Can you Fandango?

Have you ever sat down with a friend and chatted for what seemed like just minutes yet you are both shocked by how much time has past when you look at your watches?  I love those kinds of catch-ups and I’m thankful for the friends that I can have those with :).

After a recent comment on the first food date I had with my Cannon 550D, I was reminded of the time I had the pleasure of Ms. MoreBlindDates’ company.  We met more recently over an orange juice and coffee at 330 Briks, but I’ve had the photos from our visit to Auction Rooms’ lesser known neighbour, Fandango, sitting in my Lightroom catalogue for way too long…

It was a cold wintery day in Melbourne post-exams and Ms MoreBlindDates had chosen Fandango for our catch-up spot.  I’d never heard of Fandango before but had been warned to get there early…

Fandango is the unassuming cafe next to the Salon and just one shop down from Auction Rooms (the blue building on the right):

I was a bit late for our scheduled 9am breakfast but I’m glad Ms. MoreBlindDates got there first as the tables were mostly taken when I walked in.  ‘Fandango’ is the name of a lively Spanish couples dance (so says Wiki) so perhaps that’s why the cafe was made up of mainly tables for two (about 4) and one larger table for four.  We sat closest to the bar on the communal table (and I’m not sure why I felt I needed to tell you that…).

Anyway,  we placed our breakfast orders and as I was going through my chai tea phase, I ordered one while Ms. MoreBlindDates ordered a latte(?)… In the past, I’ve had my chai tea either takeaway or in a glass cup (as in Seven Seeds) so imagine my surprise when the waitress put this in front of me:

I had to double-check she’d heard my order right but had secretly fallen in love with the little teapot cover already (I enjoyed drizzling some honey each time I refilled my cup as well)!

Soon enough our hearty breakfast came:

I had done a bit of research on Urbanspoon beforehand and many had recommended the Beetroot Feta Eggs (can’t remember the price, sorry!) so I knew I just had to try it!  Firstly, the colour of the beetroot was just beautiful!  It made me happy just looking at it :D.  The beetroot feta combination was great and the eggs were poached perfectly.  The spinach and sourdough bread matched well but the winner by far was the extra pot of mushrooms that I ordered alongside:

SOOOOOOO good!  When I first bit into one, the juices just exploded in my mouth and I must have made such a fuss about it that Ms. MoreBlindDates grabbed one and had the same (well almost) reaction!  It was kind of sweet too but not in the sugary kind of way… just the natural flavours with the slight charring on the grill. Definitely get the mushrooms if you visit!

Ms. MoreBlindDates ordered the French Toast:

She declared it pretty good and I liked it too after I stole a bite (when I wasn’t scoffing down the mushrooms!).  If I recall correctly, I think she thought the bacon was a bit crisper than she normally liked it but the toast itself and the apple accompaniment were very yummy!

The staff are very friendly and there’s a nice ambience to the place :).  Definitely get there early or you may be waiting a while for a seat.

♥ Ames

P.S. I just wanted to say welcome to a couple of new readers who subscribed over the last few days – WELCOME!  It’s always a good feeling to know that people actually enjoy your posts enough to click ‘Follow’ and ‘Like’ and I’m also humbled to have just come to the realisation that I was listed as a food blog on where’s the beef? after I got a few clicks from there recently!  This is not strictly a food blog but I do write often about food since most family and friend gatherings involve sitting around a table of good food hehe – SO, a big shout out of thanks to the guys at where’s the beef? and The Hungry Excavator for adding me to their list :).

Review: Auction Rooms

This has been in the works for a very, very, very long time. But the glorious sunshine today reminded me of this so I thought it was time that this draft evolved into a post so… here it goes!

Note: This visit was made a few months ago so I’m mostly working off the impression that I’ve been left with since then.

I finally made it to Auction Rooms. It’s been on my wishlist for a long while – ever since a Perthie went there during her whirlwind Melb trip and I vowed I would have to go there one day. And 6 months later, after getting unnecessarily lost walking from Swanston St to Errol St with the BFF, we found ourselves seated and eager to see what was on offer.

Though being known for it’s coffee, the afternoon warmth had taken the curiosity out of me so I stuck with water whilst the BFF went for a refreshing apple juice (which you can just see in the right top corner). Btw, I should just mention that this was the first time I’d taken my new DSLR for a spin so I was still getting used to manual focus and all the other things you need to think about when you aren’t using a point-and-shoot.

Following a peruse of the menu, we placed our orders and caught up what had been going on in our lives as girlfriends do :). The food came swiftly (or maybe we were just so engrossed in our conversation that time just flew)…

I love how breakfast is served until 2pm and evidently the BFF did too since she happily order French Toast (again, apologies for out-of-focusness!). I remember her saying it was a bit sweeter than expected, but was a good food experience (her first time of Cafe-style French Toast).

Now I can’t remember the name of what I had but hopefully the photo can help you work out what it was:

Looks like it was a poached egg, salmon, green salad and a fritter of some sort underneath it all. I remember the taste of everything being well balance and the egg being poached just right… lol, sorry for not being very descriptive – as much as I love my food, all I can really remember was a lovely warm, Winter day with awesome company in a quaint cafe that I look forward to visiting again… you should go too!

♥ Ames