Caffe Ravello – Dickson Shops

Josh and I met over the long weekend for an overdue catch up.  I live in Ainslie so we thought it would be nice to meet somewhere close by and not take the risk of going somewhere that is likely to be closed during the Easter long weekend.

Josh had been to Caffe Ravello before but I hadn’t and he had said reasonable things about it so we decided to sit out in the sun on a very windy Autumn day.

When we went inside to order we were told that there would be a 20 minute wait on the food.  Neither Josh or I were starving so we were happy to wait.  We also really appreciated that the waiter told us in advance that the food was going to take a while.

Salmon, brie and shallot scrambled eggs with turkish toast

I ordered the above and I thought that it was pretty good the eggs could have been seasoned more but there was plenty of smoked salmon through the dish.  I thought that maybe the brie and other components didn’t go that well together but it was really tasty nonetheless.  The coffee was really good too.

Spinach, Mushrooms, Chorizo, Parmesan and poached eggs on Sour dough toast. and a side of champagne and mustard hollandaise

Josh ordered the mushrooms and chorizo breakfast.  He really enjoyed his dish.  I tried some of his hollandaise and it was really good.  Not like the stuff that comes already pre-made.

Caffe Ravello – 20 Challis St  – Dickson

Bean & Grain – Fyshwick Markets

Bean & Grain is new cafe that has opened up in the new revamped part of the Fyshwick markets.  It adds to the growing cafe culture that the markets are trying to build.

My friend Corinne and I had passed by this place one day when we had gone to the Fyshwick markets for lunch.  We popped out heads in because the decor was really warm and cosy and when we had a look at the menu we vowed to come back.  The menu was full of amazing things like a Salmon Gillette with creme fraiche and caviar. Every breakfast comes with a free breakfast smoothie shot.   Click here for their full breakfast menu.  Their staff are friendly and super enthusiastic about the food and the service.  Everything is made onsite using organic ingredients.  I can’t wait to come back here for lunch one day.

Corinne and I got up super early one morning and sat down for an amazing breakfast.  I had the Salmon Benedict and Corinne had the Gillette.  We were both very impressed with the quality of the food and the service.  The food was well priced and perfectly cooked.  The chef was really friendly and came out to say ‘hi’ to us.

Salmon Benedict poached free-range organic eggs, house made English muffin,cured salmon, shallot chilli sambal, fresh made lemongrass hollandaise - $15

The lemongrass hollandaise was a really interesting flavour with the salmon I wasn’t quite sure I liked it or not the start, but then in the end it started to grow on me.

Gillette - Potato & smoked fish gillette, poached free range organic egg,
tomato concasse, herb crème fraiche & caviar - $16

I will definitely come back to try some of the things on the bagel menu.

Bean & Grain – Fyshwick Fresh Food Markets – 12 Dalby St – Fyshwick –  02 6295 9220

Ha Ha Bar – Belconnen

Josh and I headed off for our usual Sunday brekky date. We have been going to Ha Ha a lot lately because it’s close to where we live, the staff there is really friendly, the atmosphere is nice and relaxed and most importantly the food there is consistently good.

Ha Ha Bar is a good place to meet a friend for a coffee or for a drink. They used to have live music on a Sunday. I’m not sure that they still do, I need to check that out.

I also like the varied menu they have there. It’s really sad actually Josh and I used to go there months ago and it was usually fairly quiet. Now it feels like everyone else in Canberra has heard about it and they are all there every Sunday morning when we want to go and have breakfast. 😦

Salmon on Spinach toast with black bean salsa and lemon scented mascarpone cheese. Two poached eggs - extra

I had the above. I ordered extra poached eggs on the side because I was ravenous and felt like I needed the extra protein. I really didn’t need them. The salsa with the salmon was a great flavour combination, sour and salty. I didn’t eat much of the mascarpone. I only ate about a quarter of it.

Eggs benedict with spinach and ham

Josh got his standard Eggs benedict. He really enjoys this when he orders it from Ha Ha as the eggs are always cooked the way he likes them and the hollandaise has tarragon in it and it is made in house.

I’ve given up doing the out of 10 ranking thing. It’s really tedious and boring. So I’m just going to stick to a general overview of the places where I eat.

102 Emu Bank – Belconnen ACT 2617 – (02) 6251 6110

Urban Food

Josh and I went to Urban Food (used to be As Nature Intended) at Acton. It was packed! Fortunately we had booked a table. Urban Food is Canberra’s only organic cafe and wholefoods store. There is a distinct hippy feel to the place, however not as much as their Belconnen counterpart. There is a DJ set up on the weekends, so there is always good music in the back ground.

Royale 16.9

Royale 16.9 – Smoked Atlantic salmon and baby spinach stacked with potato, dill & Spanish onion rosti, topped with a poached free range egg and a light lemon vinaigrette

I had the above and it was great!! The poached eggs were poached to perfection and the rosti was nice and crisp and not too stodgy. When this dish came out it was like a tower. People around me were looking at it with food envy I’m sure.

