Three Bags Full

Three Bags Full is nestled in the charming streets of Abbotsford in Melbourne.  Vibrant, sleek and sharp is the vibe of this café ready and waiting with your daily grind of breakfast or lunch, coffee or cake.

A converted warehouse, Three Bags Full has retained exposed brick walls, polished concrete floors and decorated cleverly with quirky lighting and bright artwork.  The multi coloured upside down cup and saucer light shades suspended from the ceiling are fun and novel.   The communal and single tables fitted with an industrial metal and road works signage print on the chairs and stools give an edgy look and feel.

First up I order a cappuccino.  It’s obvious that coffee is an important part of the philosophy here with a massive espresso machine and the barista happily joined to it.  They respect that espresso is not everyone’s thing and offer brewed filtered coffee also.

My cappuccino blew my head off!  It was super strong.  But the temperature, texture and flavor were bang on, making it still enjoyable despite my opinion on its intensity.  If it’s a strong coffee that you love then Three Bags Full have got you covered.

I was in for breakfast on a Wednesday morning. The breakfast menu is impressive.  It’s diverse, thoughtful and covers all bases.  In spite of this I opt for a dish from the specials board – ‘Crispy potato rosti with smoked salmon, salsa verde, two poached eggs and goats cheese cream’ ($17).

The flavours on this dish were very complimentary to each other.  The textures balanced out and removed any concern I may have had initially about the richness that some of these ingredients can normally attract.  It was fresh and light enough to leave me feeling content.

Staff were casual but friendly, neither overshadowing nor inattentive.  It wasn’t wall to wall busy but the service provided was just the right amount. 

Three Bags Full has also opened a duplicated space next door that offers the same menu with the addition of some quicker options including salads, toasties and soups.

This café on the corner has certainly cornered the café market in this area.  It ticks all the right boxes.

Food – 8/10

Service – 8/10

Ambience – 8/10

Three Bags Full

Corner Nicholson and Mollison Streets, Abbotsford, Victoria.

Phone – (03) 9421 2732

www.threebagsfullcafe.com.au

Open –

Monday – Friday 7am to 5pm

Weekends and Public Holidays 8am to 5pm

Christmas – it’s all about the food.

Let’s face it for most of us; once the gifts are given and received, Christmas is all about the food.  The whole lead in to Christmas revolves around celebrating with friends, work colleagues, family and neighbours.  All of these celebrations are centred around the food.  People haggle with much anguish about where they should go for the work break up dinner or the girl’s lunch, which canapés would be best or what meat they should have on the BBQ for the street party.

One of my best girlfriends, who rarely cooks or caters, has gone mad this Christmas by hosting a series of Christmas gatherings in the days leading up to Christmas Day and is then hosting Christmas Day with all the trimmings.  She is slicing, dicing, glazing, stuffing and garnishing.  I’ve never seen her produce more than one platter of 12 savoy biscuits with gourmet toppings on them, so I am waiting eagerly to see how this turns out for her!

These types of behaviors go on right up until Christmas Day then it’s absolute food anarchy. There is always way too much food and everybody eats way too much.  No matter where you go or where you come from there are endless tables full of roast meats, vegetables, salads and enough desserts to start a cake store.  It seems outrageous that for one day the majority of the population to go extremes to cater for their loved ones.

Coming from a Hungarian background on my mother’s side, the menu on Christmas day seems even more ridiculous than what I have seen on the Australian side of my family.  We always have to start with soup, even when its 45 degrees in the shade.  Then we have all of the Hungarian staples along with some Australian dishes to round out the main and then dessert course.  It’s a hot and cold buffet catering for every culture, age group and dietary requirement possible.  And that’s only lunch!  I don’t even want to get started on Christmas dinner.

But I love it.  I eat too much, drink too much then fall asleep on the couch, waking up 40 minutes later to realize I’ve been asleep with my mouth open and once again missed out on doing the dishes!

In all of this food absurdity there are some delights that only seem to appear at Christmas time.  I’m not sure why that it but I know that when you try and eat some of these things outside of the festive season they are nowhere near as good. So here are my top five food favorites at Christmas time that need not bother at any other time of the year.

1.    Sticky Date Pudding with Caramel Sauce.  My secret recipe that I share with no one – I’d rather make you one than share the secret.

