Melbourne cafes — you’ve had your fun, now stop it

JUST when you thought we’d seen it all from Melbourne’s hipster food trends, an inner Melbourne cafe is trying out a not-so-egg-cellent new take on deconstructed breakfast.

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JUST when you thought we’d seen it all from Melbourne’s hipster food trends, a cafe in South Yarra is trying out a not-so-egg-cellent new take on deconstructed breakfast.

Breakfast in an egg carton from Stepping Stone in South Yarra.

One customer took to social media to post a picture after he was served his seemingly innocuous order of eggs with avocado and toast soldiers in an egg carton in place of a plate at new South Yarra cafe Stepping Stone.

Despite a popular #wewantplates movement online, Stepping Stone manager Timothy Sweet said the Kiss and Tell Soldiers dish had set tongues wagging at the River St cafe since it opened late last month.

Apart from hitting the quirk factor, he said the idea was to also get customers asking about the restaurant’s products and how they were sourced.

“We really want to show off what we call clean cooking. For us it’s about showing the fact that this is a farm to table movement,” Mr Sweet said.

“The coolest thing is that the tray actually holds the eggs still (while you’re dipping in your toast soldiers).”

Stepping Stone is a concept store testing out new ideas by Melbourne restaurant owner Clare Hu, who also owns Bluff Town in Sandringham and The Resident in Ashburton.

The egg cartons are purchased specifically for serving meals in — the restaurant ensures all their ingredients actually arrive in environmentally sustainable sugarcane packaging — but Mr Sweet said customers who find them a bit too hip to swallow can pass on their feedback to staff.

“We try to have fun with it. If someone was to come to us and say that’s not really a realistic idea, we’d take that on board. At this stage we haven’t had that.”

But it’s not the first time Melburnians have been hit with deconstructed food, with everything from coffee to smashed avo coming in DIY form.

Popular Asian restaurant Tokyo Tina in Windsor boasts a deconstructed sushi roll which includes a mound of rice covered in typical sushi fillings.

One CBD cafe served a customer “deconstructed” smashed avo - half an avocado and two pieces of toast in a takeaway box.

DIY avocado toast from a cafe in Melbourne.

Rainbow toastie from Eight Seeds. Picture: Eugene Hyland

Before it hits the sandwich press. Picture: Eugene Hyland

While another offered up a deconstructed latte with three science beakers on a timber board, one with coffee, one with milk and the other with hot water.

We Want Plates, an online “crusade against serving food on bits of wood or roof slates, chips in mugs and drinks in jam jars”, has proven there’s likely no end to plate-free food.

More than 60,000 diners from around the world have liked the Facebook page and regularly submit pictures of the crazy items restaurants are using to serve food.