TYPICA Café Manuka — Restaurant in District of Canberra Central

Do not go if you are going to celebrate a Birthday! My friends and I went the other day for brunch to celebrate a birthday. When we did the booking we specify that we were going to bring along a Cake. On the day, we asked at the counter if they could put the cake in the fridge, the person who was there gave a look straight a away and then he asked, who we think it is the manager, to come. At the end an Asian lady give a look too and at the end they let us put the cake in their fridge. As we were very close to the counter we notice that the person on the counter (very tall and bold person whom had their nails painted in multiple colours) lacks of customer service, he was making faces everytime someone was asking something a bit different about the menu or specific requests. We ordered our food, which to be honest it was good. The uncomfortable moment was when we asked for the cake! We started putting the plates in one corner for the waitresses to pick it up, which they didn't do it, but not judgement there, it was quite busy. So we started bringing the plates away. When they brought the cake they gave it to us still in the box, they did not bring plates or cutlery for us, so one of us went to ask for plates and their answer was " you can't eat the cake here because we sell cakes", like are you serious? Do you do Tres Leches Cake? when we did the booking it was clear that it was a birthday celebration and that we were bringing cake and when we asked them to put the cake away they did not mention anything. At the end they were like okay, you can have your cake here as an exception. If they had mentioned we could not have the cake from the beginning we wouldn't have eaten there.

Anyway, again if you are going to celebrate a Birthday there and bring along a cake, DO NOT GO THERE. I'm sure there are other cafes that do not over react for a Cake.

Also this bold and tall person needs to remember that you are working with people, so perhaps you can leave at home a little bit of your attitude. I worked in hospitality too and I understand there are people with silly requests, but never give those...

Uninspired, unfriendly, and making mistakes.

This morning we visited Typica in Manuka. Not my usual but they have a nice terrace and always seems busy. What a mistake! I am normally not one to complain about hospitality because I know it can be hard a job, but this was my worst experience in a long time.

After we were seated our coffee orders were taken immediately, but the three coffees took almost half an hour. On an average Sunday, without it been extremely busy, I would say that is quite long.

On the food side of things. My order, a simple bacon and egg roll with a side slice of cheese, turned into avocado with toast with a very out of place looking bit of cheese. When I told the staff member that I didn’t order that, she checked and came back with her colleague who took the order. She told me that was what I ordered. Well no sorry it wasn’t. My bacon and egg roll finally came, but without the cheese. At least the roll tasted good!

My partner is coeliac and ordered eggs benedict with gf bread. Unfortunately he was told it was not possible to do the side of mushrooms gg. All right let’s go with bacon then. The dish that was brought out is the most uninspired thing I have ever seen. Two slice of gluten free bread, a whole heap of bacon, two poached eggs on the side and sauce also on the side. This is completely different from what was on the menu - and looked entirely different to our friend’s normal eggs benny. Are spinach and herbs not gluten free anymore? Why weren’t the eggs on the bread? Why was the sauce not on the eggs?

When it was time to pay we were of course charged for the extra side of cheese that never made the dish, and while driving home we realised we were overcharged significantly (probably for the avo dish, not the simple roll), but after our experience we weren’t surprised and weren’t going back.

Things go wrong, we understand that, but when it happens it makes a world of difference if the staff are at least friendly and deal with it without making you feeling bad. That is definitely not the case here.

I would not recommend going here. I will...

Typica is located along a beautiful pedestrian street in Manuka, Canberra. There are plenty of other cafes around the same street which makes a lovely and buzzy atmosphere. After browsing the menus at other cafes, we decided to try out TYPICA. The outdoor tables on a sunny day are lovely so we were more than happy to wait even though inside tables were available. The staff we interacted with were friendly and bubbly. To place an order you can either go up to order and pay at the counter, or you can place an order via QR code on the table. I did find the coffee menu a little confusing to try and understand, there wasnt a simple 'flat white' or 'cappuccino' so it was a bit of a gamble what I ordered. The biggest callout was the benedict breakfast. It was absolutely delicious. The beef brisket was delicious but what made this dish special was the panko coated milk bread. The bread was amazingly soft and fluffy on the inside, but the outside was golden and crunchy thanks to the panko crumb on the outside! I have never seen this before and would HIGHLY...