Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Gattica - 223 Carlisle St, Balaclava


My experience with Gattica this time around was slightly more extensive than the last, where I stopped to order a takeaway skim latte (a good one at that) on my way back from breakfast at Las Chicas. Upon reading on the popularity of balaclava cafes and the potential bad experience with efficiency/quality, I chose to sample out Gattica during the week.

I arrived at just after 11am and was greeted warmly as soon as I stepped into the grungy art-deco venue with a hint of middle-easter/asian flair; I was encouraged to seat myself and the waitress promptly brought over the menus, taking my coffee order at the same time.

My skim latte came straight away, it was slightly lacking in density compared to my takeaway last time, but was good nevertheless (I heard a rumour that only a selected few baristas are allowed near the coffee machine). Excellent presentation!

I ordered the eggs florentine ($10.90 - two poached eggs on toasted bagle with spinach and hollandaise sauce) with a side of mushrooms ($2.50) and house made hash browns ($3 or $3.50, couldn't remember).

The meal arrived, again, promptly; the eggs were almost just right, there were still some liquidity at the centre. The mushrooms had a wonderful flavour, and the hashbrowns were simply divine - crunchy on the outside, with just the right balance of potato and herbs. And it wasn't mushy. Simply delicious! Cutlery was also fantastic, I had no trouble cutting through my bagle, or anything else for that matter.

The waitress even made time for a little chit-chat, extracting contents from my copy of 'eat pray love' to recommendations on must read literature 'sugar babes', available for purchase at your local Target. The barista was on first name basis with almost everyone, which could seem a little intimidating before I stepped into the venue, however the great service made me feel right at ease.

The only thing to be mindful is that there is a min $20 for card transactions.



Food: 8.5/10 - the hashbrowns pushed it up by 0.5
Coffee: 7/10 (hovers between 7 and 7.5)
Service: Excellent, efficient and friendly - 9/10
Value: Good value food at reasonable prices, my meal came to $19.70 - 8/10
Ambiance: upbeat - 7/10

Overall: 39.5/50
Encore: Definitely!

Monday, March 30, 2009

Cafe Panette - 144 Cecil St, South Melbourne

I have taken Monday and Tuesday off work due to time in lieu - I've always thought it was ironic that I'm spending more time at work so I could spend less time at work.

Anyhow. I have been experiencing symptoms of slight obsession towards food lately, especially breakfasts. Since stumbling upon the Holy Grail of breakfast blogs, the breakfast blog, and seeing some of my fav and less than fav restaurants/cafes listed, I thought I might - armed with cheap eats and the good food guide 2009 - embark on a little culinary crusade myself and note down the good, the fantastic, and the downright horrible of my dining experiences.

Which brings me to my first blogged experiment: Cafe Panette.

I had always been particularly partial to Cafe Sweethearts, so much that I had not ventured out from my scrambled-eggwhite-benedict/la mer/florentine/romano/avocado-bubble for as long as I recall of South Melbourne breakfasts. So it was almost inevitable now that I'm sitting under a 'Cafe Panette' marked umbrella, I'm feeling, and attempting to supress, the tiniest pagnes of guilt.

After all, I tell myself, this is for the benefit of the human race, and quests of that scale generally demands a few casualties, not to mention sacrifices.

The waiter, a middle-aged man, perhaps the owner, greeted me with less warmth than my skim latte, which arrived within expected time frames, but on a below luke-warm scale. He walked away in the midst of my order and I had to call him back to reiterate my extra side servce of Sauteed Spinach ($3) on my Eggs a La Mer (2 poached eggs with salmon, sauteed champgne mushrooms covered with hollandaise sauce $14.90 - I stuck with the poached eggs).

The food arrived promptly, and the waiter seemed to have warmed to me slightly, even calling me 'darl' as he placed the plate down, and low and behold, even offered me cracked pepper.

I'm not accustomed to being called 'darl' by members other than my girlfriends, but I was a little overwhelmed by his generosity (the offering of cracked pepper) that the offense didn't register until much later.

The muffins were fresh and rightly toasted, the poached eggs however, were on the runny end. The salmon came shredded and enveloped by the mushrooms and the poached egg, which I didn't quite like. The mushrooms were a little tasteless, and the hollanaise sauce likewise. The very generous side serving of spinach redeemed the experience by a fraction, but not enough for me to have deemed it a satisfying meal.


Food
: Prompt but lacking in flavour, 5/10
Coffee: Below luke-warm temperature, 5.5/10
Service: Efficient but lacked initial warmth, 6/10
Value: Quite competitively priced, although given the quality of the food I would have rather forked out another $3 for Cafe Sweetheart - 6/10
Ambiance: Relaxed and chilled - 5/10

Overall: 27.5/50
Encore: same dish - no, although I may try something else on the menu - Maybe