Cute, friendly and casual, The Gundary Store on Campbell Street Moruya is a great place for good coffee or a well priced and attractive breakfast (until 11am) or lunch ( from 11am).
Closed Mondays, on other days it opens early and closes mid afternoon.
Turn right at the roundabout near the Shire Council Offices.
Coal Loaders Cafe on Balls Head Road, Waverton is as good as ever.
Great view, good prices and a good menu…
including….
Coal Loaders Big Breakfast $20…
….and two eggs on sourdough toast $10 with a haloumi side $3.
Located in the Sydney Hilton Hotel, Glass has imposing presence with its vast windows overlooking the Queen Victoria Building, it’s wall of wine and massive open kitchen.
A creation of Chef Luke Mangan, the menu is modern Australian with an Asian twist that works well.
Lunch at Glass is truly a special event. The service provide by knowledgeable staff, is excellent. The decor is opulent yet relaxing.
Choosing dishes from such an inviting range can be difficult, but you can’t go wrong if you stick with the signature dishes and perhaps add those that sound too good to miss.
Great choices include:
Pork belly pancakes, cucumber, shallot, coriander & hoisin $29 ( six per serve and the pork belly is delicious)
Steamed zucchini flowers with silverbeet & feta, smoked tomato & pine nut salsa, soft herbs $28 ( three per serve)
Free range crab omelette, enoki mushroom & herb salad, miso mustard broth $29 ( the tasty broth is added hot at the table)…
Pan fried potato gnocchi, corn, asparagus, zucchini, Parmesan, lemon thyme (a bit too oily and perhaps the weakest dish in the list) Entree $27
Snapper fillet, crispy prawns, Thai salad, spicy broth $48
Torched meringue, watermelon, strawberries, raspberry & pepper sauce, sugared almonds $19
Liquorice parfait & cloud, apple, lime & tapioca $21 ( particularly wonderful is the liquorice icecream, making this the top dessert choice.)
Corn custard, blueberries, parsnip ice-cream, popcorn powder $20 (the weakest dessert choice)
Glass raspberry chocolate Violet Crumble $23 ( served with hot raspberry sauce poured at the table)
Good wine matches are:
Adelaide Hills, SA Grüner Veltliner 2015 Hahndorf Hill $ 72 bottle or $15 a glass…with “Aromatic, enticing, generous. Straw-coloured, full of apple, stone fruit and spice notes with an exotic edge of Turkish delight”
… or the richer 2013 Principia Chardonnay Mornington Pen, VIC $17 a glass with – “Aromas of fleshy white peach and citrus are intermixed with cashew and biscuit. Refined Burgundian like palate with a sense of creaminess building. Flavours of white peach, citrus and cashew are followed by subtly integrated toasty oak and spice.”
Wine by the glass is generous and works out about the sms cost as by the bottle.
If you can only order a few dishes, the very top picks are:
Pork belly pancakes, cucumber, shallot, coriander & hoisin
Snapper fillet, crispy prawns, Thai salad, spicy broth
Liquorice parfait & cloud, apple, lime & tapioca
Closely followed by the:
Free range crab omelette, enoki mushroom & herb salad, miso mustard broth and the…..
Glass raspberry chocolate Violet Crumble.
Do share dishes to try a range of different tastes and textures and to eat to your appetite. (Up to four people can share one dish, even the entrees and tapas!)
For a group of four modest appetites for lunch perhaps order one each of….
Pork belly pancakes, cucumber, shallot, coriander & hoisin
Steamed zucchini flowers with silverbeet & feta, smoked tomato & pine nut salsa, soft herbs (ask for four instead of three)
Free range crab omelette, enoki mushroom & herb salad, miso mustard broth and the…..
Snapper fillet, crispy prawns, Thai salad, spicy broth
Liquorice parfait & cloud, apple, lime & tapioca
Glass raspberry chocolate Violet Crumble
Torched meringue, watermelon, strawberries, raspberry & pepper sauce,
sugared almonds..
….and either try the Vanilla crème brûlée, macadamia biscotti $18 that gets good reviews form others or the Sticky date soufflé, butterscotch & malt ice-cream $22
(but you need to allow 20 minutes to prepare).
Do also ask for some of the very delicious Pepe Saya butter that absolutely makes the bread ( also very good in its own right)…..
Do ask for a booth or a table near the window overlooking the QVB…..
And do take a tour of the restaurant as the wine wall and open kitchen are well worth a look too.
If your budget doesn’t stretch to lunch, then coffee and dessert or a drink with a tapas, would also be delightful here.
Canberra has some great wineries offering tastings and a few also have a short menu that you can use to create a child-friendly lunch with friends.
Four Winds Vineyard is one of these, offering a choice of four great $15 nine inch pizzas from their wood-fired pizza oven on weekends.
They are served in some lovely grassy surroundings where plenty of room for children to run around safely in the summer.
In the winter the wood fire is a cozy inside spot but it may not be so good for young children.
It’s hard to know which pizza is the best…
….but perhaps the BBQ Chicken Pizza is the most memorable with BBQ sauce, chicken, red onion, gorgonzola and cheese….
….followed by the Potato Pizza with potato, onion, gorgonzola, rosemary and cheese….
….then the Salami Pizza with tomato sauce, salami, black olives and cheese….
….and finally the Caramelised Onion Pizza (the special of the month) with wilted baby spinach, caramelised onion, toasted pine nuts, balsamic vinegar and cheese.
Do try the wines and perhaps purchase a glass to go with your pizzas.
Located very close to Murrumbateman, do make sure you leave plenty of time (40 mins) to travel out from Canberra.
