I’m rockin’ the suburbs
I’m all about Glen Waverley at the moment - it’s my local ‘hood, so I’ve been hanging out close to home and seeing what it has to offer rather than spending too much time traipsing around the city. I figure, I spend my workdays there, I don’t really want to commute up to 3 hours (there and back) to spend my weekends there as well.
Near the shopping centre (mall) and cinema, there is a strip about 100 metres long that it packed with almost completely all hair salons and eateries. Does this make some sort of statement about the burbs? Perhaps, but I’ll leave that for another post. My point here is that we have choice. Sure, the choices are pretty ordinary (there are 3 Japanese restaurants of varying quality, more Chinese restaurants than I can count on my hands, 1 Korean restaurant, 1 Vietnamese restaurant, 6 cafes and 3 Western/European cuisine restaurants) but nonetheless they do exist.
My last experience at a restaurant in this area was a bit of a bloody disappointment (and that’s putting it nicely) so I’d avoided eating in the area again for awhile, but when I rushed off this morning to meet my dear Gauri for a bit of a shopping, my yet-to-be-fed belly kicked up quite a stink about being deprived of brekky so I ended up giving it a bit of a feed.
Poached eggs (on) toast at Mocha Joes
I met my darling lass at Mocha Joes (171 Coleman Pde , Glen Waverley), a place where I’ve only ever tried their OK chai tea and reheated wedges. However, the service has always been fairly decent and it always has a bit of a crowd so I figured that substantial food should be OK. After perusing the breakfast menu for a few minutes, I decided on the poached eggs on toast ($7) as a nice substantial breakfast that would give me plenty of energy for shoe shopping.
As soon as my plate arrived, the overwhelming smell of vinegar dealt a vicious right hook and knocked me right out of my chair. WHOA, whatta punch! Now, I can understand that a busy cafe might want to use vinegar to help make the egg-poaching process a bit easier, but if all you can smell is vinegar, wouldn’t this be a clue that they’d used too much??
“Oh well” I sighed, “It might just have been a strong vinegar, hopefully they’ll taste fine…”. I went to carefully balance one of the poached eggs on my fork to carefully transfer (what I thought would be) a delicate parcel of proteins, and realized that no care was needed as the entire thing was rubbery. Greeeeeeeeeeeeeeeat. I dejectedly dropped the egg back on my plate then picked up my toast to spread a little butter (which I wouldn’t usually use, but the egg was too well cooked to be able to use it as a semi-spread) and realized that my toast was as cold as death.
Okay, so I’m slightly exaggerating, but let’s just say that it was the same temperature as the icy wind which had me shivering in my boots.
Can you tell that so far I was unimpressed?
The inside of my poached egg - the yolk was almost completely cooked through!
The toast was cold, the butter mediocre, the eggs rubbery and overcooked - smelling AND tasting of vinegar. All I can say is that I ate out of hunger, with almost no enjoyment of the meal itself. SHAME ON YOU, MOCHA JOES! Just because we’re out in the suburbs is no excuse for providing such pitiful quality in your food.
Avoid this cafe unless you are absolutely desperate. If so, then order something difficult to mess up like a slice of raisin toast. Or, if you can be bothered getting up and walking down the street a little, go to Muddings Bakery & Cafe and get a breakfast toastie - it may not have as nice decor and lounging areas, but the quality of the food will easily make up for it.
Technorati Tags: mocha joes, glen waverley, cafes, eating out, review
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Comments
Ugh, how sad that they can screw up such a simple breakfast. I can only imagine what the other dishes are like.
hello !
yes, shame on mocha joe’s indeed.
my mum had one of your muffins and she says you should find a way to do something food-related for a living, because they’re the best muffins she’s ever tasted.
do it do it !
Lis - I think that being a bit of a home-cook has made me increasingly picky over the years. Gauri said that her bf had really enjoyed the poached eggs there, so it might just be my own sophisticated tastebuds 
I would normally have given them whatfor, but being extremely hungry I was kind of just glad to feed my tum 
Christine - Tell me about it! I’m yet to find a breakfast cafe that makes me happy in my area, but I will continue the hunt 
Gauri - Awww, tell her I’m glad she liked them 
I’d love to do something food-related as my work, but not sure how to go about it!
gosh, what a disappointment! tsk tsk, mocha joe’s must be related to that other disastrous restaurant (or at least have the same cooks?)! I hope you’ll be able to find something good soon!
