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Facebook can be 'some kind of wonderful', sometimes. Thanks to an article posted by my friend, I was able to discover the current trending caffeine that has been causing a bit of a frenzy in the media. They've been featured in the
Herald Sun and have even reached international heights with a mention in the
Daily Mail - UK.
Too Many Chiefs cafe at
305 Bay St, Brighton (03) 9596 9587 piqued my interest with their 'rainbow lattes' and I couldn't wait another day to check it out. If you're heading out their way for the experience, make note of their winter operating hours (according to their website) as they close as early as 2pm on Monday and Tuesday and 3pm on the weekends; with Wed to Fri at 4pm.
Driving up Bay Street, it's situated just by the North Brighton train station train tracks and almost diagonally across from the Palace Brighton Bay cinema. The cafe has a service window facing the station and a couple of customers utilising the alleyway stopped at the window for some sustenance.
On the black painted brick wall are three works of graffiti/illustration art by a friend of owners and siblings, Blaire (far left in pic below) and Jayben.
Mitch Walder's colourful artwork brightens up an otherwise dull alleyway, and according to Blaire, they have intentions of having an arty vibe for the cafe with more artwork.
The cafe itself is simple with clean lines, its treasure lies in the form of friendly and efficient staff and delicious food. On the wall was the takeaway menu and lighter options if you so desire, including the controversial 'bone broth made famous or infamous (depending on how you look at it) by Australian chef Pete Evans.
Personally, I love bone broth as another food option, as it was the kind of food I was raised on as a child. Sucking out that beautiful marrow out of the hollow of the bone still holds delicious memories for me.
Wanting to try all the coffees, I requested half cups of coffee and I was happily accommodated as I wanted to try all four types. Served to me in babyccino cups, I had a lineup of Matcha Latte (green tea powder) two ways; one with and one without honey; Golden Latte (tumeric, cinnamon, and ginger spiced); Beetroot Latte (dehydrated beetroot), and a regular sized Rainbow Latte.
Seeing it all together made me smile and wonder how I was going to cope with it all.
I figured since I was drinking so many coffees, I might as well order something to eat, and got the prawn tacos with a spicy chard corn and cucumber salsa. The tacos was light and thin and the spicy salsa was amazing and surprisingly spicier than I thought it would be. Delicious! The salsa popped with flavour in my mouth, interjected by the soft cooling flesh of the prawn.
Initially I thought to myself there was not a lot of prawn in each taco, but come time to eating it, it was a perfect mouthful every time. My compliments to chief chef Dean Burrows (far right in pic above).
About those coffees; what did I think? The Matcha Latte is as you'd expect, tasted like the green tea powder it's made from, and with so many green tea products on the market, wasn't much of a surprise. After enjoying the plain one, the honey infused one was a bit sweet for me.
The tumeric, cinnamon and ginger based Golden Latte, for someone who cooks a lot of Asian food with tumeric on a regular basis, was 'par for the course' for me. It was like a latte with a dull taste of tumeric in the background and it would probably take a bit of getting used to for some. However, I'm told, due to the health properties of the tumeric, it's a favourite at
Too Many Chiefs.
The Rainbow Latte is a regular coffee with rainbow coloured swirls of food dye in the milk. My favourite was the beautiful pink Beetroot Latte which had a bit of natural sweetness to it. As a hot drink alternative to coffee, I'd happily include these healthier tasty versions every now and again. I can't promise to only have them because sometimes a girl just has to have her caffeine.
To find out more about how this phenomenon started, click on the
Herald Sun and
Daily Mail article links. For other delicious foods at
Too Many Chiefs, check out their menu on the
website. Their
Facebook page is a good place to start, to see pictures of the amazing food they serve up. I'm definitely going back to try out the
protein balls that started the ball rolling so to speak (see articles), and the
Quinoa Porridge, as it looks so pretty on the plate, in the picture.
