TL;DR: This is a place which will invigorate the desire to find new places to go out for breakfast in Brisbane. It gets everything right, and that is not just with the service and food. The philosophy behind the whole ordeal is just as instrumental in recommending Morning After as much as it is being one of the best breakfasts that is able to be found in this town. At the same time they have something which is characteristically West End yet get a small vantage point in which is somewhat not there with most of the suburb's dining scene. That is the beauty of it, and how well it is lauded is right on point with how good the Morning After really is when it comes to delivering the goods.
Tucking itself a little further away from the main stretch of eateries in the mecca that is West End, the Morning After is definitely a welcome addition to this nape of the woods. With such a rich array of great eats already, there is still some room to find the necessary niches here and one of those was the quiet entrance-level cafe that resides at the foot of many an apartment complex. This way, it is sort of like the intimate locale mixed with the neighbourhood oasis and that is exactly how to describe the vibe of the Morning After. To put it another way, I would highly recommend coming here.
It was coming to the weekend again, and it had been some time since the house mate and I had been able to find time and a place to get a meal out. With a currently hectic schedule, that often leaves Sunday to be the best day for that, and since breakfast is his biggest forte it was more or less a given that he was going to have that in mind when looking for a place. And boy did he have somewhere in mind, and a place that is absolutely worth ticking off the to-do list; all the hype that I had heard about Morning After in West End was able to be met, and it matches up exactly what that area of town is all about with its dining scene.
From the moment you see it from the road, it is apparent what the attention-to-detail with the decor is going to imply. It is within the ergonomic design and flow of the place. Whether it is a warm summer or a cool winter, they can open and shut as they please to make the most of the elements. When it is sunny outside, the sunshine hits the walls and really lights the whole place up. It is a bit minimalistic as well with how they look, and seating is either well-centralised or they use both the bar and window sills to fit in more chairs. This touch fully transforms the whole vibe from merely a potentially good place to one in which you are to be seen. It was probably with that design that it reminded the dining buddy somewhat of IKEA, or at least getting the furniture from there.
Now what really tied it together and made it stand out from the rest was the service. This is the kind of service which is always switched on, where the staff are all dynamic and friendly. Again, this was more apparent with how busy the restaurant was and all the new clientele coming in. The structure of the service is at the table, so that makes it much more relaxing and laid back for the clients and at the same time gives it more of a professional approach. And it does not end there, since the service is more than just being competent and knowing how to deliver as needed; there was also the quality and character with the waitstaff. The waitress that my dining buddy and I had was one character, complete with that characteristic Latina flair that I have become really accustomed to recently. She was very friendly, quite approachable and even went down to our level of take the orders. It was casual, and the mannerisms that she had were lithe. That, along with a sharp attention to detail for numerous aspects - including the specials board and knowing the menu inside out - was merely the foundation to begin a great breakfast out, and one that is still memorable as of now.
If this were in another inner-city suburb - particularly within the north - the menu would be an avenue to be all trendy and such, using it to showcase esoteric methods of cooking and for dishes to be photographed more than anything; however, with it being the more relaxed West End this is more or less an accumulation of what is around there. The past few decades have seen it become a melting pot with various cuisines introduced but in the end the casual nature of eating out has still been retained, and it is one place where even at its busiest any client can waltz on in and almost be guaranteed a table quite quickly. A lot of that comes down to the aforementioned quality of the service.
That about sums it up briefly with what the menu offers. Going with the name, the sections are in morning and after to signify breakfast and brunch for later. Within the modest yet broad selection of dishes, there is plenty of Mediterranean influence with the melting pot that is West End. A mixture of the classics and some unusual twists are there, each one been given the due attention with all the items listed as such. When it comes to the lunch time rush, the selection is modest and a bit the same as it usually goes as such with breakfast places. For once though, it does not feel like to much of an after-thought. It does not end there either, since there is a big cabinet that is full of all kinds of desserts for afterwards - and these are inventive just like a lot of the prior menu.
