Wednesday, 11 July 2007

Full Moon Cupcakes

I have a newfound love of cupcakes – blame it on blogging, on my sister’s wedding cake plans, on baking for kids! So I have enjoyed hours in bookshops browsing through cupcake books. There are lots out there. Then I tried to convince myself I should plough through all the muffin recipes I have. But I kept dreaming of owning one book – Cupcakes Galore by Gail Wagman.

Cupcakes Galore isn’t just a recipe book. It is also a picture book. It is written by an American in the South of France – I imagine her in some rustic peasant kitchen pulling trays of cupcakes out of a woodstove and placing them on a wooden table which groans under bowls of pink and green and blue icing, and the piles of decorations. Where else would she take her enticing photos of pretty cupcakes topped with swirls of frosting, sprinkles, nuts and fruit? The recipe imitate all manner of food and drink: like root beer, margaritas, soda bread, cheesecake, tiramisu. Her creativity knows no bounds and she even suggests the recipes can be made as a large cake too. It is fun, playful, even a little crazy! I had to have it. The child inside me demanded it and I couldn’t say no!

I love perusing its mouthwatering recipes. But a few weeks have passed since my purchase without me actually using the recipes. So when my friend Jane, with two 4 year olds, invited me for dinner, I said I would make cupcakes. It was exactly the motivation I needed.

E and I were out in the afternoon so I didn’t have much time for baking but cupcakes seem a lot quicker than a big cake. I have been hankering after some of the cupcakes with cream cheese in them. So I chose a recipe called midnight madness. A dollop of cheesecake-like mixture is dropped into the cake mixture. Then they are iced with black icing and little stars and moon decorations. I didn’t have time for icing them and they tasted so good without icing I think maybe they should be renamed full moon cakes. (Isn’t it the full moon that creates midnight madness after all?) And if you were curious, the choc chips must be craters in the moon!

I made 12 rather than 20 because it seemed quicker to put them all in one muffin tin – so they were larger and maybe more ‘muffin’ chunky than ‘cupcake’ delicate. There may be some who challenge the ‘cupcake’ nomenclemature (but would that mean muffins are made by busy people who don’t own enough cupcake trays?)

They were only a few hours out of the oven when we ate them at Jane and Andrew’s. Their children, Lachlan and Laura, sampled them first before bed. I wasn’t offended that they didn’t eat the whole cupcakes. Instead, knowing how fussy kids are, I was gratified that they ate any. They ate mostly the cheesecake part which when fresh tasted almost like a frosting. I think I fooled them. Then Jane and Andrew and I ate them by candlelight accompanied by a fine red wine, in a more adult way, once the kids were in bed.

Full Moon/Midnight Madness Cupcakes
(from Cupcakes Galore)

185g (approx 1¼ cups) flour
150g (just under a cup lightly packed) soft light brown sugar
35g cocoa (I just did a few tablespoons)
2 tsp baking powder
Pinch salt
180ml water
60ml (¼ cup) vegetable oil
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract

Filling:
240g cream cheese
65g (just under ⅓ cup) sugar
1 egg
Pinch salt
1 tbsp rum or brandy (optional – I didn’t use)
120g chocolate chips

- Preheat oven to 180C.

- Make filling first by beating together cream cheese, sugar, egg, salt and booze (if using) til smooth. I did it by hand but use electric beaters if you have the energy and equipment. Then stir in choc chips.

- To make cupcake mixture, mix wet ingredients and add dry ingredients. Stir til combined.

- Spoon cupcake mixture into cupcake papers and half fill papers. Place a heaped teaspoon of cream cheese mixture on top of each cupcake.

- Bake 15-25 minutes til firm. The recipe should make 20 cupcakes. I made 12 muffin size ones and baked them about 25-30 minutes. Mine were just starting to go golden brown when I took them out. The cream cheese filling is very soft when it comes out. Cool at least an hour before eating.

- If you want to decorate with black frosting and silver balls and banana shaped sweets you will turn these from full moon cupcakes to midnight madness cupcakes. But I think they are best eaten slightly warm without frosting.

On the stereo:
Barricades and Brick Walls: Kasey Chambers

Sunday, 8 July 2007

Lemon Yoghurt Cupcakes - an accidental experiment

Yesterday – Saturday morning I was up early for the beginning of a busy baking weekend, and thought it would be easy to whip up a quick batch of cupcakes before breakfast. The recipe looked easy enough to do in my sleep which is my usual state before breakfast. I don’t usually bake before breakfast but it was my crazy way of trying to make it seem quick and effortless because breakfast is one of the earliest things I do in the day.

