Flavours of Lane Cove

of Lane Cove

With the Autumn Harmony festival taking place in Lane Cove this month, TVO spoke with a range of cafes and restaurants around the Village to showcase the diversity of food and the cultural connections that local business owners have to countries from around the world. Written and compiled by Shannen McDonald.

Birdwood Cafe

A commitment to making the finest coffee in the area has made this laneway café a welcome addition to the food and coffee scene in Lane Cove.

Opening its doors not even a year ago, Birdwood Café has quickly made its mark and although the fine scents of roasting coffee might be what draws you in, their brunch menu is sure to keep you hanging around.

Menu items are inspired from France (Croque Monsieur); England (baked beans); Italy (4 way mushrooms); Israel (hummus and smashed pumpkin); Australia (smashed avocado); Brazil (acai bowl); United States (eggs benedict); their signature bircher muesli (Switzerland); and much more!

Favourites from across the globe make up this diverse and multicultural menu, and Birdwood Cafe prides itself on delivering healthy food and great service with a big smile.

Café Zivelli

Offering gourmet food, a satisfying brunch menu and exceptional coffee, it’s no wonder that Café Zivelli is a bustling hub, particularly in the mornings. Owned by husband and wife Marla and Steve, Café Zivelli has been a popular meeting spot for locals for the past 13 years. Situated just off the Lane Cove Market Square, this cafe isn’t worried about keeping up with any hipster trends that you might find elsewhere in Sydney. Instead they’ve opted to focus their attention on their loyal customers, offering the best service, and of course the best coffee. Their gourmet food section offers fresh salads, wraps, sandwiches and baguettes.

Whether it’s that first thing in the morning caffeine hit, or a last minute late lunch, Café Zivelli has Lane Cove locals sorted.

Curry Lane

Curry Lane is the real deal when it comes to Northern Indian cuisine. Serving up authentic curries since 1996, this Lane Cove institution is now operated by Harsh Patel, along with his wife and daughter, who took over the restaurant from Harsh’s father.

Curry Lane really does have a passion for creating and sharing all the flavours that make Northern Indian cuisine a true culture experience. Chef Kedra Bhatt has been with the business since the day it opened, and prepares everything on site, making sure not to use any premade ingredients. Their homemade curry has become one that people can’t live without.

The restaurant has many regular customers and those that move away from the area, even as far as Newcastle, still make sure to stop by whenever they can.

The Patel family value their regular customers, so much so that parts of their menu have remained at the same price for the last 15 years.

Encasa

Encasa is a name that reflects how the owners want their customers to feel - at home! Bringing all the flavours of traditional Spanish cuisine to Lane Cove, Encasa’s passion is to make sure that everyone has the best and most authentic experience of Spanish culture.

A place where you can bring your entire family, there is plenty on the menu to select from including popular Spanish dishes of paella, tapas and boccadillos, and you haven’t really eaten potatoes until you try their Patatas Bravas!

Of course, it wouldn’t be a true Spanish dining experience without a Sangria or two, which you can sip while you enjoy the great atmosphere that is Encasa. An extensive selection of Spanish wines is also on offer.

You can also take a little bit of everyday Spanish life home with you, with a selection of popular deli and pantry items.

Fourth Fish

Fourth Fish opened its doors two years ago right in the heart of Lane Cove, with the aim of offering locals’ quality seafood that was great value for money. Owner Li wanted to create a place that was more than just a fish and chips takeaway shop, yet somewhere that was relaxed and welcoming to everyone.

With a passion for sourcing the freshest of ingredients, the Fourth Fish makes eating healthily a very enjoyable experience. With seafood classics like beer battered fish and chips, there are also four new seafood creations offered each month to give diners plenty of reason to return time after time. The seaside inspired décor - featuring Li’s love for rustic antiques - along with the friendly local staff, makes this a great place to enjoy a bite.

La Piazza

Starting as a small takeaway shop 25 years ago, La Piazza is now a family friendly, al fresco dining restaurant. Peter Doulakis is the current owner - originally from Greece, his love for good food and flavours cannot be underestimated.

La Piazza delights Lane Cove with its Italian and Mediterranean flavours and Peter says that he and his staff are always trying to engage and build relationships with their customers. They’ve done this so well that some of their customers have been returning to them since the day they opened.

This al fresco restaurant offers both wood oven and traditional pizzas made in-house using techniques and recipes from Naples in Italy. There is plenty of pasta as well, which incorporates both modern and traditional flavours.

La Provence

Espresso Bar

La Provence started as a traditional French patisserie, but over time has grown and evolved into a modern yet casual place to enjoy an array of foods and flavours. Their menu includes a modern Australian brunch concept, with additions of French and Asian flavours. Pressed pork sliders with Peking style sweet and sour sauce; croissants with butter hollandaise and smoked leg ham; together with simple eggs on toast can all be found on the menu.

Passionate about sharing dishes from international cuisines, La Provence prides itself on making food from scratch. Alongside their brunch menu, they continue to produce authentic French pastries.

