Friday, February 08, 2008

February 3, 2008: Butterfly Cafe

Update 31/12/2014: Butterfly Cafe is closed, replaced by Roasted Coffee Bar

After months of vague intentions and a fulsome recommendations from Hayley, we finally made our way out to Camberwell to check out the Sunday Rotary market. On the way, we swung by the Butterfly Cafe, as recommended by Claire, the Melbourne Gastronome. It's a nice little cafe, with some attractive outdoor tables and cute interior decorations. The menu is just a blackboard in the corner and it's all counter-ordering and casualness. The vego menu options were pretty limited: eggs florentine, porridge, fruit salad and the couple of toast-based treats that we went for.

I had the mushrooms, fetta and thyme on toast ($12), which was pleasant enough without really winning me over. The toast was thick and grainy, and everything on top was cooked impressively enough, it was just a little on the small side and a tad uninteresting. I reckon for $8 it would have been a huge success, but there are some pretty good brekkies around for $12 and this didn't quite cut it.

Cindy had the avocado and tomato salad, also on thick chunks of toast. It all looked pretty good to me (except for my tomato issues) - generous slatherings of avocado and huge tomato quarters and a few leaves of basil leaves seasoned with a splash of lemon juice. It was all very tasty, but like me, Cindy was hungry again much sooner than after our usual bought breakfast feasts. So, we were agreed: the food here was fine, but the servings a little small and the choices not particularly inspiring. Still, they are working out of a kitchen the size of a phonebox, so asking for dozens of options is probably a little demanding.

The post-breakfast market visit was a roaring success: it was nice to see second hand goods selling for genuinely second hand prices - not a $10 used book to be found.

Address: 25 Cookson St, Camberwell
Ph: 9882 1649
Price: $5-12

4 comments:

  1. Yay, I'm glad you enjoyed the markets! The eatery options around Camberwell can be a bit hit and miss; from memory there are a couple of restaurants across the road from the Rivoli that are quite nice (my mind is vaguely prodding me with the thought "awesome bruschetta"), can't for the life of me remember what they are called. Ah well, might have to do a bit of foodie research when I go to the markets this Sunday!

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  2. Sure did, Hayley! I was actually surprised by how many cafes and smart-looking shops we encountered, given Claire's memories of "daggy old Cambers" from her formative years. :-)

    Next time I'll breakfast at home and then try the food van within the markets that sells vegie dogs and burgers. We are going through a vegie dog phase at the moment...

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  3. Hey Cindy! Sorry you and Michael didn't enjoy Butterfly quite as much as I did - I don't remember noticing the size of the portions, but you're right, in your photos they do look rather small.

    Trying to think of other places around daggy old Cambers that I could recommend... for dinner I quite like Monk & Me, a Malaysian place (very much in the Chinta Ria mould) down near the Rivoli. Provision, a cafe/foodstore opposite Country Road, is also pretty good. But there's a lot of crap in Camberwell cafes too, so your plan for next time sounds a goer.

    One question though - have you had breakfast at Replete? If you and Michael are driving to Camberwell you could stop off in Hawthorn on the way. Read my review - I think that with your sweet tooth you'd love the ricotta hotcakes with lemon curd and strawberries! :)

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  4. Hi Claire! While it won't make my top 5, it was a pleasant breakfast - the multi-grain toast impressed me and my avocado was ripe and very nicely dressed.

    Thanks for your other recommendations, the ricotta hotcakes at Replete look very much like my kind of breakfast. :-D

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