Friday, June 14, 2013

New cafe love - Form and Grandpa Joe

P1080951

A couple of new cafes for your westside brunching pleasure.  Introducing Form - a gorgeous space that opened in west Essendon last December, barely a stone's throw from the Brunswick border.

P1080947

Coffee is by Campos and it is excellent.  The guys behind Form have a connection to Ray's in Brunswick, which by my memory at least was one of Melbourne's first "very Melbourne" cafes (no obvious name, kinda hidden, great coffee, all that good stuff).

P1080954

The food is also standout.  The menu has a gentle Scottish lilt, what with "tatties" and a cheese n' onion square.  Somewhat controversially, it's served on paper plates.  Apparently an environmental costing was done and it was more energy efficient/sustainable etc to buy and recycle these than wash plates.

 P1080962

All plates and food scraps go to the local school or community centre for their garden.  I'm not sure what I think of this - I'm sure it does save water in the long run as they claim but it still feels counter-intuitive to this hippy chick.  Anyway, there wouldn't have been much of this gorgeous, not-too-sweet brioche with ricotta, honey and pistachios to wash up after I was done with it.

P1090270

Not far away in Ascot Vale, Grandpa Joe has just opened and it seems this senior cit is a pretty cool customer.

P1090258

There's a good range of coffee choices, with a choice of Five Senses or a single origin coming through a shiny silver Synesso, plus aeropress or cold drip filter brews.

P1090266

I enjoyed this vegetable piadina, stuffed with goats cheese, rocket and roast veg.

P1090265

My friend pronounced his pumpkin and honey soup quite fine - not mindblowing but nice all the same.

P1090271

Go have a roam around Union Road when you're done - there's a great greengrocer a few doors down (The Happy Apple) and a proper butcher (Ascot Vale Meat Supply - great rump steaks).  The Brotherhood op shop up on Maribyrnong Road is always good for a rummage.  Last time I was there (a while ago now), they had loads of pseudo-baroque furniture.  Turns out it had come from Tuppence Moran's house!

Form Cafe on Urbanspoon

Grandpa Joe on Urbanspoon

Form Cafe (Facebook)
32 Albion St, Essendon
Phone: 9375 3232

Grandpa Joe (Facebook)
197 Union Road, Ascot Vale
Phone: 9078 0595

5 comments:

  1. I love the sustainable plates concept!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sorry but this is so very un-footscray and so wannabe brunswick st circa 1988 - yawn. Mostly I love your blog ... Marian

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 1988? You must have been at some cooler places than me. Sorry it didn't float your boat!

      Delete
  3. west Essendon is a long way away from this part of the world!

    ReplyDelete

I love getting your comments! They're what make blogging worthwhile. Unfortunately, the amount of spam I get is obscene and it is so tiresome to have to moderate every comment, so I have had to turn on annoying word verification. I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but please know how much I love you having your say!

Related Posts with Thumbnails
Related Posts with Thumbnails