The Paddington cafe serving up the ultimate American indulgence
You’ll want your doctor on speed dial with this OTT, American-inspired breakfast that has become a hit with Brisbane diners.
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PRECARIOUSLY balanced like the pillars of Stonehenge, comes the maple waffle stack at popular Paddington cafe Chapter IV in Brisbane’s west.
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It features three waffles, American liquid cheese and ranch dressing spilling over their crisp exterior like a waterfall, a scattering of crunchy diced bacon, a saucer of sweet-salty bacon ice cream and two wafers of deep-fried, almost porky-tasting chicken skin. It’s the culinary equivalent of a multi-vehicle car accident on the Bruce Hwy, clogging all major arteries swiftly and without notice.
Despite its ingredients seemingly more incongruous than a political party showdown, the heavily American-influenced dish ($18.90) has become one of the most popular items on the cafe’s new menu.
While the ice cream is a little too sweet for my tastes and there could be a smidgen more liquid cheese and ranch for lubrication, it’s a flavour combination that actually works.
And those curled up sheets of chicken skin are as delicious as they are cardiovascular disease-inducing.
But this isn’t where the creativity at Chapter IV ends. The cafe is all about indulgent and out of the ordinary breakfasts, stretching from Singapore-style chilli crab eggs Benedict to a mezze board with lamb or dolmades. Classics like bacon and eggs are also available, while you can even get a bowl of seafood pasta or spaghetti and meatballs for breakfast.
Japanophiles should consider the okonomiyaki-inspired fritters ($18.90), chunky with cabbage and zigzagged with tonkatsu sauce and kewpie hiding beneath a tangle of snow pea tendrils, wakame and edamame vigorously dressed with yuzu vinaigrette.
The dish nudges on the cusp of being too oily, but smacks of flavour.
As well as the adventurous menu, bringing diners into the cafe is the spectacular view.
Located inside an old Queenslander cottage, there’s seating on the shaded footpath out by busy Latrobe Tce, inside among the cream VJ walls and hubbub of the coffee machine, or – the prime spot – on the back deck with an enviable vista across Brisbane’s southwestern suburbs.
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Campos provides the beans for the coffee, while there’s also milkshakes, thickshakes, organic tea and kombucha, and cold-pressed juices, such as the tart and refreshing Ruby Relaxer blending watermelon, pear, rhubarb, apple and lime.
With friendly and fast service, this is a cafe determined to stand out from the pack.
CHAPTER IV
180 Latrobe Tce, Paddington
3367 1285
Open daily 8am-3pm
VERDICT – Scores out of 5
Food 3.5
Service 3
Ambience 4
Value 4