Sunday, August 26, 2007

Cicalata cafe

Come to think of it, yesterday was the first time I've ever eaten out for breakfast in Melbourne. In the nearly 3 years I've been here, the closest I've gone to eating out for breakfast is having Yum Cha, but then again, that's more like brunch/lunch anyway.

I guess maybe its because breakfast here costs as much as dinner, or maybe even more than dinner, when compared to Malaysia, you can get a good breakfast for a fraction of what you pay for dinner (depending on what you eat of course).

So, yesterday was an experience in itself. Jian Ming, Sher Reen, and Mei Sze were planning to go to the sweet stuff convention and they asked me along, but I declined. I did however, take them up on their offer of breakfast. Thus, off we went to Lygon Street, where we settled in Cicalata cafe.

Food was not bad, but not spectacular either. Basic stuff, like eggs, bacon, the usual, but it costs a lot. However, I must give them top marks for presentation.

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Lentil and something soup with toast.

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Now this is an interesting dish. I must admit, I've never seen anything like this before in my life. Apparently, you mix everything inside the bowl and eat it.

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Now this was, um, weird. While I must admit the bacon and eggs were good, wrapping a roti canai around it was just not right. And the sweet tomato thingy on the side didn't go well with the whole thing either. Andddd it cost me 14 bucks. That's 2 plates of chicken rice. Haha.

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Now this dish illustrates what I mean by expensive. It costs $13.80 for just the roesti and spinach and poached eggs. The bacon cost an extra $2.50. I don't think I can afford to spend 15 dollars for breakfast on a regular basis.

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Vanilla ice cream topped with a shot of hot espresso. Very interesting. I didn't try it though. But still very interesting.

In conclusion, eating out for breakfast is fun! Especially when there's good weather. Reminds me of Malaysia, where we go out in the morning to eat wan tan mee, char kuay teow, roti canai, nasi lemak, and so many others. Its just the price that bothers me. =)

On a different note, did you know that tiramisu means 'food of the gods' in Italian?

12 comments:

mouse said...

Definitely the price $$$ is the only thing stopping me from eating Melbourne breakfasts on a regular basis. :( Especially with the exchange rate right now sky rocketing through the roof after a low!

The pictures look really great and I have to say the bacon-egg wrap does look good to my eyes!

Standard breakfasts are probably around the AUD$10 mark, your breakfast is just a little bit pricier than the usual fare. But the stuff looks a little more special and I'm glad to hear you had fun on your breakfast outing!

小米 said...

you should try affogato, it's good!!

crushedguava said...

mouse: still can't get over the fact that breakfast costs more than dinner here.

yah i know the wrap looks good, but trust me, roti canai does not go well with bacon and eggs ;p

melissa: its the first time i've ever heard of affogato. i assume you like it very much?

IronEaters said...

yea..the brekky here are quite expensive isn't it? if in Malaysia, a plate of wantan mee in the morning just cost u lets say RM4 (ard $1.50 in Aus =P ) hehe, neway, the wrap actually sounds pretty interesting but u mentioned tt it is not nice =) coz that remind me of having roti canai (quite frequently) back home as my brekky and if i have 2 roti kosong, its only about RM1.60 =D

crushedguava said...

haha roti telur la. i prefer that to roti kosong.

yah the roti wrap, though it looked nice, was a bit cold and stale (the roti i mean). i think its the instant ones. can't imagine a cafe like cicalata making roti canai from scratch hahahaha

Ginger said...

Hello! Thanks for visiting my blog.

Yar, have to agree that the prices in Melbourne is exp, but they really taste good rite?

That's why I often resort to cooking at home .. But its so nice to be able to eat out everyday, dont have to do cleaning up later. LOL

crushedguava said...

haha ginger, eating out everyday would burn a hole in our pockets.

小米 said...

oooo...yes yes

claire said...

Hey crushedguava, nice blog! I gotta tell you though, that tiramisu doesn't mean 'food of the gods' in Italian. The literal translation of it is 'tira mi su' = 'pull me up', which has the rough meaning in italian of 'pick-me-up'...
Incidentally, 'theobroma', the botanical name for the cocoa plant, is Greek and translates as 'food of the gods'... :)

crushedguava said...

hahaha i know.

i just took the line from the movie 'No Reservations' where the guy wanted to impress the girl by asking her whether she knew that 'tiramisu' meant 'food of the gods' to which she replied, "No it doesn't!" ;p

claire said...

Doh, my bad for not knowing the pop culture reference! Now I feel silly. :)

crushedguava said...

eh heh, so you Did watch the movie then?