Rowena Parade Corner Store

44 Rowena Parade, Richmond

Rowena  Parade Corner Store is lovely, going in the front you walk into a big corner store where you can buy tinned goods, newspapers, a variety of lollies and even homemade cakes. Delicious looking homemade cakes which I managed to resist, unlike at St. Ali.

Walking through the kitchen to get to the back, you will find wooden tables, including a long bench. Set up like a storeroom, it’s painted in a wonderful vibrant blue and you will find cook books, knick knacks and even an old fashioned orange juicing machine – get one of those cranking and you’ll give your arms a great workout.

I also need to mention the great staff who were friendly, efficient and kept coming back to check on us when we kept getting distracted with talk instead of looking through the menu.

 The breakfast menu is very simple with a range of egg options and wraps. It would be good if the menu were a little more diverse and added a couple of sweet options. But if you are in the mood for something a bit different you can always try the items on the lunch menu which has a diverse range of Greek influenced options, such as spanakopita, if you aren’t in the mood for eggs.

 Mimi had the marinated mushrooms, caramelised leek with ricotta on toast.  It was absolutely delicious and whilst it didn’t photograph well it was creamy and wholesome.

 I had the poached eggs on organic Turkish toast with avocado and spinach. The eggs were poached perfectly, wonderful runny eggs which combated the dryness of the toast well. It was simple but it was delicious.

There are a lot of similarities between Rowena Parade and Griggons and Orr in North Melbourne, but the staff informed me there was no connection between the two. They are both great, quirky places to have breakfast and being on opposite sides of the city you will be catered for on both the North and East sides of the city. 

 I’d like to finish with a lesson in social etiquette, if you have a big group of people and you want to have breakfast together then you should get a couple of people to arrive earlier and wait for an appropriate table to become free. It’s worked for me plenty of times, and if you even ask the staff they might even allocate the table to you when it becomes free.

What you can’t do is interrupt people mid conversation and ask them to move to the other side of the room because there are too many of you and you want to spread out. You wait for the table to be free, because waiting for tables is something you will have to live with when you go to small cafes with big groups.

And, do we want to stay for breakfast? Anytime I am in Richmond and next time I’ll try the lunch menu

Ratings (out 0f 10):

• Overall 8
• Atmosphere 9
• Service 9
• Food  8
• Coffee 8

• Posted in: Richmond ♦ Rowena Parade Corner Store
• Tagged: Marinated Mushrooms, Poached Eggs, Richmond, Rowena Parade Corner Store