BREAKFAST BELL

A breakfast catch up last weekend with Karks and Linda had us wasting way too much time on a choice of venue. Eventually we all agreed on "a place on the river" and I suggested the Bellhouse Cafe in South Perth. I'd heard and read mixed reports about the place so I wasn't sure if we had made a good choice, but hey why not give it a go.

In the interest of full disclosure, back in my days as a chef I worked for the group that still owns this place, that was over 15 years ago though so I'm no longer affiliated.

We hadn't booked and after a quick glance at the bookings book the girl who greeted us at the door showed us to a great table by the front window, we were overlooking the ferry, the boat moored at the jetty and the city. Oh and yeah we were on the river.

The breakfast menu is very small at the Bellhouse but that's not usually a problem with breakfast is it? We had a gluten and dairy free one amongst us so a few requests for changes were made. Nothing major, just swap this for that please. After the initial "hmmm I'll just check with the chef" all was fine. The food probably took about 10 - 15 minutes longer than it should have to come out but we were engrossed in chat so it wasn't a biggie. For the most part the meals were fine, sadly the fried eggs Karks ordered had obviously been left sitting under a warming lamp, as the yolks had formed into an almost plastic like consistency. There's really no excuse for that, frying two eggs to go out with the rest should be easy as hell for any good chef. God knows how many times I had to do it.

All up the Bellhouse is an okay spot for breakfast, the service was attentive, the decor is a bit dated (could I suggest somebody refresh the dried pasta and the coffee bean display windows in the centre counter) the food mostly fine and the prices no different to most places in Perth. But fine isn't really good enough these days is it. The breakfast market is now big business amongst Perth's booming cafe trade. So I think I'll leave the Bell House to the locals and the tourists.

5 stale pasta shells out of 10

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