Sowing the Seeds & Breaking the Fast

(degusted November and December, 2011)

Seed Café, Mordialloc

Our first restaurant post for 2012, and we’re ashamed to admit it, but we have judged this book by it’s cover for many years. Seed café is nicely located half-way between Nepean Highway and the beach, in the middle of Mordialloc. We’ve posted previously about Main St Café (which is less than 200 metres away from Seed), and have enjoyed the breakfasts and coffees at Main St. Recently though, we’ve found Main St to be quite “busy” and thought it was high time we tried somewhere else in this lovely town for breakfast.

Across the street from the Woolies carpark, Seed Café’s façade is not exactly awe-inspiring. It’s a fairly plain-looking shopfront – clean and neat for sure – but to us it lacks the “wow” factor and almost gets lost in the streetscape. There's no tables & chairs on the footpath, so it is very hard to tell if the place is busy. From the street, Seed always seemed to look empty, and we mistakenly took that as a sign the locals were already voting with their feet and going elsewhere. How wrong we were.

Walking through the front doors, we realised why the front looks so quiet. The back half is where the action is at, opening out into a nice decked alfresco area. It was bright, open, airy, homely, and a little peaceful haven, all in one – and this was something we felt was missing in our visits to other local cafés.

We’ve visited Seed on two recent occasions, so the descriptions below are over two days (we didn’t eat it all at once!).

First up were the portugese eggs (poached eggs, with chorizo, served on a toasted bagel – I had a side of smoked salmon also).  This was remarkably tasty – as you’d expect with the chorizo – but there’s also some red onion, which gives even more flavour.

The other dish sampled was a customised plate-up, with the ‘eggs on toast’ and sides of field mushroom and home-made hash brown. The mushroom was huge, and nice and ‘meaty’. The hash-brown was a nice thick morsel – good enough to make us order more on our next visit (see below).

Potugese Eggs, with side of smoked salmon

 

poached eggs, sides of field mushroom and hashbrown

On the return visit, we were looking for a lighter, sweeter brunch. We found this in the French toast (delicious, and lovingly covered in slivered almonds, and a side of mixed berries) and in the Organic flour pancakes with poached pears and ice-cream. Both were lapped up eagerly. Both were soft and fluffy – and oh-so-moreish. I did mention that we got a couple of the home-made hash browns again on the second visit, and they were equally good – if not better – this time around. The best way we could describe them is to say they are bordering on being a flattened ball of yummy mashed potato that had been fried off to a crisp and tasty finish. A great little savoury to offset the sweet (and miles above similar thin, pre-frozen and greasy offerings at some other places).

French Toash - we loved the slivered almonds

Fresh home-made pancakes.

Some of the yummiest hash-browns we've ever had at brunch.

 

The caffeine-fiend deguster went for a couple of espressos, which were good enough, and consistent both within and between visits. The other deguster opted for soy milk mochas, and these were REALLY good. So good in fact that the espresso drinker had to order one for himself.

Summary:

The food was good, fresh, clean. The service was friendly and relaxed (compare to Main St café which seems to be frantic and buzzing constantly). The atmosphere was nice and relaxing, and the space was good – enough space to fit a stroller, and there’s little risk of knocking elbows with the folk at the adjacent table. We like it.  For a relaxing brunch in Mordialloc, this is currently our pick.

Points of note:

-Eggs are all free range.

-The menu might change with seasonal availability of items, but you can check it here:

-Gluten free options are available

-Vegetarians should be OK here (but we’re unsure about how well a Vegan request would be handled).

-Kid-friendly – there’s a children’s menu, and room to park a pram next to your table.

-There’s a party/function room available

-Serving Breakfast & Lunch

Rating:  Nom(x2) - will be back.

Meh                      It’ll Do                   Nom(x3)                              Must go back!
 

Done and Degusted @ Seed Cafe, Mordialloc

-Portugese Eggs

-Eggs on Toast

-Sides of smoked salmon, field mushrooms, and hash-browns

-French toast

-Pancakes

-Short black / espresso

-Mocha's

Demitri's Feast (Cafe) - Kali'mera Baclava!

