Skinny Latte

Tyranny of Distance, Windsor

~ culinaldi ~ Leave a comment

When I was in primary school, I loved the quirky Split Enz song, “Six Months in a Leaky Boat”. Although I had no idea what I was singing, over the years through my love for pub trivia, the one particular lyric I do remember is “the tyranny of distance, didn’t stop the cavalier”. I have no idea whether the inspiration for the name of this café came from this song, or from the famous book on Australia’s history, but not even the threat of heavy rain was going to stop me from walking the entire length of Chapel Street to check it out.

A petrol station in a former life, Tyranny of Distance is located in Union Street, around the corner from Chapel Street in Windsor. Their mission is to provide great, tasty food with all products in their dishes, made in-house and from scratch.

Tyranny of Distance is laid back and unpretentious, with eclectic collections of tables and chair settings and furniture. There’s a fabulous homage to the previous business, with several old gas bottles stacked upon one another to create a unique and colourful artwork, from which four gas heaters provide heat for the dining area that used to be the garage.

The service is also somewhat relaxed. I saw one table as I arrived, stand up and get their own menus and try to attract someone’s attention to place their coffee order. I had been seated for five minutes before I was served, but from that moment on, the service was friendly and attentive.

Tyranny of Distance, Windsor
Tyranny of Distance, Windsor
Tyranny of Distance, Windsor

The menu has a particular focus on egg dishes with offerings of baked eggs, scrambled eggs, omelette, herb eggs and that’s before you get to another sub-section underneath, with the heading of “eggs”. There are also a number of gluten-free specialities, including French toast, bircher muesli and “tyranny stacks” of differing compositions.

I liked the sound of the first stack which consisted of house cured salmon, beetroot relish, horseradish romesco, spinach, two potato rostis and two poached eggs and put in my request for breakfast.

House cured salmon, beetroot relish, horseradish romesco, spinach, two potato rostis and two poached eggs - Tyranny of Distance, Windsor
House cured salmon, beetroot relish, horseradish romesco, spinach, two potato rostis and two poached eggs – Tyranny of Distance, Windsor

The first thing I noticed when my dish was served was the wonderful smell of fresh dill wafting up to greet me and that sent my appetite into overdrive.

I was pleasantly surprised at how thick the fillets of cured salmon were on top of the rosti as I began demolish my stack. The thick texture and rich flavour of the fish helped balanced the two dense rostis, which consisted of coarsely grated cooked potato, fried to a rich golden brown colour, and with a nice crispy crunch on the outside. The eggs were hard poached, just as I had requested when ordering and served with fresh dill. All in all, the quantities of the salmon, eggs and potato in the dish created a substantial meal.

The beetroot relish was served with one rosti, underneath the salmon, while the horseradish romesco was served with the second rosti. The romesco was creamy white in colour and had a smooth texture but I honestly couldn’t detect any horseradish in the mixture. Similarly, the beetroot was moist but its distinctive flavour and sweetness seemed to be missing. Despite this, breakfast was still delicious and extremely filling. Feeling satisfied and having enjoyed my breakfast, I was very thankful for the long walk back home.

Tyranny of Distance on Urbanspoon

Third Wave Café, Prahran

~ culinaldi ~ Leave a comment

I stumbled upon Third Wave late one Friday evening while I was half-heartedly flicking through my Urbanspoon app and wondering where I should have breakfast in the morning. I had been thinking about all the bargains I needed to grab at Aldi and at the Prahran Market so as I looked at cafés in the area, my interest was piqued when I saw a beautiful picture of cheese blintzes, just like the ones my Baba used to make.

Third Wave, Prahran
Third Wave, Prahran

Finding cafés that offer blintzes on their menu is a rare treat, so I made note of the address and set off down Chapel Street. Third Wave is located in Cato Street, a nondescript side street located near the Woolworths supermarket. With a fitness studio directly opposite, it is a unique place to find a café. It’s nice to walk in and find plenty of space and choices where to sit. The café has a living wall at one end and full length windows to the left and bright touches of orange reflected in the menus and crockery to add a bit of glamour to the industrial décor.

After eating at different cafés every Saturday morning, when you look through the menu, it almost becomes predictable and while I went with the express intent of ordering the Cherry Cheese Blintzes, it was refreshing to see such a varied menu. There was a dedicated paleo section, a number of Russian dishes and several house specialities. For five minutes, I struggled to decide with all of my favourite breakfast dishes on the menu – Should I have the ricotta pancakes with caramel sauce? Ooh, what about the creamy orange French toast? No, wait, they have house cured salmon with brioche and poached egg! But what about the blintzes? … Thankfully someone came and took my order and I managed to babble out that I would like the blintzes for breakfast.

Cherry Cheese Blintzes - Third Wave, Prahran
Cherry Cheese Blintzes – Third Wave, Prahran

The blintzes looked fabulous and were beautifully presented with a cherry sauce accompaniment. My heritage is Russian and my grandmother was an amazing cook who made fantastic blintzes with ricotta or quark cheese that she had made herself, so inevitably my mind and palate attempts to draw a comparison. The blintzes were great but nothing like my Baba’s and I paused to remind myself that this dish is its own unique offering and interpretation of a classic component of traditional Russian cuisine.

