Sunday, May 30, 2010

Zamia Cafe - Kings Park

This weekend I wanted to head up to Kings Park to Zamia Cafe. Zamia is a smallish cafe tucked away at the Synergy Parkland that caters for breakfasts, lunches or just stopping in for a drink and a cake. I wanted to go here for a few reasons. Firstly, I love Kings Park and in particular the Synergy Parkland, the view from the cafe is picturesque and very relaxing. Secondly, I'd been before and had a good experience there so wanted to see if it was a one off or the real deal. And finally, I haven't seen it reviewed anywhere, at least not by the breakfast blogs I read, so thought I'd get in there first to spread the word.

When I arrived, the place was busy but there were tables available. I grabbed a seat and had a look at the menu. The menu again, has all the favourites with their own quirks to them and the prices were as you would expect for Perth. Each week I'm not sure how to critique the prices to be honest. I'm loathed to describe $17 as "Good" for eggs Benedict but in Perth, that is a reasonable price I suppose. Benedict, florentine, Big Breakfast (Called the Zamia Challenge), pancakes and muesli were all there and I liked the sound of the smoked salmon brioche with poached eggs grilled asparagus & hollandaise sauce on toasted brioche but in the end, I ordered the Eggs Benedict. The Eggs Benny were described as poached eggs, english spinach & grilled leg ham with hollandaise sauce on toasted italian loaf. The vegie breakfast had mushrooms, roma tomatoes, avocado, steamed spinach, poached egg & sweet corn fritter on toasted italian loaf.

I ordered my usual Long Black and we also got a pot of English Breakfast tea. You can't really go wrong with a pot of tea although it was a bit weak; one tea bag for 2-3 cups. My coffee was excellent. A thick creamy crema followed by a dark smooth taste from the coffee underneath. The service was very good; I decided to move tables before my drinks came and as I walked to the next table, the waiter ran over and wiped it for us before we sat down. You order at the counter and wait for your beeper to beep when it is ready. I didn't wait long and when it did beep, the waitress was looking for me to stand up so she could bring my food over.

In my previous review, I stipulated what I looked for in the perfect Eggs Benny and one of the points I made was that it had to be on a toasted English muffin. Today it came on 2 slices of toasted Italian loaf stacked on top of each other. A bit much when stacked but I re-arranged my plate so they were side by side with an egg on each and it was very nice bread. The eggs themselves were very well cooked, a creamy yolk which ran when I cut into it and I like a bit of spinach with the ham and eggs. I should also comment on how well the spinach was blanched. You sometimes get your breakfast sitting in a pool of water that has ran from the spinach but it was done well today with no water and very flavoursome spinach. The hollondaise sauce was also very nice. I've found that the brighter yellow it is, the more yolky and vinegary it tastes. As you can see from the picture, it was a nice pale cream colour and was absolutely delicious.

The vegie breakfast didn't go down to well but I think that was more a case of plate envy than finding anything wrong with it. I was curious about the sweet corn fritter and it was very nice. It was like a hash brown with a sweet taste from the corn. I love mushrooms and avocado so there were no complaints about the breakfast and it was cooked very well.

I'm going to let you into a secret. I really wanted to come back here and review it because it was so good the last time. That's right, I knew it was awesome and was desperate to justify my opinion with a proper review. I have to say, I wasn't let down. This is the best Eggs Benny I've had in Perth and that's twice now so I don't think it's down to luck. The service is prompt and friendly and the atmosphere is relaxed. The location and scenery is excellent and allows you to get out of the city and away from everything for a couple of hours. Points to improve on? I don't think anybody enjoys cutting through 2 slices of thick Italian bread. Get them side by side and spread the ham, spinach and eggs over both of them. The prices are competitive for Perth but Milkd have proven that you can slash your prices and keep the quality. $17 is NOT good for Eggs Benny (even if they are delicious), I'd be looking at $10 MAX and that still offers a generous profit margin.

Scores on the doors:

Service 8/10
Atmosphere 7/10
Coffee 7/10
Food 9/10
Price 5/10

Final Score 37/50 (Pipping Milkd to top spot by 1 point!)

Would I go again?

Oh yes! I noticed you can reserve tables so I'll be booking a table for the breakfast club, probably when summer arrives.

Website: www.zamiacafe.com.au

Zamia Cafe on Urbanspoon

No comments:

Post a Comment