Brunch has been a weekend affair ever since I can remember. The Mr and I would try to explore different cafes on Sundays after church, especially if they are highly recommended. On some Sundays though, we rather head back to a place we know we would definitely love and enjoy. In fact, we went to 2 of our favourite places within 2 hours. Thank goodness for close proximity!

Proud Mary

172 Oxford Street, Collingwood Vic 3066

First stop : Proud Mary ! This definitely isn’t our first time at Proud Mary. The Mr and I came here on a weekly basis before we got married. But due to work commitments, we are only able to come once or twice a month. Not a bad thing though. Cause it makes us miss it alot more, and crave for their delicious brunch! As usual the queue was all the way to the road outside the cafe, so we had to put our names down on a waiting list. We were told it would be a 30 mins wait. So we decided to make a small detour and headed to our second stop : Monsieur Truffe (MT for short) that was just a few streets down to get ourselves our chocolate croissant fix!

Monsieur Truffe

90 Smith Street, Collingwood Vic 3066

When you enter MT, you are hit with the loveliest smell of butter pastry and cocoa. They make their own chocolates and you can purchase their bars as well! What got my attention was the huge chocolate rooster standing proudly on top of a cabinet of baked goods. We ordered a chocolate croissant each and had to head back to Proud Mary to wait for our seats!

This is what a croissant should be. Layers and layers of pastry. Crispy on the outside, soft and buttery on the inside. With the addition of chocolate, PERFECT. The Mr just can’t get enough! (:

So about the time we got back from MT, our names were called and we got to our seats! Lucky ducks we were!

If you’ve never been to Proud Mary and you are a coffee lover. I URGE you to make a trip down as soon as possible. I usually am not a coffee drinker (chai is definitely my choice of beverage), but when I am there, I have to order their latte or cappuccino. Definitely one of the best coffees we’ve had! The baristas are super quick with the orders and professional, might I add. Proud Mary has so many different ways of brewing their coffee, I get so amazed!

Of course, it’s not just the coffees that are good here. The food is to-die-for! I didn’t really need to look at the menu. I knew what I wanted even before we got here. haha The Hash!

The potato hash was just heavenly. Every single bite was just more delightful than the one before. The saltiness of the bacon, the crispy bacon and the soft and runny poached egg. The hash was nice and crispy on the outside, but the unique thing about their hash is that you can see every strand of it. It’s not mush like others. Perfectly seasoned. YUM!

The Mr ordered the smoked herring. It was a new dish on the menu so he wanted to give it a try. And also because he didn’t want to end up ordering the same thing as me (oops). He also ordered a side of bacon (super generous portion) just cause he wanted some!

It came with a chutney, fried egg, salad and toast! Was pretty yummy, but we did prefer the smoke salmon they use to have! That was really good. hehe

After the 2 meals, you can imagine how full we were. But we were definitely very happy we had brunch there. (: So have you tried Proud Mary before dear readers? What was your favourite dish?

Till next time, have a lovely Easter everyone! xx