The Grounds of Alexandria

This week it was my mother's birthday, so we really wanted to go somewhere special. Tucked away in Alexandria, among tall industrial buildings and traffic-packed city streets, there is a surprisingly large paradise filled with food, flowers, and farmyard animals. The Grounds of Alexandria are ideal for a family day out, especially if you're after some gorgeous photo ops, a gourmet brunch, and some great deli supplies to take home. When I arrived with my family, we were all completely in awe of the beautiful gardens and the idyllic village atmosphere. If you're keen on Instagram, you'll love this hipster haven - everywhere you turn, there are a million heavenly pictures waiting to be taken. No filter required.

The Grounds of Alexandria features a beautiful florist shop, pastry carts, a cafe, a bar, a restaurant, a large deli by the name of Salt Meats Cheese (pretty self-explanatory), sustainable gardens, an atrium, and even, occasionally, markets that sell specialty arts and crafts, handmade jewellery and home wares. You could spend an entire day exploring the Grounds, and still have plenty left to do and see for the next visit.

If that's not enough for you, the Grounds experience comes complete with a petting zoo enclosure, where you can view some delightful animals such as fluffy chickens, goats, a pony, and a large pig who goes by the name 'Kevin Bacon'. Amazing, right? Personally, my favourite animal encounter was with a brown and white goat (pictured below, bottom left) who came right up to the wooden fence and rubbed up against my hand like an affectionate puppy. As you wander around the Grounds, you'll also meet Fluffy the parrot, who will regale you with a song if you're lucky.

Let's get onto the food. There were quite a few venue options available within the Grounds, including the Garden BBQ (which featured a limited menu with some affordable lunch options), the Potting Shed (which served some hearty mains for lunch and dinner), and the popular Cafe (which focused on brunch-style food, desserts, and a vast array of bread). We decided to go to the Cafe, which had a very enticing menu and very reasonable prices. After much deliberation over the menu, we decided to share three mains and a side: the grilled squid fattoush, the Grounds reuben, the crab bruschetta, and some polenta chips. 

Overall, the food was tasty and reliable, however it did not strike me as spectacular in its flavour or creativity. The squid was nicely grilled, and the toasted flatbread sticks added an interesting dimension to the fresh, tangy fattoush salad. The Grounds reuben was enjoyably saucy, however the flavour lacked complexity, and the chips were not as crunchy as I've had elsewhere. I quite liked the crab bruschetta; the crab meat was sweet and nicely seasoned, and paired perfectly with the creaminess of the smashed avocado on top of the crisp bruschetta. For me, the winner of the day was the polenta chips; they were fluffy, hot and flavoursome on the inside and perfectly crunchy and golden on the outside. 

We also took home a selection of six desserts from the Patisserie, as well as two loaves of crusty bread (Himalayan red rice & pigeon seed... delicious!). All of these were of a high standard, and we are definitely excited to go back and try more someday. On a final note, the Salt Meats Cheese deli is really worth exploring if you get the chance - there were so many things in there that I'd never seen before, including a large selection of flavoured salts, gorgeous flavoured pasta, a cheese room (my literal heaven), luxurious cured meats, and obscure brands of drinks and ice cream that look absolutely divine. If you're in Sydney, you should totally check out the Grounds of Alexandria, if not just for the food, then for the sheer joy of seeing something new and different.