16 March 2009

Cafe In The House - Breakfast

| ant
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Today I had Breakfast at Cafe In The House, which is the eatery in Old Parliament House. I was with a group of about 10.

I’ve eaten there before, and always been underwhelmed, and today was no exception.

One standout though was the young lady who was serving, she was excellent: competant and helpful.

Unfortunately we had a young man who while pleasant enough, did not manage to take everyone’s order and did not seem all that motivated to be there. The young chap who was evidently the maitre ‘d showed promise and in time should be very good.

It’s a pleasant venue, indoors and out. It was quite busy this morning, and as lunchtime began and we left, people were flooding in. The service is reasonably attentive, too.

The food! Well, the breakfast menu is fairly brief. There’s the two poached egg classics, Benedict and Florentine. There’s a sweet pancake thing, and a sweet french toast thing. The people who had these pronounced them OK, although there were no huge raves. One lady ordered The Muffin Of The Day and some tea, none of which arrived until she re-ordered them. She was underwhelmed with the Muffin Of The Day, sitting all by itself on the plate… not very appetising for breakfast.

I and some others opted for the “Big Breakfast”. Now, at $17 you’d be expecting a pretty opulent breakfast with coffee. Not with this one. In fact, I suspect that it’s made by someone who really isn’t into breakfast. And coffee wasn’t included, you had to order that separately.

I’ve had big breakfasts, the one at Wilfreds in the National Parks building at Jindabyne is still the stand-out, but essentially when you order something like this, you expect a big tasty wholesome breakky, with buttered toast and nice things.

This was somewhat meagre and grudging. Two small slices of alleged sourdough hid underneath. Some quite nice fried mushrooms but they were really more like lunch mushrooms than breakfast mushrooms. Somewhat austere for breakfast mushrooms. 2 bits of cooked roma tomato, a pile of dryish house baked beans, some unremarkable bacon, and a heated up hash brown much like the ones you buy frozen (it wasn’t house-made, it was moulded).

However, what really irked me was the eggs! I am doomed to have liquid fried eggs whenever I go out for breakfast, it seems. Steaks should be rare: eggs should only be wobbly and liquid if you ask for them to be so. There’s some creeping egg-snobbery in this town which seems to dictate that fried eggs should wobble on the plate and burst all over the place and gush liquid yellow in all directions when punctured. This happened at the inaugural Riotact breakfast, and I was careful to ask for my eggs to be cooked fully, please. Nope.

It’s a bit much when the poached egg people have solid eggs and the fried egg people have liquid eggs.

Anyway. It was an underwhelming breakfast. The coffee was OK, not bitter, not weak, just somewhere in the middle. I had two!

It’s nice how they have papers and magazines lying around for people to look at, that really is a good touch at breakfast.

The venue itself was nice, but once again the food was ordinary and quite overpriced for what it is.

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Slightly late reply, sorry Ant, but yes that was mine. We’ve never been back. 🙂

I’ve been there a few times over the years, for lunch usually and this breakky was a first for breakky. As said in the review, I’ve always been underwhelmed. The food is just never “there”. The location always sucks me in, and really it should be better in the food department.

Has much changed since last year? We went for lunch and have never been back (http://www.yourrestaurants.com.au/guide/cafe_in_the_house/). Shame, as it has a fantastic location.

I don’t want them ‘hard’, just not liquid. And I bet it won’t overwhelm me, no big breakfast has managed that yet (Wilfred’s came close though).

I’m sure if you ask for hard eggs they’ll give them to you. But try it out next time you want a big breakky. Slightly pricey but very overwhelming. 😉

motleychick said :

Verve in Manuka has the best big breakfasts!!

And +5 for runny fried eggs… Nothing like soaking up the leftover yolk with bread!

errr please! I’m eating.

Verve eh? I’ll add that to the list. I hope the liquid eggs aren’t compulsory though. I’ll interrogate them!

Verve in Manuka has the best big breakfasts!!

And +5 for runny fried eggs… Nothing like soaking up the leftover yolk with bread!

GB said :

Is there anywhere in Canberra to get a great rösti? Even if they serve (ethnically appropriate) solid fried eggs with it? Rösti and sausage… mmmmm.

There’s a cafe near the AIS that does *awesome* rosti (it’s part of a big breakfast that includes chorizo, haloumi, spinach, eggs, bacon, toast, mushrooms … and some other stuff I’m sure).

Damned if I can remember it’s name though.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%B6sti

Looks like a hash brown or bubble and squeeak variant.

