My childhood memory of mushrooms on toast involves almost black, iron-rich wild mushrooms picked fresh from farmers’ paddocks, cooked in a little butter. The mushrooms were hearty enough on their own to be a satisfying meal; toast was a delicious addition that mopped up the juices.
Cafe versions of mushrooms on toast are so often disappointing. You’re served pale mushrooms with little flavour, drowned in cream, on white buttered toast that goes soggy as soon as the sauce soaks into the dough.
Ethos organic vegetarian cafe at East West Organics Superstore in New Lynn delivers the closest I’ve come to the real thing. Dark brown mushrooms cooked with care and no cream (vegan), matched with Ethos bakery’s own tangy sourdough rolls that soak up the juices but retain their firm texture and flavour and add just the right degree of substance. Plus a side of butter. All for $18. Very satisfactory.
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