Coffee Head

(20/4/12)

Coffee Head, one of three relative new ventures in Camberwell, the other two being FireChief & Goldilocks cafe all with the same owner. We have now dined at all three :-) Very funky entrance down side street leading to Camberwell station, quite a large interior the back half being occupied by the kitchen & coffee roasting etc. machinery which you can view from most seats in cafe. Also a large selection of coffee/tea paraphernalia (machines, beans, cups etc) presented very nicely along one wall. Quite busy when we arrived, a momentary wait & table found for five down near the roasting end of cafe.

 We are seated the table wiped over & 2! menus left...... did I  mention there were 5 of us, menu rations! (maybe print a few more off  it makes the ability to order a bit easier) Water & small glasses brought to the table, but no offer to take any drinks orders..... thought spruiking your wares ie: coffee would be number one on the agenda! but apparently not. We are then promptly forgotten about for approx 15 mins, maybe the table in the back corner is not the best choice, especially when we watch a staff member proceed to clean an empty table nearby instead of taking orders. We then have to order our drinks & food together, hopefully they do not all come at once!

Coffee, Hot chocolate, Turkish coffee, pour over & organic Orange juice ordered. Coffee was very nice, but once again cups with non user friendly small handles (why do cafes do that?) Hot Chocolate was spilled upon placing on the table, maybe she was in a hurry....... to clean another table?

Not a huge menu, quite a few standard dishes you would see in a lot of cafes eg. Bircher muesli topped w summer fruits, porridge served w pistachios, orange zest & honey - side banana, side mixed berries, Fruit salad w a light mint syrup.

Breakfast quesadilla w ham, manchego cheese, avocado, tomato & fried egg.

($15.9)

This was thoroughly enjoyed by the two brunchers that had it, extremely tasty & quite filling. Ease of cutting the quesadilla may have been easier with slightly sharper knife. Yes I know another of my pet hates! but guys it really is an investment that is worth making as we always remember the cafes with the sharp knives. It makes cutting lovely crunchy toast etc so much easier. :-(

Poached eggs, served on potato roesti w crispy istra bacon, spinach & thyme hollandaise

($14.9)

On first sighting the dish looked quite small on the big round plate, but it was very filling & tasty dish, the whole combination worked really well together & I wasn't left wanting. The spinach was cooked well which isn't always achieved (wasn't watery & tasteless)

Huevos rancheros: baked eggs w jamon, capsicum & tomato ragout in toasted tortilla.

($15.8)

This dish came with side dish of  sourdough toast, very nice presentation & very tasty with only couple of minor issues.  Baked egg could have been baked just a little more as it was a little too runny & so dispersed amongst the other ingredients.  A little more toast would also have made the dish a 10/10.

Additionally there was a choice of your basic eggs - poached, fried, scrambled or sous-vide 62.5 degrees on sourdough & the usual suspects as far as sides roasted tomato, mushrooms, spinach, avocado, baked beans ($3.5) each, : smoked salmon or istra bacon ($4.5) each.

There were also some Toasty Things, including mouse traps: grilled cheese & vegemite on choice of toast (our fifth bruncher enjoyed this) & home-made baked beans - choice toast - sourdough, multigrain, rye, or fruit toast.

Once again the cardinal rule (don't owners implore staff to do this as it is selling the cafe!!) broken!!, can I get you any more drinks coffee etc ????  No Nothing. :-(

  Plates cleaned away by a staff member that looked like she would rather be on mars than working here, almost upending one empty plate in brunchers lap. And so we sat waiting to see if anyone would return & ask that one easy question, .......... No  was the answer & so upon that note we left, with out ordering another coffee or maybe buying some beans :-( your loss Coffee Head, its such a great venue & the food was really great but service (apart from the smiley girl that found the table for us) was possible some of the worst we have experienced.

Foodrinkery

(17/4/12)

We found this little gem of a place via friend Tom & a link to Broadsheet article :-) Being owned by the guys that own the Nevermind Bar (sons & friends frequent) in Hawthorn we thought .... why not see what other talents they have besides running a bar in Hawthorn! 

Really quiet location off the beaten track of Warrigal Road near Wattle Park PS, easy as parking in the street & easy to locate.  What a trendy little cafe in real suburbia, a very modern quirky! fit out with quite a lot of seating outside at the front, inside & out the back of cafe. Greeted by a very friendly guy (who looked very familiar?) .......... ah yes had worked at Snow Pony for about 12 months & one of the brother ships - Porgie & Mr Jones. Yep we are in capable hands :-) 

We decided to sit out the back & enjoy some of the April sun in Melbourne! The area out the back works very well for parents with small children as there is a gate open that leads to the playground equipment in the park right next door, win win! 

