Week 13: St Kilda to Café Segovia (10.5km, 64min)

It was breakfast on the run on a tram this weekend. I am very delayed posting this week as I have been in Melbourne celebrating the 17th birthday of my youngest daughter.

Just to provide a little bit of context; we had an impromptu opportunity to greet our fellow motel neighbours on our first night in St Kilda. A fire alarm directed us onto chilly Fitzroy Road in the early morning hours. Donned in a mix of cookie monster pyjamas and assorted night attire we negotiated the streets of St Kilda past a couple of night clubs to return to the front of our motel and eventually collapsed back into bed. Given the disturbed night, Caitlyn and I left our sleeping beauty birthday girl and set off for our run and familiarization of the local area.


On advice from the concierge we made our way up Fitzroy Road into Albert Park. Although not on par with the potential Antarctic conditions of Queenstown, New Zealand, we were greeted with a crisp morning and a very light drizzle that eased off for the majority of the run. Albert Park is a beautiful and vast green space with a large lake at the centre, bordered by sporting fields and recreation facilities. There is a well patronised running circuit that circumnavigates the water. The autumn colours were on display with the auburn and yellow leaves lightly sprinkled over the track. We maintained pace with a rowing quad who kept abreast, gliding gracefully through the water. The whole experience was augmented by the morning foraging of the stately black swans.
We completed the lake circuit then followed Caitlyn’s nose towards Port Phillip Bay water front. Anyone who knows me well enough would appreciate that my nose usually leads me in the opposite direction to the intended, hence my reliance on the very capable sense of my daughter. We passed through some pretty streets with tree branches greeting each other in the middle, forming a golden canopy.

Segovia Breakfast

The foreshore of Port Phillip Bay stretches tantalisingly in either direction, however with a tightly packed schedule of shopping and touring ahead of us we reigned in our enthusiasm and kept to the jetty boardwalk and a little section of foreshore towards the South and returned to collect the third member of our party.
With the birthday girl in tow we jumped on number 16 tram into the CBD and selected a cute café on a laneway off Little Collins Street. There are a number of character filled lanes in Melbourne and the areas around Little Collins Street are typical. By this stage our stomachs were considerably rumbling.
The meals were a solid standard and, it may have been the hunger talking, but the Segovia breakfast sausage was declared "the best ever". The Segovia breakfast included poached eggs on toasted sourdough with tomato, mushrooms, bacon, sausage and hash browns. Caitlyn noted that the Victorian version of smashed avocado and feta, with poached eggs, was tasty and nicely complimented with lemon and coriander. Sourdough can often be a bit chewy but not in this case. My ‘take’ on Eggs Benedict, Eggs San Pedro was not for the faint hearted with a heart stopping inclusion of hash browns under the eggs. A purist might have been horrified but who isn’t to be drawn in by the comfort of a crispy hash brown on a cold wet morning? The café provided us well without any real stand out dish. Our meals ranged in price from$16.50 to $20.50.

Smashed avocado

San Pedro

Week 12: Highgate Hill to Habitat Restaurant and Bar (13.19km, 1:22)

Milly

There was a slight alteration of running companions this morning.  Milly the Labrador was a willing participant in place of Bronwyn who was participating in the Tour of Duty Run.  Milly is gorgeous and uncomplaining, not unlike her replacement, but does require more comfort stops.  The Husband also accompanied us, kindly accommodating the stop-start needs of our four legged friend.  Our trio +1 somewhat imitated the tortoise and hare re-enactment.

We chose a varied route.  We dropped down to South bank, crossed the Goodwill Bridge and made our way city side of the river towards the Story Bridge. We then ascended half way up the sharp hill towards the walkway of the bridge, cut under the bridge and turned north towards Teneriffe.  The worker’s cottages made way to the colonial warehouses which are rapidly being gentrified.  There appears to be significant construction underway around Fortitude Valley and the edge of Newstead.  No doubt the shopping district and breakfast cafes will continue to expand, offering up many breakfast opportunities in the future.  We tracked along the edge of the show grounds along St James Terrace and cut our way across Bowen Hills Road under the overpass towards the Victoria Links Golf Course.  There is quite a picturesque little cycle path for a few kilometres that meanders past the golf course, duck pond, and Grammar School on your left.  The path brings you to the Roma Street Parklands, which is a beautiful oasis nestled so close to the main business district of the city. Taking note of the café at the parklands for a future venue, we followed the path and dipped left down the stairs, just after the café (with one in the party making use of the escalators!).  The trail took us across Roma Street, past the Law Courts and across the Kurilpa Bridge.  We encountered the tail end of the Tour of Duty Runners as we ran past the Pauls Milk factory and made our way into West End.

