Braking for Breakfast

I would call Corner Store Cafe at Toowong my local breakfast place. Although not the closest breakfast offering, it is the best around in close proximity. Located on Sylvan Rd, Corner Store Cafe happens to be right on the path for cyclists heading towards the Bicentennial Bikeway from the Westside/Mt Coo-tha. If you get there early, you'll join many a lycra'd up person and see several bikes outside. If you get there after 9:00am, prepare to line up unless you are a group of 5 or more and have had the forethought to book a table. Corner Store Cafe is an old converted corner store (hence the name) with an add-on large outdoor covered area. Inside, is the kitchen and counter and the small store where they sell some gourmet grocery items and basics such as milk and vegetables. There are also a few large tables inside but the majority are located outside.

When deciding where to breakfast with my friend H, I asked H if she would mind going somewhere close-ish to me as I've hurt my leg recently and wasn't up for a long ride. I threw out a few nearby suggestions including Corner Store Cafe and after taking a look at the menu. she chose Corner Store. Knowing that she would be a little exhausted after being at Soundwave the day before, she requested we meet at 9 which is a little later than we usually meet. I decided to try to get there early in case there was a line up so I arrived fifteen minutes early and in the two minutes it took to lock up my bike to a signpost outside, two couples had arrived and gotten in the queue before me. By the time I got to put my name on the list, I was told it would be a twenty minute wait. After H arrived, it was just a five to ten minute wait before we were ushered to our outside table and handed menus and given water in a cute white pitcher.

The cafe changes their menu seasonally and the current summer menu has the usual toast, bircher, muesli, eggs your way offerings plus more unusual options such as Green breakfast (quinoa, sauteed kale & spinach, poached eggs, herbed yoghurt, dukkah), Corned beef with colcannon cake, poached eggs, parsley hollandaise and the Quesadilla with slow cooked pork, white beans, manchego, red pepper jam, scrambled eggs, chipotle mayo. Meals range in price from $5 for toast and jam/nut butter/vegemite to $10-$15 for eggs your way, bircher, granola or smashed avocado on toast to $17-19 for the more unusual options. The price points are at the higher end at Corner Store but their portions are large. They also have a large number of gluten-free options (5 out of the 12 options are GF and 2 have a GF option) and all of the sides are gluten-free.

I am a sucker for corn fritters so I went for the gluten-free Corn & feta fritters, poached eggs, acovado puree, tomato salsa and opted for the smoked salmon over the bacon ($18.50). H chose the Smashed avocado, sourdough toast, heirloom tomatoes, shaved parmesan, aged balsamic vinegar, olive oil, basil ($14.50) but asked for no tomatoes and haloumi instead. H also ordered a flat white which arrived about five minutes after ordering. It didn't seem that long afterwards that our meals arrived although there was no offer of cracked pepper so I had to go and ask for it afterwards. H's smashed avocado was two large pieces of sourdough with avocado and the most giant slab of haloumi placed on top. I thought that there could have been more avocado (although this seems to be the case generally at the moment with avocados going out of season) as it seemed a little thin and due to the haloumi being so thick, it looked too solid on the inside and didn't have that nice melted texture that a few thinner slices would have had. My meal was enormous. The fritter was more of a frittata filled with sweet corn and bits of feta and was on a smear of smooth avocado puree with tomato and red onion salsa scattered around the plate. A large pile of smoked salmon sat next to the fritter and two poached eggs sat on top of it with a sprig of parsley offering the only non-avocado green on the plate. I would have preferred the avocado to have been chunky rather than pureed and there was possibly too much smoked salmon for the rest of the dish but corn, eggs, smoked salmon and avocado has to be one of my favourite combinations for breakfast so I was happy. The poached eggs were perfectly poached and runny. I could have easily done with about half the portion however, being the glutton that I am, I finished off the entire plate. H only got through about 3/4 of hers and there was a lot of haloumi left on her plate.

Corn & feta fritters with smoked salmon, poached eggs, avocado & salsa

Smashed avocado on toast with haloumi

Corner Store Cafe is definitely not the place to go if you are looking for a small light breakfast but they do offer tasty food and some great breakfast options. They also serve lunch and have several baked goods for sale. I would advise that you go early or else be prepared for a long wait! When we left at 10, there was a line of about 15-20 people. However it is an excellent breakfasting option and I am certainly glad it is so near me!

