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    Courier Mail (Queensland, Australia)
    August 3, 2004 Tuesday

    Can do crew

    by Alison Cotes


    ARMENIAN cake is not what I usually eat for breakfast, but as it came
    out of the oven the scent of toffee and warm nutmeg reached my nose,
    and I knew it was exactly what I needed to follow Jim's savoury mince
    on thick buttered toast ($9.50).

    This was delicious, although I did have a long discussion with the
    waiter at the Oxford Street Deli about what a variable, rather than
    classic, dish this was, and how my mother's savoury mince was made
    with thick gravy, chopped tomato and Worcestershire sauce.

    The eponymous Jim puts chopped carrots and sweet corn in his, and
    uses thin rather than thick gravy, but at least it doesn't have peas
    in it, and once I'd swallowed my prejudices, I liked it a lot.

    The armenian cake was something else, with its crunchy
    toffee-textured bottom and moist dark body. Llyn Miller told me that
    you mix the butter, sugar and some flour on the bottom of the tin,
    then pour the wet mixture on top and let it become its own kind of
    upside-down cake.

    The deli has recently changed owners, so perhaps it was a little
    unfair of me to review it on the fifth day of its re-opening, but
    even though there were a few hiccups concerning short-staffing and
    running out of some popular dishes, the new team has ensured the food
    is better than ever.

    Take the service, for example. New owner Charles O'Reilly comes out
    to greet every customer (and no, he didn't know who I was), smiles at
    people walking past, makes sure you don't wait more than 30 seconds
    for a menu.

    And the food, most of which Miller makes on the premises, offers
    bright combinations which work well.

    Another breakfast dish, for example, is sweet corn loaf with grilled
    mushrooms, crisp pancetta and tomato jam from Jimbour -- $7.50 for a
    delicious low fat meal. There's also a bacon, egg and potato pie
    served with tomato jam, and french-toasted banana bread with
    strawberries (both $7.95), as well as the usual Big Breakfast
    ($12.75/$8.50), with a Personal Training breakfast of three eggs,
    steak, bacon, sausages, tomatoes and mushrooms for $16. You'd need a
    big lie-down after that one.

    Panini and wraps start at $8.50 -- try the ham, spinach and onion
    marmalade or the balsamic beef and chutney; and the light meals
    include some items from the breakfast menu, including that brilliant
    grilled sweet-corn bread with the addition of mixed greens and $1.
    There's a subtle tart of goats cheese, potato and rosemary ($9.50);
    some house-made soup of roasted tomatoes, thick and chunky with lots
    of smoky flavours served with fresh baguette ($6.50); and toasted
    turkish bread with three dips -- fetta and wild rocket, eggplant and
    pumpkin, and olive tapenade ($7.95).

    For lunch another day we shared a $15 platter of hummus, the same
    light and tangy olive tapenade, dukkah from Jimbour House, grilled
    turkish bread and what was supposed to be whole roasted garlic but
    turned out to be a roasted pickled onion because they'd run out of
    garlic. That bit didn't work, so before you order make sure that it
    is garlic you'll be getting -- and if you want extra bread, ask in
    advance, for we found the four slices weren't enough to mop up all
    the Njoi olive oil and dips.

    Another tempting platter for the same price is made up of duck pate,
    Jindi camembert, Pyengana cheddar, lavash bread, nuts and tomato jam,
    which might be a bit heavy on the protein, so would need some side
    salads to lighten it a bit -- choose some from the display fridge ($5
    each, or three for $9).

    Pudding? Of course, because it was again house-made. My mate's
    coconut creme caramel was a welcome variation of the classic version,
    while my individual rhubarb and apple crumble, though a generous
    dishful, had too much apple in proportion to the rhubarb, and the
    crumble top hadn't been cooked quite long enough.

    For children, for $3 there's fairy bread, vegemite or peanut butter
    sandwiches, small fries with tomato sauce, puffy dogs, savoury mince
    on toast and fresh fruit salad, with a "kiddychino" thrown in.

    OXFORD STREET DELI

    Address: 161 Oxford St, Bulimba

    Phone: 3399 6222

    Hours: open daily, 7am-7pm Sun-Wed, 7am-11pm Thurs-Sat

    Liquor status: BYO, corkage $2.50 a person

    Prices: breakfast from $6.50 to $16, light meals to $14.95, desserts
    and puds $8, children's meals $3, coffee $3

    Owner: Charles O'Reilly

    Chef: Llyn Miller

    Parking: on-street, but difficult

    Wheelchair access: yes

    Other: all credit cards except Diners; table service; 15 per cent
    surcharge public holidays; air conditioned; shared toilets; noise
    level low, ambient piped music

    The score

    Food: 16

    Service: 17

    Ambience: 13

    Value for money: 16

    About the score: 0-5 don't bother; 6-9 needs serious improvement;
    10-12 reasonable; 13-14 good; 15-17 very good; 18-19 exceptional; 20
    perfection
    From: Baghdasarian
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