Yesterday morning, after completing our civic duty in this year’s national election, the good lady Friedy and I headed to Tom Phat for breakfast.

Now, I don’t live in Brunswick, but my impression of Sydney Road is based largely on driving through (as quickly as possible), and one or two stops at specific stores.

To describe the strip as a dump might be a stretch, but I’m not sure I’d consider it as charming as the locals – who’d all probably prefer to live closer to Carlton or Fitzroy – might like to think.

For that reason, Tom Phat can probably be considered something of a diamond in the rough – depending on who you ask.

Nb. apologies for the rubbish photos; this was right before we went and got my new camera, so these shots were taken with my phone.

We did our homework before heading in, and found that most users at eatability found the service to be terrible, but the food to be great.

Of course, that can be a common theme with most restaurants (they know they’re good, they know you’re going to eat there, so why go to lengths to be nice as well?), so we didn’t let that deter us.

Thankfully, our experience was better than expected. The guy that seated us was a pleasant lad, and the lady that waited on us was equally cheerful. Our orders were taken quickly (likely in anticipation of the coming rush), our coffee arrived quickly and the meals followed not too soon, and far from slow. And at the same time! Perfect.

We kicked things off with the South African fruit toast, with walnuts (if I recall correctly). This was good, although I found it a bit stiff and difficult to chew – this is largely my fault; I’m missing a molar on either side of my top row of teeth (I swear I’ll get implants eventually, leave me alone!)

We had the toast as an entree of sorts, and our meals arrived about ten minutes later – a perfect gap.

Friedy ordered the roti omelette, which was a new concept for me. The roti flavour we all know and love was clearly there, but there was a taste of noodles as well; probably helped by the egg.

An abundance of bacon laid just beneath the top level of roti, egg and sauce, which I dutifully helped the not-huge-on-meat Friedy work her way through.

I had the claypot baked eggs, and that was just something else. It came with a side of thick toast (sourdough I think) that was probably a tiny, tiny bit on the burnt side (though the centres were fine), but it complemented the dish well and gave me something to chew on.

The dish itself was full of flavour, almost overwhelmingly so, and carried a spiciness as well. I’m a complete wuss when it comes to hot and spicy foods, but I soldiered through and it wasn’t quite strong enough to put me over. I did break a sweat, though, wow.

Near the end, it occurred to me that the dish was a lot like eating a bowl of spaghetti bolognese – without the spaghetti. It was rich in tomato flavours, and the (very nice) beef mince mixed in only strengthened that bolognese feel. None of this is a bad thing, though, and really it’s only made me consider the low-carb virtues of having my next serve of spaghetti bolognese without the pasta!

Lastly, the coffee was excellent. We only had a skinny latte each, but it was simply spot-on. Easy to drink, not too powerful in its flavour. We’d heard that Tom Phat is known for doing good coffee, and if that’s true, it seems like a well-earned rep.

Perhaps the oddest thing about the experience – if there even needs to be an ‘odd’ part – is that both meals felt more like lunch or dinner than breakfast, but it never felt wrong. Maybe it was the addition of toast…

RESULT! Recommended.

Tom Phat, 184 Sydney Road, Brunswick. Look hard, because they don’t have much signage.