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: Plenty

It's amazing what people can do with pallets these days.

A hangover made the prospect of facing the day without an indulgent breakfast impossible and yet the task of cooking one seemed equally insurmountable. What choice do a group of dusty ladies have but to go out for breakfast?

 

There's a warehouse feel to Plenty, that seems to be very popular in restaurant/café décor.

 Plenty has been creating buzz amongst Brisbane breakfast connoisseurs since they opened their doors late last year. They tout organic and farm fresh food in their pared back, warehouse surroundings from Montague Street in West End.

Plenty also sell a range items such as condiments, teas, ice creams and lovely, fragrant soaps!

With the West End markets doing their best to operate on the rainy weather just across the road, parking was a little hard to find. I imagine it would have been more difficult had the weather been sunny!

There was a small collection of people waiting to get a table and we got some drinks to warm us as we waited under the slightly inadequate umbrellas. There was some confusion as to if we had to collect the drinks at the counter or if they would come find us, however the drinks found us in due course.

I can't remember what this tea was, I think ginger and mint. It was nice anyway!

Before we had finished them, we were called to our table and it felt like Beyoncé herself had summoned us, I was so excited. Unfortunately, she hadn't but we did get a table inside so swings and roundabouts, really.

Plenty has counter service so we went up in pairs to order. There were pikelets on the menu which sounded very alluring but ultimately I went with the Braised Steak and Onion Melt with a Fried Egg on top ($14.50). Two of our party chose to order the Poached Eggs on Potato Hash with Carrot Jam, Persian Feta and Bacon ($16.50) and lastly, an order of Avocado on Toast with Fassifern Valley Tomatoes, Basil and Buffalo Mozzarella ($13.50) with a Poached Egg ($3.50) on the side.

One half of the chocolate milkshake.

Milkshakes were the order of the day, in terms of drinks anyway with two salted caramel milkshakes and one chocolate milkshake which was kindly split into two. I had a sip of the chocolate, and although it was nice, I would have been dirty had I not got the salted caramel milkshake. Because it was very good. The texture was pretty good, could have been thicker but I think I always say that, but the flavour knocked it out of the building. There were flakes of sea salt at the bottom of the canister! And can I just say that serving a milkshake in a steel canister is the best way to serve a milkshake? It just feels right! Well done, Plenty.

The salted caramel milkshake. It would bring a few boys to the yard.

Meals arrived and I had more than a little bit of order envy over the Poached Eggs on Potato Hash as it looked gorgeous! It was mentioned to us that the chef has been preparing this particular dish for years, exactly how many escapes me know but the love put in showed. The plate was beautifully presented and the ethos of Plenty was evident - fresh, flavourful and lots of vegetables! By all accounts, it was a winner.

Look at that presentation! And I mean the artful placing of the fork.

The Avocado on Toast was also visually appealing with a mix of red and green tomatoes with freshly torn herbs. My waifish dining partner was more than happy with the serving size but had I ordered it in my rough, ravenous state, I would have been left wanting. No complaints from the recipient though and it looked wonderfully appealing.

I really think I hit the ordering nail on the head with my brunch choice. There was buttery bread, there was cheese, there was meltingly tender steak and sharp onion. And literally on top of all that, there was a fried egg! If that's not a hangover cure, then I don't know what is. Some may be put off by the indulgent nature of the melt, but they would be missing out. Highly recommended to remedy a sore head.

 The hangover cure! *Angels singing*

There was a great atmosphere at Plenty, which in part could be contributed to the fantastic company I enjoyed but also from the buzzing ambience. Service was a little stilted at times, such as our table getting a little crowded from dirty dishes but given the high quality of food and earnest effort from the staff, this is easily forgiven and overall, I would highly recommend Plenty. I look forward to returning and trying the pikelets! 

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

REVIEW: Spring Food & Wine



Ahhh...expectations were high.

