Finishing off for 2009 with snippets from beyond Sky

Fruits of Passion - Kensington

Wish we had one in SKY! Points of difference, that's what makes a good business. What are those points of difference that make a cafe the place where everyone wants to meet, eat and drink,whether it be coffee or wine.
I think it is the owners. The owners personality shines through the business. The Likes and Dislikes of the owner come through in their choice of staff, their choice of furnishings, the music played in the background and the style of food. These owners must have personality and I think good taste, because I like everything about this cafe. Across the road from Kensington Station in the nicest part of the Kensington shopping strip is this little haven filled with treats. As I sit and wait for the bircher muesli ordered I look at the Kensington Clock (from London) on the wall, I listen to an interesting mix of music and then checkout the baristas, boys in their early 30's? who don't brush or style their hair as opposed to the metrosexual 20 year olds (in
many a cafe these days) who use the hair straightner before they walk out the door (oops I've digressed). The Bircher is only $8 and topped with bananas, strawberry's and kiwi's, truly yummy. Rachael had Flinders fruit toast which she seems to be enjoying (correct Mon, lovely toast thanks) and overall it is a lovely breakfast menu, which is enticing me to go back. I have it on very good authority that the French Toast with Poached Peaches and Marscapone is excellent. However as in the Happy River case their service is also lacking in that follow-up service. I don't get it. Anyway I will be going back and hopefully the service will have improved so I can keep going back until I've tried the whole menu.

Provisions - Williamstown

Glad we don't have one in SKY! Big, loud, and not very interesting.
Breakfast menu huge and like stepping back a decade or two. The food was average and the service was again apalling, no follow up to offer us that second cup of tea. Nothing to entice me back here at all. I may have come to the end of my tether here, sorry a bit harsh perhaps but it
is late at night, and I have looked at my notes and they don't give me anything appealing to add. Rachael??? You perhaps have more positive things to say????

Monica

Ummm... not really sorry Mon. Fairly bland and unexciting to be honest. Won't be going back.
Rachel

And there you have it! The first year of breakfast reviews from Breakfastinthesky. We hope to continue our good work in 2010 as it is a never ending task (and may I add, an extremely enjoyable one). We hope that you keep reading and please always feel free to agree or
disagree or perhaps you have something to add to enhance our local knowledge of breakfast.

Monica

Snippet 7 - Round 2 at Happy River

Very Exciting News - The New home of the Laneway festival - Footscray
Community Arts Centre with such bands as Echo and the Bunneymen, Mumford
and Sons and Sarah Blasko .

This cafe located within the Footscray community Arts Centre is set in a great
location. It is lovely to sit outside on the lawn whilst the children play. The food is great, I had scrambled eggs with chilli, coriander, avocado and lemon and it was delicious, BUT and this is a very big BUT - the service is appalling. After you put your initial order in and you receive your order, that's it. No more service. They don't suppose that you might like a second cup of tea or that people like me sometimes like to have two courses for breakfast (my poor waist line). It turns me off going even if the food is great. Too many good cafes with good food and
good service!

Monica

Usually I am the voice of reason and the good cop to your bad cop but I am in complete agreement with you on this one. I will not willingly go to this cafe anymore despite it's advantages as I am yet to receive good service and I used to go all the time. There are only so many chances you can give a place before it really starts to piss you off. We aren't the only ones either. What a shame that the staffing isn't up to scratch as it has everything else going for it.

Rachel

Snippet 6 Round 2 @Famous Blue Raincoat

Just a little bit of controversy here! One menu item seemed very similar to another cafe - see if you can guess who - Promite, Roma Tomatoes, Avocado and Poached Eggs,mmmmmm,, what do you think???
Anyway the muesli I ordered was absolutely delicious, light and refreshing . Poached apple and berry compote with toasted muesli and natural yoghurt. $10. The toast (sometimes after a couple of hours I need a second course at breakfast) was thick white with SOFT butter to
spread. So Right!!
Also had dinner here, great value! Curry night $12 for Rogan Josh, rice
and roti! SUPER!

Snippet 5 - Round 2 @ Alpha Bakehouse

Dissapointed! Not half as good as the first time we went there for breakfast. The once overly filled bain-marie was completely empty of any breakfast goods(we were in at exactly the same time as last time). No muesli on the menu, in fact the menu was quite boring for brekkie.
However if you were feeling self-indulgent then there was plenty to eat. The cakes and pastries do look really superb. Chocolate doughnuts, pastry filled buns, almond crescents, etc. I didn't think of lot of the fruit bread toast which was mostly raisins and blueberries, I like more
variety if it is to be called fruit. Still don't like the Harriss tea bag either, however It was so busy and apparently they are open very early in the morning for the early starters first coffee of the day. They say the coffee is good!

