Dukes Coffee Roasters

On a wet, wet Saturday, D, F and I ventured out here since none of us have tried Dukes before, and wanted something different (TK kept telling me, how him and his awkward boss loves this place). It's located on a busy part of Chapel St towards the Windsor end. Despite it being 2.30 when we arrived, there was still a 30 minute wait for a table.

Once we sat down we were greeted with a friendly waiter who was quick to grab our drinks order and return with warm coffee quickly. They acknowledge our wait and was fast to get our orders in, and food to stop our rambling stomachs. The coffees also arrived very quickly. My latte had a beautifully blend smooth taste with great aroma and just the right temperature soy (there is nothing worst than burnt soy milk).

F got poached eggs, crispy pork croquette with hollandise, apple and spinach on English muffin. The eggs were perfectly runny and the croquette was crispy without being too oily. Along with the apple crunchy and spinach to make you feel less guilty, this was exceptional menu item. Only wish there was more on the plate. For $17 it would have been good to see one more on the plate.

D got avocado hummus toast with dukkah, poached eggs and candied bacon. There is no denying, it was candied bacon which got our attention on the menu. The avocado hummus was a good way to jazz up traditional avo toast. The candied bacon was sweetened with honey. I was hoping for something more crispy, instead they were little oblong cubes of crisp outer/soft inner bacon and bacon fat. It was fun but it did not live up to my expectations. The dukkah added another texture element to the dish, I really liked this addition.

When I got the menu, the first thing I noticed was the crumpets with salted caramel, blueberries and hazelnut. The crumpets came drenched in blueberry and coated with a salted caramel/hazelnut sauce. This was the first time I had crumpets this way. The sourness of the blueberries matched the sweet and slightly saltiness of the sauce perfectly.  The airpockets within the crumpets caught all the sauce, making every mouthful a deliciously guilty taste.

Overall 15/20. Dukes was a delight, the staff was friendly and the coffee was fantastic. D, F and I all agreed that the food was good with great creative twist to classics.

NB:Only thing that hampered my experience was my umbrella getting stolen and we had to walk back to the car in pouring rain. So be careful of theives in this area.