Sixteen Ounces – Victoria Park, Perth

Victoria Park has its fair share of very mediocre eating places, but it also has a bunch of really cool little cafes that do great breakfasts and brunches. Sixteen Ounces is on the Albany Highway and opened up earlier this year. Before going we had a quick look at the menu to decide what we would order for brunch – the obligatory check to make sure they did more than just the standard “big breakfast” and vanilla yoghurt with ordinary packet muesli. When we arrived and sat down, we noticed that the menu was quite different to what I had found online (I think I was looking at the Spring menu). No problem, though, because there was a larger range of dishes, and some interesting ones that I hadn’t really seen before.

After yesterday’s minor disappointment when Hopper Espresso had no more pulled pork buns I could’t go past the pulled pork on bread with crackling, egg and tomato. The pork was oh so tasty, I could easily have just eaten a plate of that. It was a little odd in how it was served – pork on one piece of bread, fried egg on the other. I think it would have been better served in a less deconstructed fashion, but it’s really just a small complaint. It certainly wouldn’t stop me from going back to Sixteen Ounces.

Pulled pork with tomato, caramelised onion, crackling and a fried egg

The other dish was something a bit more different – bratwurst with hollandaise sauce, sauerkraut, gherkins and bacon. I thought it was quite a clever dish in the way it paired the buttery hollandaise with the sauerkraut and gherkin to cut through the fattiness a bit. And you know how some places really suck at making hollandaise sauce? Well this was not one of them; it was very good and calorific like it should be.

Bratwurst, hollandaise, sauerkraut and bacon

One of the great things about being a food blogger is the endless need to explore as much of the menu as one’s stomach, waistline and wallet will allow, to make the best assessment of a restaurant in advising others. This is basically a great excuse to order something extra, even when I know that I’ve already ordered enough and we will struggle to eat it all. Presenting…hand cut chips with parmesan and aioli:

Crunchy chips, parmesan and aioli

We really didn’t need to order these – in fact I am sitting here right now feeling a bit exhausted from overeating. But they were good! Really good! Nice and crunchy, a good amount of parmesan and a very tasty aioli (right after the hollandaise…egg yolk overload…). But this was brunch, so I ate about the same amount that I’d eat during a normal lunch and breakfast combined. I can use that as an excuse too, right? 🙂

Along with the coffee that I ordered (was a shame that they had no more cold pressed orange juice in stock), this was a great new brunch spot discovery and one to which I will certainly return next time I’m in the area and looking. Now I must run along to the gym to give myself another justification for ordering the extra chips!