Adelaide Eatery Adventures

I visited Adelaide for the first time over the weekend and took the opportunity to try a couple of local cafes. I was really impressed with the food scene in Glenelg, particularly the coffee and cafes. There were too many cafes and not enough meals in a long weekend to try them all. Here is a snapshot of my cafe adventures in the city of churches.

Zest Cafe Gallery

Skinny Cappuccino

Located just off Jetty Rd in Glenelg, Zest Cafe Gallery is a cute cafe offering a range of all day breakfast and lunch selections. Arriving around 9:30am I was in the market for breakfast, in particular I was in the mood for my usual order of a skinny cappuccino and muesli. On offer in the muesli department was Zest's own house blend with milk ($6.90), with Greek yogurt ($8.90) or with Greek yogurt and berry compote or yogurt and fresh fruit ($9.40). I decided upon the muesli with Greek yogurt and fresh fruit.

Muesli with fresh fruit

My skinny cappuccino arrived quickly and was accompanied by a complimentary spiral pastry biscuit which was a nice touch. I'm not sure what coffee blend Zest used but it was a great cup of coffee. A moment later my muesli arrived. It was an impressive looking platter served as a mixture of oats, dried apricot, figs and nuts topped with the fresh fruit which consisted of segments of mandarin, halved grapes and slices of apple. This bowl was accompanied by a side of Greek yogurt and milk to add to your own liking. I don't usually enjoy milk with my muesli but had to add a small amount to the muesli as there was not quite enough yogurt.

I thoroughly enjoyed my breakfast at Zest Cafe Gallery and would love to return to try other some of there other breakfast and lunch options.



Grind It



Grind It is a cafe also located just off Jetty Rd in Glenelg. During my time in Adelaide I visited this cafe twice, once for lunch and once for breakfast. On my first visit I ordered a skinny cappuccino and a wrap from the lunch menu. The skinny cappuccino ($3.30) was great and made from Adelaide's own AAA Diamond Coffee. Grind It offers 10 sand which options ($9) available on baguette, rotti or Italian bread in addition to its main lunch items of gourmet burgers '(lamb, veggie), salads (grilled haloumi, nutty Asian slaw, fatoush) and house made soup. I decided upon the hummus, avocado, fresh tomato, cucumber and lettuce on rotti and added chicken for an extra $2.00. The house made rotti wrap was delicious and the chicken had been marinated in a light honey & mustard seed dressing. All the ingredients were very fresh and I would have to rate this as the best lunch wrap I have had. I would order this again in a heartbeat.

 

Chicken & Hummus Rotti

My second visit to Grind It was two days later and this time I was joined by a friend. We arrived about 12.30pm on a Sunday and the cafe was busy as it was prime time for the weekend brunch/lunch crowd. We were able to steal two of the few remaining seats at the long, high bench in the centre of the cafe and were asked if we would like a coffee straight away. I went with my skinny cappuccino which I had enjoyed a few days earlier and my friend went with a mocha. As we were seated near the kitchen we were able to see the stream of delicious looking breakfast orders coming out to other diners which convinced us both to order from the breakfast menu. My guest decided to have the 'Veggie Breaky' ($15) which featured 2 eggs (any way), roasted tomato, sauteed mushrooms, zucchini fritter and Turkish toast. I on the other hand changed my mind about 3 times but eventually ordered the 'Sam I Am' ($16) which was pesto and fetta scrambled eggs on rye with grilled ham (avocado added), a cute play on the Dr Seuss' green eggs and ham.

Skinny Cappuccino

Both breakfasts were very tasty. A highlight of the Veggie Breaky was the zucchini fritter as it was crisp on the outside, soft on the inside and packed full of flavour. The pesto and fetta scrambled eggs were definitely something I would not usually ordered but I really enjoyed the flavour combination of the pesto with the eggs. However, the grilled ham was a slight let down as it seemed like it was just sliced ham from a packet rather then fresh produce like everything else the cafe offered. I really enjoyed my rye toast, especially when spread with the cafe's house made strawberry jam.



Sam I am with avocado



Veggie Breaky

Grind It is the sort of trendy cafe that you might find in Paddington or James St. They serve really great coffee and food and I would highly recommend visiting it if you ever find yourself in Glenelg!