HABITAT

Omletting You Know

The choices of Cafes at West End are many and varied.  The first cafe we happened upon was the Habitat Restaurant and Bar.  It looks to be a fairly new establishment and presents a perfect mix of enticing outdoor dining with funky modern interior.  The All day breakfast menu gives the hint of something special with a humorous twist.  I ordered the ‘Omletting You Know’, a delicious Japanese blue swimmer crab omelette wrapped around a tasty sesame seaweed salad and ponzo (soy based citrus) sauce on the side.  The Husband, scrutinized lovingly by Milly, enjoyed the ‘old Fashion’ eggs benedict.  The smoked ham was straight off the leg and delicious.  Caitlyn continued her Brisbane Café review of avocado-based breakfasts and was not disappointed with her ‘That’s what I’m Guaccan About’.  This version included a generous portion of avocado on sour dough toast, dukka, balsamic jelly with red chard salad and a raspberry dressing. While it wasn’t her best to date, it was yet another interesting twist on the interpretation of avocado on toast.  The 3 meals, 2 pots of tea and cappuccino cost us $59. The Habitat has all the right elements and left me with a wish to return and try some of the other appealing meals on their diverse menu.

Old Fashion

Thats What I'm Guaccan About

Week 11: Highgate Hill to LIFT Bakery Café (14km, 1:27)

It was a true circumnavigation of the river this morning.  The cooler autumn conditions make for a preferable time of year to exercise outside.  I read an article this week about last year’s Queenstown marathon where some runners were taken off the course with hypothermia after an Antarctic cold front hit the course.  A Brisbane winter is not really going to prepare our trio for Antarctic weather but, a small concession was practicing running with  a jacket wrapped around our waists this morning.

As an interim trial, we have all registered for the Jetty to Jetty Half Marathon on July 19^th. My online running plan tells me I am ahead of schedule with my current distance, so I intend to stay at the 10-15km length for a little while and consolidate.  I certainly don’t want to peak too early, after all, it really is all about the food.

Our run wove through some back streets down to the West End ferry terminal where we joined the river pathway.  We passed the Brisbane road runners club. I did call out a greeting to a local running identity, but Jon was in the zone this morning! 

The West End river loop is a great running addition to the city loop and for someone with poor directional sense it is comforting using the river as a guide.  We continued through to South Bank and onwards past the Kangaroo Point Cliffs and onto the Story Bridge.  If you have not already established this, be warned that the Story Bridge from south to north feels longer and more of a climb than the other direction.  Given we will be encountering hills in Queenstown; I tell myself this is all good physical and mental training.

Benny

The last quarter of the run was the familiar Eagle Street Pier and Botanic Gardens with the finish line at the top of the Goodwill Bridge.

The objective this morning had been breakfast at Southbank but 7:30am choices are limited and there seems to be a surcharge on meals in this vicinity.  Lucky for us, we walked back up towards Highgate Hill and encountered the Lift Café Bakery near the corner of Vulture Street and Gladstone Road.

Smashed avocado

Lift’s all day menu reads like an elevator from Level 1 to level 12.  Prices are excellent with level 10, Benny 2 Ways, at $13:50, as the most expensive meal on the menu.  Bronwyn ordered the Benny with smoked salmon, house made hollandaise with sourdough spinach and poached eggs.  The meal was delicious and plentiful.  To her delight, Caitlyn’s smashed avocado was on the menu at level 2 with sumac, dukkah, lemon and herbed cream cheese.  This was an equally attractive dish to the Benny.  I ordered off the specials menu and had the healthy big breakfast at $15. It was a delicious array of organic sourdough, pork sausage, 2 poached eggs, roasted romas, spinach and mushrooms.  

Highgate Hill’s Cafés each have a unique personality and quirks to set them apart; they have certainly thrown down the gauntlet when it comes to the breakfast experience. 

