Best Bircher and Granola Muesli Breakfast Dishes in Melbourne
Bircher muesli? Granola? Looking for that perfect start to the day? We love an oats fix in the mornings, although we see many brunch style dishes on Melbourne menus as all day items. Bircher goes back to the last century with the Swiss, and was more "mushy" than some of the drier types we see today, but still with the power of fruit. Bircher revolves around oats that are baked, often with nuts, seeds and fruit. Here are some of our favourites in Melbourne.
CH James - Fairfield
CH James serves up a wonderful rendition of House made bircher muesli with poached seasonal fruits, grains, berries, yoghurt and a chai crisp. The chai crisp is a welcome addition adding extra crunch. Beautiful tasty chunks of fruit are exceptional. Such a pretty dish also with the garnish.
Pretty as a picture and the taste is superb; an explosion of flavours and textures in the mouth with a strong sense of "freshness". CH James in Fairfield has a range of healthy style brunch dishes including its Spiced rice porridge. This is restaurant quality food served in a cafe.
Dine indoors which features a modern cafe space and an ode to 1890s Northern suburbs entrepreneur CH James, a man of style and substance. Or dine outside in the popular courtyard with CH James garden and art mural and the architecture of the old church.
Mr Hendricks - Balwyn
Stylish Mr Hendricks cafe impresses with it's House toasted granola with seasonal fruits, honey and yoghurt. A decent amount of quality fruit and the granola is packed with ingredients and perfectly toasted.
Dine indoors or check out the courtyard area out the back with a rustic atmosphere with great use of timber and attractive plants. The French style menu inspires and the healthy style breakfast dishes shine with attention to detail.
Images: Mr Hendricks Instagram
Little Sunflower - Elwood
Little Sunflower cafe in Elwood hits the high notes with their Sprouted buckwheat granola, goji and Inca berries, nuts, seeds, rhubarb and rose compote, coconut yoghurt.
The philosophy is simple, "whole foods, naturally" but the execution has required much hard work. Grant and Angie have been working long hours since the cafe opened, not only preparing and serving the food, but many hours behind the scenes to make sure the finer details are implemented in terms of a high standard of healthy eating. For example, the granola has to be prepared in the Dehydrator for the raw granola (Dehydrator dries it out). As the cafe opens at 6am in the morning, food preparation is carried out before many of us are awake.
Little Sunflower cafe also boasts many healthy style dishes on its menu. The cafe is warm and inviting with Scandiavian influence in the decor as well as a plant wall that inspires.
Harvest Cafe - Halls Gap
We included this ne as we were highly impressed with Harvest Cafe in Halls Gap, just off the main strip. Should we say it? But it's like a top notch Melbourne cafe descended into Halls Gap. Check out this haven which also boasts a food store as well as accomodation.
Nutty House made granola with sheep’s milk yoghurt, local honey, sweet seasonal fruit is a standout dish. A key is the sheep's milk yoghurt. It's delicious in itself but some people find it a great alternative who may have an aversion to cow's milk.
St Ali - South Yarra
St Ali, a perennial Melbourne favourite and darling of the city, has many health conscious type dishes on its menu including Easy Passage featuring Kombucha prunes, compressed plums, warm tea soaked prunes, vanilla yoghurt parfait, The Wild orange muesli, and roasted lemon puree.
We love the abundance of fruit and the technique involved in this dish. We also appreciate The Wild, a local company whose orange muesli is used in this dish. The Wild orange is described as "Raw activated buckwheat clusters laced with raw cacao + scented with sweet orange peel oil; sprinkled with finely shredded coconut, dried goji berries, prebiotic rich tigernuts + nutrient rich seeds for a raw crunch of the purest kind."