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Lady Hawke Cafe
Ph: (03) 9751 1104; 1365 Mount Dandenong Tourist Rd, MOUNT DANDENONG 3767
middle easterncafe, $$ -
Open Thu-mon 9am-5pm, Closed December 5 until Boxing Day; Licensed, BYO; MC V EFT
Mietta's Review
The cafe of a B & B in the Dandenongs isn't the place you expect to find sophisticated city food overflowing with rich Mediterranean flavours but owner/chef, Troy Payne has spent time with many of Melbourne's top chefs including Greg Malouf the founder of the city's Middle Eastern infatuation. Excellent food excellent price and if lunch lasts too long you can always stay the night.
Other published opinions
The Age Cheap Eats 2008 "A little bit of the Middle East on Mount Dandenong? Why not! On a blustery day, bunker down in the colourful dining room and take refuge in a meltingly soft chicken-and-date tagine, maybe followed by a pecan-and-maple sticky pud"
The Age Cheap Eats 2007 "New owners have retained LadyHawke's Middle Eastern influences; its smouldering crimson decor and spice-spiked menu making it a rural refuge from the twee."
The Age Cheap Eats 2006 Heading for the hills but don't want ye-olde-worlde? Follow the faithful to LadyHawke. A crimson room features mystical art exhibits while Moroccan furnishings foreshadow the Middle Eastern inspired food.
The Age Good Food Guide 2006 score 13/20 "Five years working with Greg Malouf ignited Troy Payne's passion for Middle Eastern cooking, but his own self-described brand of 'Middle Eastern kitsch' is also influenced by techniques and flavours taught by his Swiss-Yugoslav grandparents."
The Age Good Food Guide 2005 score 13/20 "TROY PAYNE'S colourful pocket of the Middle East would be a find in any neck of the woods. The fact that it's here, deep in Devonshire tea country, is a bonus."
The Age Cheap Eats 2005 "ENSCONCED on a bend in the road is LadyHawke, secluded B&B by night, delightful cafe by day. Breakfast here is simple and sublime: semolina porridge is tarted up with cherries, and spinach omelette with sweet onion jam."
The Age Cheap Eats 2004 "Chef Troy Payne has rattled pans at places like Mo Mo, O'Connell's and Jacques Reymond, and his experience shows in the soulful mezze platter"
Age A2 John Weldon 4/12/04 "just a few kilometres up the road from Ripe you'll find this little ripper of a restaurant, where chef Troy Payne's Middle-Eastern inspired menu demonstrates that the years he spent with Greg Malouf were far from wasted."
The Age, Sunday Life, 16/11/03, Roslyn Grundy
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