Yarraville wasn't what I expected. Fitzroy comes to mind when I envision the gentrification of a working-class suburb. By contrast, Yarraville still has more of a rough edge to it ... but that might might have been because it was the Monday morning New Year's holiday and hardly anyone was around. In any event, the shopping precinct still has its original feel and movie buffs can eat at one of the local eateries and follow it up with a trip to the refurbished Sun cinema (which will be me very soon). I get why Yarraville's so popular.
And The Cornershop is one of the local eateries that should be on the list. Inside and out it's another of the lookalike cafes that have spread across Melbourne: polished boards, and a mix of industrial, vintage and eclectic elements. I love the style and Melbourne does it so well. The green press metal of the counter and the gorgeous shelves behind it are my examples of what I mean. (Although as Big Fil says the "rough and vintage elements looked more natural than adopted. Like The Cornershop had been cleaned up rather than dressed down for a designer look".) What differentiates The Cornershop is that the food takes it into the next league.
Big Fil and I play this game where we guess what the other will have. Given Big Fil's fondness for hot cakes/pancakes it was no surprise that both he and I picked ricotta hot cakes with poached fruit for him. This dish generally arrives as a stack of hotcakes with the fruit on the top, so my first thought was the hot cakes were small. But they were good with the ricotta coming through. The fruit was also perfectly poached, firm with good flavours and not woody as you sometimes get.
There were a couple of things on the menu which suited me including the avocado, feta and spinach on toast, and the baked beans. They were both things Big Fil thought I'd go for as well. But I'm also a fan of baked eggs, although much of the time whatever they come with is bland and the dish lacks flavour. This wasn't the case this time as the eggplant relish and feta were the perfect foil to the eggs. An added extra was well buttered oozing bread that didn't need a chain saw to cut it ... absolutely the way I like it. My only whine: the eggs looked perfect on arrival but the yolks were sightly over cooked.
As usual Big Fil opted for a follow-up cake as his breakfast treat: chocolate espress cake. I never noticed any coffee flavour, which attests to its subtlety but according to Fil it was more of a late hit than the more gentle mocha flavour that generally comes with chocolate/coffee cakes. All in all a good, moist cake and a decent sized slice.
Overall
The Cornershop is a casual and comfortable cafe, with a good atmosphere that fitted in very well with the general vibe around Yarraville shops. It's best described as an old space with modern style dishes.
Rating
Food – 8
Service – 8
Ambience – 8
Price - 8.5
Address
11 Ballarat Street
Yarraville
Tel: (03) 9689 0052
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