It's no secret that I love breakfast and as anyone who has ever travelled to Asia knows it is pretty much non existent. Don't get me wrong, of course they eat breakfast but you won't find cereal, toast, muesli or bacon and eggs on the menu. In this part of the world breakfast, lunch and dinner are all very similar with rice and dumplings standard breakfast items. So after spending two weeks in China it's safe to say I was having serious breakfast withdrawals. Two friends and I decided to try somewhere new for Saturday morning breakfast and ended up at Eurovida in Paddington.
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| Toasted Muesli |
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| Menu |
Eurovida is situated on Given Tce directly opposite Fundies Organic Cafe and Pandemonium. On arrival we had the choice of sitting inside or outside and as it was a pretty miserable day we opted for inside away from the cold and rain. As we were seated our drinks order was taken, two skinny lattes and one skinny cappuccino, and we began looking over the breaky menu. I thought Eurovida had a good breakfast menu, with a selection of both hot, cold, sweet and savoury options available. A couple of options grabbed my eye, particularly the corn and dill cakes with salmon, sour cream and rocket and Euorovida's toasted muesli with yogurt and mixed berries. One of my dining companions immediately decided on the muesli which made my decision of corn and dill cakes easy because I like when everyone orders something different. However, I asked to substitute the smoked salmon for leg ham but was told the kitchen only had enough leg ham for the egg's Benedict so the salmon became bacon instead. Our remaining diner also quickly decided on his order of the baked savoury mince, egg, cheese, flaky pastry and tomato relish. We also convinced him to get the orange ricotta crepes so we could each have a little taste.
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| Skinny Lattes |
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| Skinny Cappuccino |
The coffee came out shortly after placing our breakfast order and was Piazza D'Oro blend. I have heard mixed reviews about the coffee at Eurovida but thought my skinny cappuccino was quite good but perhaps a little too much froth. Our food came out a reasonable time after and looked rather impressive. The corn and dill cakes were well cooked, having a crisp outer layer but still moist on the inside. The combination of the cakes, sour cream and bacon all went really well together and were filling and delicious. My only slight criticism is some kind of relish might have been a nice accompaniment just to had a little bit of sweetness to cut through the salty and savoury flavours. The muesli looked quite good, served layered in a tall glass with yogurt and milk. It met with no complaints but the mixed berries appeared to be frozen. The savoury mince was a big winner, not lasting long at all. It resembled a pie on the plate which was not at all what I expected the dish to look like. On cutting into the flaky pastry, the mince, fried egg and cheese were clearly visible and the tomato relish received a big tick of approval. The orange crepes were both visually and taste wise the least impressive meal of the morning. I have a massive sweet tooth but found the crepes to be completely one dimensional and unappealing. There was no sweetness to the dish which was needed to cut through the overwhelming citrus flavours. The crepes were meant to be accompanied by a vanilla bean sauce but this was either missing or overpowered by the sourness of the orange.
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| Baked Mince |
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| Corn and Dill Cakes |
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| Orange Ricotta Crepes |
All in all breakfast at Eurovida was an enjoyable experience. The cafe has a great location and views of the city from the back portion but is situated around tough competition. The breakfast menu was strong but a further two or three options would have been nice. If you like savoury breakfast then I recommend giving Eurovida a try but if you are a sweet breakfast fanatic either chose another cafe or order there warm bread and butter pudding!
