REVIEW: Dandelion & Driftwood

The lovely northside cafe, Dandelion & Driftwood

Guess who's back! Back again! Cassie's back! Tell your friends! I am not an Eminem fan or even a hip hop...or rap?...that-genre-of-music fan, but those sentiments are fitting as I am back. Where did I go? Well, no where but I was without a laptop to blog on for a long time and if Cassie have no telly, Cassie no bloggy. Did you miss me? You did!? You like me! You really like me!

Anyway, I'm back and I have a pretty exciting recipe post coming up but I just can't keep you waiting any longer so I've got a review to warm up the engine for me. I rarely get over to the Northside and then to the Northside that isn't Paddington...fuggedaboutit! So when the chance to eat at Dandelion & Driftwood in Hendra, I couldn't pass the opportunity to expand my reviewing horizon.

The side entrance to the Tea Garden.

We found Driftwood & Dandelion amongst the pretty backstreets, nestled at the end of a small row of shopfronts. Even on a workday, a park was not available close by as Driftwood & Dandelion as well as the cafe close by were very busy with almost all the tables taken. But not all. We snagged a table in the unexpected courtyard of Driftwood & Dandelion. The cafe was small with a compact kitchen but the owners have utilised every spare inch and have fit in a lot of tables. The cafe does feel full but not unpleasantly...just very cosy.

Wonderful selection of baked goods.

The menu was extensive with a great selection of all day breakfast items as well as baked goods and sandwiches. The coffee menu was equally as detailed with explanations on the different blends and roasts available. My caffeine connoisseur friend indulged in the very cutely named Piccolo Tasting Plate which was a choice of two of the piccolos for $6. She went with the house recommendations - the Dandelion Blend and the Driftwood Blend. Each came with a laminated information sheet about the coffee. Absolutely charming!

The piccolo "tasting plate". More of a pair of piccolos, but a lovely name nonetheless.

As a non-coffee drinker, there wasn't much on that list to interest me but fear not - there were juices, teas, hot chocolates and milkshakes too. Can you guess what I ordered? If you guessed a caramel milkshake, you would be correct. The milkshake came in a big, frosty steel canister, which is the best way to serve a milkshake. There was a definite taste of vanilla ice cream and there was a lovely frothy top. The texture was a little thin and I think the caramel flavour could be a little stronger but overall, solid effort. See where this milkshake ranks in the Cassie Cakes Milkbar.
 

Nice froth and cute straw!

The breakfast menu is pretty extensive with some of the more uniques breakfasts getting around. We decided on The Dandy Man ($18.50) to share and the Popeye the Bagel Man bagel ($13.50). The florentine bagel was topped with spinach (which may lend the bagel it's name), bacon, free range fried egg, tasty cheddar cheese, hollandaise and tomato relish. The staff were really helpful and the bacon on the side for our sole carnivorous diner. The bagel was toasted well and the hollandaise tasted like homemade. As bagels are, it was a little chewy and dense but bagel is as bagel does. For a breakfast on the smaller side, the cheese and sauces helped the bagel pack a punch.

In New York, they pronouce it bag-elle. o_0

The Dandy Man was the second meal which we ordered to share between two. It consisted of traditional corn and zucchini fritters with fluffy scrambled eggs, avocado, rocket, toasted pinenuts, sweet chilli jam and cream cheese. There were two decent sized fritters which were delicious with the avo, jam and cream cheese but I need to tell you about these eggs. They were the lightest, fluffiest eggs I've ever had. Ever. They were like a delightful, pale yellow cumulonimbus cloud on the end of my fork. How did you do it, Dandelion and Driftwood? Tell me. They were fantastic.


BEST EGGS EVER!

The northside is an unexplored treasure trove for me, I only wish the Northside roads made more sense and people didn't park in the left lane of what was a main road until 10 metres ago. I think if all the cafes are as nice as Dandelion and Driftwood, I might just be able to put up with that too.

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

REVIEW: The Book Kitchen

See the black dog on the left there? He's a groodle and his name is Gus and he's a good boy.

Oops! How can it be two weeks since my last post? I'll tell you how. I went to Sydney! And then I got sick. But...I went to Sydney! For my birthday! And I had one of the best birthdays of my 20 something years. That's right, 20 something. That gives you an indication of how old I might be, since I'm not willing to say outright what something in the 20's I am. But you shush your mouth! I'm 20 something, goddamn it!

The wonderful industrial yet cosy interiors.

As far as chronology goes, this is the second restaurant I have to review from my Sydney jaunt but I wanted to do this one first. The morning after the night before, we were a touch shady and boy, was I looking forward to breakfast. Hold up..."boy"? What am I, a mid-western choirgirl? Um, no. Anyway, moving on.

Book lined walls.

My lovely friend who lives in Sydney took me to one of my favourite Sydney suburbs, Surry Hills. Alliteration for the win! Surry Hills is full of so many lovely cafes with a great food scene and this little café was no exception. The Book Kitchen sits on Devonshire Street, which is pleasantly busy, making it great for people watching from the tables outside. A table inside also seemed a great place to sit, with the book lined walls and great bustling atmosphere but on this sunny Saturday, we nabbed a seat in the cool winter sun.

Action shot.

Service was prompt with water and menus delivered quickly and drink orders taken swiftly. We ordered a hot chocolate ($4) and a pot of TBK Chai Leaf Tea ($5.50). There were tragically no marshmallows for my hot chocolate and after Felix, few other hot chocolates please me without marshmallows. What's the bloody point. Still, it wasn't horrid and it did the job. The chai tea was delightful - wonderfully spiced, milky and sweet - it hit the spot.

Looks the goods...wasn't the goods.

After drinking our hot drinks, we were ready to order. The waitress was so accommodating and thoroughly knew the menu. There were many tempting choices with lots of vegetarian options, which I'm really learning to notice as I move away from such meatcentric eating. We ordered two dishes and decided to share. There was a caramel milkshake on the menu however the kitchen was heartbreakingly out of caramel, so I got a chocolate milkshake ($7). The texture was very thin and the flavour was not very strong but the canister was cold and the serving was big. Check out where it ranks on The Cassie Cakes Milk Bar.

The meals arrived quickly and together and were presented invitingly! First, the Trio Corn Fritters - Poached Edd, Avo Salsa, Rocket with Roast Tomato ($20), plus we got extra Haloumi ($6). The haloumi was good and I'm glad we ordered it, but it was nothing on the Greek Festival haloumi. But for café haloumi, very good. Maybe the haloumi tempted comparison but the fritters...stand aside! No comparison came close. These fritters were so tasty, the corn was juicy and sweet, they were friend well and along with the avocado salsa and egg poached to perfection...mouth party. Please get the fritters if you come to The Book Kitchen.

For our second meal, we ordered the Slow Cooked Greek Beans - Rich Tomato Sauce, Poached Eggs, Salsa Verde, Pancetta and Sourdough for $19. The waitress kindly got our beans sans pancetta. The beans were tasty and firm to the bite, as though al dente. The toast was delightfully buttery, scooping up the beans with a hunk of buttery sourdough was an absolute treat. The eggs were also stellar and as with the Corn Fritter, just perfect. I love a well poached egg - the whites firm and the yolk runny.

The food at The Book Kitchen was top, everything was well cooked and well seasoned, balanced and tasty. The drinks were okay, not the best milkshake or hot chocolate but the chai tea was spot on. With such great food, backed by friendly and quick service, The Book Kitchen is really a wonderful brunch spot. It was such a pleasant café. Highly recommended.

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