Intra, Canberra

Intra is a cafe in Campbell in Canberra. It's a fun place to stop at for breakfast and they have a range of coffees and teas but the biggest lure for us is their toastie or jaffle menu. Think mapo tofu jaffle, prawn toast or French onion jaffle with Dijon mayonnaise!

It was our last meal in Canberra and Laura and I are determined to go out with a bang. So far we've pretty much stayed in the Kingston area, not for any particular reason but that the restaurants we chose to eat at were located there and we were staying there but now we are venturing out. "There's Parliament!" we exclaim and then "There's the war memorial!" going on a countless series of roundabouts to get to breakfast at Intra. I remember when it was a battle to find a café open on a Sunday in Canberra but I'm pleased to see so many more open then.

At Intra there's a sizeable outdoor section and since it's sunny we take a seat out there and make friends with our canine neighbours. First a tip: you don't want to come here if you're in a hurry because the food and drinks take quite a while to arrive and we waited almost half an hour for our coffee. The coffee is by Barrio Collective Coffee and Edition Coffee Roasters. Laura orders coffee and reports that it isn't bad. My chai latte has a good amount of spice.

Food- wise there are healthier choices like granola but the jaffles and sandwiches are where the really fun action is. "Now please don't be alarmed, we are ordering a lot but we'll take home what we don't eat," says Laura explaining our modus operandi.

I mainly ordered this because I wanted to try some Chashu bacon and I liked the additions of Swiss cheese, togarashi, Kewpie mayo and shallots to a bacon and egg roll. It's good, the two eggs still with nicely runny yolks on a milk bun. The chashu bacon tastes...well sort of like bacon (they use Pialligo bacon) but it's tasty nevertheless.

We both love the French onion jaffle with a layer of softly caramelised onions and a layer of Gruyere cheese. I promise to recreate this at home and invite Laura over for a taste test.

My favourite jaffle along with the French Onion is the mapo tofu jaffle with Szechuan pork and pockets of creamy tofu inside a sealed toasted jaffle. It's the sort of dish I'd like to make at home it's so tasty. The soft tofu takes on a pudding-y texture inside the jaffle which is very appealing.

The prawn toast is basically what you'd call a perfect prawn toast. It's minced up prawns spread on bread and then deep fried and then topped with coriander and yuzu mayonnaise. It's all your crunchy toasty dreams come true and both Laura and I need no convincing to finish this off.

The only jaffle we probably wouldn't order again is the kimchi one because it's so easy to make at home and it's just plain kimchi inside a jaffle. Adding cheese would surely improve it exponentially but perhaps they're trying to keep this the non dairy vego option.

Whatever you do, get the chicken pate on the side. Not only is it absolutely delicious but it also goes really well on crusts and just to spread on any crusts and it adds a lot to the kim chi jaffle too!

So tell me Dear Reader, do you have a favourite jaffle filling?

This meal was independently paid for.

Intra

30/12 Provan St, Campbell ACT 2612

Weekdays 6:30am–2pm

Weekends 8am–2pm