There’s something seriously surreal about having breakfast with your family on your 50^th birthday and then heading straight to the airport to fly home to Sydney. Alone.

On the upside, I knew that in just 10 days time I’d be flying back up to join them for good, but on the down-side? As I said, surreal. But we’re not here to talk about that. Instead we’re talking about the fabulous breakfast before the surreal and solo birthday flight. And fabulous it was.

Elliott’s Bistro at Alexandra Headland – just across the road from the beach.

Ok, right here I’ll back-track just a little. Melbourne has mastered the smashed avo thing. Some would say they invented it. Whatever. Sydney, for whatever reason, with a few exceptions, does not do it at all well.

You start off with high hopes and get a piece of toasted average quality sourdough with a squint-worthy smear of avocado. Or, worse, you pay $5 extra for a miserly amount as a “side” when everyone knows that smashed avo should be piled generously onto excellent sourdough.

From the minute we walked in I knew that Elliott’s would know how to do smashed avo the way it’s meant to be done. It wasn’t just the soundtrack – Bob Dylan and This Wheels On Fire – it was the service, the cute beach-side shopfront, the whole package.

We weren’t disappointed. Miss 19 was well impressed with her avo smash – which she declared up to Melbourne standards. It came with perfectly poached eggs and sharp, salty feta perched on top for the perfect avo. Hubby made his version even more perfect by adding bacon and tomato.

Elliott’s also know that anyone can do the basic bacon and eggs, but a great breakfast place should do that plus something a little more interesting. Something like, say, potato and gruyere croquettes. Served with fried eggs, bacon, a dollop of relish and a dab of blue cheese, this was bacon and eggs with hash browns taken to a much higher level.

And the coffee? Yeah. It was good. Excellent even.

Where: Shop 102, 102 Alexandra Parade, Alexandra Headland

More info: www.elliottsfinefoods.com

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/elliottsbistro/