Salt

I haven't dined at Salt in Rosalie since before the 2011 Brisbane floods but this morning I found myself finally returning to the cafe which used to be one of my absolute favourite places for breakfast and coffee. I was catching up with a friend who suggested we meet at Salt and I was excited as I began reminiscing over all the great meals I had had there.

Arriving about 9am, Salt still had quite a few customers for a Wednesday morning but was nowhere near as busy as they get on a weekend. I had my choice of table and opted for an outside booth. One thing that has not changed about Salt is the way they structure their menu; offering additional lighter options for weekday breakfasts that are not available on weekends. Looking over the menu, it was substantially the same as I remember it with items incurring small changes based on the produce available. I wasn't much in the mood for a heavy breakfast even though the breakfasts I saw coming out of the kitchen looked amazing. I decided to order something smaller from the weekday menu and it being a warmer morning was immediately drawn to the bircher muesli as I remember it being quite good. I also ordered my standard skinny cappuccino and my friend who had already had breakfast opted for an iced coffee to cool down.

Weekday menu

Weekday & Weekend menu

The coffee's appeared with lightening speed and the muesli was quick to follow. The coffee was well made and had delicious froth and chocolate topping. The bircher muesli was amazingly presented and absolutely delicious. As I have mentioned in a previous post, Lure on Latrobe has my favourite breakfast muesli but I think Salt's has just over taken it. The marinated strawberries brought a nice sweetness to the yogurt and worked perfectly with the mango and raisins. I would definitely order this again. As all meals at Salt, the portion size was generous and I was left feeling extremely satisfied.

Iced Coffee

Skinny Cap

Bircher Muesli

I really enjoyed my breakfast and coffee at Salt and was reminded why I used to come here all the time. I can't believe it has taken me so long to come back but I definitely will not let another year go by again before returning!

Elephant Rock Cafe

As it finally starts to feel like summer in Queensland I made the most of the warm weather and headed south to the Gold Coast for the weekend. A relaxed weekend isn't complete without Sunday brunch so it was off to Currumbin to see what we could find. There were several cafes on the beach front including The Beach Shack and Deck Cafe (which were both very busy) but on this occasion we were headed to Elephant Rock Cafe.

Breakfast Menu

View

Elephant Rock Cafe overlooks Currumbin beach and has two levels which is great for the busy Sunday breakfast/brunch crowds. On this particular Sunday the weather was perfect and the cafe was busy but we were able to immediately grab one of the last tables on the lower deck. Looking over the menu I was impressed with the selections available but decided to go with one of my favourite Sunday breakfast options of corn and zucchini fritters with bacon, mushrooms, tomato and cream fraiche. On this occasion I also added a side of avocado and ordered my standard skinny cappuccino. My Dad was drawn to the savoury pumpkin pie with leg ham, asparagus and tomato salsa but decided to try something a little different for him and went with the breakfast bruschetta (pesto covered ciabatta with tomato, haloumi, mushrooms, rocket and poached eggs) with a side of bacon. Mum on the other hand decided to stick a little closer to her favourite Sunday brunch order and went with the bacon and poached eggs with tomato but instead of thick cut toast opted for the toasted Turkish bread. Both also ordered their standard skinny cappuccinos.

Skinny Cap

Segafreda

The blend of coffee used at Elephant Rock is Segafredo and was made well. The only criticism I have was the coffee was a little slow to arrive. It reached the table after around a 15 minute wait and only a minute or so before the food (which was quite quick to arrive). The zucchini and corn fritters were delicious and bacon were both delicious and crisp and worked really well in contrast to the cool, refreshing avocado and creme fraiche. The only criticism of the meal was they forgot my mushrooms but lucky for me Dad didn't want his which worked out well for me. Both Mum and Dad really enjoyed their breakfast with Mum saying that it was up there with the top cafe breakfasts she has had, Dad agreed.

Corn & zucinni fritters

Breakfast brushcetta

Bacon and poached eggs

Elephant Rock Cafe is a fantastic cafe with great coffee, food, staff and views! I would definitely return again for breakfast and have heard they have amazing burgers at lunch which I would love to try.

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.

Pandemonium Cafe

On Saturday I caught up with a friend over breakfast. My friend suggested we dine at Pandemonium in Paddington and I agreed as I hadn't been to this cafe in over a year. Pandemonium is a 70s style cafe with furniture that reminds me of my grandparents house. They serve all day breakfast, lunch, coffee and sweat treats.

