Beans & Bagels

Beans & Bagels

121 Johnston St, Fitzroy

(Ph) 9417 0006

Bagels with E! =) Entertainment book had a voucher for this place so thought we'd check it out. We were going to walk there but it was pouring so no exercise for the day =P

We both wanted the Salmon Benedict - poached eggs, smoked salmon and hollandaise sauce on a bagel from the dine in only menu, which the waiter said came with a coffee. On the menu it said it was ~$13 and didn't say anything about a coffee, maybe because we were using the voucher we had to get a coffee too? Then he said the voucher was only up to $10 value o_Oa so in the end we paid ~$17 even though it was meant to be buy-1-get-1-free hmm..

My Chai Latte was pretty good though I'm not a pro coffee drinker =)

Yum! Looked delicious =) They didn't ask us what flavour bagel we wanted so we both got plain not that I would have minded. One of my poached eggs was perfectly soft yolk but the other one was overdone and wasn't runny enough =(

This was the good egg =)

Would have been nicer if they were more generous with the hollandaise sauce but overall was a very tasty dish. Bagel was quite dense so was difficult to cut but all bagels are like that so can't complain there.

Food~

5/10 - pretty good benedict, though all the breakfast dishes were the typical, would be nice if they had something special/unique like at Manchester Press with more choices.

Service~

3/5 - food came quite promptly

Atmosphere~

3/5 - quite a nice chilled cafe on Johnston Street =)

C.

xo

Brown Bagels

Brown Bagels

Shop 10, Equitable Place, 330 Collins St, Melbourne

(Ph) 9670 9114

Bagels with E! We had wanted to come to Brown Bagels last time when we went to Manchester Press but it doesn't open on weekends so finally got a chance to on this day =)

It's a little cafe in a little alley off Collins St run by Asians - with only 2 short communal tables. Mainly for people to get takeaway bagels and coffee. Everything is pre-cooked here apart from toasting up the bagels - all the meats are cooked already, so it's more like a sandwich cafe.

There's quite a large variety of bagels - sweet or savoury options and lots of different flavours =)

I went for the Chicken - chives, cream cheese, avocado, cucumber, spanish onion, tasty cheese, lettuce $8.50 with a Sesame bagel

So much stuff inside!

Definitely too big to put in my mouth but was super tasty in a freshly toasted bagel =) My favourite avocado and cream cheese in the one! I normally don't like chicken breast but the pieces were very tender and tasty. I like how the bagel is made up, like at Jungle Juice Bar, unlike at Manchester Press where they treat the bagel like a piece of toast.

E went for a Salami - basil pesto, cream cheese, fetta, sundried tomato, lettuce $8.50 with a Rye bagel

So much stuff inside that it won't stand up anymore! =P I guess these bagels are more like lunch bagels as opposed to the ones at Manchester Press which are more breakfast like - but all very yummo =)

Food~
7/10 - quite tasty, but come here more for lunch not for breakfast!


Atmosphere~
2/5 - most people came for takeaway bagels so the lack of seats wasn't much of a problem

Service~
3/5 - waiter brought us water without asking =)

C.
xo

Manchester Press

Manchester Press

8 Rankins Lane, Melbourne

(Ph) 9600 4054

E loves bagels so we wanted to find another bagel place to brunch at =) Last time we went to Jungle Juice Bar which was quite a nice experience. I searched online and came across Manchester Press - apparently the bagels are delicious and they have very cool coffee art here! =)

It's very hidden in a little lane - lucky we had the GPS's on our phone to direct us =) Even once you get to the lane, there isn't really any big sign for it - all it has is this "MP" sign... secret goodness =)

We got here at 11am on a weekday - there were a few tables filled, but gradually got full as we sat. Very interesting decor with a massive bowling pin at the corner =P

The menu is all Dymo labelled - looks pretty cool but kinda hard to read and some of the letters had come off =P like hot chocolate became "ho cho" lol - but you get the general gist of it =)

We ordered our coffees first - E got a cappucino and I got a latte. The barista behind the counter working hard drawing faces =)

How AWESOME is the coffee art! I'm so amazed I don't understand how they draw it in separate strokes like that?! And the chocolate powder just at the sides without covering the face?!

Looks so cool we really didn't want to drink it! AMAZING =)

 I got the Soft Egg Bagel with Salmon or Avocado $12 - I got salmon. You get a choice of Poppy Seed, Plain, Sesame Seed and Wholemeal - I got Poppy Seed =)

I made a bit of a mess breaking my soft boiled egg and cutting the bagel. The bagel actually felt a little bit empty - like it was missing some sauce/liquid - cream cheese! The butter wasn't good enough =P The bagel was quite good but I think I would have liked the Salmon, Dill Cream Cheese, Capers one more. The egg was just right - soft boiled =)

E ordered the Chorizo, Cheese, Capsicum, Tomato, Tomato Chutney $12

Lots of goodies! Think I would have liked this more than mine actually with all the melted cheese =P

Food~
7/10 - awesome coffee art! bagels are good - would love to come try the other ones!

Atmosphere~
3/5 - love these Melbournian cafes!

Service~
4/5 - very good, we sat for 2+ hours and didn't get shooed out of the cafe =)

Definitely will be back!

C.
xo



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Came back here a few months ago for more wonderful coffee art and delicious bagels =)

So talented!

Look they have proper menu's on paper now instead of the Dymo tape! =P

I got the Baked egg scramble with salmon, fetta, cherry tomatoes and dill $16

Yummy goodness! I'm used to having poached eggs in baked eggs but I liked how this was scrambled eggs but still a bit raw so it was very creamy and delicious! The salmon were bits of salmon meat instead of smoked salmon so was a nice alternative =)

P got the 12 hour roasted pulled pork with lettuce, BBQ sauce and homemade appleslaw $14 with poppyseed bagel

This was also very good,  the pulled pork was delightful - tender, sweet and juicy and just delicious =) Definitely recommend this dish - seems like their new menu is much better than their previous one! I wonder how often they change the menu?

Jungle Juice Bar

Jungle Juice Bar

20 Centre Place, Melbourne

Ph 9639 8779

I hadn't seen E for ages so we decided to go brunch on the only day we have off together - Sunday. To relive our memories of New York, we decided to get bagels =) She found this place through food review - a hidden away cafe specialising in bagels!

Took us forever to find the cafe, we were looking along Degraves Place at all the little cafes there - eventually we found it sort of hidden away at the end of the strip of cafes.

The waiter gave us 2 Disney story books and we looked at him funnily before realising the menu is inside!

The Menus!

How cute =)

I ordered a BALT (bacon avocado lettuce tomato) bagel - $10

BALT Bagel

So crunchy and full of stuff - I was so stuffed after finishing it! Very much reminded me of New York =)

E ordered a bagel with chorizo sausages inside and she said it was super tasty too! Though her cappuccino wasn't very good but oh well - the bagels were well worth it!

7.5/10

C.
xo