The Grain Store, Flinders Lane, Melbourne

One cold, rainy Sunday, I went to The Grain Store in Flinders Lane, Melbourne for brunch with my friends V & C.

The Grain Store has a wonderful ambiance - light and bright and cheerful, just the kind of atmosphere you need for breakfast/brunch.  It is also surprisingly large, as it extends into a back room.

The staff are friendly, prompt and attentive, and the menu is reasonably priced.  And the food and coffee are really, really good!

The scrumptious dish at the top of the post was ordered by my friend V.  It is a bacon steak with smoky beans, egg sunny side up and a few other bits and bobs ($19).  I had been going to   order this because I love beans, but didn't think I'd make it through it all.  It wasn't as large as I had thought it would be, so maybe I could have, but I got to taste the beans - and they were so smoky, spicy and good. 

I ordered the smoked salmon with poached egg, crostini and salad ($19):

 
The poached egg was crumb-coated with a lovely oozy yolk: 

 
I really enjoyed this dish.  Sometimes, salmon can be a little overwhelming and oily, but not in this dish - it was just perfect.

C ordered the portabello mushroom and raclette rosti ($18), which was also very good.

For afters, V ordered their "special bread", a type of fruit brioche, which came with honey and ricotta ($9):

I tried just a tiny piece because of my low carb diet, and it was warm and buttery - perfect.

I would definitely go back to The Grain Store - it is top notch in my books.

The Grain Store

517 Flinders Lane

Melbourne VIC 3000

Ph: +61 3 9972 6993