Gracie's Place - Polish crepes in East Keilor

People bag the suburbs but I love them - they are so full of surprises.  Finding a "secret" bakery or food shop nestled in some run-down shopping strip in the boonies puts me on a high for the rest of the day.  So where else for gorgeous Polish crepes than in an industrial estate in East Keilor?

Gracie's Place is your classic tradie lunch stop with sandwiches, some hot food and a few intriguing Polish items on the menu.

The two Polish ladies who work here are gorgeous.  I couldn't see any pierogi on the menu so I asked if they had any.  "How many you like?" said the lady - "Oh, I don't know, maybe six?" I replied.  She came back with six bags full of frozen homemade pierogi.  "You having a party?" she laughed.

"Crepe with cream cheese filling", $4.50

We worked out I wanted six pieces, not six bags (although there's always next time ;) and pierogi safely stashed in my bag, I turned my attention to the Polish crepe.  This was soooo fantastic.  The crepe was thick yet delicate with those lovely, crispy edges that only come from being fried in butter.  It was stuffed with "cream cheese" that was quite like ricotta, scented with cloves and tangy with lemon.  With cream and icing sugar - divine.

Pierogi, $6.90 for 6

Time for main course - home to cook up these lovely homemade pierogi.  We eat a lot of these in Chicago, where the Polish community is quite big.  The supermarket sells them frozen in a huge range of flavours.  We would fry cabbage for a long time until really soft and crispy and put the pierogi on top with vinegar and sour cream.

Mr Baklover panfried them (they had defrosted a little on the way home) and served them with sausage, fried onion, sour cream and dill.  The filling was sweet, creamy mashed potato.  Delicious - but that crepe took the cake.

For more cake love, you may like to read my article for SBS Food on Adriano Zumbo and his Easter egg macarons at the recent SBS Food Journey Festival.  Thank you SBS for the opportunity!

Gracie's Place
Shop 4b, 60 Keilor Park Drive, Keilor East (map)
Phone: 9331 5119
Hours: Mon-Sat 7am-3pm

Wheelchair Access
Level entry