Today Stooge 1 and I were on our way to write postcards for terminally ill children which is such a lovely meet up but before we did, we needed to have brunch. Today’s pick was Higher Ground, the latest cafe from the teams from Top Paddock and Kettle Black. Luckily, we arrived at 10AM so it wasn’t full yet and we got a seat within 5 mins of arriving.

We snagged spots in front of the coffees and watched the world of brunch unfold. I got a chai latte to warm myself up and was quite disappointed. The chai taste was way too subtle and it wasn’t creamy at all. Sure it warmed me up but it didn’t satisfy my chai cravings at all.

Chai Latte – $4

Stooge 1 got her usual mocha and she too was disappointed. There wasn’t a strong chocolate flavour, just mostly coffee. As we were sweet people, we needed our hit of chocolate.

Mocha – $4.50

Stooge 1 got the heirloom grains with carrots. When this came out, it looked like a jungle of veggies which was pretty coolio. We found it to be a bit on the flavourless side and it was quite dry. Stooge 1 was so excited to try it as well which was a bigger shame.

Heirloom grains and pulses – $17.50

I opted for the steamed market fish with Japanese broth, wakame, radish, blackbean and sesame. This was AMAZEBALL. The steamed fish was cooked to perfection and when you mix in the wakame and sesame, it was like heaven! Not too salty and very light and fresh. LOVED IT. However, while eating this dish, I found a fish scale which was really disappointing.

Steamed market fish – $26

Stooge 1 and I were super duper full but we switched our dessert tummy on and BAM went for the lemon tart. This was quite lemon-y which I absolutely adore. We did find that the pastry was a bit soft and soggy but other then that, love the zingy flavour.

Lemon tart – $6

The staff were lovely and kept checking up on us to make sure we were okay. There was one outstanding dish which was the steamed fish but was disappointed that there was a fish scale in the dish. Everything else was average but the venue is so lovely that I could sit all day and just gossip away. Be warned though, it does get super busy so either go really early or be prepared to wait 30-40mins before your tummy can be filled.

650 Little Bourke St, Melbourne VIC 3000
Tel: (03) 8899 6219
Website / Instagram