Urban Breakfast 26.9

Free range eggs poached, with bacon, chorizo, mushrooms, baby spinach, potato rosti, grilled haloumi, Roma tomato and Hollandaise sauce, served on sourdough toast.

Josh had this for breakfast. While he really enjoyed his breakfast, he thought it was a little on the pricey side. One of the good things though was that the hollandaise was obviously house made and not of the bottle variety.

Atomosphere – 7 – We sat inside, it was a little crowded and as we had to order at the counter we thought that it was a little chaotic.  I think it might have been better if we had sat outside.

Staff – 6– Nothing spesh!

Food Presentation – 7 1/2 – The food looked appealing and was presented well.

Food – 8 1/2 – The food was fresh and well cooked.

Price – $$

I’m not sure that I will go to Urban Food again.  There are lots of really interesting menu options especially the  vegetarian options.  If the mood struck me to revisit  Urban Food I’d try and go on a week day.

Corner of Marcus Clarke and Edinburgh Streets, Acton

Cafe Essen – Civic

We went to breakfast on Sunday. Josh, a friend that was visiting for the weekend and myself. We thought that we would mix things up a bit and go to Essen. I have had breakfast at Essen before but it hadn’t been for quite some time. I expected the breakfast to be good, because their coffee and cake is pretty good and I go there often to get coffee.

Josh ordered an Eggs Benedict, which in my honest opinion was horrible. The poached eggs were poached hard and the hollandaise was the commercial kind that you pour out of a bottle and the portion size was pitiful. I know that after eating his breakfast Josh was still hungry. We had to do a quick sushi run before caught our movie later that afternoon. My friend ordered the Mediterranean eggs, which was an english muffin, with tomato and basil pesto with two poached eggs. She seemed to like her meal well enough. I ordered a Mediterranean omelette with a side of sausage, which was passable but not great. The omelette lacked flavour and was full of whole mushrooms that were not cooked before being put into the omelette so the whole experience was a bit BLAH

Unfortunately I don’t have any photos for the food that we had.

Atomosphere – 7 – This cafe has a arty, Melbourne sort of feel.  It’s a great place to people watch over a nice cup of coffee.

Staff – 5- The staff are unattentive and sometimes serve you as if they have better things to do than take your order.  It is very off putting.

Food Presentation – 5- The food was just put on the plate.  Not arranged on the plate like a good friend of mine would say.

Price – $

Food – 5 – There isn’t much here that would want me want to go back for another breakfast.

I don’t know that I will go to Essen again for breakfast but I’ll definitely keep going there for coffee and cake.

Cafe Essen – 6 Garema Pl, Canberra City ACT 2601

Black Pepper – Belconnen

So Josh and I decided that we would go to Black Pepper for the second time in a row. It was so good the first time that we thought we had to come back and do a proper review of it. Black Pepper is on the banks of Lake Ginniderra and on an Autumn Sunday morning its a great place to start your day/afternoon. The food is great, presentation and value for money are amongst the main reasons why this restaurant is so busy during the weekend, even though the location isn’t the most convenient. I have also found that the staff are extremely accommodating and friendly. When Josh and I went to grab a table outside there weren’t any available so the staff quickly put one together for us. This is very rare for a busy restaurant in Canberra.

So on to the food….

I had the Black Pepper Vege Brekky which came with poached eggs with roast mushrooms, grilled tomato, pumpkin & olive roesti, asparagus, charred capsicum and spinach and a standard coffee. I also got sausages on the side so that I didn’t feel vegetarian 🙂

Everything on this plate was cooked to perfection. The eggs were softly poached with the yolk runny but with the whites completely cooked through. However the pumpkin and olive roesti was the stand out for me and I’m definitely going to try and recreate them at home.

Josh got the Black Pepper Brekky with poached eggs, bacon, chorizo sausage, roast mushrooms, grilled tomato & potato roesti , on farmhouse toast with a standard coffee. Josh was really happy with his breakfast the eggs were cooked to his liking and the mushrooms were full of flavour and cooked through

Ratings out of 10

Atomosphere – 8 – Out in a sunny courtyard where you aren’t too cramped and don’t fee l the rush to leave. You can easily spend a few hours there with a good cuppa and the paper.

Staff – 8 1/2 – Fantastic service, the staff were more than willing to go out of their way to give us exceptional services.

Food Presentation – 7 1/2 – The food looked appealing and was presented well.

Food – 8 1/2 – The food was fresh and well cooked. The roesti, the mushrooms and the asparagus were some of the features that made the Black Pepper breakfast unique.

Price – $$

I would definitely go to Black Pepper again to try their champagne breakfast.

Black Pepper – 1 Beissel St, Belconnen, ACT 2617