Tucked away in suburbia is Parkstone Cafe; a local favourite for coffee and brunch. It sadly isn’t anywhere close to where I live - it took me 45 minutes and almost an hour to get there and back from home respectively via public transport AND in 41 degree heat no less, but it was a trek that was well worth it. Good caffeine is a go with ST ALi beans in use, and the breakfast/brunch menu has plenty of options to tickle everyone’s fancy. Case and point with our picks: a contrasting duo of sweet and savoury breakfast bowls, and a serving of what were some of the crispiest sweet potato fries I have ever encountered. When it came down to the flavoursome SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPIALIDOCIOUS salad with added halloumi, it was quite a mouthful to say but a tastier mouthful to eat. The cherry on top of it all were the crunchy tones delivered by the nuts and puffed grains of wild rice. On the sweeter end of the spectrum, but thankfully not overly sweet (so long as you get a bit of everything in each spoonful), was the breakfast bowl with a smooth and perfectly tart passionfruit panna cotta, coconut chia pudding, fresh fruits and a mango purée. The combination of coconut and tropical fruit really captures summer in a bowl, and especially goes down a treat on those warmer days. That and an iced coffee in tow.

SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPIALIDOCIOUS - with seasonal greens, avocado, roasted sweet potato, quinoa, mixed seeds, poached egg, feta labneh and spicy sesame butter sauce.

Breakfast bowl - house made granola, passionfruit panna cotta, coconut chia pudding, tropical fruits and mango purée.

Sweet potato fries - with peri peri mayo.

Parkstone Cafe

9 Parkstone Ave,

Pascoe Vale South, Victoria, 3044.

+61 3 9378 8226

https://parkstonecafe.com.au/

Disclosure: I dined as a guest of Parkstone Cafe. All opinions expressed in this post are based entirely on my experience and observations made during the time of my visit.