Menu

After a hard morning of exercise we were both more then ready for a satisfying breakfast. Firstly I placed an order for my usual skinny cappuccino but my breakfast companion opted for water as she was feeling quite parched from her morning exercise. Looking over the menu I definitely was in the mood for cold breakfast so without much hesitation I decided on the Natural Muesli topped with natural yoghurt, cinnamon & mixed berries. My friend informed me she was currently having a love affair with feta so was immediately drawn to the spinach & feta omelette with thick cut toast. The menu stated the omelette was made with 3 eggs but not wanting a Rambo sized meal she asked for a 2 egg omelette which the kitchen was more then happy to oblige.

Skinny cap

My skinny cappuccino arrived after a short wait and the froth and chocolate was to die for, the best I have had. It was the perfect pre-crusor to my well made coffee and was a great start to the breakfast. After a short wait both our meals arrived. Unfortunately Pandemonium committed one of my pet hates with the muesli. On the menu it stated the muesli was served with yoghurt but upon arrival it had a dollop of yoghurt and a side of milk. For me, milk and muesli with a dollop of yoghurt doesn't appeal. I asked the waitress if instead of the milk I could have more yoghurt and she kindly obliged, returning with a further serving of yoghurt. The side of yoghurt still wasn't as much as I would expect for a good yoghurt to muesli ratio, leaving my breakfast a bit dry. Also, the serve of mixed berries was fairly minuscule which was disappointing. However, the natural muesli blend was delicious and featured plenty of nuts, rolled oats and dried fruits. It was a different story with the spinach and feta omelette. It was perfectly cooked and the thick cut toast was nicely toasted, this breakfast was a real winner.

Spinach & feta omelette

Natural muesli

Pandemonium is a funky cafe that serves great food. Even though it may not sound like I enjoyed my experience, I have eaten here many times before and never once been disappointed. When it comes to muesli I can be quite picky about how it's served and everyone has there own preference! In my opinion Pandemonium serve Brisbane's best coffee thickshakes and I also rate the omelette's and thin pancakes. I will definitely be back for both of those in the near future.

Flute Food & Wine

I haven't had breakfast at Rosalie since before the January floods, so my family and I took the opportunity of a spontaneous weekend visit from my Sydney based brother to try out Flute Food & Wine's popular breakfast offerings. The Rosalie precinct is home to many of my favourite places to eat such as Mint's Vietnamese, Halim's Indian and Sing's Asian Kitchen but when it comes to breakfast the two major players are definitely Salt and Flute. Arriving at Rosalie just before 9am on a Sunday, Salt was already quite busy so we headed around the corner to find Flute a lightly quieter and decided we would eat here.



Menu



Menu



Upon being seated we were immediately asked if we would like drinks and placed an order for three skinny cappuccinos, two in a cup and one in a mug and an orange juice. The orange juice's arrival was near instantaneous and a single cappuccino in a cup followed suit but the remaining two coffees lingered a bit. They arrived at the table in more then adequate time after placing the drinks order but the staggered nature of deliver of the drinks was a little strange. The mug of cappuccino was an amazing serve, it was very large and resembled a small bowl rather then a mug! The coffee was Segafredo and was really really good, one of the better cups of coffee I have had in a while.

Orange Juice

Skinny cap (cup)

The menu at Flute changes with season and was completely new since my last visit. There were several options that appealed to me, the toasted oat muesli with yogurt and fresh fruit, the avocado and haloumi plate and the chocolate crepes. In the end I really liked the sound of the herbed potato & mozzarella cake with honeyed bacon, poached eggs and avocado. My mum decided she was after a traditional hot breakfast of honey roasted bacon and scrambled eggs with tomato jam and Turkish pide. My dad really liked the look of the beef bacon and cheese breakfast pie with poached eggs and my brother wanting to get something different to everyone ordered the savoury mince on sourdough toast with poached eggs.

