Eating at Martin's

I went to Eating at Martin's, at the Tropicus Centre in Coconut Grove, to have a quick bite for lunch on Saturday. It's a vegetarian cafe open for breakfast and lunch.
The blueberry lassi is what prompted me to write about it. Blueberries, almonds and yoghurt all blended together. At the first sip of this smooth, purple drink there is a marvelous surprise, it has rosewater in it too! Delicious!
I had the raisin toast which was, well, raisin toast - what can you say? Although it did taste as though it had some dates in it too.
My friend had what is surely one of the cafe's best breakfast dishes, the quinoa (pron. kin-wa), as a porridge-style dish with cinnamon, poached pears, walnuts and coconut milk topped with yoghurt. Quinoa is a South American grain that is naturally high in protein and offers a fabulous change from all of the wheat that most folk eat every day.
The service was fast and friendly but a little confused at times.
You can sit at tables that are large and shared between patrons or at your own smaller table, there is also outdoor dining (should you wish to sit and sweat!). Dining inside can be a little chilly.

cafe central

I met a friend at cafe central on Rossiter Street, Rapid Creek, for a late and leisurely breakfast after staying up to watch the individual time trial stage of the Tour de France last night.

The service is always prompt and friendly and the coffee is always good. My friend had scrambled eggs, tomato and mushrooms while I had the omelette with chorizo, roasted capsicum and spinach.

I've had the vegetarian big breakfast there before and that was fantastic! Eggs, spinach, baked beans, tomato and mushrooms. They do nice wholemeal toast as well.

On this occasion, the roasted capsicum tasted like it came from a jar and the chorizo was soggy.
My friend's eggs were rubbery and the mushrooms were a bit old.

FOOD: okay (and the coffee's good)
SERVICE: good-very good
AMBIENCE: suburban streetside but shaded well
VALUE FOR MONEY: good

and I love that it's in the suburbs!

the show

A delicious surprise this morning was a beef satay at the Darwin Show.
The beef was tender and not overcooked and the marinade was really tasty, not too salty and a little bit sour.
$3.00 for as much meat as a small steak was good value too!
An extra point for serving it on baking paper so all of the juices didn't soak through.

food and service in Darwin

I think that Darwin's restaurants don't have a lot in the way of service unless you're dining at the high end of town - not good enough! I love dining out and I'm going to check out restaurants and other food places in Darwin and share my findings on both the food and the service!

I'll look at ambience, service quality, wine list, value for money and food quality.

I'd love any suggestions for places to check out and hearing about your experiences too!