breakfast

gusto @ barkly

~ maireaddoyle ~ Leave a comment

587 Barkly Street, West Footscray
(03) 9396 1755
www.gusto-barkly.com.au
Free wi-fi

A sunny spring Sunday morning and time to check out the (relatively) new West Footscray place called Gusto @ Barkly.

Orlando and I are stalwarts of Cafe le Chien in Seddon, more or less since we moved to Australia in 2005. Although we check out other weekend brunch place regularly, the relaxed atmosphere, familiar greeting as we arrive, perfect weekend music and legendary scrambled eggs keep bringing us back. So we knew Gusto would have a lot to measure up to.

Around eleven on a Sunday the place was about half full. We were seated and a drinks order taken quickly and pleasantly. The first impression was one of noise: the decor doesn’t absorb much of the ambient sounds and so we frequently had to lean over the table to hear each other talk. One toddler throwing a tantrum at the door and another who had never been taught about indoor voices didn’t help. There was music playing, I think, but there was no way we could discern the artist.

Nonetheless, we ordered our usual breakfasts: chilli scrambled eggs with smoked salmon and bacon for Orlando, poached eggs on toast with mushrooms and tomato for me. Although chilli eggs were not on the menu there was no problem ordering them. I liked that there was a choice of multigrain and sourdough breads (all the bread served is Zeally Bay – nice). A half-strength pot of English breakfast for me and a pot of green tea for Orlando, and we were good to go.

Orlando’s order came out a little twisted. His scrambled eggs did indeed have chillis in them (not a huge amount) but they had also cooked the smoked salmon in there too. Not his favourite way,  but not enough of a deal to complain. The bacon was served on my plate rather than his, so we just swapped it over. And, inexplicably, his scrambled eggs were not served on any toast. My poached eggs had come out on multigrain as I had asked: perhaps because Orlando had not specified which bread, they assumed he wanted neither. Again, as he is not a huge carb lover he didn’t bother mentioning it, but if it had been me I would have. The scrambled eggs he declared as tasty enough, but they looked a but milky around the edges to me.

On the other hand my breakfast was really good. The multigrain was so much better than the toasted sourdough served at so many breakfast places, which can be hell to slice with a normal knife. The poached eggs were perfect, and the huge half-tomatoes were slow-cooked just the way I like them. The mushrooms were nicely fried but not in much oil at all, again exactly to my taste.

All in all, not a bad breakfast experience, and although the ambient noise would stop this being a permanent weekend fixture, I can see us coming here occasionally for a change.  Free wi-fi is also a welcome offer – there’s not many places do this yet. The pizza menu looks good and the short but well-selected wine list looks very like the best of what I’ve been drinking in the past year – at least in the reds section.

I will definitely try this place again in the evening and see whether it can fill the gaping pizza-shaped hole in my life: I have to drive for quite a while to get decent pizza in the inner West and I will be quite excited if it is now available on my doorstep.

Gusto At Barkly on Urbanspoon

>duchess of spotswood

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>Duchess of Spotswood
87 Hudsons Road
Spotswood 3015

A mid-week day off from flood response saw me, Kerry and Nina meander down to their new(ish) local eatery, the Duchess of Spotswood. This place is not open that long and has a huge following already, so I was looking forward to a late breakfast with good company.

We sat at the big table right at the window, in a sparsely-decorated but bright and welcoming main salon. One or two tables sat outside on the pavement. On a late Wednesday morning the place wasn’t hopping but we were still three of about eight or nine punters.

The breakfast menu was interesting and full of lovely names – breakfast of champignons, anyone? – but nothing on there for one of us who did not fancy eggs. Everything bar the muesli and the toast (Zeally Bay sourdough, thankyouverymuch) included eggs. Happily, they cobbled together a breakfast of sides for our eggless one, whilst Kerry chose poached eggs with spinach and tomato on Zeally Bay sourdough. I chose the Prince of Wales: house-smoked salmon with a poached egg served with potato pancakes.

My weak English Breakfast tea came out in a proper pottery teapot with a tea-leaf holder inside that meant I could stop the brewing anytime I wanted. Marvellous. Kerry’s latte was perfect. I believe they use Auction Rooms small batch coffee.

We didn’t have to wait too long for our dishes to arrive. My smoked salmon was small but perfectly-formed, and although initially I quailed at my portion size, it was indeed an elegant sufficiency. My poached egg was perfectly cooked, a delight. The tiny potato pancakes were lovely, but with one slice of bread were insufficient for my carb-loving body, so I followed through with some more toast and home-made rhubarb jam for afters. Or it could have been the hangover I was nursing.

The service was fine: efficient enough, a little hard to raise at times, and bordering on the unenthusiastic if I’m honest. All in all, some lovely food and great company, but I am not entirely sure the place is worth all the hype I’m hearing about it. I would like to re-visit for lunch sometime, to see if this place really is the next big thing, or just the Emperor’s New Clothes.

Duchess of Spotswood on Urbanspoon

>Seddon Deadly Sins

~ maireaddoyle ~ 1 Comment

>Sunday breakfast, and time to drag ourselves away from our usual haunt, Cafe le Chien in Seddon. Orlando is convinced that equally good but cheaper breakfasts are lurking, so we explore the competition.

