Meridian Cafe — Restaurant in Marulan

I really enjoy breakfasts at this cafe. I usually stop in on my way from Sydney to Canberra and it's a great way to break the drive. This is not the place to order and have your plate arrive five or ten minutes later. There is a wait but it reassures me that everything is being cooked fresh and not just reheated. Usually I will allocate 45mins to stop here. They prepare a great country breakfast with perfectly scrambled, creamy eggs, excellent crispy bacon and mushrooms with balsamic (? or some secret ingredient!) and herbs. Saying all that, nothing beats the delicious sourdough bread! Unfortunately, they usually don't have any loaves available for sale by the time we get there but for our last trip a couple of weeks ago, we called ahead and the lovely manager kindly baked fresh sourdough loaves for my friend and myself. They had pretty much just come out of the oven when we arrived so that they had to be wrapped in paper when handed to us, they were still warm. The crust isn't too crusty and the bread is dense and chewy but not difficult to eat and lasted me a week as I worked through the loaf. I think I'll be ordering two loaves next time! Thank you...

This is a tricky one to review. I used to come here every time I drove down to Canberra. The food was good and I had a photo of my cat on the wall to admire. Unfortunately, the café has new owners and they’re piggybacking on the previous owners’ name, reviews and success. I decided to try it out for lunch and was immediately disappointed by the menu, which was small and uninteresting. I was told I couldn’t order anything off the breakfast menu, even though a large note at the top said it was served until 3pm (it was about 1pm at the time), so I ordered a toastie off the lunch menu. It was just okay. While I ate, I looked at the walls, where the new owners had turned the framed pet photos from the previous owners’ café into a rather tacky looking wallpaper sticker. I appreciate that they kept them, but my cat was missing. I know it wasn’t intentional, but it still stung. The woman working there at the time was very understanding and kind, but explained that there was nothing she could do. They’re not adding any new photos. Overall, it was a disappointing experience. The original Meridian Café was a special place....

I was travelling through Marulan today and needed lunch. The other cafe and bakery both closed at 3pm so I ended up here. At first I wasn’t sure about it as I thought it appeared to be like kind of a fish and chip shop/cafe. Anyway, great choice. I had an halloumi burger which came with very fresh salad and I think sweet chilli and I added bacon. The cheese was cooked perfectly and the roll was a very nice one and lightly toasted to perfection. The burger had been made with care, not just slapped together and had the perfect amount of all ingredients. You know sometimes you get a burger and it’s so big you can’t find a way to eat it and sometimes you feel like there is barely any real food on it and it’s laden with sauce. NOT THIS burger, it was perfect and the young girl serving me was super friendly and helpful as I was being a bit indecisive. Truthfully the photo doesn’t do it justice for how good...