Thursday 13 February 2014

East Elevation: East Brunswick

UPDATE: East Elevation is now closed (2021)

Over the past few months I have been to a few cafes that have impressed me but my favourite has to be East Elevation.  It has an innovative menu, great food and a relaxing huge warehouse space.

From the road the grey building looks unassuming, even with its red door.  The light filled space is a surprise upon entering.  The combination of skylights and high ceilings works brilliantly.  The distressed brick walls and exposed rafters remind us of the warehouse origins.  Yet the foilage and flowers add a welcoming splash of colour.  I particularly like the terrariums.  They remind me of primary school projects.  These plants growing in jars are the sort of quirky retro touch that makes the space delightful.

I first went to East Elevation late last year with my friend Junko.  We both had the Quesadilla off the specials board.  It came with gooey mozzarella inside and on the side was  black beans, corn, chillies, guacamole, a radish garnish and a lime wedge.  It was excellent.  The radishes were a revelation for me and the chillies were more tasty than spicy.

I was so enthused by the place that I went back about a week later with E and Sylvia for brunch.  When we arrived on a Saturday morning when the place was full.  We were able to put our names on a waiting list, play for 20 minutes at the park and return to a seat.  I had the full vegie breakfast, E had the full breakfast, and Sylvia had the crepes with lemon and sugar. 

My plate was filled with sourdough toast, spicy beans, oven dried tomatoes, avocado, and sauteed spinach.  Best of all I could choose to replace the eggs with chipotle tempeh.  Oh joyous day!  The tempeh wasn't quite as crispy as I would have liked but good egg substitutes are always very welcome.  The toast was thick and dense in a satisfying way, the bake beans were home made and nicely saucy, the avocado was creamy and the tomatoes were grilled perfectly so they fell apart oozing juices at the touch of a fork.  E enjoyed his breakfast and found it very filling.  Sylvia was more interested in playing with her food.

This week I went there with my mum to share the Chocolate fondue with fruit, toast (brioche), brownies and more chocolate.  You might notice that there are no brownies on our platter above.  It was only halfway through that we started to wonder about the brownies.  I asked and we were given them with apologies.

The dark chocolate fondue was amazingly good.  (Milk chocolate is also an option.)  So it ought to be given that East Elevation houses the chocolate makers Monsieur Truffle (or does Monsieur Truffle house East Elevation?)  Once we had run out of things to dip we had a spoonful or two off the spoon.  The brownies were gooey and intense.  One for chocolate lovers!

It was a good idea to just have the chocolate fondue platter because on my other visits I have been too full to try it.  Of course that doesn't stop me perusing the cakes and maybe taking home a jam filled lamington.

The service is always pleasant and accommodating, even if the staff forget the occasional brownie.  I can understand why people take in their laptops to while away the time, why my sister on her visit from Ireland went to East Elevation twice, and why the Herald Sun has written up the "industrial chic" on the weekend in glowing terms.  Cindy and Michael have recently written about the good news that East Elevation now offers dinner.  It is on my list of places to visit in the evening.  Definitely! Any excuse to return is welcome.

UPDATE: East Elevation is now closed (2021)


East Elevation
351 Lygon Street
Brunswick East
03 9381 5575
http://eastelevation.com.au/ 

East Elevation on Urbanspoon

13 comments:

  1. This looks amazing!! I love it when a restaurant has really interesting exciting veg options!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Someone should give those distressed walls a hug.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm in love with this place just on sight. What a great atmosphere and very well done decoration - and any place that lets you sub in tempeh for eggs wins with me! The chocolate platter sounds delicious too.

    ReplyDelete
  4. It looks like it ticks so many boxes for food and decor! :D

    ReplyDelete
  5. You know how fond I am of this place! I only wish I had room for their chocolate treats and drinks more often.

    ReplyDelete
  6. It all looks amazing, but I especially want to try the baked beans - I love baked beans, and have wanted to tyr making my own for ages and havne;t gotten aorund to it. The chocolate platter also looks fab - I can understand why it should be tackled as a stand alone. Have a great weekend.

    ReplyDelete
  7. If you keep tempting me with food posts like this, Johanna, you may just find me knocking on your door! I adore out of the way places that are unassuming. They usually have so much more to offer than alluring pomp and glam!

    Thank you so much for sharing, Johanna...oh how I adore a good fondue too!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I love the look of the restaurant. And that fondue looks wonderful. I would have ordered the dark chocolate too. I would love to visit! xx

    ReplyDelete
  9. Oh, that looks fantastic! One of my workmates is always raving about this place, but I've never made it there. I'm not totally sure what's vegan, but that breakfast with the tempeh looks really tempting - as you say, a good egg substitute is always welcome - and tempeh is welcome anytime.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Linda, they are very vegan friendly - I am sure the tempeh is vegan - Where's the Beef have reviewed them a few times and talked more about their vegan food so check their posts out.

      Delete
  10. That breakfast plate with tempeh and beans looks so good!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Sounds great, will definitely give them another go, I;m not vegan but I don't eat eggs so I always welcome non-egg options like tempeh!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for dropping by. I love hearing from you. Please share your thoughts and questions. Annoyingly the spammers are bombarding me so I have turned on the pesky captcha code (refresh to find an easy one if you don't like the first one)