FoodMeUpScotty: Breakfast Series

Monday, 15 September 2014

Breakfast Series - WickEd Cafe

All day breakfast..... It kind of has a luxurious feel about it. It's a bold statement saying 'you don't need to rush, you can just take your time'. I don't know about you, but I am a big fan of the all day breakfast, I love bacon and eggs on toast for lunch. It had been some time since I'd taken the time out to do breakfast at lunch, but it was something that I used to do quite often.

I'd been heading back to work after visiting my surgeon for a post shoulder operation check up and happened to be walking down Wickham Terrace on the Spring Hill / CBD border when I spied a sign announcing 'all day breakfast'. I'd actually walked past WickEd in Spring Hill heaps of times and had wondered what the little cafe at the bottom of Observatory Tower was like. It wasn't until I had walked completely past WickEd that it registered that the all day breakfast included chorizo, but once it did register, I found myself on auto pilot walking back up the street and into the cafe.

While I had never set foot in WickEd before, the name has always been a source of amusement for me, it's a pretty cool name, if not a little over used, but given the cafe is on the corner of Wickham Terrance and Edward Street, it kind of works. I was surprised by how little the cafe was inside, there was room for a counter and kitchen, as well as a few seats with most of the seating outside, under a huge sun umbrella.

I didn't really look too closely at the normal WickEd menu, I'm sure they did lunch as well as the all day breakfast but there was only one reason why I was inside. An all day breakfast wouldn't be the same for me without the inclusion of a smoothie and WickEd had a good little selection of smoothies. I've been partial to mango smoothies lately, so it was a mango smoothie that I ordered. It was really good! The smoothie had heaps of blended up chunks of real mango, which added a nice flavour to the smoothie, although it did cause some blockage problems with my straw!

Even when I am having breakfast at lunch, I have pretty simple tastes and the options on the WickEd menu were just about perfect. I'd ordered the scrambled eggs with chorizo and then added bacon, sautéed mushrooms and roasted tomatoes. I'll kick off with my perennial gripe about mushrooms, they really do need seasoning to be tasty and the WickEd mushrooms, although cooked well, needed some seasoning. It was the same issue with the tomatoes, they were cooked well, but just lacked seasoning and therefore a bit of flavour was lost.

On the flip side, the scrambled eggs were cooked well and were super tasty - even better though, they were covered in chorizo, which then left some of their flavour on the eggs and tasted even better! The chorizo surprised me a little, it was way better than I was expecting for the price and was well cooked with a decent caramelisation that really enhanced their flavour. There was plenty of bacon to go along with the chorizo and it was great too, cooked just the way I love it (not quite crispy).

It was quite a quick stop in for me, with the service being spot on for my visit. The team at WickEd had my smoothie out in short order and with my all day breakfast not far behind. It was a good thing too, I really had to get back to work, while it was awesome taking a little pit stop for lunch, I had a lot of catching up to do after being off work for so long.

I'll have to wander over to see if WickEd is open on the weekends. I really enjoyed my breakfast, which was actually pretty cheap and think it would be a good spot for a Sunday morning chorizo fix. There were some minor seasoning issues with the mushrooms and tomato, but they were still edible and well cooked. It was that chorizo fat dripping into the scrambled eggs that was the winner for me, the chorizo was wonderful too, but by soaking into the eggs I was able to get the best of both.

WickEd is right on the Spring Hill border, so it's not too far away for a visit if you work in the CBD. In fact, it's just a short walk up Edwards Street, so if you love chorizo like I do, get on in and treat yourself to an all day breakfast. If breakfast is a good way to start the day, then surely breakfast at lunch is an awesome way to keep it going!

@FoodMeUpScotty