Drove down the Bunbury last weekend and paid a visit to The Happy Wife. It was around 10:30am on a Saturday morning but there were still a couple of tables free, so we grabbed a scenic spot at the waterfront between two families with children. Payment and ordering at the counter was easy, staff were friendly and food did not take long to arrive.
A ordered their breakfast parfait – she visits this place quite often and said she loved everything on the menu that she had tried so far.
K ordered the homemade crumpets. I forgot to ask her how the meal was but I didn’t hear any complaints and it looked delicious! I almost ordered this myself.
Finally here’s what I ordered, the Eggs Florentine. One poached egg was perfect whilst the other was slightly overdone, not runny but still soft. The spinach was well wilted and the bread was spread liberally with butter and toasted so it had a salty moreishness to it.
My only disappointment was that they had nudie juices available, but no freshly squeezed juices, which is what I tend to order with my breakfasts. This is not too bad as breakfast disappointments go; given that the food is excellent, staff friendly and view is amazing so I was pretty happy with my experience there.
Here’s the view from our table:
Would highly recommend a visit to this place if you’re passing through Bunbury – they serve breakfast all day!
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 November 6, 2011
by Sab on October 22, 2011
Another visit to Boucla today, this time with more people, for breakfast! The cafe did not take bookings and was about half full when I arrived on a Saturday morning at 8am and quickly filled over the next half hour or so. The girl who served me was kind enough to let me take photos of the things at the counter, pictured below.
I ordered “Eggs on Toast” off the breakfast board and mysteriously, they did not ask how I liked my eggs. I was in a sleep deprived state and didn’t think to specify, so when I got back to my table I wondered what I would end up getting: Scrambled? Fried? Poached? Other?
Poached! I was really happy to get the poached eggs, both because it’s healthier and also because I prefer the taste / texture.
I’ve included some snaps of what other people were eating below, managed to steal all of them (except the baklava snap) while people were about their business, away from the table ordering more food or visiting the bathroom!
The baklava was not mine, but I wish it had been. I was planning to order it, but was far too full after the poached eggs and toast.
That concludes my quick post for today. Now it’s time to get back to exam study… or the gym!
See also: Chocolate cake at Boucla
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 :)
by Sab on August 14, 2011
I don’t have time to write a full review today (nor will I in the near future) so I thought I’d just slap up a couple of pictures and some quick comments so this blog doesn’t grow cobwebs in the meantime.
I ordered the crumpets with honey and butter, they were freshly made – crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. They’re quite small so I ordered seconds when I was done (as they only cost $4.50, I suppose that’s not too bad).
On the flip side, the peppermint tea “for one” was so huge it would easily be enough for 2 people. Although I’m certainly not complaining, I wonder how big peppermint tea “for two” is?!
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!
The bright yellow hexagonal pattern outside Milk and Honey on James St caught our eye and we headed over to investigate it as a lunch option. There were many tasty-looking sandwiches in the display cabinet, however much to our delight, we discovered that breakfast foods were served until 2pm on Saturdays and Sundays so that is what we ordered. I ordered watermelon juice and “Healthy Breakfast” whilst Lee had apple, orange and carrot juice (you can combine up to 3 choices from their list), and “Spanish Breakfast”.
Food was good, not writing a review of the place – just keen to post pictures, so here they are:
by Sab on February 27, 2011
I stayed as a guest in Albany over the weekend; not only did I encounter a fresh batch of people to be disturbed by my compulsion to photograph food before I eat it, I was also lucky enough to sample a cooked breakfast made by the boys living there.
They really knew what they were doing, the food was delicious. The poached egg was perfect and the bacon was crispy around the edges.
Here’s proof that the hash browns were made from scratch:
