11 December 2014

Axil Coffee Roaster

Review December 11, 2014 0

2014 is Miss XS's final year in Melbourne. As per her custom, she jammed the year's schedule with every well-regarded restaurant in town, just so she wouldn't "miss out on life". Axil Coffee Roaster has been on her wishlist for a while now. And as the year came to a close, we, along with some of our family, finally made plans to go.

Axil is famed for roasting and grinding its beans on site. We ordered Magic, one of Melbourne's secret specialty coffees, to start with. Their coffee was excellent, which came as no surprise with Axil's strong coffee reputation.

Axil also offers Barista training, for those who are interested. On our visit, there were also posters of upcoming complimentary sessions on coffee sampling and brewing techniques, so keep an eye out for those too if you're in the neighbourhood.

We had the Steak Burger. It was a decent burger, but I enjoyed the Ham hock with Cheese Croquettes (top right) much more.

Steak Burger

Ham hock with Cheese Croquette

On this point, their level of service is exquisite. The first poached egg on the Ham hock was perfect: soft and runny, but the second was overcooked. As a passing waitress asked us casually how our meal was going, Miss XS commented that the egg was overcooked. We had a similar experience dining at one of the more-established brunch place in Singapore, where the waitress simply shrugged and informed us "Yes, that's how poached eggs should be" with a condescending tone. So people from Singapore, you may want to sit down for this: the waitress apologized, and brought us another entire plate (even though we were almost through with ours) of her own accord. And afterwards, the manager dropped by our table and told us any more drinks that we'd like to order would be on the house. I was pretty sure my mouth was agape from the shock, which is a pretty uncharacteristic expression for me. Axil Coffee just single-handedly raised my personal bar on what good service entails.

The Spicy Baked Eggs with Dukkah was another dish that was rather good, though I'm not a baked eggs person and would rather down another portion of Ham hock instead. Which I did, as my table companions busied themselves with the Baked Eggs.

Miss XS also enjoyed the Zucchini, Corn and Haloumi Fritters with Poached Eggs, which received polarising reviews online. The mixed reviews were present even at our table: some of us loved it while others didn't.

The Red Velvet Pancakes with Black Sesame Ice Cream, served near the end of the meal, was unanimously decided to be the star of the meal. When the pancakes were served, a sudden flurry of spoon movement from Miss XS's side of the table told me I was missing out on something. With my first bite, this something was pretty incredible. It wasn't decided verbally as much as a deep silence at the table. Because, as we all know, it's rude to talk with our mouths full. And we wouldn't want to be rude.

The verdict:

There are some restaurants where the food is good, but their antagonistic service makes me hesitant to recommend friends to eat. (A restaurant in Springvale comes to mind, where I've never seen someone work so hard to not sell customers anything.) Axil combines the best of both world: delicious food and outstanding service. The coffee is top-notched, and we enjoyed several of their mains. The Red Velvet Pancakes is amazing, and is worth a trip there just for it. (Call ahead to check though, because it isn't available everyday.) Their service pushes the dining experience to a whole different level, and it's a safe recommendation for a meal to friends and out-of-town visitors.