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:

• "Nancy" at Robert Gordon, Pakenham: https://www.nancyeatery.com.au/
• "Lorna" in Fertree Gully: https://www.lornamelbourne.com.au/
• "Maria" in Upwey: https://www.mariamelbourne.com.au/

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)

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.

Gluten Free 4U - Bakery in Moorabbin, Victoria

When Gluten Free 4U first opened in 2012, I was very pleased to see a gluten free related business open up in my area of the South Eastern suburbs.

I soon became a regular customer and these are are a few of the gluten & dairy free items that I regularly buy.

Blueberry Muffins

Blueberry Muffins

I buy these in a pack of six and freeze them so that  I always have some on hand. A great staple for me with a cup of tea.
(There are other muffin flavours like chocolate, orange & poppy, but these contain dairy)

Brownie slab

Brownie

This is a very nice, light chocolate brownie which I buy as a slab and then cut up and freeze.

Bread rolls

Bread Rolls

The plain dinner rolls, and long rolls have a great texture & flavour. (Not crumbly)  I often have one of these as my work lunch.

Wraps

These are delicious, with a nice flavour & not crumbly.
I like mine with avocado, chicken & salad. Be sure not to over stuff your wrap.

Jam roll

A "sometimes" treat. A "real" Jam Roll.

Sausage rolls with carrot

If you are like me and also need to avoid fructose, these onion free sausage roles are very tasty.
Party size for me.

Meat pie

They also have a fructose free meat pie which is delicious & also dairy free.

Donuts

Another special treat are the donuts they make. I understand that they are very popular with many customers. These are better than many non-gluten free donuts!

There is a large range of goods that are gluten free (but not dairy free) so I can't be trying, but you might. Check out their website, which is excellent, as it has full ingredients lists.  Online shopping with delivery is available.

They must be doing something right as the shop can be very busy at times.
I highly recommend that you give Gluten Free 4U a try, if you haven't already.

Gluten Free 4U

5 / 1-3 Bignell Road, Moorabbin VIC 3189
Phone: 03 9555 5175
Fax: 03 9555 5739
Email: info@glutenfree4u.com.au
Web: http://glutenfree4u.com.au/

Cupcake Central - Gluten & Dairy Free

We were visiting Melbourne Central recently and while on the hunt in the food court for something for lunch, we noticed that Cupcake Central had a gluten free and vegan chocolate cupcake available amongst their huge selection of cupcakes.

The cupcake had a very creamy, smooth frosting on top of a very light spongy cupcake.
Very delicious!  I will be dropping by to try out their other gluten free and vegan cupcakes when I can.
Their baking calendar shows that they make a different gluten free & vegan cupcake each day. The Autumn 2012 schedule is:

• Chocolate gluten free & vegan: Monday & Saturday
• Lemon gluten free & vegan: Tuesday & Friday
• Choc Peanut gluten free & vegan: Wednesday & Sunday
• Coconut gluten free & vegan: Thursday

Not only were the staff able to show me an ingredients list for the cupcake when I asked, but most impressively, they used tongs that were dedicated to the gluten free, vegan cupcakes when handling my order!

We'll Done Cupcake Central!!

ps. One gluten free & vegan Chocolate cupcake was about $4

Website: www.cupcakecentral.com.au
Email:  info@cupcakecentral.com.au
Phone: 03 9077 4542
Twitter: https://twitter.com/cupcake_central

Cupcake Central has a location at Melbourne Central and another in Hawthorn.


View Cupcake Central in a larger map