Gluten Savvy

We went there on the basis of an article in The Age, looking for pavlova, a famous Australasian dessert consisting of meringue, cream, strawberries, kiwi fruit and passionfruit. The few restaurants that carry it tend to do fancy “interpretations” instead of the traditional pav your Mum would have made. Not Green Refectory.

Knowing they closed at 8pm, though, we went early and had dinner too.

A typically cosy inner-city café, the Refectory sits on Sydney Rd in Brunswick and has eclectic decorations. The prices are reasonable and the servings are generous.

At first glance, the menu isn’t coeliac-friendly: filled with focaccias and other wheat-heavy items. However, they have gluten-free bread and will do any item on the board with it. Most of the non-bread items were already gluten-free. Top that off with a comprehensive soup list (at least eight varieties, all but one of which was safe) for $6.95 for a meal-sized bowl and you’re laughing. I can only speak for my soup (split pea and ham, delicious); although the rest of our group said their items were also terrific, I have no idea how they would taste with gluten-free bread.

The pavlova was everything we expected. I noticed they also had flourless orange poppyseed cake and flourless chocolate cake as options if you’re not feeling up for the richness of a pav. Coffee was good and the atmosphere throughout was terrific.

Rating:

Green Refectory,
+61 3 9387 1150

115 Sydney Rd,
Brunswick VIC