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Cafe Urbano a classy addition for Stafford diners

ARANCINI can be delicious, whatever name you give them, stuffed rice balls or, as at Café Urbano in Stafford, Bulgarian feta fritters.

At this newish (four months old) little cafe they are as big as tennis balls, a creamy mixture of boiled rice mixed with fetta and fresh herbs, crumbed and deep-fried, and served with a fresh mushroom sauce. At only $9.50 for three they're a bargain, and need only the addition of a rocket and parmesan side salad ($6) to make a complete and satisfying lunch.

Low prices like these (even a 200g eye fillet with all the trimmings costs just $20) are just one element in the list of reasons you should give Cafe Urbano a try. The others are delicious food freshly cooked on the premises; good-quality ingredients; and at last a really decent place in the Stafford area, where for years, it seems, I've been searching in vain for somewhere worth reviewing.

It was only thanks to a colleague who lives on that side of town that I was alerted to Cafe Urbano's existence, although his comment that they had stopped offering poached eggs for breakfast during his visit bears out the truism that you should never judge a cafe on a single visit.

When I asked owner Chris Compton about this, he remembered the very day, because the eggs he had bought were the wrong ones for poaching (yes, he's that fussy) and kept disintegrating, so instead of serving imperfect poached eggs, he limited the offerings to scrambled or fried. That's what I call integrity.

We shared the rice balls/fetta fritters as an entree, then went on to lamb cutlets in my friend's case, and the daily special of veal tortellini in mine.

These were respectively $19 and $17, and my friend's meal comprised three big lamb cutlets with an indefinable but mildly stimulating yellowish coating (saffron?), tasting much better than it looked, served with a colourful healthy mix of rocket, fetta, pumpkin, capsicum and pine nuts.

It was nearly all perfect, although some people who like their chops brown rather than pink might have been disappointed (she wasn't asked how she liked them cooked), and she had to admit they were a bit fatty. Still, all the more to take home to Red Dog Joe, who had no complaints at all.

The veal tortellini may not have been house-made - they had that chewy texture of the delicatessen variety - but there were plenty of them, and the sauce was quite radical, mixing as it did eggplant, sweet potato and just a bit of rocket, which was a clever combination.

Prices are quite low here, and the servings are generous, and (an added reason to visit) all the cakes ($3.50) are made by chef Travis Arthur.

The pleasingly tart filling in his lemon curd tarts has that not-quite perfect smoothness that proves its made with real eggs, and the raspberry tarts are so full of real raspberries that youll never bother with a jam-filled substitute again.

I wish I lived in the Stafford area, because I would happily go back to Cafe Urbano, if only to check out Travis's poached eggs.

CAFE URBANO

Address: 69a Wilgarning St, Stafford Heights.

Ph: 3630 5225; 0488 424 645

Hours: Open Tuesday-Saturday 7am-3pm, Sunday 7am-1pm (breakfast only). Closed Monday

Liquor status: Not yet licensed. BYO in a few weeks

Prices: breakfast (until 11.30am) $3.80-$19; lunch to $20. Di Bella coffee from $3.40

Owner: Chris Compton

Chef: Travis Arthur

Parking: plenty on and off-street

Wheelchair access, and toilets: yes

Other: Seats 66; all cards except Amex and Diners; full table service; vegetarian and gluten-free; 15 per cent surcharge public holidays; air-conditioned; shared toilets; noise level very high inside, quieter outside

The score

Food: 16

Service: 15

Ambience: 14

Value for money: 18

About the score: 0-5 go somewhere else; 6-9 major change required; 10-13 reasonable, room for improvement; 14-16 good; 17-19 excellent; 20 the pinnacle

Source: The Courier Mail

New cafe in Stafford

STAFFORD: Stafford businessman Chris Crompton is living his dream.

Abut six months ago Mr Crompton found a site in Wilgarning St he thought would successfully convert from an empty space to a stylish suburban cafe.

But he needed to roll up his sleeves and call on family and friends to fulfil his dream of running his own cafe.

