Punchbowl Canteen flys the flag for good food in surprising places

PORT Melbourne’s Punchbowl Canteen punches on with lightness and brightness in both food and feel, with sweet, smiley and unobtrusive service.

The Sweet Something toasted brioche dish. Picture: Andrew Tauber

BAR perhaps the alluring waft of the Bunnings sausage sizzle, Port Melbourne’s industrial back blocks aren’t known for their foodie highlights.

But burrowed into a side street, Punchbowl Canteen takes over a gorgeous, light-filled old garage (formerly the Salford Lads Club cafe) and flies the flag for good food in surprising places.

During the week Punchbowl buzzes with business trade, while on weekends it offers cafe tourists a spot a little off the beaten track for all-day breakfast and lunch.

Punchbowl Canteen is a new cafe in Port Melbourne. Picture: Norm Oorloff

FOOD

Head chef Liz Milroy brings kitchen gravitas, having worked in restaurants across Europe before coming home to helm South Melbourne’s St Ali, Fitzrovia in St Kilda and Brunswick’s Wide Open Road.

Her menu strikes a good balance between cheffy and homely, taking traditional dishes but adding a luxe ingredient or neat twist.

Dish of the day goes to the thick-cut bacon ($19), a slab of which comes with poached eggs and a fluffy potato cake melted with gruyere cheese, all unified by a warming, creamy chipotle mayo.

The classic combo of strawberries and balsamic rides high in Something Sweet ($16.50, right). Toasted brioche is loaded thickly with crème fraîche topped with almond clusters, freeze-dried and fresh strawberries and micro basil, all atop crisscrosses of balsamic glaze. It’s a happy amalgam of flavours, with a nice berry finish.

The old-school Scotch egg ($18) even gets a 2016 rev-up, with fish cake, instead of mince, encasing its eggy heart, crumbed and cooked to golden on a bright bed of radish, pear and beetroot salad with curry mayo.

For lunch, go hearty with the top-selling crispy Korean fried chicken burger ($18) with kimchi slaw, or the steak sandwich ($25) loaded with salsa verde, mustard mayo, gruyere and caramelised onions.

Fishcake scotched eggs. Picture: Norm Oorloff

DRINKS

Coffee is by Fitzroy’s Industry Beans, and there are plenty of juice blends ($7) and smoothies ($8) with almond milk and coconut yoghurt. Thick shakes ($10), in four flavours including gingerbread and banana cream pie, up the decadence.

This canteen is licensed, too. Enjoy three local reds, two whites and a prosecco, or a small choice of craft beers and cider.

SERVICE

Sweet, smiley and unobtrusive service that asks all the right questions.

X-FACTOR

Owner Danny Grosman, who also has Toorak cafe The Dihnersaw and his Fionsay (a play on the age gap between he and his partner as well as his track record as a bad speller), was sick of

cafes all looking the same — lots of timber, lots of black — so he commissioned Queensland artist Leah Bartholomew to do murals, which take pride of place in the main dining room, injecting a sense of fun and vibrancy.

Eat here at communal tables, along the banquette or in a booth, or outside under the shady tree if the weather permits.

BANG FOR YOUR BUCK

Breakfast portions can err on the smallish side for the price, but good ingredients leap from the plate, making a strong case for quality over quantity.

VERDICT

Punchbowl punches on with lightness and brightness in both food and feel. Bunnings snag chaser optional.

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PUNCHBOWL CANTEEN

1 Fennell St, Port Melbourne

8534 9957

FOOD

Mod-cafe

HOURS

Mon-Fri 7am-4pm,

Sat-Sun 8am-4pm

CHEF

Liz Milroy

BOOKINGS

Yes

TIME BETWEEN ORDERING AND EATING

15 minutes

PERFECT FOR

Weekend brunch

DESTINATION DISH

Thick-cut bacon with gruyere potato cake

NOISE FACTOR

Festive

ONLINE

punchbowlcanteen.com.au

REVIEW BY

Megan Miller

PICTURES

Norm Oorloff

REVIEWS ARE UNANNOUNCED AND PAID FOR BY WEEKEND. RESTAURANTS ARE NOT REVIEWED IN THE FIRST MONTH OF OPENING