The Birdwood

Let’s not beat around the bush here – The Birdwood is a must-do. A must-do by day and a must-do by night. By day, The Birdwood is a buzzing cafe, pumping out delicious seasonal food, fresh juices, house-roasted coffee (!) and next-level smoothies, all created with locally sourced ingredients. The space is light-filled, spacious and brimming with happy diners.

The breakfast and lunch menus are simple, sophisticated and just plain delicious. Dishes such as “All in House” – sourdough with seasonal preserves and churned buffalo cream and creamy mushrooms with soft polenta and crumbed egg really show off the team’s ability to give an edge to simple, delicious dishes and up the ante on classic brunch food. Though if it’s classics you’re after, they do delicious granola, super food omelettes and hand cut chips extremely well.

The fresh juices are worth a solo shout out too – no cordials, additives or colourings in sight here – just pure, fruity goodness. And all of this is just what goes down at The Birdwood in the daylight.

At 4pm Monday-Thursday and 3pm Friday-Sunday, as the cafe on one side winds down, the pizzeria on the other side is just getting started. Offering sourdough wood-fired pizza, handmade pasta, sharing plates and some seriously impressive local booze, The Birdwood is one heck of a good time.

The space is dimly lit, cosy, spacious and super welcoming. It’s the kind of place you could easily take a first date, a family, an ex-partner (if things are awkward, just focus on the clever pizza makers who are slinging hot discs of dough into the flames of the oven) or just go solo. A Queen Margarita and carafe of red for one, please.

Alongside outstanding pizza, plates like zucchini fries, arancini, mussels and sticky pork cheeks grace the menu and add to the confusion of how to order for 10 and eat for 2 without feeling embarrassed. Fresh pastas and a seductive selective of local beers and wines only add to this dilemma.

Lucky for you, the staff here are so friendly and attentive, they won’t bat an eyelid at any over ordering – they live with this delicious stuff every day.

And in that case – one banana split and one chocolate cake, thank you.