Hamptons Home Living

Skinny Cap

I have been eager to try Hamptons Home Living since I read about it in Fiona Donnelly's 'Bites' column a few months back. So after an early morning of exercise I ventured there with two other cafe enthusiast's keen to try the St. Ali coffee and kick start the day with a bit of breaky. Upon arrival we were warmly greeted by the owner (Luke Stringer) and told to take a seat anywhere we liked. Even though it was a cool morning in Brisbane we opted for the back veranda as the city views are pretty great from the deck! Lucky for us there was a gas heater that Luke promptly turned on to keep us warm. Breakfast menu'swere immediately placed in front of us and our coffee order was taken straight away. The three of us pretty much always order the same coffee's (skinny cappuccino, skinny latte, regular latte) but I would have been interested to have seen a drinks menu for what else Hamptons offer in the beverage department. Oh well, next time!




Apple Bircher Muesli

Within minutes our coffee's were ready and our breakfast orders were taken. The St. Ali coffee well and truly lived up to the hype. Smooth, strong and sweet, I think its the first time I have never needed raw sugar in my coffee. For breakfast I ordered the Apple Bircher Muesli ($12) as I am a big muesli fan and my dining companions ordered the baked eggs with tomato and thyme ($15) and the Hamptons Full Breakfast ($22).



Baked Eggs

Hamptons offers two versions of the baked eggs, one with tomato and thyme and the other with chorizo, both served with Persian fetta and sourdough. As my friend is vegetarian she went with the tomato and thyme version and requested the dish without the Persian fetta. Luke said he was more then happy to accommodate but informed her that he also didn't like fetta and in fact Persian fetta is a different species to regular fetta and it adds a great dimension to the dish when melted through the eggs. His enthusiasm was enough to convince her to go give the Persian fetta a try. She commented the baked eggs were delicious and as Luke had said, the fetta wasn't noticeable when melted through the mixture of egg, tomato and thyme. The Hamptons Full Breakfast is the cafe's version of the big breakfast featuring bacon, eggs, hash brown, mushrooms and thyme  leavain sourdough. On this occasion the mushrooms were substituted for chorizo and the dish was a definant winner. The Apple Bircher Muesli was a filling mixture of dried figs, apricots, oats, hazelnuts, honey and yogurt with a fanned apple for decoration and was completely delicious!



Hamptons Breakfast

The presentation of all three dishes was spectacular and the attention to detail of the cafe decor was impeccable. When reading the menu it's obvious Hampton's focus on highlighting good quality, local, fresh produce. As I am a bit of a sweet tooth my only criticism of the breakfast menu was there was no sweet dish on offer. The addition of pancakes, waffles, french toast or banana bread would really complete the menu in my opinion. In saying this, Hamptons does offer sweet treats such as Cheesecake & Fudge Brownie slice, numerous cupcakes supplied by Cakes by Judy C and other mini pastries such as caramel tarts, bounty slice to name but a few. All in all, Hamptons Home Living is a perfect addition to Paddington and no doubt I will be back sooner rather then later!

C'est La Vie



Cappuccino

Everyone has those days where they find themselves running errand after errand. Well for me, Wednesday was one of those days and it just so happened lunch time rolled around during my trip to Indooroopilly Shopping Centre. For those of you who prefer eating at a cafe rather then the food court there are several options inside Indooroopilly including The Coffee Club, Cafe One, The Shingle Inn, XS and C'est La Vie. More often then not I end up at either XS or C'est La Vie because they serve decent food and coffee for a decent price and with great speed but on this particular day I decided I was going to eat at The Shingle Inn. As I was about to place my order at the Shingle Inn, the lady serving the group in front of me warned them there was a 20 minute wait on food. I could not understand this as the cafe was less then half full and the shopping centre was not that busy. I quickly abandoned my position in the Shingle Inn line and headed up a couple of levels to C'est La Vie.



Chicken Panini & Salad

After a quick perusal of the menu our order of skinny cappuccinos, ham and cheese toasted sandwiches and an open grilled chicken panini with salad was placed ($45 for 3 coffees with sandwiches). As always the service was quick with coffee on the tables within 5 minutes and lunch another few minutes after that. The coffee was Bel aroma espresso and was okay but not quite hot enough. The ham and cheese toasted sandwiches looked a little sad but no complaints were heard on there taste. I was impressed with the grilled chicken panini as it was well toasted and the chicken had some tasty, mildly spicy seasoning. Also, rather then the side salad being a sad piece of lettuce with a token tomato it was a healthy serving of Caesar salad which was pleasantly surprising!

Toasted Ham & Cheese

C'est La Vie also offers daily specials as well as there regular menu. One of the lunch specials was a Cajun chicken panini with bacon, cheese, salad and a beetroot relish which sounded delicious but was heavier lunch then I felt like ordering. Another plus is they offer all day breakfast 7 days a week which gets them extra brownie points in my book! If you find yourself after a good cafe style meal when shopping at Indooroopilly I would recommend giving C'est La Vie a try!

Couture Cupcakes

Skinny Cappuccino

Mid Sunday morning rolled around and after spending the majority of Saturday glued to my university textbooks, a study break was more then welcome. A friend suggested meeting up for a coffee and cupcake which sounding like the perfect way to spend time away from the endless notes I had been revising. So off to Couture Cupcakes it was for a morning tea treat and caffeine fix.



Cookies & Cream Cupcake



Couture Cupcakes is a boutique cupcake shop on Macgregor Terrace in Bardon. They have 30 different cupcake flavours on their menu including classic flavours (choc-vanilla, red velvet, , raspberry), gourmet flavours (nutella, rocky road, choc-peppermint) and deluxe flavours (black Forrest, lemon meringue) but rotate through a daily baking schedule, offering 6 flavour options weekdays and 9 choices on weekends. In addition to cupcakes, a small breakfast menu and medium lunch menu are available as well as many other goodies such as brownies, muffins, banana bread and a cupcakes best accompaniment, coffee.





Choc Hazelnut Cupcake

After looking over the cupcakes on offer for the day I quickly decided on the choc hazelnut cupcake to go with my skinny cappuccino ($8.45) and my friend went with the cookies and cream cupcake with a latte ($8.45). The coffee was Elixir and was enjoyable but the hero of the morning tea was definitely the cupcakes. Made with chocolate cake, iced with a chocolate-hazelnut butter cream and garnished with a Ferrero Roche, it was delicious! The cookies and cream cupcake was also a chocolate cake base but was iced with a cookies and cream butter cream and topped with an Oreo, yum! Both cupcakes were very well made, had the right cake to icing ratio and the garnishes were a delightful extra touch!

 

Breaky & Lunch Menu



Not only is Couture Cupcakes a great place for a coffee and morning or afternoon tea treat but the owner and staff are delightful and attentive which makes the experience even more enjoyable! I look forward to returning soon for breakfast or lunch (and another cupcake of course!).



Java Lounge

As end of semester exams quickly approach I found myself in need of stationary. In my opinion shopping for study supplies counts as studying, so I headed to Officeworks to begin a long next four weeks! Being the first official day of winter, it was fresh outside and I quickly found myself in need of a hot coffee. Conveniently enough it was also lunch time so I decided to stop in at Java Lounge in Paddington on my way home for a bite to eat with my Dad. Java Lounge is a staple of the Paddington cafe scene and offers a consistent all day breakfast and brunch/lunch menu 7 days a week. In the few years I have been eating at Java Lounge the menu has remained the same, offering simple but tasty cafe style meals.

cappuccino

Approaching Java Lounge just after 11am the cafe was the quietest I had ever seen it with only three or so other groups of customers. It was quite the contrast as I am used to seeing the cafe bursting at the seams! However, I definitely wasn't complaining as we were easily able to obtain a table inside away from the cold! Another benefit of having an early lunch meant we were quickly seated and coffee orders taken within the first 1-2 minutes! A quick look over the menu and we both had settled on  lunch options, mine being the Chicken Turkish with avocado and a mango chutney and Dad's being the toasted Leg Ham sandwich with cheese and tomato.

Chicken Turkish

Our skinny cappuccinos arrived at the table and it appeared the coffee was no longer the local Frisky Goat blend but rather Piazza Doro. Nevertheless it was extremely well made with a generous dusting of chocolate powder but perhaps not quite enough froth for a cappuccino. In the time it took me to finish my coffee, lunch was on the table. The Chicken Turkish was lightly toasted and accompanied by a side salad. The combination of the chicken, avocado and mango chutney was simple but delicious and the side salad featured a nice light tangy dressing which brightened up an otherwise average salad. The ham, tomato and cheese sandwich was well toasted and of generous size. A great delivery of a classic lunchtime sandwich.

Leg Ham Sandwich

After finishing lunch and heading to the register to pay I found myself standing in front of the deli/sweets cabinet.Straight away I noticed the banana bread staring back at me and it appeared to be the same that I fell in love with at the Java Lounge owner's other venture, Cockadoodle Cafe in Red Hill. As tempted as I was to get a slice to take home, I resisted and decided it would be a good reward once actually completing some study! Java Lounge is a great cafe with plenty of options for an all day breakfast or lunch and I will definitely keep coming back!