(degusted  27th August, 2011)

Baclava French Toast

Like many things these days, stumbling upon stand-out items when tweeting or surfing the interwebs is one of the best parts of living in a techno-filled world. Our attention was drawn to
Demintri's Feast where, through the magic of bits and bytes, we were presented with critical information: they do a Baclava french toast. The concept is simple but we're suckers for simple things done in different ways or in new combinations, so this had us sitting up all googly-eyed and alert like a startled pair of meer-cats.
In the way that Adrian Cronour (Robbin Williams' character) called out in "Gooooood morning Vietnaaaam", Demitri's Feast had us hollering in a similar fashion in anticipation - "Kali'mera Baclavaaaaaaa!!" on the drive out to Richmond. (Kali'mera = good morning, if our all-too brief stint in Santorini served us even remotely well).


On paper, this place looks the goods. A neat little cafe serving up a range of breakfast items with a distinctively Greek influence; neat.
Smack-bang in the middle of the Richmond action on Swan Street makes it easy to find and easy to get to; double neat.
Reports from several reviews were that the staff were uber-friendly; hat-trick.

Chopping Block Cafe, Buderim - Sunshine Coast, QLD

(Degusted 8th August, 2011)

One thing we've noticed about the seaside towns in the Sunshine Coast – especially Mooloolaba and  Maroochydore – is that there is a real shortage of cafés. Maybe it's because we're spoilt from the huge variety available in Melbourne, or maybe it's just the areas that we're visiting, but things in the caffeine dealing business seem really quiet around the Sunny Coast. Of note was that in Mooloolaba on a Sunday night, there was only a Gloria Jeans open (and there was about 30 people crowding around to get their coffee fix) – surprising that there's so few good, independent options in such a tourist-focused place.

As we drove out of the little town of Buderim after dinner at the Tavern the night before, we discussed how we thought we'd like to come back to this cute little town and check it out by day.

The main street of Buderim gives a really friendly, small-town community feel.  We found The Chopping Block Café by chance – it looked open and inviting, and – famished after our early morning beach-side run of foolish insanity – we stopped here for brunch.

Vegetarian

We degusted the Artichoke, pumpkin, basil and feta fritata and an asian-style chickpea salad. The fritata was unashamedly a pre-baked window-displayed item, which we were fully aware of. Originally we were just going to get the fritata part on it's own, but the waitress suggested getting it served up with salad. The salad had a lovely sesame dressing, snow peas, pak choy, julienned carrots and cashews – so there were a lot of different textures and good flavours going on. The fritata was good enough on its own, but made into a good meal with the salad.

Artichoke, pumpkin, basil and feta fritata, with asian-style salad

Eggs and trimmings

We also tried the green eggs (scrambled eggs with pesto), which comes with spinach leaves, grilled tomato and sourdough. We supplemented this with some sides – chorizo, and smoked salmon. The Chorizo was good – nice and spicy, and the amount was quite generous – and would have been enough for two to share.

Green Eggs and no ham.. The yummy spicy Chorizo and
smoked salmon made this really quite filling.

Interior shots. A pretty cruisy place,
-tables and chairs on the footpath complete the look.

Drinks

We had the straight-up orange, and a mixture of orange, pineapple and ginger juices. All juices were freshly squeezed and were of generous proportions. The espresso could easily have come from one of the better cafés in Melbourne: commendable, given the lack of coffee shops around this area -  we had expected the quality might be a bit "hit and miss", but it wasn't to be... If I had to be picky in 'Master Chef' style, I'd say it was a fraction watery and there were some residual grinds in my cup, but neither of these would be a deal-breaker - It was good coffee!!

An espresso of which this place should be proud.

Overall, we think this is a good enough place to eat - and on our visit the coffee was great. That said, we don't normally judge on price or value - but on this occasion we must note that we've read reviews on this place and surrounding places in which those reviewers thought the Chopping block was a bit too pricey. For us it was not a bargain, but nothing more than we expected.



Rating:  Nom(x1)

Meh                      It’ll Do                   Nom(x3)                              Must go back!

Done and Degusted @ The Chopping Block Cafe, Buderim

-Green Eggs, with sides of Chorizo and smoked Salmon

-Artichoke & pumpkin fritata

-Asian style chickpea salad

-Orange juice (freshly squeezed)

-Orange, Pineapple and Ginger juice (freshly squeezed)

-Espresso

Address: 70 Burnett Street,
Buderim QLD

Cuisine: Modern Australian   Seats: 60

Price: Main $8.50 to $18.50,   

Phone: (07) 5476 6411  Fax: (07) 5450 1451 

In the area for dinner? There are steaks available with some amazing views, at the Buderim Tavern - Check it out here

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 :)

Main Street Cafe, Mordialloc - good for brekky

(degusted several times throughout 2010 and 2011).

