Cafes and Things

Creamy scramble and a generous portion of chestnut and enoki mushrooms doused in truffle oil atop a sliced of toasted sourdough makes for quite a nice rainy Saturday morning. Also a handful of kale crisps tossed in for good hipster measure. Bearded Bella also serves up a decent cuppa coffee - though on the milder side for those more caffeine inclined. My buddy also enjoyed her smashed avo and quinoa brekkie. Service is super speedy and I was particularly taken by how chic the cutlery is. Two thumbs up.

I love little places like this. Even more so if it's in my neck of the woods. I decided to go with one sweet and one savoury. I went with the nut butter, honey and sea salt ($4) - the slightly gritty nut butter was laid on pretty thickly, which I like, and went very well with the honey. I couldn't really taste the salt but I still really enjoyed this. For the savoury, I had the Vegemite, butter and cheddar ($4) - the cheddar was nice and sharp, and grated over the top of Vegemite toast. I personally prefer my cheese a little meltier with my Vegemite - but it was still quite enjoyable.

👍🏼

I'm not usually one to order pasta but this was really good! This pasta dish is loaded with beef and mushrooms, and has a surprising crunch from the cornichon. The sour cream also adds a creaminess to the pasta. So hearty! 🤤

This was an interesting one to order. I'd never had a turmeric latte before - but a quick Google search of the ingredients convinced me since I'm a big fan of chai. I thought that it was very subtle in flavour - the spices come through well enough and the turmeric is the primary flavour.

The friendly team member who had made it came to check on the drink and explained that the original recipe used double the amount of ingredients but they had received feedback that the drink was too strong/heavy in the spice department. I think when I return, I'll ask if they will make it for me as it was intended. I'm pretty sure I'll be a much bigger fan if so.

I thought this was nice - the eggs, mushrooms and onions were pretty standard. The bacon though. 🥓 Incredibly thin slices of meat that slap you across the face with salty smoky meaty flavours. Want more.

It's not often you find artichoke soup on a menu. So, when I saw this - I had to order it! It was quite tasty - the earthiness of the artichoke and the charred little potatoes made for a great mid day feed.

Just what you need when walking in the sweltering heat. Chanced upon this new kid on the block just 2 doors up from where an old fave (The Plain) used to be - filling up the gaping coffee hole that was left behind on Craig Road. Only managed to grab an iced white to go this visit but based off of this cuppa, I'll defo be back. 👌🏼

Medium bodied, smooth micro foam, a solid cuppa.

So, the single kale leaf is quite sad. However, how loaded is this with mortadella slices? This was super meaty and the cured meat went very nicely with the onion jam and asiago cheese. Good but I struggled to finish it.

Chose this over my regular order of the bacon, eggs and cheddar and ... It was ok. The baecon is still best. 😬

Back at Ergon for a quick bite. Decided to try the pastrami on toast this time - another of their best selling toast items. A toasted slice of sourdough loaded with a sweet pepper spread, slices of pastrami and salami and topped with 2 fried eggs. Really tasty but sits on the slightly greasiest side from all the meat oils. I think the octopus on hummus is still my fave.

Also pinched a bite of the apaki smoked pork + feta cream cheese (in the background) and I loved the cheese!

Was so excited to see that Gallery & Co had a special menu for the Yayoi Kusama exhibit at the National Gallery. I opted to try the main dish on the menu mostly because it looked SO beautiful. Thankfully, this dish was not just gorgeous to look at but also rather delicious. Tender pan seared chicken on a bed of quinoa and fregola, topped with pickled veggies, and served with pumpkin purée and (my fave) lotus chips. Super tasty! If only this didn't cost $25. 💸

Note: Unfortunately you can't use the Entertainer app for the special menu.