Heading outside our local stomping ground, we found ourselves in North Melbourne on a quiet Saturday morning and in need of a good brekky. Instagram has been flooded recently with amazing photos of breakfasts in Melbourne and on the top of our most recent list was 5 Lire (pronounced Cinque Lire). One look at their amazing Hot Cakes and we were sold!
ATMOPSHERE & SERVICE
Located on Errol Street in North Melbourne, this cosy cafe showcases influences from Southern Italian, with contemporary flare to cater to the growing Melbourne breakfast market. The cafe is quiet and relaxing, a nice change from the busy cafes in South Yarra and South Melbourne.
Only a few large wooden communal tables are in the front of the restaurant with a few small tables of two along the wall. The fit out is rustic with a bit of industrial flare throughout. Everything down to the small tins of oil on the table and oversized blackboard for daily specials scream rustic Italian.
The service was relaxed and attentive. Coffees were brought out within only a few minutes of ordering and water glasses kept full throughout our brunch.
FOOD
Every morning starts with a hot cuppa coffee, so we better start there! The coffee was creamy, hot and strong, all things I love! And for that bit of extra love, each coffee is served with a little biscuit, how much more Italian can you get!
Before we even got the menus, we both knew what we were ordering. It was a no brainer from all the photos we’ve seen! LC got the ‘Ricotta Hotcakes’. Massive fluffy buttermilk pancakes sat on a bed of nutella, covered in Pariya Persian chocolate fairy floss, chucks of honeycomb, and chocolate semifreddo. Our eyes were definitely bigger than our stomachs on this one and could barely get through half of it. If you’re not a fan of rich breakfast foods, this may not be for you, but for those with a massive sweet tooth, it’s time to indulge!
I’m usually not one to order something sweet for breakfast, but knowing hotcakes were going to be staring at me from across the table, I had to order something equally as delicious. It may not have had the same amazing wow factor the hotcakes did, but flavour was all there! ‘Waffle’s’ topped with spiced warm apple short cake crumble, candied pecans and creme anglaise. How much more perfect could this morning get!
Breakfast was absolutely exactly what we needed to start our girly weekend. A small little cafe that was quiet to enjoy conversation, amazing and friendly staff and over the top food! We will definitely be venturing back to North Melbourne to check out lunch in the not to distance future.
