Carousel Cafe, Albert Park

Situated on Melbourne’s picturesque Albert Park Lake, Carousel Cafe is just as iconic as the lake itself. Built in the late 1950s under the name Rob’s Carousel , it was the first restaurant to open on Sunday nights in Melbourne. Ahead of its time, the restaurant featured a large rotating floor, ‘the carousel’, allowing views of the beautiful Albert Park Lake. This moving floor is still part of the event space today and frequently hosts important events and receptions with its exquisite menu and functional space. The experienced chefs and innovative team at food&desire have operated the Carousel events and café for a number of years. Both function and café menus are full of quality and seasonal produce.

Chef Bradan Fowler has been involved with food&desire in both events and functions team and more recently head chef of Carousel Café. Bradan has always had a strong interest in food and cooking, with his mother being a strong influence initiating his passion. Growing up on acreage in Bendigo in rural Victoria, Bradan was exposed to fresh food and produce at a young age, which has impacted the way in which he uses and appreciates the produce in his cooking. It’s important for him to use the freshest ingredients available, believing that if the produce is of high quality, then it speaks for itself and there’s no need to create a complicated dish.

You can see this focus on fresh produce in all the dishes served at Carousel Café, which also extends to the catering menu created by the food&desire team. The Breakfast Platter for example, is one such dish focusing on fresh and quality produce. Smoked salmon, free range eggs, black quinoa tabouli and a large wedge of avocado brings awareness to the individual elements, whilst also complementing each other with their varying textures and flavours. Served with both Brasserie Bread’s quinoa and soy sourdough and olive & rosemary loaf, the Breakfast Platter is a dish to suit everyone’s tastes.

One of the standout breakfast dishes at Carousel is the chicken Montenegro sausage served with poached eggs, confit leek and roast fennel on Brasserie Bread quinoa and soya sourdough. The delicious sausage with feta and capsicum throughout pairs perfectly with the Ajvar; full of capsicum, eggplant and a hint of chilli, this dish is a flavoursome breakfast choice.

Keeping in line with a focus on fresh produce is the trio of fresh salads served with Brasserie Bread olive & rosemary loaf for lunch. Three engaging salads are presented neatly on a platter, with delicious combinations of grains and vegetables. The first salad, mixed quinoa salad with roasted pumpkin and capsicum is a favourite, combined with pickled shallots and smoked almonds.

The beetroot and rhubarb salad is extremely tasty, tossed with freekeh, mint and parsley. Finished with a pomegranate dressing, the sweetness of the beetroot and tartness of the rhubarb make for a very balanced dish.

The third salad is also just as delicious as the rest; okra, zucchini and green beans tossed with Bulgarian feta and white mulberries, finished with a lemon vinaigrette. Perfect.