I've wanted to go to Louis Baxters for ages - heard good things about their coffee and food, so figured it was time to get there! I went with a friend of mine Rose, (of The Medicine fame) just in time for breakfast before the menu switched to lunch!
We scored a table by the wall, but Rose got the comfy seat and I got the cement block. I find these chairs uncomfortable, and the seat height to table height ratio is off, so it's difficult to sit and relax there, as I'm sat on a concrete block thing. Is this a tactic to get people in and out faster? I don't know, but next time I go I want the couch! It's a small place, with a huge mural on the wall which you'll either love or hate, I suspect. I quite like it, but can imagine people hating it!
There's no table service, so you have to go up and order your food - my friend went up and ordered for me. I wanted the baked eggs with chorizo and fetta, but they didn't have any of it... So I chose the bacon and egg breakfast tart, and they didn't have that either. So I ended up with (not very happily), quinoa porridge, with soy milk, honey almonds and seasonal fresh fruit (peaches), and my friend ordered the 60 minute poached egg.
The coffee came out quickly and it was great. I'd go back there again for coffee when we do our market shop on sundays, cept they're not open then... Both of us commented that the coffee was great, and I've talk around the twitter coffee lovers scene that they're fans of it too.
My porridge arrived and it looked pretty good - I poured the soy milk over it, expecting it to taste crappy cos I don't normally like soy milk, but I found that it didn't taste like the soy milk I remembered, which was good! As far as breakfasts go, this was fine. I enjoyed it, but I would have much preferred the other options I wanted previously. To be honest, there isn't a great deal to say about a meal of fruit and porridge. This was all it was, and I did enjoy it but it didn't blow me away. I could have done it at home really... I've had porridge at other places which has had stewed fruits and a moreish syrup or some kind of sauce but this didn't really have anything extra like that. It wasn't a meal that would put me off going there, however I wouldn't bother ordering it again. It was presented nicely though, with the wooden board and the bottle of milk.
I had some food envy when I saw what Rose had though, it looked much nicer. She did say though, that she didn't think she could taste the difference between a normal poached egg and one poached for 60 minutes. She had some yummy looking grilled asparagus on New Norcia bread, with peas, parmesan and truffle oil, and it smelled awesome. I wanted to swap. She enjoyed her meal though, said it was quite delicious!
Rose went up and paid for her half of the bill before I did... When I went up about 5mins later (in a fairly empty cafe by this stage) and asked to settle the rest of the bill, the woman who served me, quite snarkily said "what bill??". Uuum... *looks around* theres no one else here, and the place is so small how could you not see where I had been sitting? Ok whatever. I paid up and didn't really get much of a warm response. She wasn't UNfriendly but she wasn't really brimming with joy either...
While I didn't have an amazing experience at Louis Baxters, I would go back. I didn't get to order what I really would have liked to eat, so it's not really fair to judge too harshly... I'd like to try their lunch menu too. Hopefully next time we go there, they'll have the food I want to eat, and they'll be open!
I hate it when what I want to order isn't available it's hard to have a good experience after that, but sounds like you enjoyed, even if the customer service was a little off ;)
ReplyDeleteyeah i really wanted a hearty brunch! It was the first day of their new menu so I guess they were still working through the finer points!
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