Seddon Deadly Sins is tucked away opposite the Greek Orthodox church on Victoria Street in Seddon. It looks pretty small with a few tables outside from which to watch the pre-wedding antics of the people across the road, and a handful of tables inside by the kitchen. But there are tempting little signs on the back door, one to a vine-filled courtyard and one to The Good Room upstairs (no kids allowed).

We sit in by the kitchen and watch the action. Teas come quickly but we have to ask for strainers. The cups and saucers are not pristine: they are freshly washed, but all have tannin stains on them. Yet again, I have to explain to a waitress that providing more hot water does not allow me to control the strength of tea to my liking. Only using less tea leaves will ensure weaker tea. Why is this so hard to understand?

We order something close to our usual. I have scrambled eggs with side orders of mushroom and roasted tomato. Orlando chooses the Spanish eggs – two poached eggs in a skillet, topped with a spicy tomato salsa and chorizo sausage, served with toasted Turkish bread and a side of bacon. The bacon is laid on top of the skillet so the salsa makes it a bit soggy, but it looks good and smells amazing. O is happy enough. My breakfast was perfectly fine, but the scrambled eggs were not as lovely as Le Chien’s (probably because they are not laced with vast quantities of butter). As I am on a health kick, it’s probably just as well.

One serious downside is the music. We like laid-back weekend music with our late breakfasts: a bit of The Jam or The Stranglers, maybe some Corinne Bailey Rae or old soul. What we get is slightly-too-loud unrecognisable rock. It sets me on edge and suddenly I am ready to leave. The bill is $34 – $6 less than Le Chien.

Will we come back? Yes – we’ll give the place one more try. The owner is really friendly and the staff are pretty responsive. Next time we’ll try The Good Room or the courtyard, which might make the dreadful music a little less intrusive. But I can’t see it becoming a firm favourite.

Seddon Deadly Sins on Urbanspoon

nat’s baked beans recipe from bill granger

~ maireaddoyle ~ 1 Comment

>We met some friends at a Sunday lunch a few weeks ago, at Ann’s house where everybody brought a dish. Nat kindly gave me her recipe for home-made baked beans, this one from Bill Granger.

Ingredients:
2 tbs olive oil
2 x 400g (14oz) cans cannellini beans
1 garlic clove, sliced
½ tsp chilli flakes
1 small red onion, sliced into thin wedges
250 g (1 punnet) cherry tomatoes

To Serve
1 tsp olive oil
8 slices prosciutto
1 Tbs fresh oregano leaves

Method
Preheat the oven to 200◦C (400◦F/Gas 6).
Place the olive oil, beans, garlic, chilli flakes, onion and tomatoes in a small baking dish and stir to combine.
Loosely cover with foil and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the onion is tender and the tomatoes slightly shrivelled.
Meanwhile, heat 1 tsp of olive oil in large frying pan over a medium to high heat and cook the prosciutto until lightly crisp.
Remove and place on paper towels.
Serve the baked beans sprinkled with fresh oregano leaves and the crisp prosciutto.
Serves 4.

Nat used bacon instead of prosciutto and just sliced it and threw it in with the beans to all cook together and it worked well, too.

>Southern Cross Bar & Restaurant

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>Southern Cross Bar & Restaurant, 35 Abel Smith Street, Wellington

The Southern Cross has been around for years I am told. We went there for a low-key dinner on our second evening in NZ. The place has a huge outdoor section which would be great in the hot weather – we sat out there to accommodate the two smokers amongst us but it wasn’t too chilly.

The meat pie had been recommended to us, so three of us chose it. But they had sold out. The fish and chips was excellent – perfectly cooked fish and lots of it. Helen’s vegie risotto was fabulous, so much so that Claire and I helped her finish it. Orlando’s sausage and mash was pretty good – nice meaty sausages, tasty gravy and excellent creamy mash.

The bar staff were a bit vague – I was sent from one small outdoor bar to the indoor bar in search of Claire’s pink bubbly, and then the guy still didn’t know what I was asking for. He insisted they didn’t serve it until I explained we had just had one glass already.

The wait for the food was a bit long too, although I believe after they took our orders they started to tell people of the long wait when they were ordering.

The atmosphere was a bit low-key as the place was less than half-full. I expect it’s a lot more lively at other times. In fact I’m not sure how comfortable a place it would be to eat once the drinking crowd kick in. I suspect it turns into a bit of a meat market some nights.

>Roxy’s

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>Roxy’s, 203 Cuba Street, Wellington

Well this must be about the only place to eat in Cuba Street that doesn’t have a Cuba name. Roxy’s is the unofficial cafe of our hotel next door, where you can charge your bill back to your room. Serving breakfasts, and Eurpoean and Asian foos the rest of the day, it was quiet when we arrived mid-morning on New Year’s Eve.

My porridge was served with full-fat milk on the side and plenty of chopped fruit on top. It was well cooked and a generous serving. Orlando’s standard holiday breakfast of eggs, smoked salmon and bacon was done well. Nothing spectacular in either case, just good value tasty fare.