The Element - The Great Muesli Hunt I

This morning, I woke up with an intense craving. As I was heading to the library which opened at 11 anyway, I decided to find a way to satisfy this craving for a big bowl of homemade toasted muesli, preferably liberally doused in milk. MMmmm. It didn't help that I kept getting flashbacks to a particularly wonderful version I'd had several week's ago at Degraves Espresso Bar, which was absolutely divine. I had a mind to head into the city purely to satisfy this urge, but decided it would be too much out of my way, especially since I actually had work to do.

I headed for Big Harvest on Elgin Street, vetoing all the lovely cafes on Rathdowne Street which were inevitably packed with families, only to find that it was actually closed. Bugger. I called in at Thresherman's Bakehouse, but they only had natural muesli. I then wandered down Lygon Street and Grattan Street, all the way heading towards Melbourne Uni, getting increasingly desperate about my chances of finding the elusive muesli.

With no luck anywhere else, my last resort was The Element, conveniently located a few blocks parallel to my destination. The big plus was that it was empty and quiet, allowing me to read my paper and eat my breakfast in peace. After sitting down, however, I asked about the muesli on the menu ("Is it toasted or natural?") to which the waitress then replied "... what do you mean toasted or natural?". Now, this is not a hard question. I was especially irked purely because I had spent so long looking for this muesli and my patience was running thin. But after several minutes consultation with someone unseen in the kitchen, the answer came back that it was, in fact, natural muesli. The world is clearly against me this morning.

I did end up ordering a toasted basil pesto pide bread with olive oil, which came served on a wooden block (very impressive looking - simple, yet elegant) and was still hot from just coming out of the oven. It wasn't exactly what I wanted, but it was still okay. Not fantastic, but okay. My 'Extreme C' juice, comprised of guava, apple and some sort of berry juice, was also tasty and was enough to keep me occupied until my pide bread came. At $7.40, it was okay. It seems highly unlikely, though, that I'll be back in the near future. Not until they figure out the difference between toasted and natural muesli.

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The Element Bar Bistro
604 Swanston Street
Carlton
www.theelement.com.au