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.