Jerry Joy

In the increasingly foodie-oriented pocket of Thornbury, the former Kitschen Pantry site has been re-booted as Jerry Joy by new owners Damien and Seona Breen, and just two months in the place is heaving.

The former owners of Foodrinkery in Burwood have shifted their sights to the inner-north to create a mix of old-school family atmosphere and hip cuisine. And, as a bonus for the burgeoning anti-gluten brigade (many of whom were fans of the Kitschen Pantry’s friendly menu), much of the food here is gluten-free. But flavour has not been forsaken.

Jerry Joy - "the name comes from an old poem Seona’s nan used to read to all of her family, about a naughty little boy," says Damien - offers a menu to cater for everyone, from your reliable bacon and eggs, fittingly called The Standard (think huge slices of double-smoked bacon, fried eggs, house-made aioli, kasundi, shaved pecorino and roquette on toasted sourdough - $14.50), to the more culinarily adventurous creations of head chef Sandy Melgalvis , who has worked at nearby Red Door Cafe, Ladro and Harvest.

Turning out beautifully presented meals in a tiny kitchen, open to the cafe, the menu ranges from simple boiled eggs (free range, organic, with soldiers, $10) and porridge (vanilla and Chia seed, with a mandarin compote and candied salted almonds, $9.50) to apple almond pikelets with spiced poached apple, crumble, blueberry jam and a yoghurt foam ($14), spiced beetroot and red lentil fritters with roasted capsicum hummus, braised fennel and kale ($16.50) and the highly photogenic sardine ceviche, made with fresh sardines, and served with an amazingly delicate beetroot and potato gratin, poached egg, tomato salsa, coriander dressing and pickled jalapenos ($17). A slightly more progressive menu than the Breens had in their Burwood cafe.

"Foodrinkery was in a similarly residential area, but here we wanted to do something different, not your standard breakfast dishes," says Damien. "We really wanted to try and offer a few more interesting things." 

And the largely gluten-free menu, he says, wasn’t entirely deliberate. "It’s really just the way our menu is - a couple of the dishes just happen to use almond meal instead of flour, and we have great gluten-free bread," he says. "Not everything is [gluten-free] but we wanted to have lots of those options on the menu."

Coffee is from Axil and there’s a large range of house-made cakes and slices, and the cute-but-compact space is doing an equal roaring trade in locals popping in for take-away orders.

The most popular breakfast so far, says Damien, is the beetroot and lentil fritters."But the baked eggs and the sardines, a beautiful dish, are starting to take off as well," he says. And the punters  are a real mix.

"We get young families, uni students and older people. It’s a great spot around here," he says. "There’s a lot more places opening up around here too. I think once the weather gets better we’ll be even busier with our outdoor area."

I’d get there before then, given the cute outdoor courtyard was packed on a recent weekend, despite the icy wind and rain.