BENT ESPRESSO

385 Centre Rd, Bentleigh - ph: (03) 9557 1339

I visited Bent Espresso with a girlfriend who lives close by. She had never been there before, but had heard good things about this cafe.

Bent Espresso is a tiny shop off the main shopping strip. There were no free tables when we arrived, so we ordered and sipped our coffees at the bench while we were waiting for one.

Latte ($3.60)

I really enjoyed my latte - fresh coffee and hot frothy milk.

My friend had her little bub on a trolley and the staff was very nice to help us accommodate it well.

We ordered:

Corn and chive fritters with guacamole and grilled mushrooms

Corn and chive fritters with poached egg, bacon and guacamole ($19.50)

I asked for the bacon to be replaced for mushrooms, which they brought on a separate plate for no extra charge (reasonable I guess, given how much this dish costs!).

Grilled mushrooms

The fritters were fine. Not great. Not bad. Nothing out of the ordinary. I thought there was too much batter and too little corn and couldn't really taste the chives. The egg was well cooked and the guacamole was probably the best part of this dish. Very fresh with lot's of lime juice.

Salmon and herbs scrambled eggs with spinach and goats cheese on a toasted bagel ($16)

My friend liked her dish. Like me, she didn't love it - thought it was just ok. The eggs were well cooked and covered with a generous slice of smoked salmon.

To satisfy our sweet tooth, we ordered a chocolate and raspberry brownie - by far the highlight of our brunch. You can see clearly see on the picture how gooey is was, almost like a fondant.

Chocolate and raspberry brownie ($4)

The raspberries added some zesty bitterness to the sweet chocolate and complemented it perfectly.

Overall, I enjoyed my meal at Bent Espresso and would come back if I were in the area. I thought the prices were a bit steep, but coffee was good and so was the brownie. Perhaps next time I'll skip breakfast and go straight to coffee and cake :)