The Woody Pear, Victoria Park
Update, January 2013. Closed permanently. Has been replaced by a new restaurant called L’Enoteca.
The Woody Pear in Victoria Park is a few months old, located where Deevine Cafe used to be, on the corner of Mackie Street and Albany Highway opposite Zucchero Espresso Bar. It’s not one of the busiest sections of the Vic Park cafe strip.
It’s a sunny Wednesday morning when we arrive for breakfast. The cafe’s bi-fold doors are wide open, creating a bright and breezy dining room. Gleaming silver cutlery is neatly set on tables covered with crisp white paper and linen cloths but the cafe has a relaxed, casual feel about it thanks to the well worn, scuffed chairs and slightly crumpled paper menus marked with coffee stains. The menu itself is simple but makes delicious reading.
Jac orders the eggs Benedict (AU$18.50), which you can choose to have with smoked salmon or leg ham – she chooses smoked salmon. The smile comes free!
The dish includes two poached eggs smothered in hollandaise sauce and perched on top of fleshy ribbons of smoked salmon and fresh spinach all on toasted Turkish bread with sliced fresh avocado on the side.
The eggs are poached nicely, with soft gooey yolks. Jac likes everything on the plate except the Turkish bread – it’s been toasted too hard and is quite difficult to saw/chew through.
I order the homemade hash brown with eggs, bacon and roasted vine cherry tomatoes (AU$18.50). The salty streaky bacon, sweet juicy tomatoes, scrambled eggs and buttered toast are almost enough to make me forget the busy day at work I have ahead of me.
Before you tell me it’s not a hash brown – yes I know, it’s a potato cake. A big, beautiful, delicious homemade potato cake. Inside the crispy crumbed coating is seasoned fluffy potato flecked with finely chopped parsley. I’d have it again.
I’m not sure how busy The Woody Pear gets for lunch and dinner or on weekends – we’re there early, before 7.30am on a Wednesday morning, but even when we leave, it’s still practically empty. I’m sure things will pick up as word gets around about this newish cafe on the block.
The Woody Pear aims to promote and support Western Australian producers and suppliers, and the cafe’s logo features its namesake native Australian fruit. Have you heard of woody pear before?
We’ve enjoyed a really tasty breaky and hope to be back for lunch or dinner sometime soon. The dinner menu features seared scallops and strawberry creme brulee – I am so there!
The Woody Pear
249 Albany Highway
Victoria Park WA 6100
Telephone: (08) 9470 9176
Update, January 2013. Closed permanently. Has been replaced by a new restaurant called L’Enoteca.
I’ll be continuing my series about Sydney and Kuching this week.
In the lead up to Christmas, check my other blog The LEGO woman to see each day’s new item from my LEGO City Advent Calendar.