Wednesday 25 March 2020

Alcove Café and Deli Wilston - Review

To be honest, I'm not feeling the blog love at the moment.  What I mean is that it somehow seems incongruous and superfluous, but there will be good times ahead, so I'm going to 'Keep Calm and Carry on' as they said on those ubiquitous wartime posters.  We can still enjoy takeaways from our fave places, like this one.  (And when did takeaways become pickups?!)  We all need to support our local businesses, otherwise when all this is but a bad dream, we won't have anywhere to sit and relax, and eat good food and drink great coffee...



rustic exterior

We actually had brunch here a few months ago with a friend up from Sydney.  We all enjoyed our meals, and the friendly service, so we were happy to head here again last week (before the social distancing and isolation came into effect).  Braving the COVID-19 fears, Mr P. and I went out for a quick lunch.  It was early lunchtime, it was very busy, and it was starting to rain.  We dashed under the large umbrellas, and grabbed a seat.  A very friendly and charming waitress came by with menus, glasses and a carafe of water. 

Mr P. went to order at the counter, which is the norm these days, and we rapidly received – a cappuccino for me, and a mango and vanilla bean smoothie for him.  My coffee was fine, though I prefer it a little stronger; hubby loved his thick and cold smoothie.  You could even see the specks of vanilla in his drink, and there was a fruity taste of mango.  I went for the avocado smash with bacon, on organic sourdough.  Sadly, we both felt the bacon was a little light-on, considering you pay extra.  (At our December lunch here, the bacon was very generous!)  The bread was tangy, soft inside, crisp on the outside but not too hard.  You know how crusts sometimes cut your mouth?  Nope, this was not like that.  The radish gave the dish a nice little peppery zing, and the dukkah gave it a spicy hit.  

Mr P. chose the roast pumpkin fritters.  A common whinge from me is that cafes often when serving ‘fritters’ are really serving pancakes!  Once again, I would call these pancakes, rather than fritters which to my mind, should be mostly veg. with a wee bit of flour and egg to bind them.  These were flavoursome enough with pumpkin and chickpeas, but not to my taste – I felt they were somewhat stodgy.  Fortunately it wasn’t me eating them; hubby was perfectly content!  

It started to pour down, and the umbrellas were starting to leak, so we grabbed our belongings and ran back to the car.  We felt virtuous, and well-fed, happy to have helped a local business in this time of crazy, crazy madness.  Enough toilet paper yet, everyone? :-)



mango and vanilla bean smoothie $7.90


cappuccino $4


avocado smash on organic sourdough $13.90

The bacon is a bit light on, don't you think?  I think I paid an extra $6
for it:-(  Below is a photo of the same dish in December!  Sooo generous, and bacon-heavy, to my delight.



smashed avo with bacon and egg (in Dec 2019)


roast pumpkin fritters $17.90

Sadly, Alcove like every other café and restaurant is closed except for takeaways for the foreseeable future.  Good luck everyone!  Keep well, keep happy and wash your hands (to the tune of Happy Birthday for twenty seconds - tee hee).



rustic exterior but great food and service



Ph: 07 3161 1591

92 Kedron Brook Road, Wilston Q 4051

28 comments:

  1. Extra $6 and less bacon...what a shame! I love mine loaded with LOTS of bacon too.. LOL..
    You too stay safe and healthy!

    ReplyDelete
  2. That’s great you supported a local business. Times will get better, they just will. We are getting more done at home these days and realizing how out of shape we are! Trimming bushes and cleaning out a garden shed, things like that.

    Love that smoothie, more bacon please!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. it's good to keep very busy i find tina. keep well!

      Delete
  3. Replies
    1. doing my best Jeff! you too with that insane Trump you have for a president telling everyone it will all be fine by easter. OMG!

      Delete
  4. Hi Sherry, please do not stop blogging. For many of us the contact has taken on new meaning. Keep supporting your local restaurants, they need us right now even if they are cutting corners to stay in business. As Jeff says, Hang in there. And the world has gotten much smaller, let us know how you are coping in Australia. Here in CA we are big into social distancing, which can be lonely.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. thanks so much liz for those heartening words. we are in stage 2 restrictions now, and i guess it will go into stage 3 soon. they are literally closing the borders into Queensland as of midnight. Border patrols etc. it feels so surreal! take care!

