My mum is an awesome lady, but I admit that Mother’s Day holds a second agenda for me.
Breakfast.
“Dearest mother, why don’t we go out for breakfast next Sunday?” “You’re such a sweet daughter! Yes, let’s do that!” Excellent. Breakfast out for me is a rare occurrence, so this was exciting. Cue me spending the next day eagerly pouring over menus, trying to decide where to go.
Eventually I settled on Blu Grotto, a restaurant/bar in Rosalie that usually draws a lively crowd at night. I might be wrong, but I’m sure that their brekkie menu has changed recently-what I saw when wandering by a few weeks ago looked totally different (and actually a lot more exotic) to what it is now. Correct me if I’m wrong, anyone-I have been known to confuse restaurants and loved ones when food is on my mind.
We were in contact with three waiters and all of them were both welcoming and professional. We started off with cappuccinos ($3.70). The coffees arrived promptly and were excellent; I haven’t had that good a coffee in a very long time. Creamy froth, no bitterness, not watery but not too milky. Perfect!
After finishing the delicious drinks, we waited for our food. And waited. And waited… 40 minutes past the time we had first parked our bums, they finally came out. Usually this wouldn’t really bother me, but a long wait at breakfast can mean that the meal becomes lunch, or a weird hybrid in no man’s land.
We all went for egg dishes – I the Pesto Eggs ($14.50, right), Mumsy the Eggs Royale ($15.90, bottom left), and Bro got the Regular Bacon & Eggs ($11.50). Since the breakfast menu is pretty standard (museli, pancakes, bacon & eggs, etc.), I got the Pesto Eggs hoping for something different. Unfortunately I was let down. Two eggs, tomato, mushrooms, and rocket were piled high on a slice of sourdough toast. There was perhaps two teaspoons of pesto on the eggs, and a little dish holding a generous serving of chopped avocado. I wish it had been the reverse-the pesto was delicious and could have made an otherwise ordinary dish really pop. I’d also asked for soft poached eggs and they were definitely hard – that yolk wasn’t going anywhere. I sadly waved goodbye to my dreams of gooey yolk rivers being mopped up with my toast.
The Eggs Royale was an eggs benedict dish of sorts, with poached eggs, smoked salmon, spinach, and hollandaise sauce on a toasted English muffin. While the eggs were perfectly poached (I’m going to say it – they were eggsellent) the hollandaise sauce let the dish down. It had an overpowering lemon flavour, and was a bit too sweet for Mumsy’s liking.
Bro was happy with his scrambled eggs, tomato, and bacon on sourdough toast. The bacon was quite burnt around the edges, but the eggs looked fluffy and were piping hot.
I have always felt that restaurants have a hard time doing a really good breakfast – part of the problem is that diners are expecting too much. We don’t want to taste something that is like what we make at home – we want something different, sometimes even a bit decadent. I’m not opposed to regular meals like bacon and eggs, but they need to be done right - not burnt slightly, or poached for not long enough. Apart from a few minor hiccups, Blu Grotto does do a decent breakfast, but so do hundreds of other places in Brisbane – it’s time to see some more adventurous offerings.
Note added on 27/5/09: Dudes, I went here last night for dinner and it was delish. The dinner menu offers kinda fancy dishes at reasonable prices, as well as staples like pizza and steak. I had a pork tenderloin salad ($22) that was a decent-sized serve of juicy pork bundles, greens, beetroot, fetta, olives, and other delicious bits. And thankfully, we only waited a very reasonable 20 minutes. Yay! Game has officially been picked up. – Ally
Blu Grotto
Bistro and Bar
Shop 4/155 Baroona Road
Rosalie map
07 3876 4653
Open Mon & Tues 3pm to late
Wed-Fri 11am to late
Sat & Sun 8am to late
Breakfast served until on weekends until noon; limited breakfast menu served until 3pm.
Visited Sunday, 10 May 2009
