cafe

DOCASA

Once again we ventured to the Northern suburbs of Melbourne to the pleasant surprise that was Docasa. Already a well established local café, it’s really no surprise to see the swarm of people filtering in throughout the entire day, even at seemingly quite hours between meals. The Italian owner is not only passionate about his café and his food, but also holds a wealth of knowledge about the European fusion-styled dishes that Docasa deliciously presents. Definitely one of the most unique Melbourne cafes I’ve been to and absolute a must-try for Melbourne brunch goers! I wish I lived closer to here or there was a similar concept near the city. The good fat: Boasting both a tapas-styled menu with exotic names like “Duck Cigars,” and a standardised brunch affair featuring their own Mediterranean twists, Docasa was a delight from start to finish. The duck cigars were crispy flaky pastries coating a confit-styled, pulled duck type of filling, complemented with a citrus reduction and porcini powder. Mushroom and scamorza croquette was also another light, tasty entrée that graced our table, with the all-too-familiar drizzle of truffle aioli. Moving on to the slightly heavier dishes, Docasa’s seafood gnocchi became one of the best ones I’ve had to date. Not usually a huge fan of really carb-dense gnocchi, this one was the exact opposite – the little balls of pasta were like small airy pillows of potato with a slight starchy consistency to it. With prawns and calamari, how can you go wrong? Trying to taste all the winter warmers before winter is truly over in Melbourne, we also opted for the sausage hotpot that kind of reminded me of Korean military stew, yet the flavours of cherry tomata, pepperonata and napoli . Another great option for a light, healthy meal is the goat’s cheese and zucchini blintzes – balanced on a bed of quinoa salad, the flaky pastry was yet another unique dish I hadn’t tried before. Flaky layers of pastry, with zucchini and the strong pervading flavours of goat’s cheese embedded like a paste within – you can’t go wrong with this healthy Melbourne breakfast, especially for those goat’s cheese lovers! The bad fat: Perhaps we were too full to truly appreciate the hotcakes, but by comparison, the hotcakes was less memorable compared to everything else we had there – despite the fact that the texture was perfectly moist. Perhaps the flavours overall were a bit less interesting than other hotcakes around. SHOULD YOU GET FAT HERE? YES – What a unique Melbourne café – now that I’ve had Mediterranean fusion brunch, I don’t think I can go back! FAT-O-METER: 5/5