Gracious Grace, Lilydale by Bureaucrat

There's a wonderful sense of timelessness at Melba Park, Lilydale.  With its curved stone walls, mature trees, manicured lawns, a lovely cottage that hosts the local lawn balls club, and pretty cool playground (which includes a water pump!), it's like you've stepped back in time.  It's certainly idyllic.  To cap it off, Melba Park also has a very delightful cafe and gallery to boot!

Grilled barramundi with potatoes, fennel and a lemon and tahini dressing

Gracious Grace is certainly gracious.  Delicious food at very reasonable prices.  You get gourmet Yarra Valley produce without the price tag that usually goes with it.  Gracious Grace has indoor and outdoor seating.  The outdoor seating has views directly onto Melba Park and you also have these beautiful thick blankets to drape over your lap should the weather be chilly. 

For lunch, Mother Hen and I shared the grilled barramundi with potatoes, fennel and a lemon and tahini dressing (see first pic also).  At $21.50 this was an absolute steal!  A very generous thick piece of fresh succulent barra. It was buried underneath a mountain of shaved fennel and mint salad.  Fresh, zesty, filling yet light.  This was a perfect lunch dish on a warm spring day. 

For Boy Chick, we got him the chicken fillets with chips.  The quality of kids menu items are usually quite ho-hum and often rather unhealthy.  However, Gracious Grace's kids menu would easily make both kids and parents happy.  The chicken fillets were made from proper chicken - this ain't a frozen deep fry affair.  I was also impressed with the crunchy yet non-greasy crumbed crust and the simple yet appetising seasoning.  It came chunky chips and a homemade tomato sauce (there would be quite a few hidden veggies in that sauce, I can tell you!).  Given that Boy Chick ate almost all of the chicken and was very keen on that tomato sauce, we both give this dish the thumbs up!

We couldn't go past the cakes on offer.  We decided to share some seriously big scones.  These were fluffy and between the three of us, we could only finish one of them - that's how big they were!

To go with our meal, we got some soy chai lattes.

Boy Chick got his obligatory chocolate milkshake.

Verdict

We loved it.

Mid value.

Overall

A wonderful, wonderful place this is - both Gracious Grace and the gorgeous Melba Park.  I don't know much about Lilydale (I usually just whizz past it as I'm heading to the Yarra Valley) but Gracious Grace is certainly worth a trip in its own right. 

With friendly staff, spacious seating and fantastic food, I will definitely be back.  Love the park and the cafe!

Find it at

Gracious Grace
Castella Street
Lilydale VIC 3140
Phone: (03) 9735 2223