Kat - Actually, I’ve just found out that Mocha Joe’s is owned by the same person as one of the better restaurants in my area, so I’ll have to go back there to eat and write a review to provide a comparison. I’ll definetely have a good meal at their second restaurant
Oh that’s too bad…
Too many places are basically boiling instead of poaching their eggs. For those of us who *like* runny yolks, it’s quite distressing…
j
Jasmine - Definetely a disappointment, the whole reason I get poached as opposed to scrambled or fried is for the runny yolk!
Barbara - I’m guessing that a lot of cafes would use vinegar as I doubt they’d get fresh eggs every morning, but being able to taste vinegar on your egg is definetely not the way to have breakfast!
hi ellie,
mocha joe’s no good for breaky dear. i prefer coco lounge. i’ve had breaky quite a few times there and at mocha joe’s but much prefer coco. perhaps that’s a reason why they’re always packed for breakfast on the weekend.
oh, one place you should NEVER go to for breakfast is shine. that place is worse than mochas.
umm i kinda feel sad to admit that i hang around gw quite a bit. Been to all the restaurants there except the new vietnamese and that chinese hot pot place. but hey, it’s close.. much closer than south yarra or the city.
Iling - Am definetely going to have brekkie at coco next time, isn’t it strange that the two are owned by the same people but are so different? And I’ve been to shine just once, I ordered a vegetarian pizza which had nothing but spinach and capsicum, haven’t been back there since!
The new Vietnamese place is meant to be pretty unspectacular, haven’t tried the new Chinese hot pot place. Apparantly there’s a new Korean place opening soon as well
i think coco’s go the better chef. that said, i’ve had dinner there once and the cous cous was dry azz. a bit of a hit and miss but breaky there has been very good to me so far
oh but the vietnamese place’s decor looks ok, i suppose you can judge the food by the decor lol i’ve been meaning to go there. let you know how it goes
where’s the new korean place?? i still haven’t gone to the other korean place near kfc. it’s been there a while now too.. but i saw the new korean grocery next to chemist warehouse! Now that I’ve gotta go to.
Iling - try the seafood pasta, it’s my favourite dinner dish and if you like spicy seafood, this will definetely awaken your tastebuds Stay away from the mediterranean antipasto platter though as almost everything is coated in oil and comes from a vaccum sealed package.
The decor looks great and every time I’ve walked past there it’s full of customers, but my sister went and said it’s very average compared to the city Vietnamese restaurants Apparantly that paint store has been sold and is being turned into a Korean restaurant - the one near the Win Sum grocery?
Four Seasons is a lot better than it used to be, the previous owners almost ran it into the ground but it changed management early this year and is doing a lot better It’s better to go during the lunch buffet though, as dinner is a bit of a rip-off 
Mocha Joe’s is a fantastic restaurant in which I frequent weekly. The food is always delish & my latte’s are consistently perfect! I have never let the pricey menu keep me from enjoying superior quality meals for Brekky, lunch or dinner. Mocha Joe’s is a great regular spot to intersect with people from any culture. Plus it boasts a fresh & funky vibe. Sounds like you caught them on a rare bad note. Give them another try and you will be pleasantly surprised.
My recommendation- Next time try the eggs benedict.
-Bryan (Mt Waverley)
Bryan - not being a coffee drinker I can’t speak for their latte-making skills, but my other local friends who have eaten there before also gave it the thumbs down in terms of both food and service. The ‘poached’ (BOILED) egg fiasco was indicative of a lack of care on their behalf - that day when I had breakfast, the restaurant was almost completely empty and yet they couldn’t take the time to decently poach an egg. I much prefer dining at Coco Lounge, which, though it is under the same ownership as Mocha’s, is (in my opinion) superior in both quality of service and food. But who knows - if one day I can’t get a seat at Cocos, I might just give Mocha’s another try after all.
I see now that I will be forced to travel down to Australia specifically to kick some restaurant owners’ asses!! Yikes but you have lots of unfortunate luck in your dining experiences.
I’m surprised you didn’t give them the whatfor.. or did you? 