Chef Ray Knight, Christine Zaronis and Alicia Zaronis are running Toast in Tumut. Photo: Toast.
A Turkish menemen, a Vietnamese pho and a UK Welsh rarebit all appearing on one menu would normally be a red flag and one you should consider running from. But at Toast Cafe Restaurant in Tumut, they’ve perfected every dish, no matter the origin, and if you’re going to run anywhere, it’s straight through their door and right into one of their comfy booth seats.
Owner Ray Knight tells Region that he’s been a chef for around 40 years, and it was at his previous cafe, The Coach House, also in Tumut, that he realised there was a market for dishes from around the world.
“It all started with the Coach House. We started doing traditional sandwiches like Cuban rolls and Bahn Mi, things that people were familiar with, and it grew from there,” Ray explains.
Limited by the entirely outdoor dining setup at the Coach House, Ray closed up shop around eight months ago with a vision for a new cafe, one that would lean into the global experience that he had already laid the groundwork for.
With a few months behind them in their new location, they’ve found a loyal following, pushing out up to 200 orders a day over the weekend, and Ray tells me the busy Mother’s Day that I witnessed wasn’t an anomaly, it was a standard Sunday at the cafe.
Part of the success of Toast has been down to the limited variety of food available in the reasonably isolated town of Tumut, which has allowed Ray, along with his partner Christine and daughter Alicia, to fill a gap in the market, offering alternatives to the ubiquitous pub grub and smashed avo on toast that are readily available in town.
Ray surprised himself with the popularity of the Yemeni kibdah, a dish featuring fried liver. Photo: Tenele Conway.
Always pushing to create not only a delicious menu but an exciting one, Ray laughs that he even surprises himself sometimes.
“We put a Yemeni dish with liver on the menu, and we sold three just in one day; people want to try these things.”
Finding success in the all-day cafe menu, Ray decided to open the doors for dinners three nights a week, bringing his flair for breakfast and lunch to nighttime diners with rolling specials like crispy Korean chicken with gochujang glaze and Kewpie mayo and his hefty Polish pork hock with parsnip, potato mash, mustard and horseradish.
With such a busy little cafe on his hands, I was surprised to learn that Ray and his family moved from Sydney to Tumut to retire, a mission that has been less successful than his food. Despite being flat out with the cafe, he always takes the time to appreciate the lifestyle in the mountain town he calls home.
“I love the place. I come home and randomly see an owl on the verandah or a family of ducks walking across the road, and I’m like, ‘Far out, this place is great.'”
The cilba eggs is an exceptional breakfast and with flatbread to mop up the plate, there won’t be a scrap left. Photo: Tenele Conway.
With so much variety on the menu, if you’re wondering what to order, I can highly recommend the Cilba eggs. This traditional Turkish breakfast is an art in Ray’s hands. The perfectly poached eggs sit on a bed of garlic yoghurt with a sheen of crispy chilli oil and a wonderful herb emulsion. On the side is a stack of warm flatbread that you can use to mop up your eggs and yoghurt, and the side salad takes it into the space of brekkie or lunch.
You can also expect high standards on the large toastie menu. I have it on good authority from our British dining companions that the Welsh rarebit with its caramelised onion, cheddar, mustard and ale sauce was a classic rendition that really hit the spot.
The cafe is named after their famous toastie menu, and the za’atar toastie is just one of many winners. Photo: Tenele Conway.
The za’atar toastie was frankly like no toastie I’ve ever tasted. Coated on the outside with a Middle Eastern spice mix called za’atar and stuffed full of the meat from slow-cooked lamb shanks along with halloumi, rocket, melted cheese and sriracha aioli, it’s incredibly textural and packs a real flavour punch.
Another of our dining companions dived into the Yemeni kibdah, a dish of pan-fried lamb’s liver in fried onions, tomato, garlic labneh with carrot salad, and despite being a lamb’s fry aficionado and tough critic, was impressed.
With the support he’s received from the community, Ray plans to expand his seating capacity with a large outdoor dining space opening to the rear of the cafe. With the addition of the outdoor dining, he hopes to once again bring in the dog-walking crowd they used to serve at the Coach House, and to make sure everyone is happy, he has a specialty dog menu on the way.
Toast Cafe Restaurant is located at 54 Wynard Street, Tumut. It’s open from 8 am to 5 pm on Sunday to Wednesday, and for dinner until 8 pm on Thursday to Saturday.
Original Article published by Tenele Conway on About Regional.
