Auction Rooms Cafe

Auction Rooms has been on my list for a while now, but since I rarely venture outside the CBD, it's taken me quite some time to get there. 

And I wish I'd been sooner!

Breakfast board: grilled chorizo, ocean trout croquette, feta, avocado puree,
soft-boiled egg with rye soldiers and white iced coffee

The breakfast board has a little bit of everything you'd want for breakfast. Or brunch. Or given the time we got there, afternoon tea. 

The slices of grilled chorizo were crispy on the outside, and made up of fatty porky goodness with a little kick of spice. The soft-boiled egg was gooey and perfect for dipping the soldiers in. (If anyone ever told you not to play with your food, leave that rule at home.) The croquette was perfectly fried, crunchy outside, creamy inside. Little quinelles and dollops of avocado puree and feta were perfect condiments for not just the soldiers, but the croquette and the chorizo as well. The board was finished off with a light salad of green leaves, carrot slices and picked onion. 

The white iced chocolate came in a classic old milk bottle and was sweet and fragrant.

A perfect balance of flavours, textures and colours.

Seared ocean trout

Soda pops: apple & cinnamon, Old Auctioneer's lemonade

To finish off, we ordered two of the homemade soda pops. The classic lemonade was bubbly, lemony and refreshing, while the apple & cinnamon was a little more subtle, tasting very much like someone had taken a perfect apple pie and captured it's essence in a bottle. 

Our waitress was attentive and accommodating, and service was reasonably quick.

Definitely worth the trek outside the free tram zone!

Choix Creperie Café

Tucked into a little laneway of the western end of Collins Street, Choix Creperie is a 'hole in the wall' kind of cafe with a long wooden bar running the length of the place and small booths along the wall.

Specializing in crepes, the menu sports an extensive list of savoury crepes, and about half a dozen of sweet ones. I order the 'le chateau', which filled with ham, brie and asparagus.

The crepe itself is soft and delicate, and a little crispy on the very edge (which I like). My first mouthful is a little disappointing - the ham and asparagus are cold and the cheese hasn't melted yet. But by the second bite. The warmth of the crepe has heated up the filling and the brie is soft and oozy. Perfect.

Service is quick and the wait staff are attentive and friendly. Great for a quick lunch, but as seating is limited, it's not the best place for big group gatherings.

Overall impression: 7.5/10

Henry and the Fox

Location: 525 Little Collins Street, Melbourne
Phone: (03) 9614 3277
Link: www.henryandthefox.com.au
Cuisine: Modern Australian

So it's been a while since my last post. And no, it's like I haven't been eating, but it's more the fact that Canberran food tends to be mediocre compared the culinary superiority of Melbourne and Sydney. And so I return.

First venture into the CBD this trip and this time, it's for lunch at Henry and the Fox. It's got a fun name, which sounds more like the name of an inn from a fantasy novel than the name of a modern day restaurant in Melbourne. But modern day restaurant it is, with the polished wooden decor, outdoor seating and simple menu.

Service is pleasant, the food is fresh and cooked to perfection, and the place just has a nice casual ambiance with plenty of space between tables.

scallops, jamon, pea risotto

Risotto the way it should be. You can see and feel the individual rice grains swimming with some fresh green peas in a subtle creamy sauce. The scallops are perfectly seared, lightly crispy on the edges, soft and delicate and sweet inside. The dish is garnished with shards of crisp jamon, which add the salt element to the dish.

Unlike most risottos, which tend to be very heavy, the dish was well-balanced and the portion size was perfect for lunch.

chocolate brownie, salted caramel, hazelnut,
freeze-dried strawberries, burnt fig ice cream

Soft gooey chocolate brownies, cubed for presentation purposes, is matched with intense hits of sweet and sour from the freeze-dried strawberries, salted caramel, hazelnut and a creamy burnt fig ice cream. A brilliant balance of flavours and textures, and again not too heavy, a trap many chocolate based desserts tend to fall into.

The place is great for both small and large gatherings, or even just for a few after work drinks in the outdoor seating area. My only gripe is that the complimentary starter bread is cold. But that is negligible issue when the meals themselves are of such high quality.

