Ascot Food Store
320 Ascot Vale Road
Moonee Ponds Vic 3039

As a born and bred westie, there is nothing I love more than a success story out my way, so naturally I’ve jumped right on the Ascot Food Store bandwagon. Everyone seems to be loving it at the moment and for good reason.

Situated on busy Ascot Vale Road in what was an old milk bar, the Ascot Food Store has brought the buzzing Melbourne brunch scene and some great coffee to the north western suburbs.

We arrived on a Friday afternoon for our standard late lunch and parked ourselves on the large communal table just inside the door. I didn’t bother going any further into the back dining areas because I had the stroller with me and didn’t want to try getting it up the interior steps. From what I could see from the front, there looked to be a couple of different dining areas in the back which provide a little bit of privacy and would be perfectly suited to a weekend brunch with friends.

After a quick scan of the menu we ordered the beef fillet (served with a fennel and parsley salad), the corn fritters (served with a poached egg and avocado paste) and the smoked trout. All were good, but of the three the fritters were definitely the champion. Really crispy on the outside, then soft and tasty on the inside. Fritters can often be really dry and need some sort of sauce to make them palatable, but this wasn’t the case here. They were perfectly balance and the poached egg and avocado served to enhance the dish, not cover up its short comings.

I make no secret of the fact that I have a sweet tooth, so when I caught sight of the amazing dark chocolate and mixed berry donuts, I absolutely had to have one. It was in one word, perfect. The donut itself was soft, doughy and not too oily. Add to that the rich dark chocolate and homemade jam, that had just the perfect amount of bitterness to it, this was, well, like I said earlier, perfect.

So what was my verdict? I loved it. I’m a sucker for a great donut and if nothing else, I’ll keep coming back for more of them. For those that don’t live in the area, get in your car and make the trip out went, you won’t regret it.