Coffee order taken upon being seated with water & very decent size glasses. Coffee was very smooth & served in cups with manageable handles (such a plus), on very quaint saucers.

View of the decent sized water glasses & the gate leading to freedom for small children & their parents alike :-) The cafe menu is quite small & probably more of an all day snack menu rather than being focused on breakfast or lunch in particular, which given the location is probably a wise move.

Watermelon, lime, berries. Breakfast Cup

($6)

Lovely & fresh with section of lemon to squeeze over the top which added another level to the fruit, & also served on very quaint plate. (someone has raided grandmas cupboard or St Vinys)  There were a few other selections like Bircher muesli, yoghurt, stewed strawberry, Coconut taipoca, pineapple, vanilla  all ($6)

Whipped avocado, ricotta, poached egg on sourdough

($9)

Very tasty & ultra smooth whipped avocado with poached egg, bruncher thought he possibly should have ordered an additional egg just to balance the creaminess & to fill his tum. But most enjoyable.

Croque Madam - ham, swiss cheese, mustard, bechamel, poached egg.

($9)

Not my usual brunch fare, but still very tasty, the addition of the egg made it more like a breakfast dish & indeed went well with the ham & cheese .

There was also a selection of other toasties for ($8) like Mushroom, salsa verde, avocado, Eggplant, sheep milk feta, mint. Saffron potato, haloumi, hommus, rosemary, quite an interesting & inventive lot. A nice little menu with additional cakes/muffins in presentation case on counter.  Very suited to the location & the human traffic that are likely to be passing. 

 We finished with another coffee & our total bill was ($36) WOW :-)  Really hope people get around this place & give the attention it deserves!  They just need to get themselves a business card (which could be in the pipeline) & maybe some decent paper napkins. Otherwise Bravo Boys, beer is not your only choice of poison! (meant in the nicest possible way) :-)

Axil

(10/4/12)

Back again, where to go, Axil was the destination reasonably local and visited a few times but not lately for breakfast! Axil is a lovely big space once occupied by two offices, it has a very funky modern fit out, plenty of tables inside & some outside particularly favored by the pram brigade :-)  

Met at the door by friendly staff, offered a choice of  tables, but not taken to one, seated and offered drinks!! frown :-(

   Slowly the return of staff member with water, and menus & drink request. The menu is quite an extensive & varied one. From  Passionfruit frozen yoghurt w/ pistachio & mango granola & fresh cut stone fruit (yum) to House smoked trout & scrambled egg wrap w/ avocado salsa & snow pea tendrils!

Quite a few Gluten Free options available to with GF bread/toast.  Fairly varied choice of extras also, Chorizo, house smoked trout, chilli beans, potato hash, feta, & usuals mushrooms, bacon, spinach, tomato relish etc ranging from 2.5 to 4.5 each.  Lots of wonderful coffee (being coffee roasters as they are) & half a dozen teas, fresh OJ juice or bottled juices.

Breakfast is served all day :-)

 


We ordered two coffees & freshly squeezed OJ to start with, very nice & what wonderful user friendly cups with easy to hold handles!

Spicy Baked eggs w/ goat's cheese feta, dukkah & pepperonata sauce w/ a side of toast.

(16.5)

Not only did this dish look amazing, it also tasted amazing, it was a definite 10/10 for this one, nothing was left other than the plate & cooking pan!

Corn & haloumi fritters w/avocado, spinach, poached egg & salsa rosso (GF) & additional poached egg.

(17  +  2.5)

And yet another winner in this corner, my avocado loving son was well pleased with this dish, but was also glad he added an additional poached egg to increase to man sized brunch! Once again spotless plate.

Smashed avocado & Meredith feta on sour dough toast (+poached egg $2 extra) & mushrooms

(14.5 + 2 + 3.5)

Wow there was so much avocado in this dish that maybe my avocado loving son will return for it! The Meredith Feta mixed with the avocado made it an eating delight. I was glad I did include side of mushrooms as they nicely cut the creaminess of the avocado. 

Thoroughly enjoyed but could not completely clean my plate :-(

Finished brunch with another two coffees, but unfortunately only after catching attention of staff, once again the cardinal rule of clearing the tables & asking if anything else (coffee etc) required. Sell your goods!