The Velvet Garage
My Dad tore around the streets in a Datsun 120Y. They were such a zippy little car and he did love to drive. They were kind of sporty and were sold in lovely 70′s colours like fawn and yellow. So it was a step back in time to see a Datsun 120Y, in Orange, in the middle of a cafe in St Peters. It has been repurposed nicely as a store cupboard / art installation in the corner of Velvet Garage.
The 120Y
The whole cafe can put you in a spin if you happened to have experienced the 70′s the first time around. This was a time of unreserved flamboyance, colour and velvet. Velvet was a favourite material for everything, spanning lounges, curtains, cushions, clothes and even walls. My mother had a lovely wallpaper featuring velvet flowers. It almost makes you wish you saw it the first time round , doesn’t it?
The Velvet Garage features fashionable 70′s furniture
I love that you can open a cafe in a garage. It’s freeing and such good recycling. I would have to admit that Velvet Garage is not necessarily for everyone. It is rustic and unapologetic and little sister to the popular Satellite cafe in Newtown. It works for me because it is laid back, but most importantly the food is good. There are no dumbed down toasted sandwiches or safe Caesar Salads or bowls of Spaghetti Bolognese. Here you can eat Marinated Mushrooms with Roy des Vallees (a semi hard cheese made with goat and sheep milk), Omelette with fresh herbs, confit garlic, feta, caramelised onion and shallots for $14 or with smoked trout $16. There is an intriguing sounding Poha, ”rice flakes: potato: peas: curry leaves: truss tomatoes: coriander: onion: chilli: lime: turmeric: ginger: mustard seeds: cashews” this I have to go back and try. Don’t worry, you can have a bacon and egg roll but it will be with dijon aioli and rocket, $9 and you can add avocado if you like. There are vegetarian options for most things and I love that they are picking fresh herbs on one of the 70′s style dining tables
Picking herbs
The coffee is Little Marionette, a strong forthright brew and there is a great choice in frappes and juices . Raspberry, Orange blossom and Apple $3.50 is on my list for next visit.
Pan toasted sandwich of slow cooked lamb
Slow cooked Lamb, Red cabbage and apple slaw, rosti and aioli pan fried in butter till crispy the old fashioned way was perfect $12.
sage rage
Rosti, Smoked Trout, Salsa Verde, herb oil, Goats Chevre and Rocket was the pick $14
The front counter
Delightfully wackey. Staff are gorgeous. A little hidden ( as all good things these days) on a side street off May Street in St Peters.
Food is good
