South of Johnson

My flight from Malaysia landed at a disgusting 7am in the morning. That's 4am in Malaysia time. Do you get how gross that is? My body clock was crying.

However, it does make for a good opportunity to pop by a cafe on the way home and skip all the crowds that you would normally get at peak hour.

But as always, once (poor) Brad picked me up, it was the usual dilemma of: 'Where to go?' Whilst I'd love to check out more of the cafes in Brunswick, I'm often too overwhelmed (and in this case sleep deprived) to pick somewhere since there are so many cafes I haven't visited in that area.

Instead, I directed Brad to South of Johnson, since I had heard it does usually get busy, so it would be nice to be able to just waltz in and grab a table.

And exactly that we did. Other than us, at 8am in the morning, there were only two other tables in the usual 'warehouse-chic' style cafe in Collingwood. The decor's a bit of an eclectic mix, fresh flowers and eiffel towers (ooh a rhyme!), and I particularly loved this giant glass bottle that had a mini garden in it. Naturally was too sleep deprived to think of taking a picture. Of course.

Although for a space with several black or grey walls, it still felt quite bright and cheery, although not overbearingly so. Quite nice. Quite nice. 

After being in Malaysia for two weeks (and a pretty mediocre flight), nothing was more comforting than a giant glass of soy chai latte. I purred. I must have. My fingers tightly curled around the warm glass and held it close to my heart, where I could lazily inhale the sweet and the spicy, and sip on the creamy and velvety milk. 

Yeah, I could never do drugs. I get addicted to stuff way too easily…

Brad got the omelette filled with roasted pumpkin, goat's cheese, baby spinach, pinenuts and sage on sourdough toast. Just lovely fluffy eggs and some tasty fillers. Love goats cheese. Not blasting out of my head amazing, but comfortable food. 

It had to be corn fritters with coriander, tomato relish, sour cream and smoked salmon (you can also have these goodies with bacon) for me. Just look at all that corn in those suckers! After 2 weeks of loads of carbs, heavy shrimp sauces, curries, all things fried or deep fried, this was just so refreshing, all that sweet corn, the fritters were well seasoned with a touch of spice to them, and went well with the smoked salmon which was cool to the touch, light and sweet and the sour cream which was slightly tangy. Always love a good relish as well.

With a menu as big as the one that South of Johnson has, it definitely has me wanting to revisit as all the dishes sound interesting, particularly some of the sweeter ones...

All in all, it was a lovely brunch and just what I needed after getting off the plane. I'm absolutely terrible when I get home from an overseas trip, all I want to do is talk Brad's ear off and all he wants to do at that hour is go back to bed…

South of Johnson

46 Oxford Street

Collingwood 3066

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