No. 19
214 Union Road, Ascot Vale
03 9372 8777
Cafe
$$
Food
- Salmon and Avocado Bowl
- Chocolate Brioche French Toast
- Breakfast Ramen
The Good
Easily the best dish of the day was Salmon and Avocado Bowl. The charred salmon slices were thin though tasty, served with a delicious spicy kewpie hollandaise. Unfortunately as we dug in, we discovers a heap of picked sliced ginger, and the bold, tangy and spicy sensation completely overwhelmed all else on the plate. Coupled with some undercooked, crumbly brown rice sitting at the bottom, dry and over cooked chorizo on the side, we found this dish was sorely imbalanced and lacking in refinement.
The Mediocre
The Chocolate Brioche French Toast was an utter disgrace to all things named French Toast. The so-called French Toast sitting at the bottom of the plate was dense and dry, with a texture not dissimilar to stale banana bread and most definitely lacking in any flakey, eggy goodness that defines any French Toast. Dipping each chunk into a pool of slowly melting scoop of Ferrero Rocher ice cream did help the cause slightly, but there was no denying this was so far devoid from what was advertised. The best bit of the dish? The simple poached pear.
The Breakfast Ramen wasn’t much better. The ramen noodles were unbelievably tough and coarse, as the thick, undercooked noodles were clearly not for use in a Japanese ramen. The pork was over cooked and dry, though admittedly the soft boiled egg and the broth were both spot on.
The Bad
Nothing.
The Verdict
Despite being so highly rated on popular food review platforms, our group of fellow foodies all agree that the taste of dishes universally failed to live up to the stunning presentation.
This was probably one of the least impressive breakfasts we’ve had for a while, and with such an ambitious and varied menu, our only advice is to focus on the basics and nail those first.
Would Penguin Eat Again?
We won’t be back.
Penguineats dined complimentary of No.19.