Golden Spoons Review: Café Amazon
(CNS Foodie): I will admit to having a soft spot for Café Amazon since it seems to be one of the few businesses on this island trying to make a difference by embracing the idea of a zero carbon footprint. They also say they source their ingredients locally and use organic coffees and teas. So when I found myself in George Town around lunchtime, feeling peckish, I thought it would be good to go visit again.
The café is quite tucked away and easy to miss on Elgin Avenue so you have to be looking for it. There is a small car park to the side of the café which I have, on the couple of occasions I have been there, had no problem being able to park in. They are open from 7:30am until 3:00pm and so it is possible to drop in and take away lunch for later consumption or use their bicycle delivery service.
I picked up my lunch partner and off we went, again with no problem parking. The café is clean and bright and the staff welcoming and knowledgeable about the menu. It being a café we ordered at the counter. There are more than adequate choices for lunch from freshly made salads to homemade soup or sandwiches. After a little bit of deliberation I settled upon a pesto chicken wrap ($7.95) – roast chicken with homemade pesto cream, pickled onions, cucumbers and carrots, organic mixed greens and homemade roasted garlic mayo. I was offered the organic chicken option, which costs the same but is a little smaller and was fine with me.
My lunch partner chose a pulled barbeque roast beef sandwich ($7.95), with homemade barbeque sauce, pickled onions, cucumbers and carrots, organic mixed greens and homemade roasted garlic mayo in a ciabatta roll. We both decided on a latte ($3.75 for 12oz or $4.50 for 16oz) because we knew the coffee here was good.
Pesto chicken wrap and pulled barbecue roast beef sandwich
There is a choice of seating – either a high bench and stalls looking out the front window or more conventional table and chairs. We prefer to watch the world go by and so sat at the high stalls, which were very comfortable. A small personal grumble was the television screen in the corner. I really do not like having televisions in eateries because I find it annoying when companions are distracted by them and I also find myself distracted. Fortunately, this one was muted but nevertheless I did find my eyes wandering that way a couple of times. I am supposing that it being a café, the morning clientele want to be up to date with the news but do feel it could be turned off after the early rush.
The coffee arrived quickly and was very good; it was served in paper cups, which I did not mind at all. The wrap and sandwich followed not long after. I understand that everything is freshly made so there might be some wait at busier times. Both dishes were presented in wicker bowls lined with paper and were served hot.
The pesto chicken was tightly packed but the paper around it seemed to have got itself caught up within the wrap, requiring a certain amount of unwrapping to remove it, resulting in the whole thing not holding together as well as it should have. Having said that, the filling was lovely – a creamy pesto sauce that actually tasted of pesto and small pieces of chicken that were perfectly tender and succulent. None of the flavours overpowered any of the others, which made for a perfectly balanced wrap and, in my case, a finger-licking good one.
My lunch partner thoroughly enjoyed his sandwich, too. The ciabatta was well toasted and gave a satisfying crunch. The pickles offset the beef well and there weren’t too many mixed greens to interfere with the overall taste. It was the right amount for a quick lunch.
In the interests of completing a rounded meal we decided to share a banana nut muffin ($2.50) for dessert, which was also very good, though perhaps a little too finely textured to really be called a muffin; it was more of a cake but it tasted great – not too sweet and the flavour of banana was predominant.
All in all, it was a great lunch. We left full but not overly so, feeling virtuous for having chosen the healthy option and ready to face an afternoon of work.
Category: Golden Spoons Review, Lunch
