Is it just me or do you love nothing better than finding a cafe that you never have noticed if you weren’t looking for it? Shanklin Cafe is literally hidden amongst residential houses and a grocer in West Hawthorn.
The entrance is quite deceiving as it looks like quite a small venue but inside there is undercover and indoor seating. We arrived for a late lunch around 1.45pm and I didn’t expect it to be so busy.
We ordered coffees to begin, I opted for a almond milk Matcha Latte ($7) for a change and Mr. B went with his usual Long Black ($4). After being told about the benefits of matcha, I am trying to substitute Long Blacks here and there.
We took a look at the menu, there were a few dishes I was drawn to; Lamb Salad ($21) and the Potato Rosti ($21) so I decided to get something a little different and went with the Lamb Salad. Mr. B wanted the Super Green ($21).
I am still a Matcha Latte newbie and this was served with honey which I have never tried and I loved it. I enjoyed it a little sweeter so I’m going to stick with drinking it this way…yum!
Our breakfast came to the table within ten minutes and at first I thought, maybe it’s because we have been invited in but we noticed other tables getting their food quickly also. My Lamb Salad was a pretty picture, it looked fresh and appealing. I went straight for some of the lamb pieces…yum, they were so tender and juicy! There was a generous amount of cous cous on the dish and the fresh mint and pomegranate really made every bite pop. I enjoyed the raw red onion as I think it compliments lamb really well. Overall, a very well-balanced and fresh dish and I really enjoyed it.
Mr. B couldn’t wait to dig into his Super Green. I swear he is obsessed with avocado. The fact that there were two pieces of toast on the dish was a plus for him as he often leaves a breakfast not feeling full. He said the avocado was great and everything was seasoned, even the asparagus…it’s not often he notices little details like that so that told me a lot. The eggs were perfectly poached so needless to say, he rated this dish highly.
If that wasn’t enough, we were treated to a cake each also. We received a flourless almond cake and a sticky date cake with ginger. I loved the sticky date cake, particularly the ginger disks and Mr. B preferred the flourless almond cake so that worked out well.
We had a wonderful brunch at Shanklin Cafe, thank you so much to Francis and the team for a delicious lunch and excellent service.
*This post was written following an invitation to dine at Shanklin Cafe, all opinions are my own.
