Jamaica Blue: Myer Centre, Rundle Mall
words by Kathryn Robertson
Nestled amongst the hustle and bustle of the iconic Myer centre in Rundle Mall, you will find one of my favourite eateries in town ‘Jamaica Blue’.
With Autumn well and truly settling in, we thought we would pay a visit to the eatery and check out the yummy breakfast menu on offer. This also gave me another opportunity to catch up with the ever so lovely owner and manager, Mona Lamshed, and see what she’s been up to since we last spoke.
Jamaica Blue has gone from strength to strength in the past twelve months. Business is booming. Topping off a fantastic year, Mona won the Jamaica Blue Franchisee of the Year Award, and was also a finalist in the Restaurant and Catering Awards for Excellence (savour) for Best Café 2016. For such a new and burgeoning business, these are some outstanding early achievements.
I’m not surprised, Mona is a born natural, having grown up with parents in the business, it was natural for her to gravitate towards a course in Hospitality Management at University in the UK; where Mona ended up managing various bars and restaurants in London. She then went on to work on private yachts in the Caribbean, where she spent the next 9 years cruising around and working, further developing her hospitality skills.
It was here that Mona met her husband Cameron, an Adelaide native originally, deciding they wanted to start a family and choosing Australia and its way of life as the best place to do that, the rest is history as they say.
Moving onto why we were here…the breakfast menu. My husband and I started with a coffee of course. The cups were strong and robust, and full of flavour. Not surprisingly all Jamaica Blue staff participate in Nationally Accredited Training programs, so you know everything from the coffee and the service and food will always be top notch.
If you’re a small eater and looking for something light, you can’t go past the corn fritters & chorizo stack, with a poached egg salad and balsamic dressing. All the nutritional boxes here are ticked, and the flavour of the chorizo bursts through. It’s the perfect starter to your day. My husband couldn’t get enough of the Avocado Smash, with maple syrup bacon, tomato, coriander, lemon toast and a poached egg. The egg and maple bacon combination is the winner here. It just melts in your mouth.
Next up we try some classic breakfast favourites. We opt for a serve of French toast with bacon and maple syrup, and the ever popular pancakes. What can I say, we ate the lotJ. I was a little wary of having French toast with bacon and maple syrup, but surprisingly, it really works. Do yourselves a favour and give it a try. It’s not for the health conscious that’s for sure, but it is wonderfully indulgent. The pancakes were lovely and fluffy, accompanied by strawberries and covered in maple Syrup. This was breakfast done right.
Do yourself a favour and head on down to Jamaica Blue in Rundle Mall, you won’t be disappointed.
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