Special healthy big breakfast

Week 10: Highgate Hill to Pearl Café (14.37km, 1hr 27min)

The run this week required supplementary preparation in lieu of the Easter holiday break.  Challenges arose from sourcing a café that was open for business and selecting the optimum day to run, given the additional days available. The Bureau of Meteorology forecasts were not assisting, as most days gloomily warned of 90% chance of rain and possible thunderstorms.  An intent to head off Good Friday morning was quickly readdressed when the 5:20am alarm was drowned out by very heavy precipitation.  I made a mental commitment to run on Sunday morning, whatever conditions presented.  Despite the rain recommencing on Saturday evening, accompanied by the husband’s malevolent chuckle, the morning proved to be worth the wait.  We were met with perfect conditions with the silky smooth river as our backdrop.

Our party of three merrily departed at 5:45, conquering the Laura St hill, advancing across the Goodwill Bridge and turning right into the familiar territory of the Botanic gardens.  The route was unusually void of fellow athletes and cyclists and we enjoyed a peaceful, relaxed pace through the city, passing the Eagle Street Pier and running under the shadow of the Story Bridge then onto the floating walkway.  Our turn-around destination was the Merthyr Bowls Club (an idyllic river front spot for another time).  To avoid the pitfalls of repeating the same scenery, we ascended the roads through New Farm, conquering the steady climb towards the Story Bridge.  In no time, it seemed, we were running, like gazelles, down the Story Bridge. There is some joy and satisfaction that is felt in finding the 10km mark a comfortable distance. We descended the stairs at the southern end of the bridge and reconnected with the river at Kangaroo Point.  Like a well-trained seal, I spotted a fellow runner with ‘Pace runner’ on her shirt and gave chase.  It was a fast couple of kilometres but, luckily, we soon deviated off the path near the new Lady Cilento Children’s hospital and made our way through Woolloongabba and our breakfast spot.

The Pearl Cafe is situated in a cute character row of shops at the start of Logan Road in Woolloongabba, a football hand-pass from the Gabba oval.  Our families joined us for Easter Sunday breakfast, including my Mum, up from Sydney, one of the 2 dedicated subscribers to my blog.

Pearl café has a very appealing street frontage and yesteryear feel inside that is matched by a tempting menu. The slightly pretentious menu descriptions required some minor interpretation, but promised some delicious ‘twists’ on breakfast fare. 

Smoked fish

The plates lived up to expectations.  Amongst the broader group, the highlights included my dish: a house smoked fish, leek and potato hash, black cabbage and poached egg.  The smoked fish was beautiful and I’m told it is prepared on the premises being smoked with Earl Grey tea.  I would return for this dish again.  

 

 

House made morcilla

Bronwyn declared some plate envy over me, however, her house made morcilla, creamy corn, crisp jamon, fried egg on grilled bread, was also enjoyed.  This was despite her growing realisation that morcilla is blood sausage (a dish only for the stoic constitution).  The creamy corn had a slightly spicy flavour and the flavours combined well.  A few of the younger members of the group, indulged in ‘really French toast, roasted baby pears, crème fraiche and almonds.  The little pears made for a very attractive and tasty dish and there was little left on their plates.  The other enviable dish was the ‘autumn fruits, pistachios, Pepe Saya mascarpone and Kingaroy honey.  Caitlyn, loved her forest mushrooms, Milawa chevre, rosemary on toast, however, I suspect it would have been rounded beautifully, for her, with a side of her beloved avocado.

Autumn fruits

Really French toast

Pearl Café was a memorable visit and the popularity of this venue is understandable.  The dishes I have described ranged between  $12 to $22, which made for reasonable prices for a breakfast decidedly a cut above.  The expertise and professionalism of the staff are a winning formula.

Week 9: Highgate Hill to Saint Lucy Café (16.25km, 1:37:25)

I’m not sure if it’s because I’m starting to feel stronger, but the run this morning has been one of my favourites to date.  It was an extension of our week 6 run with the addition of a few kilometres from Indooroopilly to the University of Queensland (UQ) campus.  