Wine tasting: 10am – 5pm each weekend.
Wood-fired pizzas: 12-3pm each weekend.
Not just Sutton Forest Winery and Eling Forest Winery...but lots more from Her Canberra
Spoilt for choice, it would be easy to overlook a smaller spot like Mama Buoi Vietnamese restaurant. But that would be tragic as you would miss the nostalgic, relaxed decor, the story of the family behind the restaurant,the great value but most of all the most delicious food!
Ask the staff for their recommendations as these are excellent!
The Saigon influenced duck curry is fragrant with ginger, tamarind and Vietnamese herbs in a rich flavoursome sauce with sweet potato – $18 ($3 per serve of rice).
This teams really well with the vermicelli salad with Vietnamese herbs, lemongrass pork, pork spring rolls and an incredible sauce $14.
Both are very generous and very shareable serve sizes. In fact one dish could feed 2 people with an entree, but it would be hard to miss out on these flavours. Two dishes is plenty for three people.
If you do have an entree, choose the duck pancakes $14 for two as these are very good with pineapple, picked carrots, mixed herbs and honey.
The food is so excellent you can’t bear to leave any!
Staff are friendly and welcoming and service is quick and efficient.
Eling Forest Winery is conveniently located about half way between Sydney and Canberra just before Sutton Forest/Sally’s Corner McDonalds (on the right) just off the left hand side of the freeway.
It’s the best spot on the way back from Sydney to stop for a coffee, breakfast or lunch.
It does get busy, and while it’ s nice to sit inside by the fire when it’s cold, there’s always a seat outside (nice in the good weather). If it’s busy weekend it can be worth phoning ahead to book.
Coffees are $4 ($4.50 for a mug) and there’s some gorgeous house baked treats to go with it starting from $7.50 for scones with jam and cream to $9 for a slice of cake.
Delicious Lemon and Coconut Cake with a regular and mug sized coffee.
The breakfast menu includes light items like Sour cherry toast $6.50 and eggs in various dishes from plain $12 to Moroccan eggs with beef shiploads, labneh, pancetta, sourdough and duke and lemon $16.50. It’s available *:30am-11am although the sour cherry toast can be ordered with coffee for longer.
The lunch menu changes each week based on what is seasonal.
It includes light items like toasted turkish sandwiches $13.50 to more filling options often served with salad and maybe chips/wedges $17.50-$23. They all sound delicious.
Well run, stylish and showcasing good coffee (house ground) and a passion for great food, Erling Forest Winery Cafe will be a winner, even if you just stop for something light.
Phone: (02) 4878 9155
Mon – Sat: 8am – 4:30pm,
Sun: 8am – 4pm.
cafe@elingforest.com.au
Isabella’s is a very useful spot to know about. On Alison Road, Randwick, it’s close to UNSW and to Kristina’s $104 great value airbnb apartment on Prince Street.
Open daily from 7:30am – 10pm (closed mid afternoon), it serves great value breakfast, lunches and dinners and good coffee (for $3.50).
There’s a good range of nice breakfasts from $7 including…
Melted cheese mushroom filled with caramel onion chutney served with two poached eggs and quinoa soy sourdough toast $7.
For a little more ($8.50-$9) there’s a wider range of breakfast dishes like the scrambled eggs with chilli and sambal spices served with ham on sourdough toast.
Thin based Pizzas ($10.50), Steaks $14, pastas $11, seafood $14, veal $14 and chicken $13.50 dishes are available for dinner.
BYO wine is 50 cents per person.
Service is quick and efficient.
Address: 183 Alison Road, Randwick NSW 2031
(near Belmore Road).
There’s good parking in the Council Car Park around the corner just off Belmore Street.
| Monday | 7:30 am – 3:00 pm, 4:30 – 10:00 pm |
| Tuesday | 7:30 am – 3:00 pm, 4:30 – 10:00 pm |
| Wednesday | 7:30 am – 3:00 pm, 4:30 – 10:00 pm |
| Thursday | 7:30 am – 3:00 pm, 4:30 – 10:00 pm |
| Friday | 7:30 am – 3:00 pm, 4:30 – 10:00 pm |
| Saturday | 7:30 am – 3:00 pm, 5:00 – 10:00 pm |
| Sunday | 7:30 am – 3:00 pm, 5:00 – 10:00 pm |
Located on the corner of Bourke and Thurlow Streets, Redfern East , St Jude’s is filled with quirky decor and offers an interesting menu for breakfast and lunch.
But it’s greatest assets are the house made condiments – the chutney and cherry jam is just so delicious. Once you experience it you just have to go back for more.
A great choice for two modest appetites is the poached eggs on sour dough with chutney $10.90…
and a serve of cherry toast $6…
Perfect with tea or coffee!
Open 7 dyas 7am – late afternoon
Phone: 02 93103523
Coal Loader Cafe has a gorgeous outlook over the beautiful waterways and harbour of Sydney.
It’s the perfect spot for a casual lunch or just a glass of wine and a nibble.
Well priced, with generous serve sizes, it’s great value.
The Haloumi and Hummous is lovely with Lime and can easily be shared $11.
Wine starts at $6.50 for a large 187ml serve, which although is is uniquely served in it’s own little bottle which can be a bit surprising, it’s actually a great idea if you don’t end up wanting to drink all of it at once (just hang on to the top).
The spinach and cheese filled pastry $14 looked fantastic too.
Service and hospitality is warm, friendly and unpretentious.
A newcomer to the area, it’s certain to be a popular favourite with locals.
Fine Eating 