Cafe Bloom

This was ground zero for dad’s and my celebratory Father’s Day brunch. My dad had taken a client here earlier in the week and was impressed with the food; and given how it was his special day and all, his word was my… Eftpos card :) We were warned there would be a 20-​minute wait for the food, which was fine as the place was clearly busy. In the meantime I got a slice of ginger crunch, which was spicy, sweet, delicious, with a buttery, crumbly base. Also an iced mocha, which came blended, frappuccino-​style, which I’m always a fan of.
For breakfast-​proper, I ordered eggs bene — I always end up coming back to that dish, no matter what else is on the menu: it’s my weakness. When it came, the portion was generous, well presented, looked very appetizing. I wondered about the unusual paleness of the hollandaise. I was curious so I tried a bit on its own, and it turned out to be delicious: slightly different to ‘standard’ hollandaise, it seemed to me, but the better for it. Eggs were perfectly done, as was just about everything else about the dish. That hollandaise, though… I could write a haiku about it.
Dad’s salmon plate (don’t recall what exactly it was called) was simple, came on a bagel like my eggs bene, and also cream cheese, some kind of tomato relish, and capers a nice touch… though I had to draw dad’s attention to their presence on the plate, then explain to him what they are… which was tricky as come to think of it, I don’t really know. «Kind of similar to olives» was the best I could do. Once he overcame his momentary phobia, he loved the salty kick they lent the otherwise mild-​tasting by nature salmon… which was kind-​of disappointing as I was developing ideas about corrupting my eggs bene with them.
The place is a little ‘utilitarian’, not the poshest or most elegant of eateries… but pleasant enough, I liked the colour scheme and the comfortable seating with the couches running along one wall. The girl who served us was very friendly and polite.

Unassuming and tasteful. Blackboard and cabinet have the usual suspects. Had my eye on the lemon meringue pie. But the Bloom Big Breakfast took care of business.

Café Bloom is the new addition to the Milford shops and to me is like an independently owned version of Columbus Coffee. There’s plenty of cabinet food in the way of muffins, quiches, filo parcels and the like. The staff are friendly and efficient and the coffee is ok.
What’s particularly nice about this café is the floor to ceiling glass sliding doors that open up onto the street — what would have been a rather dark space is now light filled & breezy. Where I think they have missed the mark is with the décor. It’s all a bit nondescript — black plastic chairs, plasticky flower arrangements and plain walls with artwork that much too small.