Full moon in Tiger country

It’s a short drive over the Yarra from Prahran to Tiger country of Richmond. But it’s a long wait for breakfast at Pearl Restaurant & Bar (631-633 Church St Richmond +61 3 9421 459921)
“One hour’s wait for a table,” I’d been told on the phone over an hour before. Now on this wintry day the wait is still an hour. You can’t make a booking and, unlike other joints that don’t take bookings the waiter avec attitude won’t call on the mobile when there is a space. I’d have preferred to be told to “piss off” if he didn’t want us.
The Richmond Hill Larder (48-50 Bridge Road, Richmond (03) 9421 2818) also doesn’t take bookings.

But we were able to leave our name and return 20 minutes later. I enjoyed grilled kipper with poached egg ($14.50) and there is a choice of almost every permutation of eggs/toast/bacon on the menu. Breakfast here is worth it, especially the visit to the cheese room afterwards for some of the proper French stuff.
It took another week and a 9am expedition to finally reach Pearl, which has a website with annoying music, and try its signature dish of “Our famous coddled egg toasty with Yarra Valley salmon caviar ($14)”. It’s a cube of bread, hollowed out and fried with an egg inside and atop. My partner, and the guys with designer Jeep-branded pushchairs flanking her on neighbouring tables, inhaled it faster than could be healthy. I more sedately enjoyed the “Ricotta hot cakes with banana and honeycomb butter ($12)”. Service was slow, which doesn’t make up for the coffee being great.
AT lunch or supper service is less arrogant and slicker.
For lunch: Stir fried noodles with black bean, shitake mushrooms and asparagus ($14). This dish varies with the seasons. When we visited it was asparagus but it could as easily be snow peas. Tight rolls of noodles are stir fried with exactly the right amount of chilli. A tasty and accessible dish complimented by Asahi from tap. Two of us weren’t sure about the betel leaves which are chewy but are said have health benefits.
For supper: At night the star, and one of the most ordered dishes, is “Roasted Red Duck Curry, a crisp fried eggs, shallots, mint, sweet fish sauce and cocoanut rice ($33)”. My mate Ben likes the way they give instructions on how to mix and eat the dish, which meets with approval in the lively and noisy dining room.
But it is the full moon this Thursday 21 July to wait for the monthly crab harvest and a meal for two of many courses entirely crafted out of crab – together with the requisite bibs and DIY apparatus. If you miss this one ensure it’s in your diary or the next moon.