2.    Cherries.  They need to come in a massive box and be delivered by that cherry guy that you never see.  The cherries just appear at the front door a day or two before Christmas.

3.     Aunty Marg’s Trifle.   I don’t want to know how she makes it so I can make it myself. Just turn up with it each Christmas please!

4.    Creamy Cucumber Salad. My Hungarian grandmother makes this for Christmas Day lunch and it’s the best.  I believe it’s Hungarian because she makes it and because it has paprika on the top of it!

5.   Left Overs on Boxing Day. Need I say anything except it all just tastes better the next day.  It really does.

Merry Christmas Friends!  

Eat, drink and be merry!

Bendigo Corner Store Cafe

It’s great when you find a daytime dining venue that ticks all of the boxes that the large and varied daytime dining audience may require.  It's even better when you discover this in a regional location.

The Bendigo Corner Store Cafe certainly leaves nothing unticked.  Previously a corner store in the upper residential part of the well-known View Street it is now a cafe that has not forgotten its humble beginnings.  You can still buy your daily newspaper, along with a loaf of bread from the local bakery ‘The Good Loaf’ and even post a letter in the post box out the front.

Open seven days a week for breakfast and lunch, the menu is tantalising and beautifully supplemented with a daily specials board.  I’m a sucker for a good breakfast and the Corner Store Cafe does not disappoint.  Breakfast ranges from sour dough toast to porridge with fried banana and stewed rhubarb, to ricotta pancakes to a big breaky with free-range eggs.  Lunch is also enticing offering delicious gourmet sandwiches to a roast vegetable salad with quinoa to the open steak sandwich.  The kids’ menu is also very thoughtful with the usual favourites and some fun healthy options.  I’d go as far to say that it’s one of the best kids menus I have seen.

The wonderful thing about their menus is that there are various vegetarian, gluten and dairy free options.  As there is with the milk choices for coffee – organic, full fat, low fat, soy, lactose free and oat milk.  Now that is truly thinking of everyone!  The passion for coffee is evident here.  The barista is attached to his machine and makes every cup with precision and expertise.  On offer is the house blend, a single origin barista special of the day and organic decaf.  All beans are roasted from a boutique roaster in Melbourne and are 100% organic fair trade.

There is a small but well thought out beverage list with the usual non alcoholic suspects and fresh juices or you can enjoy a glass of bubbles, a beer or a cider with your eggs and bacon or house made veggie burger.  Sit out the front and watch the world go by, chill out in the lounge or sit out the back under an umbrella and watch the kids play in the sandpit.  Finish all this off with one of the amazing cakes or cookies on display at the front counter.  Who said you can’t have cake for breakfast?

Food – 8/10

Service – 7/10

Ambiance – 8/10

Bendigo Corner Store Cafe

305 View Street, Bendigo Victoria.

Open Monday – Friday 7.30am – 6pm/Saturday – Sunday 8.30 – 4pm

Phone – (03) 5442 2008

Proud Mary

This place is like a revolution.  There are people everywhere.  Congregating out the front and standing inside up to an hour for a seat for breakfast.  It’s crazy!  It’s even crazier that no one seems to mind.  The calm crowd is one of all sorts - an eclectic range of cultures and fashion sense.

Proud Mary’s, located in Collingwood Melbourne, has a warehouse feel with a combination of exposed brick and wallpapered walls with polished concrete floors. There is this groovy little area holding the record decks surrounded with vinyl’s and Elvis’ ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ is playing.

With the staff dress sense depicting that as if they are on stage for a musical theatre production, they are genuinely friendly, incredibly attentive and gracefully swift.

As I enjoy a soy flat white, I observe the hive of activity: one of the girls is casually arranging massive bunches of different flora, fresh from the market, into various large jugs and jars posing as vases then putting them in place.  The boys, all with Grizzly Adams beards, are rocking it around eight or nine coffee grinders all with various blends of beans that have been roasted in house, pumping out lattes and cappuccinos as if their life depends on it.  In a way I guess it does.

Fifteen minutes pass by and so many patrons continue to stand inside and outside reading newspapers, talking and watching the staff execute their performances all the time happily waiting.  People share small tables in a communal style and no one cares that they are sitting so close to total strangers.  I guess after waiting for an hour on a cold winter’s morning why would you? The vibe – it’s warm, friendly, diverse and accepting.  It’s totally controlled mayhem.  I love that everyone on staff knows what their job is with very few spoken words.

