Backwater is an eccentric eatery downtown in coastal Melbourne, Florida. The restaurant dishes out delicious breakfast/lunch items and is only open until 2pm!
Let me tell you, this place is good. No. This place is INCREDIBLE! It gained a reputation in the area and lived up to every single thing I had heard about. In fact, it has claimed the spot of my favorite breakfast place in Central Florida.
The decor of the restaurant felt equally rustic as homey, from the Mason Jar lights, to the roadmap crafted wallpaper crowding the bathrooms. Various taxidermy critters welcomed us, alongside the friendly staff and Floridian portraits.
An important thing to note was the hand drawn map showing locations where all of the fresh ingredients came from. Everything aside from the teas was sourced from Florida (!), with a majority coming from somewhere in the Central area.
The menu features southern inspired takes on both breakfast and lunch favorites.
I’m sure the lunchier options are delicious, but believe me when I say: COME FOR BREAKFAST!!!
A cool feature of this restaurant is the in-table griddles, where you can make your own pancakes…. WHAT!?! They also have special seasonal pancake batters, with February’s being Red Velvet. There are a number of batter add-ons, like Oreos, along with colored batter. Does it get better?!
Short answer, yes. We chose not to partake in this experience, choosing from the set menu. We all very much enjoyed the DIY pancakes from The Old Sugar Mill up near Daytona Beach.
The first course of the morning was Cold Brew coffee, on tap from Wicked Pineapple, a local shop in Satellite Beach.
It was nothing to write home about, but was pretty good. I would have liked to see their take on “craft coffees” considering their inventive mimosa creations.
Both Carolin and I opted for the Hambone Benny, a ciabatta-based eggs Benedict loaded onto a GIANT piece of bone in ham. THEY. WERE. TO. DIE. FOR.
Everything about this dish summons dreams of that decadent first bite. The hollandaise sauce, the perfectly poached egg, the toasted ciabatta, the salty moist ham, it was PERFECTION.
As if the meal couldn’t get any better, our lemon poppyseed pancakes came out.
Let me say, I’m a big fam of Lemon Poppyseed Muffins, but I think they may have been dethroned by these pancakes. Just the reminder of their existence makes me want to hop into my car and make the 80 minute trek to Melbourne. These pancakes alone are worth a trip to the beach.
The light, summery flavor of the lemon is offset by the hint of buttermilk from the pancake to create the perfect combination for your tastebud’s delight. Every bite felt like a trip to heaven.
All-in-all, Backwater is a must visit. As mentioned, it has since become my favorite breakfast restaurant in the Orlando area, yes even better than Mickey Waffles! I will be looking forward to my next trip back.
Also, Melbourne Beach? Pretty awesome!
Turquoise Skies 