An urban garden patch called City Farm Cafe

Nestled unsuspectingly in the middle of East Perth sits a farm. Yes that's right, I said a farm. And it is appropriately named, City Farm (sitting on City Farm Place).

It's eclectic, spacious and full of a variety of home grown herbs and vegetables, plus the odd chicken roaming around. I've been meaning to come down here for awhile, wanting to try this place out and view the market like set up they have on the weekends. Luckily for me, my best friend Carly suggested we try it this Saturday so we headed down for brunch.

We arrived at 11.00am, and walked around first before heading to the cafe. There were a great number of organic, vegan or raw superfood stands to browse. Carly grabs a slice of 'raw' carrot cake from one ($5) for us to munch on while we wait for our food at the cafe.

I have to admit, I'm not much into this whole raw food movement. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy raw vegetables but I don't think everything should revolve around this. I'm more about flavour than anything else! But I'm always willing to give things a go (after all, each to their own!).

This carrot cake actually tasted quite nice, though nothing like the real version. It's wet but not as dense as it looks, the mixture a little crumbly. I have a few bites but eventually give up to pay attention to the cafe's menu.

The menu at City Farm Cafe offers a range of delights suited to all tastes. There's some yummy sounding items to choose, such as the pain perdu (french toast), eggs florentine or butter pancakes. I pick the Soft Boiled Eggs, Dukkah & Buttered Soldiers ($11). Though I often make soft boiled eggs and soldiers at home, I have to admit the dukkah is what lured me in on this occasion. 

I order a Smashed Avocado ($4) to have on the side and a Peppermint Tea ($4).

The tea comes out almost immediately, as does Carly's long black coffee (in a take away cup so I didn't bother snapping a pic). The tea is organic and the leaves are jam-packed in the bag, emitting the most enticing fragrance. It's a strong tea which is nice but I wish there was some sugar on the table so I could have sweetened the drink.

I love the rustic and simplistic appearance of the boiled eggs dish. The soldiers are cut a little too big for my liking though so when I try to dunk them in the yolk they can't fit. Damn! But eventually I make it work and soon learn that the bread smeared with avocado, dunked in egg and then dukkah is absolutely delicious.

That dukkah is so laden with the most amazing spices, the grains inside offering some great texture as well as flavour. And I am very happy to say that my boiled eggs were as soft and runny as one could ever want - perfect!

Carly deliberates for some time before making her choice, opting for the Aged Cheddar & Chives ($15) which is free range scrambled egg, Mersey Valley cheddar and chives with organic toast. She's eager to try their gluten free bread but after checking with the server, they don't make it, rather order it in. Thankfully it comes out looking light but crisp on the crust.

For $15, it's a pretty small serving of scrambled eggs, though at least they look silky and viscous. Carly tells me that the cheddar and chive flavouring is nice and strong, and the texture is smooth. I always put chives in my scrambled eggs at home and love just how well they compliment eggs in their fresh flavour.

As we get to about halfway through our meals, the staff start clearing up around us so we find ourselves rushing to finish. I didn't realise the cafe closes at 12! Or at least it did on this day, maybe because of the grand final for AFL? But we didn't mind too much, we had full bellies and had indulged ourselves in exploring this farm that sits amongst the chaos of urban Perth. A fun day with organic ingredients used.