Sunday 12 February 2023

Cafe "Nancy" at the Robert Gordon Pottery factory outlet in Pakenham

For a long time, we’ve been keen to visit the Robert Gordon Pottery factory outlet in Pakenham. It seems such a long way from the Melbourne suburbs, but for us, it was about a 50 minute drive, mostly along the M1 Monash Freeway.

Robert Gordon has been making world class pottery since 1945 and makes some of their range right here in Victoria. The outlet has a very large selection of pottery on display and they also hold pottery classes.
Read more on their site: https://www.robertgordonaustralia.com/

We knew that the outlet has a cafe but knew little about it.
We were expecting pottery but not vegan, gluten & dairy free food!
How wrong we were!

The outlet cafe is called “Nancy” and has both inside and outside tables.
“Nancy” is the sister cafe to “Lorna” in Ferntree Gully and “Maria” in Upwey. Each cafe is named after one of the owners grandmothers; Nancy was Josh's nana, an accomplished Tasmanian cook who also happened to be a potter. The sister cafes also have vegan and gluten free options on their menus.

When planning your trip to Robert Gordon, you must do the following:
  1. Book a table at “Nancy”.  We didn’t but were very lucky as we were able to peruse the pottery while we waited for one to become available.
  2. Before you sit down, visit the cake display, where we found some beautiful looking cakes including some vegan & gluten free options, as these are not shown on the menu.

We were very surprised to find many suitable brunch options for us on the menu.
I had a tofu scramble on some very nice gluten & dairy free bread, avocado and some of the home made hash brown.

The rest of the family shared a platter ( designed for Valentines Day) that had eggs your way on toast; mushrooms, Korean Fried Chicken Bao buns; arancini balls and chocolate waffles. Easily fed two, but not all gluten free.
Share Platter



We couldn’t fit in cake during the visit, but took a piece of the vegan & GF pistachio cake home for later.
It looks very dense but was surprisingly light with an extravagant berry cream icing. Delicious!
Vegan Pistachio Cake

The staff were very friendly and helpful even though this is a very busy venue.

If you are passing anywhere near Pakenham, definitely visit the Robert Gordon factory outlet. (Book at table first)

Links:

Saturday 10 October 2020

Rawlicious Delicious - Raw, Vegan treats

 I made a recent, rare visit to Passion Foods in South Melbourne to check out their range of gluten free, dairy free products that they stock and came home with some raw, vegan, gluten free & dairy free treats made by Rawlicious Delicious.

Lemon Pistachio Cheesecake

Smooth & creamy texture with a subtle lemon flavour.

Amazing!! Delicious!! I'm looking forward to eating this again very soon.


Rocky Road

Deliciously smooth & very chocolatey.


Rawlicious Delicious are based in Bundaberg, Queensland but have a couple of stockists in Melbourne:

1. Passion Foods
219 Ferrars Street, South Melbourne

2. Lebon Cakes
93 Acland St, St Kilda, Melbourne


Read more about Rawlicious Delicious treats on their website:

https://rawliciousdelicious.com.au

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rawliciousdelicious/

(Photos are from Rawlicious Delicious)

Sunday 20 October 2019

2019 Gluten Free Expo, Melbourne - Video

Our latest visit to the Gluten Free Expo in Melbourne in October, 2019.
Very large number of quality exhibitors and plenty of people attending.
Add in an awesome goodie bag with some fantastic samples and I think this was one of the best expos ever!



List of exhibitors seen in the video

Coeliac Australia
https://www.coeliac.org.au/

Coles
https://www.coles.com.au/

Simply Wize
http://www.simplywize.com.au/

Vitality Bakehouse bread

Helgas & Country Life bread (part of Goodman Fielder)
http://www.countrylife.com.au

Barilla pasta
http://www.barilla.net.au/

Unforgettable Products
http://www.unforgettableproducts.com.au

Macarons De Paris
http://www.macarondeparis.com.au/

Freedom Foods
http://www.freedomfoods.com.au/

Ardor Food Co - Nutella Donuts & crepes
http://ardorfoodco.com.au/

Food For Health
http://www.foodforhealth.com.au/

Brians Gourmet Meats
https://www.briansgourmetmeats.com.au/

Mrs Brunts Shake & Bake bread
https://www.brunt.com.au/

GF Precinct
https://gfprecinct.com.au/

Mamaji's Curry Sauces
https://www.mamajis.com.au/

Orgran
http://www.orgran.com/

Two Bays Brewing
https://www.twobays.beer/

YesYouCan
http://www.saldoce.com.au/

Caffe Strada Bakery
http://www.caffestrada.com.au/gluten_free

Tea Tonic
https://www.teatonic.com.au/index.php/

Botanical Brew
https://botanicalbrew.com.au/

Well & Good
https://www.wellandgood.com.au/

Senza Wellness Foods
https://www.senzafoods.com.au/

We Love Cake (UK)
https://we-love-cake.co.uk/

Bells & Whistles (UK)
https://bells-whistles.co.uk/

Oh So Good Foods
https://www.ohsogoodfoods.com.au/

Danny Balboa Hot Sauce
https://www.dannybalboa.co/

Gluten Free Developments
https://www.glutenfreedevelopments.com.au/

Green Whisk
https://www.greenwhisk.com.au/

Ciao Mamma!
https://ciaomamma.com.au/


See You All Next Year!!

