Whether Caramel café and restaurant succeeds where La Patisserie failed remains to be seen.
It only opened up in May in the same spot at Acacia mall. And now that almost every high-end restaurant in town is going big on breakfast, with the introduction of their customised combos, Caramel offers its own varieties as well.
In the food business, a full combo breakfast is arguably the fairest deal for both the client and food outlet.
For the restaurant, how else would you get a client to spend more than Shs 20,000 on breakfast which is ‘just’ a bit of ration of baked beans, some slices of bread here, some sausages there, eggs, and slices of beef/chicken?
On the other hand, for the avid foodie, how do you get a variety of all these, albeit in small portions, in a single meal for a price ‘just’ under Shs 30,000?
Ordering these items separately would shoot the bill into many thousands of shillings. Yet in the end, you almost eat just as much of the provided portions in the combos.
At Caramel, their Caramel Combo II seems a fair deal if you are more into variety than quantity. It is not the fill-to-brim kind of breakfast, but it has an assortment of food items to enjoy and enough to get you going throughout the day without the need for lunch.
From avocado, bread, sausage, potato slices, beef, chicken slices, extremely thick juice (you will most likely have to dilute it – hence spending an extra Shs 4,000 on a bottle of water), nicely made coffee (with freshly roasted coffee beans), boiled olives and salads – all at Shs 27,000.
The specially designed glass serving tray can only take in as much as the space offers. But it also makes plating easier and catchy.
The tenderly grilled chicken has the umami flavour while the avocado taste is spruced up by the mild vinegar. I don’t know how the chef did it, because the avocado does not appear to be macerated but you will taste the vinegar therein, giving it a wonderful taste!
Caramel has quieter ambiance and is more spacious in comparison to the neighbouring restaurants at Acacia mall and across the road. Perfect place to have a head start on your work as you sip away on coffee or juice.
fkisakye@observer.ug
