As warm and inviting as it’s owners Jane and Andrew, Tallow & Thyme is a cute and quaint spot in Braddon to enjoy a wholesome meal prepared with love, alongside a warm cuppa while watching the day go by.
The menu is fresh and light and is great for the health-conscious or those with dietary requirements. As well as the café menu, the cafe offers ready-made meals and stocks a range of pantry items from specialty brands, and the team can even work with you to develop a personalised meal plan!
“The Tallow & Thyme philosophy is simple. It’s all about wholefoods, healthy fats and traditional cooking,” Jane explains.
“Tallow is what we cook our chips in, it’s rendered beef fat and one of the most stable fats at high heat. It’s full of healthy saturated fats, which are good for you. Our grandparents used to use tallow, so it goes back to a bygone era when food was more natural.
“The thyme represents the flavouring we use in house – herbs and spices, and also greens.”
After having heard only great things about the variety of options available we couldn’t wait to sink our teeth into the dishes that Jane and Andrew had hand picked for us, and hear the story behind each dish and what makes them tasty and unique.
A concurring theme was letting the ingredients speak for themselves and purposeful elements integrated into each dish to improve health and wellness. Many of which are made gluten free, preservative free, dairy free, grain free, refined sugar-free and seed oil free. They are made only from healthy fats, free range/grass fed meats, fresh fruit and vegetables, herbs, spices, nuts and seeds. Best of all, pretty much everything is made fresh in house!
“We support the little guys where possible,” Andrew says.
“We use Jordo’s Chop Shop for all our meats, he has grass-fed, free-range meat and bacon; and the fruit and veg come from a local supplier; while our eggs come from a small supplier called Bush Chick Eggs, they’re just out at Sutton. That’s a real micro business and the eggs are collected in the morning and delivered to us before 9am. They’re that fresh.”
First was the golden, Crispy Sweet Potato Chips. Jane explains that normally when you cook sweet potato chips at home they go soft and limp but the cafe coats them in tapioca before putting them through a twice-dry process. They get fried for about three minutes then go in the cool room and at service are refried so they’re really lovely and crunchy. Devine rosemary salt is sprinkled on the top and the chips are served with a fresh aioli – the perfect side dish and accompaniment to any meal, or great for sharing among friends.
For a hearty breakfast to kick start the day, the Breaky Blast is Tallow & Thyme’s take on the classic BLT. BLAST which stands for bacon, lettuce, avocado, sauerkraut and tomato, and it showcases the beautiful flavours of aioli, the healthy fats of the avocado and the benefits of the fermented sauerkraut. What sets this BLT apart is that oppose to being sandwiched between a bun, it’s an open and visually enticing stack of goodness.
Also offered for breakfast is the Sunrise Eggs Benny, again with a Tallow & Thyme twist. Instead of having bread on the bottom it features a juicy field mushroom. Bacon and avocado and spinach tie the dish together, while the hollandaise sauce is dairy free and a nice little garden salad a balanced addition on the palate.
Sweet tooths can’t go past the Almond Berry Pancakes, with coconut cream and maple syrup, which also receives a notable mention.
A crowd favourite is the Crispy Pork Belly (our top pick for lunch!) served with seasonal roast vegetables and kale. A dollop of apple sauce adds a pleasant sweet and sour taste to the dish and is a nod to the traditional home-cooked meal. The full-bodied flavour of the succulent meat combined with the crunchy skin delivers that explosion of aroma and texture that we’ve all come to know and love.
A fiesta of colour on a plate is the Super Veggie Bowl, a very popular dish which comprises a mix of veggies, baked beans, cauliflower rice and a pesto and cashew cheese, and embodies the philosophy of the café in its entirety – a simple, wholesome and satisfying feed. What you see is what you get with this dish, and it’s clear that with each and every bite, the ingredients used at Tallow & Thyme are of the highest quality found in the region.
Next time you are in the area, make you stop in to see the revamped café, taste it’s delicious and healthy menu or perhaps grab a turmeric latte or something on-the-go from its enticing cabinet. Either way, Jane and Andrew are always down for a friendly chat.
