Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Finally - Pancake Time



I never did find my picture of the Seddon Deadly Sins banana pancakes .... so I just had to go back and have them again just for the good of this blog!!!  Dedicated aren't I!
Rachael

The Corner Shop & Le Chien

Like two peas in a pod.  Still my fav's.  Both these cafes know how to run a business!  And although they would not like to be grouped together I have put them in the same review because  although they are quite
different as cafes they both still have a lot in common.  That's no coincidence!  Ian and Claire who run The corner shop once used to be part owners of Le Chien!  Eighteen months ago Ian and Claire struck out on their own once again and have made a huge success of it, whilst Andy remains at Le Chien continuing on the sucess story there.

My fav brekkie at the corner shop is the baked eggs.  Just superb with Chorizo and fetta.  Maybe a little bit more turkish bread needed to go with it but otherwise a faultless dish!
At Le Chien, my fav brekkie (as well as a lot SKY peoples) is the promite special (poached eggs, on promite ciabatta toast, avocado, tomato and parsley).  Just Brilliant!  Consistently excellent.

At both cafe's tea is served in lovely big pots.  But here is where Le Chien still comes out on top!  The tea here tastes, like English Breakfast, at the Corner Shop, it tastes flowery. (Jeepers Mon - I still can't tell the difference.  They are some serious taste buds you've got there!  Besides, some of us like our EBT flowery) It always has and so I have stopped ordering it. The  Last two times when I was there I ordered a Chai latte.   The first time was delicious the second time not so.   It  is the barista of course, on both days it was a different barista.  So now when I go there I will check out who the Barista  is and that will determine what I will order.  Much Easier though at Le Chien, consistency is a key ingredient here.

The most common denominator in these two cafes is the atmosphere.  In both cafes when you walk in there is an instant vibe.  Content and relaxed people, enjoying their mornings.  There have been many a friendship forged in these cafes, and isn't that what our local cafe is about, community spirit and meeting other locals. When we leave these cafes, we leave feeling fulfilled.

LOVE these two cafes - the best in SKY by a long shot!!

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Coffee Edge

1 Anderson Street. Yarraville 3013.
Tel: 9687 0977



Not new, so how did we miss this cafe last year. Well quite easily it appears! Coffee Edge is tucked away at the top end of Anderson St. I knew there was a cafe there I just didn't think they served breakfast.

As I never walked past this cafe I never gave it a second thought. I would drive past it and it looked like a cafe in which an older generation of European men hung out at. I didn't think it was my scene. One particular morning when I drove past I saw a new sign out the front, advertising breakfast, so I thought ah, change of
owner/management, now is the time to have breakfast here.

So off Rachael and myself go, walking to the top end of Anderson St and Coffee Edge. The first thing that I notice is a cute little courtyard. I thought not a bad place to hang out with my book and a cup of tea!
But once we walk inside it is pretty clear, pretty quickly that this place is lacking! This is how a cafe looked 20 maybe 30 years ago. The decor is simply boring! The atmosphere is simply boring! and The menu is simply boring! Have they not been to any of the other cafes in SKY, have they not checked out their competition. For Heavens sake they did not even have any music going!

I ordered the old standard breakfast(poached eggs, spinach mushrooms and tomato). It was served on
white toast but had been on the menu as sour dough. I always find this disappointing and think that if there is a menu item missing it is courteous to let the customer know. But something tells me they may not know the difference. However this breakfast was only $10, quite a steal compared to the rest of SKY! Apart from the toast thing , it was quite well cooked, just like nona would make! How was your omelette Rach?

Ummm - barely remember I'm afraid.  Fairly average I think.
The coffee is Griffiths and as we sat there, there was quite a few take away orders. $3.20 was the price, let me know what you think! The tea is T2! (I think T2 is invading the world, everywhere you go it's there on the shelf, watching you, saying order me!) They were offering 7 blends of T2 and I tried the peppermint. Yes it tasted like peppermint, nothing amazing.

Coffee Edge is still not my scene! It needs a lot of work. But for those who don't take their cafes so seriously, it might be just the place for you. It has all the basics, just no personality!

I'd love to play devil's advocate here but I was so disconcerted by the appalling decor I couldn't concentrate.  Maybe the courtyard experience would be better.  Please don't make me go there again.

Rachael

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Seddon Deadly Sins

Going back to Seddon Deadly sins is always a pleasure.

Although it is not perfect it has many fabulous qualities.

Probably one of the most important is their service administered by their consistent, experienced staff! A treasure and a rare find in any cafe! They know about follow up service which is more than most cafes!

I'm very excited about Baked Eggs at the moment and tend to order them any chance I get. So I gave SDS's a go. And the verdict? Quite nice, however the menu said Parmesan cheese but I didn't taste any Parmesan, which is disappointing. Served with Turkish Bread which of course I love, but no butter. Mmmmm, you are probably thinking she doesn't need that butter after those pictures we saw of her at Xmas, however what is dipping bread without butter I ask you? I also had to ask for another serving of bread because it wasn't quite enough, a bit light on really.

Rach am I remembering correctly that you had pancakes? ( I get so wrapped up in what I am eating that sometimes I forgot to check yours out). How were they?

Oh Lordy! They were fabulous - Banana and ice cream with lashings of caramel sauce that lasted right through to the last bite! If I could justify it I would have it every morning of the week.

OK, so I didn't quite have this many but I've lost the photo I took and this just looked so damn good!

I love the Golden Book menus. They are fantastic, but my favourite menu item is the PuppyCino - Soy milk with Liver Sprinkles. I had to pass, but I am highly recommending this drink to all my friends with dogs. I loved the names of the tea but when I asked they didn't have what I wanted or there was confusion over the printed names on the menu, so needles to say I am still a bit confused and don't know what I ended up drinking but it was nice. $12.50 for the baked eggs and 3.30 for the tea so 15.80 for my breakfast which is very well priced.