Would you pay $7 for this 'gourmet' Aussie favourite?

Australia’s apparent love affair with deconstructed dishes has claimed another victim – our beloved Vegemite toast.

With a growing number of cafés looking for cutting edge ways to stay ahead of the game, Core Espresso in Newcastle, north of Sydney, decided to throw a unique twist on a national favourite.

But when local resident Huon Oliver decided to go for the familiar flavour for $7, he was left scratching his head at what was served up.

Far from two pieces of white bread with a dollop of butter and Vegemite on a scratched-up plate, Mr Oliver instead found himself staring at the hipster’s equivalent.

Two pieces of lightly toasted sourdough were placed adjacent to a decent serving of Vegemite that had been spread across the board in a technique more likely be spotted in an episode of My Kitchen Rules.

But perhaps the pièce de résistance was the elegant quenelle of butter carefully finished with a fine micro-herb.

“Gourmet vegemite on toast. This is just ridiculous! Tasty but ridiculous,” Mr Oliver captioned the photo that went on to cause a sensation on social media.

Instagram users expressed their amusement over the dish.

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"Hilarious. If I made it to [TV reality show] Master Chef I was going to cook this. Its (sic) called deconstructed Vegemite toast," one person wrote.

"I’d pay good dollarydoo’s (sic) to see the swift boot of justice delivered," a second person said.

But others were less than impressed.

"The vegemite (sic) smear looks awful, but the real sin is that there is a degree of urgency to butter the toast before it gets cold. Just silly!" one Instagram user said.

"I would have chucked it back," another commenter said.

But head barista Danny told Yahoo7 News she and her colleagues at Core had no intentions of chasing a Michelin star but rather were “just poking a bit of fun” at themselves.

“We’re not some ridiculous café that only serves up deconstructed meals,” she said jokingly.

“I guess it looks a bit silly. We just wanted to have some fun with it.

“A few people are complaining about the price, which I think is ridiculous, we’re not serving up Woolies sliced bread.

“It’s just a bit of fun.”