Cheerio: 323 Lennox Street, Richmond, no phone
My score: 3.5/5
There is an equation to determine if a new cafe is required in a particular location. You count the number of people in the postcode who can’t open a packet of cornflakes and multiply that number by the minutes until the next tram. Take the answer and squeeze it over some smashed avocado on toast. If there are then fewer grams of Vegemite in the jar than the correct code on the nearest bicycle combination lock, the point of cafe saturation hasn’t been reached and a new one is needed within 500 metres. Applying this strict formula, Cheerio is a necessary addition to Richmond, a suburb that’s densely populated in many respects but sparse in the quality cafe department. Cheerio is doing its little bit to redress that paucity.
Don’t all come today because Cheerio only accommodates a couple of dozen patrons in its bright, elegant shopfront. It’s welcoming but it does have something of a fuel-and-go feeling, less so if you’re on the cushioned bench running the length of the room but certainly if you’re hump-backed on a stool, hunkering over your (excellent) coffee made with pure, creamy Jonesy’s milk. Service is friendly, efficient and professional.
The menu isn’t massive. For lunch, the sandwich roster includes an entirely lovable gypsy ham, cheddar, bèchamel, gherkin and tomato relish toastie which, I think, has all the food groups plus one for good luck. There might also be a minestrone special and a made-out-back pork sausage roll stacked with mustard seeds and tumbled with HP, tomato and Worcestershire sauces, a flavoursome trio if ever there was. The sausage roll comes with a chunky tomato relish. Breakfast is a little more extensive but still focuses on simple stuff done well with the occasional interesting twist. Apples for the house muesli are poached in jasmine tea. Toasted macadamias are sprinkled over the porridge. A genius briont (the mongrel offspring of brioche and croissant) is served with lemon curd. Cooked breakfasts include a sturdy winter assembly of sautéed chard, pancetta pieces and poached eggs topped with an aromatic and smooth hollandaise sauce. Just-spicy tomato-braised white beans are served with whipped goat’s cheese.
Everything looks pretty: the food, the cups and saucers with their dreamy pastel glaze, the geometric-pattern-painted concrete floor and, of course, the macramé plant holder. It all adds up to a warm and welcome solution to the equation for new cafe location.
More Richmond:
Union Dining, 272 Swan Sweet, Richmond, 9428 2988
Favourite dishes on the winter menu at this lively, capable restaurant include the chestnut soup with confit rabbit, the prawns with harissa and lemon yoghurt dressing, and the pear clafoutis.
Fonda, 248 Swan Street, Richmond, 9429 0085
Rock up (then wait) and (eventually) eat made-to-order tortillas filled with, perhaps, kangaroo, quinoa and sweet potato. Street snacks include pork scratchings and charred corn.
The Grand, 333 Burnley Street, Richmond, 9429 2530
Italian food is served with simplicity and style in the lounge bar or appealing dining room. Wednesday is duck and pinot night – a half roast bird and a glass of pinot is just $25.
First published in The Age, August 19, 2012
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