Amanda's Cafe

Amanda Gange is as much a fixture of her provincial-style eatery as the local art that adorns the walls. Bouquets of native flowers decorate the big timber tables and the bookcase is stacked with titles ranging from self-help and tarot to classic literature.

The cafe's regulars include farmers, writers, artists and families, many of whom greet her as a friend. Gange is living the dream she envisaged while raising her three children  - now teenagers all employed by the cafe - of running a cafe inspired by her year in Provence.

"While I was at home with my children, I did think I could just open my house up to the street – which sometimes I did – and cook and share life with my neighbours," she says.

Gange's early experience at Jean Jacques in Melbourne, Peroni and Kinselas in Sydney, and Stephanie's back in Melbourne, where she worked for eight years, instilled in her a love of fresh, seasonal produce. With chef John Knoll (formerly of Mt Rael in Healesville), she has created a simple Mediterranean breakfast menu which includes croque madame ($14.50), eggs Benedict or Florentine ($16.50), house-made granola with honeyed yoghurt ($12.50), and the cafe's most popular morning dish, Moroccan eggs (poached in a stew of spiced tomatoes and served with sourdough, hummus, dukkah and coriander, $16). It's a satisfying fusion of earthy flavours served in a ramekin.

The free-range eggs come from the Pines Poultry Farm in Wesburn. The Fruition organic sourdough is made at Candlebark Farm in Healesville, and vegetables are delivered sometimes just hours after they are picked at the Peace Farm, a small permaculture operation in Warburton. Mexican coffee beans are roasted by Silva Coffee in Warburton, and there is a range of tea from the Yarra Valley Tea Co.

Once the town's general store, the kitchenless building required a full makeover by a band of local friends, to turn it into a rustic, light-filled dining room with a verdant courtyard featuring work by Warburton sculptor Tyrone Jasper.

An elaborate butterfly light fitting by Melbourne artist Marc Pascal hangs over the front tables, while giant animal collages by local artist Di Calder, and work by local photographer Kate Baker hang on the walls. 

Children are welcomed with a wooden doll's house, and Knoll is only too happy to whip up a toastie for fussy young customers. Out back are the consulting rooms of a psychotherapist and a Chinese doctor.

Gange's vision of "a space where community could meet and experience food served with love," has come to fruition.