Saturday, 16 October 2010

La Cachette Coffeehouse & Patisserie, Alexandria


Spontaneity - I believe it's a good personal characteristic to have when it comes to food. Sometimes it's easy to go to the same places, order the same reliable dishes - there's nothing wrong with that, I do it a lot! But now again it's good to break out and try something different, right?

In the spirit of spontaneity, we leave home mid-morning for looking for a place to have weekend brunch and we drive down Mitchell Rd in Alexandria. We spot a bustling little cafe on a street corner and decide to give it a try. We arrive ready for some good coffee and wholesome breakfast to set us up for the day.

The french-style decor and the ambiance is nice, and we are pleased to see a good number of vegetarian friendly options on the weekend breakfast menu, as well as the Light Meals menu. 'Vego friendliness' is something I am always on the lookout for, so I'm looking forward to trying the food.

We sip on our coffees while we wait - a Cafe Latte ($3) and a Flat White ($3).



I have the Ricotta Pancakes with banana, maple syrup and berry coulis ($12.50). I do love my ricotta hotcakes, but I'm afraid these miss the mark.. I couldn't detect any ricotta. Added disappointment was the berry coulis.. I have never encountered a berry coulis that I didn't like, but I find myself scraping this seemingly jam-flavoured puree to the side...


Mr Ladybird's Potato Torte with roast tomato, eggplant and scrambled eggs ($15.50) is so so.. Although the potato is well baked, the dish overall is very under-seasoned. I acknowledge that everyone's palate is different, but I personally do not eat a lot of salt and those potatoes were crying out for it...


The look and feel of La Cachette may be great, but I can't say I'll be rushing back for a meal here. However, I would consider giving it a second chance for something like coffee and cake. There were lots of nice looking pastries displayed in their cabinet and I hear their muffins are pretty good.

Tell me readers, have you ever been left a little disappointed by a spontaneous dining decision?

La Cachette
1/270 Mitchell Rd
Alexandria NSW 2043
Ph: (02) 9557 0586

La Cachette on Urbanspoon

12 comments:

  1. Aww thats a shame. The meals do look good, you cant always judge a book by its over though I guess. The coffee does look nice.
    We sometimes decide to go somewhere spontaneously, as you can imagine this can end up being a bad decision on my part because of my dietary choices. But if they dont have anything suitable I just have a coffee :)

    Rose

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  2. We don't make many spontaneous dining decisions- when we eat out, it's usually at some place we always go, or it's from a recommendation from a friend =) I love how both of these look- they're both so tall, expecially with the bit of green sticking out of it like a head piece or something =) Shame they didn't taste any good....

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  3. The dishes look quite tasty. But looks can be deceiving can't they?
    I usually do my 'research' before dining out (hello blogs) but it still doesn't always guarantee a great meal. Like you said, everyone's palate is different. :)

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  4. must be disappointing to hv ricotta hotcakes without tasting it ><
    i think i used to be more spontaneous but after many mediocre experiences i've learnt to do my research before hand. but then again, some of the best things are discovered accident...no? i think i am contradicting myself ;)

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  5. Hi Rose - that must be really tough on you...

    Hi Jen - yes, thank goodness for blogs!

    Hi Vivienne - I know what you mean.. I usually do my research before eating out, but I have also discovered some great places by accident!

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  6. Tha cofe latte look sooo good :)))

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  7. It's always disappointing to look forward to going to a place and it didn't deliver.

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  8. I've felt that disappointment before. Or even just going to a place that's been highly hyped about only to be underwhelmed. Sorry the experience was such a downer!

    Having said that tho, there have been some pretty amazing gems which were the result of randomly walking into a restaurant... but what are the chances of that?

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  9. The pics look so good, without your commentary I would have thought it was completely delicious. I think we have had more wins than losses with on the spot dining choices.

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  10. A little? What about a lot. Doesn't happen open but it really sux when it does.

    Do you eat everything because you paid for it, or cut your losses and find somewhere else to satisfy your tastebuds?

    Sorry to hear that this was so disappointing.

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  11. Hi Simon, I ate about half of it and then my appetite seemed to just evaporate! It's ok though... sometimes you've got to try the 'not so good' to appreciate the 'very good'!

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  12. La Cachette always lets me down, Its close, so I go back, but its never worth it. Service is always slow, the food is always below average, the baristas are good i guess, takeaway coffee it is for me - if i ever go back

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