Cantina 663 again!

Living just around the corner, we grab breakfast at Cantina 663 at least once a week, and we scored it 17/20 last year. Just so you know, it's as good now as it was back then.

This morning we were greeted with a new breakfast menu. Try this: roasted mushrooms, pine nuts, raisins & parmesan. It comes with probably the best-tasting bread you will ever taste - grilled with olive oil. The whole thing was amazing & perfectly balanced; it was unbelievably good. Really. Renee had her usual - what is probably Perth's best scrambled eggs.

Actually, don't come. It's hard enough to find a seat on the weekend as is. Forget I said anything.

Fez, Mount Lawley

eggs benedict

traditional Berbers breakfast

We have finally moved back into our old haunt, Mount Lawley; hooray! Not much has changed since we upped and left to travel around the world (without getting very far). Except for the new public toilets next to the new supper club and new Westpac. And new Turkish takeway. And our favourite Japanese restaurant moving to the other side of the road. Ok, so some things have changed, like the opening of a new Moroccan café, named Fez, in the building that looks like a ship on the corner of Walcott Street and Raglan Road, behind Fresh Provisions.

It seems like an eternity ago that we watched the construction of the ship building, complete with mermaid figurehead on the prow of the building, and it is great to see the café tenancy finally open. And since the city Fez was on our list of destinations on our unfortunately much-shortened ('postponed') round-the-world trip, we were keen to visit Fez Café to see what flavours we were missing out on.

As it turns out, not much. The café has been fitted out in a modern decor, complete with dark colour-pallette, fancy light-fittings, leather wall-seating, etc. In other words, it looks like every other café in Perth, which is such a shame because the interior designers could have had so much fun with a Moroccan theme. Like exquisite rugs, luxurious couches, intricate wallpaper, a bright colour scheme, interesting plates and cups; it looks like we will have to visit the real Fez to experience this. We did like the outside seating and the water that was served in olive oil bottles (but this didn't make up for the lack of atmosphere).

We chose a seat inside, and we were offered a highchair for Baby T by the waitperson who was proficient in service, but lacked the warmth that you would expect in a Moroccan café (we declined as Baby T likes to sit in our arms). Baby T was particularly fussy this morning, and we decided to move to a table outside. We informed the waitperson, who was cleaning the glass door, that we were moving outside, but she didn't think to help me move the water, 2 glasses, 2 coffees, salt, pepper, baby harness, bag, bottle, dummy, sunglasses and serviettes to the outside table (at one point closing the door on me).

We chose from their menu eggs benedict ($16.50) and the traditional Berbers breakfast ($19), consisting of meatballs with eggs and grilled bread. The eggs benedict was good, with rich creamy eggs and a delicious tasty bread that might have been a wholemeal or rye bread? Either way, it was a respectable eggs benedict. The traditional Berbers breakfast again had tasty eggs that complemented the rich tomato sauce and slightly-dry meatballs. In my opinion, though, the sauce was a little bit like a Sicilian pasta sauce and could have been complemented with some extra ingredients (like olives and toasted capsicum) and maybe some Harissa on the side. The grilled bread was great for dipping in the sauce. Overall, there are better breakfasts out there.

We also ordered a flat white and iced coffee (Baby T didn't give us time to peruse the drinks menu further). The flat white came out in a wide, brown cup and was delicious with a tasty, creamy foam that I just wanted more of (but unfortunately Baby T didn't want to stay). Renee enjoyed her iced coffee.

The Verdict
Coffee  3.5/5
Eggs (the meal!)  3/5
Service  3/5
Atmosphere  2/5
Total = 11.5/20


Baby T's score = 3/5 (Tallulah will be ready for a highchair one day!)

Would we go again? Good day to you, Fez. I said good day! It might be fun to check out their lunch or dinner menu. But overall it is pretty ho-hum and quite pricey!

Website: fezcafe.net.au

Coode Street Cafe, Mount Lawley

Our drinks! (yes... a new iphone app which I am enjoying!)

Ross' meal (haha ok not really as he failed to take a pic so I found a random bean pic!)

My AMAZING grilled peaches with ricotta and fig toast

We thought we'd give you a double whammy this weekend! This morning we headed over to back streets of Mount Lawley to Coode Street Cafe and boy was it PACKED! We luckily nabbed a super seat outside in the shade! The staff at Coode Street Cafe are really friendly and Ross and I agreed the suburbs would be alot more appealing if on every corner there was a cafe like this!

The menu has an extensive range of cold drinks from fresh juices, smoothies, fruit frappes and milkshakes! We decided to forgo our regular coffees and opt for a cold beverage. Ross ordered The Energizer ($7) which was beetroot, carrot and ginger which was quite tangy! I ordered a coffee milkshake ($5.50) which was okay but I like my cold drinks really really cold and this wasn't cold enough!

The menu is really appealing with lots of great dishes which I want to go back and try like Muesli Trifle ($10) which is toasted muesli, mixed berries and yogurt, smoked salmon bagel with scrambled eggs ($18) and porridge with fruit and cinnamon sugar ($10) which would be amazing in winter! I chose grilled peaches with ricotta on fig and fennel toast ($11.50) and I actually could not fault it...it looked like a masterpiece and tasted SO good and is now one of my favourite brekky meals- super fresh and delicious. Ross ordered the gourmet baked beans with mushrooms, capsicum and tomato ($11) which failed to float his boat. I think compared to mine any dish would have looked average! He's main complaint was that he couldn't find the mushrooms in the beans and the bread resembled Tip Top...shame!

Overall Coode Street Cafe is a great place. The atmosphere is a mix of neighbours, bike riders, families, mother's groups, young couples, groups of girlfriends so really anyone will love it!

The Verdict

Coffee 3/5 (well, juices!)
The Eggs (the meal!) 3.5/5 (I gave it a 4 but Ross gave it a 3 so a happy medium!)
Service 4/5
Atmosphere 3.5/5

Overall 14/20

Would we go again?
Yes for the Grilled Peaches!

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