Acre is supposed the new ‘Grounds of Alexandria’ but in Camperdown. Don’t get me wrong – I like the Grounds, but I hardly ever go because the parking is atrocious, it’s always ridiculously packed and you always have to queue. So while it’s nice when I’m there, the thought of braving all of the above often scares me away from the place. I was bracing myself for the same kind of thing at Acre but was pleasantly surprised!
Acre is owned and run by Pocket City Farms (although the site is called Camperdown Commons). They’ve just started planting everything, so it’s still pretty bare, but I can imagine it’ll look incredible once it’s done. Kind of like a huge kitchen garden (reminds me of the kitchen garden at Chiswick in Woollahra!). There’s a coffee cart in a shipping container out the front with a tiny little market of organic veges, but it manages to look authentic and rustic rather than hipster. It’s also way better for kids than the Grounds – there’s an actual playground area, a beautiful green lawn, even a little hutch filled with books! Plus it’s all fenced off which means you can enjoy your meal and let your kids run around without worry…It’s funny how I think about these things now that I’ve married into a family with 3 little nieces and nephews!
On to the food though! It’s all share plates (again, quite like Chiswick, and the interiors remind me of Chiswick too!) so CK, BG and I ordered two things to start off with. The beautiful pink dish is the Beetroot Hummus, dukkah and crisp bread ($11) which was super tasty. Really like and refreshing start to the meal. We also got the Grilled octopus, beetroot leaves, wild rice and coriander ($17) which was a bit of a heavier dish – the octopus was surprisingly meaty and the wild rice was quite a hearty addition to the dish. 
On to mains, which we didn’t share but could’ve shared. To be honest, we just wanted more dishes to photograph / see the variety of food available! I had the Spring zucchini risotto, garden herbs, mascarpone, curd ($23) – the inner vegetarian inside me strikes again! I absolutely loved this dish. Usually I find risottos a bit heavy and wasn’t expecting to be able to finish this, but I totally did! I also loved that they used yellow and green zucchinis, we often forget that the same vegetables actually come in different colours! 
BG got the Pan roasted market white fish (John Dory for the day), squash, zucchini and olive salad ($30) which is pictured above under the huge pile of salad. Difficult to photograph, but BG said it was really yum! This is a great healthy option as well. It’s CK’s month of eating for her birthday so she went for the heaviest and tastiest dish of all – the Beef cheek, oxtail, parsnip, raisins, chocolate ($29). Ok so I’ve had meat and chocolate before (veal and cocoa at Sepia, for those wondering). I didn’t like it at all. However I think in this dish, the sweetness in the raisins evened out the bitterness from the cocoa and so it really did taste like chocolate! CK loved it but I’m sure it’s one for the meat-lovers out there only. 
On to dessert (for some…). For those of you who have been following me on Instagram, I‘ve been doing ‘I Quit Sugar’ (yes, that Sarah Wilson program), but I haven’t been trying to make a big fuss about it. I’m not doing it to lose weight, just with the view to fix my gut after feeling bloated for a very long time. It’s meant that I haven’t eaten out as much but I’ve been cooking looooads! It also means that when I do eat out I’m not allowed to have dessert. Instead, I can have cheese!
So I got the Artisan cheese plate, fig, date and eggplant chutney, fresh apple, grapes, fruit bread and lavosh (one cheese at $13). Doesn’t help that even the cheese plate is full of sugar (the chutney, the fruit, the fruit bread…). So I picked around it, and just had the cheese and lavosh. I got a beautiful smokey brie cheese that I thoroughly enjoyed. CK on the other hand definitely won the award for prettiest dessert of the table – the Garden panna cotta, blueberry jelly, almond, biscuit, wild berry sorbet ($13). It came in a little teacup, guys!!! Isn’t it adorable?! The panna cotta itself was quite plain and not flavoured. This allowed for the other parts of the dessert to really shine. The blue berry jelly and the sorbet were a great accompaniment.
Acre Eatery is only one part of the whole complex, there’s a most casual cafe outside as well. I’d definitely be keen to come back and try out dinner! I think this may be a new favourite spot!
Acre Eatery
31a Mallett Street
Camperdown
http://www.acreeatery.com.au/
