Nosh @ Newport - a neat little cafe that is usually pretty good

 (degusted 23rd July, 2011)

Chai Latte at Nosh

The critical function of a good local café on the weekend – we reckon – is to serve up all-day breakfasts (or brunches) to the sleepyheads and the party-goers who shun the thought of facing the world at any time before midday. During the week, the local café serves as the local caffeine dealer – keeping the shakes at bay for the zombie-like hoards who make their way to the daily grind. For both these functions, a good local cafe needs to have a kitchen that pumps out quality breakfasts, and a barista or two who are passionate about pulling a good shot. It helps to be located in a handy spot for access to public transport. In these three regards, the Newport stalwart “Nosh” seems to have the essentials covered.

First up we must admit that this was not our first visit to Nosh, and our friends have made this place something of a regular stop-off. On this particular occasion we decided to sit outside – the fresh air was working wonders for the hangover. Perhaps this was our first mistake.

Service please!

After taking our own seat, we had to help ourselves to the menus, and water and glasses...After waiting 10 minutes, and still no love from the staff, we went inside to alert them to our presence, and the waiter came and took the orders. Shortly after our orders had been taken, the wait staff were quick to pounce on a table with father + 3 kids + dog, who – although ordering after us – received their meals well before us. Service was poor for our table on this occasion, and this was out of the norm for Nosh…. A real shame - especially as this was the visit about which we were going to blog!

The food...  NB: Nosh do an all-day breakfast - winner!

 First up, we ordered the breakfast paella. Now, if there's anything that comes close to our love of bacon, it's paella. (I really like saying “paella”, too).. "Paella".

Breakfast Paella. Does it get any better?

The breakky paella came served in the pan – all saucy and flavoursome. Chunks of chorizo, flavour hits from paprika and the golden molten cheese over the top were the king ingredients that made this dish “pop”.

The other dish for the table was a special item - the scrambled chilli eggs and bacon with avodaco in roti bread roll. It was a simple way of packaging up the good old Bacon and Eggs – (ordered on this occasion without the chilli) the meal was good enough – but with the chilli included - and the consumer feeling a bit less hung over – this might be a delicious dish.

Egg & Bacon Roti wrap.

 

Mocha @ Nosh

The Drinks:

In terms of the drinks – the essential café ingredient, we would argue - well, we almost didn't try them out. Not for lack of trying though.... Thirty minutes had passed before we got our drinks delivered to the table. Yes, you read correctly - 30 minutes. Now, just let that sink in for a few moments while your brain explodes...and pieces itself back together... Okay, so most people would not wait this long without complaining, so perhaps such a wait would never happen "in the real world" for anyone else, but we wanted to see how long the wait would be sans intervention. The soy mocha and chai latte were good enough, but after half an hour the latte should have been filled with gold leaf and the mocha oozing with the finest Belgian chocolates; which they weren't... Hmmm.

Overall this one-off experience was really disappointing, and completely out of character for Nosh. As mentioned previously, we've been there before and friends have been many times – without a doubt this was the worst service ever and was not the norm. Perhaps it was 'out of sight, out of mind' and a result of our seating outside and beyond the gaze of the wait staff...Perhaps the waiters were new or having a bad day. Neither reason is an acceptable excuse, and this poor service is amazing when everyone is a potential reviewer and (potentially angry) posts and tweets spread those reviews far and wide.. 

Despite the poor service on this occasion, we note that this is still an exception rather than the rule, and in the past we've been impressed here. Other tables nearby to ours were getting considerably better service, so it could have been the table location, being a little out of the way. The food is good enough that we'd risk another visit and hope that next time the service might be back to normal (or at least we'd make our plight known). Nosh is far enough away from the Williamstown clutter, but close to the Newport station which makes this place handy, if nothing else. Furthermore, there does not seem to be any shortage of locals lining up for a good “Nosh” - so perhaps one should join the herd and enjoy a breakfast here. 


You might also be interested in breakfast at: Main St Cafe, Mordialloc

Rating:  Nom (x1) - good food, but inconsistent service.

on the scale of:
Meh                      It’ll Do                   Nom(x3)                              Must go back!

Done and Degusted @ Nosh@Newport

Breakfast Paella

Scrambled egg and bacon roti roll.

Soy mocha

Chai latte

Nosh@Newport
24 Hall Street, Newport 
   - just near the train station

Splendid :)