Thursday, December 8, 2011

Courting Miss Jackson

Miss Jackson
2/19 Grey St
(enter from Jackson St)
St Kilda 3182
Telephone: 03 9534 8415

Opening Hours: Tue-Sun 7am-4pm

Miss Jackson is the kind of lady that will make all your troubles go away.

Not a difficult feat to begin with: the sand and sea are a block away and while she’s a shy beauty on the outside (finding the entrance took some hunting)…

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…the interior gives off a unique combination of vibes: minimalistic with a hint of Mamma Mia! (the Meryl Streep version). Certainly, Miss Jackson has distinguished herself, having won the accolade of Best Food Café as per The Age Good Café Guide Awards 2011.

My sister is starving and orders the corn fritters with bacon, avocado and vine tomatoes — adding poached eggs as a ‘side’.

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The corn fritters are crisp, sizeable, and embedded with juicy golden kernels, the avocado slices are fresh and fleshy, and the eggs are poached perfectly. Interestingly, the presentation of the dish appears to have evolved quite a bit since its inception.

I can never say no to eggs prepared with goat’s cheese and this omelette proved impressive — in taste and size.

It was massive! And more importantly: moist, thick, and generous with the cheese. There was a bountiful lot of bacon to match that was a little burnt around the edges but still very good. My only niggle was the bread. This might be a point of personal preference, especially given it didn’t look at all burnt, but it was so crisp and hard that it wouldn’t have been out of place spun across the room in an old Bruce Lee film. Perhaps if it had been sold to me as biscotti.

Unfortunately, the pan fried gnocchi with sausage didn’t fare as well. Which was disappointing, as it was aesthetically amazing.

The portion was pretty small (next to the omelette, minuscule) and the gnocchi itself a tad bland and mushy. Given the glowing reviews I’ve read elsewhere, I suspect this might just have been a kitchen miss on the day.

Too full from my enormous omelette, I opted to take away a brownie (a huge hunk), which was deceptively innocuous in appearance.

After an initial nibble in the car, I finished it before we’d even reached the city. It was exemplary: fudgy, nutty, and heaving with chocolate.

I’m not sure it’s got the best food in Melbourne but Miss Jackson’s certainly bringing all the boys to the beach, and they're like, it’s better than yours. Definitely worth a revisit as the days heat up!

What kind of food do you think goes best with a sea-nic day out?

Miss Jackson on Urbanspoon

13 comments:

  1. I would like to point out that the suspicious bulge is due to the zip on my jumper and not at all a result of years and years of eating whatever I want whenever in however great quantities and a complete refusal to move more than necessary.

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  2. the last lines are from kelis' milkshake!

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  3. Vee Ann: Let it out. This is a safe place.

    Michelle: Spot on ;)

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  4. Oh woow, Best Food Cafe??? That's a really impressive accolade to have under your belt! Oh maaan, really too bad that the pan-fried gnocchi wasn't as good as you'd hoped. I'd so order that too if I went to Miss Jackson. It's a coincidence, really. Haven't been able to get them out of my mind ever since I saw Nigella Lawson pan fry them on her cooking show last night. Least the other two dishes made up for it. Happy holidays, Vee! =D

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  5. Winston: I've had a bit of a bad luck streak with gnocchi recently - first Merchant, now Miss Jackson! But I'd try them both again, I figure they were both just misses on the day!

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  6. This is a popular place with food bloggers but I've never been. The parking in St Kilda always puts me off.

    The gnocchi actually visually looks delicious, too bad it didn't taste as good as it looks!

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  7. I went during lunch and loved it! Need to head back for brekkie there :)

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  8. I have heard about this cafe forever! But I am in the wrong side of town. :(

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  9. Worth the trip! They must have had an off day, I've never had a bad experience and I come for breakfast all the time. Def give the gnocchi another chance :)

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  10. Next time I am around miss Jackson cafe I will enjoy breakfast. You can all enjoy me or just text me at http://www.textme4free.com/ to know if you are coming.

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  11. Hi! I love your blog! will keep reading as I'm really wanting to see whats good in Melbourne. Will be travelling there in July from Auckland :)

    http://bakednotfried09.blogspot.co.nz

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  12. Impressive… i really like your blog… Check out here for the best Cafe Prahran.

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