Terra Viva in full summer stride
Life is good at Terra Viva. With the garden centre in full bloom and the cafe riding on a wave of summer optimism, there is a feeling of progress at the beloved Burnside establishment.
Twenty years after launching, Terra Viva still holds a youthful energy as the seasons offer up new ingredients to play with and wellhoned recipes get the subtlest of tweaks.
Perhaps the most graceful way to explore the cafe’s lighter bites is with high tea, which can be joined by a bottle of bubbly to make an afternoon of it.
But for anyone craving something a little meatier, head chef Steve Gardiner and sous chef Lin Su are only too happy to oblige.
For the third year, the pair have scooped a Beef + Lamb Excellence Award for their summertime creations, which with any luck will stick around through the autumn menu shift.
A pan-fried rump steak with chilli caramel, potato rostis, mushroom duxelles and crispy portobello shards comes with a herb salad for a meal that wouldn’t be out of place in the swankiest of settings.
In the tian of lamb, the pair deliver a wonderful meld of the exotic and familiar.
Featuring tender lamb, a salsa of sun-blushed tomatoes, avocado, red onion and cucumber, and finished with tzatziki, a herb salad and crispy flatbread, it plays to Gardiner’s love for satisfying fare with layers of well-balanced flavour.
His signature bubble and squeak, meanwhile, rests firmly on the ‘‘satisfying’’ side of the ledger and has held its position on the menu since first appearing eight years ago, making it the cafe’s all-time favourite.
In great news for home chefs, the flavours of Terra Viva are increasingly becoming available for taking away, too.
Ready-to-go jars with servings of bacon jam, chicken liver pate and aioli have now been joined by an eggplant jam and a tomato compote – the compote being a particularly good addition to pastas and pizza. The cafe even has frozen meals for a special, spur-of-themoment home dinner.
New cabinet offerings are also arriving courtesy of newly appointed bakers Alice Peng and June Inoue, whose sweet treats and delicate savouries help make up the cafe’s ever-popular high teas.
Until July 1, every high tea, cream tea or afternoon tea served at the cafe will see $1 donated to Roydvale School, just down the road.
With its large and lush surrounds – many visitors combine trips to the garden centre with a bite to eat at the cafe – Terra Viva’s focus on community is matched by a citywide appeal that stems in part from its success as a functions venue.
Private parties of all kinds are catered for at the otherwise daytime operation, with the garden centre’s many plantings allowing for events with an air of both the vibrant and elegant.
A dedicated functions organiser is available to handle all the details, while a growing front-of-house team ensures the cafe is kept alive with its friendly bustle and colour seven days a week.
New to the Terra Viva family are Brianna Brown, Jordyn Steer, Allie Higgins and Brooke Gibson, whose welcoming smiles and the option of ice tea by the carafe-full give every reason to kick back and enjoy an extended stay on a hot summer day.