Gossips Wine & Espresso Bar

Gossips Wine & Espresso Bar located in the Toowong Village shopping complex is without a doubt my parent’s favourite cafe. They are serial weekend lunchers at this establishment and every now and again I join them for a meal. The cafe is located in the upper gallery, overlooking the lower levels of the centre. Gossips offer breakfast (all day on weekends), lunch and dinner on Thursdays (late night shopping). The lunch menu is quite extensive offering toasted sandwiches, gourmet Turkish/focaccia/Panini’s, burgers, pizza, salads and soups while the breakfast menu offers all the stock standard options from bacon and eggs to pancakes (no muesli unfortunately).



Skinny Cap

Arriving at the cafe around 12.30pm it was well and truly into full lunch service mode. We seated ourselves and within five or so minutes a waitress was over to take our order. My parent's being regulars at the cafe have their set order so we placed our food and coffee order at the same time. A round of three skinny cappuccino’s and two 'Deli' gourmet toasted Turkish breads consisting of leg ham, sun-dried tomato, olives, avocado and cheese for them and for me the 'New Yorker' toasted focaccia consisting of turkey, avocado, cranberry, lettuce and cheese. On other Gossip lunch occasions I have ordered the Gourmet Lamb Burger, fruit toast with strawberry jam and scrambled eggs with avocado, haloumi and bacon. All of these meals were thoroughly enjoyed, particularly the lamb burger and fruit toast! But I was in a sandwich mood this day.




Turkey Focaccia

The coffee took about 10 minutes to arrive after ordering which I thought was a respectable wait considering how busy the cafe was. Gossips use Piazza Doro Espresso which was smooth, strong and not to hot, just the way I like my coffee to be. In the time it took me to just about finish my coffee our food had arrived. All three sandwiches were perfectly toasted, having a golden texture and crunch to the bread. The Deli toasted Turkish breads were highly enjoyed as usual, I guess this is why they continue to keep ordering them! My New Yorker on focaccia was far tastier then I had anticipated. I love the classic combination of turkey, avocado, cheese and cranberry but the addition of the toasted herbed focaccia bread really impressed.



Deli Turkish

Gossips Wine & Espresso Bar is a great cafe to enjoy a coffee and meal at if you are in the Toowong vicinity. They have a wide range of selections bound to satisfy everyone’s cravings. On looking over the drinks menu I noticed a new addition of gourmet milkshakes including flavours such as hazelnut, white chocolate and rose & lychee which all sound super tempting. For the sweet tooths there are also numerous, cakes, scones and my personal favourite, Byron Bay Cookies for sale at the counter.  Apart from the good food and coffee, a real highlight of Gossips is the service. The wait staff are very friendly, attentive, fast and one of the reasons why my parents go back week after week.

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!

Anouk

Menu

A friend from Sydney was in town and we usually catch up over breaky at Comfort at My Table in Milton but for this visit we decided to try somewhere new. We hit Paddington with the intention of eating at Eurovdia but without even realising we ended up a couple of doors up at Anouk. For a Thursday morning in a regular working week Anouk was very busy! We arrived just after 8:30am and there were only two or three spare tables. We were greeted and shown to our table very quickly and were given menu's and told the front mirror also contained the days specials.

skinny cappuccino

The breakfast menu offered a lot of appetizing choices and the specials board had a further five or six items. I was tempted to order about three different dishes but instead settled with the Anouk house granola with natural yogurt and berry compote ($9.50 + $3.50 extra for berry compote). My guest ordered off the specials board, avocado and haloumi on sourdough with poached eggs and we both went with a skinny cappuccino as our drinks ($3.50). The coffee was Merlo and arrived at the table within about 5 minutes of ordering, good service! Within 10 minutes of ordering, breakfast was already on the table.

 

Granola

The portion sizing's were generous without being excessive, leaving two satisfied customers! The house made granola was some of the best cafe muesli I have had and is available for sale in take home packs marketed as "Yumola Granola" for $7.00. Other items that sounded tempting included blueberry waffles, crab omelet with Parmesan, herbs and sourdough and the chicken skewers with flat bread (a strange choice for breakfast, but tempting nonetheless!).

 

Haloumi & avocado sourdough

 All in all the Anouk experience was completely enjoyable with good service, good food and good coffee. It was clear that the cafe is used to being busy and is well equipped to handle busy services. I would definitely return for breakfast but would be keen to test out the lunch menu.