REVIEW: Pearl Cafe

The breakfast café scene in Brisbane has exploded in the last few year, perhaps even as far back as a decade ago.  In this world of revolving door restaurants, opening and closing with the wind, 8 years is literally a lifetime. Pearl Café is a Brisbane landmark, open since 2008. Tucked in the chic café district of Woolloongabba, the café is an anchor establishment. We visited on an overcast Saturday with hopes of some sunny eggs to brighten up our day.

The café was busy but not so crowded that a table couldn't be snagged quickly. We sat inside the café, which has exposed brick interiors and the atmosphere of a French bistro. Although perhaps because of the exposed brick, the noise of conversation and the din of café business bounced around with nothing to dampen it. It is a noisy space, but the ambiance is warm and so it's easy to rise above the cacophony.

I'd heard things about the Pearl Café butterscotch milkshake. It's legendary around the Brisbane milkshake scene...what do you mean you've never heard of the Brisbane milkshake scene? It's a thing, I'm telling you. And Pearls milkshakes are reputedly a pearler. Ha. Classic. The legend was true. The shake was thick, which is already half the battle won. The butterscotch flavour wasn't the strongest, but the shake wasn't cloying or overly sweet.

For meals, we stuck to what Pearl is famous for, the classics. We each chose Two Eggs Your Way with Toast for $11. I choose scrambled eggs with a side of mushrooms ($5). The eggs were scrambled perfectly, they were creamy and buttery. The mushrooms were not amazing, they were a touch bland and the serving size left something to be desired. More mushrooms. Boom!

My friend chose her eggs poached with a side of bacon ($6). The poached eggs were overcooked, which I confess I prefer. Runny egg whites turn my stomach. My dining partner though prefers her eggs in the conventionally poached way. Each to their own. The side of bacon though was something to behold. It was thick and caramelised, with lovely crunchy bits.

Pearl deserves its landmark status and it's clear to see why it's the anchor café of the Woolloongabba dining district. While some things weren't perfect, it's nice to have a place to go for those pared back, home cooked flavours. Others may buffet about on the winds of food trends, Pearl sticks to simple food, done well.

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

REVIEW: Locavore Cafe

Sustainable eating at Locavore.

The term Locavore means one who is interested in eating food from a 100 mile radius, or 160 kilometres. Locavore Café focuses on this ethos, serving food within such a distance with a emphasis on ethical and sustainable eating. And I just love this idea. It's not hard to uncover lots of nasty facts about where our food comes from, if you look a little. So anything that helps our winged and four legged friends is good in my eyes. With such a wonderful manifesto, it was the perfect place to meet some fellow foodies, lovely ladies from Braking for Breakfast and Yelp Brisbane.

Some tempting baked goods at the counter.

Brand spanking new, Lovacore Café sits on Logan Road between the heart of Woolloongabba and the edge of Stones Corner. The café is new and light, with lots of sun being let in from the floor to ceiling windows. The service was attentive as well, with a waiter taking drink orders as soon as I sat.

Good froth on an okay milkshake.

I ordered the Salted Caramel milkshake for $8. If it's on the menu, I order it. It arrived quickly and was a good size. However the flavour was pretty weak, with a some caramel flavour but no discernible saltiness. The texture was also quite thin. It did have a lot froth on top which was quite tasty. For the price though, it was a bit meh. Check out the Milkshake Bar for it's ranking.

Scrambled eggs.

Along with lots of amazing sounding hot beverages - heirloom hot chocolate anyone? - the breakfast menu offers a few different and unexpected options, such as the Prawn Congee ($18.90) looked interesting as did the Gingerbread Pancake with clotted cream, fresh figs and Bee One Third honeycomb and bee pollen ($16.90) but unusually, I wasn't hungry so I ordered Eggs on Toast - Echo Valley Free Range Organic Eggs, Crust & Co. Artisan Sourdough ($10.90) which I got scrambled. It and the other meals arrived quickly. And unfortunately, it wasn't the most impressive of dishes. The eggs okay, a tad overdone and the bread tasted a bit burnt. A little disappointing.

Corned beef fritters with some well done tomatoes.

Next up was the Corned Beef Fritter - Grass Fed Beef Fritter, Wilted Greens, Poached Egg, Onion and Corn Relish for $18.90. This dish was slightly more impressive looking, but didn't fare much better, taste wise. The greens weren't wilted and the poached eggs were again a bit overdone. The fritters were deep fried, rather than pan fried, which would be matter of preference. However, the fritters had a generous amount of corned beef.

