THE Millhouse Café in Queanbeyan is a treasured spot for locals, with the owners saying they know money can’t buy happiness, but it can buy great coffee (so true!).

We had never been but were in the area and thought we’d give it a go.

It’s a distinctive, heritage-listed building at the busy corner of Collett and Morisset Streets. It was built in 1883 as the manager’s residence for the local flour mill and has preserved many aspects of the original structure. It’s fun that the building’s front rooms are stacked full of second-hand books for customers to flip through.

The Millhouse Café was absolutely pumping on our visit, perhaps even more so because some of the restaurants on Crawford Street were closed off by police because of a shooting in the middle of the night… no doubt many gravitated to the Millhouse for brekkie.

The garden area out the back has plenty of tables on the lawn area, a piano, lots of toys for kids to play on – call it a hectic, nursery feel-type setting. Individual rooms inside were full… and then there are a few tables out the front, in the sun. That’s where we settled in.

Awesome coffees came out quickly, which was a super start.

Breakfast is available all day on weekends so we both opted for that. Prices are really reasonable and portions generous.

My friend’s bacon and egg roll was only $7.50, a bargain given it had two eggs and plenty of bacon on a large toasted roll. It was excellent. Extras such as bacon, mushrooms, tomato and spinach are $3 each.

The full breakfast is $16.50, with bacon, mushrooms, chorizo, tomato and two eggs cooked how you like, with toast.

I wasn’t into anything super heavy and so ordered the vegetarian breakfast ($16). It was delightful. The spinach was incredibly tasty (beautifully sautéed) and the mushrooms equally so. The hash brown crispy on the outside and soft on the inside and my two poached eggs cooked perfectly (I like them not too runny, but definitely not too hard).

The only issue was that every element of the dish was stone cold when it arrived so I headed inside to the kitchen with my plate to ask for another go. It was perfect and service with “sorries” all round. While it’s not an excuse, the place was truly pumping and my bet is partly with overflow because of the crime scene.

If you have a sweet tooth, the French toast looked sensational ($13). If you’re health conscious, there’s a bircher muesli soaked in apple juice ($13).

Smaller options include toast ($4), raisin toast ($4.50) or banana bread ($4.50).  

The Millhouse Café, 57 Collett Street, Queanbeyan. Open 8am-3pm, seven days. Call 0473 034217.