Annie's Provedore @ Barwon Heads

On my recent trip to the Bellarine Peninsula we visited Annie's Provedore in the coastal town of Barwon Heads for a spot of lunch.

This quaint gourmet provedore/deli/café with an Italian twist is packed to the rafters with fresh and gourmet produce, a extremely large selection of cheeses and cured meats, baked goods and a selection of wholesome, loving take home meals.

Entering the café your senses are fully assaulted with the wonderful smell of baked goods and coffee, baskets hanging from the rafters overhead and salamis are swinging off their strings airing from the roof. Every bit of space is utilised for produce or décor. 

 

 

Tubs of fresh bread adorn the tables and tubs dotted around the cafe. 

 

There is garlic and herbs and onions bulbs handing from the rafters too along with dried flowers.

 

Sauces, jams, pasta sauces, olives and preserves line the shelved walls.  There is just so much produce that I want to explore.

I also love that there are a couple of communal tables here that make you feel like you are in the family kitchen spending time with friends.

The glass counter is full of wonderful cheese and cured meats.  My eyes are not really sure where to start looking, there is so much to take in and explore.

The best part is that you get to sit amongst it all.

The counter is full of baked goods, homemade sweets and a friendly barista bustling to get the coffee orders out. Lots of eat in or take home options include slabs of  quiche, wedges of frittata, huge sausage rolls and posh mac and cheese squares.  There are a selection of grain salads too and casseroles and stews

We place our orders at the counter and take a seat. Our coffees arrive and the roasted aroma is pleasing.  When our meals come out I realise just how big the portions are.  My friends fruit and nut muffin is nearly the size of your head!

My beef, bacon and maple syrup pie served with a fresh slaw with peas and broccoli is huge.

They also supply some fruit and vegetable  like giant asparagus, applies and tomatoes.

 

.............and check out those jumbo bullets on the counter!

445 Food Store @ Bexley

It is a Stevensons Fine Foods and Nougat Royale collaboration! Meg and Ben have spent months planning this new venture and 445 Food Store made its debut opening in Bexley last weekend.

445 Food Store is a gourmet store/café and is very welcomed to this stretch of Forest Rd, offering locals something new and exciting. A place where you can pop in for a coffee, a sweet snack or a meal and grab some delicious gourmet meals to take home. I was eager to try it out and my eagerness found me to be their first customer of the day (right on opening time).

The space is airy, sunny and bright, comforting and rustic with blond wooden benches and stools running the length of a wall and the window overlooking the footpath.

The shelves are laden with house made chutneys, sauces and jams, fresh loaves of bread and boards of Backa salamis and sausage. The fridge is full of gourmet take home meals, pies, cheese and olives. Many goodies are supplied by local market owners (particularly Ramsgate Foodies Market, where you will find Stevensons Fine Foods each Saturday) along with other house made creations.

An open doorway invites you into the kitchen and to a large communal dining table. Ben and Meg and the team are busy in the kitchen preparing for their first day.

I really like this space as you can feel the buzz of the kitchen and other diners. I take a seat at a comfy stool at the window bench, so that I can soak up the warmth of the sun and the bustle of a Saturday in Bexley’s main street.

 

I start with a much needed coffee. The Golden Cobra beans are roasted in nearby Marrickville by the head roaster who is also 445 Food Stores barista.

The menu may not seem extensive but on closer inspection they offer something a little more. They are on point. Fresh eggs and bacon, house made muesli, homemade pies (Meg’s are so delicious!!!) amongst other breakfast delights you can’t go wrong.

The potato latkes with house cured salmon, poached eggs and paprika aioli is my choice for breakfast.

 

A large crispy potato latke with a generous serve of cured salmon, a gooey poached egg and a big dollop of aioli, served with rocket and a wedge of lemon.

It is the perfect breakfast dish. Ben made the house cured salmon the day before. It’s fresh, slightly salty and so great on top of the crispy rosti and a gooey poached egg yolk that oozes over the top. It is always a winner in my books.

 

On the counter there are freshly baked caramel cookies, cakes, nougat and coffee to go. Grabbing another coffee to take away my thoughts are already drifting to when I can have breakfast here again!

 

Welcome to the neighbourhood 445 Food Store. I wish Meg and Ben the greatest success in their new venture!


445 Food Store
445 Forest Road, Bexley
Opened Wednesday to Saturday 8am-2pm

The Laughing Goat Cafe @ Kogarah

A cafe that has been on my hit list for quite sometime turned out to be one of the best breakfasts I have had in a long time...and to imagine that it is in my neighbourhood this hidden gem is going to see alot more of me! Why haven't I been sooner?

