Sunday, January 2, 2011

Dukes Coffee

There seems to be several food blogger rules I've come across. Some, lots of food bloggers do, such as, to never order the same thing as someone else on their table, which makes sense, who doesn't love eating more?

One thing I tend to try not to do myself, is if I re-visit a cafe or restaurant, I try not to order the same thing twice. Except sometimes you can't help it. Because it's amazing. I have a few places where I have pet favourites. Snow Pony for example, I go absolutely gaga over their mashed avocados and buttered thyme mushrooms over a thick crunchy, yet fluffy slab of toast with fetta. Think I've broken my rule 4 times over this sucker.

And now, I may have possibly found another rule breaker. Bad boys are so hard to resist.

Dukes Coffee, I have walked by countless amounts of times, with all intentions to go in, but often been daunted by how many people are in there. Rather than being attracted to a place because it is busy, I tend to be kind of turned off if it's overly crowded (which goes against what a lot of other people think...).

The first time I went was with Brad and well, I would have told you all about it, but my camera kind of died on me after I had taken it out on a little adventure to Werribee on a very wet day to try to watch a polo match. Yeah, the camera was hating on me just a little bit. Just a wee bit. Which rendered me quite sad. I ate the most adorable omelette I had ever seen.

So I was fortunate enough to make a return trip, not too long after, with the ever lovely Caryn (who I certainly don't see enough of).

And whilst my camera was working this time, I kind of forgot to take interior pictures as I was so preoccupied with girly gossip. Although check out Petit-Miamx's review for some interior shots!

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So rather than me telling you about the beautiful dark wood giving a dark but cosy feel, smell of coffee in the air (there was a coffee grinder out back), assortment of communal tables, bench seating and two tops, I can just skip that. Although it was deceptively a lot bigger on the inside than I anticipated.

I've heard from locals, those that live and those that work, that the coffee is highly rated. I thought Caryn's mocha looked just gorgeous, dark and chocolaty as it should. My chai latte was also gorgeous, I only moan slightly that the cup seems smaller than other places. I would possibly rate it as one of the best chai lattes I've had, literally velvety smooth milk and a lovely warming flavour.

So Caryn and I took our time to browse the menu with a couple of egg options, a few lunch options and some absolutely gorgeous sounding paninis (gluten free versions please?!). In between gossiping, and after much, much uhm-ing, I could not help but finally decide on going with what I had the last time. I enjoyed it far too much.

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A baked omelette. With zucchini and fetta (I think) inside and a very generous portion of delicious chorizo on top. And a heck of a lot of garnish. Which actually went really well. My mum later upon my description of the dish, just tells me it's like a frittata, which it is in essence I guess, but I was absolutely smitten with how circular and adorable round it was. And it just smelled delicious, and was. Perfectly cooked through, with small chunks of zucchini throughout and just hints of the cheese through it. I was quite impressed with how subtly the cheese was incorporated, not overwhelming, but definitely a presence.

Basically? I love this dish. Really. I am going to be heartbroken if it gets taken off.

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Caryn went with the eggs with avocado, hummus, harissa and candied bacon. Again, I loved the presentation, that green may look gooey to some, but I loved it. So bright! She easily cleaned the plate up!

It's a bit of a shame Dukes Coffee isn't closer to me, or I would be here absolutely all the time. Eating baked omelettes. No joke. And it's such a comfortable environment to be in, the staff I found were friendly but efficient and it felt like the place ran itself quite neatly.

Dukes Coffee
169 Chapel St
Windsor, 3181

Dukes Coffee on Urbanspoon

5 comments:

  1. No wonder you ordered the same dish twice, the baked omelette looks absolutely delicious! I also like the sound of Caryn's eggs - a nice twist on the regular poached eggs w avocado.
    Heidi xo

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  2. mm mmm mmmmm… I've not eaten Western food for 2 weeks!! This looks quite yummy now. :D

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  3. hum.. the poached eggs and avocado look divine

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  4. Michelle - For sure! I'm totally down with that. :) Are you still in Malaysia at the moment?

    Heidi - Haha, indeed! I just got all girly everytime I saw it, so cute. :)

    Bryan - Gosh, I would go crazy if I didn't have some break from Asian food!

    Thang - Don't they?! :) So much yum...

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