Get Behind Me Gluten

For the first week of the school holidays, we were lucky enough to spend a week in the middle of nowhere in the snowy mountains with my in laws. Michael, the girls and I spent seven days sitting by the fire, drinking hot chocolate and playing in the snow! 

The majority of our eating took place at the property, approximately 30 minutes outside Jindabyne, but we did get to eat out a few times during the week because who wants to cook when they’re on holiday?!

Obviously, we were masked up, fully sanitised and checked in on the NSW check in app at every restaurant and place we spent time.

Resting Brunch Face at Birchwood, Jindabyne

Michael, the girls and I headed into Jindabyne one morning to pick up some groceries and grab some brunch at Birchwood. Birchwood is a small café in the town centre. There’s convenient on street parking and at the nearby shopping centre, called Nuggets Crossing (a name I love)!

We arrived at 11:20am and were seated inside at a table for four. There was seating outside on the street but it was a bit cold for us. It wasn’t particularly busy but there were a few customers sitting inside and outside. The atmosphere was very laid back, and this was reflected by the calming, acoustic music and clean but casual décor. The floors were wooden with pine tables and dotted on the walls were little pot plants and trinkets. Every table and shelf appeared to have an ornamental pineapple on it, and up among the wide range of cakes (all labelled) there was a very cool honeycomb dispenser.

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We were given menus when we were seated and took a few minutes looking over them. The menu was dotted with gluten free items so if you have a good idea of what can usually be made gluten free, you could pretty much follow your gut. On the bottom of the menu was a paragraph stating that most items could be made gluten free and to ask the staff about it. Sadly, when I asked about the bacondilla being made gluten free, the answer was no. There was also a list of yummy sounding specials however, I didn’t notice these until I had already ordered. 

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After a short wait, a staff member came to take our order. I said I was coeliac, and by happy coincidence, so was the waitress, so she knew exactly what I required in terms of cross contamination and I was amused to hear her yell “Food Allergy” when she walked into the kitchen! 

We ordered our normal skim flat whites (decaf for me), two babycinos, the kids pancakes, the bacondilla for Michael, and the shakshuka for myself. Our coffees came out in good time but the wait for the food was a fraction too long, and the girls had started getting restless by the time the food came out. 

The coffee was acceptable. My decaf had that slight chemically taste that decaf sometimes has but it was drinkable and Michael was happy with his. A bit of research showed they get their coffee from Axis Roasters in Canberra. When the food came out we were all pretty happy with what we’d ordered. The girls shared the pancakes and they looked pretty good. They were topped with maple syrup, ice cream and berries. These were not gluten free but Michael sampled them and said the pancakes tasted a bit like banana and he thought the ice cream was dairy-free coconut. 

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Michael’s bacondilla was a tortilla with bacon, scrambled egg, cheese, salsa, yoghurt and herbs. It looked like a regular quesadilla and it was tasty however, it wasn’t big enough and Michael was still hungry after he’d finished it (hence eating the girls pancakes)! Despite being called a BACONdilla, there wasn’t enough bacon – it was more just there to add some smokey flavour than fulfil his daily bacon needs.

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My shakshuka was pretty good. It looked nice and was piled with herbs that provided lots of flavour to what can sometimes be a bit of a flat dish. The tomato and fennel sauce had a touch of heat in it that was nice, and the eggs were good, maybe a tiny bit under done but the yolks were nice and runny – perfect for dipping the two slices of gluten free toast in. The bread was very seedy, which I don’t usually go for but they complimented the tomato and eggs. Overall it was a well-balanced dish.

Our brunch was reasonably priced at $61.93 for the four drinks and three meals and we’ll return to Birchwood the next time we’re in Jindabyne. The food was good although you’d need to consider how hungry you are when you order and maybe opt for the more substantial meals if you’re very hungry! 

3/3 Gippsland Street Jindabyne NSW 2627
02 6456 1880
https://www.birchwoodcafe.com.au