NEW YORK TOMATO

6 New St, Richmond (corner of New and York Sts) - ph: 03 9429 0505

Come here for: laid back, well served weekend brunch at your local cafe
Don't come here: expecting great service or if you're not in the area. New York Tomato is good, but not worthing crossing the town for

New York Tomato is one of my favorite local cafes. It nails that simple but oh-so-hard-to-find laid back atmosphere with tasty, whole ingredients food.

Today's occasion was catching up with friends that had just come back from an overseas trip with their little baby (hence the glimpses of baby food you'll as background to some of the pics). New York Tomato was the perfect venue for that: easy to park the trolley and spacious enough (just) to walk around it without disturbing the other customers.

I started my meal, as usual, with a good cup of coffee. Milk was creamy and at the right temperature, but nothing memorable about the coffee. It was alright.

Soy latte ($3.80)

It was about lunch time by the time we got there, so everyone was starving. One of my friends went for the waffles - which the waiter said was her favorite - and was not disappointed. To use his own words, "it surpassed my expectations". Waffle was crunchy and well spiced. Mixture of warm and cold ingredients provided an interesting combination.

Waffles with stewed plum and rhubarb, poached pear, spiced almond labna and maple syrup ($15.50)

The other friend opted for one of the daily specials, scrambled eggs with salmon. She also really liked her dish, specially the fresh dill on the eggs that complemented the salmon nicely. I thought that hazelnuts wouldn't match the dish well, but she liked the texture it added.

Scrambled eggs on turkish bread with smoked salmon, figs, hazelnuts and crispy shallots ($17)

My salad was pretty good - and quite a large serve, like all the other dishes here. Very fresh, crisp flavours. The lemon and poppy seed vinaigrette added a nice touch of acidity to the dish as well as some texture. It's interesting how such a little grain like poppy seed can be so distinguishable in a dish; I'll try it in my salad dressings at home.

Salad of apple, fig, green beans and rocket with goats cheese, herbs and lemon poppy seed vinaigrette ($13)

Last but not least, hubby ordered his 2 dishes as usual: bread and some more bread.

Fruit toast smelled soooo good! I probably had 1/4 of it myself. I couldn't really taste any spices on the labne, but really enjoyed the quince paste and just the warm, spicy toast by itself.

Toasted fruit bread with quince paste and spiced almond labna ($6.50)

Pide was also good, but just another ham and cheese sandwich. Nothing special in it for me.

Toasted pide with ham, cheese, tomato and mustard mayo ($11.50)

We had a nice, relaxed meal today. You can see many of the people how come here are the regular locals. To be fair, I have been here before when the staff seemed like they couldn't care less, which was frustrating, but thankfully not the case this time.

NY Tomato is one of these comfort places that you can come back again and again for a nice, unpretentious Sunday brunch, specially for those who don't worry too much about service.