Having taken this into due account I also have to comment on the comparative prices — some dishes at The Bistro are actually cheaper e.g my “fish and chips” which was the special of the day and chicken breast from the menu at The Bistro were actually cheaper than similar dishes on the Café Allegro menu.
Café Allegro occupies a prime site in the centre of Sam Levy’s Village and has been very tastefully refurbished since its Mimi’s Café days with a new deck and much needed wooden railings to prevent shoppers walking between the tables. The service was also very much improved —smartly dressed and pleasantly attentive staff.
The menu is more than adequate for a Café with every variety of breakfast dishes and toasted sandwiches (US$3/US$4) and a good variety of lunch dishes including a US$10 “all day” breakfast featuring steak and “all the trimmings”.
The lunch specials written on the board were quiche (US$5) or steak sandwich (US$8) but we both chose from the menu — Lasagne and salad for my companion and for me chicken breast and pasta (US$11) — “baked chicken breast, fresh tomato thyme and white wine sauce, parmesan crust and homemade pesto pasta” to give it its full very alluring description! Our waiter told us the lasagne was the last remaining serving and unfortunately it appeared to have spent too long in the oven as it was drier than it should have been and the lasagne on the base was so hard (under-cooked rather than dried out?) as to be uneatable.
The side salad served with it was wonderfully fresh and our waiter very obligingly returned to the kitchen to replace the original dressed offering with an undressed salad and dressing on the side as requested.
My chicken breast was tasty but didn’t quite live up to its description — the parmesan crust appeared to have been replaced by melted (cheddar?) cheese and the very large helping of pasta was only slightly flavoured with pesto.
For my liking much less pasta and much more pesto would have made the dish more exciting. Unfortunately, both our plates were cold which even in this hot weather meant we were eating unappetisingly cold food by the end of our meal.
Desserts were advertised as home-baked cakes, the day’s choice being black forest gâteau” or the carrot cake.
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A slice of black forest shared between us both proved more than adequate and came with two forks thoughtfully provided.
Lovely light chocolate sponge generously sandwiched with and covered in cream made this less of a heavy cake than I remember from my student days when it was all the rage but we did find two cherries nestling in the sponge to attest to its authenticity!
The best part of our meal was the last, wonderfully strong and aromatic coffee — even my companion’s iced coffee (which was served as requested without sugar or milk) did justice to its coffee ingredient and my double espresso was as good (and as hot!) as any I have had. For those not similarly inclined there is a wide range of other hot and cold drinks on the menu.
I have a definite urge to sample Café Allegro’s breakfast dishes and would not hesitate to return for more cups of their aromatic coffee and should I feel the urge when shopping for an “on the spur of the moment” lunch would like to try some of the other dishes on offer. Open Monday to Friday 8.30am to 5pm and Saturday and Sunday 8:30am to 3pm.
Coffee Shop4 PlatesExpect to spend US$10 to US$15 per head19 Sam Levy VillageBorrowdale
