The past two months has been a whirlwind of decluttering, giving away possessions, packing, and general preparation for our upcoming move out of our apartment, eight months of travel, and move down to Melbourne. It feels as though we’re going through a state of rapid change at the moment, and it’s really affecting our stress levels. Early in August we tried to give ourselves a bit of a break from the constant parade of brown boxes through our apartment, and took off for a late Sunday lunch at Pecorino in Gordon. It’s only half an hour’s walk up the road, but that break and little bit of fresh air really helped to clear our heads!
Pecorino is a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cafe on the quiet side of the train tracks in Gordon with enough room for about thirty seats inside, but they do take advantage of outdoor seating that bumps numbers up to about fifty. It was very quiet when we were there, having missed the leisurely Sunday brunch crowds.
K’s been off coffee for two months now. It all started when he realised that he was having over four coffees a day, and was becoming uncomfortably addicted to the caffeine hit. He’s now cut back to only having one or two a week, which means of course that the sole coffee that he allows himself has to be totally superb! Unfortunately while the Cappuccino he ordered was more than adequate as a coffee from a suburban cafe, it wasn’t anything special.
He also ordered the Corn Fritters which turned out to be surprisingly delicious. The chutney it was served with was well-spiced and had a real kick to it. The runny yolk on the poached egg on top mixed well with this chutney and became an excellent full-bodied dipping sauce for the crispy corn fritters. Quite delicious and more-ish.
I chose something simple – soft-boiled Eggs and Avocado on Toast with Grilled Haloumi. I also ordered an extra side-serve of Smoked Salmon, one of my go-to ingredients whenever I eat out for brunch as I love it but rarely buy it for meals at home. The eggs were a little more well-cooked than on K’s dish, which worked well for this dish. Unfortunately the haloumi wasn’t grilled as much as I would like but at least the salmon was fresh and savoury. The soft grated parmesan on top really helped to pull the whole dish together.
Pecorino’s nothing special to look at from the outside, but it serves up a surprisingly good plate of food for a decent price. Service was a little patchy even though the cafe was quiet when we visited, so I can only see how it would become a little unreliable during peak periods. It’s a decent small neighbourhood cafe. Too bad we only discovered it as we’re moving out of the area!
Your open face sandwich looks really good! Your photo of the outside of the cafe really does showcase how easily it could be missed, what with the different signage and the graffiti. :)