We departed Highgate Hill and crossed over Gladstone road and dropped down to the cycle path under the Green Bridge at Fairfield.  The temperate autumn weather is starting to make for very pleasant running conditions.  It was an easy run along the Brisbane Corso, weaving our way from Fairfield, Tennyson, Graceville and Chelmer.  It is flat terrain with a tranquil Brisbane River snaking its way to the right of us. The only vigilance required was the monitoring of the numerous cyclists, mostly going the opposite direction to us, on their river loops.  Cycling is a great way to exercise but running pace ensures a more enhanced interaction with the local environment.  The subtle changes enroute can only be appreciated on foot. The last 4km from Indooroopilly Bridge are a little more undulating. We followed Lambert road past Indooroopilly High School on the left and St Peters Lutheran College on the right.  Laboured breathing heralded the little hill to the St Lucia Golf club where we joined a pedestrian path to the right with a sign for the Eleanor Schonell Bridge. The path shadows the golf course, and then enters the university campus, providing a tour of some of the accommodation options on offer at UQ before reconnecting with the river.    A sprint finish to the shadow of the bridge was met with light applause from some admiring cyclists who were assembling under the bridge (no doubt taking note of the excellent running styles!)

Saint Lucy Cafe is located in the UQ Tennis complex.  One only needs to walk in under the mixed canopy of trees and umbrellas to start feeling a sense of serenity.  I will acknowledge that the post run righteous satisfaction and endorphins may be a contributory influence to this sense of peace.

Saint Lucy is known for her Advent feast; however, one is able to feast on a variety of delicious options every day of the week at her namesake.  Caitlyn is clearly nominating herself to become Brisbane’s expert critic on the intricacies of “Smashed Avocado’ dishes as this was her choice again this week.  It was complemented with minted peas, toasted rye, persian fetta, fried pumpkin, poached eggs and tomato puree.  Bronwyn joined her in this choice and both rated it very highly, with Caitlyn declaring it the best smashed avocado interpretation to date!  The hero of the dish was, reportedly, the minted peas and rye bread. The only con, to be clutched at, was a less than generous portion of pumpkin and fetta.  I enjoyed the crisp potato roesti with grilled haloumi, corn fraiche, poached eggs and salsa verde.  I admit I did experience a little bit of plate envy:  my haloumi, while being a generous portion, was thick and the texture a little tough. The flavours were a lovely mix and the highlight would have been the roesti and corn fraiche.  For the $18:50 a second roesti and a thinner haloumi would have felt better value.  

Smashed avocado

Potato roesti

Whether you’re tennis tragic or not, Saint Lucy Café and its peaceful surrounds and delicious modern food, make it a perfect dining location.
This is one of those places where you could linger and while away the whole day

Week 8: Highgate Hill to Foxy Bean (14:01km, 88min)

Mentally prepped for a very wet run, following the deluge throughout Saturday and during the night, remarkably, the skies remained clear this morning. The trio were reunited with a 5:45 am departure from Highgate Hill. We retraced some familiar territory. Highgate Hill is aptly named and our run commenced with the roller coaster of Laura Street. The short sharp climb from Gloucester Street is yet to feel anything but a grind. We then descended towards the river and the run alongside Kangaroo point cliffs up to the Story Bridge. There was a number of hills this morning (I thought I should mention this to account for the slowish splits – no race pace yet!) .
There is divided opinion in our group about the section from Story Bridge and along the floating board walk through NewFarm.  Caitlyn is staunchly opposed, as she feels it is a flat and tedious plod, while Bronwyn and I enjoy the freedom of running out on the river, free of undulations.  We turned left and wove back through the streets of NewFarm keeping the river on our left. As you approach the bridge, there is a picturesque elevated spot with a view back towards the Southern side of the river. It is far preferable running north to south on the Story Bridge with the longer easier descent.
If you are looking for a hardy stair climb, there is a set of stairs, adjacent to the Story Bridge Hotel, offering multiple flights onto the walkway of the bridge. We took the right direction on these stairs and dropped down to the Kangaroo Point Park and meandered riverside through the Docklands.  At this section, you must ascend again and it is a deceptive climb up O’Connell Street with a left turn down to Mowbray Park. I remind myself that Queenstown is likely to have a few hills so should embrace these opportunities.  We wound our way from Mowbray Park through East Brisbane, more small hills, and popped out onto Stanley Street East at Woolloongabba. There are some beautiful old homes tucked away in East Brisbane delivering some welcome distractions as we approached our café destination.

