the pantry on egmont.

It's holidays! Well, for most students anyway.  A friend and I made our way down to the much-talked-about The Pantry down in Hawthorn, not far but not exactly close to our usual food haunts.  It's on a very small road, right next to the train tracks, so conversations can often be interrupted by the loud tooting and ding-ding-ding from the train.  Nonetheless it's got a cheerful, quirky atmosphere and makes a great spot for casual eats.

Inside is small and seats approximately twenty people, so get here early if you want a seat.  Their breakfast menu is larger than the lunch, although the latter is not small, and plenty of drink options for coffee and non-coffee drinkers alike.  It was a tough choice between the french toast, smashed avocado and the mushroom burger but the toast won in the end.  Seriously, who says no to french toast?

French Toast: cinnamon sourdough with blueberry & apple compote, vanilla cream cheese  & maple syrup ($14.00)

One look at that description and I was sold.  The toast was deliciously soft and eggy and completely smothered in syrup and cream cheese.  No complaints there though.  The cream cheese was super creamy and smooth, the perfect accompaniment to all ingredients.   I loved the addition of the blueberries and apples.  They were definitely a necessary addition to offset all that sugar from the syrup and cinnamon.

Home Made Felafels: $14.00

Crusty and herb-filled, the felafels were decently sized but I felt like they could have had more of a nutty flavour.  Served with salsa and home-made flatbread.

Shoestring fries with garlic aioli & chutney: $7.00

As a lover of soggy chips, the fries were a bit too crunchy for me.  Having said that, I am also a lover of deep-fried potatoes so these were gone pretty quick.  It helped that the aioli was the perfect complement - thick and creamy with a shot of garlic.

Blueberry Iced Tea: $4.00

Initially sharp and almost bitter, the taste of this took some time to get used to.  Over the meal it became sweeter and mellowed out a bit although it was still big contrast to my sugary sweet french toast.

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Overall everything was quite enjoyable.  The french toast was pretty delicious, I have to admit, and the prices were surprisingly on the lower end.  It's hard to find a brunch place nowadays where food is below $15 and the quality is still on point, so hats off to The Pantry.  I can't wait to come back and try the other two options which I was agonizing over.