Food: Cafe Harvest (Bonnyrigg Garden Centre), Bonnyrigg

Before dining here, I've already heard lots about it by word of mouth. Now, as a Commerce student having studied the basics of Marketing, I know this is one of the best avenues of building a solid reputation. My sister even told me that Cafe Harvest was "really good". As you can imagine, I had great expectations and was anticipating to be wow-ed. Much to my disappointment, the cafe lacked any wow factor. I can only ascribed this place as over-hyped. 

The cafe is relatively close to where I live and it is one of the very few breakfast places and cafes that exist in the area. It's actually inside a garden centre which differentiates it from every other cafe. It means a lot of decor and greenery around which you can purchase. It also seconds a great post-eating activity. Notably, they have so many different variations of sand and dirt that I didn't know existed. My friends was equally as fascinated as I was. Haha, the employees kept looking at us, probably thinking "what are these five girls doing looking at the sand?" But in all honesty, I think I left ever so more educated and knowledgeable on plants and dirt. 

Menu-wise, there is solid selection of breakfast foods and lunch foods and have all the standard drinks. A neat thing is that you are able to design your own juice/smoothie if you wish to. The food range from a moderate $5 to $21. The perk about this place is that breakfast is served all day, so if you miss the Maccas 10am breakfast, here is your plan B. In my book, breakfast foods can be eaten at any time of the day. I mean, c'mon, cereal for dinner, who can say no?

I opted for fresh orange juice over bottled orange juice. Ok, assumed that the orange juice was going to be squeezed, not put through a blender. And for $6.50, I wasn't too pleased. Yeah, it looks cool in the mason jar type mug and its orange slice decor. I hate the taste of juice from juicers. It gives it a slightly metallic, oxidised taste. This is just a nitpicky preference of mine. But hey, at least it didn't have pulp (if you're the type that likes pulp, I will never understand you)

I went for the eggs benedict because I read some reviews about the cafe before my visit. I do my homework. I read that they had the best hollandaise sauce and I wanted to try it myself. Right, I'm no judge in the hollandaise sauce department, having only had it once, but I must agree that it was of good consistency and balanced flavour. The overall dish, though, wasn't up to par. They overdid it with the spinach. I would have preferred less spinach. But even so, the muffin was stale and hard to slice through. I will give them props though for not over cooking the egg which was perfectly oozing a bright orange yolk.

I also tried the rump steak sandwich. The rump was tough to cut and chew suggesting it wasn't the best quality meat. The caramelised onion overpowered the rump and made the sandwich on the sweeter side. If you are expecting a hearty meat sandwich, I would not recommend going for this option. And like the eggs benedict, the bread was on the stale side. Despite all this, I will credit them for having nicely seasoned and cooked perfectly crisp chips.

Fresh Orange Juice
6.5

Eggs benedict; w/sauteed spinach, poached eggs and house made hollandaise sauce on an english muffin w/ham (can get salmon for extra $2.50)
16

Yearling rump steak sandwich; rocket, tomato, caramelised onion and aioli w/fries
19

After my disappointing meal, I walked around the centre with my friends. They have a gorgeous glasshouse that is up for hire. It would be fabulous for an intimate, small affair. I'm guessing that it would only cater for a maximum of 20. The glasshouse does feature a chandelier and is surrounded by lush greenery.

In my opinion, after all that hype surround the cafe, it really didn't meet my expectations. For the quality of food I received there, I wouldn't say it was worth the price. Even so, I wouldn't dismiss the cafe entirely and do recommend a visit, perhaps it was a stroke of bad luck for me. It does hold a high rating on urbanspoon currently. Let me know about your experience at this cafe if you do happen to dine there!

- Helen