The Schoolyard Cafe

Finally a cafe has opened near me. I've lived in this suburb for 17 years, and even though the 'cafe culture' hit off a while ago, it's taken an ex school teacher/home baker to create this cafe. It's got a 'school' sort of theme which is pretty cute, and I like their canvas prints of blackboard writing on the walls.

This cafe is as local as it gets. It's the smallest ever little strip of shops which I drive to the bus stop here in the morning, even though I can walk to the bus stop closer to home in around 5min, the bus does a loop and driving here in the morning I end up saving around 10min and leave before 7am. That is literally the difference once they started the light rail constructions at uni between making it on time or late to a 9am start. After 7am, expect at least 2 hours to get to uni (long gone are the days of 1.5hrs).

food spread

As much as I would love to support locals consistently, the food wasn't really that great, and it's just not me to rave about something which isn't that great. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt that they're new, but some things like produce you can't hide. Even though it is a small cafe, I've been to heaps of small cafes tucked away in the suburbs, and you can still get relatively fresh ingredients.

Smashed avo: poached eggs, balsamic glaze, cherry tomato, ricotta-$17

I love a good avocado toast, and The Grounds still remain my favourite. Unfortunately with this one the avocados weren’t that fresh, and you could see it before you tasted it. It’s not as green/bright, and a tad bit browny. There was only a super thin layer of avo, kind of like butter on toast, rather than a nice thick spread of smashed avo or slices of avo. The eggs were under seasoned in that they tasted a bit watery and the yolks weren’t really runny. I did like how they made it pretty with some vinaigrette as a design, but I still found the dish lacked flavour, even with the ricotta.

 
Schoolyard B&E: maple smoked bacon, fried eggs, caramelised onion, special bbq sauce on a brioche bun-$12

The bacon and eggs brioche bun was a decent price for the serving. Bacon wasn’t too fatty or salty. The maple could have had a bit more stickiness, but the whole burger wasn’t overly seasoned which makes it ok. Loved the oozy yolk (chose fried over scrambled eggs). You can tell the brioche bun isn’t fresh, since it doesn’t have the nice buttery/milkiness/fluffiness in a freshly baked bun. They didn’t say it was baked in house, but I think it’s possible if they source it elsewhere fresh, and that would have made the bun even more delicious.

Chai-$4, Capp-$3.50

I found the coffee more watery and so not as flavourful. I think it’s to do with the quality of milk, since when I forth cheap Woolies milk vs branded expensive milk, it definitely affects the quality of the beverage. There was a good amount of foam though. The chai was more on the sweet side, and although I have a sweet tooth, I prefer chai with more spice than sweetness.

I wanted to try their cakes, but didn’t feel like chocolate, which at the time most cakes/vegan bars were. Maybe they might have more selections on the weekend. Macarons were $3.50 each which isn’t cheap at all, but I’m willing to give one a go next time.