Chef Ryan Lording puts his heart into new Elwood cafe Plain Sailing

FIRST Oreo doughnut sliders at his Carnegie cafe Left Field, how the cookies and cream peanut butter bao at his Elwood newcomer Plain Sailing, Ryan Lording has the sweet touch.

Plain Sailing owner Ryan Lording outside the venue. Picture: Rebecca Michael

IT’S a little twisted how Ryan Lording came up with Plain Sailing’s super-decadent calling card. A six-week convalescence from a heart operation last year gave the chef and co-owner thinking time to dream up his next moves at his new Elwood digs, including the heart-racing cookies and cream peanut butter bao. It’s deep-fried and sugary, with only a few banana slices to ease the guilt.

But if anyone can pull it off, it’s the man whose Oreo doughnut sliders at his Carnegie cafe Left Field had them queuing for hours.

Elwood had long been on the radar of Lording and his cafe partners, whose collective runs on the board also include Prahran’s Tall and Richmond’s Union House.

Plain Sailing cafe’s cookies and cream peanut butter bao.

The corner spot — a gleaming 110-seater under a new apartment build on the former RSL site — has been bayside’s summer go-to since opening last month.

Bao aside, breakfast and brunches mostly come in Lording’s Middle Eastern-leaning, health-oriented and generous style, with dinners on the horizon, too. Think share plates of slow-cooked lamb, spice roasted fish and whole chooks, with a great cocktail and wine list. Lording’s Midas touch can next be seen in Sandringham, where he will open another new cafe in April or May.

Plain Sailing is bayside’s summer go-to.

FOOD

Whether you’re on a health kick or giving in to your sweet tooth, it’s a pleasure working through the menu.

Get in early for the zucchini and pumpkin fritters ($18.50), which sell out most days. The herb-flecked fritters come nestled in a zingy salad of pickled carrot, beetroot and mint, with a poached egg and pumpkin hummus. It’s light and tasty, extracting max flavour from every ingredient.

The breaky board ($18) is a self-contained sensation. Perfect for the indecisive, it ticks sweet with seasonal fruit and muesli so full of bits it must be good for you, as well as savoury with quinoa toast, an egg, smashed avo and an earthy beetroot hummus, all with a glass of OJ.

Chef Ryan Lording. Picture: REBECCA MICHAEL

The deep-fried springy bao bun ($18, right), inspired by Lording’s love of handheld street food, is stuffed with a chunky peanut butter, cookies and cream batter. It sits atop a slab of sticky banana bread, on a Nutella-smeared plate with a chocolate and popcorn granola for crunch, all drizzled with salted caramel. It’s super rich and not for the faint-hearted, but it works, though perhaps order as a share dish.

DRINK

Niccolo supplies the coffee while two kinds of smoothies ($11) are chock full of health-giving ingredients. Also get bottled kombucha.

Left Field hype won’t be going away

SERVICE

Staff are engaged and eager to please. Weekend queues are well handled.

X FACTOR

With Scandi wood and floor-to-ceiling wraparound windows, the fitout is chic and airy.

BANG FOR YOUR BUCK

Some will baulk at $18-$21 breakfasts, but these are hearty and beautifully presented restaurant-quality dishes. Come hungry.

VERDICT

Plain Sailing is one summer fling that’s here to stay. And with dinners looming, it promises to become even more enticing.

Plain Sailing cafe, Elwood.

PLAIN SAILING

144 Ormond Rd, Elwood. Phone: [phone]

FOOD Mod cafe

HOURS Mon-Fri 7am-4pm, Sat-Sun 7.30am-4pm

CHEF Ryan Lording

BOOKINGS No

TIME BETWEEN ORDERING AND EATING 14 minutes

PERFECT FOR Working your way through the menu

DESTINATION DISH Peanut butter cookies and cream bao

NOISE LEVEL Buzzy

ONLINE plainsailingelwood.com