Tuckshop – Glenhaven

Alex: For months, Bianca and I  have been trying to plan a day that we could venture to our old neighbourhood back in the hills and finally, last Friday was that day! The reason for our little trip down memory lane was to check out the popular ‘Tuckshop Cafe’ “where it’s not city and you couldn’t care less.”  

I don’t know why, but I imagined Tuckshop to be a large cafe with heaps of outdoor seating and some sort of grass area, in reality, it’s the furthest thing from that and that’s not a bad thing! Set in a small ‘town-like’ shopping mall, fronting the street. I think the size is perfect considering they pride themselves in good quality takeaway food.

The menu is geared towards more portable items but it is quite diverse and offers something for those that are looking for some hearty dude food to beautifully light salads, so… por qué no los dos!

First up was the famous ‘Cheeseburger’ – Beef patty, pickles, cheese, onions, mustard and ketchup with old bay seasoned chips $12 I think it was safe to say that I kept nodding my head and mumbling “mhm, mhm” after every bite. The soft brioche bun was deliciously good and the american cheese just made everything ten times better. With even the perfect amount of ketchup and mustard. Patty to bun ratio was top-notch, so it’s no wonder the cheeseburger at Tuckshop is at the top of every foodies list. It definitely got Bianc’s tick of approval and she is pedantic about her burgers.

For some extremely odd reason I had a craving for a salad that day which never happens,  so we also shared the ‘Cous Cous and blood orange salad’ -with pearl cous cous, pumpkin, orange, labneh, tomato, cucumber, herbs, flat bread, and dukkah $11.  Bianca didn’t seem to be blown away but I was in love! The salad had a great punch to it from the citrus and the herbs. As well as an array of contrasting textures from the pearl cous cous to the pumpkin and so on. The addition of the tortilla’s down the bottom with the dukkah was ingenious(for two reasons). Why eat it as a salad when you can roll it up and turn it into a veggie taco? And considering it is takeaway, you want something that is relatively easy to eat. That dukkah by the way. Damn! This is a must order.

We were originally going to order the pork roll but I felt like something I don’t have often so the ‘Brisket Roll’ w/ smoked brisket, bbq sauce, slaw and fried onions $11 was calling my name and just like everything else it did not disappoint. While it was extremely messy and slightly awkward to eat, the flavours were impeccable. The brisket was tender and succulent, and the barbecue sauce enhanced that great smoky flavour. The crunchiness of the slaw was a great combination with the soft roll.

Cheap and extremely tasty takeaway food without the hustle and bustle of the inner west food scene. I was worried that I’d hype this up too much, but I was in no way disappointed!

Until next time!

Alex Squadrito

V.B.A