This week our breakfast adventures took us to Pope Joan. Much anticipated brekky location that I, and my fellow champions, had heard rave reviews about.
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| Don't know if you can read it but it says 'Pope Joan' |
If travelling by car I would like to point out that there is official Pope Joan parking across the road from the cafe, which we did not know about until we had found a park a block away.
So into the cafe we went, and then out again, we managed to grab ourselves a table outside which thankfully had heaters close by but it was quite a crisp morning so personally I wasn't 'snug as a bug in a rug'. It was a large round wooden table that comfortably fit our team of 4.
It took a little while to grab the waitresses attention and when we did she seemed uninterested. She took our coffee orders (without writing them down, which always worries me if it is a table larger than 3). I was right to worry because when my latte came to the table and it seemed to take the shape of a flat white.
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| My latte??? |
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| Sally enjoying her coffee |
I did enjoy the coffee though so kudos to the barista.
Ordering food time... again we had to work to get the waitresses attention on this one.
I was a little bit stuck for what to pick on this occasion, not because there was too much range, but because the breakfast options were rather limited and most things seemed to be fried or covered in butter. I feel this might have something to do with the 'English' based theme of the cafe.
One menu option that I did think about was the omelette with shaved truffle but was scared off by the $26 price tag, in retrospect I should have gone with it.
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| 'Beaten Eggs' |
On this occasion Sally went with the 'Beaten Eggs' - Baked eggs with smoked Onion, beetroot n chard, which I'm told was really nice.
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| 'Not so full English Breakfast' |
Maddy went with the 'Not so full English Breakfast' -Melbourne pantry bacon, Cumberland sausage, backed beans and scrambled eggs. She said it tasted alright but the egg to toast ratio was a bit off. I think the toast was perhaps cut to thin for my liking as well, toast for brekky should be a solid bit of wholesome bready goodness... That's just me though!
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| W.A. Sardines |
My dish of choice was the W.A. Sardines and tomato on toast with fetta, pinenuts and currents. Although it came under the 'Eggs' heading it did not come with eggs so I added some eggs, which were given to me on a side plate (odd). Overall I was disappointed (which I showed through eating maybe half of my meal), I wasn't expecting the sardines to be attached to their inedible tails still and I couldn't find the fetta. The 'salad' on top turned out to be all parsley, I don't mind a bit of parsley garnish but a whole salads worth...
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| Fruit toast - burnt :-( |
'Posh' decided to have the 'La Madre' Fruit Toast which came with Jam Lady Jam and butter. However, it was a little bit burnt, and when I say a little bit I mean inedible. we kindly pointed this out to the waitress who seemed put out to have to take it back... 10 minutes later the toast was returned less burnt and I'm told quite delicious.
BAKED GOODS - SAVIOUR!
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| Delicious baked goods! |
The absolute saviour, Thank god (which is fitting considering the name of the cafe). Sally and I shared a carrot cake which was delicious with a not too sweet icing on top. Maddy (being the chocolate lover she is) chose the brownie which came warmed up with a side of cream, she couldn't finish it all so Sal and I helped, it was the kind of brownie that warmed your insides... happiness in a slice of chocolate!!
As for pricing: coffee was pretty standard at $3.50 for a regular size, not sure if it came in a large. My brekky in total came to $29 which only included the one coffee, and considering I didn't finish my meal I wouldn't say I'm thrilled by that.
All in all a disappointing experience by at least half of the champions team, especially given the hype about how awesome it was. Had the waitress been a little happier it might have been better, maybe she was having a bad day. I'm thinking English style isn't really my cup of tea (hehe). So check out the menu on the 'Pope Joan' website to see if it is your flavour.
