Brisbane pie king swaps pastry for breakfast in new role

After a decade as a gourmet pie king, this well-known Brisbane chef is now showcasing his skills at a new eatery. We checked it out.

For the past 12 years, chef Matt Roman has been considered Brisbane’s pie king. As owner of retail and wholesale business Piefection, he supplied some of the city’s best restaurants, butchers and grocers with his pastry creations and became renowned for his extravagant fillings, running from Jagermeister double-smoked barbecue pork ribs to chicken, cherry and triple-cream brie.

Then earlier this year he sold the business, wanting to return to his roots as a classically trained chef but without the long hours of working in a restaurant.

And so he is now working for the man behind Stones Throw cafe in Stones Corner, Adam Dartnall, to launch Willow in Balmoral, in Brisbane’s east, last month.

The interior dining room at Willow Cafe in Balmoral. Picture: Steve Pohlner

Dartnall was keen to build on the success of his southside eatery, and create a place that offered something new and fresh for diners, while still being approachable and relaxed.

Willow is just that. Strikingly on-trend with its Scandi-meets-Queenslander fit-out of olive green, white and rattan and boasting a covered timber deck out the back.

Service is welcoming and sprightly under Dartnall’s leadership, with diners kindly told to sit anywhere and promptly brought menus and water before coffee orders are taken.

Seven Miles The Cat’s Pyjamas is on pour as the house blend, which can be served black, in popular milk blends, or – perfect for summer – as a Vietnamese cold brew, summer cold brew, iced latte or coffee milkshake. There are also juices, smoothies, a tight wine list of popular styles all for under $55 a bottle, a handful of beers and, for some fun, classic cocktails.

The Willow summer panna cotta. Picture: Steve Pohlner

But the real hero here is, of course, Roman’s food. Finally free to escape the confines of pastry, he has let his imagination run wild, inventing an all-day menu that runs from classic omelettes and avo on toast, to salmon laksa, to extravagant Instagram-worthy dishes such as a vanilla bean and dragon fruit panna cotta; and a Turkish breakfast brulee theatrically topped with a fig and Persian fairy floss. The black truffle oxtail shakshuka ($24) is a loose interpretation of the classic North African and Israeli dish, with the eggs arriving poached and sitting on top of the paprika, capsicum and tomato mix, rather than traditionally baked in.

The red sauce is filled with yielding, slow-cooked chunks of oxtail – just like something you would find in one of Roman’s pies – and it’s damn delicious, especially when scooped up with the butter-soaked sourdough on the side.

The Turkish breakfast brulee with fairy floss. Picture: Steve Pohlner

In stark contradiction to the shakshuka’s heaviness are the crab cakes ($26). Filled with blue swimmer crustacean and rolled in panko-style breadcrumbs before a good frying, the spheres burst with the taste of the sea, emphasised by a citrusy yuzu mayo. Disappointingly, though, there are just two of the tiny orbs on the plate; with diners given a duo of poached eggs on toast spilling with a buttery bearnaise sauce on the side for satiety.

It’s no doubt a budget decision to balance prime produce with affordable pricing.

The generous and playful menu is complemented by a sweets cabinet of housemade desserts and pastries, making Willow a place worthy of a return visit.

WILLOW CAFE

1/216 Riding Rd, Balmoral

willowcafe.com.au

Open daily 7am-3pm

VERDICT - Scores out of 5

Food 4

Ambience 4

Service 3.5

Value 3.5

Overall 3.5

For more reviews, visit delicious.com.au/eatout