Splendour
festival is hard work, especially when you give yourself 3 hours to wake,
freshen up (so you don’t look like the zombie you woke up as) and roll up those
pesky sleeping bags before getting stuck in traffic back to Byron!
A
little birdie (a.k.a. local Byron gal) told us to hit up ‘The Eatery’ in our
cafe search because apparently ‘Cafe Byron’s’ coffees weren’t on point.
So what a better way to refuel – the place was a cafe + bar + bistro (wow slaying) but we were here for the lunch. Afterwards was the time to explore all the surfy stores, boutiques and arcades peppering Jonson St (and the surrounding streets).
So what a better way to refuel – the place was a cafe + bar + bistro (wow slaying) but we were here for the lunch. Afterwards was the time to explore all the surfy stores, boutiques and arcades peppering Jonson St (and the surrounding streets).
The
order was a slider plate of smoked salmon, bacon and chorizo ($15) and two
Coconut Chia Bowls ($11). I’m not one for sliders but the chorizo one was
rather good. I thought it would be punch-to-your-throat spicy but no! The
sausage was cut not too thick, the mayo was light and the thick grated carrot
was a nice change of texture (a little fresh crunch).
For
me, chia seeds need something special as they taste quite plane on their own.
Sweetened with maple syrup was a bit basic I thought and would have much rather
more stewed fruit and the sweet vanilla labneh to do that job. It was also
topped with this “Magic dust” as they called it which was a sweet version of
dukkah with goji berries. It wasn’t a stand out dish, even the dukkah was kind
of lost in the stewed fruit and quickly lost its crunch. I feel that Aboutlife
do better chia pudding (I’m sorry).
The
magic dust also graced the banana smoothie which I think properly tasted like
banana unlike other I’ve tried! No sneaky caramel flavour here!
So
this was where we chilled (with our luggage too) to watch Byron locals do their
thang listening to a really good singing busker across the road.
Sadly
one major flaw was the service time (like how fresh can you get with all the
elements of our dishes already premade). Even though we got seated and ordered
immediately, ours and another fellow splendour table took ages to come out like
the cookie monster ate our orders or something! L The staff were really lovely though but we were
so hungry we had to inquire after our order. How they didn’t manage to notice
two tables sitting around for ages - I don’t know.
Let’s
not end on this bad note, the place had the atmosphere that I was needing at
the time – lazy and quiet with bar tenders working softly away.
Three
Word Summary: Relaxing, Lively, Local
Ambience 4/5
Fare $$
Service 2/5
Foodwise 3/5
MVPD
Xoxo
Ambience 4/5
Fare $$
Service 2/5
Foodwise 3/5
MVPD
Xoxo
