Sunday brought my last roller derby training for the year and also my last great excuse to catch up with my lovely friend Jade for a Sunday lunch this year.
Winter’s Cafe is a newly updated Pakington St cafe, which has fantastic seasonal menus. The crowds stream in You’ll be lucky to get a table during brunch/lunch hours on the weekend and the staff are attentive and lovely.
Being a month into our Australian summer I was excited to try the Summer Menu.
The cafe is light and welcoming, full of Christmas cheer, with their subtle but festive decorations. While perusing the menu I was taken aback by the many options that I would happy to have placed in front of me. This made making my lunch decision that hard.
Finally we both decided on our meals and ordered. The menu boasts a fantastic selection of Victorian and local wines, so a glass D’SAS Pinot Gris from the King Valley was a must.
Our meals arrive and I was overwhelmed with the selection of seafood I was confronted with. I ordered the seafood tasting plate which has smoked trout rillette, Morton Bay bug, garlic prawns and scallop ceviche with a light seasonal salad and accompaniments. I found that although there were no surprises on my plate, so it was exactly what I had ordered, that there was no reprieve from the taste of the ocean.
However each element was wonderfully cooked and dressed with perfectly paired flavours.
Jade had ordered the Rueben sandwich toasted in rye filled with corned beef, pickles, Swiss cheese, sauerkraut and mild mustard served with beer battered chips and chipotle mayo.
She said it was absolutely delicious, she loves all those strong Eastern European flavours. Although she was surprised when the sandwich came out with rocket, as there was absolutely no mention of rocket, or even lettuce on the menu and she HATES rocket! Once she’d picked it all out and removed the top of the sandwich, making it easier to tackle, she said it was wonderful.
I was definitely excited about having an after lunch cake, and these ones right in the door way are perfect from drawing that out of customers. They looked fresh and plump sitting there just waiting to be nibbled on by their ravenous customers.
We decided to order the muffin on the right, I assumed it was raspberry and white chocolate and no one told us otherwise, so we ordered it. After a few bites of this delicious muffin we realised that it was actually strawberry, apple and white chocolate.
Any lunch with Jade is an enjoyable one, but the food really topped this one off. It was delicious and I’ve got my eye on a couple of other things on the menu, particularly some of the breakfasts!
Have you ever found that something you ordered came out, and wasn’t what was described on the menu?
That sandwich looks absolutely delicious! I think it might be one I will try and re-create, thanks for the inspiration!
Zoe xx
Yeah Jade said it was great. Absolutely give the recreation a go!
That muffin looks absolutely delicious. Yum!
The muffin was sooo good!
I seriously love your posts.
and your pictures are amazing. by the sounds of it the food was delicious but I think you could make just about anything look good!
Thanks Meg, what a lovely comment!
Omg you make me so so hungry. Australia you say 😉 Nom nom nom! Bring on the Aussie Christmas. So hot..a rgh!
Yep, gotta love an Aussie Christmas.
A seafood tasting plate is the way to go. A little lobster would have topped it off. How can your friend not like rocket – it’s my favourite salad green. Each to their own though.
The tasting plate was divine!
How cheeky to lure people in with the cakes at the front. I would have been tempted by them too.
I’m tempted by them every time!
Re your question yes! And I know sometimes the list of items on a menu can be really long but when there’s a big ingredient and it isn’t mentioned then I wonder if they get many returned meals-luckily the rocket can be removed but sometimes people can be allergic to things. I also think substitutions should be mentioned too. I dislike pink grapefruit but they once replaced mango for that and I wasn’t really thrilled at all.
It’s tough, we were talking about it yesterday and some people said that you can only list so many things, others were saying that everything should be on there as you should be expected to list all the things you don’t like/are allergic to every time you order something.
What a feast- gotta love Morton Bay bugs.
I do love Morton Bay Bugs, they were absolutely delicious.
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What an interesting place, food sounds intriguing!
The food is delicious, I’m always to excited to try their new menu at the beginning of each season.
What a lovely looking place and that seafood platter looks amazing. xx
The seafood platter is delicious.
That seafood tasting plate looks ah-mazing! The strawberry, apple and white chocolate combo sounds delish too xx
The seafood plate was divine! And I’d never thought to put all of those different things together in a muffin, but now I might have to give it a go. Thanks for stopping by Rhi!
Everything here looks very good and how lovely to have a girlie lunch with a special friend xx
The food was delicious, I can’t wait to get back there for the next season menu!
Sadly I have often ordered a dish and it come out completely different to what is expected. It is even worse when it is a dish that you expect to be a certain way as it is a classic. Love how they have the muffins and cakes there to tease you in to buying them, they look great.
We were definitely lured in with the muffins, and you can’t help but to buy one when they’re right in front of you! It’s such a shame when they alter classics without mentioning it on their menu!
What a beautiful looking cafe. Also, I am a little bit impressed that you do roller derby. It’s something I’d love to get into, but I’m such a wimp, I’m afraid of the bumps and bruises!
There’s not as many bumps and bruises as you think, well not yet anyway 🙂
Looks really delish I am still trying to find a perfect cafe in Toowoomba! In March we are heading to Melbourne for a week over eating! Can you recommend some awesome places to try if you ever frequent Melbourne city area?
xo Emilie @ Hungry Delights
I’ll be happy to share some ideas with you, I’ll shoot you an email with a couple of ideas.