Our Breakfast Club

West End Deli, West Perth

A beautiful setting on quiet street - but over priced

West End Deli has been on our ‘must do’ list for quite some time, but we’ve recently found ourselves with only two of the original breakfast club members in town and breakfast adventures are becoming few and far between. Natalie and David took charge one week, calling in some reinforcements to join the club and enjoy some breakfast with us. Some of the troops had commitments in West Perth so we took that opportunity to dine close by, and waltzed in to the West End Deli on Carr Street early one Saturday morning armed with hunger.

The setting is lovely – a quiet street on the fringe of West Perth proper, with outside dining tables and an large dining room with an open-plan kitchen. As you enter the door you are presented with a range of baked goods, including in-house bread and cakes. We pushed together two tables and were prompty served water and coffee orders taken. As we waited for the rest of our breakfast team to roll in on bikes and on foot we enjoyed the rustic interior design, with dried branches hanging from the ceiling and exposed walls, while planning our orders.

• 3x Poached eggs on fresh baguette + baked beans cassoulet – $11 + $6
• 1x Porridge w/ craisins, vanilla and toasted almonds
• 2x Poached fruit plate w/ toasted granola and vanilla yoghurt – $10
• 3x Slices banana bread – $3ea
• 1x Watermelon juice – $7
• Many coffees – $3.50 up

The banana bread is top-notch, delivered just after our coffees and a perfect compliment, which also helped tide us over before our mains arrived. Each slice is thickly cut and moist on the centre. It’s served cold, but I’m sure they’d heat it up if asked.

The poached fruit plate definitely looks the part, but both breakfast guests commented that there should have been more vanilla yoghurt on the plate. A tiny spoonful is perched on the top of the poached fruit – if you’re going to make special mention of it on the menu, it should be delivered. A self-serve mini jug of sugar syrup is served alongside the dish. The toasted granola adds a much needed crunch to the sweet fruit. In terms of taste, two thumbs up.

The porridge was divine – just the right serving size and a tasty mix of juicy craisins, vanilla essence and topped with a healthy dose of toasted almonds for a nutty feel. David may have had a little bit of food envy over this particular dish.

All three poached eggs dishes were delivered on toast, not the baguette as ordered. All bread at West End Deli is baked in house, and we enjoyed it all the same. The poached eggs dish itself it just that – nothing more than two poached eggs on a piece of toast. On such a large plate the dish looks lonely and plain, no garnish, no salt or pepper. The baked bean cassoulet comes in it’s own dish, a rich, tomato-based baked bean morning starter. At $17 for the whole order, we were left disheartened. That’s an expensive breakfast.

We smashed back a range of coffees, as always – ranging from long blacks, flat whites, soy lattes, long macs… and the rest. The coffee was consistently good, yet another example of Fiori coffee beans under the control of a talented barrista.

On our way out we noticed our bill was incorrectly calculated, with several dishes missing. We told the staff who corrected the problem, and we certainly left feeling the prices at West End Deli are a little inflated for what is served. On paper, all of the dishes sound amazing – but upon delivery they just miss the mark.

Highs: Prompt beverage service, excellent coffee, great setting
Lows: Over priced, poached fruit could have done with more yoghurt, poached eggs underwhelming
Our Breakfast Club’s final score 6.5/10 coffee mugs