This is not a joke. Canberra will soon be home to its very own Eggs Benny Bar! Alter Ego will open its doors on the corner of Bunda and Genge Streets in the city (previously Cream Cafe and Bar) TOMORROW, 17th January 2019. Taking over the space that was previously occupied by Cream Cafe and Bar, Alter Ego will be an all-day venue suitable for all occasions.
Sneak peeks have been posted on their social media pages and it’s a gorgeous interior that’s very different to anything else in Canberra. It could be described as industrial chic with features including a stunning concrete coffee bar, marble benches, chevron tiles, wooden panelling and wooden features, huge glass doors and stylish long tables. There’s also a small room that can be booked for private events and lots of other areas, allowing customers to choose the space they want to sit in.
It will be a venue that will allow you to catch up with your mum for coffee during the day and return that evening to let your hair with friends.
Alter Ego is owned and operated by Arthur Choi, who owns a number of popular Canberra venues including Coffee Lab and Coffee Grounds. Executive Chef Michael Chatto, winner of multiple Chefs Hats, has joined the Alter Ego team and the pair have designed the menu to create a celebration and fusion of exquisite global dishes.
“Alter Ego will be a venue for the people and for any occasion. Whether it is a quick coffee before work, date night, dinner with a group of friends or lunch with the family. The menu offering, interior design and seating options cater for all.”
“We know that people tend to have two personalities. We built this concept for our venue so we can focus on both day and night options. We’ll serve coffee and wine, breakfast and dinner. People can arrange to have their work meetings at the Alter or they can enjoy a night out and catch up with friends.
“From the first sip of coffee in the morning to the last sip of wine at night, Alter Ego will be the place to be,” says Owner Arthur Choi.
Alter Ego will allow customers to choose from the many seating options during the day and in the evening, including outdoor spaces, a small private dining room, bar seating, bench seating and communal tables.
There will be a range of ONA Coffee blends available, as well as filtered coffee and frozen coffee, more specifically, frozen coffee beans. Freezing coffee is a phenomenon that is increasing in popularity in the specialty coffee world.
The drinks menu will feature an extensive range of local beers, wines and spirits as well as international options.
Alter Ego will also serve morning cocktails and will be home to the first espresso martini tap that pours the incredible coffee vodka that was made in collaboration with award-winning Underground Spirits and Bellerophon Coffee.
Now for some more information about that Eggs Benny Bar! The breakfast menu will feature 5 different types of Eggs Benedict, including combinations like Kobe beef, purple cabbage, eggs, charred paprika with horseradish hollandaise, and wild mushroom, eggs, sautéed broccoli, pistachio, halloumi snow with blue cheese hollandaise are two of the options.
Lunch will be a shorter version of the dinner menu and will also include a selection of burgers including the double truff-able burger with truffled mac and cheese, and the dirty chicken burger.
With Michael Chatto’s background in working at 2 and 3 hatted seafood restaurants, the menu will also feature a range of fresh seafood dishes.
“The menu will focus on the best possible produce we can source. It will be accessible to people who want a quick cheese plate or fresh sashimi, to special occasion dinners and the Chef’s choice degustation menu,” Mr Chatto said.
Dinner will feature a selection of small and large dishes from the sea, land and garden and will also include dumplings, baos and tacos.
Some of the dinner options will include Kobe flank charred with café de paris, Tataki of blue fin tuna with seaweed dressing and crispy caper, Persian lamb, pomegranate, barley and mint salad, chicken katsu super-fried Korean chicken, shredded wombok slaw with teriyaki mayonnaise.
A smaller selection of dishes will be available between 3-5pm in the afternoon. The kitchen will stay open from 10am until midnight on Friday and Saturday nights and a selection of late night eats including cheese plates, dumplings and burgers will be available.
DETAILS
Opening: January 17th 2019
Address: Corner Bunda and Genge Streets, Canberra City
Trading Hours:
Sunday – Wednesday 7:30am – 11:30pm
Thursday 7:30am – 1:30am
Friday and Saturday 7:30am – 2:30am
Visit the website www.alteregocanberra.com.au to sign up to their mailing list.
Find Alter Ego on Facebook and Instagram.
Images have been supplied.
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.