Eat. @ Touchwood

480 Bridge Rd, Richmond 3121 ph (03) 9429 9347

My Bro-in-Law and Sis-in-Law are in town visiting from Overseas, and we've been out brunching Melbourne-style as often as we could manage in the last few weeks.  As their visit nears the end, much to the kids' distress, we took the opportunity to visit Touchwood on their second day of opening.  This is actually pretty cool, as we had no preconceptions of what to expect, being totally free from reviews and opinions.  Most of our cafe visits are usually well planned and researched, but the only things I'd known about Touchwood was that it's brand spanking new, serves 5 Senses coffee, and seats 110.  (The last fact being the clincher as it's the school holidays and we didn't fancy waiting to be squeezed into a little cafe with a party of 6 including 3 kids.)

What we found was a large, spacious cafe which was bright, minimalist but welcoming, with concrete floors and a liberal use of wood for furnishing.  The back opens up to a wood-decked courtyard where we were seated in a booth, perfect for our group, and extremely kid and pram friendly.

At a glance, the menu serves up interesting modern cafe fare with the usual all day breakfast suspects and lunch from 11:30am.  Dishes ranged from porridge, eggs, and fruit bread, to burgers, tacos and po'boys.  First thing first for me is of course a smooth, smooth mocha, of good Melbourne standard! ($3.8)

S-i-L had the impressive sounding (and looking) Tequila and citrus cured salmon, with poached eggs, smashed peas, dill, lemon creme fraiche, sauteed endives and sourdough toast ($17.5). She gave her approval and I think I will definitely have to try this on my next visit.

B-i-L had the Omelette, with caramelized shallots, roasted capsicums and buffalo mozarella and basil oil. ($16.5) and a side serve of cotechino sausage ($5).  He quite liked this, and I tried some of the sausage which was really flavour-full.

I ordered the Pulled Pork Tacos ($18.5) from the lunch menu.  This was really tasty, with the tender pork, contrasting with the crunchy mix of cabbage, fennel and coriander, and the winning addition of the sweet apple compote giving this taco an interesting twist.  I also liked that the ingredients were not overly watery even though the pulled pork was moist, which made it a relatively "neat" taco to eat!

Mini Me and Bubs had Scrambled eggs with toast and bacon ($10) from the "Little Peeps" section of the menu.  This was a pretty decently sized serve (we all shared!) and the scrambled eggs was lovely and creamy.

Last but not least Macaron Monster, my sweet-toothed child, ordered the Peanut butter and jelly whole meal waffle ($16) with poached raspberries, whipped peanut butter ricotta and peanut brittle, which of course went down a treat.   She generously shared some with us all and it was a delicious end to brunch.

A few little things like sharing the deck with smokers and an un-smiling (perhaps stressed?) wait staff common to many cafes were our only negatives.  Considering how new it is, Touchwood made a good impression on us and I have no doubt we will be back!

Toilets - Yes