This is what passes for a ten dollar breakfast in Brisbane

January 8th, 2008

Breakfast of champions

It can be quite difficult as a vegetarian in Brisbane sometimes, especially at breakfast when bacon seems to be the food of choice which I have no problem with. But often at a cafe you are faced with a substantially lessor breakfast than the bacon enriched counterpart. Sometimes you can substitute mushrooms which is fantastic but often it’s eggs on toast (I have no idea how vegans go out to eat, I sympathise!). So we were at Jamaica Blue at Carindale shopping centre (I know, I know eating at a shopping centre!?!) and I was really hanging out for breakfast, so I ordered the generally vegetarian friendly fried eggs with toast and a side of mushroom - the eggs I believe cost $7.50 and the mushroom is $3.50.

The above is what they brought to the table, personally I would have been too ashamed to place that in front of someone and charge them just over $10, of course amongst the sliced mushroom I found a chunk of bacon.

I’ve offered my feedback to Jamaica Blue via their website, I really don’t care if they respond or not as I’m not eating there anymore but if you don’t say anything how are they going to know? I’ll let you all know what they say.

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23 Comments

  1. sir jorge

    vegans might have things really tough, but that plate above is beyond that.

    sir jorge’s last blog post..The Last Blog Post Ever

    [Reply to this comment]

  2. Lee

    Sir Jorge - LOL I know it’s pretty bleak isn’t it - I only mention the vegetarian part so that everyone wouldn’t think they robbed me of bacon. Of course that shouldn’t matter.

    [Reply to this comment]

  3. Ian

    I’d expect $7.50 eggs to look a lot better than that. Did they at least offer to add some kind of sauce at no extra cost?

    [Reply to this comment]

  4. Veda

    My sympathies. One good thing about living in India is the food. Since so many Indians are vegetarians, our veggie food choices are practically unending. Also, you might be interested to know that eggs are not part of vegan diet in India. Traditional vegetarians eat only well, vegetables, etc.

    Veda’s last blog post..The Answer

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  5. Lee

    Ian, they didn’t offer anything lol I won’t even talk about the half cups of coffee (the other half being froth) but they’re not the only ones in Brisbane who do that so it’s just a general problem.

    [Reply to this comment]

  6. Lee

    Hi Veda - I imagined as much, I read something about meat not featuring as highly in the Indian diet, here there are several classifications of vegetarian/vegan, vegans don’t eat or use any animal derived products including leather etc, some vegetarians will eat dairy still and others don’t. Tracey and I fall in the category where we still eat some dairy - generally though no cow milk and only non rennet based cheese.

    [Reply to this comment]

  7. Dan

    That is appalling. Kerry is a veggie, but doesn’t eat mushrooms so she would have been well and truly stuck. It’s interesting what you say about india as Kerry has always woried about what she would eat if we went there.

    Did you know that Mushrooms and other fungi have more genetically in common with insects than they do with plants. I have no source for that maybe as I heard it from a man in a pub.

    Dan’s last blog post..Watching the monkeys at the zoo

    [Reply to this comment]

  8. anonymum

    that’s a bit sad isn’t it? i’m hoping you said something? i wouldn’t not have been able to help myself i don’t think….

    anonymum’s last blog post..I hate that!

    [Reply to this comment]

  9. Lee

    Dan - I’ve got a vegetarian friend who went to Russia and was pretty much forced to eat meat because there was just no real understanding of the diet there but India shouldn’t be a problem.

    I did not know that about mushrooms. I will have to consult with my wife the accuracy of the statement of the dude at the pub LOL

    [Reply to this comment]

  10. Lee

    Anonymum - we didn’t say anything at the time because we were a bit tired and fed up and the meal had taken a long time to get there anyway. It’s ok it’ll be a long time before I eat there again and as a by-product will avoid drinking their coffee too.

