The cafe used to be a dark and boarded up space, with Danielle stripping back the barriers to let sunlight stream through the front windows, and adding a refreshing lick of white paint to brighten the historic building. Mismatched vintage furniture, fruit-adorned glasses, nostalgic cups and saucers, and embroidered cloth napkins enhance the original character of the shop – the ceiling roses and polished wooden floors adding to the country European feel.

A love of food and bringing kinfolk together over a brimming table is very much steeped in Danielle’s bloodline, shaped partly by her family’s Greek heritage, but also by her dad and brother working as chefs and mum being an excellent cook. Everything is homemade at Gertrude & Mabel, or where the team needs to source products, they’ll seek out local butchers, bakeries and producers to support the local industry. The honey comes from Danielle’s grandfather’s home beehives, while the coffee is sourced from Two Seasons and comes paired with Barambah Organics milk.

A seasonally adjusted menu sees breakfast items like French toasted brioche topped with fresh ricotta, berries and bapou’s honey or banana, bacon and chantilly cream sitting alongside warming baked white beans, tomatoes, chorizo, egg and bread. Mum’s bircher muesli comes served in lidded glass pots, while homemade iced tea, lemonade and freshly squeezed orange juice can be spotted sitting pretty in vintage pitchers in the front cabinet. Come lunchtime, tuck in to neat ribbon sandwiches, a ploughman’s lunch or the daily specials like creamy cauliflower and thyme soup or chicken, red pepper and olive provencale with crusty bread. There’s even a selection of saccharine morsels to round out a meal, like generous slabs of orange and yoghurt cake, petite melting moments, caramelised pineapple and ginger tarts and rizoyalo rice puddings.

For contact information and trading hours, check out our Stumble Guide.