Since I've been blogging reviews, I've started to really take note of a lot more things when I eat out. I note the service and the little extra touches that restaurants do, and as such, I've just noticed that most places really try to do their best. I was thinking, maybe I'll never post a less than positive review! I have been as critical while remaining fair as I could but I just haven't had a bad experience...until now. 

This kitchen is pretty cute hey. Imagine having that in your house!

I'd been hanging out to go to Spring for literally over a year. The menu looks so good and the website makes it sound fresh and spectacular, with organic food and farm to table eating. Unfortunately, I did not have the spectacular experience that I thought was all but guaranteed.


A nice coffee. The coffee must have been good cos the coffee drinkers went back for more!

We arrived at Spring early on a Wednesday morning for a girls catch up before work. I was so excited and when I walked in, I was simply chuffed with the interior. It is so French, provincial and charming. We were seated with the rest of our party and perused the menu. Everything sounded pretty good and we were quickly decided on what we would get.


I don't have the guts to go for green juices. Like, they look so healthy and people love them but why go green when you can go pink! Pink juice is where it's at.

When I caught the attention of the waiter and asked to order, he told me that drinks were first. This kind of perturbed me as it was obvious we were all dressed to go to work and you would think on a work day, efficiency would be key. Whatever, we ordered drinks and were left to wait to order our food.


A slightly blurry photo of the watermelon special. Looks a bit like a Halloween drink. It was really nice though.

For drinks, we ordered a Watermelon Special juice which is apple, watermelon, mint and lime, a Miss Berry juice of mixed berries, apple and orange, a Sweet Green juice of cucumber, spinach, celery, kale and watermelon as well as a couple of coffees. All the juices were $7.50. There was a big juicing machine in the kitchen and they were all very fresh.


And this is my drink! The pink beauty.

Once the waiter had deigned to take our order with his most least interested face on, the Farmhouse Breakfast ($22) proved to be most popular with 3 orders with Smashed Avocado on home-baked sourdough toast ($10) a close runner up with two of us ordering the dish. The Farmhouse Breakfast looked decent  and came with all the expected trappings of a big breakfast with eggs, bacon, tomato, sausages, mushrooms, spinach and toast. A gluten free order had the sourdough swapped with gluten free bread. My fellow diners said the bacon was very well cooked. The sausages also looked fat and plump.


The Farmhouse Breakfast and you can see the gluten free farmhouse with the gluten free bread. I tried some of that bread and it was alright. Poor gluten free people.

I was less impressed with the avocado on toast. The presentation was quite poor. I ordered a side of mushrooms for $5 and received four pretty sad looking mushrooms on the side. I guess the avocado on toast was on the cheaper side for breakfast at$10 but I was pretty disappointed with the mushrooms. Way over priced. And I didn't think the bread was all that good compared with the bread I had at Chester Street Bakery.


Those mushrooms look miserable. They need Xanax or something. It's like avosadco on toast.

My fellow avocado on toaster ordered a side of haloumi for $5 and I thought it looked equally depressed. As there was no salt on the table, I asked the waiter for some salt and was given an empty shaker. That's not enough really to upset me but when I asked for a different one, I was given instructions on how to use the shaker and told it wasn't really empty in a manner I found rude. After negotiating the release of a different salt shaker like the release of a hostage from Fallujah, I finished my meal with a sour taste in my mouth from the dismissive and unhelpful waiter.


That haloumi is trying to hide under the toast. It can't even.

I found the food at Spring pretty average but it was the service that really stuck in my craw. The waitress who rung up our bill at the end was actually really lovely and perhaps if she'd been our server the whole time, I might be back to Spring to see if they were having an off day.


The coffee must be good! Look at that line up for takeaways.

However, with the attitude of the man who did serve us, I think I'll try somewhere else next time. There are so many great places opening every week in Brisbane, I really don't have to put up with bad service. 
 
Food: 2/5
Service: 1/5
Price: 3/5
Atmosphere: 3/5