Great coffee, delicious food.  The Beaufort St Merchant has never failed on any of my visits and I must have been there on at least 50 occasions.

The ambience is comfortable and the decor can be described as urban farmhouse – a huge set of knife, fork and spoon adorn one wall, there’s a large blackboard that often has thought provoking quotes chalked on it, and the comfy sofas, wooden furniture mixed with leather arm chairs make for an instantly warm and comfortable setting. You could be forgiven for thinking that you have stepped into a great eatery in London or Melbourne.

Lunching with a good friend who lives close to this great local, we couldn’t decide what to order – the menu isn’t huge, but the choices all sound so good.  So we asked the accommodating waiter if we could share two dishes and it was no problem at all.  Extra plates were brought out for us to make sharing the dishes easy.

The quinoa salad with roasted beetroot, goats cheese and lemon yoghurt dressing was fresh, healthy, perfectly cooked, and the flavours burst in my mouth. I felt like I was getting healthier by the minute eating this dish.

The pumpkin rotolo with roast plum tomatoes was a rolled pasta sheets, spread with a gorgeously smooth pumpkin mix, rolled and pan fried (I guess) until crispy on the outside in a sage butter sauce.  It was sliced like a jam roll. It tasted so divine, smooth, sultry, and ever so warming on the inside.  It was like eating a hearty winter dish that wasn’t so heavy and perfect for a sunny autumn day. I couldn’t get enough of this dish.

My taste buds were loving it at the Beaufort Street Merchant so when we were tempted with dessert, my taste buds decided that they didn’t want the party to end. It was hard to resist the triple chocolate dessert, but I did. Instead, I chose the French toast brioche with berries and cream.  It was heavenly.  Crispy brioche on the outside and soft on the inside. The berries were not overly sweet, which balanced the brioche beautifully.  It was a huge serve so maybe consider going halves with someone if you decide to have it.

My lunch buddy had creme brûlée with apple and biscotti. Her creme brûlée had the nicest sugar caramel crust on it and it was silky smooth underneath. She enjoyed it, although she said, “I have dessert envy!” when she saw my dessert come out!  So I let her have a taste or two ;).

The service was great, courteous, friendly, efficient and not intrusive. We were left to sit, basking in the afternoon sun for an hour after we finished lunch in peace, the waiter checking in to see if we wanted another coffee or a drink. We were never rushed and it was appreciated.

If you wanted to have a drink, they sell a wide variety of wines in the shop and you can drink it with your meal without being charged wine-list prices.  They also sell a yummy selection of gourmet treats – great cheeses, pates, organic crisp bread and all manner of other things that you can take home. This is how the business started – as a shop – and then developed into a small café before becoming so popular that the owners, brother and sister team Angie and Scott Taylor, had no choice but to expand the kitchen along with the menu a couple of years ago. It has thrived ever since.

The Beaufort Street Merchant is an all time favourite of mine and there is no excuse for not blogging about it earlier.  After a delightful lunch on a sunny day, sitting comfortably on a sofa watching life go by from the pavement, I felt compelled to write a post to tell the world how great the Beaufort Street Merchant is (I secretly want to keep it to myself because on weekends it can get quite busy for breakfast and brunch).

FACT FILE

Beaufort St Merchant
488 Beaufort Street, Highgate  WA 6003
Tel: +61 (0)8 9328 6299

Open from 7am til late, 7 days per week