Overall Impression: 8.5/10

Grandma's Little Bakery

Location: 5796 Federal Highway, Collector NSW 2581
Phone: (02) 4848 0240
Link: www.grandmasbakery.com.au

Cuisine: Italian, Greek

Grandma's Little Bakery is a snug little cafe located at the Fedra Olive Grove, along the Federal Highway on the way to Sydney.

We haven't booked, and it turns out that they have a full house. We're given two options - get take away, or sit outside. The sun is shining, so we opt for sitting outdoors.

As luck would have it, it starts raining but the wonderful waiter finds us a table inside. Seated inside the cosy dining area, our dishes are brought out.

Wow. Out come two platters larger than we had imagined.

Grandma's gourmet lamb 'basket pie' served with side salad

So it turns out that the 'basket pie' is literally a 'basket' of crispy flaky pastry filled with a generous serve of braised lamb and beans. An assortment of sides are nestled against the side of the pie. A pesto, a tomato salsa and a fresh garden salad. 

slow cooked osobouko & Grandma's tomato marinade served with wild rice

Soft and tender pieces of slow cooked beef that literally falls off the bone with a light prod of the fork sits surrounded by a rich tomato gravy. The wild rice is textural, aromatic and soaks up the gravy beautifully. On the side are a slice of freshly baked bread and a minty pesto to add a refreshing contrast to the richness of the rest of the dish.

Overall Impression: 8.5/10

Urban Food Store + Cafe

Location: Cnr Edinburgh and Marcus Clarke Streets, Acton 2601
Phone: (02) 6162 3440
Link: www.outincanberra.com.au/urbanfoodstorecafe
Cuisine: Breakfast, Cafe

It's been a while since my last review, and it hasn't been completely due to the lack of eating. Although I must say, after two years in our nation's capital, I still haven't found much on the food scene that I've been that impressed with. There's a couple of 'regulars', but all in all, it's not Melbourne.

Something that has been a bit of a highlight over the past two years has been the lazy weekend brunches. If anything, these cafes can do a decent breakfast that's big enough to definitely cater for the two meals brunch is supposed to substitute for. And they've generally been worth waking up 'early' for.

That brings me to the latest brunch adventure. Due to the heavy downpour of rain (so much for it never raining in Canberra...), we decided against walking into the city and took a car to Acton.

Urban Food falls into the stereotypical category of upbeat cafe. Decent portion sizes, organic and fresh produce, good coffee and a mishmash of wooden and aluminium decor.

Despite the place bustling, we're seated within a couple of minutes, and menus are already on the table. I skip the first page of 'the usuals' and launch straight into the fancier dishes - if I'm going to pay for breakfast, I'm going to order something I can't make at home.

A couple of dishes catch my eye but I settle on the zucchini and corn fritters. It's a bit of a gamble, as fritters can sometimes err on the side of being too heavy,  but I've heard good things about Urban Food and am keen to see how they go.

zucchini and corn fritters, with bacon, poached egg, wilted spinach and smokey BBQ sauce

They live up to expectations. The fritters are light and fluffy but hold together enough to remain in a stack for presentation purposes. Flavour-wise, it's well seasoned and the corn kernels provide a fresh zing and different texture to the otherwise smooth zucchini and batter mix. The bacon is crispy but not burnt, and the poached egg is so perfectly poached that after cutting apart the whites, the yolk is still runny yet intact. The BBQ sauce is sweet and smokey and fairly strong, so I'm glad they've put it on the side. It works really well with the fritters, but you don't need much of it.

M orders the bacon, hash and eggs, with a side of lamb sausages. The dish looks great, the potato is seasoned with bacon pieces and dill. The sausages are nicely browned. Good feedback.

bacon, hash and eggs with lamb sausages and roasted Truss tomatoes

Service is pleasant despite the place buzzing with customers, and the wait isn't as long as one might expect from a place with so many customers and such an extensive menu. I'm no coffee expert, but my mocha has the same aroma as the one I had at Farmers Daughter, and I've been assured that it's what a 'good coffee' tastes like.

Definitely worth missing a sleep in for!

Overall Impression: 9/10

Farmers Daughter

Location: 27B Bentham Street, Yarralumla ACT 2600

Phone: (02) 6281 2233

Cuisine: Breakfast

Being stuck in Canberra on a long weekend is never fun. Being stuck in Canberra on a long weekend with temperatures more akin to winter, and three assignments to write, is even less fun.

