Life on Mars

We struggled to find this café, with only a small sign on the (perfectly clean) glass windows at the front to alert us to its presence. It was beautifully decorated inside, and had a nice, relaxed vibe to it.
We were forgotten, though the service was friendly. The coffee was fine, the croissants were delicious — though that doesn’t seem to be a rarity in Melbourne — but the selection of jams they had on offer was the stand-​out for me. I opted for white peach, though apple and rhubarb was also on offer.
I’d love to try a full breakfast here, because although we enjoyed our brief visit, there wasn’t really much here that separated Life on Mars from any other Melbourne café.

Interesting and what turned out to be delicious breakfast and lunch options from Life on Mars. The menu is on the smaller side when compared to other cafés in the area, resulting in a very tidy delivery from the kitchen.
You can tell the kids in the kitchen have the skillz. Upon further investigation as to who is in the kitchen, I am not surprised to learn it’s a well known chef with plenty of kudos. Intrigued? You should be.
I ordered the bircher muesli special — rolled barley, strawberry, watermelon, orange blossom yoghurt (which was served like a foam). My breakfast buddy had the omelette with zucchini flowers asparagus and provolone topped with tummy prosciutto crumble — tres fancy.
Delicious coffee from Allpress espresso.
If you’re just dropping by for something sweet — find your prefect match in the in the pastries cabinet.

Though prices are definitely a bit steep, I really enjoyed coming to this urban & cool café that was decorated in such a hipster fashion. (Even the name. life on mars is a pretty cool name.)
I really wanted pancakes one morning, so I came here to have strawberry pancakes. Little did I know, they were SO fancy. With clear jello, rose petals on the butter, and this cotton candy-​like thing on top, they were easily the best pancakes I’ve ever had. :) Plus, service was great — the woman was super nice when I was deciding what to order, and recommending the strawberry pancakes after she told me the blueberry pancakes I asked about were no longer available.
I’d definitely come here again, if my wallet lets me! $ 17 for pancakes is a bit out of my spending range, but I really enjoyed my experience dining here :)

It started with so much promise — a new venture from Fletcher Zane (ex-​Stokehouse, Giuseppe Arnaldo & Sons, Icebergs and Quay).
Joining our brunch favourite Liar Liar (reviewed here) and a few other big guns on the Melbourne coffee scene, such as Home Dining Room, Replete and Porgie and Mr Jones, this Hawthorn café has to be great to stand a chance of competing. Has it got the goods? We’re not convinced.
Yeah it’s got a trendy black ceiling and whitewashed walls interior with minimal wooden fixtures and fittings, chairs hanging from the walls and mini glass milk bottles as sugar dispensers, and yes a good mix of communal and small tables with long benches and bar stools thrown in for good measure, and pot plants hanging from the walls a la a whole load of other places. And it serves a great Allpress capp and flat white. But, again, so do a lot of places (time to name-​check Miss Jackson once again, these guys can do no wrong in my book, and of course the sandwich and cake heaven that is Beatrix — click the names for our past reviews).
We had great expectations for PhotoMonkey’s choice of Wagyu burger on toasted brioche with aioli and a side of fries ($ 12.50) and WordMonkey’s cultivated mushrooms, poached eggs and Bernaise sauce on sourdough ($ 12) but after a bit too long a wait we found both to be pretty uninspiring. In fact, he who brandishes the camera said: ‘This looks like something we could knock up at home on a school night.’ And you know what? He was right. And it wasn’t brioche, it was a run-​of-​the-​mill, dodgy sausage sizzle-​style bap, minus the flour. Shame. It was a good quality patty, cooked well, with crunchy shoestring fries — but it was mum’s friday night treat not a dish from someone of such culinary repute. There was no flair. It didn’t even come on a wooden block (joke, we’re not that bad).
Now, eggs and mushrooms, this is a combo I am intimately familiar with. And it can be dry, and I am well aware of this so hoped that the promise of ‘extra Bernaise sauce’ on the menu and the yolks of two runny eggs would counter any potential disasters. Not so — first egg only slightly runny, second egg pretty much hard-​boiled. Should you specify you want your eggs runny when you order poached eggs? Have never had to before. Thoughts please. Anyway, what with the huge hunk of bread it came on and the fast congealing sauce it was all got a bit claggy about halfway through and I had to stop eating. The mushrooms were tasty with a sprinkling of micro herbs, but they needed to be backed up by something more. Now, I would expect any staff — owner or waitress or barista — who cleared the plate of a customer who has only eaten half their meal to enquire as to whether everything was ok. No such luck. Hopefully the chef saw for himself when a sorry pile of mushrooms, bread and solid egg returned to the kitchen.
The muffins looked great by the way, but by this time we were ready to go. Would we give it a second chance? Quite possibly, some of the lunch options did look more promising, as did the pastries and cakes, so it seems a shame to write it off so fast.
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But on this occasion there was only one thing to do — wander down Burwood Road to Home Dining Room and their cute astro-​turfed courtyard where we were greeted with smiles, passionfruit and mint chocolate milkshakes, and an incredible Eton Mess served in a Martini glass. Can not wait to head here for dinner, watch this space for the review.
Must try: Go for the coffee and contemplate those over-​sized fresh muffins
Steer clear: The menu that promises more than it delivers
Price per head: $ 15