Cafe Epicurious (The Quayside)

We met a bunch of friends for Sunday brunch here , and had a ok time. The staff are great, the setting outdoors was not bad ( frequently interupted by a posse of screaming kids who's parents did nothing).
However the dogs laying around made up for it nad provided amusement.

The eggs benedict were very average (hard in the middle) with iffy holandaise sauce and not to be recommended. The fresh sqeezed juices are great, it was a bit pricy but with everyone sinking bloody mary's etc it was bound to be, we will probably give it another shot here but I'm far from convinced.

We went here two days in a row for brunch: maybe I’m taking writing amateur food reviews too seriously or maybe I’ve run out of other options…

Epicurious gets pretty busy by eleven, mostly with expats. The first time we went, we rang and booked a table inside. Turns out that “booking” is rather a strong word for it – there was no table available inside apart from one end of an already occupied table. Now, call me an asocial old sod, but I don’t like eating, chatting with the missus and generally vegetating in the immediate company of strangers. It’s awkward for everyone involved – which is why newcomers to already-occupied tables always issue a faux-hearty “hello” to the current residents. So we said we’d eat outside instead. Having gone outside, we realized it was too hot so we said we’d go somewhere else. They then redirected us back inside where the occupants of the table in question were paying their bill. The punchline to this is that they then added a couple with their baby to the end of the table later. The baby had discovered a great new game called “bang the table really annoyingly”, a game so compelling that its witless parent even joined in... This, not uncoincidentally, was the moment we chose to pay the bill and go.

The second time we went, we were hoping to go somewhere else and in any case had seen where “booking” gets you, so we didn’t book. So we were happy to sit outside. Naturally, they chucked us on a shared table again. Since both we and all three other couples who sat at it while we were there spent a good proportion of our time looking for another table, the turnover and interruption with faux-hearty “hello”ing was quite high. In any case, it’s damn hot outside and feels uncompromisingly exposed even in the shade so – as it’s now closing into the “summer” season here – I probably won’t be heading back for quite a few months.

On the first occasion – possibly because we were right next to the kitchen – the service was pretty fast and efficient. On the second, we watched everyone who arrived after us getting their food while we waited for ours. It was only when the wife grabbed a waiter and demanded some feeding that our orders turned up.

The food (took me a while to reach the most relevant part, I know…) was pretty good. The burger is definitely good – and I say this having been burnt by the jet of superheated fat that came out of it when I took my first bite. The chips that come with it are frankly rubbish but the burger is the main show and it was good. The wife’s burrito was also good so no real complaints. The second visit, I had the croque monsieur which was up to the standards of the burger as well. It’s not especially authentic; in fact, it reminded me more a giant slice of Welsh rarebit topped with ham and then topped with another giant slice of Welsh rarebit. None of these are bad ingredients, however. It was very tasty and I ate all of it, resulting in much later complaining about how fat I was going to get. The missus had the smoked salmon eggs Benedict and was also happy.

So – good food, not especially expensive with only two quibbles: the abovementioned ropey chips and my second cup of coffee was a bit lukewarm. The only other objections are that it’s too hot for outside dining and that I hate other people so their tendency to make me sit next to complete strangers is a downer…

This place serves a great weekend breakfast fry-up.

The Epicurious Full Monty ($20) comes with 3 sunny-side up eggs, roast potato cubes with a good sprinkling of herbs (and garlic?), sausages, bacon, grilled tomato, baked beans, grilled mushrooms, buttered toast - basically, the works. The Full Monty set also comes with a glass of freshly squeezed OJ and a cup of freshly brewed coffee/tea.

A great place for a lazy breakfast as you take in the papers and the sights of the beeyotiful Robertson Walk longkang (or canal, as some might call it).

Seating used to be rather limited but now they've allowed patrons to sit in the wooden long benches/tables which are actually part of the Jap restaurant next door. Frequented by families with kids/dogs and couples living around the area.

Eversince the demise of Rivercafe, this is the next best thing to a lazy weekend breakfast spot for a perfect start to the day.