There was some method in my madness. I wanted to test a new mini-muffin pan, but more importantly to try out substituting a new branch of gluten free flour I had bought the previous week. My sister and I were holding a gluten free morning tea the next day and I wanted to check this flour could be substituted easily.

When my niece Grace was originally tested positive as celiac, I bought some freedom foods gluten free flour mix which had the squeaky consistency of cornflour and when I substituted it for wheat flour it was sorely disappointing. But my mum had been having great luck with substituting her flour so I decided it was time to try a different brand. I bought Casalare at the health food store and wanted to test it on my cupcakes.

After putting mixture into new mini-muffins pan I realised I had forgotten to add the bicarbonate soda – you might call it a mistake or an accidental experiment. I once put a cake in the oven and remembered I had forgot to add the sugar – when I tipped mixture back into a mixing bowl and added sugar, I was amazed at how the texture changed into a more gooey mixture.

Luckily yesterday I had another batch to put in the oven and was fascinated to see the difference that bicarb soda makes. The first batch didn’t change shape or texture as much or turn golden. Whereas the second batch were a lot more cake-like. The texture had a proper crumb and they rounded out as they rose and went golden brown.

I hope not to do this again but am sort of glad I did as it was interesting. It has made me realize that even a tiny bit of bicarb soda does a lot more than make cakes rise. (Oh, and the Casalare gluten free flour was much better)

Lemon Yoghurt Cupcakes
(from Wiltshire mini-muffin pan packaging)
makes 24 mini muffins

90g butter
100g castor sugar
1 egg
135g plain flour
¼ tsp bicarb
60g plain yoghurt (I did 60ml – is that the same?)
Zest of one lemon
25ml lemon juice

Preheat oven to 180 C. The recipe says to use electric beaters but I just used a metal spoon. Beat butter and sugar til creamy. Then add egg and beat well. Add remaining ingredients. Spoon into mini-muffin moulds and bake 10 minutes (it says 6-8 minutes in the recipe). Cool on a wire rack.

On the stereo
The Jarvis Cocker Record: Jarvis Cocker

PPN#20: Cultures, traditions and macaroni cheese

When thinking through recipes for Independence Day on Wednesday this week, I almost did macaroni cheese, but I felt I had already made one version of macaroni cheese on Sunday and Mexicale Pie was much easier. One of my ‘consultants’ on American food told me macaroni cheese was not a particularly American dish.

The Old Foodie wrote an interesting post on 4 July this year wrote of a book of choice recipes published in 1883 by a Ladies’ Aid Society from California which included a poem on food. The first lines were ‘Grate Gruyere’s cheese on macaroni, Make the top crisp, but not too bony.’ Very amusing – and I’m sure we all have had bony macaroni. Wiki talks of legends about Thomas Jefferson inventing it. So it has long been part of American culture.

But pasta came from Italy originally, and Wiki refers to the similarity to cauliflower cheese from Britain. Not only has the dish fused different cultures but it is part of many cultures. Wiki suggests it is common in British, American and Canadian cultures. I can vouch for it being fairly common here – or once was. But I was interested to find a mention of it on The Old Foodie’s blog. I love

The macaroni cheese that I remember is the one my brother Paul once made me while living with us. It has a thick cheesy almost yellow sauce which seemed more like melted cheese than a milky sauce – and most excellent it was. I have never been as bold as he with the grated cheese but it worked. Mollie Katzen has a recipe for a less traditional macaroni cheese that caught my eye. Interestingly, she describes this one as being in a Russian style.

I’d actually bought the ingredients to make Mollie’s recipe, so was keen to make her ‘lite’ macaroni cheese with cottage cheese, cabbage and caraway seeds. But then I decided my leftover roast pumpkin would be good and that if I made Vegan with a Vengeance’s facon (fake bacon) that it would be interesting to put it in a mac cheese, given that it is traditional to add bacon. Then I got nervous about the facon spoiling it if it wasn’t right. I had so many vegetables I decided to do two versions and put most of it in the freezer for later.

The Russian macaroni cheese was indeed light and given a distinctively eastern European flavour by the caraway seeds. The cheese didn’t come through very strongly, even though I put extra cheese – I had been about to put it in the oven completed with cheese sprinkled on top which I realised I hadn’t added the macaroni. So I added the macaroni and more cheese on top. This one was a little watery and would possibly reduce the cottage cheese or buttermilk next time.

The pumpkin and facon macaroni cheese (which used up leftover cream) was much more creamy and rich. The pumpkin was so well cooked it melted into the sauce but it added to the creamy taste and gave a lovely orange colour. It had a more traditional Italian taste with rosemary added but also pleased me because it echoed the tastes of a traditional Australian roast dinner with rosemary and pumpkin. The facon wasn’t as crispy as I would have hoped – maybe nutroast would be better and then it would truly feel like roast dinner macaroni and cheese (echoing cauliflower cheese too of course). This might be a great way to use up leftovers from my next roast.

I am sending both these macaroni cheeses to Ruth at Once Upon a Feast for Presto Pasta Nights.

Russian Lite Macaroni Cheese
(adapted from The New Revised Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen)
Serve 6

2 cups (250g) uncooked macaroni
15g butter
½ onion
1 clove garlic, crushed
200g mushrooms sliced
¼ cabbage shredded and chopped
1 -2 medium carrots, grated
50g baby spinach
Good pinch of salt
½ tsp caraway seeds
1 cup cottage cheese
1 cup buttermilk (less might be better)
1 tsp dried dill (or 1 tbsp fresh dill)
1 cup tasty cheese
Handful sunflower seeds and poppy seeds

Cook pasta according to packet instructions. Fry onions in butter for about 5 minutes in a large saucepan. Add garlic, mushrooms, cabbage and carrot. Cover and cook over medium approximately 10 minutes or til cabbage tender. Turn off heat and add spinach and stir til wilted. Add salt, caraway, cottage cheese, buttermilk, dill and cooked pasta. Sprinkle with cheese, sunflower seeds and poppy seeds. Bake in moderate high oven approximately 40 minutes or til crisp on top.

Creamy Pumpkin Macaroni Cheese
Serve 6

2 cups (250g) uncooked macaroni
15g butter
½ onion
1 clove garlic, crushed
200g mushrooms sliced
150g facon (or nutroast or bacon)
Approximately 400g pumpkin, roasted with skin on and chopped
Good pinch of salt
1 tsp rosemary
50g baby spinach, chopped roughly
1 cup cottage cheese
150ml cream (I used 45%)
1 tsp chilli paste
Handful cheese, sesame seeds and breadcrumbs

Cook pasta according to packet instructions. Fry onions in butter for about 5 minutes in a large saucepan. Add garlic and mushrooms. Cook about 10 minutes or until mushrooms just cooked. Turn off heat. Add facon, pumpkin, salt, rosemary, spinach, cottage cheese, cream, and cooked pasta. Sprinkle with cheese, sesame seeds and breadcrumbs. Bake in moderate high oven approximately 40 minutes or til crisp on top.

On the stereo:
Picaresque: The Decemberists:

Friday, 6 July 2007

Mexicale Pie - an old favourite

This year I thought a lot about what to cook for Independence Day (Wednesday 4 July) because my friend Heather was coming to dinner! But I was stumped. I have had a few discussions about what is a quintessentially American dish. Quite a few people said burger and fries, but I didn't think this was a meal I would serve to a friend. Yarrow wisely advised that cuisines often are regional rather than national in the USA, reflecting the country's diversity.

When I think USA, I think of New World food such as turkey, sweet potato, corn, cranberries. I think of regional food like burritos in Texas, raw food in Los Angelos, soup in sourdough bread bowls in San Francisco, pizza in New York, gumbo in New Orleans. I think of food I don’t usually eat like hot dogs, pretzels, and grits. I think that America, much like Australia, has absorbed many cuisines into its culture.

Plus, of course, I needed to find a vegetarian dish. Finally I reverted to a favourite recipe of mine which is hearty and comforting food for winter. Mexicale Pie with Cornmeal Dumplings. My discussions with Americans about Mexican food make me a little wary of calling it Mexican cuisine but it fits my image of Mexican food. And it has cornmeal and corn. So it seemed about as close as I could get to American food. Thankfully dessert wasn’t as challenging – see my peanut butter brownies.