 

 

 

Tucked inside the Southern Antiques Centre on the Princess Highway at Kogarah (across the road from Jubilee Oval) The Laughing Goat Cafe is a welcoming spot for everyone including being pet friendly.

 

 

Inside, the uniqueness of the decor is a bit hit.  I enjoy sitting back and looking at all the unusual light fittings and antiques dotted around the place and can't wait to go poking around the antique centre afterwards.  Many pieces take me back to my childhood days.  It's a fun space!

 

 

 

Being a week day (Friday) it's on the 'quieter' side, but that's not to say that there wasn't a steady flow of customers. It is nice to sit and chat to Jenna, who owns/runs  the cafe with her Partner Todd (who I meet later on).  Weekends it gets very busy for brunch and lunch goers.

 

Jenna tells me that they are planning some events later in the year.  I'm keeping my eye out for them.

 

We happen to be celebrating my friends birthday today too!

 

So she starts with a chai latte and tells me she really likes it and who doesn't love a tiny teddy with your coffee.

 

 

 

I go with my usual skim cappuccino served in a big cup. 

 

 

The menu is very appetising and  birthday girl goes with Eggs Benny with smoked salmon and avocado. Th homemade hollandaise is perfect - It is always about the poached egg and hollandaise sauce that makes this dish what it is!   This was done perfectly.

 

 

 

I go with an unlikely suspect of the Pesto Scrambled Eggs with a side of bacon (because well....bacon!). This dish is surprisingly excellent.  The pesto is mixed through the eggs and they are fluffy and light and very refreshing.



 

 

The Laughing Goat Cafe is a perfect place for breakfast, brunch or lunch or just to grab a coffee.  The cafe are using coffee beans from Black Poison and it's pretty decent cup of java.

 

 

Before checking out the antique centre before heading off, ensure to peruse the vast selection of baked goods from the glass cabinet.  All homemade, there is a sweet selection for any palate.  We decide on a piece of the rocky road that is decadent and sits on a Golden Rough biscuit base.  We take that home for afternoon tea (which may have been more elevensies than arvo smoko!).

 

 

Apparently the Laughing Goat burger is pretty good too (even being compared to a certain famous burger over the bridge in Sylvania).  I am eager to return to give it a go.  Keep up to date with upcoming events too on Facebook as they have mentioned a burger night or two.

 

Looking forward to coming back very soon. 

 

 

 

 

245 Princess Hwy

Kogarah 

Cuckoo Callay @ Newtown

 

After months and months of Cuckoo Callay at Newtown high on my list I finally brunch there this past weekend.  I also got to meet (finally) the delightful Mel (ex food blogger from The Adventures of Miss Piggy).

 

 

 

Our table is in the corner down the back of the cafe, it's cosy and snug sitting next to other diners.  If you are wanting privacy or space, this is not the place for you.

 

Mel starts with a pot of tea.  I love the tea pot

 

The Aeropress is a process that allows the barista to 'dictate the terms of the extraction'.  Here, at Cuckoo Callay they brew for one minute before pressing it, yielding rich flavour with lower acidity and no bitterness. (Their words).

 

 

 

this was fruity and less acidic, however I think I need milk in my caffeine, but if you like experimenting and/ or changing your caffeine hit up. This is good.

 

I always have food envy.  I look around at what other people are eating, decide on a dish, look at the menu and inevitably change my mind and then wish I had gone with my first option.  Here I did look around and changed my mind a few times but didn't have food envy....I was delighted with my dish.

 

#Hashtag, Boom, Bam!* (yes it's that on the menu!), Jerusalem artichoke, chat potato and spanish onion has served with roast beet puree, parsnip cream 63 degree poached egg and either bacon or haloumi.  I went with haloumi.

 

This was GOOD. The saltiness (and squeekiness) of the halmoui was perfect with the gentle flavour of the Jerusalem artichoke (and I think this is the first time that I have tasted it). The beet puree is earthy and slightly sweet.  Can never go wrong with a runny yolk soft egg. Crackin' dish.

Mel decided on the Porked* which crispy pork, chargrilled broccolini, manchego and mustard sauce and a 63° egg on sourdough

 

Okay maybe a small amount of food envy, but she was kind enough for me to have a taste (and vice versa). 

 

This was a lovely brunch and I am keen to come back for more.  It does get busy and expect to have to wait for a table...but it's worth it.

