Over the weekend, we had a fairly loose plan to go to breakfast, that was if we got out bed in a timely manner. Because we didn't have any firm plans, I didn't do any research the night before for a breakfast but I did think that we would give Paddington a go. As it turned out, we were up early enough to cruise somewhere for a leisurely meal in one of our favourite suburbs before it got too busy and after a quick search on Urbanspoon, we were off to check out Hamptons Home Living.
A funny thing happened on the way though. SC was driving and went a totally strange route to Paddington from the CBD and we ended up at Waterworks Road and needing to cut down Enoggera Terrace. As we shot around the corner (like the car was on rails), we caught a blurry glimpse of a little cafe that we'd been meaning to check out for a long time. A quick look at each other and we knew that our plans for breakfast had changed and after a quick u-turn we were parked and heading off to Cockadoodle Cafe.
The little corner of Enoggera Terrace and Waterworks Road has been a cafe that we've wanted to check out for a very long time, in fact it could have been in the decade range. Cockadoodle Cafe is a relatively new tenant in the spot and for years and years it was a restaurant called Oliveto's, which was a little Modern Australian bistro. When we lived in the area, we always thought that there would be time to check out Oliveto's and continued to put it off until the next time. As is normally the case with these things, but the time we finally decided that 'tonight would be the night', it had closed down and we'd missed our chance forever. Bummer.
As we'd only ever driven past Cockadoodle (and Olivetto's before), we were intrigued to see what the little cafe would look like inside. The cafe occupies a little Red Hill style cottage, which is to say it's made of wood and has loads of charm. There is not a lot of space inside Cockadoodle, which is OK because there is a large inside/outside dining area off to the side that has a couple of humungous umbrellas covering the area. We were met by a very friendly waiter and invited to sit anywhere we wanted when we entered and I had to restrain myself from a smart aleck comment about wanting a table where someone else was (and the biggest table). I guess I was feeling a big juvenile for finally coming to check out the place.
After we were seated at a more appropriate table for two (and unoccupied), we were given a couple of menus on little clip boards that had the drinks, breakfast and lunch menus all clipped together. There was also a little extra menu that had the mornings specials, which looked kind of interesting. We started off with drinks though and after SC ordered her customary half strength latte I struggled through a selection of great looking smoothies, finally settling on Smoothie #3. SC's latte came out in a big cup and had a lovely heart shape and was really very good, with milk just the right temperature and well extracted coffee. My Smoothie #3 consisted of banana, milk and honey with my choice of ice cream (over yoghurt), which was nice sweet, with a lovely banana and honey flavour.
The menu at Cockadoodle is mostly traditional breakfast fare with just enough little twists to make it interesting, with french toast sitting comfortably next to savoury mince and wonderful waffles. SC has been having quite a few sweet breakfasts of late and decided it was time for something a little more eggy and went for the eggs benedict but chose avocado instead of ham or bacon. The eggs benne were lovely looking with a bright yellow hollandaise sauce that was exquisitely put together and just 'gooping' off the eggs at the right consistency. The poached eggs were perfectly cooked and runny enough to soak into the muffin. Adding the avocado instead of ham or bacon gave the benne a fresher look and this was reflected in the buttery flavour and texture of the avo. It was a great example of an eggs benedict.
Normally when I order off a breakfast menu, I have to get the eggs and then start adding extras to get the perfect mix. Not so at Cockadoodle, there was a big breakfast that had every component that I'd normally order straight up. I was pretty stoked and said as much to our waiter when he took my order! The big breakfast included the scrambled eggs, chorizo (yay), grilled tomato, mushroom, bacon and some lightly toasted sour dough. I've been really lucky with my scrambled eggs of late, I have been getting some beauties and the Cockadoodle scrambled eggs were wickedly good. In fact almost everything on the plate was superb, including the little details like slicing out the green bits at the end of the tomatoes that can sometimes be bitter, that is great attention to detail. I loved the chorizo and the bacon was cooked well and had had the perfect mix of fat to bacon. The only issue on the plate for me was the mushrooms, which had no seasoning at all and tasted quite bland. I've said it before and I'll say it again, mushrooms need seasoning to taste good and they need it bad.
One of the most memorable things about our breakfast was the amazing staff working at Cockadoodle, who were really friendly, happy and constantly had smiles on their faces. They seemed like they loved what they did and it really showed in the service and the breakfast that we received. It was fairly quiet when we first arrived (I never used to be an early riser) but as with lots of great breakfast spots around Brisbane, it started to fill up quite nicely by the time we were ready to leave.
The cafe itself had lots of interesting and colourful little nicknacks around the place and as you would think, with a name like Cockadoodle, there were lots of pictures and representations of roosters around the joint. I loved the feel of the cafe, which had a mix of the old Queenslander charm as well as a bit of a garden party feel in the patio area off to the side. Owner Rosie Brilliant has done, well, she's done a brilliant job with Cockadoodle after running another of our Paddington favourites, the Java Lounge on Latrobe.
Considering we ended up at the Cockadoodle Cafe and Espresso Bar because of an accident in our choice of route, I have to say it was fortuitous that we finally found our way to this little spot. After all, I would never have forgiven myself if another decade went by without checking the place out.
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| Lovely heart pattern from the latte |
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| Our breakfasts were lovely - we both really enjoyed them immensely |
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| Lots of colours and interesting knick knacks around the cafe |
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| It felt relaxed in the patio area |
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| Which was covered by massive umbrellas and enclosed for privacy |
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| Don't need to be invited twice - the food was delicious |
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| A little wooden rooster - they were all over the place |
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| That is one serious looking rooster! |
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| Out by 9am - sweet |
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| We must have driven by thousands of times before finally checking it out |
It was a good idea to stop there ... Hamptons, sadly, has closed down. Food was beautiful.
ReplyDeleteHi there Annieb25 :) Sorry to hear that Hamptons has closed, I never got there. I really enjoyed Cockadoodle and I'm glad you checked it out and loved it too :)
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