Just to clarify (as a result of what happened in this more recent story http://the-riotact.com/?p=12375 ), lunch mushrooms are kind of less sloppy than breakfast mushrooms. Dunno why, but breakfast mushrooms are usually moist or sauced or something. These were sort-of dry fried. Nice though, just not very breakfasty.

What’s a Rosti?

Not that I have found, happy to be corrected though if anyone has a secret rosti hangout.

Is there anywhere in Canberra to get a great rösti? Even if they serve (ethnically appropriate) solid fried eggs with it? Rösti and sausage… mmmmm.

GB said :

If I ordered eggs in Australia without special instructions, and they came solid, I’d send them back. I think you might have to get used to making your special order a special order.

Working in a cafe as table staff years ago, I had an arguement with a new chef on his first day because I refused to take solid fried eggs out to the customers. I think he was German or Austrian and he insisted that was how they should be. Maybe it is popular in Europe that way?

The other waiter who took them out to the customers brought 95% of them back.

The chef could make a great rosti though, and he quickly learned that Aussies like their eggs to explode tasty yellow gooeyness all over the plate.

grunge_hippy9:26 pm 16 Mar 09

there’s a difference between breakfast and lunch mushrooms???

Pesty,

Thanks for the laugh on an otherwise dull and unhappy day.

I guess the breakfast ones need to be smaller or there would not be “muchroom” on the plate?

I think the review was fine, I like knowing where not to go but I do have to say…

+4 for runny fried eggs

What’s the difference between breakfast mushies and lunch ones?

Cake for breakfast! Mmmmmmm! I love how they have trays of donuts there for breakfast too. Amazing and fascinating donuts.

Muffins were invented so Americans could have cake for breakfast

I find the food reviews very helpful in deciding where to eat, especially important functions like somebody’s birthday where I really want to get it right.

I had my last birthday at a place reviewed by ant.

I thought the review was very fair and balanced and far from a rant. Whilst I have had two great experiences at Cafe in the House, that is not my kind of breakfast menu and certainly not my idea of a big breakfast so it is helpful for me to know that. We’d be looking at spending $100 as a family with those prices. That’s not nothing, and if you’re going to spend it you want to spend it well – to have a wonderful experience and memories for what you have invested.

I really don’t see that a restaurant review is any different by a member of a public than by a food critic, and is in actual fact probably much kinder.

I love the food reviews – johnboy and ant’s are two of my favourites – and I hope to see many more in the future.

Thanks for taking the time out of your busy day to share that with us.

Thanks for the review. I sometimes end up eating at places I would not have chosen myself – particularly when in a group. So previous underwhelmment does not necessarily mean no return business.

Let’s face it, very few places can, or care to, do a breakfast as good as you could cook yourself. So, if I want it just so, I eat at home!

I think you might be a minority of approximately one with your eggs rant. Fried eggs come standard in Oz with solid whites and runny yolks (roughly “sunny side up” is US terms, though definitely with solid whites). Anything else is a special order. If I ordered eggs in Australia without special instructions, and they came solid, I’d send them back. I think you might have to get used to making your special order a special order.

Nambucco Deliria11:39 am 16 Mar 09

The bastards. Fancy giving you Lunch mushrooms instead of breakfast ones.

Hmmm. Young male staff lacking motivation in the morning. How strange.

Holden Caulfield10:38 am 16 Mar 09

+3 for runny eggs.

I’ve eaten there before, and always been underwhelmed, and today was no exception.

One has to question why you went back and furthermore, why you are telling us.
Always been underwhelmed suggests to me that you have been there several occasions previous to this. You sound like Bart Simpson vs Hamster trying to get the electrified muffin.

Furthermore,
She was underwhelmed with the Muffin Of The Day, sitting all by itself on the plate… not very appetising for breakfast. – A muffin was ordered – what did you want it to come with ? When I order a muffin, I expect a muffin. If it was an English Muffin, sitting on a plate all on its lonesome, then that is a different story, but it seems you are talking of what us adults call cupcakes.

Also -1 points for the underwhelming overuse of underwhelmed, I found that a little underwhealming.

Maybe you need to change you rpseudonym to (r)ant.

I saw a duck once.

Runny eggs for me too, can’t see how anyone can eat them hard.

There’s a cafe out at the AIS that does a kickass breakfast, a bit on the expensive side, but well worth it. Their big breakfast has rosti, haloumi and spinach as well as the usual bacon, eggs, toast, tomato, mushrooms kind of thing.

there was an inaugural riotact breakfast? wow! OT, the service i receive at the OPH eatery has always been exemplary. Thoroughly enjoy going there…

I like my fried eggs runny.
And have expected as much with any breakfast I buy out. (And always arrives as such)

You’re just strange!

😉

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