In the diary

Finishing up Melbourne, the final chilly morning before both the Dali exhibition and the Taste festival finds us attempting to go for light breakfasts - 'attempting' being the key word here. Again, I'd passed Journal many a time before and even seen it in a telco advertisement - and finally, I was going to have a meal there, albeit breakfast where it's a little more difficult to go wrong.

And with a seriously serious espresso machine and barista at work, there was no going wrong with the macchiato. I've noticed that in Melbourne they'll ask whether you want a short or long macchiato, whereas in Sydney the short is the default.

Breakfast at Journal, Flinders Lane, Melbourne

Looking around, there's an undeniable CBD feel to the ambience, yet it's filled with creatives rather than suits given the Sunday morning. Even so, the smart feel of the interiors seems to encourage serious reading and work on notebooks amid the synth-electro pop in the background. We fill our tiny table by the window with food and drinks, seeing multiples of little milk jugs.

Porridge with stewed rhubarb and honey

The porridge arrives in a laughably huge bowl; a liberal drizzle of honey with the kilo or so of oats. It was just the comforting meal that was sought, except probably three serves of it.

Mueseli with yoghurt and fruit compote

My mueseli was less humourous but just as, if not more, deliciously comforting. With my own little jug of milk, the oats with fruit and memorable hazelnuts alternated - not mixed - with the fruit and yoghurt were the perfect fuel for the morning (I'm not a mixer). It too was a touch on the large serve size, but suitably light enough. Admittedly, it's hard to fail on cereal breakfasts, but Journal goes down with a tick and note to return next time I'm in Melbourne.

And this being the last of the Melbourne posts, I must confess to a currently ludicrous level of excitement about next month's Sydney International Food Festival. Perhaps I've spent a few too many hours poring over the events and restaurants on the website and corresponding pages in my diary, but I don't think I'm going to be left hungry for a moment in October.