No such thing as summertime sadness at Harvest Espresso

If there's one restaurant in Perth that has made strides in both the breakfast scene and having a seasonal produce focus, it's definitely Harvest Espresso. This Vic Park hole in the wall is a popular venue amongst bloggers, foodies and the general public. All of us go there with the same motivation - to enjoy some guaranteed delicious food. 

Yes, there is almost always a decent length wait at Harvest Espresso. Yes, you need to pay for parking on the road if you're longer than 30 minutes. And yes, none of that matters when you're talking about food this tasty. 

I have a special place in my heart for this spot. The cute little jars of flowers from Matthew Landers. The heavenly smell of baked goods piled up in one corner. And of course the food - beautiful, seasonal food that doesn't just look amazing, it tastes wonderful too. 

The countdown for Harvest's new menus seems to be full of wonder and of dread. Wonder because they seem to go from powerhouse dish to powerhouse dish, but dread because it means saying adieu to dishes we've all grown to love over the 3 months they've been available. In Winter 2014 I was chomping away on a tasty salmon gravlax and potato dish while sipping their famous matcha latte. In Spring it was all about glorious mushrooms for me, with my boy devouring one damn tasty tongue. I was waiting with baited breath for the new Summer 2015 menu to come out. And when it did, I found my way there quick smart!

My opportunity came on the Australia Day long weekend when my best friend Vee and I were catching up for lunch. Knowing I was desperate to pay Harvest Espresso a visit I suggested it as the venue, and to my great surprise Vee had never been! So we were locked in, and made our way there.

I've never gone to Harvest Espresso for lunch before. Normally for me it's a get there as early as possible situation to avoid the masses waiting for a table. Lunch was busy, and we found ourselves waiting for around 25 minutes. Never mind though - waiting is not a problem when you have your bestie, we happily entertained ourselves by talking at one another non-stop the entire time. We definitely worked up an appetite!

Choosing what to eat is easy enough and not long after we place our orders at the till our drinks come to the table. We've both ordered Emma & Tom's Life Juices which are beautiful Australian made drinks with minimal processing and no preservatives, added sugar or concentrates. I've chosen the coconut water ($4.50) which is made from the water inside young green coconuts. I know coconut water seems to be all the rage these days but it's something I've drunk since I was young, and love the beautifully light flavour it has. It's really thirst-quenching and refreshing!

Vee's choice of Extreme C sounds beautiful, a mix of orange juice, apple juice, strawberry puree, guava puree, acerola berry and rosehip. It's bright orange and smells amazing, and I'm lucky enough to get a sip. Immediately I fall in love! I will definitely be ordering this drink next time, it's so vibrant and zingy!

I knew immediately what dish Vee would choose as soon as I spied it on the menu. Grilled octopus, smoked chorizo, poached eggs and hummus ($21.50). Octopus is definitely one of her favourite things to eat, and the combination of ingredients and flavours was so tempting I nearly ordered it myself!

There's a really generous amount of octopus, and its cooked perfectly. The hummus is plentiful which is nice to see (never skimp on the sauce folks), and I love that the smoked chorizo looks more like a hamburger patty. It's so meaty and acts as a perfect base to hold the other ingredients (including those two spot on eggs which burst forward with tantalising yolk porn as her fork pierces the surface). Mmmmm. I can tell this is going to be a damn popular dish this season.

Choosing my dish was a toss up between the tonka toast (which I'd seen foodstagrammer Perth Eats had put up and looked incredible) and the salmon samphire. I'm such a sucker for salmon dishes at Harvest Espresso - I have a real history of ordering them! Keeping this in mind I decide to go for the sweeter option, the tonka toast ($18.50). 

A thick slab of French toast sits at the bottom of the plate, topped with seasonal fruits, tonka mascarpone, granola and crumble. On our visit they'd run out of the mascarpone so it was replaced with a scoop of ice-cream... something I was all too happy to hear! It was a hot day and ice-cream was just what I felt like. 

The nectarines are poached and sweet, the strawberries zingy. I love fruit and really enjoyed the combination of flavours and textures. The crunch from the granola and the crumble was particularly satisfying.