Skip to main content

The European

I've only ever been to The European (161 Spring Street, Melbourne) for brunch, but apparently it also does quite a swanky dinner. It's a favourite of my family's for brunch when they come to visit me in Melbourne. I find it slightly austere, but classy. Its heritage and location (opposite Melbourne's Parliament House) pull it a notch above other places, and the food is on the traditional side, but wonderful.

Last weekend, one of my (originally) Sydney friends was visiting, and, being early January, not much was open. So we decided to class it up (opposite of 'slum it', anyone??) and head to The European for a late breakfast. We nabbed a table outside - far more pleasant than being inside on a beautiful summer's day, although the inside is attractive both aesthetically and temperature-wise in winter.

Our waitress was somewhat glum-looking, but polite and efficient. Coffees were delivered quickly, but the food was slow. It didn't matter a great deal as we were busy nattering, but normally I'd have been annoyed. When it did appear, it was simply delicious:

European breakfast 

Side of avocado - love the presentation

Eggs Atlantic (salmon)

It was also delicious. I remembered why my family loves it there.


Update: 22 January 2015

I recently returned to The European for brunch with my sister, and so have a couple of extra photos to add:








The European on Urbanspoon

Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

Anju Restaurant + Bar

Some friends wanted to try the new Korean fusion joint Anju Restaurant + Bar (18 Little La Trobe Street, Melbourne), so I happily joined them for an early Friday dinner. Not having eaten much Korean food previously, I'm still learning about what constitutes 'traditional' Korean fare, so I was interested to see how this place did 'fusion'. Owner Young Choi went from a retail background to opening a completely fusion restaurant (combining Spanish, Mexican and Japanese), before adapting to patrons' requests for more the more traditional foods of his native background. The result is a schmick, modern restaurant/bar down a dodgy-looking CBD street, and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. Let me break it down for you... The style Anju has a warm industrial feel with traditional accents. Wooden floorboards, tables and decorative features (like planter boxes and wooden toy trucks hanging overhead) are interspersed with hard industrial surfaces like ...
Read more

Hana

Want Melbourne Patron blog posts delivered straight to your inbox? Click the "Subscribe" button at the top of this page and follow the simple instructions. Magic! Hana Restaurant A seafood tribute to Hawaii in Melbourne - with cocktails  One day in the middle of Melbourne winter, I went looking for Hairy Canary. I remembered a long, dark venue with cocktails, somewhere on Lt Collins. In its place, I found Hana (212 Lt Collins Street, Melbourne), a new restaurant I'd read about but hadn't realised it had replaced the long-standing Canary. I was intrigued, because HALLELUJAH, here was a new restaurant in Melbourne that was NOT yet another fried/slow-cooked/smoked/overdone tribute to Americana. Though technically still American, Hana celebrates and proffers the exotic flavours of Hawaii. Which basically means a lot of fish. Which is good. Because fish is good for you. And delicious. So anyway, cut forward a few weeks to when my equally-foodie-friend is...
Read more

Double Happiness, New Gold Mountain

Some names in Melbourne's bar scene are thrown around quite a lot. Everyone's heard of Cookie , the Carlton , Gin Palace , Supper Club . Since arriving in Melbourne in 2009, I have heard the name Double Happiness  (21 Liverpool Street, Melbourne) a lot, and thought, 'What a nice name!' (DOUBLE happiness! Man, I reckon most people would be pretty content with SINGLE happiness) - not realising I had actually already been to this tiny, iconic laneway bar. Double Happiness is topped by New Gold Mountain - technically a separate entity, but both bars are so small and so close, one would be forgiven for thinking they were the same bar with a different theme on each level.* They're run by the same crew as Lily Black's - a 'top marks' bar for its location (on Meyers Place ) and its Art Deco stylings - and Mr Wow's Emporium on Smith Street (another place I've heard of a lot but not yet made it to... SAD FACE). Liverpool Street is one of the many la...
Read more