I am sorry to say I don’t know the source but it is a recipe from an Australian diabetes cookbook I have taken out of the library a couple of times (next time I promise I will write the reference). But I have made this recipe many times. However, my blogging has suddenly filled my pantry with more variety of ingredients so that on Wednesday, I was able to follow the recipe rather substituting soy sauce for Worcestershire sauce and cumin for allspice.

Mexicale Pie is a no fuss chilli non carne baked with cheesy cornmeal dumplings on top. The dumplings soak up liquid from the vegetable mixture so the tomato sauce thickens and the dumplings are fluffy and yellow underneath their golden crust. I have seen many versions of this pie but this is my first love and I am loyal to it because I know I can trust it. I still am filled with delight every time I make it. I’ve made some slight adaptions to the recipe but I recommend it to y’all.

Mexicale Pie with Cornmeal Dumplings
Serve 4

2 tsp oil
1 finely chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 medium zucchinis, diced (or green capsicums)
2 tbsp tomato paste
440g can of tomatoes, chopped
440g corn kernels, drained
440g kidney beans, drained
½ tsp allspice
1 tsp chilli powder (I use chilli paste)
1-3 bayleaves
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce (oops I used 2 tbsp but wasn’t too spicy)
½ cup water

Cornmeal dumpling mixture:
1 cup wholemeal flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal (polenta)
2 tsp baking powder
¾ cup low fat milk (I used whole fat milk)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup low fat grated tasty cheese (I used whole fat cheese)
2 tbsp chopped chives (I used parsley)

Fry onion in oil for approximately 3 minutes in a medium-to-large saucepan (I have a great saucepan I can remove the handle from and put in the oven which I use). Add remaining ingredients (except cornmeal dumpling ingredients of course) and stir. Bring to the boil and simmer uncovered for 15 minutes.  Remove bay leaves and discard.  If your saucepan is not ovenproof transfer to a medium to large casserole dish.

While the vegetable mixture is simmering, make the cornmeal dumplings by combining all ingredients. Drop spoonfuls of cornmeal dumpling mixture on top of vegetable mixture – it should cover the vegetable mixture.

Bake uncovered for 10 minutes at 200ºC. Then reduce heat to 180ºC and bake a further 30 minutes. Serve hot.

Update: July 2013.   I have rephotographed this dish, because when I first posted this the photos didn't do it justice.  The very bottom photo is from the original set of photos.  I have also edited the recipe.

On the Stereo:
This is Hardcore: Pulp

Thursday, 5 July 2007

Peanut Butter Brownies


Last night my friend, Heather, visited for dinner and I wanted to make something American as a nod to it being Independence Day in the USA. I struggled to think of an American main course (stay tuned for my solution) but found it much easier to think of American desserts: pumpkin pie, boston bun, brownies.

I have long had my eye on a Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownie recipe from Tara at Should You Eat That . Peanut butter in sweet food seems particularly American to me, as do brownies.

I have a particular love of peanut butter. As an adult student I shared a house with a sister of a primary school best friend. She told me they always had to have peanut butter in their house for me. Peanut stew, peanut sauce, peanut butter sandwiches. I love them all, and wish it wasn't so rich and calorie-ladden or I would eat them even more. I don't often cook with it in sweet food. But here was the perfect opportunity, thanks to Uncle Sam for the excuse. Of course it had to be with chocolate.

I looked for other brownie recipes with peanut butter in them and was overwhelmed, but I stuck with this recipe because it made a small amount, didn’t have many eggs, and I liked the idea of swirling peanut butter in brownie mixture in the baking tin.

I put them in the oven before I started on main course so they wouldn’t be too tongue-burning hot when we ate them after dinner. They were quite crumbly when I cut them hot. I had baking paper hanging over the edges and so we got them out of the tin using the paper (it took Heather and me each holding a side of overhanging paper to heave the brownie slab onto the wire rack still on the paper). They actually seemed to cut better once they cooled for a few hours.

The swirly peanut butter on top made an impressive marbled effect. The bottom was lovely rich chewy chocolate. I had thought it a bit odd that it used plain flour and no rising agent but this was not a problem. The main concern last night was that I found them a little crumbly on top where the peanut butter had been swirled, and you could taste the savouriness where it wasn’t quite mixed in. I wondered if this was because the peanut butter was an unadulterated one made with just peanuts rather than being full of oil, salt and sugar. Or maybe I had left them in a little long? Or maybe it was because I put in half a cup of peanut butter rather than three-quarters of a cup? Paranoia is so easy with a new recipe.

