Saturday brunch at one of my favorite OC cities became one of my unforgettable birthday celebrations for this 5-Footer. Many favorable descriptions in this restaurant — named 1 of 2019’s Best New Restaurants of the OC from Orange Coast Magazine — popped into my mind: simple, relaxing, mellow, joyful, and subliminally unpretentious.

Sitting outdoors with a great Lido Bay view of the iconic boats, yachts, and cruises for weddings/events with a satisfying heater slightly above where I sat I enjoyed this seemingly little feast with my fiance, his brother/future bro in-law and his S.O.

For the sake of my birthday I blissfully quenched on their seasonal yet wonderfully vibrant F’Rose Cocktail. I relished every sip so slowly, and the mixture was beautifully done that my tongue detected subtle softness of the alcohol itself.

The girlfriend of my fiance’s brother happily shared the Avocado Huarache, consisted of heat flatbread jalapeño, ricotta spread, and Malibu honey lemon vinaigrette. It sounded quite fancy, but once I bit into a piece, this dish didn’t play games with my tongue. Instead, all ingredients harmonized throughout the bite.

Because I had another birthday gathering coming up within hours, I chose to eat their Fried Egg “Pytti Panna” Hash, embedding the potatoes, beets, squash, zucchini, onion, arugula, horseradish cream, and tender smoked salmon. It’s one of the most zesty and lightly feeling dishes I’ve ever consumed, and this entire dish indeed left my tummy in satisfactory level — neither feeling stuffed nor inadequate.

But the creme de la creme of all the foods from Malibu Farm Lido was their phenomenally delicious Fried Egg Sandwich. I admittedly rolled my eyes initially at the price tag of this $16 sandwich, but my careful bite on the fried egg, crispy bacon, arugula, havarti, perfectly soft country wheat toast, and notable lemon aioli slapped my mind unabashedly. My fiance and I were simply dumbfounded on this deceptively delicious handful.

The overall pricing may be personally higher than what I typically pay for restaurant breakfast/brunch, but the no-nonsense flavor profile from every item we ate and drank was worth every cent. This also reminded me of my wonderful foodie experience in Portland, Oregon, where I felt that practically every food I ate there had that farm-to-table concept. Malibu Farm Lido, I revisit you very soon regardless of occasion.

Malibu Farm Lido, 3420 Via Oporto #101, Newport Beach, CA 92663

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