Hawker and Komodo go neck and neck. Review.

I am always pleased to see new venues and cafes opening up in the inner suburban area. It is a huge risk for the small business owner to open the doors and hope the people will come. I am even more pleased when it is successful, the balance of hospitality, environment and food reinforce the enjoyable experience. Dreams are realised and bills are payed, punters are happy so life goes on. Those punters take the chance on a venue offering an experience, but if it is sub standard and the food or hospitality were poor then return customers are no more. First impressions are crucial, and which small business owner keeps tabs on every customer? The good ones. If on a Sunday morning I propose to my hungry partner that we should enjoy acooked breakfast or early lunch, we simply disregard those venues which have not delivered to our expectations. Small business relies on repeat business unlike high traffic areas such as Gouger or Rundle: AGAIN, First impressions are crucial.

My experience of the Cafe Komodo has been limited to popping my head in and being intrigued by the quirky backyard look, it seems colourful and fun. The interior is a bit under cooked however, with restricted mobility around eclectic (year 5) secondhand tables and chairs. If the Cafe were chokkas I could understand the need for wall to garage door seating. Anywho... A menu that is concise utilises its resources to good effect, using same ingredients in some dishes. I ordered the Komodo plate, which is the big breakfast a staple in any cafe, it was delivered quickly and hot to boot. Which is ideal when the Saturday tabloid is on offer - "Got to concentrate...Concentrate!" The bread was aromatic and the eggs made sweeter with dill, a little sliced sausage made it worth the coin of $17? (The website is wrong, although ask for $13.90) I avoided poorly cooked bacon fat and got into the sweated mushrooms and tomatoes; "Quite adequate". I could have easily ordered my partners dish with very similar ingredients, but realised I made the right choice when I tasted the heavy dough of her pide` bread. It was under far too heavy and the dish lacked any quality to define it from the rest of the menu, most of which was left on the plate due to a wonderful mango smoothie wth honey - yum yum gimme some! All of that aside there was no shortage of hospitality and comfortable ambience, great tunes easing me into my Saturday morning. I am a hard task master, you would not let me coach your kids under 12 footy side for fear of muscle melt down but some things are easy - like breakfast.

Hawker St. Cafe is suffering from the same affliction as Komodo, but with a complete lack of communication. I will forgive a lot of sins for good coffee, and Hawker St. had great coffee - just spell out s-k-i-m milk cos' you get what your given. It is pretty slack of me to say see above in a food review but that is why I have put them together on the same page. They are equally as o..k as each other... in this onelegged sack race I think Komodo won with the old trick of sticking to the menu. Hawker St. promised ciabatta` (which I am still trying to tell the diff. from pide!) but delivered continental toast, promised wild rocket but delivered baby spinach; so obviously the cook for the day which honestly rotates with the rest of 'the gang' did not tell his brothers that "we are out of the nutty, spicy, green shit!" "And those little loaves of chiayawhatthe are all gone!" Big mistake...

It is like the first ever episode of "So you think you dance" - replace dance with cook. Fundamentals people! "You have no rythym, no flair, very little technique - and you have bad hair!"

People need to be told why there venues are underperforming, and why the bills are not being paid. If you think I am too acerbic on these fledgling venues, then seek out a good venue and note the consistency, quality and honesty. People who take such a big risk with their own money in a (food orientated) small business without proper focus on the food are pissing it into the wind! I hope they prove me wrong for their own sake.

Keep punting....Giles