So with that in mind, I sacrificed my usual weekend sleep in to go out to brunch with P and we headed to Farmers Daughter in Yarralumla.

Farmers Daughter is a fairly recent addition to the Canberra breakfast scene and has started to make a name for itself with foodies. Having been once before and found the lunch menu quite impressive (they stop serving breakfast at 11am and we arrived just after then), we decided to return this time for breakfast. 

And this time, breakfast was served.

mocha

First up, a mocha. Ever since starting work, I've picked up a bit of an amateur coffee drinking habit. Amateur in that I tend to play it safe by ordering mochas. The coffee used is Campos coffee (which might mean something to coffee connoisseurs out there). Not quite the mocha I'm used to, not enough chocolate, and needed extra sugar. I think I'll stick with Pork Barrel's 2-4-1 coffees.

'eggs how you like them' - scrambled eggs on toasted sourdough

P opted for scrambled eggs on toast. Can't go wrong with that.

'no ordinary soldiers' - (left to right) prosciutto & romesco,
parmesan & rocket, smoked salmon & crème fraiche

I was a little more adventurous. Having read some pretty decent reviews about the soldiers, I decided that despite my dislike for rocket, I'd give them a go and was rather impressed by the dish when it came out.

The sourdough soldiers were crunchy and toppings were very well matched - the perfect marriage of smoked salmon with crème fraiche and prosciutto with romesco worked as expected, and even the rocket wasn't too overbearing for me and balanced very nicely with the parmesan infused cream cheese. 

Whilst I'm on a roll with the reviews, here's a snapshot of what's on offer with the lunch menu from our last dining experience at Farmers Daughter...

BLT with dijonaise on caramelized garlic bread

The BLT was not your usual BLT. Served on caramelizeed garlic bread, P was thoroughly impressed with it. 

potato and bacon frittata with Caesar salad

My potato and bacon frittata was also quite tasty, with a nice crunchy crust on the top, and creamy potato slices in the filling. The bacon imparted a subtle smokey flavour through the layers of potato. Then there was the side salad. My experience with side salads has mostly been a measly pile of random green leaves and possibly a wedge of tomato or a smattering of shredded carrots. Not quite that at Farmers Daughter - here you get a choice of Farmers salad, vegetable salad or Caesar salad, and the serving size is quite generous!

macarons!

And as an added plus, they have macarons! (But don't expect the waiters to know what flavours they have on hand, it obviously isn't something that was included in their job description.)

The service is generally quite good, although slow at times given the place is fairly packed come midday. The waiters are pleasant and mostly polite, and the atmosphere definitely provides a nice and casual place to kick off a lazy long weekend.

Overall Impression: 9/10

Gus's Cafe

Location: Shop 8, Garema Arcade, Bunda Place, Canberra

Phone: (02) 6248 8118

Link: www.guscafe.com.au

Cuisine: Modern Australian, Cafe, Breakfast

The trouble with Canberra is the lack of decent restaurants in Civic. The positive side of that is that it's not too hard to decide on a place to go to.

Gus's was one of the few places I've been meaning to try for a while but more for breakfast than dinner.

First up was the steak sandwich. This was brilliantly done, and even better than the one at Gordon's.

Gus’ big steak sandwich: garlic foccacia with bacon, cheese, tomato, caramelized onion, seeded mustard mayo & garnished with sweet potato spears

The foccacia was nicely toasted and filled with a beautiful combination of flavours. The steak was well-marinated and cooked perfectly, The rest of the ingredients matched it well.

The sweet potato spears were more like crisps, but sweet, crunchy and not too oily - I could eat a plate of them!

Our second dish was a little disappointing.

Chicken breast linguini with roasted red capsicum & pine nuts in creamy basil sauce

Whilst the linguini was cooked al dente, the sauce was a little heavy on the cream and quite average in flavour. There wasn't much by way of red capsicum or pine nuts, which may have contributed to the disappointing sauce. Still, it was edible, just over-creamed.

Service: a little on the slow side, particularly since we went in early before there were many customers. Despite that, service was pleasant and the waitress was quite friendly.

Price: reasonable - mains mostly $16-$25

I've heard they do a very nice breakfast, so one day I'll be back for some brunch.

