Ruby Cafe

Being the beginning of a new year I decided to try a new cafe to kick things off for 2012. Ruby Cafe located on Given Tce in Paddington opened in early December 2011 and was the breakfast destination of choice for the morning. Arriving at the cafe around 8.30am it was still relatively empty but within 30 minutes nearly every table was occupied.

Breakfast menu

Drink Menu

On arrival we were seated and supplied with water and menus. Looking over the menu I liked the look of several options but quickly focused in on two particular choices; the bircher muesli and the omelet. My two breakfast companions both liked the look of the bircher so I decided to go with the omelet for a bit of variety. Our hungriest diner decided to order two breakfasts; the bircher muesli and the coiled fennel sausage and the third diner also opted for variety and went with the classic of poached eggs on toast. Drinks wise, Ruby offers an interesting range of juice/frappes, smoothies and coffees. I decided to go with my usual skinny cappuccino whereas the other breakfasters decided to try the berry smoothie.

Skinny cappuccino

Berry smoothie

The drinks were only a short wait and the coffee blend used was one of my favourites, Vitorria. It was well made and quite sweet. The smoothie was good, not memorable, not bad just good. In my opinion the food was a little slow to arrive. I know I said the cafe was quite busy but a lot of the diners appeared to be having their morning coffee rather then breakfast, I put this down to the cafe being new. The breakfast arrived after about a 20-ish minute wait.

Pumpkin, feta & rocket omelet

Poached eggs on sourdough

The omelet was pumpkin, rocket and feta with ciabata and was really tasty. The serving size was quite small in comparison to the price ($16) and to other cafe omelets I have had which leads me to believe it was made with 2 eggs rather then 3. Nonetheless it was cooked perfectly and the ciabatta was perfectly toasted. The poached eggs on peasant sourdough ($9) was a very small meal. However, the eggs were poached perfectly, the sourdough was nicely toasted and the accompanying tomato and pepper chutney was flavourful. The coiled fennel and chili sausage served with tomato, fried egg and watercress ($15) was highly enjoyed by my breakfast companion. He also really liked the flavour the tomato and pepper chutney brought to the meal. The strawberry bircher muesli with pecan & hazelnut crumble with honey was an impressive looking meal and probably the best value breakfast at $8. However, its looks were slightly deceiving as if it hadn't have been for the pecan & hazelnut crumble and honey it would have been quite bland.

Strawberry bircher

Coiled fennel & chili sausage

All in all Ruby Cafe was a good way to kick off the new year of cafe exploration. It had some good points such as the interesting menu and flavour combinations on offer, attentiveness of the floor staff and the coffee and some not so good points such as meal size and speed of service. In saying that I'm sure speed of service will improve with time. As for meal size I understand that Ruby Cafe probably has high rent costs for its prime location but I would rather pay slightly more and receive a portion size comparable to the neighbouring cafes (Pandemonium, Anouk, Eurovida). In saying that I would still return to Ruby Cafe as there are a few more options I wouldn't mind trying.