10 May Now & Then Café, Kew

Under new owners, the former Fred Young of Kew has recently been renovated and transformed into Now & Then Café. Robert Castellani has also taken over as head chef. We picked three dishes from the lunch menu, though in addition to the main menu they have a selection of salads, pastries and sweets in a cabinet. They appeared slightly understaffed; the main waiter seemed to be run off his feet.

The Cabo Tacos were corn tacos filled with baja snapper, avocado, sweet coleslaw and mayo ($17). They were quite full when folded over so A2 had a bit of trouble eating it neatly. She said they weren’t bad, though would have liked it if the tacos were a bit more browned.

Also ordered was the housemade chicken pie with mushrooms with rustic homemade chips ($20). It was the type of pie that didn’t have a bottom crust and the top crust was thin and very crispy. I didn’t try any, but the filling was described was quite soupy and could have perhaps done with a bit more flavour.

I picked ‘western district eye fillet steak with a selection of condiments & rustic fat chips’ ($26). The chips weren’t really my idea of rustic or fat and they were slightly soggy. They looked the same as the ones that came with the pie, except those ones had a sprinkle of herbs on top. The steak, however, was done nicely. The only condiment that came with my steak was grainy mustard but that was all I needed. I don’t normally like fresh tomatoes, but these ones were sweet and fresh and I actually enjoyed eating them.

Now & Then is still young and probably trying to find its feet; I’m sure things will improve from here.

Now & Then Café
204 High Street
Kew, VIC, 3101
(03) 9853 8306
http://nowandthencafe.com.au/