Blackburn’s not a part of the world I visit often, so it was a pleasant change to be invited over that way by Aunt Billie’s to sample some of their breakfast dishes in light of their recent menu change. Aunt Billie’s is clearly popular with locals and saw a steady stream of customers while we were there. Luckily, it’s a fairly large cafe, with indoor, covered and uncovered seating so you still shouldn’t have too much trouble getting a table. Dogs are welcome in the outdoor area too.
Mostly staffed by young, local (I assume) teenagers, I was initially worried the service wouldn’t be great and while they were a little disjointed at times, they maintained a pleasant and helpful service throughout. They are clearly well-trained and wanted to make our experience enjoyable.
Aunt Billie’s menu offers a great variety of dishes, from healthy grains and seeds to more filling and creative all day breakfast dishes and a varied lunch menu. They cater for little ones too with their “nieces and nephews” section of the menu which I thought was super cute. I desperately wanted to try the beautiful looking pannacotta (photo here by the lovely loulou_loves_food– who you should definitely check by the way). However, I was unsure if it would be filling enough, so given we had a big day ahead, I opted for the surrey mushies, one of their newer dishes on the menu and M.B. went for the pancakes.
Now I always find it hard to review places like Aunt Billies without constantly comparing them to some of the top places in the inner suburbs or the CBD, which isn’t fair. It’s a great local cafe, and while none of the food while make you go “wow that’s the best I’ve ever had” it’s got a solid menu and the meals are really enjoyable. The mushies were a creative dish, and the polenta was very good (even M.B. had some!). M.B. enjoyed his pancakes, he liked how the lemon curd took away some of the sweetness and the presentation was so pretty.
A phrase I’ve found myself saying quite often lately is “good suburbs food”, and Aunt Billie’s definitely fits into that category: it’s GREAT suburbs food, and if I lived locally I’d visit often. The venue has the perfect vibe for a relaxing Sunday brunch and they’ve got enough on the menu to stop you from getting bored. They’re also not scared to change up the menu – which is massive when you’re largely relying on local clientele, and this is going to help them go from strength to strength over time. Aunt Billie’s is well worth a visit if you’re in the area, and a real one to watch for the future. Thanks so much for having us!