Antidote Pyrmont Menu
Leanna Perr
Mascot's Tartine serves up French style open sandwiches out of a charming and eclectically designed cafe on Gardeners Road. Former fine dining chef Anthony Telford and his partner Amy Kirchoff have designed a welcoming space with nothing on the menu above $10. Tartine toppings include Chicken, mayonnaise, fennel pollen, fat rocket on sourdough; shredded beef, crispy onions, gruyere, chives or pulled pork, parsley, chives with each batch of coleslaw freshly made.
"It rains every Easter," Mr NQN said slightly mournfully, his morning cycle ride cut short with the onset of a steady downpour of rain. Indeed, if the past few years are anything to go by, Easter is definitely not the time for weddings. It was Easter Saturday and as all Saturdays tend to be, they are a mix of shopping, low level home repairs for the incompetent home renovator (oh hang on, that's just us) and gathering items for the next week ahead. We had just finished shopping at the markets and I suddenly realised that I was very hungry indeed. It was 1:30pm and I had missed breakfast.
"Maybe I can get something from the Ikea cafe," I mused picturing Swedish meatballs with sauce. "Or maybe we can try this new place that I was recommended," I suggest as I loathe a missed opportunity for a blog post. It was a recommendation from @tonyhollingsworth, a twitter friend who had written about Tartine on his facebook page. He had waxed rhapsodic about their tartines (open faced toasted sandwiches). As it was in Mascot, it was on our way to Ikea so we swung by. It would be rude not to (and really I was really hungry and it was closer).
Located underneath office and apartment spaces, it's an inviting looking spot with indoor and outdoor seating. And unlike some parts of Alexandria, there's plenty of parking with a small car park on site, street parking or the Bunnings just opposite the road. Owners and partners Anthony Telford and Amy Kirchoff furnished much of the cafe in the short space of four weeks using up-cycled and re-purposed furniture from Reverse Garbage and The Bower in Marrickville. "With a family of 11, there's not a lot of spare money around," Amy explained. Yep that is seven kids for Anthony and four for Amy! Amy looks after the floor while Anthony, the ex head chef of Public Dining Room and alum from several television cooking shows brings his French fine dining training to cafe casual food.
Given that the menu is made up of mostly tartines (along with jaffles and other bits and pieces), the music has a French theme. We sink into the couches and take a look at the menu. I do a double take. Nothing is over $10 so they've got value nailed already. We order a jaffle and two tartines. The bread and the sweet tarts and cakes in the display are by Brasserie Bread but the rest is made in-house.
It's a bit late in the day otherwise I would have ordered one of the Caphe sua nong (Vietnamese iced coffee) or a Cafe Bombon (Spanish coffee made with condensed milk). I go for a chai latte and it's is cute with a bunny themed decoration and just the right amount of sweetness.
As everything is made to order including the coleslaw, we settle into the lounge and relax. The pattering rain outside means that we are in no hurry at all to move. Our food arrives at the same time and the tartines are cut into six pieces. I am an absolute fiend for a chicken and mayonnaise sandwich and this one is full of tender chicken breast, creamy mayonnaise, fennel pollen that lifts it without overwhelming it and spicy wild rocket on a lightly toasted slice of sourdough.
The pulled pork tartine is similarly moreish. Again the tartine has a good balance of topping and bread so that it is crispy but never dry. The pulled pork sits underneath a freshly made serve of crunchy coleslaw.
And then there's the lasagna stuffed jaffle. This is X-Rated carb on carb action designed to give you a Kardashian-like posterior but it's oh so good. And yep it's just that, a jaffle stuffed with a lasagna.
After all of this hot and sweaty jaffle action, I decided to order another couple of things. Just because Mr NQN was still ravenous although I was approaching satiety. And the shredded beef with crispy onions and melted gruyere is just the antidote to rainy weather. The jaffle is filled with melting, tender beef and I can see myself craving this when the weather gets really cold.
"Can you eat something else?" I asked Mr NQN who simply nodded happily. For someone who claims to be gluten intolerant (he isn't, he just doesn't like dry bread and with a family with specific food preferences, he doesn't want to be left out) he is certainly hoovering up the food. So one last savoury tartine was ordered. The gruyere here is liberally shaved on top and more cheesy as a result. It's rich and filling and the beef is generously portioned here. Although you might think that it is an open sandwich, they really are quite sizeable and filling (and you don't even have to have ridden hundreds of kilometres like Mr NQN! ;) ).
I know how disappointed you get when we don't order dessert Dear Reader, so we couldn't leave without trying a sweet offering. There are a few sweets on the menu and apart from the tarts and small cakes in the display there are sweet tartines as well as sweet jaffles. But we go for something sans bread. It's a bowl with bruleed bananas, split in half, whipped cream and a round scoop of freshly made dulce de leche topped with crumbs. And yes despite everything that we had eaten, not a skerrick of this creamy, sweet concoction goes back to the kitchen.
So tell me Dear Reader, what do your Saturdays consist of? And do you prefer your fillings on a tartine or within a jaffle? And how about the carb on carb action in the lasagna jaffle - would that be your sort of thing? And if you eat out for brunch, how much do you typically expect to pay per person? Is value a big thing for you at brunch?
The beautiful and historic Fitzroy Gardens is situated on Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Country and is the perfect antidote to too much time indoors. The open, 64-acre space was laid out in 1859, following traditional Victorian era design, and named after Sir Charles Augustus Fitzroy, Governor of NSW.
Across a wooden bridge, at the back of the pond resides the 1850s bronze sculpture, The Boy on the Turtle (stop 5) by an unknown artist. The bronze statue was stolen from the gardens in 1977, a remarkable feat considering its weight. Two and a half years later, it was found by the police in an abandoned Richmond car park.
The Boy and Pelican, and Mermaid and Fish (stop 7) pyrmont sandstone sculptures guard Hotham St entrance, one of the main entrances to the garden. A special art sub-committee was established in the 1930s to assist the City Council Parks and Gardens Committee select statuary appropriate for the City's Gardens.
These sculptures won first prize in the Fitzroy Gardens Sculpture Competition, held in 1935. As an interesting fact, the head of the boy was replaced in 1973, after the statue having fallen victim to vandalism.
Another 19th century structure that graces the garden is the temple-like Bandstand (stop 9), constructed in 1864 to host musicians playing for the crowds who flocked to the gardens. You can book these two charming spaces for events on the council website.
In the middle of the garden, you will see the Dolphin Fountain (stop 13), created in 1982 by June Arnold. It comprises around 100 aquatic birds and animals, such as dolphins, crabs and seahorses, sculpted in bronze and fastened to a small pyramid of granite boulders over which water cascades.
The Conservatory houses magnificent indoor floral displays that are changed five times each year. Hydrangeas and fuchsias bloom from November to February, begonias and gloxinias from February to April, tropical plants and poinsettias from April to July, cinerarias and cyclamens from July to September, and schizanthus and calceolaria from September to November.
A quick walk from Fitzroy Gardens, this heritage-listed garden was set aside as a public reserve in 1851. Wander the tree-shaded paths, featuring contrasting evergreen foliage of conifers, palms, and Moreton Bay figs against a background of deciduous elms, oaks, and poplars.
The City of Melbourne respectfully acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land we govern, the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung and Bunurong / Boon Wurrung peoples of the Kulin and pays respect to their Elders past and present. We acknowledge and honour the unbroken spiritual, cultural and political connection they have maintained to this unique place for more than 2000 generations.
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