He took to the renovations like the proverbial duck to water and gradually transformed the disused space in the small strip of shops. Months of hard labour later Cafe Urbano is his pride and joy.

Designed along similar lines to inner city eateries with a tasteful blend of leather, tiles, modern lighting and glass, Cafe Urbano is a pleasant spot to while away the hours.

Customers can eat inside at neat individual tables or alfresco. There is ample parking at the centre or outside in Wilgarning St.

But it is the food and drink as much as the dcor which is winning rave reviews.

Mr Crompton, who has more than 15 years experience in the kitchen, offers a standard, if sizeable breakfast menu with a string of tempting delights including hot waffles with peanut honeycomb and ice cream or fresh fruit salad with walnuts and honey.

More traditional tastes are suited with the likes of poached eggs.

Cafe Urbanos lunch menu changes daily depending on the ingredients Mr Crompton is able to secure.

"I like everything fresh so I go out and buy every day and create the menu depending what I find. This way it keeps it all very exciting for me and the customers," Mr Crompton said.

There are homemade cake and muffins baked every day to satisfy the sweet tooths and customers can choose from a range of cold drinks and steaming Di Bella coffee.

Source: North West News

Surprise Suprise

The location may be a revelation but the menu surpasses expectations of what you'd expect in a suburban setting.

You can talk about location all you like, but from dress-circle dining precincts to the shonkiest suburban street corner, it's all about word of mouth. If the food and coffee are consistently good, the place will thrive.

Not that I'm saying Café Urbano is one a shonky suburban streen, It is a part of an attractive little strip, recently upgraded, but it's in an almost entirely residential area of Stafford Heights, not previously identified as a hub of culinary excellence. Nevertheless the owner is doing something right because on the weekday lunchtime I visited, all bar one of the outside tables were occupied and inside was halfway there.

One look at the menu gives an indication why. It's interesting and varied; the kind of food that comes from a proper kitchen, not a panini press on a bench. We grabbed the last available outside table and settled in with menus and a bottle of chilled water.

The outside tables are sheltered from the sun by a high portico ceiling on a wide footpath. There is practically no foot traffic and few cars, which makes for a peaceful setting. A bench seat runs down one side of the long narrow interior, with the cake cabinet and coffee machine at the end partly concealing the busy kitchen.

Around us sat couples, ladies lunching and business colleagues and the only child we saw was asleep in a baby capsule.

We bypassed the starters and went straight for the main courses, which range from light salads to more substantial steaks and the like. I chose corn cakes with smoked salmon ($18) and my friend ordered lamb cutlets with pine nuts, roasted and peel capsicum and pumpkin on a bed of rocket ($19).

The corn cakes were great; plenty of crunchy corn kernels in a light, sparse batter came in a stack interleaved with a generous quantity of smoked salmon (only later did I notice that I had been charged for an extra smoked salmon, which I had not requested). A dollop of créme fraiche sat on top and a bed of rocket below. It's a tried and tested combination that works well and I liked the contrast between the cool créme fraiche and the hot corn cakes. It also made for a satisfying lunch that didn't weigh me down.

My friend received a colourful plate of salad topped with two sizeable lamb cutlets. These were tender and pink inside, just as requested. The fetta was good and creamy, with the pine nuts and pumpkin adding body to the salad. We ordered a side of rocket and parmesan ($6) which was adequate but small, and I prefer shaved feathers of parmesan rather than crumbs.

Dessert is in the cake cabinet and the selection, while adequate, does not live up to the expectations set by the main menu. I chose a small caramel tartlet ($2, there's also a lemon curd option), which was simple, but fine if you want a mouthful of sweetness to go with your coffee. My friend ordered the raspberry cheesecake ($5.50) and the filling of the huge slice was light and fluffy, with a topping of semi-pureed raspberries. She ate most of it than she intended, which can be taken as a good sign. Still, I'd like to see cakes with a bit more "wow" factor.

Café Urbano uses Di Bella coffee and out latte and flat white (both $3.40) ticked all the boxes.

Its service was friendly, attentive and on the ball, and the café is offering local residents something they used to have to travel much further afield to find.

Source: Brisbane News.com.au