Savoury mince w eggs

Potato & mozzarella cake w bacon

The food came out after approximately 10-15minutes which I consider light speed for a Sunday breakfast. The portions of all four meals were very generous and all plated to look extremely appealing. Fresh cracked pepper was offered and mum and I obliged. My breakfast was really delicious. Cutting into the eggs, the glossy yolk oozed out, signs of a perfectly poached egg. Looking across to the breakfast pie and savoury mince I noticed both sets of eggs were also perfectly done. My herbed potato and mozzarella cakes were well done, crispy on the outside and dense yet soft on the inside. The herb flavouring was quite strong and the mozzarella subtle but I could only manage to eat one of the two cakes. The bacon was nice and crispy and the avocado featured some sort of sweet sauce which I really enjoyed.  The breakfast pie was a massive hit, no better compliment then an empty plate. The savoury mince completely filled my brother and he couldn't quite finish it. I had a small taste of the mince and was surprised by how sweet it was, similar to the sweetness found in BBQ sauce. The scrambled eggs and bacon was also a massive serve that was thoroughly enjoyed. I love the toasted Turkish pide that was served with this breakfast and managed to sneak a piece for myself.

Bacon & scrambled eggs

Breakfast pie

 

Rosalie is a fantastic precinct and Sunday breakfast at Flute was a highly enjoyable experience. The food, venue and coffee are all fantastic and the service attentive. I will no doubt be back sooner rather then later and look forward to trying the muesli, fruit toast and chocolate crepes.

 

Campos

I haven't been to Campos in about a year, so when a friend of mine who lives at Kangaroo Point invited me to Saturday breakfast at this Wandoo St. cafe I was quite excited. Campos are renowned for their coffee, edgy food and trendy decor and are a popular weekday and weekend hang out for cafe connoisseurs, evident by the constant stream of both dine in and takeaway customers. On this particularly windy Saturday morning the three of us were able to nab the last indoor table.

Menu

Latte

Once seated we were able to immediately place our drinks order before looking over the weekend menu. I ordered my favourite skinny cappuccino where as my friend went with a skinny caramel latte. No coffee for our third breakfaster as she doesn't like the taste - shame on her! Reading over the menu I was tempted by most of the options. Being around 10.30am I wasn't sure whether to order a breakfast option or to go with a more lunchy type meal. I have had the Campo's version of the big breakfast (the fry up), the muesli and the fruit toast before and loved all of them. One of my breakfast companions raved about the Cinnamon & Sugar potato doughnuts and we all liked the look of the chicken ciabatta and the chocolate ricotta pancakes. In the end my friend decided she felt more like lunch so went with the Chicken Ciabatta with avocado, bacon, tomato accompanied with chips & aoli. Recently, I have started to really enjoy porridge so I decided to branch out from my trusted muesli and fruit toast and go with the Vanilla & Custard Porridge with caramelized strawberries but I did get a small side of Greek yogurt to go with my porridge. Our third diner, who was visiting from Sydney,  had heard both of us rave about Campo's muesli so straight away her mind was made up she would be ordering the Toasted Macadamia muesli with rose water berries and Greek yogurt.



Skinny Cap



Porridge



 After a short wait our coffees arrived and were well and truly up to the high Campos standard. About 15 minutes later our food arrived. All three dishes were presented spectacularly, which made them even more inviting. The porridge was delicious, easily the best porridge I have eaten. The caramelized strawberries were soft and sweet and the porridge had nice flavours of vanilla with hints of cinnamon. The side of Greek yogurt I swirlled around the top as I enjoy the contrast of warm savoury porridge with cool, sweet yogurt. The porridge was such a massive serving I probably ate around half before being to full to continue! The chicken ciabatta met with a similar fate. It was a massive serving of fresh ciabatta bread, chicken, avocado and bacon and could only be half consumed before my friend reached bursting point! The muesli was probably the smallest breakfast and was just able to be finished by our remaining breakfast guest. She loved the rose water berries and yogurt and was full for most of the day from the meal!



Chicken Ciabatta



Muesli





Campos is a great cafe whether you are in the mood for a takeaway coffee or a long weekend breakfast. The menu has its trusted staples such as the fry up, muesli, fruit toast and eggs Benedict but also is ever changing and mixes things up based on produce and chef's creativity. They also offer delicious sweets such as honeycomb cheesecake, chocolate and beetroot mud cake, chocolate afghan biscuits and rocky road. We all really enjoyed our late Saturday breakfast and I definitely am not going to let another year go by before visiting again!

Eurovida



 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.



Toasted Muesli

 

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.


Skinny Lattes



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.

Baked Mince

Corn and Dill Cakes

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!