Eight + Sand Kitchen
Shakshuka
I’ve been stalking a little café called Eight + Sand on Instagram. All the food bloggers in Charlotte have been posting about it, so I figured it was worth checking out. It’s super cute, and everything was visually appealing — what did I have to lose by going? A few bucks at most…
More variety than I anticipated
When I went in, I had every intention of just getting a coffee and a pastry; however, when I arrived, I found out they serve a full breakfast menu! Naturally, I changed gears and opted for a sit-down breakfast. You order your meal at the counter, then go sit down. You get a number for your table, and then they bring the food out as it’s ready.
I was by myself, so I was tame – I only ordered a couple of things:
Shakshuka. Spiced tomato sauce with roasted onion, garlic, kale, and chickpeas. It’s baked with two free-range eggs, feta, and parsley & served with country sourdough toast. The flavor was OK, but nothing to write home about. I also didn’t love the chickpeas in it. It’ll satisfy your craving for Shakshuka, but I wanted the flavor to be more robust… if only it were as good as the one at Lodge Bread in SoCal…
Salmon Lox. Cream cheese with cured + cold smoked salmon, red onion, and capers, served on deli rye. Again, nothing special; it was fine. Everything tasted good, but there was nothing that made me say “WOW!”
Iced Latte. The iced latte was great! They offer several different syrups, some of which are VERY unique. I’d never seen salted maple as an option before, so I had to try it. YUM!!! It was somewhere in between maple syrup and salted caramel. It added a nice sweet yet salty nuttiness to the latte. Would absolutely order it again…
On my next visit, I’ll go with their cult classics:
Green Goddess Avocado Toast. Vegan green goddess spread, sliced avocado arugula, everything bagel seasoning, and a free-range fried egg served on sliced country sourdough.
Ricotta + Jam Toast. Fresh ricotta made in-house from local milk, seasonal house-made jam, thick-sliced wonder sourdough. It looks good, but it’ll be tough not to compare it to the famed ricotta toast at SQIRL in LA. That one is my favorite (despite their jam scandal).
Panko Chicken. Fried NC free-range chicken, red cabbage slaw, pickled onions, honey, Duke’s mayo, and pickles on a toasted brioche roll. It looks pretty dynamite in person — I need to try it at some point.
Nitro Oat Milk Latte. On tap. What’s not to love?
My verdict?
6/10. The food was OK, and the coffee was delicious. I think I ordered the wrong things on the menu, so I’ll 100% give it another shot. The vibe was super cute, and everyone was super friendly. The pastries also looked great — so I’ll put those on my list for next time, too.
