Place: Blue Train Cafe - Southgate

Date: 22 November 2009

Time: Lunch

Ambience: Inner city cafe with views over the Yarra river from enclosed balcony.

Staff: Ample and efficient.

Menu: Wide range of cafe food including pizzas, pasta, burgers, dips and other mains.

Also available a range of imported beers and wines.

Cost:

Small Plates (i.e. spring rolls, dips) between $9 and $20

Big Plates (i.e. Caesar Salad, Burger, beef salad, pastas) between $12 and $25

Express Lunch: $10 (Monday to Friday)

We Had:  1 x Eggs Benedict ($11.90), 1 x Chicken Caesar Salad ($17.90) and Vietnamese Spring Rolls ($11.90)

Total Cost: $41.70

Food:

Timeliness: 10 minutes.

Quantity: Spring rolls (10 small spring rolls) - Sufficient, Eggs Benedict - fine, and Caesar Salad - Small.

Presentation: Fine, but nor overwhelming.

Freshness: Spring rolls appeared to be out of a packet and egg on Caesar salad cold and without a runny yolk.

Taste: Nothing to write home about.

Comments:

To the Melrose Place generation the Blue Train Cafe was the place to eat and be seen, now some 16 years later would the Blue Train Cafe still hold up or like Melrose Place would it be showing its age and be something of a bygone era. In the 90s I spent many a Friday lunch at the Blue Train Cafe in Southgate and on a recent Saturday I ventured back. On first impression it was evident that little had changed in terms of decor and layout with the exception of the inclusion of large plasma/lcd tvs.

Staff were, as always, attentive and accommodating and quickly showed us to a table on the semi enclosed balcony overlooking the Yarra. As we scanned the extensive restaurant I was distracted by the fact that we were seated directly opposite a garbage bin, the tiled floor was extensively stained, the cutlery and water glasses had seen better days.

The food arrived promptly and being a big fan of a Chicken Caesar salad I was disappointed by the size of the serving and also the fact that the egg was extremely cold. The spring rolls also appeared to have been taken straight out of a packet. The Eggs Benedict on the other hand was well presented and of ample proportion.

Overall the Blue Train Cafe offered a basic dining experience and not the spectacular one that I remembered.