The interior has been given a complete refit, and takes advantage of the expansive windows on two sides to provide excellent natural light. Light coloured furnishings adds to the airy feel. You can get a good idea from the great photos in Jetsetting Joyce’s review.

We were there for breakfast, and that menu is short but interesting. I was torn between the son in law eggs and the shakshuka, but settled on the latter option. As you can see from the photo, Eat Drink Man Woman commits the breakfast sin of providing just a single piece of ‘toast’. I guess at least it was a thick slice of toast, and had nice flavour from being charred on the grill rather than toasted.

The tomato sauce contained capsicum, preserved lemons, olives and various herbs, but despite this, was a little bland and underseasoned. Even the feta on top failed to lift it. The other issue was that some of the olives were unpitted, which wouldn’t be a problem except that some of them were quite small, meaning you didn’t necessarily know when you were about to bite into one. On the plus side, the eggs were perfectly cooked.

My girlfriend had the poached quinces with couscous (or was it quinoa?), nuts and yoghurt. It’s a nice idea, but she thought the poaching liquid had given them an unidentifiable, and slightly unpleasant, taste.

The coffee was very good, especially for a cafe that appears to be focusing more on the food. And the service was professional and friendly, which is what you want at breakfast time.

It had only been open for just over a week, and I’ve got no doubt that once the kinks with some of the dishes are ironed out, it’s going to be a deservedly popular addition to Brunswick Street.

The menu choices are fairly standard, and include tomato-based and non-tomato-based options. I opted for a simple margherita, plus the addition of ham. The base was thin and chewy, and topped with some very tasty tomato sauce and decent quality mozzarella. Instead of fresh basil, it had basil infused olive oil, which was fine by me, although the pizza certainly benefited from the addition of ham.

While not particularly large, given the $12 price tag ($10 without the addition of ham), it still represented good value.

We tried a blueberry danish and a citrus cake. Both were a bit dry, suggesting they may have been made the previous day. The coffee was good, without being great.

The sandwiches on the other hand look very tasty, so perhaps breakfast isn’t the time to visit Johnston Street Foodstore, and it’s more of a lunch spot.

Now Hooked (384 Brunswick St, Fitzroy), which has been wowing the residents of Windsor for quite a while, has entered the mix.

Ol’ School is superb, so Hooked was going to have to be pretty special to gain my custom. Based on my first visit, I don’t think it’s got what it takes. Not by a long shot.

I bought a Box for One, which comprised two small pieces of fish, six good sized pieces of salt & pepper calamari, a generous serving of chips, sambal, and some fried sweet potato shavings. That’s a lot of food, but for $17.50, so it should be. Despite the fact that I chose to eat in, and thus my meal was very fresh, none of it was actually particularly good.

My fish was coated in a tempura batter, which wasn’t nearly as crisp as it should have been. The calamari pieces were hit and miss, with some being overly chewy, and there was very little of the promised salt and pepper flavour. As for the chips, they were chunky (almost wedges) slightly greasy and quite heavy, so perhaps the oil wasn’t quite hot enough.

In the Box for One, instead of chips, you can choose from salad and corn, or sticky rice and bok choy. I almost wish I had, but then it wouldn’t have been fish and chips.

This new eatery follows a similar formula, with upscale pub food, although probably aims a little higher. Even though we were sitting in the bar, we were able to order from a bar menu or restaurant menu. Both offer small, medium and large dishes.

On this occasion I chose a simple risotto of prawns with preserved lemon and basil from the primarily Italian menu, and it was cooked extremely well. The rice was a good texture, and the preserved lemon provided the right level of richness.

My girlfriend had the gorgonzola and honeyed pear risotto, was slightly heavier, but not as rich as the ingredients suggest, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. A side of green beans with dried ricotta was executed perfectly, and complemented both dishes.

There were a couple of interesting beers from Pure South on tap, including a very tasty pilsner, and I expect that they might rotate the beer selection.

It wasn’t very busy on the Thursday we visited, while The Commoner up the road was heaving. However, based on this first visit, the Town Hall Hotel is doing all the right moves, and deserves to be successful.

The chicken schnitzel wraps are pieces of pita bread wrapped around sliced pieces of schnitzel, lettuce, tomato, and mayonnaise. While this which might not sound particularly special, thanks to the quality of individual components, the whole thing tastes amazing.

Equally delicious are the meatball wraps, which are a cross between a standard wrap and a piadina. The meatballs are nicely moist, and complemented by leafy greens, tomato, cheese, and a hit of lemon juice.

Although I rarely pass up the wraps, there’s are generally two or three salads to choose from, which look and taste fantastic.

The quality of the food is matched by the staff, who are some of the most helpful and genuinely friendly around.

I do wish they made better coffee, as I have yet to get a genuinely good one there. The only other negative is that they often sell out of the wraps, so get in by 1pm to be sure of getting one.

What it lacks in style, it more than makes up for in substance. The coffee is the best and most consistent in Fitzroy – much better than many of Melbourne’s cafes that makes up the so-called ‘third wave’ of coffee.

Similarly, the food, while not particularly imaginative, is executed perfectly. Scrambled eggs are actually scrambled rather than being mashed up omelettes, and poached eggs are done just right. Side are equally good, with crispy bacon, ripe tomatoes, and beans that actually taste home-made, or house made, as other cafes might phrase it. Even the bread is even baked there.

Service is friendly, and when a mistake in service is made, the staff is happy to acknowledge it.

Next time you’re wanting a nice breakfast out, instead of queueing for a table at the latest cool cafe, give Atomica a shot.

The scrambled eggs were well executed, reasonably fluffy and nicely seasoned. They were also listed as free range, and the serving was pretty generous. Even better were the hash browns, a mount of buttery, salty (but not too much so) grated potato.

Apologies for the photo, taken after I’d started the dish

The dish was let down by the toast, which was made from thin slices of decidedly average bread. I wouldn’t quite say it was supermarket quality, but it was much too light and didn’t taste much like sourdough, as the menu promised.

My girlfriend ordered corn fritters, which came with a chutney, and were superb. The texture was just right, and you could actually taste the sweetness of the corn kernels.

The coffee wasn’t too bad, although I’m not too sure about the Bodum double walled coffee glasses my long black was served in. It did keep the coffee hot, but I don’t think it did the flavours any favours.

I only wish I’d re-read his post, or that of Where’s the Beef before visiting, because I could have ordered a lot better. Had I re-read either of these posts, I would have definitely ordered the Huevos Rancheros, which not only look awesome, but filling too.

Instead I ordered a sort of Chilean steak sandwich. It was tasty, but was very small for a steak sandwich, and at $15.50 didn’t represent very good value. Other cafes would have charged around $10 for a serving of this size.

My girlfriend chose the kidney bean gratin, which was delicious. We shared a delicious vanilla slice for ‘dessert’.

It took around half an hour for our meals to arrive (far too long), but I’d still give Juanita’s another shot.

We started with some fried dumplings, which served in a shallow pool of flavoursome liquid. Delicious. For a main I had the pork bulgogi, which was fantastic. The sauce was so good, I ended up scraping the sauce off the side of the bowl. We also ordered a potato salad, which was not what I expected, resembling a cross between a birds nest and an onion bhajis.

Needless to say, I won’t be waiting so long to visit again.