Shady Palms Cafe

DJ Kez, Mr M and Big V went out with me to breakfast, a bit of an unusual mix because I've never gone out with these people before. It made this review a bit lacklustre to be honest, because I didn't feel comfortable enough to ask them for bits of their food. We all wanted to go out to breakfast and wanted something new, so I mentioned that I had heard rumours about a place called Shady Palms.

The rumours said that it was owned by the same people as Lady Marmalade just down the road, that it had great Pan-American food and nice decorations. Then I was put off because I told Liz., I was keen and she said the dinner she had there wasn't great. Then Mrs J., told me she absolutely loved going there since it was her local, but every place in that area seems to be her local. It wasn't so much a rumour because Mr M was raving about it and said he had already been there three times at the time we decided to go. So it was decided, Shady Palms it was!

Its very easy to spot

The interior is kooky cool. Think lots of mismatched furniture, stuffed animals, odd antiques and bright paintings

A very young beheaded stag, count the points

Their bar

The main eating area

Very comfy arm chairs

Their bar at the back

Larger group seatings

Another shot of their back bar

 After manically rushing around taking, hopefully, discrete photos, I ordered my meal and sat down. Here are pictures of their menu, they do have an online menu but it is hasn't been updated in a while.

Brekkie stuff

All day eating

Desserts!

 
I decided to go and get a milkshake just for a bit of a change, I originally though it was a crushed Oreo smoothie, but its actually a cherry, chocolate and crushed Oreo smoothie. I was initially hesitant but decided to go with it, that was a very good split second judgement on my behalf. This was the best milkshake I've had in a long time, smooth, creamy with a very distinctive Cherry Ripe flavour almost from the combination of cherry and chocolate, it was a little bit on the sweet side but it had a great foamy top as well as good presentation.

Absolutely delicious

We picked up some glasses and helped ourselves to some water. No idea whats going on down below in that picture, my glass was quite cloudy while DJ Kez's was crystal clear. There was no discernible change in taste but I was a little wary and stuck to my milkshake.

Add caption

I got the Full Shady, their version of a big breakfast with two poached eggs, Hollandaise sauce, cornbread, roasted field mushroom, roasted tomato, two cheese kransky sausages and maple cured bacon. The corn bread was the worst part of this entire breakfast, being immensely dry and quite floury in texture. The bacon was plentiful but could've been crunchier. The kransky were a bit fatty but still tasty. The eggs were good with a nice gooey centre, the hollandaise was creamy but a bit salty. All in all, not bad, but not great.

So shiny

Mr M ordered the sticky date, spiced pumpkin and ricotta pancakes with pecan praline ice cream. He absolutely smashed through this in seconds it felt like. He said that he had had some of his friend's serve the last time he had gone and had wanted to reorder it since then. His only complaint was that he could've eaten a lot more if there was any.

I have no idea what that fluffy stuff is

DJ Kez ordered the Veggy Shady, with poached eggs, hollandaise, corn salsa, haloumi, corn bread, mushrooms, avo smash, roasted tomato and she also ordered a side of bacon with it. She finished her off quickly as well, straight after I took the photo. She remarked that her cornbread was also quite dry and that it desperately needed the bacon to round out the flavours. The corn salsa was literally just corn kernels the day that we went, so I'm not sure what's going on there.

Bacon goes with everything

Big V actually came quite late to the party and so ate much later than the rest of us. For some reason, her food seemed to come out quite quickly compared to ours. She ordered brioche French toast with bacon, grilled banana, gingerbread ice cream and fairy floss. I had a nibble of the ice cream and I wasn't enthralled, there was a strong cinnamon flavour and that's all I noticed. The grilled banana looked floppy and didn't have a strong caramelisation, although I personally dislike bananas. Big V discarded her bacon as she doesn't like bacon.

SHE DIDN'T GIVE ME THE BACON

I attempted to go back to Shady Palms later on in the week for a dinner with my Boyfriend, I think it was about 6pm on a Friday when we went. The place was absolutely packed, we ordered our meals and spent 30 minutes walking around trying to find a seat. There were groups of people just standing around nursing drinks and we ran into a few other couples, also trying to find somewhere to sit. We had ordered about 5-6 things and the only available seat was a tiny side table at the very front of the cafe. 

We ended up asking for our money back, which wasn't a concern because the kitchen hadn't even started cooking yet. I was a bit annoyed but that was nothing compared to how irritated my Boyfriend was that they hadn't even checked if there was seating room before they had taken our order and money. In other restaurants, I would say it would be pretty important to check there was seating space before you took orders, counter service or otherwise. We ended up going back home and ordering pizza which was a massive disappointment.

Shady Palms Cafe
Atmosphere: 8, lovely, well decorated cafe with open air brightness from all the windows. The outside seating at the back is gorgeous and well suited for large rowdy groups.
Service: 8, the day we went, the waiters were lovely, friendly and super attentive. They were very knowledgeable about the food and menu as well.
Food: 7,  quite good, I would happily go back. The prices are quite cheap as well.