After a false start at a café that didn't do table service (what's with that?), sculling a very nice banana smoothie during some house huting this morning, Mel and I finally settled down for breakfast on a heavily raining morning in Manly. To put this in context, we were both quite hungover from the Mars Lounge and a few other drinks later on in the evening (I got to bed at 530am, for an 8am start).

We found our table at 'Northern Bites' on Manly's South Styne beachfront by walking past a row of cafes and went to the one that smelt the nicest, I think we smelt some french toast. I wish one of us had ordered it but cést la vie. I hate to start a review so poorly, but there were so very few good things to say about our experience here, what was good had more to do with the scenery walking past to and from the surf carnival that was on that day. It took 20 minutes for someone to take our order and another 20 more minutes for my coffee to arrive which I'd finished by the time my food did and Mel's meal didn't arrive until after I'd finished eating mine. Appalling.

Of my big breakfast, everything was cold, except the baked beans (cutely serviced in an espresso cup), and some how, even though the food had been cold, the butter hadn't warmed up from being taken out of the fridge. The hash brown was from a packet and so was the bread. It's very disappointing because it still cost in the order of $17 when the cafés on the same block had similar meals with potato rosti, organic sourdough and organic lamb sausages... There really wasn't anything to say that stood out from that meal, I stopped eating half way through. Heck, they even just served slices of tomato instead of the grilled tomato everywhere else does.

Saturday morning breakfasts are meant to be a casual affair, but if it was any more casual I'd still be waiting. Again, I'm sorry to sound so negative about it, but the excuse were given about why Mel's eggs benedict being an hour was because the guy they went to Coles to *BUY* the hollandaise sauce hadn't come back yet. What cafe BUYS hollandaise sauce, and then admits it to their customers? Even though I got mine faster 15 minutes before Mel, my food was only just warm, to the point that the fat had started to congeal.

Food, 3/10 - their big breakfast had everything you'd expect, but the lowest quality possible
Service, 2/10 - only because two of the waiters were good looking, and one of them very obviously wasn't wearing underwear
Coffee, 5/10 - it arrived 20 minutes after I ordered but it was hot and good quality
Value, 1/10 - I'd only give a zero if they took my money and didn't feed me
Location, 8/10 - nothing you couldn't have gotten from anywhere else on the street

It's only saving grace was the coffee and location, but I am sure any other cafe on the beachfront in Manly could do better

Tags:Breakfast, Review, Awful, Manly, Eggs Benedict