East Row Cafe — Restaurant in District of Canberra Central

I chose East Row based on the reviews and arrived for breakfast at 8.30am on Saturday 11/2/23. The Cafe was at 30% capacity. I was greeted by a cheerful friendly staff member who made me feel very welcome and directed my to a seat at the window. The decor is hip and modern but still manages to pay homage to the period styling of the heritage building with its many beautiful arches. I ordered a flat white in a mug which arrived promptly. The coffee was weak and insipid with a slightly bitter after-taste lingering on the back of the pallet which was very dissapointing. I ordered poached eggs on sourdough toast with a side of grilled tomatoes. The presentation was nice however they placed the grilled tomatoes on the toast so the juices soaked into the toast making it soggy and inedible. The eggs and grilled tomatoes were cooked to perfection but the toast was warmed up bread not toast and as you can see from the images was so cold the soft butter couldn't even melt when spread on it. The joy of poached eggs on toast is the contrast between soft runny eggs and the crunch of the toast so getting luke warm bread instead was another dissapointment. Given so many people have rated the coffee so highly I thought mabe the mug was a bad choice so to be fair I ordered a regular flat white with an extra shot. The coffee arrived and I took a sip and it was a slightly stronger version of the first one. The coffee lacked depth and richness and that bitter after-taste was more pronounced which was just more dissapointing. If you are from Sydney, which is where I live, you will probably enjoy the coffee here but if you are from Melbourne I wouldn't recommend this venue. It is a little humid today and coffee beans are anhydrous so they have probably not adjusted the coffee grinder to compensate however I suspect the issue is with the coffee beans they are using. The coffee alone is 2 out of 5 but overall they deserve 3 out of 5. Just a few tweaks needed to go from good to great. I have zero connection to any coffee brands however if they were to get their hands on one of Melbourne's high end coffee brands such as Genovese, puely as an example, it would be a game changer for this venue. I genuinely hope this revue...

A while ago I saw someone post the photos from East Row and I was attracted, finally I got the chance to go to Canberra to get a closer look of Van Gogh, I know it is the right time to try East Row. The first impression is great, since the building is so different, and it is called Sydney building. So interesting. The café is giant and there are so many people there having brunch, which means it must be good. They serve good quality sparking water for free, but I have to say the coffee is not cheap($5 for medium). They have a separate menu for coffee, for milk based coffee you can choose from two different beans. Since I am trying to get rid of caffeine, I ordered decaf(I know it is weird to drink coffee without caffeine)so no chance to choose beans, but I have to say even the decaf taste so nice.(Is it only because I am on holiday and in good mood?) My hubby chose the milk based Hitman, he enjoyed it. For breakfast you have nine choices from the menu, two sweet ones (Açaí bow and French Toast) and all the others are savory, we have the Veggie Pot and the Pork Benedict. I love the presentation of the Veggie Pot, it is so cute. The two different of carrots and the asparagus are standing there in the pot. And it is the first time for me to eat purple cauliflower (though the taste is the same with normal one). I love the sweet potato hummus, it adds so much flavour to the pot, since the veggies are just cold and plain, I have to say.It would be better if the veggie can be served warm I think. My hubby finished his benedict really quickly, I just got a small bite of it, it is not bad. The is a great place for a coffee or brunch, the staff are really attentive and friendly. Also I can see the excitement from the people around me when they were waiting for their meals to come, which is really interesting to notice.But maybe next time when I come to Canberra I will try a new café to have a...

I haven’t been in Canberra for about a year but I thought I’d get brunch here at East Row because I remembered it being a really good cafe. Disappointingly while I was gone this place changed from ‘East Row Specialty Coffee’ to ‘East Row Cafe’. It’s important to note that name change because at first I didn’t really notice it until I read the menu and realised there was no separate coffee and food menu like before. I guess there has been a buy out or change in management. Not loving it. Here at midday on a Saturday and it was completely empty. What a shame for a place that once had great atmosphere and personalised service. I stood at the counter for a few minutes and was ignored until I had to call to the one of two servers present to take my order. I got charged a surcharge (?) even though I paid with cash. I ordered the salmon. It said it came with rocket salad and thyme roasted mushrooms. The salad was random and looked like it came from another dish, with corn, apple, pickled radish? No rocket in it. The lady who I assume is the owner saw me look confused and get up to check the menu and to her credit she came to my service to ask if everything was ok and I brought this concern of mine to attention. She simply said the salad had rocket in it. I didn’t see a leaf of it. I didn’t press any further. The mushrooms had no herbal depth that would suggest they were ‘thyme roasted’, just very salty and peppery. The salmon was cooked nicely and tasted fine, broccolini was fresh and crunchy, tomatoes were rich tasting but would have been better with more there. Overall it was fine. But I felt mislead and overcharged which is what stands out to me and necessitates an honest review. It’s difficult to live up to the legacy of a cafe let alone to try...