 

I always have an excuse to eat cake! Words to live by....

 

 

Cheekiness - wise words from Buddha.

 



Miss America's Diner @ Riverwood

Sydney's current craze is American BBQ and burgers and who am I to complain!  I get to indulge in some good ole fashioned American comfort food.

 

 

 

The best thing about this craze is that alot of new places are opening up out of the inner city area and heading to the burbs including Miss America's Diner.  By day this place is The Spot Caffe and on a Friday night it comes alive as an American Diner, complete with flag bunting and quitchy 50's Americana memorabilia.  I am instantly the smitten kitten.

 

 

Our party of 9 were sitting outside at a red and white checked table.  Jumbo playing cards are supplied for some entertainment (for the kids, however adults are welcome to play to!)

 

 

The menu is two pages long and is filled with classic's, burgers, dawg's fries, sundaes, spiders and sodapop.  Miss America's Diner is also BYO.  So adults are drinking wine while the kids opt for shakes.

  

 Brown Cow and Blue Cow shakes.  The flavours come in chocolate (brown), pink (strawberry), yellow (banana), black and white (vanilla).  Ask for a Fat cow and it comes thickshake style. 

 

These shakes are malted with soft serve and cream. I love the addition of lollies, wafers and cream atop of the shakes.

 

I think we ordered most of the menu!

 

I went with the James Dean burger.   Double beef patties separated by cheese, bacon, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles and sauce.

 

I have to admit the cheese melted between the patties is a revelation!  Juicy and full of burger flavour, this burg was GOOD. Really good!

 

I couldn't eat it all, particularly as we were also nibbling on side dishes (see below) and one of the boys polished it off on top of his dawg. Big appetites are needed!

 

 

A juicy beef patty with double cheese, lettuce

 

 

A couple tried the Love Me Tender and both said it was good.   Chicken breast, bacon, cheddar, lettuce and honey mustard burger.

Someone went with the Chilli Dog. The bun was filled with a pork sausage smothered in chilli beef, onions, peppers, spices and  was piled high with chilli and oozy melted cheesy sauce.

 

 

The tiddly winks (aka the kids) went with either a junior dawg which is a sausage in a bun with sauce or the Hot Diggity Dawg which was topped with bacon and melted cheese (hold the mustard sauce).

 

 

 

 

We could not pass up a selection of sides to share.  We ordered the chilli fries, which in my opinion some of hte best chilli fries I have ever had.  The chilli had a good kick of heat but it also was thick and really tasty.  pairs with the best cheese to come out of America and these were the bomb!

 

Another must try was the Heart Attack Fries and I know why they are called that and equally delicious.  Skinny fries topped with crispy bacon, two types of melted cheese (and I forgot to ask what ones) and shallots.  Let's just say 'skinny fries' is a misnomer!

 

These were pretty delicious and reminiscent of a cabonara sauce flavour.  Although these were very good we all decided that we preferred the chilli fries (saying that I would definitely have these again as a side if I wasn't feeling up to spicy heat).

 

The Buffalo Wings are something I feel in love with while I was living in Canada.  I would always meet up with one of my great friends there for a pub night once a week or so and we would have beer and wings.  Proper Buffalo wings.

 

So I had to try these out tonight.  6 wings fried golden and crispy and dipped in a vinegar based hot sauce and perhaps butter? (that's the traditional way).  Served with celery sticks and blue cheese sauce. 

 

I liked these but I reckon they could be a little more vinegar-y and spicy...but then again spiciness is subjective!

Even though we realised we had to much food we couldn't stop ourselves ordering a serve of the Corny Corn.  Boiled ears with butter and topped with crushed cheese corn chips.

 

Crunchy, cheesy and tasty. I love me some corn and they are the perfectly bite sized.

 

The kids wanted Banana Splits and these were glorified with lollies again!  Sweet heavens.....

 

For those adults wanting dessert they finished off with the warm Apple Pie (and we will ignore all the references to the movie made at the table). This was simply served with a glass of soft serve icecream

 

We had a fun night out and ate some great food.  The memorabilia is awesome and the atmosphere is great. 

 

The only downside thing I noticed and it's no bigger really was service was a little hit and miss, it was busy and the girls were run off their feet and we were left waiting for a few things that were needed at the table.  It happens and we weren't in any rush and mentioned no big deal.

 

Making the trek to Riverwood (okay I'm not to far but others might grumble) is worth the effort on a Friday night and I am looking forward to those chilli fries again.