However tonight the peanut seemed to have fused with the chocolate mixture and they were chewy chocolate all through with a crunchy peanutty top. So I think they are better if they sit for a day. This will be a hard recipe to make for me because I like my baking fresh and warm from the oven but I think these are worth the wait. I would like to try a few more of the peanut butter brownie recipes I found, but I hope I will be making these again.

Peanut Butter Topped Chocolate Brownies
(From Australian Good Taste Magazine via Should You Eat That)
Makes 12-18

150g dark chocolate, chopped
100g unsalted butter
2 eggs, lightly beaten
215g (1 cup) caster sugar
75g (½ cup) plain flour
2 tbsp cocoa powder
200g (¾ cup) crunchy peanut butter (I used ½ cup)

1. Preheat oven to 160ºC and line the base of a 16 x 26cm slice tin with baking paper. Let the paper hang over the ends so it is easier to get the brownies out once they are cooked.

2. Melt chocolate and butter in a medium-to-large mixing bowl. Microwave a minute. Stir. Then microwave in 15 or 30 second bursts til just melted. Stir til smooth. Add eggs and sugar to the chocolate mixture, and give a brief stir. Add plain flour & cocoa powder and stir until just combined (don't overmix). It makes quite a stiff batter.

3. Spoon mixture into prepared pan. Spoon peanut butter in dollops over the brownie mixture and create marbled swirls with the blade of a knife, a skewer or your fingertips.

4. Bake the mixture for 35-40 minutes. It is ok if slightly undercooked. Cool slightly before removing from pan. I think it would probably be ok to cool completely in pan and then cut but I would have to try this to be sure.

On the Stereo:
Songs from the South: Paul Kelly’s Greatest Hits: Paul Kelly

Wednesday, 4 July 2007

Lentil as Anything: saloon without a spoon

Last night I went to Lentil as Anything in Brunswick with E and Will. It’s a vegetarian café on my way home and has an interesting philosophy of no fixed prices which always makes visits there interesting when it comes to paying the bill.

It is run by Shanaka Fernando who won the 2007 Australian of the Year award as a social challenger. He describes the restaurant as a not-for-profit incorporated organisation that celebrates ‘compassion, individuality and artistic expression’ and ‘challenges and defies our money driven consumerist society'. Check out the lentil as anything website at the end of this post for more information.

It always feels like a welcoming place, a tad eccentric with a raggle taggle bunch of staff who can be seen working away through a little window. It is actually located in a bar called the Spot which is dimly lit and decorated with swirly orange lines and lampshades reminiscent of the Groovy Guru (for Get Smart fans). I have also been the Abbotsford Convent one which is in the beautiful old convent building and has grounds to walk off lunch or to run about with kids.

But when we went there last night there were changes. Lentil as Anything is now vegan. And my favourite roti bread was off the menu. I asked what happened to the roti and our waitress told us that the roti was actually fried puff pastry and they made a decision to buy Turkish bread from a local bakery. That makes sense, as they are in a street renown for the middle eastern shops and cafes.

So we started with the Turkish bread and dips. I missed my roti but I did enjoy the Turkish bread. It was soft and warm. The three dips also were good: smoked eggplant, peanut and spinach. Different to the usual dips served with Turkish bread and a good combination of flavours and textures.

For the main E and I chose the curry platter for two, and Will decided to try the Sri Lankan Beetroot Curry. The curry platter comes on a huge rectangular plate and we asked for a spoon to serve it on to our individual plates. The waitress said they had no spoons. When I pressed her into even bringing out a dessert spoon she said the kitchen had no spoons. E was very inconvenienced at having to serve with a fork. I was gobsmacked that any kitchen can not have spoons. Inconceivable!

So we scooped up our curries as best we could. One of the great things about the curry platter is that there is such a great variety of curries. I hate being in an Indian restaurant and having to choose either a curry with only one or two vegetables. One our platter we had dahl, a tomato, green bean and cauliflower curry, pumpkin curry, green salad, eggplant masala, and a pilau rice with peas. Plus Turkish bread. A veritable feast.