The crepes were thin and light but what was surprising was that the creamy filling was really cold inside. Usually, the cheese filling is warm – it wasn’t unpleasant, just unexpected. The filling was pink, with large chunks of fresh dark black cherries mixed throughout the cream cheese mixture. With a smooth creamy texture, the filling wasn’t sweet to taste, with the cherry sauce providing additional moisture for the crepes and a touch of natural sweetness to the filling. With two large crepe parcels filled with cream cheese, the portions are very generous, so don’t make any plans for lunch!

It’s not often that I frequent the same café but with so many delectable things on the menu, I felt obliged to return and try something else. So this morning, I struggled with the same dilemma – sweet or savoury? Pancakes or French toast or savoury with a touch of sweet Brioche? I’m a sucker for ricotta pancakes and when the menu description makes specific mention that the pancakes are very fluffy, I feel obliged to test this assertion.

Ricotta pancakes topped with salted caramel sauce, apple and vanilla ice cream - Third Wave, Prahran
Ricotta pancakes topped with salted caramel sauce, apple and vanilla ice cream – Third Wave, Prahran

I think I nearly gasped at the sheer size of this dish, with two large thick pancakes drizzled with a rich brown caramel sauce and ice cream. I will be the first to admit that these are the best ricotta pancakes that I have ever had – fluffy, with the pancake batter perfectly cooked and visible chunks of moist, thick ricotta cheese mixed throughout. The caramel sauce wasn’t too thick or sweet and my initial thought was that there may be too much sauce on the plate but the thick pancakes seemed to balance the quantity. It was nice to have a bit of crunch of pistachio with the creamy ice cream which was slowly melting into the caramel sauce. There were bite sized chunks of cooked apple, not too many portions but just enough to lend some sweetness and balance the flavours and textures. I think what I liked best about the pancakes was the slightly oily crust that had formed on the outside when cooking which was delicious. I have tasted ricotta pancakes that had a inedible burnt crust; some that were a gooey uncooked mash inside; or ones that were so thin that could have been used as a Frisbee and had a notable lack of ricotta in its substance. To my mind, it is an achievement to get all of these elements perfectly balanced so undoubtedly the best ricotta pancakes I’ve ever had the pleasure of eating.

Next week might be the third wave at Third Wave!

http://thirdwavecafe.com.au/prahran/

Third Wave on Urbanspoon

Red Robyn, Camberwell

~ culinaldi ~ Leave a comment

Next on the shortlist of cafes to visit in my temporary new location in the South Eastern suburbs of Melbourne is Red Robyn. I read an article on Red Robyn last year in The Age and had taken note of it as a place to visit. I excitedly set off from home and after a quick ten minute walk through the beautiful tree lined streets, I found it amongst a nondescript strip of older shops in Camberwell Road, away from the traffic thoroughfare of the Junction.

Walking into a large, light filled room with white walls, high ceilings, industrial design lighting and sunshine from the shop front windows, it was difficult to know where to sit as both of the main dining areas were warm and inviting.

Red Robyn predominately caters for food intolerances and allergies, therefore the menu had variety and lots of interesting combinations of food to choose from. After a couple of read throughs, it was a toss up between the Sweet Potato Rosti and the Dukkah Eggs. The Dukkah Eggs won.

Dukkah Eggs - chickpea pattie, prosciutto, poached eggs, house-dried tomatoes, labna and pepita seed dukkah - Red Robyn, Camberwell
Dukkah Eggs – chickpea pattie, prosciutto, poached eggs, house-dried tomatoes, labna and pepita seed dukkah – Red Robyn, Camberwell

The presentation of the Dukkah Eggs dish was visually spectacular. So much so, that when my breakfast arrived, a couple who had just arrived and were seated near me, were staring at my plate and both ordered the same dish.

Looks aside, there were a lot of elements on this dish with varying degrees of distinctive flavours and according to my palate, not all of them blended well together. The large chickpea pattie dominated the plate, so that was where I started. Cooked well on the outside, the chickpea mixture was tough and dry on the outer layer, with a soft and mushy centre. The pattie didn’t seem to have any particular flavour or seasoning and at one point, it reminded me of eating sawdust. The labna would have made a nice accompaniment, but it was primarily served with the cooked tomatoes on another part of the plate. The labna was tart with a sharp natural yoghurt taste but was edible when eaten with either the pattie or the tomato. I presumed the prosciutto would be cooked, but sadly no. Trust me but cold, cured salted meat with labna and cooked chickpeas isn’t a new taste sensation. The dukkah, poached eggs and tomatoes were beautifully cooked and stopped me from abandoning breakfast altogether.

Coffee though was excellent, as is the service and ambience. Though I didn’t particularly appreciate what I ordered, I am thinking of going back to try the Sweet Potato Rosti with salmon and haloumi, and I did I mention that there are three different varieties of French Toast on the menu?