Floyd's Diner, Downtown, Victoria

I exercise so I can eat.  Or at least, if I didn't exercise the small amount I do, I'd be a casualty for adult onset diabetes, morbid obesity and various heart ailments as I shifted my carcass around on the long walk from my car to the office.  Considering climbing one set of stairs at more than a slow pace made me breathless in the past, I'm happy that I've gotten a base level of fitness that means come the collapse of Western Civilisation I might survive the first 48 hours.  Like as a minor character who at least gets a mention in the credits with a name rather than 'IT worker corpse #3'.

However, eating the Mahoney at Floyd's to often will put me right back in the un-credited list.  Floyd's is a diner with own unbranded, rough edged charm that I head to sometimes with a bunch of fellow Ultimate discflickers.  And in my mind, because I've run up and down a field for ninety minutes, it means I can eat as big a plate of food as anyone is willing to server me.

Enter the Mahoney.  Floyd's are very proud of the Mahoney.  You can get the T-shirt, the hoodie and possible a baseball cap advertising the 'Home of the Mahoney'.   The Mahoney is whatever the kitchen wants to make you that day, and no two Mahoney's are ever the same.  They've just brought in a policy of no special requests in the Mahoney, so if you just can't stand hollandaise sauce, don't order it, you might get a triple Eggs Benedict on two brown loaves topped with fried chicken.  I do mean a loaf of bread too... portions are epic.  If you are a true gambler, you can flip 'em for the meal, double of nothing.  I never flip.  I don't like losing, and the gamble  for me is the meal, not the $30 potential bill. Plus what does one tip if you win the meal for free?

This latest trip, my Mahoney was a big scrambled egg burrito, toped with guacamole and sourcream, served with a huge helping of friend potatoes, mixed in with cheese, chicken, bacon and chilli peppers.  The breakfast fries were crisp and fluffy, with bacon grease making them double extra tasty.  I loved the spicyness mixed in with the piles of protein, and would have settled for the burrito on it's own.  Great piles of eggs, slightly creamy in texture and nestling into a big white soft taco.

I tapped out after two thirds, and my digestion has been going on for nearly twenty four hours.  I suspect it may be my last Mahoney, as my capacity for big meals seems to have dialled down from 'huge' to 'just a bit larger than average'.  But it was a good one, and I have fond memories of it already...

Otherwise at Floyd's there are other good things too.  The coffee is hot and dark and they will feed you more of it until you get high from caffeine.  The build-your-own egg white omelette (The Seinfeld) is a popular choice for those who want something tasty rather than huge, while a full order of the BC Hash on rivals the Mahoney in size.  Go for the half.

The special yesterday was a seafood quesadilla which the Brunette of My Acquaintance enjoyed (even after stealing my potatoes) with a very sensible (and well made) green salad.   The specials always seem to be interesting, if not quite as off the wall as their sister location at Spoons.

Floyd's staff are friendly and have their own sense of style, which I like.  The place doesn't pretend to be anything it's not.  It's got mix and match furniture, purple painted booths, caricatures of the staff and some of the regulars, chalk boards for the specials and a line up most weekends.