Wednesday 8 October 2008

Baked eggs at Birdman Eating on a sunny Saturday

Cloud

Birdman Eating
238 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy (map)
9416 4747


On Saturday the charming K took me out for breakfast. We went to Birdman Eating, his local that he's been telling me about ever since we met. It was the first time I'd been there, but I'd read about their famous baked eggs on many a food blog. At $12 a pop, there are four different kinds available each day, and each serve arrives in an individual little cast iron skillet which in turn rests on a tattered leaf of sheet music.

Birdman Eating

I'm afraid I can't report on what the interior decor or atmosphere is like because we sat outside to soak up the gorgeous sunny morning. This had the advantage of allowing me to keep my sunglasses on the whole time, which helped my delicate condition (an inevitable aftereffect of playing the VP debate drinking game with friends the night before). K and I both ordered baked eggs. He chose those with tomato sugo and pancetta. I had a taste and they were great: the tomato was not too acidic and both egg yolks were wonderfully gooey.

Paked eggs with sugo and pancetta

I had the baked eggs with kasoundi and labne. Lately, it's very hard for me to go past labne whenever I see it on the menu! The dish turned out to include cubes of eggplant, which had been cooked in the kasoundi. The creamy yoghurt was a great foil for the aromatic spiciness of the relish.

Baked eggs with kasoundi and labne

A very enjoyable first experience at Birdman Eating, will have to go back there soon to sample the wider breakfast menu. Is there anything on the rest of the menu that anyone cares to recommend?

Inflatable sculptureTwo snails

Buzzing from two coffees, I left K and caught a tram into town to see Hotel Meina with T at the Italian Film Festival. After the movie, T's wife J met us and the three of us went for a stroll, ending up at Birrarung Marr at the NAB-sponsored event known as the Dream Festival (read one particularly disgruntled blogger's opinion of the event here). It was all rather silly and faux-arty and fun - there was a floating walkway on the Yarra, punctuated with bouncy-castle artworks. These were my favourites.

Pity that I'm so prone to seasickness that merely standing on the barge for 15 minutes made me feel seasick for the rest of the afternoon!

SkullTwo statues

5 comments:

Johanna GGG said...

that bread looks great (sorry can't get excited about eggs)

we were down at the dream festival on the weekend too - I thought it was fun despite the silly name - loved the skull but also loved the astronaut and the clowns - reminded me of silly comedies like the Mighty Boosh

jfox said...

we've been to birdman for lunch and dinner a few times. from memory, we ordered the steak sandwich and the calamari and chorizo salad - both thumbs up. we've tried their tapas with drinks, and while the servings were small-ish (or i eat too much!?), everything tasted great!

Red Right Handers said...

Those baked eggs are incredible. I just wish Birdman would relocate to London, we just don't have breakfast joints like it.

Lucy said...

Ohhh I have eaten other things at Birdman but never realised they were famous for the baked eggs! Must check them out.

I am loving your blog Claire... thanks for all the fantastic Melbourne tips. You always make me hungry!

claire said...

Hi Johanna - oooooh, I'm not a fan of clowns. That's why I deliberately didn't photograph them! The skull was very cool though.

Hey jfox - love the sound of the calamari and chorizo salad. Reminds me of the scallop and chorizo risotto I wrote up on the blog a few months ago...

Yo RRH, thanks for dropping by! Not such a fan of the full English breakfasts, eh? The great thing about these baked eggs is that the meal is hearty and substantial, but not so massive that you can't move for the rest of the day... :)

Aw Lucy, thank you so much for your kind words! Things have changed at work in the last month or so which means I have less time to write stuff for Melbourne Gastronome, but I want to keep it going, and comments like yours are very encouraging! xo
ps LOVE all the macro photos on Nourish Me... :)