Cairns cafe takes beauty to next level with splash of tropical fruit
Food should excite and entertain you, says Caffiend owner Fern Campbell. She’s doing everything she can to make it happen.
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ONE dish stands above all others at Caffiend when it comes to pure beauty. The Tropical French Toast jumps off the plate and invites attention.
The textures, taste and colours have been described as a work of art. A magnum opus, no less. The TripAdvisor reviewer who described it thus is not far wrong.
“It’s probably our most photographed dish because it is very beautiful,” says Caffiend owner Fern Campbell.
Housemade banana bread layered up with caramelised banana, coconut gelati, coconut caramel sauce and toasted coconut, it’s a Caffiend favourite.
“It’s a mix of dried fruit and fresh fruit. We buy fresh seasonal fruit and dry it here.
“I think people do eat with their eyes firstly, so when the dish is in front of you, you are devouring it with your eyes. Then you go on to taste it and you want to make sure you have all the texture and crunch and taste and the balance of flavours, so that’s what we aim for.
“It’s definitely not coming off the menu for a long time. It started off as a special and that’s usually the case,” says Fern.
“A lot of our dishes start off as specials. The Miso Scrambled Eggs is now one of our favourites. It became a bit famous during the Australian Eggsellence Awards.
“That has become the most ordered dish at the moment, but it started off like the French Toast, as a special on the board. Then people just kept asking for it, so we had to put it on the menu.
“We keep an eye out for things like that. You know straight away when a favourite goes up on the specials board. People say can’t we keep this?
“The Reuben Sandwich is another example of that. We cook the brisket for about 18 hours and it’s on a toasted sandwich with a Russian sauce. It’s based on a New York deli sandwich.”
Caffiend’s signature dish is the Chilli Eggs – two poached eggs with housemade chilli jam and pickled cucumber slaw on sourdough.
“It’s really about the chilli jam we make here. We cook that down over three days. It is quite a hot dish, but it’s just tasty.
“We love playing around with food. It should be entertaining,” Fern says.
“Food should bring people together and excite you and entertain you. People like to see something a bit more creative and dishes from different parts of the world.”
Fern says her team of chefs keep the menu fairly seasonal.
“There’s always something different on the board. Dishes change with the seasons and we try to source local produce wherever possible. The produce isn’t coming as far, so it’s much better and you’re supporting the local community at the same time.
“In turn, they support you. Marsh’s butchers come here every weekend for breakfast and our local baker brings his family in on the weekend.
“It’s important in business to create that nice community and support other locals. I do that as well when I’m dining out.”
Caffiend, 72 Grafton St, is open 7am-3pm Monday-Saturday and 8am-2pm Sunday. Ph: 4051 5522.
Originally published as Cairns cafe takes beauty to next level with splash of tropical fruit
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