Pearl Cafe Review

Soo, it was a Friday night and T and I were driving home from a movie.. T asked me what we were going to do the next day and I replied enthusiastically "FUN STUFF!!" and so T said "You wanna go to that Pearl Cafe of yours??" upon which I responded with as much as a dance as I could manage while driving while singing "Miiiilkshake, I'm gonna get a milkshaaaaake" :D I've only been to Pearl Cafe once before but got fixated as I do, and have been going on about it ever since.

At the last minute, Y decided to join us with our lovely shared dog, Cocoa. As we'd heard, Pearl Cafe was packed full at lunchtime on a weekend (plus we needed an outside table because of Cocoa) so the lovely waiter took my name and number down and said he would call us when they had an outside table available. He gave us an estimated time of half an hour so we had a little stroll around, had a look at some artwork and in less than half an hour, I got a phone call and hey presto, we got ourselves a table outside!

Our waitress gave us a run through of their daily specials which consisted of a rump sandwich with caramelised onions and tomato relish, croque-monsieur/croque-madame, a prawn salad and a haloumi salad. We arrived at 12.45pm so we were told that the breakfast menu was no longer available and we had to order from the lunch/dinner menu, upon which T responded with a grumble and a "hmmpf". T and Y ordered coffees while I, of course, ordered my much awaited chocolate milkshake. Pearl Cafe offers many flavours of milkshakes, including malt, vanilla, berry and butterscotch (all of which I intend to try in my future visits). The other two enjoyed their coffees very much and I loved my milkshake, it was rich and chocolatey and heavenly on a searing hot day like today.

T then asked the waiter about Pearl Cafe's infamous fish finger sandwiches and the waiter informed us regretfully that they had JUST sold their last one. T was infuriated that he missed out and very much disappointed and I think that just ruined the whole lunch for him, tee-hee. The best comment that came out of his mouth about the food for the rest of the meal was "It's good". To make things worse, a little while later, the last fish finger sandwich was served to someone sitting on the table next to us!

In the end, T and Y both got the croque-madame which is a grilled ham and cheese sandwich with a creamy sauce and an egg on top (hence the "madame"), I got the scallop carbonara and we just had to get the prawn salad to share between us. The scallop carbonara was absolutely delicious - smooth and creamy with bits of juicy bacon and scallops that were cooked perfectly. It was a nice-sized portion, perfect for lunch. I had half of Y's croque-madame and I did like the grilled ham and cheese and the creamy sauce but we all thought that there was a bit too much bread and that it would've been better as either an open sandwich or tightly pressed together with the bread toasted. The prawn salad was absolutely amazing - perfectly cooked prawns with spinach, artichokes, tomatoes and yes, CREAMY dressing. I'm not a salad person at all but this is probably in the top 3 category for me in terms of favourite salads I've had in my life.

Pearl Cafe has a pastry chef who comes in and uses anything that is in stock so their dessert selection changes extremely frequently. There isn't even a dessert menu, it's what's on display that day. I went and had a look right after we finished eating and I wanted about 7 desserts on display! After much debate, we made the tough decision of narrowing it down to two to share between us and we got the chocolate roll with mascarpone cheese as well as the lime and raspberry tart, both with ice cream. Y and I thought it would be great if they could have a little tasting platter of all the desserts! I bet everyone would choose that option. The chocolate roll with mascarpone was an interesting combination and the chocolate sponge was soft and spongy. The tart was zesty and fresh and got everyone's vote as the favourite. Not my favourite desserts ever and they didn't warrant an obsessive urge to have them all day everyday (as some desserts do) but still, one of the best lunches I've had in a long time.

I will be definitely be going back again and again and again to Pearl Cafe and I'm pretty sure everyone who tries it will do the same. They're not open Mondays and Sundays but they are also open for dinner so get there to try the awesome food and service there, it's totally worth it. The ambience is of a cosy, relaxed cafe and I will probably be there, slurping on my milkshake with unbridled glee :)

Rating: 9/10

Pearl Cafe
28 Logan Road
Woolloongabba

Phone: 07 3392 3300