Posts Tagged ‘coffee’
Siphon Coffee Video – St Ali
Siphon Coffee is all the rage at the moment. Apparently it was developed in Japan and the coffee fiends at the “boutique” coffee houses around Melbourne are selling them like wildfire. It makes a great deal of sense to me. The coffee, served black, is more like the texture and consistency of tea rather than espresso. The brewing process is such that the individual flavours in the coffee are far more intense than in an espresso. Don’t get me wrong, if you want a caffeine hit, a short black certainly feels like it packs a harder punch, but when you want to enjoy a tempered coffee while you read or perhaps a gentler coffee to nurse your aching head, this stuff is the shit.
Here’s a video of the brewing process. Special thanks to St Ali.
You should follow me on Twitter.The Sugar in Melbourne Coffee Shops
I have a gripe for the vast majority of Melbourne Cafes. Why oh why do you insist on me spoiling your beautiful coffee with an inferior sugar product? I’m the guy that when asked has 1 raw sugar in his takeaway latte. Yes, raw. It isn’t that I don’t like my coffee bitter, in fact sometimes it’s a long black, with a raw sugar. I love the extra layer of slightly caramel flavour that that 1 teaspoon adds to the coffee.
Coffee Crystals: The kind of coffee that should be in all cafes
Melbourne is a city which loves coffee. The people drink it in boatloads, the general quality of the coffee is great and you can buy it everywhere. Even my cornershop has a espresso machine, yet nearly every place offers me nothing but pre-measured white sugar. It seems strange to me that not only is raw sugar cheaper but it’s also tastier than it’s bleached cousin yet businesses insist on selling it.
So, my tip to the coffee shops. Fuck the sachets and give me a good old fashioned sugar-bowl or dispenser and a great coffee. In the long run you and I will both reap the benefits.
You should follow me on Twitter.Breakfast at Bastille Cafe, Clarendon St, South Melbourne
Not much to look at from the street but the set tables, open kitchen and French flag give this restaurant an impression of expensive, overdone arogance. The truth is the complete opposite.
The breakfast menu is a very basic affair, eggs, omelet, bacon, mushrooms and pancakes.. Don’t let the lack of options fool you though, the fare is produced with the finest of ingredients, ham off the bone, fresh tomatoes and amazing bread. The eggs were poached beautifully, the ham and mushroom filled omelette moist and the bacon not overcooked. Each meal was served with toasted, olive oil drizzle bread to die for and a dipping sauce of tomato relish. After the fact, the bread and relish could easily have replaced the entire meal.
Generally the coffee in Clarendon St is nothing to speak of, especially when compared with Lygon and Brunswick St but Cafe Bastille’s lattes were great. Caramelly, hot and quick to the table, they certainly helped my hangover turn the corner.
At the end of meal, the most pleasing aspect of the meal was the price. $7 for poached eggs plus $3 for bacon on the side. $12.50 for the omelette and $14 for 4 coffees. 2 very caffeinated and content diners walk out with not only change from $40 but also happy with the service and the quality of the food.
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You should follow me on Twitter.Breakfast in Melbourne
Due to the fact that I don’t operate very well in the morning, I rarely remember a camera and have trouble putting together 2 words let alone cohesive thoughts that would make for a reasonable review. Thus I’m going to just write a couple of short notes here about where I’ve eaten breakfast (or brunch) lately.
Cafe Pearl, Richmond
Serving breakfast only until early (sadly it finishes at noon on weekends) I didn’t manage to actually sample the breakfast at Pearl Cafe but the coffee is good and they have every paper under the sun available for your reading pleasure. The style of the lunch menu is what the food press would call fusion (the breakfast menu is quite traditional,) with a number of asian influences. Out of character, I ordered the Vietnamese chicken salad and was amazed at it’s size and impressed with the tangy spicy flavour. The other meal was the Moroccan chicken pot pie which was great, shredded chicken and couscous were not too spicy but it was served with a dish of hot sauce for the hotness inclined. Not only is Cafe Pearl a great advertisement to its fine-dining sibling it stands remarkably well on its own two feet. They also have a great website with information on everything Pearl.
MART, Middle Park
Around the corner in my new stomping ground, MART is a cute little cafe on the light rail line to St Kilda with a great reputation. We went on Easter Saturday and it was absolutely packed, but luckily there was a couple of seats on the bar overlooking Albert Park. Unfortunately the view was marred by a number of Formula 1 fences and grandstands still being in the park.
Although every table was full, every part of the service was very prompt (if a little rushed) and as ordered. The oven-baked corn fritters were truly amazing, served with bacon, chutney and sour cream but the scrambled eggs with truffle oil, mushrooms and spinach were too oily and a little disappointing. All in all, I’m definitely planning on heading back when it is a little bit quieter and giving them another chance at living up its huge expectations.
