ON a recent visit to see my mother-in-law in Victoria, I offered to make her a lovely home-cooked meal – Beef Wellington with mushrooms.
She took it well and ordered me to leave her house immediately and never come back.
Serves me right. I should have done haggis instead.
I do love mushrooms though, so my eyes lit up when I read the menu at 9 Seeds cafe in Fremantle.
They had a lovely Mixed Mushrooms dish.
In fact the whole menu was rather mouth-watering with a range of breakfast and brunch dishes including Spanish omelette, ricotta pancakes, pulled pork burger, spicy sausage melt, and Turkish eggs.
The menu was the perfect size with a nice variety of dishes.
9 Seeds is on the busy Marmion St, just up from the East Fremantle Football Club.
It’s one of those places you probably drive by and go “That looks nice”, but then it’s too late to stop.
It’s definitely worth checking out. The venue has a lovely range of places to eat – there’s a pavement alfresco, leafy patio, and a cosy dining room.
The cafe has a relaxed vibe with a nature mural on the wall and chilled music.
When I visited on Wednesday lunchtime, the sun was out and there was a steady stream of punters coming in for meals and takeaway coffee.
I warmed up my palate with a freshly made Replacer juice ($10). I don’t know what I was replacing – maybe years of lost brain cells – but the medley of beetroot, ginger, apple and celery was refreshing and delicious.
It had a nice balance of tartness and wasn’t too heavy on the ginger.
It wasn’t long before the main attraction was out – my Mixed Mushrooms ($25).
It looked impressive – a steaming hot bevy of wilted spinach, Danish feta, lemon crumble and mushies, all artfully piled on a slice of sourdough bread.
Perched preciously on top was a poached egg.
A nice touch was the green pesto spread over the bread. I don’t know if it was intentional but it looked like a layer of moss.
The dish was earthy and full of strong meaty flavours from the shrooms. The egg was perfectly poached with a semi-runny yolk and all the ingredients were high quality and tasty. There was a variety of mushrooms on the plate including the stringy enoki.
Polite
I would have maybe liked another lighter flavour to punch through the earthiness from time to time, but it was a very well executed dish.
I washed it down with one of the best cappuccinos ($6.20) I’ve had in a while – it wasn’t too strong with a nice creaminess.
Despite the serving staff being busy, they were polite, friendly and efficient.
9 Seeds have a display cabinet with sandwiches and cakes, and I couldn’t resist taking home a giant peach and cranberry muffin ($7) and a slice of carrot cake ($7) for the family.
The kids loved the muffin, which was moist with plenty of fruit, and my wife “Special K” enjoyed the generous slice of carrot cake, which had a thick indulgent layer of icing.
9 seeds is a favourite with locals and I can see why. It’s a quality establishment.
9 Seeds
121 Marmion Street, Fremantle
9seedscafe.com
by STEPHEN POLLOCK