For good, solid breakfasts, we've never been let down by Main st cafe. Hopefully they can streamline the coffee making process to iron out the intermittent service bugs.

The small township of Mordialloc is - in my opinion - a growing and developing little jewel on the nepean hwy; I love driving through the wide, palm-tree lined main street, and glancing down the bucolic mordi creek marina as I cross Pompei's bridge. 

Smack bang in the middle of the main street - just outside the entrance to the train station - is what is probably the most consistently busy cafe/restaurants in the area. Apropriately named "Main St Cafe", it holds a commanding pride of place in an original building renovated tastefully to give this place the type of ambiance that just can't be built into a new shop. In the warmer months - with people out and about in numbers - you may struggle to get a table here, however patience and bookings help immensely. 

We've been here many times, mostly for breakfasts (which is where I think Main St Cafe shines) - pumping out good sized servings of all the usual suspects - but with cool names.. Like the staples of eggs on toast ("2 Up"), Scout Omelettes (no, not made with scouts... each sale they donate to the local scout group - last year it was lifesaver omelettes with donations to the local life-saving club), there's the Hungry Hungry Hippo (a big brekky), Smashi Tashi, Mr Benedict, Bananarama ('nana bread with pear & blackberrry crumble), or the Italian Stallion. A PDF menu is here if you don't believe me.. 

Depending on my mood (read: whether i'm hungover), i'll either go for a "big brekky" (aka hungry hungry hippo), or - in tribute to our great friends from 'Canuckland' who blog about eating the world whole (check them out at iron gullet) - I degust away on the "The Canadian". That's a french toasted brioche with maple syrup and bacon, eh. Chuck in some extra sides (aka "brekky bling") like hash browns and smoked salmon and, well, i'm in a food coma.. Awesome!!

The Canadian: French-toasted brioche, with bacon
(and extra 'bling' of smoked salmon)

Veggie Patch, supplemented with
Bacon and hash-brown bling

Another cracker from their breakfast list is the veggie patch. Sampled many times, and proved to be thoroughly satisfying every time, The Degusters often barstardise this veggo meal with some sides of bacon.. What can I say - bacon tastes good, pork chops taste good... But I digress in a pulp fictional way... Adding the bling turns this meal into something that you feel good about eating (there's lots of veggies, mum!) but also enjoy eating it.

The atmosphere at Main St Cafe is good- the place feels alive and that's important when you may not feel very alive yourself, especially after a big friday night, as is so often the case when we find ourselves here.

Coffee should be king in any cafe, but here I've found it to be a bit hit and miss.. On the mornings that I've been there for brekky, the coffee quality has been just fine (in lattes, mochas, espressos, and even the non-coffee option of soy hot chocolate was good). On one occasion, though, we waited nearly 20 mins to get our drinks, which arrived only marginally before our meals. My headache was angry that day..   On other occasions the service was prompt: I know there's only so many coffees a barista or two can make simultaneously, so a full cafe of orders coming in simultaneously will surely create a bottleneck at the espresso machine's group heads. A freshly squeezed orange juice was good, if not on the small side..

Other reviews and blogs mention poor quality, watery coffee - and I'll say that I have had such an experience here once, in the afternoon on a weekday- i'm guessing that might have been trainee time?

For sure we'll be back here again - no doubt about it. I've had a few items at dinner time and can say that I was not disappointed  - just not overly impressed - I'll keep this place for breakfast only. We're looking forward to the completion of building works at the top of the street to see what new offerings come Mordialloc's way in the near future, with some luck there'll be some good offerings to give Main St Cafe some strong competition.

Rating: for breakfast; Nom x 3... Other meals undecided.

Done & Degusted @ Main St Cafe (not all in same sitting!)

2 Up

Veggie Patch

Hungry hungry hippo

Mr Benedict

Scouts Omelette

The Canadian

Crumpets and honey :)

Brekky bling - hash browns, bacon, smoked salmon, avocado, mushrooms

Espresso

Mocha

Hot Chocolate

Sunday Latte (serving 7 days a week - just a big latte with extra shot).

find it on: