by Sab on November 19, 2011
Every corner of Greenhouse matched with their sustainable concept; from the untreated, sturdy wooden chairs to the recycled brown glass bottle my orange juice was served in. This also gave the place a real sense of indie trendiness, although the crowd on that weekday morning seemed to be full of business people, which made sense because Greenhouse’s location was so close to all the offices on St Georges Tce.
The service was great, when we arrived at 9am the staff were very attentive and friendly and they came a few times during the meal to refill our water glasses. When it came to ordering, I asked the waitress what was good on the menu. She proceeded to genuinely recommend almost everything on the menu, which was little help but somewhat reassuring, so I ordered the toasted oat muesli, berries and yoghurt. I usually never order muesli at restaurants because it is such a simple dish, but my stomach was ready for some light healthy food after a couple weeks of eating out.
Muesli is never a very exciting dish, but taking that into consideration, this was the best muesli I’ve ever had. The yoghurt is fluffed which was very novel and gave it a light, almost frothy texture. The strawberries were nice and the blueberries were exceptional; large, round, firm and fresh. Muesli mix itself was great, with the toasting and high ratio of seed to oat, it had a great crunchy texture.
Alina’s wild mushroom, slow cooked eggs, grilled polenta looked like a tiny ecosystem on a plate. She found it intriguing at first, especially the gelatinous texture of the slow cooked eggs. She said that it tasted good, but felt that there was a lack of crunch to counterbalance the soft textures in the dish, which eventually became displeasing. The polenta cakes were crunchy on the outside but were soft on the inside.
Alina and I both would have liked to have chosen other things from the menu, but the staff were friendly and the ambience was great with natural finishes to the interiors. I would be curious to go again – the crab congee looked really good and I was on the verge of ordering it!
Check it out: http://www.greenhouseperth.com/
by Sab on October 16, 2011
I arrived at Coode St Cafe around 8:50am on Sunday morning – it was almost half full with customers and there were a quite a number of tables booked. While I waited for Lee to arrive, I ordered the ”Zinger” juice which was apple, lemon and ginger, which was priced at $7.50 but came in a generous amount – it was filled to the top when I received it, I drank some before taking this photo. There’s quite a few fruit and vegetable juice combinations to choose from on the menu, which all look interesting.
When Lee arrived with her dog, we had to relocate outside, where there were a handful of other people with dogs and people without dogs who just like the sun. It was a little warm, I probably got more sun than I have had in months whilst seated outside during our breakfast ;)
I ordered the hot cakes with mixed berries, premium yoghurt and maple syrup.
The hotcakes were of a nice consistency; although they were thick, they were springy throughout. The berries and yoghurt were a nice accompaniment, along with the maple syrup. I was extremely happy to see the unexpected extras on the plate: the cripsy almond biscotti resting in the yoghurt pot along with a slice of kiwi fruit and orange.
Lee ordered grilled peaches with fresh ricotta served with fig and fennel toast. They looked amazing and I believe she enjoyed them!
At the end of my meal, I was left wanting something salty (not really a fault of the dish). Lee said that the fig and fennel toast that she had was a little salty, which balanced the meal nicely, so I was a little envious of her meal choice. I always have this conundrum with breakfast that I want both sweet and savoury and it is often difficult to get both in the same dish.
Just a short post again as I have a mountain of study to get back to. As always, hope you enjoyed the photos :)
I absolutely looove frozen berries, especially blueberries! I found these fantastically sweet-tasting ones in a 1kg bag in a Northern suburbs IGA. Not sure which company they’re from but they are just labelled: “Berry Fruits: Mixed berries” and appear to have been packaged in Balcatta. I’ve tried other brands of frozen mixed berries that have not been so good – they almost had a face-twisting bitterness / tartness to them.
This is possibly my favourite breakfast. This might seem weird to those of you who crave pancakes drizzled in maple syrup or a luxurious cooked breakfast that includes things like crispy bacon, scrambled eggs and warm toast lathered in melted better. I’d much rather have a simple bowl of muesli with skim milk and frozen berries. However, I never order this out of the home because there is no point paying upwards of $10 for something that tastes very similar, if not worse than, what I make at home (which explains the multiple pictures of breakfast eggs on this blog).
Pictured above is my favourite snack to make at home. The frozen berries are delicious beads of concentrated sweetness, the pepitas add a bit of crunch and the thick, filling greek yoghurt binds it all together. Sometimes I play with my food, swirling trails of red through the pristine white yoghurt as the berries melt and shed their juices.
Anyway, that’s what I like to eat. I’ll find any excuse to take photos, even if I’m not eating out much!
