Cafe Review: Tilley's Canberra not so devine
July 15th 2008 05:24
Category: No Category
Tilley's Devine Cafe is somewhat of an institution here in the national capital. Sprawled over a corner of the Lyneham shops this cafe/bar/restaurant/venue is fabled to once been a domain for the exclusive use and enjoyment by women- rumour has it that after a while the militant lesbians let up and started allowing blokes in to sip a latte or two- but only if they were chaperoned in by a lady. Now-a-days however, one finds all sorts at the establishment; book clubs a gossiping, students a studying, couples a dating, parents ignoring their screaming children running amok...
Tilley Devine was a notorious figure of the Sydney underworld during the 1930's - a bordello madam it's claimed she once stabbed a lover through the throat with a pair of scissors (what happened to hiding a fish in the curtains?) I'm not sure if the owners of Tilley's knew about the life and times of their cafe's namesake, but one visit to Tilley's shows that they know a little about ambience and nothing about food.
Although I have had several pleasant experiences there, this can largely be attributed to the company I was with at the time rather than being crushed into the hard dark panelled booths- often littered with the breakfasting left overs of the previous occupants.The menu is lack lustre, and the specials failing to live up to their name- there has been more than one occassion where my attempts to order were met with- 'ummmm, we don't actually have any more of that' so many times but by the time I did ask for something they had in stock I was done to my third or fouth dining preference.
Just yesterday I was there for breakfast- our table was again dirty- I went to the bar and asked for a cloth and cleaned it myself. I ordered field mushrooms on toast- which after a wait arrived: 2 pieces of sourdough with a sad stripe of butter down the middle- some bruised baby spinach and four pathetic mushrooms- each just bigger than a 50c coin- wet and glistening with oil on the inside and dry and scaly on the outside. For $14 it looked pretty rubbish- so i did something I never do and took it back to the counter and very politely pointed out that the mushrooms looked raw and i would like them cooked properly.
When they came back- the fungus looked worse than ever- the plate had oily marks all over it where the little juice that was had been flung around- I had no faith that my meal had been prepared with any actual regard to my request let alone hygiene standards. The outer layer of the mushroom was dehydrated and peeling exactly as they were when they first came out- the waitress said this was because the oil had not soaked through yet . I wondered if she made that up on the spot- or this is what some angry chef had said to her just before he spat on it.
I always feel a bit sorry for waitresses, she didn't make the food afterall, and to her credit she was quite professional about it all- I watched her as she walked towards me with my refund; from a distance she looked sharp in the signature Tilley's ensemble of white shirt with man's tie tucked under a black butchers apron- but as she got closer it was obvious the shirt was unironed, the tie askew and the apron stained. She did have a young, pleasant presence and she seemed to be trying to please the customer. Just like Tilley's - beneath the tired mediocrity there was still scope for great potential.
Walking out the door, Diana Krall crooning from the speakers I noticed a sign
'Cook Wanted- immediate start'
Perhaps I'm not the only one thinking that Tilley's Devine Cafe Canberra needs to lift her game!
Tilley Devine was a notorious figure of the Sydney underworld during the 1930's - a bordello madam it's claimed she once stabbed a lover through the throat with a pair of scissors (what happened to hiding a fish in the curtains?) I'm not sure if the owners of Tilley's knew about the life and times of their cafe's namesake, but one visit to Tilley's shows that they know a little about ambience and nothing about food.
Although I have had several pleasant experiences there, this can largely be attributed to the company I was with at the time rather than being crushed into the hard dark panelled booths- often littered with the breakfasting left overs of the previous occupants.The menu is lack lustre, and the specials failing to live up to their name- there has been more than one occassion where my attempts to order were met with- 'ummmm, we don't actually have any more of that' so many times but by the time I did ask for something they had in stock I was done to my third or fouth dining preference.
Just yesterday I was there for breakfast- our table was again dirty- I went to the bar and asked for a cloth and cleaned it myself. I ordered field mushrooms on toast- which after a wait arrived: 2 pieces of sourdough with a sad stripe of butter down the middle- some bruised baby spinach and four pathetic mushrooms- each just bigger than a 50c coin- wet and glistening with oil on the inside and dry and scaly on the outside. For $14 it looked pretty rubbish- so i did something I never do and took it back to the counter and very politely pointed out that the mushrooms looked raw and i would like them cooked properly.
When they came back- the fungus looked worse than ever- the plate had oily marks all over it where the little juice that was had been flung around- I had no faith that my meal had been prepared with any actual regard to my request let alone hygiene standards. The outer layer of the mushroom was dehydrated and peeling exactly as they were when they first came out- the waitress said this was because the oil had not soaked through yet . I wondered if she made that up on the spot- or this is what some angry chef had said to her just before he spat on it.
I always feel a bit sorry for waitresses, she didn't make the food afterall, and to her credit she was quite professional about it all- I watched her as she walked towards me with my refund; from a distance she looked sharp in the signature Tilley's ensemble of white shirt with man's tie tucked under a black butchers apron- but as she got closer it was obvious the shirt was unironed, the tie askew and the apron stained. She did have a young, pleasant presence and she seemed to be trying to please the customer. Just like Tilley's - beneath the tired mediocrity there was still scope for great potential.
Walking out the door, Diana Krall crooning from the speakers I noticed a sign
'Cook Wanted- immediate start'
Perhaps I'm not the only one thinking that Tilley's Devine Cafe Canberra needs to lift her game!
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