Fawn is the cafe I was hoping for in the south eastern part of the city. Hidden beneath a leafy veranda, the space reminds you a little of a country dining room. Perhaps the sort you'd see in Country Home Ideas. It's a little bit French too.
Well, that's the space out of the way. Now onto the food and drinks. Typical trendy cafe fare, the menu reads well. I opted for the mushrooms on toast with crème fraise.
The mushrooms were unloved. Cooked through, but without any flavour cooked into them. Bland. Almost poached. The crème fraise sauce was very loose and made the toast soggy and contributed nothing, other than moisture, to the dish. You could have gotten the same effect with some warm milk. Fawn have taken a fine, simple idea, and didn't get very far with it.
My companion had the crumpets - a sweet and savoury dish. He said it was fine, but there was too much maple syrup and again, it was like water.
The coffee was good - a testament to the beans (Dawn Patrol) and I am sure a very capable barista.
I reached out to Fawn on social media with a few constructive suggestions - a little caramelisation on the mushrooms and a gutsier sauce maybe with a little acidity. Perhaps they were having a bad day in the kitchen? If they had responded, I would have given them another shot. Instead I get silence, which unfortunately speaks volumes of their customer service - which was actually really pleasant on the day. It's for this reason I have been so ungenerous with the stars, and the bad meal of course.
A note to café and restaurant owners - look after your customers and take reasonable and constructive on board. You use social media for promotional purposes, don't neglect it as a customer service channel. read more
