Bowery To Williamsburg

I am rarely in the CBD for breakfast or brunch, always preferring a more local option. Last week however, we were in the city on a Saturday morning picking up our race packs for Run Melbourne (which I ran a PB for by the way!), so I decided we should take the opportunity to check out a cafe that we wouldn’t otherwise frequent.

I didn’t have anywhere particular in mind, so I actually used the Zomato app (!) and found that Bowery to Williamsburg was a short walk away. It had a pretty good rating, and I vaguely recalled reading some good reviews about it, so I thought we should give it ago.

Located in a typical Melbourne laneway, we arrived at the cafe only to find a line outside. I was starving, and really didn’t want to wait, but luckily the line was moving fairly quickly so we decided to persevere. It wasn’t long before we were seated, although unfortunately we were seated outside which wasn’t ideal for a winter day in Melbourne. Luckily the rain and wind held off so it wasn’t too unpleasant.

We had already checked out the specials board while we were waiting in the line, so when it came time to place our drinks orders the other half wasted no time in ordering a jam donut milkshake. This milkshake flavour sounded amazing, and whilst the strawberry jam flavour was definitely prevalent, it missed the mark a little bit with any donut flavour. To me it felt like they had just added some strawberry jam into the milkshake mixture. It was a welcome addition, but nothing too special. I decided to just stick to water this time, making sure I was well hydrated for the run on Sunday.

We were actually pretty late for breakfast, so instead we were handed the brunch menu to order from. The main difference between the two was that there were no bagels on the brunch menu, however there were a few crossovers with the lunch menu instead, so I guess it evened out. There was a clear New York feel to the menu, with potato latkes, grits and even a Reuben sandwich!

I decided to go for an eggy option and chose the Turkish shakshouka baked eggs which were served with pita bread. The sauce had chickpeas and was topped with onion jam and paprika yogurt. The serving was very generous with two large pieces of pita bread and three eggs! Yes, three! I don’t think I’ve ever had a breakfast with three eggs!

This dish was very delicious and there was little to fault with it. If I had to pick something, it would be the fact that I would probably prefer Turkish bread instead of pita bread, but this was a minor issue. The eggs were cooked well, and the oozy yolk mixed in with the rich tomato sauce and yogurt provided a great dipping sauce for the bread.

The other half went for a meatier option and chose the Cuban braised pork. This involved a rather large mound of pork set atop sweet potato bread, served with refried black beans, corn, guacamole and a couple of fried eggs.

Once again this was a very generous serving with no skimping on the proteins. The verdict was that the sweet potato bread was something special, and probably the highlight of the dish.

Overall Bowery to Williamsburg provided us with a great breakfast in the CBD. Whilst I don't like waiting in queues, in this case it proved that good food is worth the wait.