February 27, 2011

Duchess of Spotswood

87 Hudsons Road
Spotswood, Victoria
03 9391 6016

duchess of spotswood

Pork and I have a love/hate relationship. I love it to bits, but for some reason it hates being in me. Despite the tummy aches and some common sense I still order pork at every opportunity possible, so visiting the Duchess of Spotswood is a bit of a no brainer. The Duchess has been on my radar for a little while, especially since it received a fair bit of attention from printed media and the blogging world late last year. As an extra treat for Daz's birthday last month we went to the Duchess for breakfast before spending the day at Scienceworks. Before you judge me for going to Scienceworks, its actually a whole heap of fun. You get to act like a kid again discovering that hand/eye coordination is severely impeded when one sense is taken away from you. My particular favorite was a sperm race, before you freak out - it was all computer simulated. Two sperms are pitted against each other, in a race to see who gets to the ovum first. It was literally Pacman replaced with a sperm, we had three attempts and Daz won every round, lets face it sperm racing is not my forté. Ah hem...back to the Duchess.

menu

Before I go on, I have to tell you I loved it!! My only regret is not ordering myself two sets of breakfast! The place is usually packed on a weekend, but service still remains prompt and courteous. So many other places just fold under the pressure, but they seem to take it in their stride. I ordered the Duchess of Pork - Crispy pig's jowl with fried egg, rich truffle sauce and sourdough toast. I was in pork heaven. It was just gorgeous, what was promised on the menu was well delivered. The outside of the pork was so crispy it was beyond sexy, but that crispy outer layer gave way to some seriously rich and juicy flavorsome meat. The jus and truffle just brought one more layer of flavour complexity. Not to mention the soft yolks of the egg that drench the whole lot in an egg gravy. I'm in love with this breakfast!

duchess of pork

duchess of pork close up

Daz ordered the Prince of Wales - House smoked salmon fillet with potato pancake, poached egg, and sourdough toast. Again another winner. You have to admire a busy cafe that takes the time to smoke their own salmon fillets, the care and attention definitely translated to the plate.

prince of wales

As a breakfast destination, this may well become one of my regular haunts. If you haven't already tried the Duchess get yourself down there. I know its on the other side of the West Gate, but with some fine weather you can make a day of it by visiting Williamstown beach and even grabbing yourself an ice cream on Nelson Place for and afternoon refresher.

Duchess of Spotswood on Urbanspoon

7 comments:

penny aka jeroxie said...

hmm... after reading so many bloggers writing about it and now you. I must try and head down one weekend.

Hannah said...

Maria, you shall have to come to Canberra soon so I can take you to Questacon ;) (Though I don't think there are any sperm games there. Just lightning simulators.)

(I just accidentally typed "stimulators". Oops.)

THose breakfasts... phwoar! I think Daz's choice is more my style though ;)

April @ My Food Trail said...

I'm looking for a suitably aged child that I can take as a decoy so I can visit Scienceworks! :)

Food here looks great! Another reason to cross the bridge!

Agnes said...

April - you don't need a child! Alastair and I went one year and had a fun time :D

Maria - oooh porky breakfast of Kings. Or Duchesses rather.

Celeste @ Berrytravels said...

April, I want to go to science works too! Bring me along and it will work coz I'm totally a child at heart.

Duchess sounds like such a fabulous place. I must find time during the holidays to go check it out!

Jayson James said...

That's what I love about Scienceworks. It never fails to amaze and entertain you.


I love what you ordered which was the Duchess of pork less the oil. It's the perfect breakfast for me :)

Anonymous said...

go vegan not to, go vegan