The Iron Knob Street Bakery and Delicatessan has been open for 3 months now. It isn’t exactly in the best location – located opposite DFO Fyshwick, near Chemist Warehouse and other stores in a small business centre area. It is a rather large place. Menus have been blown up and placed up on the windows outside.
The inside is large with lots of tables and chairs. There are a couple of racks selling rice noodles, sauces and bread (though the bread was nearly all gone).
Items on the menu are a mix of western and eastern foods – breakfast staples, sandwiches, focaccias, pies, quiches, roast pork or beef rolls with gravy and onion (sounds yum), pad thai, wonton soup and pho.
I was keen to taste their authentic Vietnamese pho ($11.50). A friend pointed out what is unauthentic pho?
There are some discrepancies between what I got and the picture. Mainly there were no fresh bean sprouts! I got some basil leaves, freshly chopped chilli and a lemon wedge on my side plate. A bottle of hoisin and chilli sauce were also placed on the table. The pho had a mix of sliced up beef balls and slivers of beef, with spanish onion and chives. I thought it was an average pho with a decent amount of beef.
There is a large glass display cabinet with an assortment of cakes, and the sandwich bar. I got some cakes to go – the chocolate cheesecake ($4.95) and fruit tart ($3.50).
The chocolate cheesecake was smooth and I liked the soft biscuit base. A good mix of chocolate and cheese. Not bad! The fruit tart was filled with cream and had a small thin pastry shell. I would have preferred a bit of custard or some chocolate lining the pastry, but other than that, it wasn’t bad either. The fruit was fresh, sweet and tasty. Not my favourite place for cakes, I’d much prefer the Flute Bakery or Ricardos, but for the price these were pretty good value.
