Meet me on the corner

A bustling Sunday and in need of some good food we were lead to the newest addition to Mentone "the Corner Store".

This modern designed cafe with touch of Scottish feel with its tartan

carpets and wall panels was unique in itself and had a great feel. A brick laid bar, wooden planks on the roof and a roped blocked dining area made it feel that it should have been filled with coloured balls to make it a play pen.

Although fairly loud inside you can choose to sit under the enormous heaters outside for another option or perhaps one use at the bar on the other side. Not too sure what made it so loud as we would have thought the wood planked roof would have soaked up most of the noise but it felt like it was bouncing it back, or maybe it was because of all the ladies out for a good time who choose to speak over each other.

The menu was tempting with some prices a little questionable but had a good selection of breakfast and lunch dishes as well as dinner. With their own spin on some dishes and if your still a traditionalist you are able to enjoy those happy go lucky eggs your way and add extras to them. What I loved was reading their Vision, it reads "Our vision for The Corner Store is to offer you, the people, a place to share food & wine with family & friends. We want to see lots of plates being passed around the table & don't even mind if you talk with your mouth full. Whether you have been lining the up on RSVP & you're on a first date, to lazy to cook or you're celebrating a milestone, we want you to sit back, relax & enjoy what we've put together'/ It was a nice welcoming to their menu and made you feel somewhat apart of the place itself.

I went for the Calamari salad which was served with a spinach, pumpkin and roasted capsicum salad finished with compressed watermelon and pine nuts. Very refreshing and the crisp calamari was so tender and mouth watering. Perfectly cooked I actually think it's been a while since I've had calamari this beautiful. The compressed watermelon added a new depth into a dressing on the salad and was perfect on a sunny day.

Paul went for the breakfast dog , a kransky wrapped in a long bun served with onion jam and rocket leaves. Unfortunately not an overall winner on this one with the price, it's a little shy of value. The kransky a little under cooked but when mentioning it to staff it was fixed which was nice to see.In addition we also grabbed some cauliflower and Gruyere cheese balls which was served with a delicious tangy salsa Verde, and some crisp paprika salted chips served with a creamy aioli. I didn't test their coffees as I'm trying to cut back my caffeine intake at the moment, which is very difficult for me but Paul did enjoy his and said that it had a great well rounded flavour and was served at proper temperature.

The Corner Store is in conjunction with another 2 places 'Main Street" in Mordialloc and 'The Parks" in Parkdale, which are all fairly local to each other and all successful so it is clear that they are establishing something that the area is needing.

Before ordering though make sure you either ask for the specials or look on the back white tiled wall near the coffee machine. They have some great dishes on their when we went and were disappointed we missed out as we saw them after we got everything. So don't be to hasty.

Overall it was a pleasant experience and glad to see the locals have taken to it so well.

The Corner Store

1 Swanston Street

Mentone, VIC

9583 - 6462