The Carlton Paragon Cafe

A sneakily smooth spot in Carlton.
I will admit that my boss shouted me lunch here. We’re both super fussy foodies when we are together.
Service was spot on. Drinks served cold and in a timely manner. Suitably friendly staff, with a good knowledge of the menu and daily specials.
Meals here are HUGE. Surprisingly so. Dauntingly so actually. My honey mustard avocado macadamia nut salad came out in the biggest bowl humanly possible. More like two main meal servings then one. The large meal sizes justify the prices on a busy café strip. We can’t complain that meals for 3 plus drinks and coffee ended up being a smooth $ 95.
4 stars for the great air conditioning, prompt service and great food. Minus one star because we regularly saw our waitresses knickers due to her «dress».

I’ve never been here for dinner; this review is for their breakfast only. Which is awesome. They have a «hangover sandwich» which is basically a fancy bacon and egg mcmuffin, but it is really delicious. Whatever cheese they use on it is perfect. Their baked sausage and eggs dish is really good too. Food always comes out quick and exactly as ordered; the coffee is reliably good although nothing to write home about. It’s refreshingly plain and unassuming, and one of my local reliables for a decent breakfast.

I went to Paragon for dinner, tried the haloumi cheese, penne carbonara, and tiramisu.
The food was very nice, but I don’t think it was good enough to warrant the price. The penne was $ 25, for example. Portions were well sized. The menu is not large, but covers a fairly diverse selection of tastes (as does the wine list).
The service was okay — I arrived there around 8pm on a Saturday and was served, but I felt like the staff were winding down for the night (probably my fault).
Sitting outdoors is nice as its enclosed and has a very powerful heater. Smokers will love the place.

I’m a twenty-​something living in a sharehouse in Carlton, this means that I am frequently hungover and eggs/​toast/​coffee are often needed in my belly on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Luckily there are a plethora of cafes on Rathdowne street to quench my hungover thirst, some great and some not-​so-​great.
I would place the Paragon in the not-​so-​great.
First things first, it is always packed so they must be doing something right but this also slows down the service a great deal. The Paragon is certainly one of the biggest on this strip and their outside area is quite nice but more often than not is filled with cigarette smoke from the local old men.
While the food is quite good and offers up some classic breakfast goods, the coffee is nothing to write home about.
It’s not awful, but with so many other quiet, smoke-​free places nearby I don’t know why people don’t head elsewhere.

Rathdowne Village has really turned into a hotbed for breakfast places in recent years. The Carlton Paragon Café is one of the plethora of breakfast places to choose from and is probably one of the more pricey options on the strip. Their main (ie. savoury) breakfast options number about 6 or 7 making it a fairly small and simple breakfast menu. Prices range from $ 15.50 to $ 17.50. Despite the relatively small menu, the options on offer they do really well.
My personal favourite has to be baked eggs in pork and fennel sausage sugo served with char grilled bread. The combination of flavours worked really well and the char grilled bread was a great touch to mop up those runny yolks.
The coffee and the service is also pretty good. I’m torn between 3 and 4 stars but based on that one dish I’m going for 4.

When I think of Rathdowne Street, I think of families, children, and dogs and how I would love to avoid this as much as possible. However, the children are usually well behaved and the dogs rarely bark at you, so I’ve continued to try out different cafes on Rathdowne Street.
I’ve only recently tried out the Carlton Paragon Café, which has been in Rathdowne Village for nearly 25 years. In 2010, the restaurant changed ownership and the new owners refurbished the building and décor to create a classic European environment with a new menu. The establishment is charming and adds a bit of sophistication to Rathdowne Village.
On their breakfast menu are many classic dishes, including omelettes and baked eggs, but I love the truffle scrambled eggs with parmesan and chives on toasted sourdough ($ 16). It is such a simple dish, but the truffle adds that zing for me. The coffees are good and the service friendly. Breakfast costs around $ 20 per person.
P. S. I really like their website! Maybe too much going on at times, but it’s cool nonetheless.