A comfortable and hidden little find, nestled among the suburban streets of Morningside, the Blue Poppy is the epitome of what is pictured when the words "coffee house" are uttered. It has been an effort that has worked out for the owners, because spare tables are way less common than full ones and there is always that line out the door. To put it another way, the popularity of the place indicates that a reliable meal is upon us.
My brother-in-law was staying over one night during the working week, and in the morning, he had a business meeting to get to. There was time beforehand, early in the morning, to catch up for breakfast. With the guy he was meeting, the arrangements eventuated into being on the eastern side of town which meant around Bulimba/Morningside. With some teamwork in searching for good breakfast places, this was one of the choices and ultimately was the decision. As for me, I was meeting a friend of mine later down the track in South Bank and could easily take the train so all was good with me.
In a short while, this has grown into becoming a local favourite; from an outsider's perspective, it is easy to see why. It comes down to the whole aesthetic of the place, with its general look, and the quiet location, plus the relaxed and friendly service. Good use is made of the place, giving it a homely look. Off to one side is a small room, there are plenty of tables which extend to the other shopfronts on the pavement, and this place also provides books and newspapers to read while having coffee. Whoever designed this place has a knack for planning. When it comes to the service, simply line up at the counter and place your order. Then you pay and go find a table or wait around if it is to go. The rate of delivery is quite good here. Additionally, they do check on you during the meals and even offer extra coffees and all that - they have many of the essentials down pat.
This is basically a breakfast place. It has a simple one-paged menu, with a variety of dishes that range from some usual suspects to more esoteric kinds of dishes. On top of that, getting into the breakfast mindset there are also a range of pastries to have as well. A couple of the menu items are ones that vary from day to day, which are always on the board near the counter. They have managed to get a rare feat done well, and still have so many items that look good.
Well, first things will always be first. It was time to order the coffees. As per usual, I went with a doppio. I can't quite remember what coffee they use here, but whatever it was they did a good job with making it. This was to the point I got a second one in the course of the meal. It was strong, hot and well-extracted. Slightly less sweet than I have been getting use to as well, the palate agreed well with this one.
Something that is offered at a lot of places is a "du jour" item. The Blue Poppy uses this for French toast, with the menu saying to go and look at the board. Being one who likes to see how the specials go with me, this is something that I did. Upon reading what it was, I definitely could not pass up on this. That day's French toast had bacon, chili jam, haloumi, spinach, and Parmesan cheese; I actually wondered what it would be like between seeing it and eating it. My brother-in-law got the eggs your way and added onto the side some mushrooms, bacon, and hollandaise sauce. This came with rye toast, which had a generous pat of butter on top.
Even in being a general fan of French toast, this was some pretty good French toast that surprised me well. As per usual, the haloumi cheese was fantastic. It was well cooked, a milder kind than normally is served and just plain good. The bacon was crispy and plentiful, with a good amount of marbling and very little fat left on. They went generous with the rocket, which gave it at least a bit of freshness to balance the rest out, and the Parmesan cheese was strong and plentiful as well. Mixing it all in was a spicy chili jam, which was absorbed well by the toast part of the French toast. That part itself was brioche, which by default is good. Trying parts of my brother-in-law's breakfast, the mushrooms were robust and being cooked just to the right extent - they are starting to sweat and release their flavour while keeping in form. The egg I had was plump and soft poached; there is no other way in my mind to have an egg. Plus the rye toast tasted good with a darker flavour and good, thick, creamy butter on top to complete it.
The brother-in-law has a similar thought pattern to me regarding food. When possible, he is one that can manage to squeeze a bit of dessert in after a meal. This is being said, because there was still a bit of time left and we had both finished our meals. He egged me on - not that it takes a lot of that to encourage me - to go inside and see what there was on offer. Also, one extra coffee was ordered in the meantime and was not yet paid for so several lots of business were being attended to at once. I chose a raspberry danish to split with him. This was a decent size, and would be good for a small breakfast. It was made with filo pastry creating a bed for the fruit to rest in, and they used real fruit as opposed to a jam-like substance; I could detect real round raspberries in there. It was sweet, it was tart and the pastry had a little bit of butter to give it a boost. I find this a good way to top off a meal.
Given the 4.0 rating to be intact, the Blue Poppy is another competent and well-meaning little cafe. I did enjoy the meal I had, with it having better than average quality plus it tasted wonderful. What didn't hurt either was that it was something other than the norm or a unique twist on a trusted favourite. That being said if I were to talk to an out-of-towner about it not much beyond the critique "it has good food" would be likely to develop when discussing this place - the service is at a level that Brisbane has come to expect. When it is said and done, the Blue Poppy can be chalked up as a winner of the local scene.
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