The General Eatery and Supplies

The General Eatery and Supplies is part of a slowly spreading restaurant revolution in Dulwich Hill's main shops.

Inside a former butcher shop, co-owners Dave Moran and Josh McPhee have created a haven of carefully thought out food, drinks, produce and ambience. The General has a warm, non-flashy air that works for grabbing a takeaway coffee and donut, feasting convivially over breakfast and lunch, snacking with a cocktail or beer in the afternoon or eating dinner by candlelight.

The decor is a mix of scraped and sanded brick with a wooden ceiling and an Oregon-framed wall wine cellar. Tables are reclaimed wood and the chairs once seated schoolchildren in Victoria.

We are sitting for breakfast beside the open kitchen of intent staff whipping out plates of house-cured salmon on rye or avocado on toast edged with Persian feta.

It is a loud and bustling spot an arm's length from the chefs. This allows us to ask questions about the food as it is being made. Staff hide any irritation at this distraction, pausing to explain that the chilled white ball of melting goodness in the bowl of bircher coyo is coconut yoghurt.

It is a silky nutty-sweet complement to the creamy bircher with shards of chopped fresh apple and blueberries and strawberries.

I'm also having a fabulous time with a plate of verging on too sweet French toast, its fat bread slices served with bacon, caramelised banana and salted caramel and maple butter. The corn fritters are a marvel, golf ball-shaped orbs of corny moistness with avocado, coriander and lime.

Our coffees, from Single Origin Roasters beans, are hearty. An old fashioned squeezed orange juice is tops and a peanut butter and jelly shake is more of a project. Its richness requires determined and steady sips. A cold press juice concoction featuring kale, spinach, celery, parsley, apple, lemon, ginger and cucumber is so vivifying it should be eaten with a donut.

On the subject of tableware, there are white tin plates (the blue-edged sort cowboys like their beans spooned onto by the campfire), 1970s-style golden brown plates, medicinal tonic-style bottles for a cold brew coffee and whacking great metal basins for salads.

The General also sells its own food products, including jars of dill pickles, onion jam, dukkah spiced nuts and relish, along with bags of coffee beans and granola.

On weekends you can buy seasonal bunches from Flowers By Daisy Girls, and Woah Nelly's artery-blowing handmade glazed donuts, handmade by Janell Smith.

The General has an all-purpose local ethos further extended by a bar menu with a global range of whiskeys, beer (Young Henrys features prominently), spirits, and wines from Australia, New Zealand and Europe.

On another visit I witness a man eating a triple cheese burger (that's three quarter-pound patties) oozing cheese, bacon and sauce. In a testament to The General's emphasis on fresh ingredients, this sight is not off-putting.

Neither is the Healthy Start, a virile breakfast bowl of kale, quinoa, tomatoes, avocado slices and boiled egg sprinkled with chia and sunflower seeds being eaten behind him.

The deduction is you can go to The General and be ultra-healthy, or eat your body weight in beautifully cooked beef and cheese, and feel fine afterwards whatever your decision.

THE PICKS

Corn fritters, bircher coyo, smokey house-made relish 

THE COFFEE

Single Origin Roasters

THE LOOK

Scrubbed-brick and wood all-purpose hang-out

THE SERVICE

Fast, attentive, cheery