15/4/17
A recent visit, just he and I, we had a lovely window seat - with the Autumn sun, it helped my good spirits. The location is on the 'sunny side of the street' in the morning, perfect at this time of year. Another delicious chai latte, this time with a lovely little complimentary nibble - peanuts, sesame seeds and some dried fruit, a sweet surprise. O/H was happy again with his Breakfast Plate - as it's our second visit, I'd say it's too soon to call it his regular. I was hoping to try the Sesame Prawn Toast, but it was not an option today. Went with the gravlax instead (clearly I was in the mood for
seafood). A generous portion of smoked salmon, almost covering the plate. Usually it would be two poached eggs, only this day, I was hard done by, as one of my poachies had clearly broken, and there was nothing but water left within one of my egg whites. Bummer. Some crispy slices of what amounts to Melba Toast were perfectly golden, and crisp. Plenty of smashed peas and beetroot relish too. Unfortunately after a few mouthfuls this combination became just a bit too sweet for my taste. I'm coming back to try the prawn toast, and the chilli scramble though.
Service once again, charming.
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Goodness knows how many times we have passed by this cafe and not noticed it. Opposite the main strip of shops, and part of an office block, even it's A-frame sign didn't draw our attention. As it happened however, we were looking for somewhere to have breakfast in Syndal, and thus, via Zomato, we 'discovered' Kafe Karisma. Parking right beside the caf, makes it easy, and on a perfect Saturday morning, the little courtyard at the front already had a couple of very relaxed looking parties, plenty of greenery blocking the worst of the noise from Blackburn Road, and giving some pleasing morning shade.
We sat inside, the other end from a rather rowdy group of breakfasters, who all seemed to be having a pretty great time, maybe 14. It did make it difficult to hear our own dining partners, but I suspect usually this cafe is not quite so high voltage!
The staff were friendly and efficient throughout, and chilled water was brought to our table with menus. As we'd already perused the menu somewhat, at Zomato, I think we all had a good idea of what we wanted, though I didn't end up choosing it, I am very tempted to go back for the Prawn Toast, and come to that the Chilli Scramble. Other things that looked like worthy contenders included the Cured Salmon Gravlax, Coconut Pudding and Smashed Pea......but I have such a soft spot for Benedict, I can't go past it today. Three choices, the traditional, which was my choice, using Smoked Berkshire Bacon (win), or, for an extra dollar, you can have either slow-cooked pork shoulder, which sounds scrummy or, the version my young dining partner selected, the smoked salmon. Both Benedicts had two poached eggs cooked to perfection - I've mentioned before there's nothing so disappointing as cutting into a poachie and finding nothing but solid yolk - here's an example of exactly how to get it right! Yum, both versions also had a generous serve of protein, three rosettes of salmon and four slices of real bacon - that is, a little fat still attached, as it should be. All perched on a thick slab of brioche, a generous layer of perfectly sweated spinach and then the hollandaise, some micro herbs and extra dollops of hollandaise around the edges - nice one.
Two of our party went with the oh-so-pretty waffles; Signature Salted Caramel Waffles. The warm sauce is on the side in a little bottle so you can add as much or little as you want, lots of waffles - three I think I saw, ice cream, berry compote, caramelised white chocolate, lots of delicate and dainty components, but a most generous serving. Only one diner managed to finish hers. The final selection started its life as the Breakfast Plate, but The Lovely Man made some alterations to suite himself, removing the tomato and replacing it with a hash brown. He was incredibly happy with his meal. The herb butter went onto his toast after he'd eaten the rest, as a good old 'buttered toast' with a twist. The sausage, was a lovely, mild sausage with herbs.
Drinks included iced chocolate, mug of cappuccino, extra strong mocha and a chai latte - the latter were in quite small cups, I went back for seconds of my chai latte, but this time in a mug.
I noticed there was a table for two booked, and I thought it was such a lovely touch that, that one particular table didn't just have some succulents (lovely as they are too), but a beautiful posy of flowers. Sweet!
Lovely little cafe, delicious food cooked with care, and friendly service, more people need to look on the other side of the road! Lucky locals.
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