"Let's have brunch at Grandma's" ... does this sound like the cutest invite ever or what! Grandma's while not actually implying going to my actual grandma's house, is actually a really lovely and spacious cafe located in Alexandria. There is also another location at Roseberry which we nearly opted for this day but Alexandria seemed like the much closer choice.
I've been wanting to try this place out for ages being mesmerised by the delicious Instagram photos, and also eye catching white building as I usually pass by the cafe on the bus.
There is outdoor seating and I love the wall of lush green plants and flowers as well as the quirky pot head sculpture! It's really hot these days so we sit inside.
The indoors are reminiscent of being inside a rustic styled barn which makes things all very quaint and cosy. There is no shortage of bright green trees, flowers on every table and on each wall of the shop is either the counter/kitchen or a display of delicious home-made goodies you can buy to take home!
There's even a kids corner! So so family-friendly here.
Water station
Our table is very clean and I love the pale yellow tulips sitting on our table which goes so well with the Teza Lemon & Mandarin iced tea I ordered. A little review on that is that is so cool and refreshing but disappointing because it purely tastes like lemonade rather than tea or mandarins, the latter flavour which I was really hoping for.
Our menu's are already on the table and I find each menu item to be very very unique. There is a clear influence of Mediterranean, Italian, Greek, African etc cuisines and everything sounds like something I want to come back to try. The service is friendly although a bit rushed.
Our food takes a fair amount of time to arrive and look what a beaut it is when it does:
A photo posted by Kim Nguyen (@kimmiebites) on
Beef Shakshuka $16.50
This shakshuka is cooked with beef mince, 2 eggs, tahini sauce and fresh tomatoes. On the side there are two slices of warm and freshly baked turmeric bread and a dip of greek yogurt, olive oil, pomegranate and what I think is sprinkled sumac. The beef is very tender and you can tell it has been slow cooked very throughly. However even with the sauce it is cooked in, I find it very bland. I love the rest of the components though with the eggs being perfect and drizzly (see yolk porn below), tahini sauce and tomatoes adding a much welcome freshness, and the bread is so delicious! In fact my sister loved it so much as well that she made me switch out one of my bread slices for her pita pockets. Also shoutout to the yogurt dip on the side that actually was really amazing with the olive oil and sweet pomegranate! Because the beef was very bland, I felt mixing some yogurt into it really brightened it up.
A little bit of yolk porn, no big deal 😍
Jerusalem Hummus and Beef Dish $14.50
This was my sisters order and I'm pretty sure that I read it was meant to be shared between a number of people. I asked her why she ordered this but the girl REALLY loves her hummus. We didn't end up finishing it though. I felt the pita was kind of stale because it was quite crumbly and tough on some edges. Because of that it didn't make a great match with the heavy hummus and beef. The beef is similar to the one in my shakshuka, but slightly more seasoned and flavourful. Overall, would definitely fare better as a share dish rather than between two people!
I'm really glad I got to experience some food at Grandma's and despite the slight disappointments in our dishes I do hope I can come back to try more menu items and have a lovely brunch with some friends. The venue is beautiful and spacious (and Instagram worthy) and there are lots of sweet treats on offer. Service was a bit flustered at the end when I asked for a take away box and they had no idea what I was talking about but it was quickly resolved and their cute eco-friendly box even came with utensils and a bag. Thank you, team at Grandma's!
TL;DR:
Price: Average
Quality: Good
Service: Friendly
Ambience: Charming, cosy
Grandma's at McEvoy
140-142 McEvoy St
Alexandria NSW 2015
Open 7 days a week
7AM - 4PM
