Eat. @ Nacional

36 Mills St (Cnr Herbert St), Albert Park 3206 ph : 9645 0977

Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner

Nacional is a trendy little cafe in Albert Park we visited a few weeks back.  Okay, to be honest we wanted to go to Andrews Hamburgers but they were closed so we Urbanspooned for a kid-friendly cafe nearby.  What we found was a cafe with lots of trendy locals having a Sunday brunch with some fairly (kid) friendly staff, pretty decent food but not so great coffee.

The cafe was decked out with cool floor boards and recycle-chic furnishings.  The locals however seem to be much more keen at the outside tables, given that it was a pretty warm and sunny day.  Again for the safety of my run-around kids, we sat inside, and had pretty much the place to ourselves except for an older couple and their grand-daughter.

As it was "brunch"-time, we did our usual thing - me ordering from the brekkie menu, and Hubby from the lunch menu.  They also had a kids menu which had a wider selection than at most cafes.

I ordered an Eggs Florentine with Bacon which was nice but at $18, more than I would usually pay for this dish.

Hubby had the 200g Beef Burger with Swiss Cheese and Fried Egg.  It was a tasty burger but at $23, a lot more expensive than the burger we were going to have at Andrews'.  However that's in keeping with having a nice table to sit and eat at, I guess.

We ordered a Fish and Smashed Potatoes for them but unfortunately were told later that they were out of potatoes and so we were given shoe-string fries instead.  Yep, much as I try to avoid it, they got fried stuff with chips!

We also had a margarita pizza which was very cheesy and actually had slices of fresh tomato.

Unfortunately our hot drinks were disappointing.  The coffee and hot chocolate were both very dilute and not in keeping with expectations at a trendy cafe in this neck of the woods.

The cafe was very kid friendly, and provided a basketful of toys and books.

There was also a large table which would be great for bigger parties and even mum's groups.

The also had an interesting tapas menu, and a dinner menu with mains in the mid $30 range. 

All in all it was quite a pleasant meal, and great as a local cafe if they upped their game in the drinks department, and if I lived around the corner.  Probably not worth a long drive across town though.

Eat.Play.Shop. Recommends : coming here for a bite if you're in the area.

Give it a Miss : if you're a Coffee Connossieur

Toilets : Yes

Highchairs : Yes


EDIT 27/7/2011 - Thanks to Jemma @ Little Eats who has alerted us to the fact that Nacional has a new owner who wants the cafe to cater for more grown-up clientele.  Sad Face.  Oh well, check out some of the other still-kid friendly places on our blog, and wander over to Little Eats and have a look for other places to visit on their website!