Rue & Co - Breakfast at St Ali
The World Loves Melbourne wandered down to visit Rue & Co on its first day of trading and to experience a St Ali breakfast in the CBD. With Jimmy Grants and Kong opening later for lunch, we appreciated St Ali being open from 7am for the city worker.
In fact St Ali South were open from 5am on Anzac Day, a sensational effort. Choose from the menu blackboard, with a selection from the Toast Bar, Crispy potato hash with fillings, and the larger meals of The Daddy burger or Mexican Cousin. After 11.30am you can choose from the Burger menu...
My hearty breakfast consisted of St Ali latte, The Daddy (breakfast bun with cumberland sausage patty, English style bacon, fried egg and homemade brown sauce), and a Crispy potato hash with Smoked salmon, pepe saya dill, creme fraiche. Breakfast for champions...
Rue & Co is of course a pop up at the Paris end of Collins St. George Calombaris’ MAdE Establishment Group, Chris Lucas’ Lucas Group and St Ali’s Salvatore Malatesta have come together to create a stylish street food quarter, as part of a QIC Global Real Estate initiative at 80 Collins Street, Melbourne. Embracing Melbourne’s enthusiasm for food and cultural experiences, the quarter also features the largest street artwork in Australia by RONE and digital installation by new media artist, Joel Zika.
Both the Crispy potato hash and The Daddy were excellent breakfast choices, in terms of simple quality ingredients put together well, at an affordable price point. The Crispy potato hash is thicker than you think; golden and crispy and not too greasy. The topping featured a generous amount of salmon with the big hit of dill and creme fraiche. This is rewarding enough to have as your breakfast.
The Daddy was a larger portion again, something like a breakfast burger. I was impressed by the combination of flavours, albeit simple. The menu said "bun" but this was more like quality bread. A generous amount of bacon was welcomed, and with the fried egg and sauce, this was a consumate breakfast.
Of course the St Ali coffee was superb, with a reputation that goes before it...
It's easy for bloggers to rock up and criticise a place on it's first day. Yet St Ali at Rue & Co was working a treat. Staff here were upbeat, focussed and combining as a team - coping well with the steady flow of traffic. By 8.15am there was a large crowd gathered, with many electing to eat under the heated canopy.
St Ali at Rue & Co - service with a smile just after 7am, with some of the first customers...
Rue & Co appeared to attract customers off the street, noticing the new pop up as they walked past. The fairy lights are a clever innovation in the surrounding trees...
Rue & Co is a welcome addition to the Paris end of Collins St. Here we have Melbournians visiting this pop up on a cold rainy day. I'm keen to revisit for breakfast, and also to try Jimmy Grants and Kong during lunch...