Eat, Pray, Love: Mart 130 vs Loose Caboose Cafe

Mart 130 vs Loose Caboose Cafe

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Rise and shine! What will be the most comforting thing that can ever happen in the morning? BINGO! It's a pleasant breakkie/brunch with your loved ones at a nicely decorated cafe! Sometimes, breakfast and solitude can be a great combination too. A satisfying breakfast can invigorate us and start off a day with positivity. That's why I always love breakfast/brunch spots.

There are so many breakfast cafe sprouting out in Australia. How can we find a special yet cozy spot for our brunch? Don't worry! In this blog post, I am going to bring YOU to Adelaide and Melbourne for these two cafe which have the same concept. They are MART 130 (Melbourne) and LOOSE CABOOSE CAFE (Adelaide). Both of the cafe are situated by the tram/train stop, a completely overlooked idea in starting a new cafe. Come on! Developing and reconstructing a dilapidated tram stop is an effortful job. Who is going to have breakfast with the 'gong' sound of tram and the traffic of passengers going up and down the tram?

Well! That's the idea which rang the bell with far-sighted cafe manager who founded Mart 130 cafe. Mart 130 is situated in tram stop 30 at Middle Park, Melbourne. The interesting thing about the name is that 'MART' is actually the reflection image of 'TRAM'. How smart are they! I always wanted to go to this popular breakfast spot and finally I got a chance last Feb. To get to the cafe, all you need to do is to hop on Tram 96 towards St Kilda and hop down at stop 130.

Sitting inside the tram from afar, I could see a few people enjoying their breakfast at tables by the tram stop. At the entrance itself, there are a lot of stickers to recognise the cafe for being excellent in serving its customers. Last year, it was one of the top restaurants in Urbanspoon and recommended in tripadvisor.

I chose to sit at the table by the tram stop outside the cafe. Without further ado, I ordered corn fritters with grilled bacon, homemade relish, sour cream and coriander as recommended by Pei Qi.

Corn fritters with grilled bacon, homemade relish, sour cream and coriander

There are two options you can customise your corn fritters, one is with grilled bacon, another is with salmon. I chose the less expensive one. Lovely presentation! The crunchiness of corn dissolves in the softness of fritters. The grilled bacon is well cooked. Although it's a little bit hard, but I love the grilled fatty element of bacon and its smell. Apart from that, the homemade relish is tomato/plum based and has a sour taste. The sour cream comes in perfect as it simmers down the oil content of the fritters and bacon. The combination of bacon and fritters together with the relish has rendered a 70% sour and 30% sweet sensation. However, the portion is too big for me and I am not a fan of plum or sourness. Bias aside, it was a good meal.

There are a few other seat options that you can choose. If you come in a big group, you can choose to sit inside the cafe by the fireplace. It is comfortable and you just feel like you are at home!

The by-the-fireplace seat

Nay for you? No worries! There is another bench behind the cafe in which you can enjoy your breakfast in a warm breezy morning.

Bench seat

The waiting staffs at Mart 130 are friendly and they always ensure their customers have a good meal. Conversation with customers is essential to them to ensure their customers have the best dining experience. However, the cafe does not accept EFTPOS, so remember to bring enough cash for your breakkie.

Sipping a cup of coffee, flipping through the newspaper, chatting with each other, getting a taste at breakfast; Mhmmm. Life is good! Even the dog was lazing around under the warm sun and enjoying this piece of peace.

The dog!

Nice simple decor at the table

Located at Stop 130 of Tram 96 line

Website: no website

Address: 107a, Canterbury Road, Middle Park, VIC

Trading hours: 7.30am - 5pm (Mon-Sun)

The end of the blog post? No! You can't miss out on Loose Caboose Cafe in Adelaide! It is a relevantly new cafe founded in 2012 at Bowden train station. The difference between this cafe and Mart 130 is that it is a train station instead of a tram stop. This gem is just across the road from the Entertainment Centre.

I stumbled across this place through my friend's album. Being intrigued by its similarity to Mart 130, I decided to make a visit with my friend, Hannah last November.

Cafe interior

I ordered smoked king salmon with watercress and dill. The portion is pretty small from appearance, but it is actually not too bad as they give quite a lot salmon strips. It has a mild and subtle flavour. Consider this for a healthy and light breakfast.

Smoked king salmon with watercress and dill

Hannah ordered the corn fritters with bacon, sour cream and roquettes. It looks quite similar with the corn fritters in Mart 130, but Loose Caboose Cafe offered a more crunchy and less floury fritters. Corn is comparably less. In addition, it has an additional touch of roquettes. I prefer this fritter more.