When helping mop up some of our curry, Will commented that the pumpkin curry had peanuts in it. If I’d had a spoon I might have been able to scoop up so sauce rather than just the large chunks of pumpkin (which I think weren’t cooked enough to justify leaving the skin on but they get away with it). I also don’t think green salad seems right with a curry. But I love the eggplant masala. It is small chunks of eggplant fried or roasted til they become dark chewy spicy morsels. The Turkish bread was good but I missed the roti to mop up the curries. And they curries left a pleasant spicy heat in my mouth.

The other change which was slightly confronting was the disappearance of the honesty box. On previous visits, there has been a box where you put the money you think your meal was worth. Last night we were given a plate to put the money in on the table. Is this a way of shaming those who abuse the system? I don’t know but it felt a little less friendly but they are nice people so we put our money on the plate. No fixed prices is a strange system. It means that there is no guide as to meal sizes and that at the end of the meal there is the discussion about prices. I wont tell you what we paid but I think it was fair. But we speculated on bringing a handful of spoons next time instead of money – I think they need them more than cash.

Of course, a lack of dessert spoons had warned us not to expect dessert. Will was not keen on soy cappuccino. I was full up but happy to wander off down Sydney Road in search of sweet treats.

Update 2009 - Lentil as Anything in Brunswick closed last year - seems people want a spoon with their dinner - but you can still find it at the Abbotsford Convent and possibly other spots in Melbourne. Check the Lentil as Anything website.

Lentil as Anything:
BRUNSWICK @ the spot
133 Sydney Rd, Brunswick (junction with Union st)
Open 5pm - 10pm monday - Thursday, Friday - Sunday 12pm - 10pm
Tel: 03 9388 0222
email: brunswick@lentilasanything.com
http://www.lentilasanything.com/

Tuesday, 3 July 2007

Green Refectory Café: cakes galore

 
 A café called Green with a distressed green wall and a big distressed green table and wonderful swirly green patterns on the wall. Plus lots of wood and lots of cake that remind me of childhood treats. What’s not to like? (Above is updated photo of a wonderful chocolate muffin in 2015)

Enter the Green Refectory Café and you will see plates of lemon slice and hedgehog. Along the top of the counter are more plates of cake – orange poppy seed and lemon yoghurt. Then at the end of the counter is a display cabinet full of cake: passionfruit sponge, jelly cakes, strawberry sponge, vanilla slices, carrot cake, and three cheesecakes. This is a place that is serious about its cakes.

I had my heart set on the rhubarb cheesecake and tried to convince E to share it but he wasn’t convinced. Instead he chose the carrot cake and was most displeased that it wasn’t as light as the carrot cakes he had had in Scotland. But my cheesecake was fantastic. It was a dense baked cheesecake with a dark crumbly crust with a cinnamon scent and lovely rosy pink stewed rhubarb on top. If only I hadn’t been so full from dinner at nearby Lentil as Anything, I might have enjoyed it more. But I made a decent effort and then E and Will happily polished it off between them.
 
Will had the passionfruit sponge which had a deadly amount of cream sandwiching the sponges together. He got his cappuccino too. I had peppermint tea and was pleased to see it was loose leaf. Another plus.

Above is a satisfying bean, mushroom and feta pie that I had in 2014.  As well as the pie, I have really enjoyed their vegan sausage rolls that can be found at the cafe or the sister Green Refectory pop up cafe down the road in 2015 (Updated 2015.  Update from 2018 the pop up cafe is closed bu the vegan sausage rolls still sold at the main store.)

My one complaint is the difficulty in finding the name of the cafe. For ages I thought it must have been called Illy because there is a big Illy sign, but that is just a brand of coffee. There is a little box in the window with ‘Green’ written on it. But when I searched the web, I found it is called The Green Refectory.

I like the ambience of the Green Refectory Café. As well as a newspaper on our table there was a kids story book about a little bear. It is old terrace house with modern chandelier and fireplace. The decor is very funky retro with simple brick walls, warm greens and an odd assortment of wooden furniture. It wasn’t as busy as when I have been there for brunch but it still felt welcoming on a cold wet night.

Green Refectory Cafe
115 Sydney Road
BRUNSWICK 3056
Melway Map Ref: 29 G9
03 9387 1150

Update 2015: I have updated the photos with one of a muffin and a pie.  I have left the original photos in the post but, as they were taken within a couple of months of starting this blog, their quality is less impressive.