Cornerstone, Darlington

The cafe space at Darlington's Carriageworks has had a few incarnations since I started working in the area (totally not my fault that cafes keep opening and closing there...just for the record). I'd say so far Cornerstone is my favourite cafe in this space.

 

The inside of the Carriageworks building is a HUGE industrial type warehouse space. It's cavernous with lots of concrete floors and exposed industrial beamwork revealing its former life as a train workshop.

 

It amazes me how the crew from this cafe have created what is essentially a welcoming, intimate and cozy cafe - something that reflects the vibe of a comfortable lounge room rather than a hard-edged workshop. There's lots of comfy leather couches, knitted nana blankets and beautiful flowers.

 

 

 

Cornerstone is open for lunch seven days a week and it's a perfect escape from the office. They also do drinks and bar snacks later in the day but it's lunch that interested me.

My first visit is my first Friday back at work after my holiday. I'm feeling BLUE and the post-holiday SADs have hit hard. The only cure is a big BIG burger with hot chips ($12.00). The burger was great - juicy patty and beetroot just like a good Ausise burger should have. The chips were also great - crunchy on the outside and super fluffy on the inside. I was set to eat them all but my uber healthy boss wandered into the cafe half way through my chip-fest and I didn't want to see like a big fat pig by eating them ALL. Next time though...next time.

Or not. Next visit I decide to try the salad of the day ($14.00)...it changes all the time so you never know what'll be on offer. On this particular day it's a smoked salmon salad with baby spinach, radish (yum) and avacado with a mustard + dill dressing. It's delish - the salmon is fatty and melt-in-the-mouth and and I adore the crunchy radishes.

Of course a gal can't live on salad alone so I ask for a slice of bread on the side which comes out toasted with a splodge of salty butter.

I love this space and I cannot wait to come back and spend more of my lunchbreaks in somebody elses lounge room.