Bold is Best

Review by gloriame (1), left on 08-05-2007 at 10:50

Food:    Wine:    Coffee:    Staff:    Style:    Value:   

Overall:

When Onn Ho bought the Bold Café, he was amused to find so many people asking him if he was a descendant of the area’s large Chinese population during the Gold Rush era. ‘I soon tell them that I’ve only been living here for a couple of years.’

Situated in Castlemaine’s Wesley Hill area the café building is on land originally purchased in 1857 by Robert Reid, a baker, for the grand sum of Three Pounds Three Shillings, and run as a bakery servicing the hungry gold digging community.

Retaining its heritage facade the interior has undergone another huge renovation; warm red walls, cosy open fires, an outdoor garden area.

Of Chinese descent from Malaysia, Onn came to Australia in 1968, and bought the cafe in 2004. Its main attraction is the East meets West touch to the menu, ‘my curry laksa soup, the vegetarian Monk dish, and my Malaysian style curries.’

Onn’s wife, Eddie, and her sister, combine their European background to create delicious cakes for the cafe. The cakes are a great contributor to the cafe’s success. Amongst the favourites are the chocolate roulade stuffed with raspberries, the lime and coconut cakettes, the lemon slice, tea infused prune and apricot cake, the blueberry and poppyseed cake and the feijoa, lemon and coconut cake, ‘all of which are quite stunning.’ There are always delicious, gluten free cake options, like orange and pistachio or chocolate and hazelnut torte.

The all-time favourite is their mixed berry flan, a work of art. A mixed berry coulis dripping over a ground almond flan topped with berries in season.

Onn Ho himself has put his own definitive stamp on the place, his warm, friendly personality acting as a magnet to his customers.