Saturday 20 March 2010

Source Foods, Highgate

Fair-Trade Organic Coffees


Rénee's breakfast


Ross' breakfast

This morning we had only an hour to spare. Source Foods, on the corner of Beaufort Street and Brisbane Street, is one of the few places midway between our house and Renée's shop, so it was my suggestion that we go there for our breakfast fix.

Source is an eco-café. If its organic, vegan, fair trade, gluten free or generally sustainable food that you're after, Source are sure to have an option for you. Their menu comes with a legend - "O = at least 70% organic," "V = vegetarian," etc. Which is all very well if the food is up to scratch. They offer a range of wraps and rolls, and their breakfast menu is simple with beans and toast ($9.50), eggs on toast with hollandaise and spinach ($16), and Renée's choice of eggs on toast ($9.50) with a side of beans ($3). Mine was the most interesting looking item on the menu - mushroom crostini which is spinach and sautéd mushrooms on toast with hommus ($14). Mushrooms and hommus - interesting..

Actually it went well together. The hommus gave some nice flavour to the mushrooms which were otherwise done simply with little adornment. The meal looked good on the plate, and tasted good too. The only criticism from my part was that the liquid in the dish made the toast a little soggy - but only a little. Renée's eggs (poached of course!) were done nicely, and were rich in colour. But the letdown of the meal were the beans, which had a Mexican flavour! And that is probably the crux of Source's problems, that their critical choice of ingredients means that their dishes are sometimes done a little too simple, with very-little use of herbs and spices that can bring a dish to life. This also means that their ingredients sometimes double up, and Renée noticed that nachos were also available on the menu. Breakfast beans and Mexican beans are two different things!

The coffees (fair-trade organic Tiger Mountain) were ok, but only once at least two teaspoons of sugar were added. We don't really understand why the ethically-sound qualities of the coffee produces more bitter but otherwise drinkable flat whites, and if anyone knows the answer we'd love to know!

We sat outside for our breakfast. This end of Beaufort Street does not have as much people-watching action, so we were left with the noise from the car traffic to contend with. Our decision to sit outside was based on the inside being fairly warm. The warmth would have come from the kitchen, and i'm not sure why Source haven't installed some screens to try and contain the heat in the kitchen. Some more open windows would have improved the air flow no doubt. The simple furniture did not add to the general ambiance of Source.

Altogether, Source Foods was a bit of a disappointment, particularly as their ethos and focus on quality has the potential to produce a far better breakfast experience.

We were excited to see that Source Foods has a new neighbour - the Beaufort Street Steakhouse. I love their cow motif!


The Verdict

Coffee 2.5/5 (they score points on ethical grounds)
The Eggs (the meal!) 2.5/5
Service 4/5
Atmosphere 2/5

Overall 11/20

Would we go again?
Maybe for some takeaway eco-rolls

Website: http://www.sourcefoods.com.au/


Source Foods on Urbanspoon

1 comment:

Conor @ HoldtheBeef said...

Disappointing, when there is so much potential to really get people behind the cause by offering up amazing food that doesn't involve compromising on flavour. I think I'll still go check this place out, though perhaps I'll wait until the weather cools off a bit!