Ready to compete with the local cafe sprouts in Footscray, Seddon and Yarraville, Maidstone seems to finally have arrived. Not that there aren't ones already there, but a friend who lives there tells me that up until now there weren't any good ones. JBN seems to have been a welcome arrival and after my first visit, I tend to agree and can now have an option up north of Footscray rather than always south (or east to North Melbourne).
A warming matcha latte (with soy for me) was a nice slightly thicker and sweet version with the green tea flavour unmistakable. It was well balanced and didn't need any additional sugar. They advertise a chai from leaves and spices which I'll have to test next time.
- Omelette (with smoked king prawns, leeks, spiced tomato broth, lemongrass & prawn oil, chilli, lime, Vietnamese mint & crispy tofu puffs) $19 - wet egg folded over and housing some creamy and delicious prawn chunks and surrounded by an unexpectedly nice and savoury tomato soup to soak into the bread. From the salad there was an occasional hit of mint that I could have used more of;
- Roasted Cauliflower (with chickpeas, hommus, kale, sumac-spiced yoghurt, tamarind, cucumber, fresh coriander, pomegranate & crispy quinoa) $16 - a healthy dream of ingredients headed by warmly spiced cauliflower with unexpected crunchy (fried?) chickpeas.
The food and flavours were very good and the other menu options of black pudding and cotechino (whatever that is...) mean I'll definitely be back.