Daniel Son, Murrumbeena by Big Fil

It doesn’t matter if you head north, south, east or west, Melbourne cafes do it best.  Gone are the days when the vast majority of good cafes were concentrated in the inner north.  Randomly pick a suburb within 15km of the city, odds are it will have at least one good, new café. 

Head out further and they are still there, just not as concentrated.  Daniel Son certainly fits the criteria for being a great local café for Murrumbeena, one of three cafes in a small area that all looked well worth trying.

Located in an old Edwardian (I think) shopping strip, inside Daniel Son is light, bright and white.  There’s a small courtyard at the back, although it was much too cold to sit there when we visited.  It has that slightly distressed look to it many Melbourne cafes go for, and the day’s specials are posted on the ‘notices’ board.  Not too full early on a Saturday morning it’s a really nice spot to just sit and talk.

The menu is fairly straightforward with my choice the meat hash with fried eggs.  It’s quite common to see hash browns on breakfast menus, shredded or diced potato formed into a patty and fried.  A meat hash – diced and spiced beef brisket with potato and onion – was a bit more unusual and seemed an appropriate choice for a cold winter’s morning.  While the hash was very slightly dry the texture was good and the generous use of spices boosted the flavour quotient.  The fried egg was properly done, with the yolk running nicely when pierced.

Snooze’s Veg Spesh was quite interesting: sourdough bread spread with hummus, accompanied by mushrooms, slow poached eggs and a sprinkle of dukkah.  An interesting flavour combination. While it was a little salty in parts, both of us liked the good meaty flavour of the mushrooms, combined with a nice sourdough bread.  What intrigued me most about the dish though was the slow poached eggs.  Originally appearing underdone, being poached at a lower texture gives them quite a different look and texture.  The white of the egg is much softer, looking almost ‘wobbly’ on the plate, but doesn’t have the liquid consistency of an undercooked egg white or the golden yolk.

Having spotted some good looking cakes on the way in, we decided to sample the white chocolate and raspberry brownie (although I was very tempted by the pear tart as well and wished we still had room for both).  Luscious chocolate filling with a texture reminiscent of mud cake, the raspberry cut through the strong chocolate flavours and the white chocolate lightened up the flavours nicely.  Yummy.

Overall

Very hard to find anything to dislike about Daniel Son, somewhere that does everything very well without doing anything spectacularly.  Good fit out, good food, but probably the high point was the friendly and knowledgeable service, not just for us but observed for everyone dining there including some well-behaved kids.

Verdict

Food – 8

Ambience – 8

Service – 8.5

Price – 7.5

Address

471-473 Neerim Road

Murrumbeena VIC 3163

Tel: (04) 9769 0628