BIKEABILITY

Ease of access: 9/10 
(Extremely close to Regatta exit off Bicentennial Bikeway and then up Sylvan Rd)
Parking: 8/10 
(No bike racks but plenty of signposts to lock your bike to)

Corner Store entrance

Some of the fresh produce and grocery items available

Delicious looking baked goods

More baked goods

Drinks available for purchase

http://www.cornerstorecafe.com/

Plenty, a relative newcomer to West End on Montague Rd, focuses on simple meals using the best local seasonal produce available. Basically, my kind of food. As a bonus, it is located directly across the road from Davies Park, making it an ideal post-market breakfast destination. Yesterday N and I followed up a successful marketing trip with breakfast at Plenty, making it my fourth time there.

Plenty is housed in a large open warehouse-like space and is barely decorated in a rustic fashion with touches of teal, including Eames-like and old-schoolhouse chairs. Plenty change their menu weekly and then write it up on a giant chalkboard. During the week I believe they offer a lunch menu including a daily-changing selection of salads which they post on their Facebook page but on the weekends it's all-day breakfast with a few lunchier-sounding options. They also have some delicious looked baked goods in the display cabinet at the counter. In the past I have ham and eggs with homemade tomato relish, the baked eggs with tomato, chilli and spinach and the ham and eggs with avocado and dukkah. Variations of bacon and eggs, ham and eggs and baked eggs generally appear on the menu along with sweeter options such as muesli, fruit toast and hotcakes. They also sometimes have a daily special and generally offer drinks specials such as watermelon, coconut, mint frappes. Plenty have a small kitchen in the middle of the space, open for everyone to see, and thus have limited kitchen equipment currently. I have a feeling there are plans for expansion, given recent updates on their Facebook page.

On this occasion I decided to try the Bircher muesli with apple and Barambah yoghurt ($9.50) and N ordered the same. Meals at Plenty are around the $10-15 mark, give or take a dollar, and they are not large meals which are often exactly what I want. I'd already had my coffee fix at the Gypsy Coffee Cart at the markets (spiced honey long black with a dash of dairy....) so decided to forego another caffeine hit although I have had a long black at Plenty before and don't recall it being awful.

About fifteen minutes later, two bowls of creamy looking Bircher were placed in front of us. Interestingly, at Plenty you order and pay at the counter after finding yourself a spare seat and then somehow they manage to find you without having table numbers. Not that it's a large number of tables but it's not the same person taking your order and bringing out the food so I'm interested to know how they organise that. Anyway, back to the Bircher. As expected, they were small serves but all we needed. The muesli was creamy and made on oats with a smattering of pepitas and (I think) sultanas with grated green apple throughout. It was topped with a large dollop of yoghurt, a swirl of honey and a few fresh raspberries, blueberries and a sliced strawberry. I asked for extra milk as I usually like my bircher a little runnier but it was actually the perfect consistency and I didn't end up needing it. While I wasn't full after eating it, I was satisfied and N commented that she was full after eating it.

Bircher muesli, grated apple, Barambah yoghurt

Apart from serving food, Plenty also sell a small range of goods including Barambah Organics milk and yoghurt, Levain Bakery bread and house made pickles and jams. I always like to do a lap around to see what they have on display for sale on the old casks placed around the perimeter and then tell myself that I don't need it and can't possibly fit it along with everything I've already bought at the markets.

After a satisfying breakfast, N and I parted ways and I left to pick up my meat en route to my bike for the ride home. I expect I will be returning to Plenty time and time again!

BIKEABILITY

Ease of access: 9/10 (If I weren't already going to markets, I would still take the Go Between Bridge but then just go along Montague Road instead of riding along the river)
Parking: 10/10 (I just walked from the markets but there is plenty (yes I went there!) of space out front)

Some previous meals had at Plenty...

