Are you looking for a new place to try for breakfast or lunch during the week? Well you can stop looking because we’ve found it for you. Check out Interlude Espresso Bar, located on Marcus Clarke St in Acton.
Visit Interlude Espresso Bar and you’ll get high-quality food with a side of friendly service. It’s the perfect spot for your morning, lunch or afternoon interlude and you can choose to sit in the many big, bright indoor or outdoor areas.
Fresh, tasty food and in-house baked goods are two other things that owner, Trent Vrtanes Esmerian, guarantees you’ll find when you visit the Armenian-inspired cafe. If it’s not made onsite (which isn’t much) then it’s sourced from other local food businesses.
They even pickle their own vegetables. Ice cream, ice and berries that are used as a base for their compote, are the only things you’ll find in their freezer.
Trent has been working in Canberra’s hospitality industry for 10+ years. He went from Managing an Italian bakery to co-owning Chatterbox in Belconnen. He’s now flying solo at Interlude Espresso Bar but he has a dedicated and hard-working team behind him.
His warm personality and friendly smile welcomed me when I recently visited and I instantly felt comfortable. He excitedly showed me a plate of beautiful deep pink sweet slices and proudly introduced me to Eshta, a delicious Middle Eastern sweet treat. It was a new addition to the sweets cabinet and it was making its first appearance in the café the day that I visited. I was lucky enough to try some, read on for more.
The venue is light and bright with plenty of seating options for all occasions. It’s not too noisy, making it ideal for a meeting with colleagues or a catch up with friends. It would even be a good place to enjoy some breakfast, lunch or a coffee while doing some work on your laptop.
I put my order in for a piccolo and it was at my table before I knew it. The coffee is strong and ticks all the boxes for me.
It’s time to eat. I start with the Levantine Salad with Falafel. It’s Trent’s favourite and he tells me he’s already eaten it several times that week.
I understand why as soon as I taste it.
It looks like an edible rainbow in a bowl, which is always a sign of fresh, nourishing food. This is one salad that you want to make friends with.
It’s a vibrant mix of Tuscan kale, red cabbage, carrot, fennel, watercress and mint that’s dressed in a zesty garlic and lemon vinaigrette. It’s fresh and flavoursome and the addition of the falafel works perfectly. The falafel is an optional extra and one that you should try. It’s crispy on the outside and the chickpea mixture is fluffy and spiced well.
There are other healthy options available, like the Zoodle Salad, Chia Bowl and Smashed Avo. But there’s also a good selection of burgers and breakfast sweet treats for you to choose from.
I’ve already added the Zucchini Dumplings, Pulled Pork Benedict and Potato Stack to my ‘to eat’ list for my next visit to Interlude Espresso Bar.
Their pancake special changes often but I’m told that the current caramelised banana, caramel sauce, praline and vanilla bean ice cream option is a crowd pleaser, and that it might stay around for a while. Of course it will, that flavour combo is a winner!
Up next was the chicken burger. It’s served with perfectly seasoned chips that were nice and crisp. The chicken burger is big and simple. Crispy southern fried chicken thigh, tomato, cheese, cabbage slaw and ranch sauce is sandwiched between a fresh roll. The flavours work well together and it’s a well-priced burger at $16.90 with chips. There’s also a gluten free option available.
Trent sat with me and chatted while I ate and he enjoyed the Falafel Burger, it looks like another delicious burger option.
Another thing that I really liked about Interlude Espresso Bar is that their salads and some breakfast dishes can be made in a half serve. This is perfect when you don’t want a huge meal. I can’t stand being served a huge dish when I just want something small and light. I always end up feeling bad if I can’t eat it all. Interlude Espresso has solved that problem!
I finished with some Middle Eastern sweets that have an Armenian twist. The knafeh is made of kataifa pastry that’s soaked in orange blossom sugar syrup with pistachios, honey and cinnamon. It was sweet, nutty and very decadent.
The freshly made eshta, that I mentioned earlier, was still warm and it almost looked too pretty to eat. It’s a sweet cheese that’s served warm and has a texture similar to baked custard. The flavour is subtle and the pistachios and the orange blossom syrup complete it.
Trent’s talents don’t stop in the kitchen. It’s his work that you’ll see on the funky special boards behind the counter.
Interlude Espresso offers a selection of lunch and breakfast options as well as sweet treats, hot and cold drinks that can all be ordered to takeaway. They also have dairy free, gluten free, vegetarian and vegan options available.
This is a sponsored post but all opinions are the author’s own. All photos by Amelia Bidgood from Eat Canberra.
Amelia Bidgood
Amelia is the Founder and Editor of Eat Canberra and the Founder and Managing Director of Eat Canberra Food Tours. She's a qualified journalist, presenter, freelance writer and also runs a boutique communications agency working with small business owners on all things social media, content creation and marketing. She's taught cheesemaking classes, judged hospitality and tourism awards, completed the WSET Level 1 Award In Wines, loves to cook and has travelled to 23 countries. She's also passionate about mental health and has recently started studying to become a Counsellor.