Of course, any good brunch experience isn’t complete without the perfect cup of coffee and La Provence is determined to please their customers by using multiple brewing methods to suit the flavour preference of the individual.

Ogalo

For roast chicken that tastes different from any other chicken you’ve ever tasted, it’s hard to go past Ogalo. Owned and operated by partners Ryan and Jo, these two locals have been marinating and roasting chickens - Portuguese style - for 10 years.

The traditional marinade used to flavour all of Ogalo’s roast chickens has a mixed heritage. When Portuguese explorers returned home from Africa, they brought with them the African birds eye chilli. They combined it with local Portuguese vegetables, herbs, and the traditional lemon garlic sauce to create the famous flavours of Portuguese chicken still used today.

Quality is very important at Ogalo, with every chicken being freshly prepared, cut and marinated on site. Ryan and Jo have built up a solid fan base over the years - many returning customers don’t even need to place their order, as the team at Ogalo already know exactly what they want.

Pho Sam

A more recent addition to Lane Cove’s restaurant offering is Pho Sam, which serves up traditional Vietnamese street food. With good quality, satisfying meals on offer, their crispy skin chicken with tomato rice and the beef rau noodle soup are two of their most popular dishes.

Sam the owner is from a Vietnamese and Chinese background, and is dedicated to sharing great food and delivering friendly customer service. Everything that is on the menu is traditional Vietnamese, except for the laksa soup. With plenty of lunch specials, Pho Sam makes the ideal place for regulars in the area to drop by on their lunch break.

Two Brothers

As the name suggests, the Two Brothers café is owned and run by two brothers, Alexandros and Yianna. With 10 years of experience working in hospitality, this duo decided to open a café once they finished their university studies.

Growing up and going to school in the area makes owning and running their café, located in the middle of the Plaza, a very proud and important task. With a Greek background, there is a Mediterranean influence to their food. Alex explains that they are dedicated to bringing Lane Cove good quality, honest café food by offering brunch and lunch, together with plenty of sweet treats to have with your coffee. These two brothers want everyone to experience the best that Australian cafes have to offer.

Via Napoli

For the past seven years, Via Napoli has been transporting its customers to the streets of Naples through their most authentic Italian dining experience. Growing up in Naples, owner Luigi Esposito spent years mastering the craft of cooking the perfect Italian wood oven pizza. Luckily for us, he chose Lane Cove as the place to open his very own pizzeria.

Not surprisingly, the signature dish here is traditional pizza, which can famously be ordered in one-metre lengths. Plenty of authentic and traditional pastas and antipasti can also be found on the menu, incorporating meats and seafood.

Via Napoli believes that the food is just one element of the authentic Italian food experience. The staff add to the atmosphere, speaking to each other in Italian and always going out of their way to offer the best service.

The only thing more frustrating than a fruitless, lengthy conversation with a technician is the added dimension of talking at cross purposes. By Liz Foster.

Telstra is the Number 1 culprit in such matters. Our home Wi-Fi has been patchy at best for months. A techy friend told me this was caused by the local NBN rollout which will take another 18 months to complete.

In the meantime, I'm paying top whack for my data, plus I'm fielding assaults on all fronts from my family (a husband taking 45 minutes to download a movie; a daughter attempting research for her looming HSC and another who's at a key point in Vampire Diaries... there's at least a couple of First World Problems in that lot).

I gird my loins and set aside half a day to go through the motions. After about half an hour on hold/ being passed around, and having repeated my name and birthdate several times, my consultant comes back on the line.

“Good news Mrs Foster!” he reports. “There are no outages in your area!” This would indeed be good news if there were outages, as it would be something I could blame. Alas, the lack of outages means it's probably an NBN thing. But he can't say that.

We set off in circles again. About a week later he finally acquiesces. “Would you like me to send a technician round?” YES, I would like that please, but oh dear, there are no technicians available for another four weeks. Four weeks! I exclaim. Yes madam, very sorry, we are very busy. Hmmmmm.

Four weeks pass, and the technician eventually turns up, checks my connection and reports the good news that it's all working perfectly. But nothing's connecting properly, I tell him. It takes 45 minutes to download a movie, I tell him. He shrugs good-naturedly and says he'll lodge a request to check our outside line. Then he’s off - quicker than Samantha in Bewitched.

The next day I get a call from Telstra Customer Service. Hello madam, I see that the technician was able to resolve your complaint, so the case is now closed. I start to splutter a response but they've caught me at a weak moment (the condiments aisle of Woollies) and I'm no match.

There's nothing else for it. I'll have to set aside another half day to change service providers. Bound to be just as painful, but not as bad as moving to a new house.

Waste Recycling Facility Tour

for Lane Cove residents

Join us for a visit to EarthPower, Australia’s first facility to convert food waste to electricity. Learn how your waste becomes green electricity with a guided walk and video presentation at this innovative centre.

Tuesday 10 April / 10:00am – 12:00pm

Bus tour departs from the Civic Centre 48 Longueville Road, Lane Cove This is a free event. Bookings are essential. RSVP at www.lanecove.nsw.gov.au/greenevents or call 9911 3699.