Top Paddock (Melbourne)

Top Paddock is a relatively newcomer to the Melbourne food scene. And yet this place is packed every weekend. Now how would I know that since I am not a local? Well, I met up my friend AK for lunch. She is a recent Sydney sider who moved to Melbourne a few weeks ago and she brought her friend, a Melbourne local who lives 5 mins away. And according to S (the Melbourne local), this place is full, full, full on weekends!

They didn't accept bookings so when we arrived, we put our names down on the list and waited for about 15 minutes for a table. Not too bad actually considering the place was full to the brim.

There is a openness to the cafe. The venue is surrounded by floor to ceiling glass windows and I think it definitely brightens up the interior. There were indoor and outdoor tables.

AK felt like something sweet so she ordered the Ricotta hotcakes with blueberries, maple, seeds and organic mascarpone. It looked so delicious on the plate and apparently tasted just as delicious as it looked. AK finished it all! :-)

S felt like something simple so she had the House made muesli with poached fruit. She seemed to enjoy it very much.

We also shared a daily special of Ginger bread toast served with poached plums and cinnamon cream. We all loved it, it was moist, the ginger flavours came through quite strongly and worked so well with the poached plums. Yummy to the max!

I decided to go for something savoury and chose the Kingfish with a chilli fried egg, avocado, salsa and lime and blue corn tortilla. Let me say how pretty the dish looked, beautiful plating with a variety of colours. The Kingfish was perfectly cooked and with a squeeze of some lime juice, it tasted quite lovely. What I struggled with was the tortilla. I couldn't work out how to eat it properly as it was at the base of the dish and covered with the oh so lovely fried egg. So I started cutting it up like I would a piece of toast. I don't believe I did it justice and should have found a way to eat it in the manner it was intended.

S had to leave earlier for another appointment but I was happy to sit back and enjoy the rest of the meal with AK. It was lovely to relax and chat way while soaking up the atmosphere in this very popular place.

By the way, for non locals, let me just say that even though the cafe is in Richmond, it is very easy to get there by public transport. I took the 109 tram from Collins Street, got off at the Church Street intersection. Then I took the 78 or 79 down Church Street. There is a tram stop right outside the cafe. Easy!



Top Paddock
658 Church Street
Richmond
VIC 3121
Tel: +613 9429 4332
Website: toppaddockcafe.com