Banff - St. Kilda, Melbourne. For one last place to go to in Melbourne before heading off back home, it was my duty - assigned by the family - to look around and find a good, local place for breakfast. St. Kilda is an area rich in all sorts of cuisine, and finding a decent place for breakfast is no short order. After an extensive lot of searching and narrowing down the options, it was won out by popular vote to try out Banff. This location has gone through a number of transformations over the years, the latest one being a night hotspot, and brunch landmark.
Hearsay is that the restaurant is often featured in many Good Food Guides around Melbourne, and gets a lot of favour from the voting public. Like some other places in St. Kilda, a bit of uniqueness helps - Banff has many unique idiosyncracies. Fitting as a Canadian place, it looks and feels like a log cabin (mixed with a bar) with most of the furniture being made of bare wood, plus piles of timber in the corner, and a poster for the titular little town on the wall above a fire place.
While there are a lot of the hip and hipster influences inside (particularly with mention to one of the waitstaff that day), the feel is more of a calmer, relaxed kind of hip. There are still plenty of posters for alternative material on the walls, but it is a lot less in quantity and mostly on just a couple of sections. While at breakfast it was cosy and calm, this could well be a different story when pizza is on the menu. Service, though all positive, was varied; some of the people there quite friendly and a few others were going about their job.
At breakfast, there is a selection that is both modest and extensive, offering all sorts of modes of breakfast, and most of them with some exciting, characteristic twist to liven it up. Just looking at the menu, it was somewhat difficult to know what to get. During lunch and dinner time, they convert their focus into making wood-fired pizzas in house; when Happy Hour comes around, these can be gotten for a set price along with all kinds of drinks. There is also what they call "paper pasta" where the pasta is cooked in paper a bit like sticky rice. Adding on to that the sheer value, it is apparent why this is one of the area's most popular destinations for eating.
As it can be predicted, the morning started out with the waitstaff taking orders for coffee. As it also can be predicted, I ordered a double shot cappuccino. This coffee was fantastic; everything about it was done right. The texture was smooth, the temperature was the good balance between warm and hot, and the flavour was fantastic with it all being finished off with a good, creamy head of foam.
Not being a coffee drinker, my sister ordered a chai latte from the menu, which this time around was made from an actual authentic recipe. It was prepared with a nine spice blend, and was brewed for a few minutes before being served in an individual tea pot. I managed to nick a small bit of it, and while not having any big extent of experiencing chai lattes - it was apparent the difference with this one than at most coffee places.
Going back to saying that it was difficult knowing which dish to order, at the moment it was mentioned that it was named after a Canadian town, there was only one dish I knew to order. It was their French toast made with brioche. This dish was topped with pieces of maple-based caramlised pineapple, and adding on to the side was the request for bacon, extra crispy. When it came to getting a side of bacon, this was not just a couple of rashers (as some places tend to do with "extras" for breakfast); but a pile of bacon on the side, about the size of the toast itself - and when it was requested for the bacon to be crispy, they well and truly delivered on that (it was even on the receipt). The toast was thick and buttery, with the sweet fruitiness of the maple syrup and pineapple seeping into it.
My mum's order was the ocean trout on multigrain toast, which was served with spinach, and a lemon-caper creme fraiche. This was good as well, and by far the healthiest option that was ordered. The amount of fish given on the bread was also generous, and the flavours in the creme fraiche were appropriately mild, which complimented the ocean trout very well. The fish was similar in texture to smoked salmon, with a less definite flavour. There was not a whole lot of spinach though.
My dad went for the baked eggs, chorizo, beans, and mozzarella cheese. While that is a bit of a standard option for breakfast, or similar to others, it does not make it any less good. The beans were fresh, big cannellini beans, and the bits of chorizo were massive plus the eggs were plump and well cooked. Coating it all was a good, thick layer of mozzarella cheese. Wholesome and unpretentious are the best words to use to describe this option. Served along side it was a couple of bits of sourdough toast.
Finally, my sister ordered what was possibly the most interesting dish on the menu - a Middle Eastern-inspired breakfast of pulled lamb shoulder, with smoked eggplant dip, a poached egg, and dukka-coated grilled pita bread. This was certainly the winner out of the four dishes ordered. Getting the obvious reason out of the way was the amount of lamb shoulder that was given on the plate, and this was succulent lamb that was slow cooked for a long time. The smoked egg plant dip and pita bread on the side could well have been a beginning dish on its own. It was flavoursome, and well proportioned. The eggplant dip had a nice, creamy texture and a good, smokey flavour to accompany it.
Banff is a place that has more than won me over. Part of it is in bias to being a sucker for all things Canadian, but going beyond that it really the whole vibe and experience. The serving sizes of their meals were generous, and the food is both delicious and wholesome. Service is really welcoming, and makes the place even more what it is. Also, as an added bonus there are several items on the menu that were still shortlisted as possibilities to order for next time - that is a rarity to actively think that. The cafe Banff is one place that I am wholly willing to make effort to return towards next time I am in town; my parents are already planning their next time at this place. All my thumbs are up.
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