Long black with milk; watermelon, coconut, mint frappe

Fried eggs & ham with avocado & dukkah

Avocado on toast, local tomatoes, buffalo mozarella

Baked eggs with baby tomatoes, basil, chilli & parmesan on GF toast

http://plentywestend.wordpress.com/
https://www.facebook.com/plentywestend

After a long week which I both wished would be over as soon as possible and hoped wasn't coming to an end due to the sheer amount of things I needed to do, I was very much looking forward to my Saturday morning ritual of Davies Park Markets and breakfast. Unfortunately C hasn't been feeling well for the last few weeks and this week the ride was beyond his capabilities so I rode solo to the markets. It was a lovely sunny morning but the weather has stopped being unbearably hot so it was a pleasant ride! My enjoyment of the morning was somewhat hampered when I realised when going to purchase my lemons that sometime in the last five minutes I had misplaced my wallet. After asking all of the nearby stall owners and calling on site management, I couldn't locate it and still haven't so that's another fun thing to deal with this week!

Anyway, I was still hungry and breakfast was a must. I had recently received an email from Mondo Organics that they had a new breakfast menu and that it included gluten-free zucchini besan fritters. A teaser photo of them on Mondo's Facebook page was all I needed to push Mondo as today's breakfast location. Generally I class Mondo Organics as a more expensive breakfast option so isn't generally a standard and I am not always sold on their menu options (which is seasonal and regularly changes) but I love fritters and they are rarely made gluten-free. What I do love about Mondo Organics is that I can count on them to use high quality produce and have a lot of wheat/gluten/dairy/meat-free options. They put a strong emphasis on whole foods which I like.


We arrived just after 8:30am, their opening time, to an empty restaurant causing us to wonder if they were open. After standing outside for a minute, we were acknowledged and told we could sit wherever we liked. We chose one of the outside seats with comfy looking benches for C. After five minutes no one had brought us any water or menus so finally we asked one of the waitresses setting another table for them. Likely it was due to arriving so close to opening time but I was a little surprised by the lack of service initially. However for the rest of the morning we were attentively waited upon.

The new menu also includes buckwheat pancakes with sous vide apricots, preserved ginger ricotta and rapadura syrup ($16), which C chose. It was an unusual choice for C has he tends to go for savoury options but was feeling like something sweet this morning which I was happy about as that would have been my choice had the zucchini besan fritters, feta and dill with herb and lemon labna ($16) with a poached egg ($2.50) not been an option. C also decided to order to Immunity Boost juice [orange, lemon, carrot, ginger,turmeric] ($8.50), given the state of his immune system, and I ordered the Detox [carrot, beetroot, apple, ginger] ($7).


After about 15 minutes, our juices arrived. Colourful concoctions in tall glasses with foamy surfaces, they were as delicious as they were no doubt good for us. Even C commented it was an attractive looking drink! Not long afterwards our meals arrived. The pancakes included three overlapping and topped with large dollops of ginger ricotta with the sous vide apricots scattered around the dish and was topped with some crunchy toasted nuts.

Buckwheat pancakes w sous vide apricots, preserved ginger ricotts & rapadura syrup

My fritters were presented as a set of five atop the labna with scattered micro herbs on a paddle board. The poached egg was nestled between a few of them. The fritters were perfectly cooked, crispy on the outside, full of zucchini and not at all doughy. They were perfectly matched with the zingy, dill feta and labna. I was hesitant to break the poached egg on the bread board and mixing it with the labna. Eventually I did and it was a perfectly poached egg but the yolk was too runny for the dish. Had it been a more gooey, set yolk it would have matched perfectly but it did run into the labna and ruin the crispiness of the fritter. So in retrospect, I would have skipped the add-on! I had a bit of C's pancakes and they were equally delicious. The ricotta was perfectly flavoured and not overly sweet and the buckwheat pancakes had a great slightly earthy flavour as buckwheat tends to. The apricots was surprisingly firm and C commented that he would have preferred them to be poached so that they were softer and could be 'mushed in on top'. I felt that they were possibly left crunchier intentionally to create contrast with the soft pancakes and ricotta but agreed either texture would work.

Zucchini besan fritters, feta & dill w dill yoghurt & poached egg

Overall we had a fantastic breakfast at Mondo Organics and I will definitely be returning (and possibly re-order the fritters although sans egg). The enjoyment of breakfast did help soothe the pain of losing my wallet plus C paid for breakfast!

BIKEABILITY

Ease of access: 9/10 
(Bicentennial Bikeway, Go Between Bridge, Montague Rd)
Parking: 8/10 
(No bike racks but a few signposts to lock your bike to)






http://www.mondo-organics.com.au/