Review: Biga Panificio

It has taken me months to finally deliver a fair, balanced verdict for Biga Panaficio. Biga shares many similarities to Cibo Espresso in perhaps their "approach" to coffee and food, but has the advantage of not feeling so commercial or pompously arrogant. Located on prime real estate on the corner of Halifax/Hutt St, what could have gone so horribly wrong?

After the new owner moved in at the end of 2008, a sharp change was noticed in coffee and food. No longer were the long glass display cabinets overflowing with Italian pastries, or the mood emanating suave-Italian – the display cabinet offerings have halved, and many standard cakes are presented ready-sliced and wrapped in plastic. The music is now Golden Oldies – which is fine if you want to listen to “I Am Woman” or ABBA when having a coffee.

Apart from changes in the food and coffee departments, some things have remained at Biga: a flatscreen TV showing episodes of Food Safari, relatively efficient service, and a warm, friendly owner. Unfortunately the food and coffee have performed a severe backflip from their original high-quality to a much more mainstream approach. Coffee arrives burnt and bitter with no smooth, creamy flavour or texture; scrambled eggs arrive far too overcooked; and don’t get me started on an incredibly disappointing muesli/yoghurt trifle. I just don’t understand – everything seemed to be going swimmingly before the New Year, so what happened? Nowadays the new owner dominates the coffee making (which I’m sorry to say is probably the main problem), while Biga used to always have an alternating roster of great baristas.

But there is still something at Biga that keeps me going back! We’ve established it’s clearly not the coffee or the breakfast, so what is it? It must be something to do with the location and feel of the café. Biga is a great place anytime of day: weekday morning coffee, afternoon coffee and cake, weekend brunch. The staff are usually friendly and interested, and despite slightly unsuitable music, Biga seems to just click with its unique seating layout – evidenced by many fellow diners any time of day. A small selection of sumptuous, stunning Italian cakes and tortes are available throughout the day, and are definitely a strong point of Biga’s. Shame you can’t get consistently reliable, excellent coffee to have with it…

In summary, Biga has certainly declined in many aspects since opening a few years ago, in particular since new management took over late last year. The breakfasts are average, the coffee too, but the unique, casual ‘panificio e bar’ feel seems to be what keeps people coming back. Just don’t expect to be blown away, and you’ll be fine. And if you’re interested in properly cooked scrambled eggs, head over to Citrus (definitely NOT Alfonso’s!).

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