Lunch at The Music Kafe

The Music Kafe
http://www.themusickafe.com/

Marc and I spent a weekend trawling through his surrounding suburbs, checking out open houses. That can be a tiring activity. And also, very time-precise. We had one Saturday lined with inspections back to back every 1/2 hour. To squeeze a much-needed fuel stop in there was challenging, yet necessary.

We ended up along Boundary Street at an awkward hour where it was slightly too early for lunch and many places weren't open yet. The Music Kafe was open and had a menu that went beyond just breakfast so we stopped there. It was a boiling hot day and we took up one of the street-side tables.

I'd walked past The Music Kafe at night a few times in the past but was never interested in eating there because loud live music is something I detest when I'm trying to eat and socialize. During the day, that wasn't a problem.

Mango smoothie

The menu offers typical cafe fare with sandwiches, burgers, pizza and pasta dishes. I went for a salmon sandwich and Marc chose a beef and haloumi burger, plus a mango smoothie.

Smoked salmon sandwich - with avocado, rocket, capers, red onion, capers, feta and lemon dressing

I asked for my sandwich fresh because that's what I was in the mood for (it was REALLY hot that day) but I regretted it once I bit in because fresh turkish bread is really not that great. It's almost chalky and has this uncooked floury flavor.

Close-up of sandwich

The filling wasn't too bad in that the salad was fresh but the quantity of salmon could only be described as scant. I liked the zestiness though.

TMK burger - with beef pattie, haloumi cheese, rocket, tomato, caramelized onion and garlic mayo

Marc's burger was huge. He always pokes fun at me for using cutlery to eat burgers because he's of the opinion that burgers should be eaten like a burger. This burger got the better of him and when he realized it physically didn't fit in his mouth, he reluctantly pulled out the knife and fork.

Close-up of burger

He described the burger patty as 'just a regular patty' but commented that the bread was really yum. I tried some of the chips and thought they were great. Golden and crunchy.

I'd say The Music Kafe is fairly average for food. It's OK if you're after a bit of inexpensive sustenance but really, West End has so many eating establishments that I think it needs to offer more to generate repeat business.