Grub

The kids might skip straight past the silver Airstream RV in the front yard. You may take a moment to bask in its shimmering unlikeliness – a wheeled time capsule all the way from '60s America, in a Fitzroy cafe.

The Airstream's carefree touring days may be over, but it only has to work about six months of the year. It dispenses drinks and food to the happy campers idling here in the warmer months. In autumn and winter, it's another cheery piece of the front-yard furniture: tables, chairs and colourful woven mats beneath army-camouflage awnings.

Catch up to the kids, who have already slipped through to the huge tropical wonderland of Grub's greenhouse and open-kitchen cafe. 

Suddenly, it's T-shirt weather, there's a banana palm dangling a welcoming hand of ripening fruit, plump limes fall from their tree, giant goldfish swim around a man-sized (and man-shaped) pond. So that's how Dorothy felt opening the door to Technicolour Oz.

People sit around enormous herb beds with their dogs and puppies; kids poke around, discovering garden gnomes, the taste of sage straight from the bush, or a trolley-load of mannequin heads. There's a lot to discover - same goes for the oft-changing menu.

I spy pandan and lemongrass porridge with rhubarb and pistachio praline, and crumpets with coffee butter and pecans. Lunch could be venison stew with sweet potato and bread dumplings, Spanish anchovies with sweet and sour onions and grilled sourdough, or pork and kimchi tacos. For kids, the junior board, with ham hair, a cheddar nose, boiled-egg eyes and avocado moustache is pure delight. It's the only dedicated dish for kids, but parents might be surprised to discover how much their kids will eat from the menu, especially at dinner.

Who doesn't love a creamy croquette? These are salty, cheesy, saffron-y and scoffable; just don't tell them they're smoked eel and jamon. Braised lamb meatballs in a rich tomato sauce are an easy sell. 

Beef cheeks? Not the first dish you think of when you think of kids' meals, but rich, soft meat spiked with salty kaiserfleisch crisps translates across generations, it would seem. Even a side of brussels sprouts couldn't ward off my kids from the cheesy-topped lentil, mushroom and miso shepherds pie. Whole, gently roasted pine mushrooms on creamy polenta was the one dish that carried an adults only rating, apparently. 

While we drank 3 Ravens Smoke Beer, a dark, smoky brew, the kids played ping-pong on the full-size table in the greenhouse between dinner and dessert. There's a line-up of cakes and cookies just inside the cafe proper where you might also wonder how the small, open kitchen turns out such a diverse, cheffy menu. There's magic here.

Do ... Leave, even though you may not want to.
Dishes ... Eel and jamon croquettes, and beef cheeks on white bean skordalia.
Vibe ... The Moomins and friends in the secret garden.