Liar Liar

Came here for brunch with a friend… I got the big fat liar and he got hash liar (?)…food portion was pretty decent, the coffees were good, however the service was a bit slow. It took us 15 mins just to try and get the waitress’s attention. This place was packed… it gets quite busy over the weekend and they don’t take bookings for weekends, so be prepared to come and queue up.

Hats off for the best coffee in Hawthorn, great service, food and … that smash avocado delish

Great Brunch!
Came on a recommendation and didn’t let me down, did have to wait 20 minutes. But i guess thats becoming the norm with good cafes these days.
Only thing I can fault is the fact that a lot of school kids seem to visit, and you do end up with a lot of teenage girls gas bagging about there relationships. So don’t come looking for a quiet brunch. Seems to always be crowded with a young vibe.

Liar Liar… it’s okay! I visited for a solo weekday lunch.
The café has a nice fitout and a great music selection, but the food is slightly overpriced compared to similar café options in the Glenferrie area.
The staff seem «almost friendly». I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I felt neither welcome nor ignored. They were all smiles when I came in, but when I declined to order coffee (settling for water) it seemed like I clearly wasn’t there for the item of which they are most proud and the mood changed. Very odd indeed.
I ordered a BLAT which was generous in size, but difficult to eat and simply okay.
I don’t see any need to go back a second time.

PhotoMonkey here — It has been a few drinks between posts due to WordMonkey back visiting London so I have had to pipe up.
Liar Liar
After hearing good word about a few places in Hawthorne but never having been up that way since we arrived, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to give one of the lauded café’s a try. So we jumped on the back of the scooter and made our way to Liar Liar in the middle of Hawthorn.
Having come back from a weekend in Sydney where friends tried to convince me that Sydney was better than Melbourne and learning that Sydney is the home of ‘the very average brunch’, I wanted something that would kick goals back in the hometown. So arriving at Liar Liar the place looked small but accommodating. Even on a long weekend Monday we only had a 3 minute wait until they seated us. Another big diff from Sydney is the service we received. The 2 girls that served us were so helpful that they were there when you needed them and invisible when they weren’t.
Decided it was time to upgrade from the standard flat white and decided to have a long black. Good time to shift gear too as when the coffee was delivered they explained it was a special 25%, 25%, 50% blend. So 2 thumbs up so far.
The owners have a limited amount of space — but geeze do they use it well. Pretty much all the space is given over to share-​tables and ambient lighting.
No disappointment on the menu as at 11am you could order off both the breakfast and lunch menus — So WordMonkey could destroy some eggs while PhotoMonkey could jump in to the sandwich selection. Having been around the traps recently we will be putting together Melbourne’s Best Pork Belly Sandwich. It seems like everyone is trying to get on the bandwagon with only a few achieving the excellence expected.
Anyways — WordMonkey decided upon Smashed avocado and feta on toast with poached eggs and candied bacon. The eggs were cooked to perfection — mouth-​coatingly gooey — apparently — which worked perfectly with the salty feta cheese. All components came together better than many other brunch places have tried. Even as an anti-​egg person — it did look good!
An Aussie English Breakfast
PhotoMonkey went with the steak sandwich which had cheese on both the steak and bottom of the bun — never too much cheese on a steak sandwich, bacon, tomato, rocket and mustard mayo. This was all topped off with a beetroot raison relish which was the perfect accompaniment of sweet to offset the savoury of the overall dish. The big test is would I have it again — and I can and will go back — not just for that dish but the half-​dozen others on offer which I will gratefully plough through.
Steak Sandwich
This is a little place off the well beaten tram-​track — but one well worth seeking out.

I’ve heard amazing things about Liar Liar and I have a sneaking suspicion that it’s one of those places that used to be sensational, then it got popular, their reputation went to their heads and the massive crowds meant the standards dropped.
I still really like the coffee here. It’s next to impossible to get a table on the weekends, but during the week it’s much more relaxed. If you live in the area, I could absolutely see this becoming a favourite… but only if you’re prepared to keep going back until you work out the right combination of barista, chef and dish on the menu that works for you.
For those of us that live across town though, it’s not worth the trip.

Indeed the person who raved about this place was once a liar, twice a liar. I was so bitterly disappointed that this place was so soulless, given my love for Three Bags Full. It was nothing but mass-​produced décor straight out of a mainstream magazine.
Perhaps people flocked here so readily because Glenferrie Road Hawthorn is quite a baron wasteland for café destinations. Perhaps it was one of those ‘by comparison’ moments. But then why did they rave? Why did they say the food was deliciously tasty if my scrambled eggs represented a cake-​like consistency? Why did they gasp over the flavour of the coffee is mine was burnt? And why did they promise friendly service when I was so snubbed?