Sometimes you see a phrase on a menu that stops you in your tracks. "Rendang shakshuka" did it for me. I'd never seen these two words juxtaposed until I spied them on the new brunch menu at Dale La Pau, a modest but pioneering Indonesian restaurant.

The idea of somehow combining shakshuka (a North African dish of eggs baked in a tomato and capsicum sauce) and rendang (South-East Asian spiced, braised meat) was so alluring, even world-shaking, that I got myself to Camberwell for a taste. Sitting in the shady, astroturfed courtyard that adjoins the petite dining room, I awaited this foray into fusion. Would it be a confused culinary car-crash – or would it be multicultural magic?

Happily, the latter. A heavy clay bowl is filled with a rich braise of tomatoes, peppers and onion, then two eggs are cracked into it for baking. So far, so shakshuka. Then comes the rendang rendering: the dish is topped with shredded beef that's been cooked for hours until it's dark and dry, as is the style in the Minangkabau cuisine of West Sumatra, considered the home of rendang.

Redolent of galangal, coconut, cinnamon and star anise, the flavours are intense and concentrated, quite different to the lighter, soupier rendangs in, say, Malaysia and Singapore. Stir the braised beef into the tomato and egg, mop it up with a flaky roti, and you're eating a breakfast that melds comfort and thrill. And if you don't find any thrills in eating animal, a vegan version subs tofu for eggs and jackfruit for beef.

Alongside the fusion food, the dishes are more or less traditional Indonesian ones, such as turmeric-tinged chicken congee ($18) and nasi uduk ($20), which sees chicken rendang, dried fish, omelette and chilli-fried potato piled around a mound of fragrant coconut rice. The elements are subtle, but two homemade sambals – a pungent, dried seafood condiment and a thick peanut sauce – bring depth and fire. 

Any cafe owner will tell you that people's brunch habits are hard to shift. Dale La Pau plays it both ways, offering crumpets with Vegemite ($8), poached eggs with smoked salmon ($25), and eggs "your way" ($12). Because the restaurant is halal, the "bacon" on the side is beef, not pork, and there's no alcohol. 

I'm always ready for breakfast dessert. Pandan French toast ($18) is common in Indonesia and often pops up locally at Asian-influenced cafes. The rendition here is excellent, slathered with fresh pandan jam made over a painstaking three days. Aromatic, deep-green leaves are soaked, blended, pressed and cooked into a thick coconut custard. Fluffily layered and brilliantly green, the eggy fried bread is showered with toasted coconut shards.

At lunch and dinner, the menu is traditional and extensive, built around rendang and rice dishes.

The story behind Dale La Pau is as heartwarming as the friendly, if not slick, service. The restaurant is a collaboration between Dale Putra and his mum, Intan Kieflie. Putra had just arrived from Indonesia to study music when lockdown hit and his course switched to online learning. Kieflie had been living in Melbourne for a decade, working as a film producer and actor.

The pair collaborated on a takeaway project during the pandemic, soothing homesick Indonesians with nasi bungkus (banana-leaf-wrapped rice), a milky lamb soup called sop kambing and a selection of rendangs. To their own surprise, it took off and though the pair are continuing their artistic pursuits – Putra is just back from producing music in Indonesia and Kieflie stars in the film Sleeping Beauties, out this year – they are committed to their food enterprise. 

When Kieflie was a little girl in Payakumbuh, her grandmother was a renowned cook, called upon to cater wedding parties. Nenek ("Grandma") grew vegetables, butchered her own lamb, cooked over fire, and harvested coconut trees with the help of a monkey. Kieflie learnt to cook after Nenek had a stroke; she was able to taste and direct but not stir the pots herself. Putra started cooking early, too, turning out nasi goreng by the time he was five. 

Every restaurant has its stories and Dale La Pau is overflowing with them, with its tales of immigration and enterprise, creativity and culture – rewriting Melbourne brunch possibilities along the way.

Vibe: Unassuming cafe with dog-friendly courtyard

Go-to dish: Rendang shakshuka ($22)

Drinks: Unlicensed. Excellent Indo teas include sweet, herbaceous, iced bendera

Cost: Brunch for two, about $50

This review was originally published in Good Weekend magazine; Besha Rodell is on leave