Lunch with Poppet at...

  

Thread

Address: 1373 Malvern Rd, Malvern

Ph: (03) 9822 8668

Open: 7 days am - late arvo

Rating: 3/5

 Run by cafe first timers, Thread is a great little place to enjoy a cafe meal and catch up. The name comes from an acronym of the initials of owner Danielle and her family members and they have put together a really lovely menu of meals that regulars return to munch on. Good food brings them in, over and over again.

Thread is a most welcoming place: bright, sunny, popular and very child friendly (complete with a box of toys and a kiddy menu that includes ‘cheesy fingers,’ frog in a pond and fairy bread.) With polished concrete floors and well-worn wooden tables peppered around the large space, it’s a good place for family brunch, friendly catch-ups or even a business meeting.

There’s also a large communal table for 14, surrounded by step ladder stools. There are even a few window seats overlooking busy Malvern Rd. For a closer view, take a seat on one of the wooden picnic-style tables out the front, complemented by tomato red-chairs.

In the centre of the communal table lies a giant antique-style tin canister of pink and green flowers which adds to the already colourful room. Nearby on some blackboard paint a quirky quote will brighten your day.

There are a number of other arty touches, including a pin board with red stick figures of a waiter serving food and similar figures of boys and girls lining the counter, along with modern paintings by local artist Kim Kennedy on the walls.

While busy on this Friday afternoon, the service was quick and attentive and the food very inviting with a selection of salads and prepared sandwiches in the display cabinet and a number of tempting menu items. 

I struggled between the frittata with asparagus, bacon, roasted peppers, and sheep's feta, surrounded with tomato salsa, as well as the warm winter pie of chicken, leek and mushroom.

In the end I went for the the ‘chop chop’ salad, which sees a large plate covered in colourful mounds of the 9 ingredients that craft the dish including tuna, cottage cheese, tomato, cucumber, onion, capsicum, avocado, beetroot and celery.

Healthy and tempting, it offers the choice to mix up the ingredients to one’s own taste for the overall chop, chop experience. My co-writer ordered the tandoori chicken wrap which was one of seven daily specials. It was served toasted, in a pressed tortilla with an avocado vinaigrette salad and tzatziki on the side.

We both finished up with a very good, deliciously smooth and creamy, organic All Press coffee, although when I revisited that weekend, the wait for me caffeine hit was tedious.

That being said, I sampled the Egyptian Happy Eggs, poached on Noisette multigrain toast with feta, avocado, beetroot relish and hazelnut dukkah and basil stuffed mushrooms instead of the usual bacon accompaniment. It was nothing less than incredibly tasty and extremely moreish. 

If you end up visiting, which I highly recommend, be sure to take in all the details such as the scrabble letters on the door that remind you to either "PUSH" or "PULL" and the espresso machine door handles.

Thread deserves three lip smackers - perhaps a little more if I hadn't just been to the Farm Cafe... 

... Stay tuned for a raving review and a MUST TRY!