avo good day
A FORMER bowling club in Sydney’s INNER-WEST is worth missing out ON A MORTGAGE for, discovers LEIGH-ANN POW.
WITH A PERFECTLY functioning toaster in the cupboard and avocado prices back down to levels where the green fruit once again costs less than AMP stocks, it has become almost criminal to eat breakfast out these days – ever since some demographer opined that our collective love of smashed avo on boutique bread with a soy latte chaser was robbing many of us of the chance to own property (like record soaring price increases and lax government regulation had nothing at all to do with it). So, I almost felt guilty as I approached Acre Eatery, the former bowling club in the innerwest Sydney suburb of Camperdown, on a sunny Sunday morning. The space, part of the community-based Camperdown Commons, has been transformed into a multi-faceted farm-totable eatery, including the Dining Room, serving up comfort food with a healthy edge, and the convivial Garden Terrace, where breakfast is taken on the wide deck or at tables spread across one of the old bowling greens. The menu has all the breakfast requisites, from banana bread to poached eggs on crunchy, thick bread, baked in-house, with lots of add- ons, while the freshly squeezed juices come in cute lidded jam jars. After sitting down in the shaded sun we order sourdough toast with a side of chorizo, the poached eggs with a side of sautéed mushrooms, the summer berry chia bowl with fresh berries and toasted coconut, and, of course, the smashed avo on sourdough, heirloom tomatoes, fetta and dukkah. The place is filling up fast with families and large groups of friends, but our dishes arrive after only a short wait. The chorizo is chargrilled to smoky perfection, and gets heaped onto the thick sourdough, while the mushrooms are soft and herby, adding depth of flavour to the perfectly poached free-range eggs. The chia bowl is a riot of colour, its pastel berry hue topped with bright red raspberries and scattered flower petals. But taste is not compromised for looks; it has a silky-smooth texture and a subtle, fruity freshness. And as for the $18 smashed avo, which is piled high on the bread and topped with soft, juicy tomatoes (farmed on-site on an old bowling green overseen by Pocket City Farms) and creamy fetta; the generous sprinkle of dukkah adding pops of nutty spice? It is definitely worth the guilt trip.
All AT reviews are conducted anonymously and our writers pay their own way – so we experience exactly what you would.