For getting something to drink, they also deliver really well on that part. There is both coffee and tea here, with three different sorts of blends for coffee - plus all kinds of brewing modes in addition to espresso - and the tea being sourced from a specialty location plus the chai and covcovelle both being spice blends. Adding something cold onto all that, there are the usual sodas, juices and such, but they also have what they call Elixirs - or house made smoothies. Round it off with a few different wines, beers, and a range of spirits and there is definitely something for everyone right here.
So to begin the meal as per normal the first order of business was getting the coffees. For something a bit different, I went ahead and got a batch brew. This had a smooth body, and the flavour was more subtle than that of the normal espresso. It was sort of syrupy, and if I had to hazard a guess, the notes were fruity. The texture was thinner and less oily as well, and this is more one to have to be soothing as opposed to wanting to wake up in an instant.
With the menu, this is how good it is. It is one of those ones where you will be pondering what to get for quite a bit of time because of how good and unusual a lot of them sound. What was the deciding factor with it was asking the waitress what "cotechlno" is - a kind of sausage - and in hearing the fine detail about it (i.e. it was a spicy one) that settled the meal I got. That meal also had a smoked corn salsa, chorizo, heaps of chilli, a fried egg - which I requested as soft, torn bread and a yohurt-based sauce. Plus, just for the hell of it and I could, a side order of fries which came with aioli.
Now this is the sort of meal that I look forward to having when I go out for a breakfast. One that is very tasty, one that is characteristic, and it certainly wins many brownie points for the inventiveness of it all. The sausages were both tender, flavoursome and had a strong bite to them both - the chorizo with its spice, and the cotechlno being akin to black pudding. For me, that is a major bonus. The egg was delicious, really soft and well cooked - plus the bleeding yolk was great as always, the corn added a fresh crunch to the meal, and the chilli was not so overpowering. This a wholly well-balanced and tasty meal. Those fries on the side were also really delicious, being crispy and reasonably salted. The portion size was generous, and they essentially added even more to the meal. And heck, I can always find a way to weasel them in for breakfast.
As for my dining buddy, he went with the fan favourite item "MacMuffin". This was a simple breakfast sandwich, complete with a sausage patty, a poached egg, American cheese and pickled chutney on an English muffin, plus a hashbrown on the side. It is as good as it sounds, having used good quality meat for the patty, and the bread was well toasted and warm. Plus that hashbrown was just the cherry on top, simultaneously crispy on the outside and both soft and creamy on the inside. Simple was given just as much care here, and it proved really well as such.
With how good the food had been so far, it was for certain that it needed *that* particular trial to test if it was really as good as it had so far seemed. Yes, it was time and again to go and get a sweet afterwards, and this time around there was some interesting looking delicacies in the cabinet. By a mere look, it was one of the butterings that I ordered, and that was with another coffee. This time around, it was a pour over. The way to describe the butterings in this. They resemble a cookie sandwich, with two "slices" of "chocolate bread" and a brightly coloured filling in the middle. In reality, it is a bit more like a mix between a cake and a macaroon, and is soft as a feather. Only one flavour could possibly take my interest the moment I saw it and that was peanut butter.
Well, it finished the meal off really well. This buttering was a delicious little number, and it is thoroughly recommended. The cake was soft, moist and crumbly, with plenty of chocolate mixed into the dough. In the middle, the cream filling was thick and was akin to a sweet marzipan frosting. The flavour of peanut butter was present, and that is something which always wins out for me. In ordering a sweet, that was an avenue for me to get another coffee and this time around it was a pour over. Again, we are talking about another great coffee style that is smoother, and subtly flavoured. The two of these went well together, and it ended the meal on a high note.
And with that, it was one of the best breakfasts that I have had in a while, and a unique dining out experience to behold. From the ergonomics, to how apparently astute the crew behind the venture was, and without any doubt food that was both on point with quality and with flavour, Morning After does so many things right, and the long time coming for finally going here paid off without a hitch. This is one of those rare places where I would willingly go back for another breakfast, mostly influenced by just how inventive they are with their menu.
This may be as close to as good as it can possibly get. In terms of all the necessary aspects for a good dining experience, each one of them is there and in full force; plus in terms of being a sum of its parts, those all match up well to a consistent degree and thus compliment each other very well. It is going to be hard to top this one in terms of quality, and I reckon it will be quite some time before the Morning After will have met its match. That is something in which I can vouch for.
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