The Grounds of Alexandria @ Alexandria

Finally, my first trip to The Grounds of Alexandria! I have been wanting to try the Grounds for a very long time, but just never got around to it. When half my family decided to go overseas, I thought as a last outing we would go eat breakfast together, and what a great idea that was! 

My lovely mocha

Smoked ham hock with crushed peas, parmesan and 

house preserved lemon on sour dough with poached eggs

The ham hock is roasted for 6 hours before being served. It had a wonderful taste with a mix of salty and sweet. This was a simple breakfast with great flavours. The peas and lemon help balance the the semi-salty ham.

Pancakes with fresh ricotta, plum compote served with toasted pecans

These could possibly be the best pancakes I have ever tried. The pancakes were big and fluffy with a lovely touch of cinnamon. Crunchy toasted peacans with fresh ricotta and plum is a match made in heaven. There was no flaw to this dish, it was amazing!!

Grounds breakfast board - ham, avocado, fresh tomato, persian feta, two poached eggs, house made pesto and toasted sour dough

The breakfast board is a simple array of breakfast options. For the price, we all thought it was pretty ordinary. However, they do provide fresh ingredients, but if you want a big oily breakfast, may be not get the breakfast board and choose something else on their tasty menu.

Turkish style eggs - poached eggs in a rich tomato sauce with cannellini beans, spinach, pistachio labneh and sour dough bread. 

Sided with spicy lamb sausage and kipfler potatoes

The best of the best! I don't normally like anything that is similar to baked beans, but this dish was wonderful! The poached eggs were perfect, and probably the best poached eggs that I have ever cut through. This is a dish for a big hearty breakfast filled with flavour. I was extremely satisfied with this dish, I couldn't finish all the beans.

Another great part of The Grounds is their garden. They have a large garden area where you can enjoy your coffees, have a chat or just sit and think. The garden has a small play house for the kids, chickens and a pig (with an awesome name of Kevin Bacon). 

The Grounds of Alexandria is a hustle and bustle area of Alexandria where people gather for meetings or friendly catch ups. There are a lot of people stating they have to wait a long time for a table, so get there fast! We got there just before 10, so we were seated straight away. 

Good food, good times!

Pancake Parlour @ City Centre, ACT

The Pancake Parlour is a Melbourne based family restaurant, that has now expanded to Canberra. The Pancake Parlour has been around for decades. The restaurant sells a powder form of there buttermilk pancake (like a pancake shaker) at some Woolworths stores, but I have yet to try it and compare it to the actual parlour. The great part about this restaurant was that a majority of the seating was arranged in booths. I love restaurants with booths!

Cappuccino

Chocolate Strawberry Jubilee

Chocolate pancake with fresh strawberries, ice cream, whipped cream, chocolate flakes and chocolate sauce. This is any chocolate lovers delight.

Buttermilk pancakes with strawberries

Two pancakes, vanilla ice cream, fresh strawberries and strawberry sauce. A simple start to a great day.This is an ideal sweet breakfast, basic and can easily satisfy.

Potato pancake with salad

A potato based pancake topped with cheese, and some butter. This was an interesting dish. It didn't tickle my fancy, but my friend liked it. I did like the celery in the salad, but the salad was cut into very small pieces which made it difficult to eat.

The Pancake Parlour is very similar to Pancake on the Rocks. Personally, I find Pancakes on the Rocks to be nicer and more worth for the money. For example, Pancakes on the Rocks provides 2 chocolate pancakes instead of one, and it's cheaper. 

Good food, good times!