~ Curious Charlie ~

Tony le Pony - Hawthorn @ Tuesday, May 14, 2013

It's not often that we go out for breakfast with me not being a morning person, but one Thursday Jas & I went to 'Tony le Pony' in Hawthorn, near Glenferrie Station (go right, follow the path and take a short-cut through Swinburne) as I bought a Groupon deal a while back. Interesting, something I realize last night was that there weren't enough details under T&C etc. All it says is you get one drink (each) and b'fast, but doesn't list the limitations. Though the only limitation is if you order eggs on toast you only get one side with it.

Initially jas was going to do the review (under duress :P) as my prediction was that it was going to be a negative one, due to a bad experience last time I was there. Fortunately that was not the case this time :) and therefore without further ado we present you with a good (un)/less-biased review.

I picked this place because of its name 'Tony le Pony'. The guy behind the coffee machine (forgot to ask for his name...) is one of the owners and one day six years ago he bought one of those 'plush stick ponies' the one you'd buy your little girl when she demanded a pony, for his business partner. And they named it Tony.

This is Tony.

Starting off I ordered organic fruit juice (they had 3 choices, orange, cloudy apple and something with carrot & ginger) , I picked the apple juice. I liked it, but it had a tartness to it that your clear apple juice doesn't. So that was interesting, it wasn't that sweet either. Which could be a good thing.

Meanwhile jas had tea, after hearing the extensive list of teas he picked the blood orange. It smelt amazing! Like Schweppes Argum, but w/o the fizzy. He really liked it, but I didn't like it - not being a tea person, it tastes like flavoured water. Jas points out coffee's the same, but that's not true, I don't have much water in my coffee, mainly milk. The tea was sweet and delicious, but only recommended if you like herbal tea.

Blood Orange Tea

I think poached eggs are kinda magical, they look fascinating and I love it when the yolk oozes out as you slice into it. Can you guess what I ordered? 'Eggs Florentine', which is poached eggs served on a bed of wilted spinach (Did you know Popeye helped boost spinach sales?) atop half an English muffin, with a generous serve of Hollandaise Sauce ladled over the top. It was great, definitely recommended. The sauce was very rich and creamy, almost too creamy without a drink for me. The greenery on top is chives, which jas ate, while I believed it was deco only. :P

Eggs Florentine

Jas ordered 'Eggs Benedict' which is the original version, instead of spinach he had ham. He loved the sauce and talked about how hard it is to make it. The sauce is made in-house, he was told later on when he inquired. There's also no chance of getting the recipe. :P Jas said the sauce was great, it's quite pricey at 15.00, but "so good" and would still recommend it - even it does use low quality ham.

Eggs Benedict

It was a nice warm sunny morning (outside) though the lighting inside was good for pictures. As well as indoor seating there's tables out in the court(?)yard. Service was great, and the guy serving us was very friendly. If you're in town and love poached eggs and hollandise sauce we'd recommend you check it out.

Drinks!

Not Tony.

Oh look, a flower.

Ling said... on May 14, 2013 at 1:11 PM

I'm too scared to purchase groupon deals. I keep hearing horror stories. Glad this worked out.

Charlie said... on May 14, 2013 at 11:49 PM

I know what you mean, I would never buy anything too $$$ like travel deals. Always look up reviews, and read the T&Cs and you'll know which deals are good and which aren't.