Saturday 29 June 2019

We Love Cake - Double Chocolate Brownies at Coles

We noticed these on the shelves at Coles today.
Gluten, Wheat & Milk Free cakes from We Love Cake.

Double Chocolate Brownies

Double Chocolate Brownies
Very Yummy!! A real brownie, fudgy but light texture.
The box contains 4 little bars separately wrapped in packs of 2. (So you don’t eat the whole box!)
Double Chocolate Brownies

Fruit Cake Slices
I haven’t tasted these as they contain some things that don’t agree with me: apple juice, Glucose-Fructose syrup & sulphur dioxide.
Fruit Cake Slices

Cost: $5.50 per box (Purchased by us. No affiliation with the product or suppliers)

These are made in the U.K. by We Love Cake.
 https://we-love-cake.co.uk/australian-products/ . Full ingredient lists on the site.

Their website shows quite a few gluten, wheat & milk free cakes. Maybe we will see more of these on the shelves in Australia.



Monday 18 March 2019

Coeliac Awareness Week 2019

Coeliac Awareness Week is from 13-20 March, 2019

Be on the lookout for specials at the major supermarkets. Check your letterbox for the catalogues!

Have a look at the gluten free products available at Woolworths:
https://www.woolworths.com.au/shop/search/products?searchTerm=gluten%20free


Sunday 22 October 2017

Freakonomics Podcast: The Demonization of Gluten

The team over at Freakonomics never fail to produce excellent podcasts.
This week, they have addressed Gluten.

This is very informative and very high quality content. Spend 45 minutes to listen when you can.
I use the iPhone app: Stitcher to manage my podcast listening.

Listen now in your browser:
http://freakonomics.com/podcast/demonization-gluten/

Get Stitcher for your phone: https://www.stitcher.com/


Sunday 9 October 2016

Gluten Free Expo, Melbourne 2016 - Video

If you weren't able to visit the Gluten Free Expo in Melbourne this year. Here are some highlights.


List of exhibitors seen in the video

Coeliac Society Victoria & Tasmania
http://victas.coeliac.org.au/

Simply Wize
http://www.simplywize.com.au/

Vitality Bakehouse bread

San Remo pasta
http://sanremo.com.au/

Pure Gluten Free Bakery - Treat No Wheat Cafe
https://www.facebook.com/pureglutenfree06/

O’Brien Beer
https://rebellionbrewing.com.au/obrien-beer

Little Earth Bakery - Bread
http://www.littleearthbakery.com.au/

Australian Gluten-Free Life magazine
http://agfl.com.au/

Windsor Park Country Flavour - Yo Yo's
http://www.windsorparkcountryflavour.com/

Helgas & Country Life bread (part of Goodman Fielder)
http://www.countrylife.com.au

Barilla pasta
http://www.barilla.net.au/

Coles
https://www.coles.com.au/

Schar
http://www.schar.com/

Genius bread
http://www.geniusglutenfree.com/en_gb

AVS Organic Foods - Non-Dairy Cheese
http://avsorganicfoods.com.au/

The Mixing Bowl Cupcakes - Brunswick
https://www.facebook.com/TheMixingBowlCupcakes/?fref=ts

Happy Camper - Pizza van
http://happycamperpizza.com.au/

Greek Street Food by Kara’s Kalamaki
http://www.greekstreetfood.com.au/

Unforgettable Products
http://www.unforgettableproducts.com.au

No Grainer
http://nograiner.com.au/

Gluten Free Bakehouse & Zehnder
http://gfbakehouse.com.au/

Macarons De Paris
http://www.macarondeparis.com.au/

Freedom Foods
http://www.freedomfoods.com.au/

Ayam
http://ayam.com/

Mrs Macs Pies
http://www.mrsmacs.com.au

The Whole Foodies
http://thewholefoodies.com.au/

Ardor Food Co - Nutella Donuts & crepes
http://ardorfoodco.com.au/

Sue Shepherd
http://shepherdworks.com.au/

Pana Chocolate
http://www.panachocolate.com

Food For Health
http://www.foodforhealth.com.au/

YesYouCan
http://www.saldoce.com.au/


See You All Next Year!!