Overall Impression: 8/10

Pork Barrel

Location: King George Terrace, Parkes, ACT

Phone: (02) 6273 1455
Link: www.porkbarrel.com.au
Cuisine: Cafe, Modern Australian

Usually the location of Friday night drinks, Pork Barrel also serves up an array of amazing wood-fired pizzas as well as a more modest selection of various mains on their specials board.

On this one occasion, I ordered a risotto with chorizo, olives and Parmesan cheese:

Risotto with chorizo, olives and Parmesan

My first thoughts when this dish was served to me was how huge the serve was! Then there was the beautiful aromas of the chorizo, tomato based sauce and the Parmesan cheese. The risotto itself was well-cooked and the chorizo was full of flavour. The flavours of the dish were also quite balanced despite most of the ingredients having strong flavours of their own.

One of the more impressive risottos I've had, and all for only $18.

Pizzas are generally half-price for lunch on Mondays and Tuesdays, so it's worth giving it a go. We went there for a divisional lunch and the meal ended up costing us around $7 a head.

Drink-wise, happy hour is between 5pm and 6pm, and from memory features cheap beers. Having never had a beer there before, I can't vouch for the quality, but it is a post-work watering hole and thus I gather the beer is at least decently drinkable - if beer is your kind of thing.

Overall Impression: 9/10

Badger Creek Blueberry Farm Winery & Cafe

Location: 11 Garnook Grove, Badger Creek
Link: www.mantirri.com.au
Cuisine: Cafe style food

Driving up and around the Dandenongs, we had seen a 'Blueberry farm' sign. So we thought we would check it out. We ended up at the Badger Creek Blueberry Farm Winery & Cafe!
Had lovely iced coffees together and then realised there were blueberry smoothies on offer but it was too late! Will definitely have to try them the next time I'm in Healesville!

Overall Impression: 6/10
What a lovely cafe! Really wish we had more time there to actually pick some blueberries.

Be-Hive Cafe bar

Location: 459 Collins St, Melbourne
Cuisine: Cafe style food
This picture really doesn't do the place justice but they serve a really good selection of salads. From Curry Ravioli to Thai Beef Salads.

Overall Impression: 7/10
Nice, casual eatery, friendly staff and prompt service. Great for a quick bite!

Cafe Era

Location: Menzies Alley, Melbourne Central
Link: www.cafeera.com.au
Cuisine: Greek, Modern Australian

The food was generally quite good:

Smoked salmon salad with Spanish onions, cherry tomatoes, capers and aioli

Tuna linguine

Penne with chicken, sundried tomatoes and cream

Cannelloni

The service at Era is generally quite good, but this one visit we had a particularly rude and slow waitress. We waited 10 minutes before she 'remembered' that she was getting us the bill, and she semi-snapped at us when we reminded her about the bill.

Overall Impression: 7/10

Animal Orchestra

Location: 163 Grattan Street Carlton
Link: www.menulog.com.au/animal_orchestra#menus
Cuisine: Café, Modern Australian

Where to go on a cold winters day when you're at uni and hungry? Animal Orchestra!

Moroccan lamb soup with lentils

This was a very chunky style soup with cubes of vegies and pieces of lamb. All the ingredients were quite tender and soft, and the flavour of the soup was quite strong. A change to many places who just give cold sliced bread, Animal Orchestra had sliced ciabatta bread toasted and served with butter.

Baked eggs with chorizo

Baked eggs with bacon

Overall Impression: 8.5/10

Issus

Location: 8 Centre Place, Melbourne
Cuisine: Breakfast, Café

Issus Big Breakfast

Serving size was very generous, but possibly too much bread. The whole dish was just plain average. Mushrooms were bland, bacon, eggs and tomatoes weren't anything special, and the bread...just too extensive, too thick and not crusty enough.

Eggs 'how you like them' with a serving of bacon

One of the most disappointing breakfasts I've had out. The eggs were not only burnt on the one side, but not quite cooked enough on the top side, even for sunny-side up. The bacon was dry, tough and chewy. The bread was awfully thick and not crusty enough. There wasn't much excitement in the dish at all.

The service was pleasant, but ridiculously slow. From the quality of the food, it seemed like they forgot about the food and overcooked it. Oh well, will not be returning here again.

Overall Impression: 2.5/10