The ever popular Higher Ground has been on my Melbourne list for a while now (we tried to visit last year when it first opened) but the crowds have been keeping us away on our last couple of weekend trips to Melbourne. Luckily the stars aligned for our most recent visit to Melbourne and we were able to snare a table early on a Sunday for breakfast.
The soaring ceilings at Higher Ground makes the space feel quite stunning on arrival, and we ended up with a table in a cosy nook on the top floor of this multi-storey warehouse conversion.
The daytime menu at Higher Ground follows their philosophy that they’re not quite a cafe, and not quite a restaurant either – the dishes on offer combine elements of traditional breakfast with some heavier ingredients that you might see on lunch or dinner menus. We went for one such option, which was the Minced Lamb Fry Up enhanced with the exotic flavours of pine nut dukkah, paired with some smoked yoghurt, slightly runny fried eggs and miso eggplant for an interesting twist.
Minced Lamb Fry Up, $21
Their Benedict Eggs were drizzled with a rich emmental bearnaise sauce (heavier than your standard hollandaise) and served on sourdough toast slices with slivers of dry cured ham sandwiched between them and more of the ham flakes sprinkled on top of the perfectly poached eggs as well.
Benedict Eggs, $20.50
The many different levels of this not restaurant and not cafe are all gorgeously decked out and it’s easy to see why there’s a buzz around it, with great coffee and a hybrid menu that keeps your tastebuds satisfied too. The long lines at peak dining times may seem daunting, but can be avoided by getting in slightly earlier to beat the crowds.
Higher Ground
650 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne VIC 3000
Phone: (03) 8899 6219
