Salty Espresso brews up Aussie flavour
Cosy café is centred around excellent coffee drinks and simple, fresh food
Salty Espresso sits unassuming on the corner of Augusta and John.
With five tables for two, one marbletopped table for four plus a small counter, it could be called cosy but, in fact, it felt quite spacious. This was due to the open, airy atmosphere — a result of the natural light flowing through a facade made solely of windows. Adding to the organized, calm feel, shelves are neatly lined with bags of 49th Parallel coffee and the art on the walls features the lighter shades of nature.
The small café is centred around two principles: excellent coffee drinks; and simple, fresh food served on bread, open face. The owners, Ray Turner and Dahlia Ishak (Ray heads up the kitchen), collected these ideas as they met, lived and worked in Australia.
Though the flat white is the most common coffee drink Down Under, according to our hostess, I began with a cortado to better taste the slightly dark, smooth beans. For my companion, a Spanish latte, the house specialty: espresso over condensed milk with a shake of cinnamon. That same dark underlayer with a fluffy, milky sweetness on top.
I had been to Salty before, a couple of months ago for a standard weekend brunch with a couple of kids; there was a family feel. The day of our return, though, the Saturday before Easter Sunday, we had the place to ourselves, at first.
We had ordered everything at the counter and as we marvelled at our drinks, a tall-ish man walked in and was greeted by name. He bantered with the café folk for a bit before settling into a book he had brought.
The music was meant to be read to. Relaxing and laid back, it had a slightly spectral feel, a little like later Peter Gabriel mixed with Enya. Meanwhile, our dishes were brought out to us.
My “kinda BLT” was two slices of De La Terre multigrain sourdough, layered with peameal, pesto, egg and cheese. Green tomato relish had attracted me to the dish, but it was only really present in a couple of bites. Those bites, though, were delish; punchy and acidic to cut through the richness of the egg and cheese. The others were fine — savoury with a touch of herb and the crunch of the toast. But the relish put it into another realm.
My companion had an avo and sweet potato stack. This example of the openfaced “sandwich” (the sweet potato served as the “bread”) came filled with the soft textures of roasted sweet potato and avocado slices. Arugula dressed in a lemony vinaigrette peeked out from the add-on; a soft, fried egg, with a few thinly sliced radishes laid on top ($1). This dish, like many but not all, was gluten-free and vegan and a delightful display of what vegan food can be.
The richness from the egg-avocado mix was not only broken up by the arugula but also by a “falafel hash,” what my companion described as a deconstructed falafel. It was a clever wheaty addition to a plate with no bread. On the side of the stack was another add-on; house baked beans. These basically tasted like a vegan chili, fresh and peppy.
We polished off our plates and I had some roasted potatoes on the side. These were mini red potatoes, sliced thinly almost down to the end (imagine a hard boiled egg slicer for potatoes). They were crispy on the outside and had a super robust potato flavour on the inside.
Each table had glasses stacked next to little brown jugs full of water so I just filled up. My companion ordered more caffeine; this time, a flat white. While she sipped, I ordered desserts and a dark, moist cupcake was brought over, along with a Donut Monster apple fritter. I love the yeasty dough of Donut Monster’s doughnuts and the gentle, sweet apple was very nice.
But the deep chocolate cupcake knocked it out of the park.
The chocolate’s intensity had been amped up and the cake had a nice bite, just barely chewy. The icing further intensified the chocolate flavour and it was so pure that the chocolate mini-eggs on top almost diminished the overall experience. So I guess what I’m saying is if you like chocolate, you’ll love these cupcakes.
We left this little gem quite happy. It isn’t flashy but with friendly people, and well-chosen and nicely cooked ingredients, Salty lets the experience speak for itself.