Wholesome wholegrain porridge.

The by far and away winner was the Mixed Wholegrain Porridge - Poached Rhubarb & Pear, Vanilla Milk and Hazlenut Praline ($11.90). The porridge was sweetened by the poached fruit and vanilla. The serving was generous as well. The use of wholegrain oats gave the oats a great, firm bite to it.

A pretty flat-lay, styled by @brakingforbreakfast

Overall, I was disappointed with Lovacore. However they have only been open a week and perhaps the training wheels are still on for them. It certainly wasn't the worst food I've ever eaten, the interior is pleasant and airy and the staff were very attentive. I do wonder how they'll fair with the Woolloongabba café precinct, full of so many stellar cafes, at the end of Logan Road so close by.


The interior.

Food: 2.5/5
Service: 3.5/5
Price: 3/5
Atmosphere: 3.5/5
 

REVIEW: Brown Dog Cafe



You go get that salted caramel milkshake, Max.

When plans to exercise fall through, it is always best to console yourself with a delicious breakfast. The mid-morning breakfast club, formally known as the early morning yoga club, met at Brown Dog Café in Woolloongabba. Brown Dog Café had been on my list for a little while as I had heard it was a dog friendly place and planned to bring Puppy Cakes, once the weather was cool. But I was happy to go their for a preview.

Nice selection of baked goods.

Brown Dog Café sits on a sun drenched corner, just outside the main café drag of the Logan Road cul-de-sac. It's popular with bicyclers, who come resplendent in their too tight lycra, sharing more about their downstairs mix-ups than I care to see. But don't let that put you off, it's easy to escape the bait shop inside.


Stay cool, indeed. I see you up there, Bud.

Inside is small and very warm, a fact which I'm sure the staff would agree with but stick with me here cos Brown Dog is about to blow my mind. The menu is small as is the kitchen but it's better to do a few things well than a lot of things sucky. Also there are a selection of sandwiches and slices in the cabinet. For drinks, we ordered a Pineapple and Mint Frappe ($7.50) and a Salted Caramel Milkshake ($7.50).

Max! Leave that dog alone!

The pineapple and mint frappe with tangy and fresh, perfect for a warm morning cool down. But here's where things get interesting. Remember 5 sentences ago when I said Brown Dog Café was about to blow my mind? Well here's what they, specifically the milkshake master named Jay, did...

He made me...


See all that ice cream, visible and delicious? Take note, milkshake makers!

...the BEST milkshake EVER. Since starting this blog, I have ordered a milkshake wherever I can and you know, they're always pretty good, cos milk and ice cream is pretty good but Brown Dog Café took it to the next level. Thick? Tick! Ice cream-y? Tick! Sweet but not cloying? Tick! Flavourful? Tick! The best milkshake this side of Pashen Street? Ti-freaking-ck! In fact, I have decided to start a ranking of the best milkshakes I've had and Brown Dog is going right on top. Check out my ranking here.

The Dogs Breakfast...lucky dog.

From there my hopes were pretty high for the meals. First up, we ordered the Dog's Breakfast ($13)which comes with haloumi, avocado, lemon, spinach, tomato and toast, but my dining companion swapped out the toast and tomato for ham instead. The modified meal looked incredibly appealing and would make any haloumi lover happy. There was a good amount of avocado. Personally, I would have wanted some toast but no carbs before marbs and all that. The diner did say it was a little salty but given the combo of both ham and haloumi, she accepted that might be expected. Am I rhyming?

Scrambled eggs. Dang that buttery toast looks good.

Next up was the Free Range Scrambled Eggs on Toast ($9) which did exactly what it said on the box. The eggs were fluffy and the toast was toast! This was a straight up, simple dish and for $9, I think it looked pretty good. When pushed, the consumer said she thought it would have been nice to have some "green stuff" on the plate but we all agreed that it didn't say that on the menu so there wasn't anything to complain about.

Yummy avo on toast!

I ordered the Avocado and Lemon on Turkish Toast for $9. Again, it was straight forward and simple. And delicious! I would like to know where they got their avocados from as the were so creamy and unblemished by any dark spots. The toast was nice, crisp and buttery. It was a nice size too and I was very satisfied.


Will you look at that sky! Gorgeous, Brisbane!

For the quality, simple fare, I'm a big fan of Brown Dog Café. The endearing Jay and his milkshake prowess are reason enough to visit. Puppy Cakes and I will have to come and visit together soon!

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