Zucchero, Vic Park

Today we decided to take Tallulah to the zoo, and thought it would be a great opportunity to have a breakfast bite in Vic Park nearby. We chose Zucchero Espresso Bar on Albany Highway, but not because of the alliteration I promise! ZZZ! Renee and Tallulah were peachy keen!

Zucchero have a few seats near the front counter and a much larger, comfortable room behind. A couple of alfresco tables are also available. We sat in the larger room, to give very-active Tallulah lots of room to move (there is never enough room for Tallulah, but we persevere anyway!). The menu choice includes standard items like smoked salmon, capers and scrambled eggs on toasted sourdough ($16) and poached eggs in a tomato and onion reduction with parmesan and olive oil and toasted sourdough ($15). That was probably the most adventurous item on the menu. I chose the bacon stack with scrambled eggs and sautéed mushrooms on toasted sourdough ($15).

What came out was what could best be described as a safe dish. The eggs had no seasoning, the bacon rashers crispy. The mushrooms had a buttery sauce which was eagerly soaked up by the bread. A packet of butter was on the side.

Renee chose the brioche French toast, which comes with either a berry compote or banana and maple syrup (Renee chose the bananas) and thick cream ($14).

Renee enjoyed it, probably because it had plenty of sweet, sweet zucchero! I also ordered a soy flat white, with a dash of honey. The coffee was good. The 'dash' of honey was a small packet. The packaging was unavoidable; had I opted for regular sugar the only option was sugar cubes, each individually packaged!

The vibe of the place was hotel. The basic, stock-standard menu, food executed well but with no flair, flavourless scrambled eggs, packaged butter, sugar and condiments, it all adds up to a hotel experience!

We savoured the day by getting some takeaway macarons. While no doubt they are ordered in, it was good have have a selection of cakes and things. They were delicious. The flavours may or may not have been orange and pistachio!

The Verdict:
Coffee  3/5
Eggs (the meal!)  3/5
Service  3.5/5
Atmosphere  3/5
Total  12.5/20

Baby T's score: 4/5 (Tallulah enjoyed her pre-zoo brekky!)

Would we go again: No, we'd rather eat at a café not a hotel.
Website: on Facebook 

The Imp

Coffees!

Renée's breakfast

My breakfast!

dessert - lemon & chocolate tart

Today we checked out The Imp in Vic Park, which masquerades as a café in the morning and tapas bar in the evening. We were lucky enough to score an outside table, but the inside is equally as comfortable and it caters for the lone diner with bench seating overlooking the Highway. Not that us breakfast lovers need to worry about that!

Imp's menu covers the basics with items like eggs benedict ($13), ham baguette ($10) & tomato & fetta ($9.50). Renée chose poached eggs on toast ($9) with a side of hash browns ($3.50) whereas i had mushrooms & spinach n toast with mascarpone cheese. Renée's eggs were hard - one of her pet hates! Mine came with mass loads of button mushrooms, about 5 steamed spinach leaves and watery cheese sauce. Although it was cooked ok, i've had much better mushroom meals. The bread was crusty on both of our plates. Renée's hash browns were the best part of the meal - we think that this is because they double as the herb croquettes on their tapas menu!

The coffee was drinkable enough, but although we hung around for a while we did not want a second round. We have never understood why they insist on using sugar cubes - what happens if you want half a sugar? Wait the right amount of time until it is partly dissolved, then take it out and leave the wet mass on your saucer? Luckily we both like a full sugar so we did not have to test our theories.

To finish off we had a lemon and chocolate tart, served in a cup - it was full-on but did leave a nice taste in our mouths! It was a hard choice too, as there we many a delectable cakes and tarts on display!

The Verdict

Coffee 3/5
The Eggs (the meal!) 2.5/5
Service 4/5
Atmosphere 4/5

Overall 13.5/20

Would we go again?
for their delicious cakes

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