Belle (cafe & micro roastery) — Restaurant in Christchurch

I believed Belle had the best Creamy Mushrooms in Christchurch, sadly not anymore after today’s visit. Photo 1. Shows how the dish used to be, delicious and like what one would expect for a “creamy mushroom” brunch. Photo 2. Shows what I was served today, best described as creamy mushroom soup with two poached eggs floating inside. I had no idea really how to best eat this as I had a knife and fork and really wanted the poached eggs on my toast, not losing my yolks to the “soup” which I did not fancy drinking. Photo 3. I did what I thought was best, fished everything out onto my plate, sadly lost the flavours of the pine nuts, and grated Parmesan in the soup. The cream soup was quite watery and there was alot of it. A lady sitting next to me said, is that soup (see photo 4). No I said, apparently creamy mushrooms. She said, not quite what you’d expect, I agreed. The service was great as was the coffee and the atmosphere. My partner loved his bacon and eggs,. I will be back, but sadly not for the creamy...

This looked like a perfect spot to stop, but we were slightly disappointed. As a cook myself and fussy with hygiene, I noted a couple of things that were in need of change. 1: we sat and watched as workers came in the entrance door and went behind the counter to start serving without washing their hands. 2: When wiping down the benches at the prep area, coffee machine they used the same cloth to wipe the bench as the steamer on the machine then placed it back on the bench. 3: the table we sat at was of a picnic style and had food trapped in the crevices. How long that had been there, but not...

Best toasted cheese rolls ever, and the Americano is great too. Have visited Belle several times now and they'd be hard to beat for friendly authentic service, tasty menu and cabinet food (try the soup of the day!). On another visit with friends I tried to work my way through a very generous and totally delicious brunch of creamy mushrooms on toast, topped with 2 poached eggs. My friend helped out here! Love the cafe's sunny location at the northern end of New Regent Street and the fabulous fitout. A geat spot to enjoy a coffee outdoors on a nice day. Currently my No.1 fav...