Ave Cucina – 8.5
Eva Street, Coorparoo
Banana & Cinamon Smoothie
Coffee: Di Bella
After a month of bitter, watery espresso and bland, flavourless, powdered milk coffees, with a well poached egg harder to find than a witty “harder to find than a……” analogy to finish this joke, TCB are quite excited to be home from Europe to see what the Brisbane breakfast landscape has to offer in 2012.
One thing that cements the fact that we’re back is that rather than spending $10 on a night of preservative free (read hangover free) beer in the Czech Republic, we have spent oblivion dollars to feel like death warmed up on Saturday morning. So after brushing the dust off and kick starting TCB for 2012, AMac and GZA escort a plus one to the new establishment run by former My Restaurant Rules contestants, Ave Cucina.
Di Bella double flat
The little suburban eatery is bustling inside and out with patrons, and sidestepping an enormous dog tied up outside, TCB is escorted to one of the few remaining tables inside. Presented with the menus, the first impression is excellent: with a large variety of interesting items, as well as a great selection of teas, smoothies and juices. TCB opt for the Middle Eastern Platter, Rosario’s Eggs and the avocado stack.
Middle Eastern platter
A pot of chai tea, a chai late and a double flat are delivered by our friendly waiter without too much delay. The coffee is your stock standard Di Bella brew, but is a welcome change from the absolute drudgery of Central European ‘shit water’.
There is a noticeable but not unreasonable wait for the meals to arrive, but as any loyal TCB fan will understand, we are willing to cut some slack to a busy kitchen if the meals are worth the wait. The Middle Eastern platter turns out to be a pot of mixed seasoned potatoes and eggs, with a huge piece of pita bread and a mildly spicy spread. You know a meal is going to be exciting when the waiter has to dutifully instruct you on the best way to go about eating it, and after the explanation, the dish provides an interesting and very different breakfast flavour, but happens to be a bit dry.
Avocado stack
The avocado stack is simple, but is very tasty, with huge, fresh avocados topping crunchy ciabatta toast, accompanied by two perfectly poached eggs.
Rosario’s Eggs, a titled signature dish, is a baked egg concoction with a spicy tomato salsa (of course ordered with additional chilli oil), topped with crunchy prosciutto. Baked eggs of this nature can often be hit and miss, with the eggs sometimes dry and flavourless, and the salsa too sweet or bland. Neither of these problems rear their ugly heads, with this mysterious Rosario obviously doing a brilliant job of keeping the eggs slightly runny, and the salsa full of savoury flavour.
Rosario's Eggs
Although at the expensive end of the breakfast market, Ave Cucina’s excellent menu, great food, and very friendly service make it one of the best breakfast options in the South, and definitely worth a trek by those North of the CBD. And with that, TCB has opened its account for 2012, an excellent start to a year that promises many a culinary adventure.
Coffee: 8.0 Menu: 9.5 Food: 8.5 Service: 8.5 Ambience: 8.0
Review by AMac & GZA
NB: The GZA returned to Ave Cucina with his DSLR, so keep an eye out for the upload of his high res documentation of some different menu items.
Comments
Powered by Facebook Comments
