Banksia Bake House

By Lydia Underwood

I love Asian food, Italian food and all things Mexican. But Australian? In order to expand my taste palette to six out of seven continents, I decided to try out Banksia — an Australian cafe.

I scoured their website searching for the strangest menu items I could find: kangaroo sausage roll (yes, made out of real kangaroo), frosted vovo, and lamington. When I called to see if they could set these items aside before I got there, they were already out after only being open for 30 minutes, so I exchanged the kangaroo for an Australian lamb sausage roll instead.

After the 30 minute drive down SouthWest Trafficway and parked my car in a private parking lot in hopes of not getting towed—I can’t parallel park yet. The trudge to Banksia felt like I was walking from the sophomore lot to school, I finally got to Banksia. Even though I was there for the lamb sausage, when I approached the cafe and peaked inside the window, my eyes automatically went to the pastry case. I was infamous at the dentist for getting cavities because of my sweet tooth combined with my weakness for chocolate milk and wanted to try every dessert on display— from the bright orange peach danish to the instagram story worthy pavlova with chantilly cream topped with fresh blueberries, strawberries, and blackberries.

Even though I couldn’t keep my eyes off the desserts, I stuck to my original order and paid the $20, which seemed a little unreasonable  being the frugal person I am. I took a seat in the outside patio and and took in the surrounding patio area that had plants hanging on the walls, buckets of silverware and napkins ready for use and plenty of picnic tables. The only downside to it being outside were the flies which were on me like white on rice.

Ignoring the soon to be bug bites, I turned my attention to the golden and flaky lamb sausage roll that had just arrived at my table. I dug my knife and fork in and revelled in the satisfying crunch that was made by the crispness of pastry. I tentatively cut a small bite and tried lamb for the first time.

That first bit almost made me push the plate away and run back to the peach danish at the store-front. The only flavor that came through was the chewy, greasy meat and not the currant and almond flavor it promised. The taste did not make up for the feeling of guilt – it felt as though there was a little baby lamb standing next to me while I eating it.

After about three bites and a simple “I really don’t like that” from my friend and photographer for the day Lucy Hoffman, I decided to turn my attention to what had caught my eye from the beginning—the deserts, more specifically the lamington and the frosted vovo.

I went for the lamington first and sliced my fork through the dense sponge cake coated in a chocolate paste and dusted with coconut. The lamington had a thin layer of raspberry jam between the two layers of dense vanilla and almond cake, which peeked through every once in a while for a subtle sweet flavor. The chocolate and almond paste that coated the cake did not have much flavor but every once in a while you would get a hint of chocolate. The cake was sprinkled with coconut—even though I despise coconut, I thought it was a fitting addition to the cake. Despite, having a more mellow flavor, I was able to appreciate the hint of raspberry jam and the subtle flavor of the cake and chocolate paste.

Finally, I went for the frosted vovo. The name and striking bright pepto-bismol pink and maroon red looks appealed to me the most. The vovo consisted of a classic shortbread cookie served as a vehicle for two lines of raspberry marshmallow fluff, a line of tart, raspberry jam, and what seemed to be their signature coconut shavings on the top.

I took a bite and the array of flavors and textures had me immediately reaching my fork out for another one. Although the marshmallow fluff did not have much flavor, it’s springboard-like like texture added another dimension to the simple dessert, making it lighter. The first thing I tasted was the colorful tartness of the raspberry jam balanced with the butteryness of the shortbread cookie. Once again, the coconut did not even faze me as I was too focused on the marshmallow fluff that bounced back when you touched it and the flavor of the the jam and shortbread together.

After the failure with the lamb sausage roll and the comeback with the lamington and vovo, I’ve decided that Banksia’s pastries are what makes the 30 minute drive worth it — I’m even considered learning to parallel park so I don’t have to walk that far. I will definitely be back to try more of the delicious pastries I was eyeing as I walked in, like their chocolate caramel slice and maybe even the kangaroo roll.

For a closer look into what I ordered, view the slideshow below.

https://storyform.co/@3070032-e6d74/lydias-banksia-order-c2b33f5d9cc9