I decide to order from the breakfast menu and choose the ‘Avocado’ with heirloom tomato, goat’s cheese, rocket pesto, toasted farmhouse loaf ($14) without the pesto but with two poached eggs ($3 each).  It seems to arrive so quickly I feel like they read my mind as I walked in the door.  It was exactly as I had asked for and the flavors were fresh and fantastic.  Maybe a little too generous with the tomatoes but the eggs were cooked perfectly oozing rich golden yolk over the plate.  I felt it was cooked and presented with love just for me.

Avocado

The breakfast menu has a great range from toast and fruit to ricotta hotcakes and a variety of egg dishes and ingeniously omits the classic eggs benedict.  They also offer fresh juices, have a lunch menu that speaks stylish, fresh and tasty and they display a very tempting cabinet of daily baked goods.  The prices are right on.

To conclude my breakfast experience I have a peppermint tea.  For a place that is clearly so serious about perfecting coffee I’m in for a pleasantly spectacular tea service.  Presented to me is a magnificent clear glass teapot with tea leaves swimming inside. It reminds me of a lamp that a genie pops out of.  This is accompanied with a vintage glass to sip from just slightly bigger than a shot glass which is placed on a sky blue saucer.  It almost looks like I have been given all the equipment for a peace pipe.

Peppermint Tea

As I’m leaving thinking to myself I must come here for lunch next time, the matre de girl in the gold jacket says ‘thanks babe’ and I just smile back at her, so pleased that I have been there to watch the magnificent theatre that is Proud Mary.

Food – 9/10

Service – 9/10
Ambiance – 9/10

172 Oxford Street, Collingwood.

Phone – (03) 94175930

www.proudmarycoffee.com.au

Monday – Friday 7am to 4pm

Weekends – 8am to 4pm
Public Holidays – 7am to 4pm

Jack & Daisy's

It’s not often that I walk in to a cafe for the first time and be greeted like I’m a regular.  I love feeling so welcomed and valued as a customer, confirming I have made the right choice in trying something new.

I experienced this at Jack and Daisy’s cafe in Cumberland Road, Pascoe Vale last weekend. 

The staff at Jack and Daisy’s seemed thrilled when six friends walked through the door. Even though we did not have a booking, and tables were full, we were somehow accommodated in the rear courtyard with a promise of a table inside when one became available. The inside decor was a combination of polished concrete and wooden floors, exposed red brick and plaster walls accompanied by groovy music that created a relaxed atmosphere.

The rear courtyard was delightful with tables and chairs scattered elegantly over the faux green grass, a white cane lounge with generously sized cushions, all of which was overshadowed by an old oak tree losing its autumn leaves.

For those accompanied by the toughest of all food critics, a cubby house full of toys is available for the children to play with.

About ten minutes after we had sat down in the courtyard we were offered a table inside and as attractive as the vibe inside was we chose to stay out in this little garden of treasures with the winter sun beaming down on us.

The menu was small and simple offering only five lunch items.  They cater for the breakfast, brunch, and lunch market.  I got the sense that breakfast may be one of their unspoken specialities.  The price point was fantastic and they have a great menu for the little folk.

Appealing to me initially was the sound of the ‘spicy beef and cheese quesadilla with guacamole and herbed yoghurt’ ($14) or the ‘zucchini and mint fritters with sour cream dressing’ ($13) but for some reason I was humoured by the name of the dish ‘schnitzwala – panko crumbed chicken breast schnitzel, tasty cheese and coleslaw on turkish’ ($10) add bacon ($11) add chips ($11.5).

Schnizwala

The schnizwala was nice but I wondered if I should have got the bacon for some extra flavor and depth. I also felt some avocado would have been a welcomed compliment.  All in all served with chips I think this dish is a great tummy filler and would be quite good as hangover food!

Pancakes

The children ordered ‘pancakes with maple syrup and ice cream’ ($6.5).  I quote “these are the best pancakes ever except for yours mum”.  Nothing else needs to be said about that – they were a major hit.  One thing I didn’t try but liked the look of was their cakes and sweet treats from the front cabinet.  They looked delicious and were smartly served up on a mini wooden board – very cool!