The trio was expanded at breakfast this morning with the welcome addition of supporters to combine for a belated birthday celebration.

Corn and haloumi fritters

 

 Foxy Bean is an appealing looking café with plenty of seating options including a covered courtyard lined with attractive planter boxes and rustic bar tables and stools. There is a diverse and interesting breakfast menu.  There was a collective sigh around the table with my suggestion I might try the bircher muesli. It seemed the group had actually been reading the blog, however, unanimously appealed for a little more variety in my breakfast choices.  I acquiesced for the benefit and interest of my readers and ordered corn and haloumi fritters and sour cream topped with avocado salsa. A tempting looking dish, however, looks can be deceptive. It was bland with little mention of haloumi or anything other than the flavour of corn.  Bronwyn had the same dish as myself and Caitlyn continued in her theme of avocado (it seems she intends to try every breakfast derivation on avocado around Brisbane).

Crushed avocado

Her Crushed avocado meal came on sourdough with crumbled feta and slow roasted tomatoes sprinkled with house-made dukkah. Normally quite agreeable, Caitlyn found the dish quite salty, her tomatoes being the highlight. The stand out dishes around the table appeared to be the Bushman’s Benedict with chipotle braised beef cheeks and pork savoury mince poached eggs, béarnaise and sourdough and the French Brioant Toast; with a delicious whipped lemon ricotta with vanilla maple syrup and mulled strawberries. The tea and coffee drinkers declared their brews excellent. The Foxy Bean offers friendly service and reasonable prices with change from $20.00 for a meal and hot drink.

Happy belated birthday Clara!

French Brioant toast

Week 7: Hunter foreshore to Estobar Cafe (12.1km, 73min)



Breakwater with Nobbys behind

It was breakfast on the run on the road this week. A good friends 50th birthday in the Hunter Valley generated the opportunity to revisit the sites and flavours of the Newcastle region. The husband and I camped enroute’ at ‘Jimmys’ on the Beach’ campground, an hour north of Newcastle. Hawks nest is a magical seaside holiday hamlet that has successfully retained the sleepy feel without succumbing to development pressures.
It would be failing journalistic integrity to suggest I leapt out of bed with vigour after a disturbed ‘first night away’ sleep.  Nonetheless, not one to disappoint,  we drove another hour to the Newcastle foreshore. Donned running gear and headed west up the Hunter River towards Carrington. The husband set the pace and path in brisk southern winds. Within the first minutes we enjoyed a fortuitous encounter with a local running identity, 62yo Alan. Macca was warming down one of his ‘chargés’, having just completed a neat half marathon training session. To my delight, he promptly ascertained the serious level of my commitment and enquired into my current running goals. Suitably impressed with my response he regaled us with his Boston marathon tales from last year. My delight turned to glee with his assessment of my "very nice" running style! The husband proudly bedecked with his gold coast marathon t-shirt was chastised about his inefficient weak low hanging arm style.  There was suggestion, later in our run, by the husband that perhaps Alan’s recruitment strategy involved targeting all the female runners in the foreshore. I suspect he was still carrying a grudge about the reference to his arm propulsion technique. Alan's other sage advice included "lest is best ' and not to over race. I enjoyed the chirpy company and brush with obvious running celebrity. There were numerous warm greetings from other runners, who all seemed to know our companion.
We farewelled Alan and continued along the river foreshore past the old docks. We passed the fishing trawlers with fisherman cleaning off after their catch and we meandered via the new townhouse developments, with enviable proximity to the water front. We turned around at Carrington and retraced our steps heading east towards Nobbys' lighthouse and the breakwater then return.  

view from Estobar

Estobar cafe is located across from Newcastle beach and seems to have already been discovered. The tables are a little close for comfort and make for intimate dining with strangers. Secure a bar stool off the street for uninterrupted ocean views. The highlight was the generous sized and cute tea pot, dressed with knitted cosy and tasty leaf brew. The bircher muesli with berries and a side of yoghurt was attractively presented but an oversupply of grated apple and a confusing assortment of other fillers missed its mark. The husbands berry yogurt with honey pistachios was a perfect balance of sweet and tangy. A magnificent cappuccino established Estobar as a worthy dining option. Friendly staff made it a memorable breakfast. Slightly elevated prices compensated by the location.