Brunch Review: Urban Food, Acton

I had long wanted to try Urban Food in Acton, a cafe that also contains a grocery store and markets itself as a purveyor of fresh, organic fare.

The funky cafe / store:

Our meals:

 Urban's signature dish: the "Royale" - Smoked Salmon, Sautéed Baby Spinach, stacked with Two Potato, Dill & Spanish Onion Rosti’s, topped with a Poached Free Range Egg and finished with Creamy Lemon Vinaigrette (approx $22 on weekends)

Brioche French Toast with bacon and grilled banana (approx $19 on weekends)

Menu variety / creativity: 8.5/10. Lots of choice on the savoury front, and enough sweet options to please a sweet tooth as well. We had trouble choosing!

Taste:  7.5/10. It was good, but the Royale was not mind-blowing or taste-bud popping, which I would have expected given the fanfare (and price). My friend's french toast brioche was the same - she enjoyed it, but wasn't overly impressed.

Coffee: N/A. I had a chai latte. I know, sacrilege!

Setting / location: 7/10. A lovely casual setting with a chilled vibe. Plenty of natural light, however we were freezing cold inside on a not-even-that-cold autumn day.

Service: 7/10. You order and pay at the counter and food is brought out to you - this wasn't obvious until we had been sitting for a while and no one came to serve us. I didn't like how you don't get an itemised bill and you can't even see the cost of items when they type it into the cash register. When we worked out how much we had paid, we realised that either the coffees (which aren't on the menu or any blackboard) cost $5.50 each, or we were overcharged elsewhere. Service in general wasn't warm but at least it was timely.

Price: 6/10. A little more expensive than comparable cafes in Canberra and in the immediate area. The quality/taste of food didn't justify the extra expense in my opinion.

Verdict: I'd probably try another nearby cafe before returning, I wasn't blown away and it's an exxy breakfast (and too cold inside!)