Lakeside Cafe

This clean and modern outdoor café is a breath of fresh air amongst the hustle and bustle of University life. They serve a variety of specialty caffeinated drinks, baked goods and both a full breakfast and lunch menu. The lunch menu is vietnamese inspired and I was pleasantly surprised by the quality. The fresh rice paper rolls stuffed with lettuce, herbs, pork and noodles were prepared perfectly. Too often places over steep the rice paper wrapper in water for way too long, making it too soft; the rice paper wrapper here is served, as the Italians would describe it, «al dente.» The combination vermicelli salad had a delightful variety of flavourful toppings, including: BBQ beef, sausage, spring rolls, and sugarcane prawn cakes. The phở, noodle soup, was served with the more traditional ‘Shahe fen’ style rice noodles (linguini shaped) rather than the thin vermacelli noodles used in many American and Australian restaurants; a delightful touch. The servers are all dressed quite sharply in white collared shirts and the café has a lovely water serving station with your choice of orange or lime infused ice water (presented in beautiful glass dispensers). This is basically a casual but classy café that compliments the lake view to perfection … and for a reasonable price.