It's so easy to always go to the same suburbs, take the same roads, go to the same places. But in doing that, you sometimes forget that the road goes the other way, that Fairfield is just down that way....
Brad and I ended up in Fairfield on a lovely Sunday, strolling up and down Station St scoping out our options. It's literally a 10 minute drive from my place, why haven't we come here sooner?!
During our stroll, amongst the more obvious cafes, bustling, people littered about in the sunshine, a shy green doorway and what looked like a boutique store caught my eye.
The store was called Organic Gertrude, selling absolutely everything you could ever want organic, from baby food to vitamins to fruit and vegetables and at the very back, hidden away was Gertrude's gorgeous little kitchen, or well cafe actually.
I can't quite remember how I noticed the cafe at the very back, there might have been a sign outside, or I was convinced as I peered in there was more than meets the eye. It's my inner foodie radar at work! The chalkboard menus, green walls, book shelves and dessert display just exuded the charm of being in Nan's kitchen. Quirky, but comfortable. Although a small space, the high ceilings and mirrors along one side of the room really expanded the room.
Latte as usual for Brad and a mug, not just a glass, a big, beautiful, chunky mug of chai latte, all for me! The coffee served here is fair trade organic and I'm pretty sure the chai was as well. Whilst I admit to not being completely into the organic food movement (my chai was yummy, but not overwhelmingly more so than usual), I do think fair trade is something that we should all support.
And so it came to the hardest part as usual. What to order. After uhm-ing and aah-ing and oo-ing over other people's dishes that came out (the sandwiches look absolutely giant! And very fresh) we settled on our usual favourites. Eggs.
I got the roast vegetable frittata (okay so not eggs in it's entirety, but it's still very egg-y!) with some tomato chutney on the side. The two prominent stars of the frittata were the asparagus and tomatoes, two of my favourite vegetables, so I happily ate this lovely warm dish with great relish. It was light and quite springy, and the tomato chutney was a nice little addition for a sweet tooth like me. A little less bite than I might have encountered with other chutneys in the past, but there were little raisins in it which really made it quite sweet, which I personally like as well. Maybe I'm just too easy to please. Hmmm.
Brad got the omelette, with onions and a few other things inside....I'm sorry, I thought I would remember this time! The plate was giant though, served with two pieces of crunchy toast and a generous, fresh looking salad. I had a few bites of the omelette and thought it was really lovely, again the texture was quite light and fluffy and it was hardly oily.
As I said earlier, I'm not as into the organic movement (more so because I'm lazy than anything else), but I suppose if it means we eat in season more and teach ourselves to pay more attention to what we're putting into our bodies instead of using pesticides and storing methods that allow us to produce any product under the sun at any time of the year, then it might not be such a bad thing to encourage a bit more.
And in a place this charming, how can you not want to buy everything off the shelf?! I only lament that they didn't have outside seating so that I could enjoy the sun!
Brad and I ended up in Fairfield on a lovely Sunday, strolling up and down Station St scoping out our options. It's literally a 10 minute drive from my place, why haven't we come here sooner?!
During our stroll, amongst the more obvious cafes, bustling, people littered about in the sunshine, a shy green doorway and what looked like a boutique store caught my eye.
The store was called Organic Gertrude, selling absolutely everything you could ever want organic, from baby food to vitamins to fruit and vegetables and at the very back, hidden away was Gertrude's gorgeous little kitchen, or well cafe actually.
I can't quite remember how I noticed the cafe at the very back, there might have been a sign outside, or I was convinced as I peered in there was more than meets the eye. It's my inner foodie radar at work! The chalkboard menus, green walls, book shelves and dessert display just exuded the charm of being in Nan's kitchen. Quirky, but comfortable. Although a small space, the high ceilings and mirrors along one side of the room really expanded the room.
Latte as usual for Brad and a mug, not just a glass, a big, beautiful, chunky mug of chai latte, all for me! The coffee served here is fair trade organic and I'm pretty sure the chai was as well. Whilst I admit to not being completely into the organic food movement (my chai was yummy, but not overwhelmingly more so than usual), I do think fair trade is something that we should all support.
And so it came to the hardest part as usual. What to order. After uhm-ing and aah-ing and oo-ing over other people's dishes that came out (the sandwiches look absolutely giant! And very fresh) we settled on our usual favourites. Eggs.
I got the roast vegetable frittata (okay so not eggs in it's entirety, but it's still very egg-y!) with some tomato chutney on the side. The two prominent stars of the frittata were the asparagus and tomatoes, two of my favourite vegetables, so I happily ate this lovely warm dish with great relish. It was light and quite springy, and the tomato chutney was a nice little addition for a sweet tooth like me. A little less bite than I might have encountered with other chutneys in the past, but there were little raisins in it which really made it quite sweet, which I personally like as well. Maybe I'm just too easy to please. Hmmm.
Brad got the omelette, with onions and a few other things inside....I'm sorry, I thought I would remember this time! The plate was giant though, served with two pieces of crunchy toast and a generous, fresh looking salad. I had a few bites of the omelette and thought it was really lovely, again the texture was quite light and fluffy and it was hardly oily.
As I said earlier, I'm not as into the organic movement (more so because I'm lazy than anything else), but I suppose if it means we eat in season more and teach ourselves to pay more attention to what we're putting into our bodies instead of using pesticides and storing methods that allow us to produce any product under the sun at any time of the year, then it might not be such a bad thing to encourage a bit more.
And in a place this charming, how can you not want to buy everything off the shelf?! I only lament that they didn't have outside seating so that I could enjoy the sun!
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The only organic stuff I would buy are meat and eggs. :P
ReplyDeleteThis place could be dangerous - I could end up browsing here for so long! Looks lovely, especially the omelette. I enjoy buying local, not always organic - it can be a bit $$$. I do try to get organic meat though.
ReplyDeleteHeidi xo
I went there once and the staff were up themsevles. They treated me like i was too mainstream looking to be shopping in thier store. I have never gone back. A really nice store though. The staff just put me off. Get over yourselves. I have been growing organic food on my family farm since i was a child and i don't take it upon myself to be up myself.
ReplyDelete