Snippet 4 - Round 2 @ Urbano

Much more impressed, second time round. Again a big Menu. I had the middle eastern beans with tomato, parsley yoghurt and lemon. It was simply delicious! Urbano is very understated and it doesn't seem to put on any airs or graces. It has a fabulous showcase of food, such as
frittata, pies, salads etc which are all made on the premises. Toasted sandwiches are just $7. The cakes, muffins and brownies all look great as well. Highly recommend.

Monica

Hey Mon,
I think there has been a change of ownership since we last visited - an Asian influence now I'm thinking. I'll do some investigating and see if my suspicions are correct.

Rachel

Snippet 3 - Round 2 at the Gravy Train

So it wasn't an undercoat! I still can't get over the colour of the facade. Does the food make up for it, I'm not sure! Another huge breakfast menu, assortment of croissants, fruit toast, pancakes, french toast, BLT's and eggs done any which way. Still in my muesli stage, at $6.50 it is very good value. But would I prefer to pay more for something a bit more elaborate. For instance Pludo's in Willi or Fidama's or Feedback? (Probably).
The Gravy Train is good value for money, the service was excellent and the atmosphere was given a boost with great music. Still not 100% about the food given the competition in the area. Rachel's toast was burnt and when after a couple of hours I ordered some baked eggs the toast (Turkish bread) was served with out butter.

Cafe Fidama

http://www.cafefidama.com.au/

34 Ballarat St
Yarraville VIC 3013, Australia
(03) 9687 0133



When an institution that has not faltered is sold it must be scary for both new owners and old customers.
In 2009 we saw Mark and Louise Cohen sell Cafe Fidama. My history is a bit shaky here but they are the only owners that I know of. (Rachael you may know a bit more than I do
about this)(not a clue, sorry. R.). They were here when I first moved into Yarraville and they were the best - Great, up to date, modern food at affordable prices. It was consistent.
As SKY had more and more additions of good cafes and restaurants Cafe Fidama held it's own. Naturally when I visited for breakfast after the new owners had taken over I had reservations. But I must say any reservations quickly disappeared. They have a beautiful big breakfast menu, which made it really hard to choose from. Selections of waffles, apple and buttermilk pancakes, sardines and meaty brekkies must be able to please a wide variety of customers.

I chose the muesli (seems to be my preference at the moment). It was huge but delicious. It had toasted kiwi and cranberries and poached pears on top. Really good at $10. The Big Breakfast was $16.50, which is great value. I really liked the 'for sale' art work on the walls too.
Unfortunately there was not many people in there so the atmosphere was a bit lacking. Please people if you are scared of new owners always give them a go (sometimes it takes a while for everything to settle after a take over).

Cafe Fidama is only open for breakfast on weekends, I strongly suggest you give it a go in 2010.

(image - Miettas.com.au)

Snippet 1 - Petitiou

Firstly an apology is necessary here. The spelling of the name of this cafe was wrong in my last review! So sorry ladies.
Secondly, this sweet little cafe, located on Somerville Rd is greatly appreciated by those who love a good coffee and now don't have to go to Seddon or Yarraville village. However apart from coffee and tea, there is not a lot on offer. As it is a tiny space the girls don't have a lot of room to work with. I can't wait for them to find an ingenious way of stretching the menu as I am sure they will.
At the moment you are limited to toast, toasted sandwiches and cakes (of the Emma Mackay variety). The playroom for kids is a great idea with a showroom for baby products - creative, but wondering if they will make any money out of it. My business brain says maybe they should decide what sort of business they want, do they want a cafe or a baby products shop and then more room could be devoted to one or the other.
Good luck ladies, with your new business.

2009 Wrap Up

Dear Rachael,

I have been so naughty and unfortunately (for our blog and my waist) have been doing more eating than writing. Where did 2009 go??? One minute it's November 09 and I have all these intentions and then its Jan 2010. All good intentions blown out the window and reality setting in. I have hardly written anything and I have so much to say, (and I bet you're saying 'when don't you have something to say') so I guess I thought I would wrap the year up with a bundle of snippets....

As it is January a lot of our local cafes in SKY are taking a break (well deserved, I say)
but I have noticed that a lot are just taking the main public holidays, which is good news for the locals. I will make it my mission in 2010 to be more diligent and write more and eat less. That almost defeats the purpose of this blog however, if I accepted less dinner invitations and
accepted more breakfast invitations then I could write at dinner time, does that make sense, or does it sound like I'm still recovering from New Years Eve and I'm mumbling?

Cheers Monica

So here we go .....