      Delete
  5. Yes Sherry I know how you feel. There is so much being written about surviving this corona virus crisis that I think what can I say in addition although I generally don't have problems in that regard LOL. Stay well, fellow Queenslander. Thankfully tough restrictions are now in place. Best wishes, Pauline

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. i am curious as to why you have no problems re the virus pauline? are you locked away in a cupboard on a remote island somewhere? tee hee... yes we will do our best to stay well. you too my dear!

      Delete
  6. We are hoping to at least do takeaway dinner one night a week so we can try and support our local cafes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. great idea marg. otherwise we will wake up in 6 months and no one will be around to serve us great food and coffee!

      Delete
  7. Yeah, that bacon was really kinda skimpy. Some of the restaurants here that started pickups/delivery are just shutting down for the duration. Or I hope it's for the duration, and not permanently -- I suspect some will be going out of business, alas. Tough times.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. yes i think you're right KR. some will not survive weeks or months of not much or no business. sad times!

      Delete
  8. I know what you mean. It seems a little light, some of the posting we all do when we should be pondering the meaning of life. Or should we be? Keeping calm and carrying on is always a good strategy and while sometimes one more table setting kicks me into TOO MUCH gear (there's a crisis going on out there, don't you know?!) it also helps take the mind off of some of the angst that is sweeping the world. As for me, I think that looks SO GOOD!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. hi jeanie
      thanks for dropping by my blog. take care of yourself and keep cheerful
      cheers S

      Delete
  9. The pandemic is very much on my mind, and I've been trying to organize my blog reflections in the most cheerful way I can manage. We haven't been doing takeout but are vastly thankful for the markets that are developing ways to take an order, bring it to your car, and put it in your trunk without direct contact. Luckily, a nephew shopped for us last weekend when the markets were overwhelmed with phone and online orders.

    That said, you reminded me that one of these times when ordering I should ask for some avocados! The sandwich looked good despite the skimpy serving of bacon.

    Keep well... mae at maefood.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. hi Mae
      such difficult times but at least we have enough loo paper for the moment:) keep well!

      Delete
  10. Big hello from Europe :-) Thank you so much for reminding us how important is to take care of local business while the fresh ingredients are still available ( at least over here ). You made me laugh also: why is everybody so crazy to get tons of toilet paper ? Do you know the answer ? Anybody ? Hahahahahahahahaha Take care you beautiful people and keep on blogging please :-) :-) :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. hi davorka
      hope you are going well over there. the toilet paper thing is so crazy. and there's just no need for it is there? thanks. i am finding it hard to blog but i will try to keep going in these difficult times. cheers and thanks S

      Delete
  11. That sounds like a lovely lunch, Sherry. I sure hope we will go back to normal soon - and like you say, in the meantime, there's always takeaway.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. yes it's important to keep local businesses going if we can:)

      Delete
  12. I'm like you, Sherry...I love a good strong cappuccino! Glad that you guys are getting to enjoy some of your favorite food in these crazy times. All restaurants here are shut-down except for takeout, too. We've actually gone the other way and are trying to find joy in cooking different recipes together - it's something to mix up each day at least! Hang in there with the blog, my friend. It's nice to connect (even virtually) with friends. For the record, though, I agree. Stay safe down there!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. thanks david. i am finding it hard i must admit - to blog, to keep sane, to keep away from friends and cafes and everything... I am doing a lot more cooking than usual, which is good. Keep well!

      Delete
  13. I think the blog-o-sphere is helping me not become too fixated on current events. I am hoping our favorite restaurant is still doing well b/c I spent 45 minutes last Friday night trying to do a call-in order---line was constantly busy. Still trying to support our local places though. Take care, Sherry!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. hi debra
      i wish i felt better about blogging or reading or doing anything. my brain is just on meltdown, and i'm finding it so hard to concentrate at all. can't wait till this is over! take care.

      Delete

I would love to hear from you. Please leave your comment and I will reply as soon as I can. If you have problems commenting, please try without your WordPress profile. You can try Anonymous (add your name in the text) or your Google account if you have one.