The Glasshouse Cafe, Civic, Canberra. May, 2020.

It may seem odd to do a restaurant review while the COVID19 pandemic continues, however some places in Canberra and NSW are now accepting dine in patrons.
At one time I visited The Glasshouse on a regular basis as I worked in a nearby building. It provided good coffee and had a well thought out and interesting menu. It has since changed hands and as we were nearby and hungry, Harper and I decided to eat our brunch there. There were a number of take away customers but we were the only ones eating there at the time.
There was an offer of coffee and a ham and cheese croissant ($10.00) which appealed to Harper and as breakfast was still available, I decided to be adventurous.
Okay, how many people guessed what I ordered?
It was breakfast/brunch.
It was on the menu.
Could I possibly have fibbed about being adventurous?
Yes, yes I did fib.
Of course it was Eggs Benedict with bacon. Eggs Benedict $16.00:Poached eggs on sourdough toast topped with freshly made hollandaise sauce, baby Spinach & your choice of Ham or bacon or Smoked salmon.
While it is on my list of items to learn to cook, I have not yet made Hollandaise sauce. From reading it appears that it is not the easiest sauce to master.
It was odd experiencing social distancing as we were given menus and the order taken. It did not take long before our meals arrived. Harper was very happy with the look of the croissant as it had been toasted with the ham and cheese inside it. It was flaky, warm but not hot and contained the right amount of both ham and cheese.

My Eggs Benedict arrived and as you can see from the photos it looked appealing. The bacon was crisp, not soggy, the eggs well poached with the yolk runny and the Hollandaise sauce did not commit the sin of being too tart. It also had enough spinach so the rest of the ingredients were not overwhelmed.

As it arrived

Runny Yolk

 

 

As I bit into it, I felt happy. It made me realise how pleasant the experience of dining outside the house can be. Yes, we have enjoyed takeaway from some of the restaurants that we have positively reviewed previously, but eating takeaway is a different experience.
While the croissant quickly vanished, I tried to take my time enjoying my Eggs, but instead ate them more swiftly than I wished as I was hungry and it was tasty.
Harper volunteered that the coffee was also very good.

The service was quick, the staffs as friendly as they could be under the circumstances and it felt like a slight return to the past (before the bushfires and COVID19).

Verdict
4.5/5
We did enjoy the food and the only downside was not the fault of the staff of The Glasshouse Cafe or the food. It is simply while it was good, it was not up to the standard of Trev’s at Dickson.
Both plates were cleaned.