Mica

Mica is a bar, brasserie, bakery and bistro owned by Shannon and Clare Kellam, the team behind Montrachet and King Street Bakery. It takes up a ground-floor tenancy in the same Breakfast Creek Lifestyle Precinct that’s home to both their production kitchen, The Kneadery, and their events company, Lumiere.

The venue itself is a looker, a handsome green awning welcoming punters into a space richly detailed with brick, marble and ribbed glass. Up front is an enormous counter full of the decadent hits popular with King Street diehards: pain aux raisins, almond croissants, eclairs and Danishes, as well as savoury items such as quiches, salads, Black Angus beef pies and freshly baked breads. There’s also a range of vegan sweets that includes vegan pavlova and macarons. The food is helped down by Vittoria coffee and a selection of cold drinks.

For dine-in, there's an elevated breakfast menu. Those familiar with Montrachet’s celebrated French cooking will recognise a few of its signature moves. There’s pastis-and-citrus-cured Ora King salmon with whipped fromage blanc, a poached free-range egg, dill and sourdough; ironbark cold-smoked cauliflower that’s pan-roasted and served with avocado, salt-cured organic tomatoes and harissa oil; and a dish playfully named “Like Eggs Benedict, But Better” that features red-gum-smoked pork jowl finished on the grill and accompanied by a toasted muffin, a free-range egg, and chardonnay-vinegar hollandaise.

Elsewhere, there’s a classic omelette, free-range bacon and eggs, and shared appetisers such as crumpets, sheep’s milk yoghurt and granola, and pain perdu served with anise sugar, mandarin compote and fresh vanilla whipped cream. In true Montrachet style, there’s also a tasting option that rolls together some of the menu’s most compelling dishes.

The food is helped down by Vittoria coffee, a selection of cold drinks and a wine list evenly split between French and Australian drops.

Out front, Mica might match the modernity of the neighbouring car dealerships but it boasts the same outlook as the forgotten old Breakfast Creek Wharf the precinct replaced, with views across the water towards the Breakfast Creek Hotel. Behind Mica's success, Shannon says, is The Kneadery. The 1000-square-metre production kitchen operates at a scale that allows the Kellams to supply pastries and breads for both Mica and King Street Bakery.