    [Reply to this comment]

  11. anonymum

    hmmm…gotta love the grammar on that last comment of mine…i really need to get off the computer and sleep more I think! either that or lay off the scotch when i’m commenting….
    :shock:
    anonymum’s last blog post..I hate that!

    [Reply to this comment]

  12. Arjan

    we got a 1€ (I think that’s around 1,3 AU$ )breakfast at Ikea’s that looks better than this!

    Arjan’s last blog post..The Life Aquatic OST

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  13. Ivan

    Sorry, been busy for the past few days…

    But, just saw this post! This is daylight robbery!!! OMGoodness…

    Ivan’s last blog post..Stop stealing people’s food?

    [Reply to this comment]

  14. Lee

    Yeah Ivan every time I look at it I’m still surprised - got a response from my feedback that I’ll post in the next couple of days.

    [Reply to this comment]

  15. Ian

    Wow, thats very sad. At our local JB $10 buys you that plus bacon (ok you didn’t want that) plus tomato plus a coffee. I’d have thought in your case they could have thrown in a bit of tomato or more mushies to replace the bacon.

    Ian’s last blog post..Pointless exercises

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  16. Andrew Boyd

    Hi Lee,

    you were right to blog about this - I think that it is the best way to deal with sucky service. They shouldn’t offer a veggie option if they weren’t prepared to back it up with value for money.

    Cheers, Andrew

    Andrew Boyd’s last blog post..Aussie Bloggers: Want to know more about design and coding?

    [Reply to this comment]

  17. Lee

    Ian, it is appreciated if extra mushrooms are offered but it is never expected. I don’t mind the fact that the meal would normally come with bacon thus bolstering the plate up but this particular meal isn’t even advertised with bacon this is simply the eggs and toast with a side of mushrooms. It would have cost me more for bacon!

    [Reply to this comment]

  18. Lee

    Hi Andrew - exactly right. I am surprised that our inner suburban eatery’s think that they don’t have to supply quality service and food because they’re not restaurants. It drives me a little insane and I wish they’d take more pride in their work.

    That being said (and I will post on this) they did reply and apologise.

    [Reply to this comment]

  19. swollenpickles

    That’s incredible. I used to think it was hard to go wrong with a breakfast, but apparently that’s not the case. I guess there’s only so much you can do with bacon, eggs etc, but then it has to come down to quantity. This just isn’t quantity.

    swollenpickles’s last blog post..Ryan Reynolds is Deadpool (Wolverine movie news)

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  20. April

    It always angers me that vegetarian meals often cost the same as a meat dish. I mean, why is it that mushroom tagliatteli has to cost the same amount as salmon or pheasant? I also hate it when I only get one choice for a meal but meat eaters get about 20!

    Aprils last blog post..Haden Stusak Saves Josiah Buddah From Drowning

    [Reply to this comment]

  21. Lee

    We tend to think the same April, especially at noodle places that charge a fortune for tofu and then you get less than you would with a meat based dish!?!?

    Don’t even get me started on soy milk at coffee shops.

    [Reply to this comment]

  22. Andiee

    Good news to all that saw this appalling breakfast….
    Jamaica Blue Carindale is up for sale!!!! That means, perhaps new owners will actually fix problems like this, as quite clearly, current owners don’t. I am interested to know though, that if you did get the apology from head office, if they have in fact spoken to the store (which one hopes they would have) and if so, has it changed at all. I do visit JB’s reg as they are the only cafe I have been to that offer Organic coffee at no extra price. Perhaps I should sample a meal and pass on the review!!!!

    [Reply to this comment]

    By Lee on October 24th, 2008 | Reply

    I do have to say that I certainly did get a response, a very positive one from their head office who suggested that they would use the photo in their training :)
    They also apologised and offered me a two for one meal which I didn’t take them up on but have eaten there since with varying results (nothing anywhere near that bad though!)

    The coffee is generally pretty good there but they do seem to have some problems with speed. I’m very interested to see what new management will do with the place.

    Thanks for letting me know.

    [Reply to this comment]

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