Babble Cafe, Prahran
This morning I was feeling a teeny bit delicate. OK, I was hung over and hungry. I needed volume and I needed grease. So I scootered down the road to Babble Cafe, 4b Izett Street, Prahran, Tel +61 3 9510 6464, and feasted on a huge plate of scrambled eggs, bacon, mushrooms and hash browns. Grease is the word...
Even the mushies were nice and oily, with lots of flavour. The scrambles were good, and piled high, as was the crispy bacon. I would have preferred house-made hash browns, but the fresh-frozen mail-order patties had been deep-fried a perfect golden brown, so I wasn't about to complain.
It's a curious place, Babble. Perched on a back-street corner with a magnificent outlook across the Coles-Safeway carpark, it seems to attract a crowd of buffed, preened and yet slightly grungy 20-30-something couples. The sunny, street-side bar seats are especially popular with anyone looking to supplement their fake-tan. Don't forget the bugeye sunnies.
Inside, it's quite airy, with a faux-rock feature wall that gives the place a sort-of hunting lodge feel, minus the moose heads. With some excellent jazz in the CD player, the place had a great, laid-back feel.
Food-wise, you've got more options than a slug in a veggie patch. There's Eggs Benedict, Florentine or Royale; four different omelettes, including the "Baroness" with spinach, fetta, SDTs, chilli and olives, and the "House Frau" with sausage, salami, cheese, onion and mushroom; as well as the usual fried, poached or scrambled eggs plus extras. Then there's plain, fruit, blueberry or American pancakes; "Porridge Supreme" with dried fruits, fresh apple, banana and cinnamon; French fruit toast with marscapone cream, bananas, strawberries and maple syrup; and Babble's "almost" world famous low fat muffins... that I'd never heard of. I guess that's why they're almost famous.
With porridge starting at $6.50 and Benedict at $11, Babble is pretty good value. The Griffiths coffee was very good too.
15/20 "almost..."
Even the mushies were nice and oily, with lots of flavour. The scrambles were good, and piled high, as was the crispy bacon. I would have preferred house-made hash browns, but the fresh-frozen mail-order patties had been deep-fried a perfect golden brown, so I wasn't about to complain.
It's a curious place, Babble. Perched on a back-street corner with a magnificent outlook across the Coles-Safeway carpark, it seems to attract a crowd of buffed, preened and yet slightly grungy 20-30-something couples. The sunny, street-side bar seats are especially popular with anyone looking to supplement their fake-tan. Don't forget the bugeye sunnies.
Inside, it's quite airy, with a faux-rock feature wall that gives the place a sort-of hunting lodge feel, minus the moose heads. With some excellent jazz in the CD player, the place had a great, laid-back feel.
Food-wise, you've got more options than a slug in a veggie patch. There's Eggs Benedict, Florentine or Royale; four different omelettes, including the "Baroness" with spinach, fetta, SDTs, chilli and olives, and the "House Frau" with sausage, salami, cheese, onion and mushroom; as well as the usual fried, poached or scrambled eggs plus extras. Then there's plain, fruit, blueberry or American pancakes; "Porridge Supreme" with dried fruits, fresh apple, banana and cinnamon; French fruit toast with marscapone cream, bananas, strawberries and maple syrup; and Babble's "almost" world famous low fat muffins... that I'd never heard of. I guess that's why they're almost famous.
With porridge starting at $6.50 and Benedict at $11, Babble is pretty good value. The Griffiths coffee was very good too.
15/20 "almost..."
posted by Jamie Wodetzki at 7:21 pm
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8 Comments:
Ooh, Babble's awesome! I love that place. Great atmosphere on a sunny day.
Mmm... grease!
After a visit in Dec (2005), I'll never go back. The owner seems to hate children and was spectacularly rude to us. Truly appalling service - the owner's comments raised eyebrows from a number of tables. Our two children had not made a sound and were eating breakfast quietly when we were basically told we weren't welcome. Worst service I've ever received anywhere.
Agreed. Most of the locals that live/work within 2 blocks of Babble won't go there, and it's solely due to the pretentious and downright rude attitudes of the owner and staff. Steer clear. Unless of course you are a pretentious wanker yourself.
Head down to Red Orange on Commercial Road and get twice the breakfast for half the price, and none of the attitude.
The GREAT outside area doenst make up for the crap food and even worse service!
Terrible - took about 10 minutes for a staff member to bring us menus and about another 10 minutes to get their attention to order. Food took ages - I had porridge and my wife had an omelette. TOok about 40 minutes to get our food post order. Staff were rude and slow - food was average and would not recommend this place to my worst enemy.
Babble's cafe is not one would recomend with a clear concience although the breakfast we had was fine and value for money. The service is very poor not sure how this place manages to stay in business. Apart from the breakfast and might I add a fantastic Griffiths coffee there is nothing else to recomend about Babble's cafe.
Babble is probably one of the best cafe positions in Melbourne, unfortunately that does not always equate to the best food.
Locals do not go here, its a drawcard for the chapel st 'look at me crowd'!
There is a little place across the carpark in Cato Street called ICE, 10 years old, recent makeover and probably the best food in the area. Quality plus.. no attitude.
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