Mr Hendricks Cafe Archives

It’s not often that we find a good brunch place in the burbs but I do get excited when we do! I could probably eat brunch food everyday if Davin would let me. So on one weekend, a quick search on trusty Zomato brought up Mr Hendricks Cafe in Balwyn, and off we went!

The place was bustling on arrival so we were placed on a waiting list. It probably only took about 10 minutes before we were called in so they were on the ball. The interior had the wooden, rustic feel that a lot of cafes are now going for. The space inside was cosy and I understand there is also a courtyard at the back. On this occasion we were seated on the wooden bench right up against the window.

I ordered my usual latte to start off with which was really good! It had the perfect temperature and bitterness to it. We then ordered the New England lobster roll to share which had butter lettuce, celery, apple, pickled shallots and kewpie mayo which was quite nice, there were good chunky bits of lobster which we loved.

For the main, Davin ordered the fried chicken burger which came with creamed corn, cabbage and corn salad, pickled green tomato and chimichurri dressing. The burger was really good! The fried chicken was nice and crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. The chimichurri sauce went really well with it too.

The highlight dish though was the one I ordered, the salmon breakfast, which came with heirloom beetroot, burnt butter hollandaise and poached eggs on dark rye bread. Oh my gosh this dish was amazing! The salmon was cooked well, the eggs were poached to perfection and I loved how the beetroot was presented in different ways such as fresh and in purée form. But it was the burnt butter hollandaise that I absolutely loved. At first when I saw it on the plate, I thought the quantity of the sauce was overkill as there was a lot of it on the plate. But because it was soo good I literally dipped everything in that sauce. It was delicious!

Overall, I would definitely come back. The quality of both the food and the coffee was exceptional and I would definitely order that salmon breakfast again. Thinking about it makes my mouth water!