Middletown Cafe

Post

Subscribe

Posted 2016-09-21 by Jen ⇒ follow

Middletown is ready to reset the center of Chapel street's foodie trail. Turn off Chapel into High street, to find Middletown at 229 High Street, Prahran. Operating from Monday to Friday 7am to 4pm and Saturday to Sunday 8am to 4pm, they just opened their doors on the 8th of September 2016.

Valerie Fong, one of the co-owners was at the cafe on the day, making sure the new kid on the block was having a flawless entrance. This is the second venue for Valerie and her business partner Randy Dhamanhuri of Melbourne's cafe, Operator 25 . It differs in that, Operator 25 concentrates more on Asian inspired International foods, while Middletown, due to its location and clientele of the area, heads towards classic flavours, using modern techniques.

A chef herself, Valerie and Randy come up with all the food and taste combinations, and oversee it from start to finish. Head Chef of Middletown, Dilbreet Singh, with 12 years experience under his belt that includes, The Kettle Black, Reunion Cafe & Top Paddock, goes about using his creative flair to bring Valerie and Randy's envisioned creation to fruition. A lot of thought goes into the food to make it not only pretty on the plate, but 'real' and fulfilling as well.

An elegant atmosphere sporting a palette of rich blue and white, in addition to touches like customised crockery and a coffee machine that sports its own Middletown logo, it's bound to attract and entice people to venture out and turn the corner off popular Chapel to step into Middletown's world on High. With fresh flowers in abundance lining the tables, and friendly attentive staff, this venue designed by Studio Tate is too rich an experience for it to be just a cafe.

Even though on the day, I didn't have Middletown's Head Barista Extraordinaire Mikael Jasin, the Code Black latte I was served was pretty amazing; so I had two. My order of Avocado on house made cornbread with smoked beetroot, pomegranate, poached egg and goats cheese mousse and the addition of 'extra' salmon was just what the doctor ordered. It was fresh in my mouth and the little bursts of not too much pomegranate popping its flavours on my palate intermittently was refreshing.

The other picture in this article of the coffee waffles with strawberries, truffle honey and vanilla ice cream belonged to someone else. Perhaps they thought I was a little kray kray when I boldly marched up and asked if I could take a picture of their food.

Be sure to get in before the kitchen closes at 3.30pm so as not to be disappointed. Luckily the coffee station stays open a little bit longer than the kitchen if you just want to grab a cup of amazing caffeine. You can also get filtered coffee and the usual suspects like Mocha, hot chocolate, Chai and Matcha along with a variety of teas, cold drinks, fresh juices and smoothies.

Breakfast, like lunch, is available all day, ranging from toast, paleo granola, five grain porridge, waffles, pickled mackerel and more. I'll be heading back for the lunch menu of steamed Barramundi, where other offers include lamb neck, wagyu brisket, duck leg and quinoa.

Here's a little heads up to say that there will be upcoming special events (I can't tell you exactly what, as I've been sworn to secrecy. Mmmm...mysterious!), so be sure to 'like' their Facebook page to stay updated and in the know. It doesn't hurt that the FB page sports some amazing food porn. In my best Arnold Schwarzenegger voice, "I'll be back!".