Townhouse

I like Townhouse, but I don’t love it. 

Figured I’d get that out of the way. It took me a while to get to Townhouse in Toorak, as despite raving reviews from a number of friends, many of who’s tastes I take very seriously and eat as well as I do, reading the menu online really did not excite me.

However, I figured I could only make a good assessment if I actually visited myself, so popped down one weekend before driving down to St Kilda for the rest of the day. 

I was surprised and pleasantly surprised at the same time, that the place wasn’t bursting at the seams, and that we didn’t have to wait to get a seat. 

Inside, the space was spacious, clean and relatively simple. I simply loved these crystal halo lights that hung from the ceiling. Quietly wanted a smaller one to wear as a tiara.

The hot drinks were well coloured and comforting. 

I believe I ordered a special, of sautéed mushrooms and kipflers, poached eggs, parmesan croquettes, artichoke chips and crisp prosiutto. Although a plate of brown, it was simply delicious! I was awfully surprised to receive two eggs on my plate, which were perfectly poached, and found the overall dish to be delightfully earthy, homely an comforting. Parmesan croquttes were crunchy and sensationally cheesy, kipflers were so tender, you nearly mistook them for mushrooms and I just went gaga over the whisper thin artichokes and prosiutto that just added a wee crisp texture to the plate. 

Protein hit deliciousness!

Brad on the other hand, ordered the Townhouse Breakfast, with eggs, bacon, mushrooms, braised kale and roasted tomato on sourdough. Although pleasantly plated, with bright and fresh looking vegies, Brad overall felt a little underwhelmed with his dish, especially at $21.50. He orders big breakfast’s quite regularly, and usually appreciates them, as there’s a little something clever in the seasoning, or they’ve done one or two of the elements in the dish a little differently. However with Townhouse, he just felt for the cost of the dish, there wasn’t much going on and everything really could have been made at home quite comfortably. 

It’s not often that he will have a complaint when we go out for brunch, so this was a somewhat unusual occasion!

At least on the plus side, his poached eggs were simply perfection. Ooooh, yolk…

I have to say, other than my dish, when looking at the menu, nothing really excited me very much, but maybe it’s simply how they write the menu that’s not quite catching my attention, and I’m not giving it as much of a chance as I should. But with so many other options around South Yarra, would I come back to Townhouse in a hurry? Maybe not quite, but with so many friends who like it more than I do, maybe I could be giving it another chance sooner than I think…

Townhouse

466 Toorak Road

South Yarra 3142