REVIEW: Moray Cafe

Straight off, I'll tell you this post guest stars the cutest dog ever.

In Queensland, there seems to be some confusion as to when our public holidays should be. One political party puts Labor Day one place, the other party puts it back and now we're all so confused as to where it's supposed to be. But a curious thing happened to the Queens Birthday holiday. It used to be in June and so it was for years and years. I know this because the Queens Birthday weekend was also MY birthday weekend. Some may suggest that the logical connection is that since the celebration is for a queen and my birthday is that weekend, that I am in fact a queen. A fact I can neither confirm or deny but I will say that I have grey hair, am 89 years old, was born in Mayfair and I look bloody good in a crown.


Oh my days, will you get a load of those eyes?

In any case, they took my holiday away and now it's sometime in October where Labor Day is and Labor Day is going to May. Confused? Me too. Take home message: we went out to breakfast and this is my review. We were meeting friends and discussed places to eat, we thought about Bitter Suite as I haven't tried their breakfast but they only served breakfast to 11am and I do not need that sort of negativity in my life. ALL DAY BREAKFAST OR NOTHING. So Moray Café it was.


Not even sorry about the number of photos of Stompy in a food review. SORRY, NOT SORRY!

Moray Café sits on a pretty corner, a couple of blocks back from the river. I did a quick search online to see if they were dog friendly and they seemed to be so we decided to take along the hairy wrecking ball herself, Stompypants aka Puppy Cakes. A place can be dog friendly, but it's another matter if our dog is place friendly. When we arrived, our friends had snagged a great spot inside but for some strange reason, places generally don't want a 37.5 kilo German Shepherd in narrow spots. After a small wait, the kindly staff arranged a spot for us outside. The whole time we were there, the staff we so nice about us having our dog there.

Right, this is a food blog...not a puppy appreciation blog...why not have both?

We sat outside a caught a lovely breeze coming off the river. The café sits on a pretty corner with a great big Moreton bay fig lending it's shade. We started with some coffees, juices and a caramel milkshake for me. It came in a sort of mason jar hybrid that is popular in many places. The flavour of the milkshake was fairly mild, it tasted a bit like bought caramel. The texture was fine, a bit thin. So all in all, it was okay and will probably hover towards the lower half of the Cassie Cakes Milkshake Bar.

Yep, thems some eggs.

The breakfast menu has a good mix of classics and a few adventurous dishes. Though despite my pleadings, no one would order the Fried Chicken and Sweet Waffle - $20.50. We stuck with the classics. First up, was the Smashed Avocado with House Marinated Feta, Crushed Pistachios, Poached Eggs & Preserved Lemon on Dark Rye for $17.50. The rye bread looked under toasted and was dry, but this was remedied with extra butter. The avocado was a little on the shy side but the feta was creamy and generous. The eggs were slightly overdone.

And thems some more eggs. Yeah, they were okay. :/

Next was the Scrambled Eggs and Bacon with Turkish Toast, Streaky Bacon, Dukka Roast Tomato & Tomato Relish, $15. The bacon was cooked well with crispy edges. The Turkish toast also benefitted from the butter we requested. The dukkah tomato was nicely roasted - often they seem to be almost raw so it was nice to see it cooked through. The scrambled eggs were the same as the smashed avocado eggs, dry and overcooked.

 

More scrambled eggs! Man, people love eggs scrambled.

Obviously there were some fans of the old scrambled eggs, me included as I ordered the Haloumi Stack with Mushrooms, Avocado, Poached Eggs, Smashed Hash Cake, Fresh Spinach & Roast Tomato for $16.50, swapping the poached eggs for scrambled. This could have been a mistake as I too was underwhelmed by the eggs. The haloumi was nice, if a little cold. The hash cake didn't blow me away, it was all a little bit bland. Not terrible, but not memorable either.

This Turkish toast is very sun conscious, big on the SPF.

Eggs were not having their moment this day. The Poached Eggs & Bacon with Turkish Toast, Streaky Bacon, Dukka Roast Tomato & Tomato Relish - same as the scrambled eggs and bacon dish $15 - was not great with the poached eggs being overdone too. The Turkish toast on the other hand looked very pale. It was as though the meals got cooked but then the toast was forgotten about and everything had to wait while it cooked. Most of the eggs on this dish went uneaten.

On the other hand, these sausages look like a gold coast housewife who suns for hours every day.

Finally, never one to stray from a breakfast, with generous proportions - he likes his breakfasts like he likes his lady! - Mr Cakes ordered the Moray Big Breakfast with Poached Eggs, Turkish Toast, Streaky Bacon, Sautéed Spinach & Mushrooms, Kransky, Bacon & Cheese Potato Hash Cake & Dukka Roast Tomato for $20.50. And no one was denying that the breakfast was indeed big. The bacon was again cooked well and the mushrooms were garlicky. Other than that, this was more miss than hit. The Turkish toast benefited from butter and the hash cake was a bit soft and flavourless. The sausages looked like they were cooked before the rest of the meal was ready. It wasn't bad, it was just a bit...meh.

