Gumboots, Yarragon by Bureaucrat

Yarragon is situated right on the Princes Highway.  It's one of my favourite I-can't-think-of-where-we-should-go-for-a-day-trip sort of places.  It's a very easy drive and under two hours drive east of Melbourne.  I like Yarragon because it has a nice collection of shops (I especially love the Town and Country art and furniture shop where we got our bespoke red gum side tables and the genuinely retro antique shop), a couple of cafes, and, as anyone who's had to travel on the road can appreciate, they have really good public toilet amenities.  Over the years some of the shops had sadly closed giving the place a much quieter vibe.  However, on a recent trip a few weeks ago, I pleased to see that new shops have sprung up including some new cafes.

One of the newer cafes is Gumboots.  It's a home that's been converted into a cafe and gourmet food shop.  It has a lovely spacious and breezy feeling to the place.  The menu is short and features many local produce.  For a lunch, I got the fried ham and cheese sandwich ($14) which came with a fresh salad.  Simple but made with really quality ingredients.  My only wish was that the sanger was fried a bit more so that the cheese properly melted.

Beaker got the pie of the day ($14), which was a homemade beef and ale pie.  This was the best dish that we ordered as it was particularly good value.  

Lovely big chunks of tender beef with great flavour.  It came with these morish pickled onions and a salad.

Although they don't have a kids' menu, the kitchen was happy to whip up some marinated chicken wings for Bubba Chuck.  I can't remember how much this was, but we all felt it was a rather small serve!  Three pieces of chicken and a salad that could only be described as a garnish.

You can purchase many of the produce and products that are featured on the menu in the shop.

Verdict: we liked it.

Overall
A nice farm-to-plate cafe, as the owners are small farmers and support other small farmers in the region.  The food is tasty but the service (while really friendly and warm) is slow.  It's best to go here if you're not too hungry or in a rush.  It's a nice place to relax with a drink and to sample the great produce.  I'd definitely go back for a leisurely cuppa and slice of cake.