Cafe Downey

One thing I like about food blogging is that if people know you do it they tell you about good food experiences they have had. I love chatting about food and especially recommendations to new places. So when two people gave me rave reviews about Café Downey in Mt Lawley I knew I had to pencil in a visit. Café Downey is where Leaf used to be, near the corner of Walcott and Beaufort. I hadn’t actually realised that Leaf had closed, I hadn’t minded their high teas. But there was a new kid on this block and I called up and made a booking for Saturday lunchtime. We arrived just before 12 and were shown to our table. It wasn’t overly full at this time, but seemed to gather a few more numbers during our time there. We were bought iced water pretty much instantly, which was greatly appreciated, given it was a warm day.

Décor wise there hasn’t been too much of a change as yet, which was fine. The polished wooden floor boards and eclectic collection of trinkets in the cupboards worked well. There were also some cool prints on the wall. All in all, it’s an inviting spot.

We were given menus and a drink was definitely the first order of business. We both decided on a glass of the homemade lemon and honey drink. It sounded refreshing. Then on the food front I thought the Teriyaki Beef Burger ($15) sounded tasty and GG locked in the avocado burger ($15.50). You have a choice or regular or large size, with a few dollars difference in price. We’d been to the gym that morning and were both starving, so large it was. The burgers came with chips and a small side salad. It isn’t table service so I went up to the till to place the order and pay.

Our drinks arrived quickly and they were delicious! A nice balance of tangy lemon and sweet honey.

We sipped on those and I was pleased that our water glasses continued to be refilled by our friendly waiter, hot day and all – can never get enough H2O. Given our ravenous hunger I was so pleased to see our burgers arrived swiftly too!

First impressions were wow, this is a big burger, how in the world will I get through this. Which is not a bad first impression to have. Perhaps the serve of chips were a little light on, but they were fresh from the frier and well salted, plus there was that giant burger for me to tackle! I knew I’d leave the dainty tea cup full of side salad to the end and if, by some miracle there was room left, I’d have that then.

So the burger, mine came with a beef patty, cooked onions, pickles, lettuce and tomato and teriyaki sauce (I minus’ed the mayo), as shown in the impressive cross section shot once I’d cut it in half to make it more manageable (I hoped!) to eat. First bite and wow – what a bang of flavour you got from the teriyaki and the patty itself was just delicious. The bun was nice and soft and all the salad was wonderfully fresh. I comfortably made my way through the first half. Very tasty! I then cut my last half in half again and gave one bit to GG to try. For him the teriyaki sauce was slightly overpowering and i’ll admit that by the time I got to the end of my last piece, the sauce had become quite sweet. However, the rest of the burger ingredients were fabulous, so I figure the trick on a return visit will be to either ask for less sauce or sauce on the side. And I did have a little room left and sampled the salad. It was actually really tasty! Glad I’d given it a go.

For avocado fans out there, the avocado burger got rave reviews from GG. As you can see it is topped with wonderfully fresh avocado and they don’t scrimp! He powered through his burger and agreed that as patty’s go, they are a tasty sort at Downey’s!

So the service had been great, the food was fresh and tasty and prices were fairly reasonable. Not a bad litte newbie. If you are in the area would be worth a visit 🙂