Anouk Cafe - Paddington

Having taken a short break from waking up too early in the mornings, two friend and I found ourselves in Paddington last Saturday morning, having decided to meet early and grab some brunch at Anouk together before partaking in a larger group outing. 

We arrived to the super busy Cafe, bustling with diners both inside and outside. Thankfully the wait for a table was relatively short, and we had a table cleared for us and we were seated within 10 minutes.

 

With the similarities in name and proximity, I was expecting breakfast fare somewhat similar to Shouk Cafe (which is also in Paddington), but was surprised to see that the options were super broad to the extent of encompassing a variety spanning Korean  Kimchi Jiggae to Italian Saffron Linguine. In the end though, our conservative tastes meant that we still ended up settling on some more standard options.

As usual, my companion/chauffeur settled on an iced coffee with an added scoop of vanilla gelato. He considered it to be relatively standard, but appreciated the ice cream and the taste of merlo coffee, however wished it could have been a bit stronger. 

I ordered my usual cappuccino in a mug, and was slightly confused with my cappuccino in a cup, but was reassured that this was indeed their interpretation of a mug, which was apparently larger than the regular sized cappuccinos. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed the rich foamy milk, coupled with our favourite Merlo blend, was  a great way to start our morning.

Both of my companions ordered the "eggs as you like" with some small variations. My first companion ordered fried eggs with a side of bacon. Unfortunately, the first time it came out, he was served with poached eggs. Pointing this out to the waiter, this was promptly rectified.

My second companion also had "eggs your way", this time with poached eggs, a side of bacon and some potato hash. Expecting it to be some variation of fried shredded potato, we were surprised that Anouk's interpretation was essentially crushed wedges garnished with substantial herbs. I tried some of the potato and it was very delicious. Whilst the potatoes were enjoyable, my companion was somewhat disappointed in the poached egg, which was considerably overcooked to the point where the yolk was quite solid.

Wanting something a little different from my usual, I settled on the Shakshuka which was a baked egg in tomato, yoghurt, spinach and fetta, served with flatbread, and an extra side of avocado and bacon. I really enjoyed the massive flavour burst in my mouth, with the freshness of tomato, creaminess of fetta and comfort of egg. The dish was a little too liquid for me to retain much on my flatbread (as it would run off), and so I settled on eating the baked eggs and then having avocado bacon flatbread instead. The dish would have been a bit better if the sauce accompanying the eggs were thicker and clung to the bread more.

Price Range: $15 - $25pp

Taste: 7/10
Value: 7/10
Service: 7/10
Environment:  7/10