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 woke up this morning, and thought about breakfast. We had no bread, no coffee, I didn't want cornflakes. I snuggled up to S, and told him so. The kitchen was also a mess, and I had no intention of cleaning it, since I do most of the cooking (the rule is whoever doesn't cook has to do the dishes). So I suggested breakfast out, somewhere new that we've never been to before. We'd tried to go to West End Deli a couple of weeks ago but it looked like they were doing some kind of refurb, so we went somewhere else. This time though it was fine, busy but we were able to get a table straight away. I loved the vibe of the place, gritty chic is probably the best way I can describe it. Grey walls painted haphazardly, old frames hung around the place, and chandeliers made of old chairs, held together by the electrical cords of the lights hanging from the ceiling. Really cool.
Our drink orders were taken straight away - S wanted a mug of coffee, but they don't do them. However our friendly waitress offered a large takeaway cup instead, which was fine. They came out after about 10 minutes, and mine looked great. It tasted good too, a hint of bitterness, not too milky, it was nice. I ordered a take away coffee once we'd finished as well, and I rarely do that!
We'd had time to have a look around, I liked the look of the tables and the general decor of the place. They have silver buckets for cutlery etc, which I've seen around and we have some now too (got them from Ikea, cheap as chips!), as they're great for entertaining! They gave us a saucer of salt as well, which looked perfect for eggs!
We had a while to peruse the menu, and I wasn't sure what to get as there were a few things that looked great! I ended up choosing poached eggs on toast, with black bean cassoulet and a mushroom and herb terrine on the side. I tossed up whether to get the bacon as well, but at $8 each I figured it would be too much for one person to eat! S got the steak and mushroom pie with spicy relish and salad.
It took about 10-15 minutes for it all to come out, and it looked really yummy. I couldn't wait to tuck into my little spread, and upon seeing it all was glad I didn't get the bacon!
I ate my eggs and toast first, leaving a slab of toast for the other sides. The eggs were cooked really differently, one was ever so slightly overdone and the other was underdone, which was a bit strange. I really hate it when the white is gloopy and slimy and I had some of that with one of my eggs which wasn't great. However the toast was thick and tasty, and the salt made the eggs delicious!
The mushroom and herb terrine had a blue cheese butter on top which, though I don't like blue cheese, was actually quite nice. The mushroom flavour was very rich and though it was a small serving, you don't need alot of it! It comes served hot, and tasted quite fab on the thick buttered toast, which I then used to mop up the rest of the egg on the plate.
The standout for me though was the black bean cassoulet. That came with a big dollop of sour cream on top, and when stirred through gave the dish a light creaminess that went really well with the other flavours. I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was in the beans that made it taste so good, but it was delicious. The spices weren't overpowering, and the beans were soft but had retained their bite. I dunked my toast in it and once that was gone, just spooned it onto my plate. I would order this again in a heart beat!
The pie that S had was great. The pastry was light and flaky, and you could taste the butter! The filling was so tasty and the beef fell apart on your fork. The spicy salsa on the side wasn't spicy according to S, but he loved it anyway because it tasted so good. The salad was just mixed leaves with a simple dressing, but they had used peppery leaves and a sweet dressing to counter the richness of the pie which was fab. S said that he felt really full after the pie because of how buttery it was, and that after a while it was a bit heavy - but he had no complaints about the flavour!
Our meal, with 3 coffees came to $53, not the cheapest brunch but it was great quality, so I had no probs paying that price. The staff were all very friendly and approachable, we received great service the whole time we were there, and that's quite rare in Perth really, as there are plenty of places who have to work on their customer service.
I almost left without seeing the baked goods table! They had fabulous looking baguettes for sale, as well as rolls, cakes, brownies and tarts. They all looked fab, and if I hadn't been so full it would have been even more difficult to walk away without getting something!
I will absolutely be back to West End Deli - fab service, good coffee, delicious food in funky surrounds. Sayers used to be our go to place, but I think now its going to be a coin toss as to which place we go to, as this was just as good, without the wait for a table!
Yay my blogs are now featured on urbanspoon.com a reviewing website for restaurants/bars/cafes, which is pretty cool :)
They're featured on the Jus Burgers, Grill'd Burgers, the Urban Bakehouse, and Tiger Tiger review pages.
Hoping that theres more to come!
