Breakfast

Canberra 2011: Poachers Pantry

1/17/2012 04:01:00 PM


Poachers Pantry
431 Nanima Rd
Hall ACT 2618
(02) 6230 2487

For our second breakfast in Canberra, An chose Poacher's Pantry, a "traditional country smoke house, café, farm shop and cellar door".   I'm told that locals don't tend to visit, but rather think of it as a place to bring out-of-towners.  (Can any Canberrans confirm or deny that?)


Poacher's Pantry is set amongst pretty gardens, and has both outdoor and indoor seating, as well as a retail area selling pantry items and their house-smoked smallgoods.  But we were here for breakfast!
Cappuccino - $4; Latte - $4

Toast with Lynwood jam and butter - $6

The toast, bizarrely, came pre-spread with butter.  Although I suppose "spread" isn't the right word - melted butter was slathered over the middle of the toast, which meant the butter dripped right through onto the plate.  This also meant the centre of the toast was soggy whilst the edges were dry - very unappetizing! I really don't know why they did that.  It seemed to be an attempt at a garnish, which did absolutely nothing for presentation or flavour.

An fared better with his sweet corn and potato pancakes.
Sweet corn and potato pancakes with bacon, oven roast tomato and avocado - $18
The dish didn't look that good to me - the pancake looked pallid and undercooked, and I'm not a fan of gigantic portions (half an avocado for one person, really!) - but An enjoyed it, and even managed to polish off most of it!

I was totally craving pancakes, and was glad to see buttermilk hotcakes on the menu.
Buttermilk hotcakes with a baked rhubarb strawberry compote and honeycomb butter - $16

The hotcakes themselves were delicious: light and fluffy, with a wonderful light crust on the outside.  However, they were drowned in butter. Seriously, drowned!  There wasn't just that splodge of honeycomb butter on the top (which I moved to the side of the plate pretty quickly anyway), but there was also heaps of butter on the plate.  You can see the threads of rhubarb suspended in the melted butter, below.  Now, I have a pretty high tolerance for butter - some of my friends refer to me as Butter Queen! - but even this was too much for me.


I can't say we were wildly impressed by Poacher's Pantry.  The food was hit and miss, and the service, whilst polite, was rather patchy.  It took ages to catch someone's attention to replace a dirty cup, for example.  We'd initially planned to purchase some of their prosciutto to take home, but after the breakfast we decided to give it a miss.  On sunny days, I can imagine it would be pleasant enough to enjoy a coffee at one of the outdoor tables, but I certainly wouldn't recommend it on the quality of its food. 

Poachers Pantry on Urbanspoon

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3 comments

  1. Confirmed, although in actuality my family and I drive out of town to eat many times a year for special occasions (Easter, Fathers Day, Mothers Day, etc), but tend not to go here because my mum and grandma's allergies make most of the menu off limits. I feel less disappointed in it now! Ugh, me no overwhelming butter likey.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Sarah

    Great read your blog post, criticisms can always be taken on board to ensure improvements are made.

    I have to disagree with your comment regarding local visitors to Poachers - the majority of our bookings are by Canberrans, and we certainly have those who continue to come out on a regular basis.

    The team were disappointed to hear that your experience wasn't overly enjoyable, however we do appreciate that some people just love Poachers, and for others, it's just not their ‘scene’. We love to see local customers both old and new. We're also excited to have the opportunity to share our love of regional food and wine with out-of-towners.

    Thanks Poachers Pantry

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hannah - It must be tricky with the allergies! It was a shame about the excess butter, because the hotcakes themselves were So Delicious!

    Poachers Pantry - Thank-you for your comment, appreciate your taking the time to read and comment on my post.

    ReplyDelete

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My email address is sarahcooks [at] hotmail [dot] com.