Harvest Espresso, Victoria Park: the magical sandwich
It’s a sandwich of sensory magic, toothsome textures and harmonious flavours that give so much satisfaction: a crusty Turkish bread roll spread generously with mustard and filled with soft, chewy pulled pork; creamy, crunchy cabbage, carrot and celery slaw; and crisp tangy pickles.
You don’t really need the knife and fork; just pick up the sandwich. With every bite, you may emerge with a creamy moustache or beard, but that’s what the napkin is for.
I know Harvest Espresso will be switching to a new winter menu soon – I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one hoping they’ll keep this sandwich on it.
I first wrote about pocket-sized cafe Harvest Espresso back in February. On my first visit, I felt in love with their Spanish baked egg (a fantastic belly warmer – will it make an reappearance for winter, I wonder?) and gorgeous ginger cream tarts. Since then, we’ve made it a love fest of tarts with lemon curd, passionfruit curd and more ginger cream tarts – I keep missing the strawberry ones, I think because they disappear so quickly.
The coffee’s good but the sandwich is the rockstar.
While I made happy noises eating my sandwich, Jac was doing much the same as she tucked into the mushroom omelette with capsicum, tomato, goats cheese and sourdough toast(AU$15.50 – served with roasted tomato; Jac added a side of wilted spinach for an extra AU$4). The soft salty blobs of goats cheese really make the omelette special.
What we liked about this omelette was the chunkiness of the goodies in it. You can get a reasonably good omelette cooked to order at a hotel breakfast buffet, but the fillings are always chopped up so finely, often added to the pan using a teaspoon. Those microscopic cubes of ham, capsicum and tomato barely register texture or taste. But this is the omelette we’d make at home if we could be bothered.
Alas, no tarts for us on this occasion – we were too full to fit another thing in. Takeaway wasn’t an option – we were off shopping and running errands after breakfast. Clearly poor planning on our part, as I was plagued by thoughts of a Harvest Espresso ginger cream tart all afternoon – what can I say, I’m a glutton and I’m obsessed. There was no opportunity to drop by later, but Jac took pity on me and bought me one another day. More happy eating noises.
Harvest Espresso celebrated its six-month birthday last week. Here’s to more magical sandwiches and craveable tarts. Hey chef Roland: what about a maple custard tart topped or lined with candied bacon?
Harvest Espresso
629 Albany Hwy
Victoria Park WA 6100
Telephone: 0416 397 088
Open Tuesday to Sunday 7am to 4pm
Kitchen is open until 3pm but cake and coffee are available until 4pm
Closed Mondays
No reservations taken
If you haven’t read it yet, here’s my previous blog post on Harvest Espresso.
I’m travelling again…
I’m back in New Zealand this week, this time visiting the Hawke’s Bay region as a guest of Tourism New Zealand. As usual, you can follow my adventures via Twitter and Facebook.