Kickstart the day with the satisfaction of having three stomachs worth of three breakfast desserts.

Our experience

Richmond is the traditional home of the cheap and cheerful — little sardine-tins of Vietnamese spots for pho slurping and little concealed warehouses converted into vibrant brunch spots. Around the corner from the bustling Victoria Street that is Little Vietnam in Melbourne, Three Bags Full is located on the ground floor of an old corner warehouse. Communal and individual seating are available, with the space fitted out with recycled wood and re-configured street signs. The rough-hewn decor is softened by vases of wild flowers and various pot plants, and the installation of quirky lights that are either upside-down tea cups or rotund latticed alloy lanterns. A series of rather peculiar artworks hang on the exposed wood and brick walls and are available for sale.

For the sweet-tooths on the quest for a sweet breakfast, Three Bags Full is one of only two cafes that MoMo & Coco know (and love) that offers three sweet options (the other cafe is Hardware Societe). The first sweet breakfast option at Three Bags Full is the “Sticky Black Ginger Bread” ($16.00), a sinister-looking black stack that is extremely dense and extremely rich. It is topped with poached cumquats that are exceedingly mouth-pinching sour, and a decadent squirt of mascarpone cream. Even for insatiable sweet-tooths such as MoMo & Coco, this gingerbread is a little too heavy for us.

The “Ricotta Hotcakes” ($16.50) arrives as two warm golden pillows, blanketed by a treasure trove of berries, peaches and rhubarb, and a dollop of ricotta. On our multiple samplings (this blog-documented visit and on past visits), MoMo & Coco find the hotcakes a little less fluffy than desired. Still sweet and scrumptious nonetheless.

The “Twice Baked French Toast” ($16.50) is MoMo & Coco’s favourite sweet breakfast option from Three Bags Full. On this blog-documented visit, it was smothered with little twigs of rhubarb, poached to such an extent that its characteristic tartness had disappeared and the whole dish was rather very sweet. Creme patissier is the accompaniment cream of choice here. For no reason other than personal inclination, we generally do not eat the cream components of any of the sweet breakfast options at Three Bags Full…arguably less fatty that way too. 😛

Our verdict

Aside from the service which is generally average (mostly timely but hard to get hold of), and overlooking the vast weekends crowds and high noise levels, brunch at Three Bags Full is deserving of the raves. It offers reliable, generously-proportioned, mostly reasonably-priced brunch fare. With three sweet decadent breakfast options, MoMo & Coco always feel like three little piggies when brunching at Three Bags Full. It’s so bad, it’s good. 🙂

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Dessert adventure checklist

1. ☑ Dessert destination: Three Bags Full Cafe, 60 Nicholson Street, Abbotsford, Vic 3067.
2. ☑ Budget: $.
3. ☑ Sweet irresistibles: Breakfast dessert.
4. ☑ Must-eat: Every dessert that you can fit in.
5. ☑ The short and sweet story: Kickstart the day with the satisfaction of three stomachs worth of three breakfast desserts.

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