Pope Joan

Up until early this year, I was completely oblivious to any cafes/restaurants/life around the Brunswick and Fitzroy area. It wasn't til I started working in Carlton that I began venturing into the unknown and discovering what I had been missing out on.

A good friend of mine lives on Rathdowne Street and ALWAYS knows of a cool new cafe or restaurant to visit around her neck of the woods. I had read a lot about Pope Joan, and today that's where we headed.

Apparently, Pope Joan was an intelligent medieval woman who disguised herself as man and became Pope. Bit of quirk for a cafe name but meh...what ever floats your boat.

Located in the not-so-busy part of Nicholson Street is where you'll find this place. It's quite isolated from everything else- you won't find any other cafes, shops etc- it's more of an industrial area and then BOOM...theres the cafe. The owners obviously knew what they were doing...but it certainly seems like an odd place to pop in a trendy eatery. The cafe is massive, with a huge outdoor garden area. They have even built a bar on the side (named the Bishop of Ostia) which serves drinks and nibbles later at night.

The bar (and sneaky me in the mirror oops)

The options on the menu had a ye old english trend going on, yet I was surprised not to see black pudding featured anywhere (which I wouldn't have eaten anyway if you paid me). I felt like a omelette so I ordered....the omelette.

Fetta omelette, herbs, green olive gremolata + corn bread ($17)

A bit steep for $17, and not an omelette I would travel across the city for, but still a good feed.

Mmm...donuts

So go visit Joan (or the Bishop of Ostia for a cheeky drink), have a seat out the back and breathe in all the indi-ness and chilled atmosphere Pope Joan has to offer (complete with vegie garden and deck chairs).

Pope Joan

77-79 Nicholson Street

East Brunswick

Milkwood

A friend and I found this cute little cafe by accident one morning whilst strolling around East Brunswick. Milkwood is a teeny weeny eatery on Nicholson street that offers an assortment of simple and delicious breakfast & lunch treats.

The interior is plan and simple, with old-fashioned hanging plants dangling from the high ceilings. Seating is limited and spaces are small- not ideal for big groups- but noice to meet for coffee or a feed with a buddy.

Interesting options on the specials menu

 At this stage in the morning, we popped into Milkwood just for a coffee, but couldn't resist sharing the toasted pear, fig and walnut loaf with cinnamon ricotta & honey ($9). The cinnamon ricotta was so delish spread on the toast and drizzled with honey....

I'm a big fan of chai's. Powder, syrup, spice, whatever. I would like to someday bathe in a giant pool of chai milk. Milkwood delivered a top notch chai. I was that little bit more excited when the waitress delivered my chai to see it was made with the REAL chai spices...which is my favourite. It was even enough chai to have 3-4 cups!

Sorry for the chai repetition. Chai chai chai chai chai.

Chai milk with winnie the pooh style honey twirler 

Latte

I think one of the best things about this cafe are the options available in the sweets cabinet. There was more yum scrum sweet options then you could poke a stick at. Everything was homemade too :)

Homemade monte carlos getinmybelly

They had samples of their homemade caramel slice on the counter and holy shit, it was incredible. I may have stolen a couple more pieces when the chick at the counter wasn't looking. A great little place to stop by for a coffee or snack- I highly recommend you try the sweets cabinet (or just steal lots of samples).

Milkwood

120 Nicholson Street, Brunswick East

Hellenic Republic

In one of my recent posts, I mentioned that myself and the work gang headed to Izakaya Chuji to spend this year's hard earned tips money. However, what remained untouched were the tips we received from last year- which we never got around to spending. Once it was finally organised and everyone was free, myself and 5 of my workmates thought we'd pop in to say hey to Georgey Calombaris at Hellenic Republic.

Each booking has a two hour time frame- except after 8pm. We decided to book for 8 so we wouldn't be kicked out. The place was packed and super noisy. We had an idea of how much we had to spend, and decided to go for one of the banquets. This was due to a) the menu was so delish and we couldn't decide, b) we are all big eaters and c) banquets sound fancy.

The cost per person for the 4 course banquet we chose was $58. And the portions weren't normal sized portions. They were GREEK portions.

Once we ordered, the first course came in no time. Mezethakia (small tastes) consisted of pita bread, Taramasalata, Tyri Saganaki, cold eggplant salad and Hellenic potted salmon.

The taramasalata was the BEST I've ever tasted. There was no fishy taste but a nice salty smooth paste that you mopped up with the oven fresh pita...

Pita + taramasalata

Tyri Saganaki is essentially just a take on the traditional Saganaki. It's made from a cheese called Kefalograviera, but on top of Hellenic's version they featured peppered figs. The sweetness and juiciness of the figs was a win with the salty cheese. This dish couldn't have been better. Well done Georgy boy.

Saganaki cheese with peppered figs

The two dishes I preferred the least were the potted salmon and cold eggplant salad. The potted salmon were like little deep fried potato dumplings with specks of salmon, and the cold eggplant salad was pickled eggplant with herbs + spices.

Ooh and I almost forgot! We ALSO ordered the whitebait with ouzo mayonnaise- because no one cooks little mini fishies as good as the Greek do.

Maritha (Whitebait with ouzo mayonnaise)

And that was just the beginning. Before we knew it, our second course was being served. This course was called Thalassina- the seafood course. First came the healthy shtuff. The Cypriot grain salad. I had tried this exact same salad when I went for lunch at St Katherine's- and loved it just at much the second time round.

Cypriot salad of grains, pulses, nuts, pomegranate + yoghurt

I have a feeling the fish was snapper although I can't remember being told so by the waitress...it was served with a walnut coriander dressing.

Grilled snapper with a walnut coriander dressing 

My favourite seafood of the lot was the Htenia (Hervey Bay scallops with skordalia crust)(skordalia is a potato and garlic dip). Served in it's shell, the scallop was covered in a creamy rich sauce. I got to shovel down two because someone didn't want theirs. #thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou

Hervey Bay scallops with skordalia crust

I started getting that awkward top-of-pants-cutting-into-stomach kind of situation, and then the meat course arrived. There was SO much food. This course consisted of the meat of the day (which was slow cooked lamb and chicken on the spit), roast potatoes, cabbage salad and tzatziki.

Slow cooked lamb shoulder + chicken from the spit

Tzatziki

Lahanosalata (cabbage salad)

Tiganites Patates (potatoes fried in olive oil, oregano + salt) 

We. were. farrrked. We couldn't finish it all. I think I gained a k.g. or two. But wait! There's more. We still had dessert, which was Loukoumathes- Hellenic donuts with honey, cinnamon and walnuts. No matter how full we were, there was no way we were letting these little babies go to waste.

Sweet mother of god

We all had to sit for a while, just so we could ponder on how much we had actually eaten...

Meat being cooked on the spit

So there you have it, me eating my weight in Greek food. Hellenic is by no means pricey for the outstanding food you get- their servings are huge, and their staff are extremely knowledgable and helpful. I guarantee you will leave believing, that if this was the last meal of your life, you would a die happy chappy.

Hellenic Republic
434 Lygon Street, Brunswick East

Hellenic Republic on Urbanspoon