Outpost
| Where | 9 Yarra Street, South Yarra, 3141—View map |
Contact | 03 9827 8588 outpost@stali.com.au |
Website | www.stali.com.au |
Open | Breakfast Monday to Friday 7:00 am to 3:00 pm, Saturday and Sunday 8:00 am to 4:00 pm |
Payment | EFTPOS, Visa, Mastercard, Diners, AMEX, Cash |
Diet | Soy, Gluten free, Caters to special diets |
Seating | Inside and outside |
Kids | Welcome |
Pets | Welcome |
Southern Exposure
Ellie Parker 27 November 2009
People of South Yarra rejoice. There is now a little café called Outpost. And it is about to rock your world. This smart little trackside cafe is where coffee god and breakfast god hang out on their days off. And it's no wonder. Outpost is the little sister of St Ali, the South Melbourne coffee mothership owned by Salvatore Malatesta who can pretty much lay claim to being a coffee god himself.
Discretely tucked into the corner of a new monster development in Yarra St, Outpost is already packing a morning crowd. Like junkies in a shooting gallery, this odd gaggle of hairdressers, shop assistants and residents silently congregate in front of the coffee machine waiting for their fix. Their fix, for what its worth, is Guatemalan La Perla (and no, that's not Guevara's bespoke lingerie line). Their fix is also some of the finest coffee you will ever part lips for. Soft n' silky, it warms you all the way down to your pinky toe. Outpost's coffee is a stand-alone asset.
But here's the thing about Outpost-everything is a stand-alone asset. The blueberry and ricotta crepes with candied mandarin and banana immediately heralds Paul Jewson's brilliant craft in the kitchen. Some cafe's don't even bother creating decent food when the coffee-making is taken so seriously. Jewson has taken the challenge and run with it. His menu is exotic (fresh papaya with lime juice, pomegranate, labna and red gum honey) intuitive (buffalo mozzarella, avocado and vegemite) and honest (scrambled eggs with house made chutney). I recommend all of them wholeheartedly.
Add to this the unusual communal table/kitchen arrangement whereby you are encouraged to sit amongst the kitchen's goings on and watch chef whip up, plate up and generally do some damage, it is a great place to while away the wee hours."People like to see what they're about to eat, so we are wanting to put as much food on display as possible", says chef to a couple who have pulled up some stools at the bench only to witness 5 huge roast chickens emerge from the blue Lacanche oven.
The central counter and working bench are a great focal point for the theatre of the kitchen and the goodies that result- eggy bacon breakfast rolls and tarts, croissants and pastries and gluten free cakes sit happily alongside patrons and newspapers. Mid morning sees the addition of some fetching lunch preparations, reminding you that in an ideal world breakfast,lunch and dinner should form one seamless transition.
The service is exceptional. Regulars chat with staff and chef Jewson like they're in their mothers' kitchens and newcomers are greeted with exuberance. The staff seem to love their coffee, their food and their job which is more than most of us can say about our own professional existence.
Outpost is the understatement of the year.