breakfastperfectionist

Reviews

Overall 7.8 7

7.5 Recommended

Food 7 Ambience 6 Service 9 Value 8

We went looking for the Chef House (an old Canberra favourite) and found Paprika there instead, an Asian restaurant with a Malaysian emphasis. Service was wonderful, possibly because we were the second table in there only. The food, whilst not mindblowingly good, was tasty, satisfying and good value for money, for 5 of us (and a couple of bottles of wine) the total bill was just over $100 and that included dessert.

We ordered the crispy pepper chicken in cream and mushroom sauce, sambal tofu and eggplant (my favourite dish), a regular chinese style chilli beef and a very good lamb and spinach curry. For desserts, a few had the banana fritters which received good murmurings. Another had the sago pudding with coconut cream which she found disappointing, mainly because she prefers sago warm. I had the sticky black rice and coconut cream pudding which, although not the best I've ever had, was still quite delicious and a nice way to end the meal without feeling over-stuffed.

Corkage was reasonable, $5 per bottle. The owners of this restaurant were very keen to please and provide us with a good dining experience.

Sep 15, 2008

Debacle, Braddon

Cafes, European, Has Bar, Licensed, Outdoor Dining

Overall 5.1 9

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

3.3 Below Average

Food 4 Ambience 4 Service 3 Value 2

Don't come to this place for a decent breakfast. We went on a sunday morning for breakfast recently, and found the food and service decidedly average. Our first reaction to the menu was to the exorbitant prices, $6.70 for a fresh squeezed juice, and $13.90 for two eggs on toast. Even a croissant was nearly $7. My friend and I each ordered scrambled eggs with various sides (she had potato rosti and mushrooms, I had asparagus and mushrooms).

The scrambled eggs were hardly worth talking about, resembling more like a an omelette that had fallen to bits, with uncooked egg in places. These guys need to take a leaf out of Bill Grainger's book and learn how to cook delicious, satisfying fluffy scrambled eggs, I can even do it using Bill's technique at home! The solitary piece of spongy white toast the eggs were sitting on was barely cooked and soggy.

The sides were ok, but nothing special, half a dozen mushrooms, and my friend said the potato rosti lacked any flavour. Our other friend ordered the eggs benedict with ham, the highlight for him was that at least they could get poached eggs done right and the cooked tomato was flavoursome. However, the rest wasn't so good, the ham was packet ham and had been somehow charred at places beyond recognition which lent everything else on the plate a horrible burnt taste.

The hollandaise sauce was way too buttery and not lemony enough. Oh, and it took over half an hour to get our food and the restaurant was quite noisy and dirty in places (I wish cafe staff would think to wipe down chairs not just tables!). Anyway, we'll be voting with our wallet and our tastebuds and avoiding this place for breakfast in the future, especially when we have Bill's recipe books at home!

Sep 15, 2008