, won't be a problem here).

Between EG and I we only have two more menu items to try. We've got this one licked...although the Winter breakfast meny is only around the corner ;-)

Hairy Canary

212 Little Collins Street, Melbourne
Phone +613 9654 2471

Hairy Canary is a place where some of the too cool for school set go to eat, drink and be merry. Don't let this put you off though. The food is pretty darn tasty, despite the fact you may have to wait a wee while to get it. And don't mind the surly vacant icemaiden waitress either. Like the atmosphere, it offers one something of interest to look at and experience ;-)

EG went the Spanish omelette with chorizo, olives, capsicum and manchego cheese. Cooked in a teeny paella pan, the filling was generous and bursting with flavour - almost juicy with it. His verdict = very good indeed.

I went the corn fritters with roasted roma tomatoes and spicy avocado, with an added side of goats cheese. The corn fritters were good, although upping the corn ratio would have seen them spectacular (nb. for uber "roasted" corn fritters try Mart 130). The spicy avo, rocket and tomatoes sat high atop the stack - a good picquant compliment to the fritters.

Verdict: worth it for the food, but not so good if you're in a hurry.