Cafe Marcella
246 Sydney Road, Brunswick
03 9380 6311
Italian
$$
Food
- Energiser Bunny Smoothie
- Smoked Salmon & Kipper Potato Hash
- Smash Avocado
The Good
The Energiser Bunny Smoothie was a healthy and tasty beginning. With an oaty flavour, the thick smoothie was creamy with a slight coarseness from the pats. The milkiness was perfectly accompanied by a hint of coffee from a single shot of espresso. The texture of oats and banana within made for an interesting, tasty and healthy smoothie.
The Smoked Salmon & Kipper Potato Hash was also enjoyable overall. Topped with a poached egg and a rich and creamy hollandaise sauce, the hash itself was rather unconventional, with actual, discernible chunks of cured salmon and potato cubes. The potatoes themselves were cooked to perfection, with a crunchy outer and a soft fluffy inner. While overly salty by itself, the salmon could've been better mixed with the potatoes to provide more balance in flavour as well as texture.
We also enjoyed the Smash Avocado. Liberally applied on top of a darkly charred piece of Rye toast, the avocado was exceptionally fresh and plentiful. This was well accompanied by the mushrooms which were nicely caramelised and exhibited a beautiful aroma. On this occasion, the balsamic vinegar was applied on the rocket, as opposed to the avocado itself, which would've bee more preferable as this would provide more tang and diversity in flavour.
The Mediocre
The Bacon that we added onto our dishes as sides were a tad disappointing. There was definitely some over-frying occurring at too high heat, resulting in an overly charred and chewy experience.
The Bad
Nothing.
The Verdict
While much fine-tuning is still needed to perfect their newly launched breakfast menu, the produce utilised by Cafe Marcella was fresh and of good quality, and the execution was perfectly serviceable for the most part.
All in all, it was a tasty, though not overly-creative breakfast menu that's bound to satisfy.
Would Penguin Eat Again?
Sure. We eagerly await Cafe Marcella to slowly perfect their execution of the breakfast menu over time, and the introduction of more innovative and adventurous items.
We would like to thank owner Simon for inviting us to test drive his new breakfast menu at Cafe Marcella.