Why Clyde North’s Volt Cafe is the best brunch cafe in Casey
A Clyde North cafe which dishes up more than 5000 servings of its signature French toast each year, has been voted the best brunch spot in Casey.
South East
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For Oakleigh husband-and-wife duo Cathy and Maki Mastrogiannakos, leaving their office jobs to “take a risk” on opening a cafe has paid off.
The couple’s Volt Cafe in Clyde North has been voted best brunch spot in Casey by Leader readers, as part of the Delicious Local campaign championed by Matt Preston.
The Mastrogiannakoses juggle cafe life with bringing up their young children and, despite living about 45 minutes’ drive away, they were drawn to Clyde North because “we knew this area needed more cafes like this”.
“Since we started that’s all we hear from our customers, ‘thank you for bringing a city-style cafe out to us’. The risk paid off,” Mrs Mastrogiannakos said.
She said the cafe had an “amazing and loyal” customer base which had “kept us going through COVID”.
“We had so many of our regulars come in and get their takeaway coffee and put money in the tip jar saying ‘we don’t want you to go anywhere’ and it was honestly just so lovely,” she said.
“They said ‘you’ve kept us going, this our daily treat in lockdown’ but really, they kept us going.
“They were the reason we got out of bed and came to work everyday during that time.”
Mrs Mastrogiannakos said the most popular dish on the menu was “hands down” the French toast, which comes served with berry puree, white chocolate and shortbread crumble, fresh berries and maple syrup.
“It’s our signature dish — we change our menu seasonally but the French toast it’s the one thing we never take off,” she said.
She said more than 100 servings are dished up each week, meaning the cafe has sold more than 30,000 helpings since it opened nearly six years ago.
The Cheeky Benny — pulled beef, crispy kale, hash, poached eggs and sriracha hollandaise on sourdough — is the next best seller.
The Mastrogiannakoses are rarely away from their beloved shop — and if they are, they still have work on the brain.
“Sometimes you find the owners aren’t quite as hands on all the time (but) when we’re not here (customers ask) ‘where’s Cathy and Maki?’” Mrs Mastrogiannakos said.
“The cafe is our third baby — we started it from scratch and we’ve seen it grow and the area grow around us,” she said.
Volt Cafe is located in the Selandra Rise Shopping Centre, corner Selandra and Linsell boulevards.