Kilgour Street Grocer and Café, Geelong by Benny

Finding great places to eat and drink in unfamiliar towns is hard enough, and having a four-legged companion with you just adds to the difficulty. We were in Geelong around lunchtime with our dog (known as ‘the cute one’) in tow, and were keen to explore the dining options.

Kilgour Mexican Bowl

Online research identified a few intriguing possibilities, but option 1 proved to be not quite as dog-friendly as web searches had suggested. Option 2 was the Kilgour Street Grocer and Café, a compact corner store only a few blocks away from Kardinia Park. The neat interior is welcoming, a striking sky-blue espresso machine prominent on the counter. Rustic timber furniture accommodates a dozen or so diners and displays a range of boutique and everyday groceries and decorator items on pastel painted shelves – with an emphasis on local and regional artisan suppliers. The serving area is tiny and easily filled with customers queuing, but service is efficient and friendly so waiting times are short. When we visited most customers were after take-away so the interior dining area was not full. But we, of course, were interested in the dog-friendly area. This is a narrow alley-like space between the shop wall and the paling fence, furnished with colourful plastic stools and brightly painted tables formed from old cable drums. Small pots of succulents add a further welcoming touch.

The day of our visit was hot and sunny. With the sun directly overhead the lack of shade was very noticeable – what might be quite nice on a sunny day in midwinter was just hot and a bit unpleasant. A shade sail or a shade from a leafy vine would have been very welcome.

There is a small la carte menu, augmented by a good range of pre-made sandwiches and rolls, pies and sausage rolls. Everything looks very fresh and tasty.

I opted for the rather intriguing combination of BBQ chicken and kim chi in a pre-made roll, and accepted the offer to have it toasted. The sweetish BBQ sauce was well contrasted with the intense salt/vinegar kim chi and the crunch of the toasted roll finished off the eating experience quite nicely.

Bilby chose the Kilgour Mexican Bowl – a gluten free combination of black bean, charred corn, brown rice, yoghurt, avocado, cherry tomatoes and coriander, served with Tortilleria corn chips (see first pic). It should have also included a roast capsicum salsa, but that had run out and was replaced by a tomato chutney. The Mexican Bowl was a good mix of flavours and textures that worked very well – except for the chutney, which didn’t quite match. The dish probably would have been better with the intended roast capsicum salsa.

There was a small but enticing range of sweet treats, but time was passing and we reluctantly headed off without sampling.

Verdict

We really liked it. I’d be very happy to go back to try some of their other offerings.

Overall

A delightful place to grab a quick, simple lunch, either eat-in or take-away. The pet friendly area is quite compact but has no shelter from rain or hot midday sun.

Find it at

Kilgour Street Grocer and Café
164 Kilgour Street
South Geelong Vic 3220
Phone 0439 683 220