Stompy approves of this message.

And unfortunately, that was the how we all felt about our food. The staff were lovely and accommodating but as much I wanted the meal to be great so I could write a glowing review, it was all a touch disappointing. No flavours punched through and the elements of the meals seemed poorly timed, bits were cold and others were over cooked. With such a lovely spot and happy friendly staff, I hope we just visited on an off day. Moray Café has been around forever and there must be a reason.

Food: 2.5/5
Service: 4/5
Price: 3/5
Atmosphere: 4.5/5

REVIEW: Sassafras Canteen



Will you look at that sky!

On a fresh spring day, what better thing to do than brunch. And on a leisurely weekend, there's no reason to stay local so off we traveled to the other side of the city to try a café that's been on my must-try list forever and a day. Sassafras, the pronunciation of which I found inordinately difficult, sits on a bend on Latrobe Terrace right in the middle of Paddington. Parking was a little sparse and as such, we parked at the bottom of a basically 90 degree incline and used mountain goats to scale the sheer cliff face of suburban Paddington.

Lovely courtyard.

Once we'd thanked the Sherpa's, we made our way to the café. A cute shop with a awning and some stools at the front, the outside appearance belies the size of the building, with rooms leading on to rooms and back into a spacious, leafy courtyard. We took a couple of menus and sat down at a well-worn wooden table, complete with knee rugs. In the crisp morning air, with dappled sunlight over our table, we really felt like we had found a suburban oasis.

Hey table. Hey bench. Meet my butt.

After perusing the abundant breakfast menu and making some very challenging decisions, we went up to the counter to order. The staff behind the counter were very helpful and were able to help us narrow down our choices. We returned to our table and soon after, drinks arrived, with the waitress who dropped them off curiously apologising for the totally appropriate wait.


You might as well leave, juice. Ain't no one looking at cho.

Sassafras have so many cold drink options with smoothies, shakes, iced drinks and juices. For drinks, we ordered a Freshly Squeezed Beetroot, Orange, Carrot and Ginger juice for $7, which is lovely if you like beetroot in your juice and a Caramel Thickshake for $8. And here's the bit I've really been excited about telling you about. I am going to try to refrain from too many capitals and exclamation marks...BUT I'M NOT PROMISING ANYTHING! This shake was so flipping good! It was thick! It was flavourful! It was cold! It. Was. HUGE! I couldn't finish it. Seriously, can you remember a time when that happened? Because I can't. And I've known me all my life. Delicious. Creamy. Perfection. Do I need to tell you where this shake rates on the Cassie Cakes Milk Bar?

This is my porn.

Getting a shake that right put them at peak position for me. Sassafras had no where to go now but down. Our food arrived soon after and it looked as though Sassafras were not scare of lofty heights. We ordered two dishes, sharing both and they were both presented wonderfully. We started with savory, Potato, Feta & Mint Rostis with Poached Egg, Onion Relish, Mushroom, Tomato and Rocket Salad for $19. The rostis were delicious with what I think was semolina on the outside to make them extra crisp. There were flecks of mint which gave a fresh burst in the mouth. The relish and mushrooms were good too, I could have used some more mushrooms but since they weren't the hero of the dish anyway, what can you expect. The egg was also well poached with not yucky clear bits. It was a solid dish.

If I can eat fried potato at breakfast, I'm happy.

Because life is all about balance, we had the Belgian Waffles, Lemon Curd, Vanilla Ricotta and Fresh Passionfruit for $16. Plus, a side of ice cream for $2 cos this ain't my first time at the rodeo, son! The waffles were light and airy, not doughy and overly dense as some waffles can be. I wouldn't have minded if there were a touch more cooked, as the outside was a bit soft but as my friend pointed out, we did eat them second so they may have softened.The ricotta was lovely but I think I would have missed the ice cream if we hadn't ordered it. The lemon curd was tart and a perfect accompaniment. Again, it was a lovely breakfast treat.

And in the morning, I'm making WAFFLES!

I have to say, Sassafras has got to be one of the best breakfast places I've been to. It was comfortable, welcoming, the food was great and the shake was the best thing that's happened to me since Sam chose Snez on this years season of The Bachelor. #SamandSnez4eva. I thoroughly recommend making a visit to see for yourself. 

#CasseieandThickshake4eva... how cute are the ice cream rings!

Food: 4.5/5
Service: 4/5
Price: 3.5/5
Atmosphere: 4.5/5