As we arrived at the Woodlea Housing Estate in Rockbank and marvelled at its adventure playground with not one but TWO flying foxes and formidable twisty slide, the question was: could Jason M Jones’s new café be added to The Village People’s catalogue of reasons to travel in a westerly direction?
L-shaped and spacious – handy for steering prams – Go West’s interior promotes calm, with pine timber floors, wraparound banquette seating and refreshing nautical blue tones.
With this café, Jones (begetter of Second Home, Stables of Como and Friends of Mine) has brought inner-city eating to Rockbank. The menu (ranging from $5 for simple pastries to $22 for the parma) will be familiar to those who have frequented his establishments, and this is a good thing. From the ‘cheesy toast’ with béchamel sauce, egg breakfasts, more healthsome quince porridge and acai bowl to the substantial lunches (macaroni cheese, lamb gnocchi), this is comfort food poshed up and done well.
The Breakfast Super Salad is indeed super in size, nutrients and execution. Snappy kale leaves mingle with broccoli florets, peas, translucent radish slices and a splodge of smashed avocado. Quinoa, a poached egg and a dollop of creamy smoked yoghurt provide protein while pumpkin seeds contribute crunch. This is a dazzlingly tangy salad that will power you through the challenges of any day.
An error delivers the Eggs Benedict (we ordered the Eggs Royale), but we go with it in the spirit of adventure. Two bouncy English muffin halves are topped with smoked ham hock, sunny poached eggs and a butter-coloured apple cider hollandaise sauce. It’s not ample so you could add a side of the glistening, deeply-flavoured, slow roasted tomatoes; nor, unfortunately, is it spectacular, mainly on account of the coolish ham.
A glass cabinet at the counter is crammed with killer old school sweets – chocolate crackles (Belgian chocolate, no less), honey joys and musk sticks – transporting you back to balloon-filled childhood birthday parties. With its thickset biscuit base, zingy lemon icing and toasted coconut flakes, the lemon slice is a particular goody.
Beverages score high, particularly the velvety house blend coffee from Osso Roasting Co and matcha lattes which leave a honeyed aftertaste (and potentially a verdant moustache). Youngsters will be thrilled by the milkshakes, and health nuts by the smoothies on offer.
The only disappointment is that service varies from excellent to careless (that perhaps misheard order and a beverage sploshed well out of the cup). That aside, Go West is a happy destination that justifies both the journey and our faith in The Village People.