Nacional, Albert Park
Perhaps breakfast at Nacional doesn’t quite do the restaurant justice. It has a great wine list and judging by the blackboards showing the dinner mains, an evening meal would be amazing. Breakfast (or lunch) stood up very well in a fine-dining kind of way.
Our seared kangaroo from the lunch menu was perfect, intense flavours from the perfectly cooked fillet. I was a little disappointed in its size and wished that our waiter had suggested a side with it. The breakfast menu’s bacon on toast with maple syrup was pleasant, not “write home to mum this was the most amazing thing I’ve ever tasted” but a great breakfast workhorse nonetheless. As is so often the case in Melbourne the coffee was great, presented well and on time. Like MART and Pearl, I definitely have plans to come back to Nacional but not for breakfast, for dinner.
You should follow me on Twitter.Joe’s Garage – Queenstown Coffee Rescue
Funky music, art and comfortable surrounds are the order of the day at Joe’s Garage. Being one of the bigger cafes in Queenstown it doesn’t have the compact, claustrophobic feel that other coffee shops around here give off. The dining area is quite sparse with a few tables and a full length breakfast-style bar which over looks the food preparation area. There are few things better in my opinion than an open kitchen, being able to see the staff preparing your coffee and meals is something that more places should do. The only problem is it can be hard to grab someone’s attention to order another coffee or food as the staff are busy with their back to you, a small price to pay for the great atmosphere.
The coffee is great at Joe’s (as it is in most places around here), this particular blend/roast is a richer flavour than I am used to but it definitely is not overdone. The quality of the end product is, like most things in this cafe, exceptional. I have seen the dread-locked barista singlehandedly pumping out a ridiculous number of cups high quality coffee in short succession and personally have not tasted a bad cup. No burnt coffee, bitter coffee and the presentation is always top notch.
My only complaint is a distinct lack of raw sugar, I always take a little bit of sugar in my coffee and personally think that white sugar is a waste of time. It does not provide any flavour while raw sugar adds just the slightest hint of caramel. I think a lot of coffee drinkers are in the same boat as I and there really is no reason why sachet’s of both can’t be on the tables.
For food, I think Joe’s is certainly one of the best places in Queenstown for a queezy stomach or an aching head. It has a good range of salads, cereal and hot breakfast on the menu, rounded out with a couple of bratwurst rolls. My personal favourite meal is “The Joker”, it is a toasted roll, bratwurst, bacon and egg. This is certainly full of flavour and meat and certainly won’t dissapoint with it’s size. All in all the meals at Joe’s are superb, they aren’t necessarily the cheapest but they are definitely worth every cent.
Joes Garage Coffee Machine
Probably my biggest complaint about Joe’s Garage is the clientele, often the feel given off from the other customers is one where they think you should get out of their coffee shop and town. People have mentioned this to me about other places in Queenstown, but I have only ever noticed it at Joes. I think it is magnified by people sitting in the dining area with their dogs under the table and not caring if anyone else has a problem with this – that is what the outdoor eating area is for!
Overall I love the place and regularly recommend people to drop in for a coffee and breakfast.
You should follow me on Twitter.A Queenstown Coffee Institution: Motogrill
Motogrill is one of those places where the first time you walk in there, you don’t actually feel like you belong. The staff probably won’t look up from the newspaper they are reading, or break from the conversation they are having with the 3 guys leaning on the counter. Don’t get me wrong, they aren’t being unfriendly or rude, work may not actually be why they are there. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining, I’d be the same if I were them. There isn’t a problem with getting a coffee though, you will get it and it will be good. It just won’t be the all smiles and how can I help that you will get at Starbucks, and don’t get me started on Starbucks.
Which leads me to the next point, the food. The Motogrill steak sandwich may be one of the best lunches in Queenstown, it is definitely not overdone. Served on toasted bread, seasoned with parsley (It might not actually be parsley) and complete with partly melted cheese,tomato and lettuce it is everything you could hope for in a sneak sandwich, and let me tell you, I’ve hoped for a lot of things in a steak sandwich. The pasta salad is another favourite of mine – beans, spiral pasta, chicken, tomatoey sauce and some shaved parmesan. One of the things about everything at Motogrill is the size. They definitely aren’t skimping on the portions, which on a hangover is exactly what you want.
All of this is great, but there is one glaring problem for Motogrill to be the ultimate cafe for a hangover cure, this is of course the fact that Motogrill is closed on Sundays. Now I know that the staff are snowboarding on Sunday’s or recovering from their hangover and who am I to blame them? But seriously guys, you get us addicted with your awesome steak sandwiches and then refuse to open and serve us scrambled eggs and cappuccinos for breakfast on a Sunday.
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