Prospect Espresso

2A Prospect Hill Road, Camberwell Vic 3124
Date visited: 27th April 2014


I'm kicking myself as I write this us.  I had Prospect Espresso on my brunch list for weeks, I've said over and over I need to go and try the Buttermilk Pannacotta and finally, MerlinFan and I decided to head over there this morning.  

It was a kerfuffle in itself getting there - I had it all worked out, I would park in the parking lot on Station St and head over, but being unfamiliar with Camberwell, I had not foreseen some market event (or something along those lines, didn't have time to observe in too much detail) taking up the entire parking lot which was blocked off to traffic.  Superb.  After making several rounds around neighbouring parking lots and smaller streets, we had a stroke of luck and got a parking spot on the side of the road.  We walked down to Prospect Espresso (that's okay, we could use a bit of exercise) and good for us, there were some spots on the communal table, so we didn't have to wait to get a seat.

We were givens the menus, which I perused and discovered... noo... the buttermilk pannacotta was no longer on the menu!  Crushed.  If you follow my posts, you would know that yesterday we were just at Axil Coffee Roasters and the red velvet pancakes we went especially to try was also taken off their autumn menu.  Fair enough, Axil's menu was not provided online, but today I was a bit irked to be honest - I just checked Prospect Espresso's website this morning and the pannacotta was still listed on the breakfast menu.  Don't cafes update their websites anymore?  Twice in two days was like a sock in the gut.

Anyway, there were other nice sounding brunch fare on offer, so I had to get over that.

I had my usual Cappuccino and MerlinFan had her latte. Pretty coffee art and the coffees were good too.  

Cappuccino

Latte

MerlinFan had the Prospect Burger.

Prospect Burger $20

MerlinFan said this was an awesome burger.  She has always found cafe burgers lacklustre and lacking in something and the patty dry, making her think "why didn't I just go to Grill'd in the first place???"  This was not the case today.  The house minced Angus beef patty was juicy and flavoursome.  Topped off with folds of salty free range bacon, oozing melted cheese, and a good dollop of tomato sauce and mayo, the combination of flavours complemented one another well.  We didn't even mind the pickles reminiscent of Big Macs.  The chips were super crunchy and perfectly salted, went nicely with the aioli.  

I was craving eggs, so I chose the Panko Crumbed Eggs with spiced beans, goats cheese and chorizo.

Panko Crumbed Eggs $17.50 

Oozing yolk

It was beautifully presented and I poked my knife into the heart of one of the eggs and out spilled and gushed a flood of yolky goodness.  Both eggs were perfectly poached, coated with a thin layer of crispy panko crumbs and deep fried.  They sat atop a bed of mildly spiced beans, chorizo and islands of goats cheese.  I did enjoy this dish, but MerlinFan and I agreed the eggs could have used a tad of seasoning as the other flavours on the plate were also quite mild.  

Overall, we enjoyed the coffees and MerlinFan loved the Prospect Burger.  I'm not quite sure if the pannacotta is only a seasonal offering, but I saw, bizarrely enough, that they just regrammed a photo of it on their Instagram page tonight.  This I find extremely misleading for those like me who came all the way just to try it, considering it was no longer on the breakfast menu this morning.  What a puzzlement.



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