The Girl and the Goat, Surrey Hills by Obelix

I love a place with a whimsical story attached.  The story behind The Girl And The Goat is that a young girl found a stray goat and adopted it leading to many-a-goats in the family in the years to come.  The Girl And The Goat features Caribbean fare in the unlikely place of Union Road, Surrey Hills.  It was once the Watt's Cooking cafe and I was delighted when it opened as it made for a diverse change from the usual cafe dominant scene in this neck of the woods.

West Indian goat curry... maybe with some goat head?

I was excited to see West Indian Goat Curry on the menu because when in Rome, or rather when in the Caribbean, one must goat.  I recall reading an amusing anecdote by David Goodman, author of Compost Everything - The Extreme Guide To Composting who wrote of driving to Amish country to procure a goat head with the sole purpose of cooking up a pot of curry goat.  After being shown how to bludgeon the goat head by a forthright Jamaican mama, he chickened out of the prep process and ended up composting the goat head instead.  Despite the lack of curry goat, David gained a beautiful productive garden.  Okay, that was a long aside.  But it explained my excitement at meeting my plate of food.  Will it be a plate of broken skull pieces floating in curry?  Or will be it a comforting plate of slow cooked meat?  

It was in fact a bit more liquid than I expected (see first pic).  On the scale of curry sauce thickness, it was on the runny side.  Thankfully no confronting bits of bone which I was to suck the meat off.  The meat itself was lambish in scent and beefy in texture and it was meltingly tender.  I was pleased to find carrots and beans throughout and a nice big dollop of tomato kasundi to add the picklely element.

Kiddo expressed alarm at goat eating and nominated for herself a vegetarian risotto.  It was a risotto of asparagus, broad beans, spinach, lemon and thyme.  When it arrived, she was dismayed for it was too green.  After abhorring the meatiness of my dish, she was abhorring the greeness of her dish.  It was too vegetarian for this vegetarian.  I stole a few bites and I loved the flavours of it.  Clean but flavourful and the toasted pinenuts gave a nice crunch.

P kept it simple with the big breakfast.  He was a bit disappointed in his, stating that the whites were runny in his sunny side ups, the toast too stale and the spinach unsalted.  But he enjoyed the bacon.

In terms of drinky-poos, Kiddo ordered herself a kid sized chocolate milkshake.

She then claimed P's watermelon crush.

I ordered a chai with almond milk.  It was supposedly a chai made with leaves however it didn't come in a little pot of pour-yourself.

Verdict

We liked it.

Mid value.

Overall

The Girl And The Goat was a bit of hit and miss.  I enjoyed having something a little bit different in an otherwise mundane coffee strip.  However the breakfast was a bit wanting.

Find it at

The Girl And The Goat
147 Union Road
Surrey Hills Vic 3127
Phone: 9890 6268