Milk Haus, Woodstock
170 Woodstock Rd, Woodstock NSW 2538
Until last week Woodstock was a place that gave its name to a turning point for a generation. To my generation, as it happens. For it was at Woodstock, New York in 1979 that Country Joe MacDonald and the Fish sang “Give us an ‘F’, give us a ‘U’, …” I need not finish. Nearly forty years later The G and I discovered that there is a Woodstock that is but four minutes off the Princes Highway just near Milton. At this Woodstock you will find the Milk Haus.
Like many of our friends, the G and I are regular drivers to and from Sydney on a mission to rescue or entertain one or another offspring or just for the big city vibe. We are no longer usually in a hurry and our discovery of the Milk Haus as a watering and feeding hole is very welcome. We discovered it last Friday and tested it again for breakfast on Sunday morning. I was too late on Friday to try the Coconut Tapioca Pudding which is offered for breakfast and I was determined not to allow that particular potential delight to escape me.
We knew the coffee, not to mention the black sesame and chocolate ganache cake, was good from our Friday visit. The coffee they use is called Allpress and is a sustainable, rather than organic, product. It met The G’s exacting standards for coffee, itself a remarkable statement. It has a nutty, caramel flavour and is very much to my taste. We bought a bag of the beans and later enjoyed some made on our elderly, but trustworthy and productive, La Pavoni machine. Good coffee is always a good sign.
Coconut Tapioca Pudding. Nothing more to say.
The G opted for the breakfast special of salmon gravlax with goat’s cheese. Our meals were well presented and the Coconut Tapioca Pudding did not disappoint. The coconut-infused tapioca was layered with raspberries and topped with toasted almonds and sesame seeds. On the side was a cheek of grilled mango, again festooned with sesame seeds. The G’s salmon gravlax was equally good; it must have been good for I am usually offered a taste but on this occasion no taste was forthcoming. I had not eaten tapioca since I was about ten years old but with the benefit of another five or six decades, I can recommend it.
The service is friendly and the environment pleasant. There is an air of environmental consciousness that is not in-your-face but is about balanced living and healthy eating that is both considerate and what my Mother would have called sensible. In the cafe itself is an old sink under which resides a magnificent pumpkin. I do not know why one would store a pumpkin under the sink but any place that does so is a place I am likely to warm to. In the bathroom an old paper flour bag has been pressed into service as a waste paper bin. Hanging on the wall was a sprig of some herb or other (I could not identify it but then herb identification wasn’t taught at my school). I am sure this herb is there to ward off evil sprits or perhaps other types of evil.
Any place that stores pumpkins under the sink has to be good.
There is a kitchen garden outside where there is evidence of the plant that begat the pumpkin under the sink. There are chickens scratching and I found the plant that was the source of some little tomatoes that they had offered for sale and that The G acquired. The sun was shining and all was good with the world. It was a Sunday morning; I was not in a hurry. This was a good place to be. We left well satisfied with our jentacular adventure. (Jentacular, as I am sure most readers will know, means “of or pertaining to breakfast”.)
The Milk Haus website (milkhaus.com.au) says it “is a wholefoods cafe that aims to deliver fresh, honest, simple fare, free of toxins, preservatives and anything artificial. Good food that makes you feel energised and alive.”
It is unusual for me to find that the experience lives up to the marketing blurb.
Milk Haus is at 170 Woodstock Rd, Woodstock NSW 2538. Its 3.9km from the traffic lights by The Heritage Bakery. Take a left at the lights if you’re heading toward Sydney and keep going.
They are open between Thursday and Monday from 8am-4pm. They are closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
