A few weeks ago, a friend and I met up for lunch in Civic. I picked Tree Eighty3 in Bailey’s Corner as it had been a long time since I’d been there. The last time I was there was for breakfast, but I was keen to go back for lunch to try out the ‘Pork Bar’. There was no printed lunch menu so I spent several minutes just staring at the blackboard amongst other lunch-goers who seemed to be regulars and knew exactly what they wanted.
I was meant to try the pork roll – basically pork cut off the bone with gravy in a bread roll, but then I saw the burger menu. It was a burger kind of day, so I chose the beef burger ($7.50) and added a side of chips and gravy ($3). I was happy with the portion size and nice substantial bulk of the burger gripped in my hands. The beef patty was thick, surprisingly lean and juicy. The chips were crunchy, just how I like them, with a good amount of gravy on top. Good value!
My friend ended up getting the pork roll ($10) which to be honest didn’t look as good as my burger and seemed smaller in size. You get exactly what you pay for – a roll filled with slices of pork and some gravy. He still enjoyed it. I wonder if I can ask for some chips in the pork roll next time and get a pork chip butty!
I discovered that Tree Eighty3 also sell Bombolini doughnuts which has taken Instagram by storm. Turns out the owner of Bombolini used to work at this cafe and provides a selection of doughnuts each day. The doughnuts can also be found at the Capital Region Farmers Markets at Exhibition Park and at the Southside Farmers markets with different flavours each week. The doughnuts sell out within a couple of hours so I was happy to find them in Civic during my lunch break.
Flavours include salted caramel and walnut crunch, strawberry and shortbread, white chocolate cherry and almond, and dark chocolate ganache. I tried the dark chocolate ganache ($6) which was brought out on a wooden board.
The doughnut was filled with the thick dark chocolate custard. The doughnut itself was soft and lightly covered with sugar on the outside. There was a good custard to doughnut ratio. Perhaps I should have picked a different flavour as there didn’t seem to be anything particularly special about it.
Tree Eighty3 does get busy with Civic workers during the weekday lunch time rush. I would suggest some lunch time menus be provided as it gets awkward standing there reading what’s scribbled on the blackboard with different people asking if you’re ready to order. There are a few tables opposite the Tree Eighty3 counter for those dining in, though most were grabbing food to take away.
Tree Eighty3 is located in Bailey’s Arcade (the little arcade next to Smoque which goes through to the bus interchange). Open weekdays for breakfast and lunch, and Saturday for all day brunch.
Foodgasm 7/10
Value for money 8/10
Service 8/10
FPJ score 23/30
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