Run, don’t walk. The truffle toastie is back at !
opened just over a year ago on the edge of Footscray Market and it recently won ‘best small cafe’ in The Age Good Cafe Guide 2014 awards. The cafe, a former DVD stall, is definitely small, squashed amongst some trashy $2 stores. It seats only a handful of people at its pavement tables and a single high window bench.
As there’s no proper kitchen the food menu is small and based on items that you can pull from a fridge and/or heat with a toaster oven. The focus is on quality, rather than quantity, and with Footscray Market on their doorstep you can guarantee the ingredients are fresh. In fact, I watched one of their staff members stock up at one of the fruit and veg stalls while I did my grocery shopping.
So, back to this truffle toastie.
Truffles have a very limited season so you’ll only be able to order this item for the next 4 weeks or so (and they do sell out daily) – it’s not on their written menu so you’ll need to ask for it. The black truffles come from a family farm called Terra Preta, based in Braidwood NSW.
The toastie comprises two slices of crusty bread sandwiching a mix of mozzarella and gruyere infused with truffle aromas. Add some watercress and lemon juice for freshness and shavings of pecorino and truffle and you have one turbo-charged toasted cheese sandwich for $14.50.
From their standard menu the Greuben is ’s version of the Reuben – a satisfying layering of corned beef, melted gruyere and red cabbage. It comes with pickles on the side ($12.50).
For sweet tooths the sweet cabinet is stocked with cakes from Kensington’s The Premises while the toaster oven produces Dr Marty’s organic crumpets with mascarpone, strawberries and a drizzle of orange syrup ($14.5). Simple and delicious without being cloying.
The coffee comes from Collingwood’s Proud Mary and they do a strong takeaway trade thanks to the cafe’s proximity to Footscray station.
Footscray’s demographic is changing so it’d be great if one day this tiny bolthole became a coffee window and expanded into a full-blown cafe. For the moment though, hunker down on a plywood stool and enjoy your truffle toastie.
