Warning: this post is photo heavy.
When my friends and I arrived at the Grounds of Alexandria at 10.30am on a Sunday morning, it was jam packed with people. We were told that the wait for a table would be over an hour. After hearing and reading good reviews of this place, we were willing to wait and took one of the little buzzers. The Grounds are set on a large, old industrial site.
The restaurant/cafe itself is inside an old lofty warehouse with the kitchen, bakery and coffee counter towards the back. There is a rustic and homely feel to the place as the brick walls are a key feature indoors. With lots of time to kill, we walked around to discover it is much bigger than originally thought.
What I love about this place, is that it focuses on fresh produce with garden beds filled with lettuce and all sorts of veggies grown on the premises. In the middle of the grounds, lies a large wooden pergola providing some shade for diners. Grape vines are wrapped around the top and sides of the wooden pillars, flower pots hang down sporadically, and there are pot plants in every shape and size dotted around the place. Just gorgeous.
We discovered The Grounds Garden Bar where I could see some guys cooking on a BBQ at the back. An alternative for those wanting a quick getaway. I could smell the yummy bacon and eggs sizzling on the BBQ, but we wanted to wait for the restaurant food.
I noticed a waiter coming out with a big wooden paddle board filled with chopped up jam and chocolate donuts. He was walking around offering these goodies to the hungry and waiting customers. I saw him do the rounds several times with more and more donuts.
The Grounds have an animal pen with local pig ‘Kevin Bacon’ and his little house, chickens and a cute sheep grazing in the pen.
There is a little lemonade stand set up selling original and rose lemonade for $5. There is also a florist on the premises with a small gift shop.
There are cute little market carts/stands lined up, each selling something different. Pastries, nuts, gelato, fresh flowers, snow cones, more lemonade and cheese and olives. Each cart had samples of most things so I could taste everything before making a purchase. The guy behind the nuts stand was encouraging and wanted me to try every single sample of nut. The Moroccan cashews were unique – a savoury and slightly spicy cashew – my partner’s favourite. A small carton of whatever mix of nuts you want is $5. This is a great way in keeping customers interested and busy while waiting for a table. And also makes customers spend more money! The four of us realised we’d each bought from at least 2 different carts, plus lemonade.
Now onto the food – as it was past 11.30am by the time we got a table, we missed out on the breakfast menu. So we could only choose from the brunch and lunch menu. This was a bit disappointing as I specifically wanted to order from the breakfast menu, but what can you do.
I ordered a pear, apple and mint juice ($7.50), this was freshly squeezed and tasted like it should. A qualm I have with ordering fruit juices in a restaurant is that the glass is usually completely filled with ice cubes so that the juice-to-ice cube ratio is off balance and you never actually get much juice. Next time I’ll say half or no ice. Still refreshing though.
Still in a breakfast mood, I ordered off the brunch menu and got the ‘Well-being Breakfast’ ($19), with house cured ocean trout, green bean and fennel salad, beetroot relish, dill crème fraiche, gribiche eggs and toasted sourdough. This was fresh and hit the spot. The gribiche eggs were cut up soft-boiled eggs with a light herby dressing on them. Home-made beetroot relish was a nice touch. I really liked it! Healthy and yum. I was surprised that the food came out so quickly considering the number of diners around.
I couldn’t resist ordering a serve of fries too, ($6) with chilli mayo and salt. The chips were crunchy and irresistible. The chilli mayo in particular was amazing with some kick! We all want to replicate the mayo now.
There was such a great, fun and happy atmosphere at this place. It’s hard to describe. Even though there was a 1 hour wait or more for a table, nobody really cared and everyone was just enjoying themselves and the beautiful weather. To be honest, even though I had been there over 2 hours after we’d finished our meals, I didn’t really want to leave. There was just always something new to see and take photos of! Love the greenery and foliage covering the entire area.
I couldn’t resist taking away some delicious looking desserts afterwards. The crème brulee tart gave off a nice crack when my spoon hit it. Tasty.
The peach tart was fresh and the custard was smooth and delicious.The pastry shell was soft but solid enough to hold the whole thing together – yummy and buttery.
The chocolate tart had a thick chocolate mousse piped into it. Very chocolately with a chocolate pastry shell – great for chocolate lovers. I think it could have used something else to cut through the pure chocolatey-ness though.
The lemon tart was amazing – very lemony and such a beautifully smooth consistency. One of the best I’ve ever had.
The pink macaron with salated caramel and blueberries was yummy and I demolished this easily.
Pros: they appreciate their customers by providing good distractions for hungry diners with food stalls, free samples of food, the garden bar if you don’t want to wait for a table (however with the number of people, we think it’s still about a 20min wait for the order to be cooked), it’s family friendly with an animal pen, great food once you do get a table, food comes out quickly for the number of people being served, homely garden and so much to look at.
Cons: the wait, no bookings unless you have a group of 10 or more, can be difficult to get a seat while waiting, spending more money at the market/food stalls.
I’ll definitely be going back, and hopefully get there early to try their breakfast menu.
Love love love this place!
