Eves on the Park

Eves on the Park is the new, Roma Street Parkland "Eves" eatery, to join the well established Eves on the River.

Although I've eaten a number of times at Eves on the River over the years, I didn't know Eves on the Park had opened until being invited there for breakfast recently. Eves on the Park is on the ground floor of a new apartment building in the Parklands.

Whilst it's in the Parklands, don't be expecting to be eating surrounded by a garden. Given the location though, Eves on the Park is fairly quiet and doesn't suffer from too much traffic noise. We arrived at about 9am on a Sunday, and the place was pretty quiet. According to the website, there are 100 seats, so there was plenty of room to spread out away from other guests and have a quiet Sunday breakfast.

My first look through their breakfast menu was very encouraging. Quite a few dishes sounded delicious, which I always think is a good sign. And the servings being brought out to the other tables looked very generous. Things were looking good so far.

Anyway, back to the menu. You can start off with a juice (orange/pineapple/apple/banana & mango/tomato or cranberry) for $3.50 or go for one of the nudie juices ($5) if you'd prefer something a bit different.

A flat white will set you back $3.30. We found the coffees a bit weak and milky, but we'll have to go back to see if they are better next time. There is also a decent selection of teas, ranging from $3.30 to $3.50.

It was time to decide what to eat. Decisions, decisions. I was tossing up between the corn & zucchini cakes with bacon and tomato relish ($14), the eggs benedict with shaved ham and buttered spinach ($13), the prosciutto, pumpkin, & goats cheese omelette ($13) and the grilled halloumi, field mushrooms & poached eggs with spinach ($12). They all sounded like a great way to kick off a Sunday morning.

It was a tough choice, but I went for the omelette, which turned out to be excellent. It was perfectly cooked, still quite moist, creamy and very rich. It was also an enormous serving, which I only just managed to finish off.

Most of the other meals that our table ordered were met with a similar stamp of approval. Some found the halloumi dish a bit oily, but I suppose that is always a risk with cooked halloumi.

Eves on the Park offers the option of having any of the breakfast meals served with gluten free toast for an additional $1. This means all the coeliacs of the world can pick almost anything off the breakfast menu. I've thought for years that this is a pretty easy option for most cafes to offer, and its good to see that its catching on around Brisbane now.

If you aren't after anything cooked or heavy, go for the fresh seasonal fruit salad
served with vanilla yoghurt & almonds ($9) or the bircher museli with grape, apple & yoghurt ($7).

Service throughout the meal was ok, but friendly. One of our meals didn't show up at all, and was eventually brought out after most of us had finished our breakfasts. However, the waitress, recognising the mixup, quickly offered not to charge for the meal, which was a more than reasonable response.

I will definitely be back to try out some of the other great breakfasts. It's really good to see places like Eves on the Park offering alternatives to the fairly standard bacon and eggs, pancakes with maple syrup etc etc. While Eves on the Park will accommodate anyone in need of some bacon & eggs (which we all need from time to time), it also shows imagination with its breakfast menu. Hopefully it will be rewarded with a loyal breakfast following.

Eves on the Park is also open for lunch and dinner. At the moment it's operating as a BYO, until the liquor licence comes through. The lack of a liquor licence shouldn't trouble most breakfast punters though.

Finally, the map on the website isn't particularly helpful to anyone trying to find the place. However it's not very far from Melange, so if you keep walking down Parkland Boulevard, you'll find it fairly quickly.

What does all this mean? Tasty, inventive breakfasts served in generous proportions.

food bling ratings
Food - Great
Service - OK
Ambience - Modern, quiet surroundings across from the parklands
Value for Money - Good
Vegetarian - Good
Gluten Free - Great

Eves on the Park
3 Parkland Boulevard
Brisbane 4000
P - 07 3236 4066
E - info@evesonthepark.com
W - http://www.evesrestaurants.com/evesonthepark/index.html