FoodMetroManila

Named after a suburb of Sydney which may be akin to hipster Brooklyn in NYC, Potts Point Cafe prides itself with serving organic food and coffee. Australia is one of the countries that have led the third wave coffee boom and this cafe lives up to that by sourcing their Delano Coffee from AU. If you want to know more about this specialty grade coffee, you can check out their website. (Disclaimer: That link leads to Delano’s site not the Cafe’s)

The cafe itself strives to take up that same vibe as the place it was named after. Its pretty laid-back but has just the right touch of elegance. We went for dinner here just a few days before the New Year and while all other establishments were packed full of folks, Potts Point was pretty chill. With us was a foreign couple, a young Chinese-Filipino Family with a small baby, and one lady having some “me time”.

My only rip about the location is that Potts Point is almost directly across Eastwood’s jumbotron which throws all kinds of weird lighting to everything. It can also be bothersome to someone who just wants to relax and enjoy good coffee. This problem, though, only becomes pronounced by night time so one can still enjoy a good afternoon wind-down here.

For starters: Crumpets?!

They may look like english muffins but are more closely related to pancakes. They are not as soft though. Crumpets have a slightly stretchy consistency that provide more resistance than pancakes and more bite! They are served hot from the griddle and you spread that blackberry butter on them. Once you bite into that, it is heaven!

Crumpets are actually part of the all-day brekkie menu (I swear, they actually spell it out like that) and not a starter, but trust me this will work.

Organic Parmesan Crusted Chicken Schnitzel with Apple-Maple Bread Pudding with Gnocchi and Brown Sauce

Schnitzel is a popular German dish involving a boneless protein, tenderized, coated and fried. Gnocchi is a pasta variation where instead of noodles they look like small dumplings. The well known versions of Gnocchi are made with potato but I don’t think these ones are.

The Schnitzel was perfectly executed. It was golden brown and crisp outside while the meat was still juicy and tender. It was also properly seasoned and further accentuated by the earthy flavors of that mysterious brown sauce. The gnocchi was damned chewy and I have a feeling they are not freshly made. The Apple-Maple bread pudding in the bottom of all that gives the dish a hint of sweetness and a mushy texture that works well with the crunchy schnitzel and soft (chewy) gnocchi. If not for the gnocchi, this would have been a homerun.

Roast Australian Lamb with Bone Marrow Brown Rice and Demiglace

My girl had the Lamb with demiglace, a major sauce in French Cuisine, which was pretty lackluster dish overall despite its fancy name (and price tag). This was my first time tasting demiglace so I don’t really have anything to compare it to but this was pretty good. However, the lamb was so dry that we wished the entire dish was swimming in the demiglace!

Not only was the lamb dry, but it was also under seasoned. The two pieces of string bean as garnish didn’t look cleaned, were wilted, and just sad. The “bone marrow” brown rice was just the typical brown rice. Oh, that too is also pretty dry.

Dessert: Warm Caramel Walnut Pie with Vanilla Ice Cream; Butterscotch Budino with Salted Caramel and Diamond Sable Cookies

They were not kidding about this being a walnut pie. I mean it had a lot of walnuts! The crust was really hard to eat through though. The vanilla ice cream serving was a joke.

Serving diamond sable cookies (two exactly) with budino seem to be the norm or at least according to a quick google image search. The Italian version of custard was really sweet and the salted caramel really made this decadent. Don’t get me wrong, it terms of sweetness this was not overbearing. Its enjoyable decadence.

Ruminations…

Shameless Plugging: Potts Point Cafe was among FoodMetroManila’s Top Ten Coffee Places of 2014

As always this review was done anonymously without the cafe knowing that I was going to do a review about their place, food and service. The place I really liked, really cozy and laid-back amid all the craziness of the holiday season. The food was mostly good, though you have to pick carefully among the entrees especially since they are quite pricey. The service was absolutely good and we left a pretty good tip.

If ever you’re in the Eastwood mall, try this place out. You can have a hearty dinner or just enjoy a good cup while reading a book or this blog (wink). Oh, and be sure you get those crumpets and try that Budino. Apir!