Upon leaving the Jack and Daisy’s team, who were all very personable and stylish in their urban chic, I sparked a conversation with the owner Eugene.   A very friendly young man who opened Jack and Daisy’s 18 months ago.  He informs me that they have already extended next door into the old post office and are putting the finishing touches on for parties and functions.  I would have loved to have quizzed Eugene a little more about how Jack and Daisy’s came about and see if there is any truth in the story I heard that Eugene and a mate own the cafe in partnership and named it after one of each of their grandparents.

There will definitely be another visit to Jack and Daisy’s for me, I loved it – next time for breakfast, coffee, cake and some more of the story from Eugene.  Stay tuned or go visit them and let me know!

Jack and Daisy’s

152B Cumberland Road, Pascoe Vale, Victoria.
(03) 9350 4106

Open – Weekdays 7am – 5pm.  Weekends 8am – 4pm.

Food – 7/10

Service – 9/10
Ambiance – 9.5/10

I Love You Oscar W

Is it possible to fall totally in love with a restaurant?  If it is – I have.  It is true love!

A couple of years ago two friends of mine, both chefs, introduced me to Oscar W and it was love at first sight.

Overlooking the Murray River in Echuca, Victoria, Oscar W sits high on the riverbank next to Echuca’s famous Red Gum Wharf and Port of Echuca’s paddle steamer fleet. The views of the mighty Murray are simply beautiful – calming, peaceful, tranquil.

Inside the restaurant, the red gum grill and deck bar areas are also beautiful.  The creators of Oscar W have used recycled timbers, galvanised iron and stainless steel.  There is a huge open fireplace that mesmerises you as you sit on the antique lounges which create such a comforting experience.  It’s so lovely that you don’t want to leave.

The Age Good Food Guide 2012 awarded Oscar W with a prestigious Chefs Hat.  This was an honor well and truly deserved.

When I recently returned to my love, Oscar W, I walked in and noticed there was a blackboard out the front that said “Deluxe food, lush wine, great coffee, awesome views”.  This is 100% correct. Eight words is all it takes to best describe this place.

Oscar W has an all-day menu to enjoy at the bar, a lunch menu and a dinner menu.   On this occasion two colleagues and I enjoyed a sample of the lunch menu.  We sat by the window, sun beaming through the glass as we overlooked the water and the bush land surrounding it.

As a starter we ordered the ‘grilled flatbread and dips – beetroot and apple, pumpkin and feta, rocket and pine nut’ ($16.50).  The flatbread is house made and grilled on the red gum grill – it is purely divine.  It is thicker than usual for a flatbread and lightly salted.  The dips were also delicious, the freshness and flavors were very well balanced.  I particularly enjoyed the beetroot and apple and the pumpkin and feta.

The next course was quite difficult to decide.  So many options including vegetarian and gluten free dishes. From the small plates section I went with the ‘Fish Cakes – romesco sauce, truffled coddled egg, avocado salsa ($19.80) with a side dish of ‘Chickpeas fried, harissa, radicchio, and orange’ ($8).  The fish cakes were perfectly cooked – they almost melted in my mouth.  The flavor was delicate not too fishy or overpowering and the sweetness of the avocado salsa made a perfect pairing.

The fried chickpeas had a bitter sweet sensation of flavor which via the orange and radicchio was very complimentary to the chickpeas and harissa.  This was an excellent side dish something different to the norm.  Both dishes were well supported by a crisp floral glass of sauvignon blanc.  The perfect lunch.

My colleagues ordered and thoroughly enjoyed the ‘Prime Australian Beef – “minute steak” (150 gram cooked medium) with roasted tomato, confit garlic, potato gratin, red wine jus ($27) and ‘Crispy Pork Belly, baked scallops, corn puree, agro dolce, apple slaw ($22.50).  I can’t expand any further on these dishes as they were not prepared to share and let me sample!

Our waiter was one of the three managers of Oscar W.  He was excellent.  He managed the floor solo serving around ten tables and giving each one the perfect amount of time, attention and conversation.  Very impressive Liam.

It is well worth the trip to visit Oscar W.  It is positively the jewel in the crown for Echuca.  The next time I visit to continue my love affair it will be for dinner – I can hardly wait.

Food – 9/10

Service – 9/10
Ambiance – 10/10

www.oscarws.com.au