Bites: An Organic Brunch @ Perth City Farm Café, Perth City.

Perth City Farm has long been an iconic example of inner-city biodiversity with its other half, the City Farm Café fronting their organic produce using a farm-to-table approach.  Its sitting is a mix of covered and open air dining, both equally enticing on a cool morning’s day.  But when it comes to eating, it is all about the food.  So lets get eating!

Some of the stuff we ordered that day includes XL’s Pain Perdu or French Toast with maple syrup, crème fraiche, and caramelized bananas ($16.50).What is a good French Toast? For me, its all about a well-dipped soaked toast that has beautiful charred edges.  The end product should be moist and fluffy with a golden brown color.  City Farm delivers exactly that.  Cutting through the bread you could still see a very eggy inside that looks a little runny.  Soak up all that syrup sauce and its so good by itself.  My biggest critique about this dish were the caramelized banana.  It was a rather typical accompaniment but unfortunately it was not typical good.  The banana lacked the ripeness I desired and the caramelization fell short of spectacular.  I was looking for a caramelized banana that was mushy on the inside but could still hold its shape while carrying a whiff of buttery scent.  All the joys of a perfectly caramelized banana but there was none.

 

Fishman had not fish today and ended up with the Brekkie Burger which was a toasted bun with runny egg, cheddar and bacon ($12.50)He said it was OK but lacked quantity on a place. Perhaps a serve of chips on the side for a couple of dollars more would make this a pretty good meal.  As is, it would not keep anyone filled past lunch.

 

For myself, I decided to keep it simple and ordered one of their most popular dishes there.  The Aged Cheddar and Chive Eggs with Bread ($16).It had layers of good silky texture and it was creamy through each bite.  However. I did not quite get the excitement of the bitey cheddar as I savored the egg.  I was expecting more to go with my buttered toast but there was hardly enough Cheddar to complement the dish as a “Aged Cheddar and Chive Egg”. As for the addition of the chives, the flavors were quite subtle and compliment the dish well.  Yay or Nay?  Well, to be honest it was OK, but definitely not the explosion of “WOW” I was expecting.  Above average at best.

 

The drinks at City Farm Café are very well priced.  I do not drink coffee but I think the espresso starts at $2.50 or so.  Others would have cost no more than $4.  As for the food, it was a mixed bag.  Most were good while the rest were OK.  The food was safe and rather traditional.  It was a breakfast that is not here to complicate things.  There was no foam, no pork belly, no dehydrated anything but it was quite pleasant.   But considering the birth of so many new eateries around, this level of skill is hardly commendable.  Nonetheless, when you put your fingers together to count all the good things this place brings to an urban jungle like Perth, its value grow by folds.  A lovely sitting area, recyclable cutleries, and organic goodies planted by our very own Perth-ians  puts City Farm Café in a league of its own.

 

WenY