Eat. @ APTE

638 Heidelberg Rd, Alphington 3078 ph : (03) 9482 2991

I had been looking foward to trying out APTE since I visited Three Bags Full.  APTE sits at the corner of Heidelberg Rd and Yarraford Avenue, and has some parking out back, plus parking on Yarraford Avenue itself.  This is great for prams as there's nothing worse than having to unload your kids and pram at the side of a busy road.  APTE is probably the cafe with the best balance of nice food and child-frendliness I've blogged about so far.

We've sat both indoors and out the back at APTE.  The tables indoors and outdoors are all modern, large communal tables with a few smaller cosier ones scattered around, much like most of the other trendy cafes nowadays.  The indoors seating area is lovely and cosy but may be difficult to park your pram without it being in the way.  The outdoor seating at the back is great if you have kids and prams, but may be a bit cold in the winter months.  Its popularity as a kid-friendy cafe is evident in the number of mothers' groups that love to catch up here.  They even provide a box of toys and books.

The Eggs Benedict ($13.90) here is one of the best I've had.  The free range eggs are perfectly poached, the hollandaise is not too thick or runny, with a light tangy taste, and the thinly sliced ham is delicately caramelised.  It lost some points on the day for part of the bread crust being a bit too well toasted (ie/ too hard to bite through)  Other than that a fantastic Eggs Benedict!

Their Big Breakfast is of great quality.  It's a good size to fill up Hubby, but also good to share with the little ones.  Having said that if you want it all to yourself they have a kid's breakfast at $6.90 which has eggs with bacon on sourdough.

The Spanish Baked Eggs made me feel (slightly) healthy as there were lots of beans with it.  The turkish bread went with this very well.  Would have liked it to be slightly more spicy, but it was still very pleasant and filling.  Actually I didn't finish it because it was very, very filling.

The drinks are all of great standard.  Good coffe, nice smooth mocha, and the tea was nice and strong.  Cupcake was well received by the kids, and not ludicrous at $3.50.  The other cakes of the same size however are $6 so check out the price before you order.

Mmmmmm Mocha.  Just on the slightly chocolatey side of perfect.

Kid's Strawberry Milkshake
$4 - it cost more than the cappucino

We've been here a few times for brunch (no, we didn't consume all the foods above in one sitting!) and will definitely be coming back!  Also looking forward to trying Liar Liar, the third cafe started by this bunch!

Eat.Play.Shop. Reccomends : The Eggs Benedict

Give it a Miss : on the weekends.  I've not experienced it as we've always tried to go on a weekday, but I've read that it gets extremely busy on the weekend. 

Toilets : Yes

Highchairs : Yes