Cafe Essence - Bendigo

Risotto was very good. It is a bit noisy down stairs for a business meet / lunch but very good up stairs normally,

Needed some lunch in a hurry on my lunch break from work so came here as I know from many past experiences they dont muck around and make nice fresh food.Came in and was served straight away. All the people who work here are very friendly and easy to get along with. Today was no exception, the waitress was lovely.I ordered a salmon wrap to take away. They are happy for customers to add and deduct things from the set menu, so I asked for no onion. I also ordered a coffee All for $16 - bargain! I sat down to wait.I was maybe there for two minutes when my coffee was brought over to my table for me. Great service! About sixty seconds later my wrap was also brought over. (They could have called out my order but I thought it was really lovely service that they went out of their way and came over to my table).I took my meal away and was very happy with it. As usual, so fresh and jam packed with fillings. My wrap had salmon, cream cheese, lettuce and avocado. Great combination!My coffee was also really nice. They serve them nice and hot here which I like. Another excellent experince with this cafe.

Came to Essence for lunch with four other people as we were looking for a quick place that had lots of options as we were all feeling like something different to eat. I knew from previous experiences that this cafe has lots on the menu plus daily specials too.We quickly found a table and had a look at the menu and specials listed. I ordered a smoked salmon wrap that came with avaocado, lettuce, cream cheese and onion. I asked for no onion.Other poeple ordered different wraps, sandwiches, sauage rolls, iced coffees and juices.Our meals and drinks came out fairly quickly - certainly no more than 10 minutes. The waitresses were all friendly though two of the drinks were somehwat slammed on the table and we had to clean up the mess. (I think they were maybe clumsy - not angry.)We were all really happy with our meals and drinks. My salmon wrap was huge! It had a very generous filling plus extra lettuce which I piled into my wrap also. (I also had no onion as requested). The wrap bread was so tasty- the cafe had warmed it slightly so it was extra yummy. The sausage roll smelled and looked amazing and came out with some yummy looking relish.Overall we were very happy with our experience.

My son recently had a birthday and Mynette make him a beautiful MUD CAKE. Mynette is a "true professional" made with the freshest ingredients you can always rest assured that Cafe Essence has the best home cooked food of any cafe in Bendigo.

What a lovely place,to eat,or just callin for a cuppa, what an amazing person nanette is very talented lady,what beautiful cakes she makes, just love them.